Blake Masters on Border Security, Fentanyl, and Rising Crime 01:02:07

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Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren, with my co-host, Sam Stone. Today, we have the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Blake Masters. Blake is running against liberal incumbent Mark Kelly, who votes with Joe Biden 94% of the time. Blake is raising his family in Tucson, and he has married his high school sweetheart, Catherine, which Sam and I looked up before the show. Did you know, Blake, that only 2% of marriages are to high school sweethearts?

Didn't know that. All right. I'm honored to be in the exclusive club. So what makes Catherine so patient with you?

Well, she's an angel. She's been great. And of course, the campaigning is always harder on the spouse than on the candidate. So she's been great. But, you know, we met in middle school, actually. And it took me a few years of persistent effort to... Now you're a one percenter right there. So you were the first one to have eyes for Catherine and Catherine made you earn your due. Is that correct? That's right. How was it raising your family in Tucson? You were raised there. You went back. How was it?

How is the family enjoying it? You know, I love Tucson. It's my hometown and always will be, right? But

It was a shock actually to move back. We moved back after a family tragedy. We lost my sister-in-law. She died by suicide actually in late 2017. So horrible family tragedy. My parents were still in Tucson, so were Catherine. So we moved back home and it was great to be with family and we're just trying to figure things out. But the city that I moved back to had changed. Tucson had gotten a lot more liberal and I think a lot less functional.

In the years that I was away, I went to college out in California. And just the crime and, you know, potholes and corruption really under this super progressive mayor, Regina Romero. So it's got some challenges, but, you know, I didn't just want to

pick up and leave. I wanted to go down and put roots where my roots were and try to make the city and the whole state better so that my boys can someday choose to live in Tucson, choose to live in Arizona. And so, you know, it's for the worst, but we've got to fight. Blake, I see, I've seen exactly what you're talking about because I spent part of my life growing up in Tucson. We moved there when I was about 15 years old. You know,

Tucson was gorgeous. Outside of a downtown core that was a little bit of a mess, Tucson was beautiful. The streets were well-maintained. They were well-kept. It was left, but it wasn't crazy. And since then, you're seeing the result of all the policies, quite frankly, that you're going to hopefully get to the Senate to fight, right? Yeah.

That's right. I mean, talk to a Tucson police officer. They will tell you that they feel slowly defunded by the very liberal Democrat Tucson City Council. You know, some officers I talk to, they're very frustrated. I mean, being a police officer is tough, right? And if that's the circumstances, then

What about in the worst of circumstances, which is what Democrat policies subject police to? Sometimes these guys are arresting the same criminal on the same street corner for the same fairly serious crime every three weeks or so. But if you've got liberal judges, if you've got a liberal prosecutor who doesn't believe in locking people up, and that's the modern Democratic Party, well, those criminals are going to be out on the streets three

And they're trying to institutionalize those policies on a national level via the U.S. House and Senate.

That's right. That's right. It really is scary. And look, for that and so many other reasons, 2022 and 2024, I always group these together. These are save the country elections. If we get the right Republicans in charge here in November, get the White House back in 2024, then we have a chance to do the hard work of really reversing course and saving this country. But if we don't, I really fear it's going to slip through our fingers and the land of opportunity that we

that we all know and love and grew up with really could be extinguished right before our eyes.

Let's talk about Mark Kelly and his progressive agenda. He votes with, as we said earlier, Joe Biden 94 percent of the time. It was 100 percent last year, but obviously we get closer to election time, so they always want to show some independence. He voted recently with the budget to increase IRS budget $79.6 billion, which

What that equals out to be is about $8.5 billion more a year for the IRS, while the Customs and Border Patrol agents only getting $700 million average more per year. How does someone justify that? Because every time I check, we always have these records, and we don't seem to be lacking tax revenue in this country.

So why would you focus on hiring more agents, which are going to lead to more audits, more terrorizing small business, but not fund the border? The simplest answer is Chuck Schumer told him to.

You know, it's not like Mark Kelly sitting at his desk in the Senate weighing the pros and cons of any particular piece of legislation. Chuck Schumer owns Mark Kelly. Mark Kelly does what Biden and Chuck Schumer want him to do. You actually can't say the same about Senator Sinema. No. Schumer wishes he owned Sinema, but actually he doesn't. Look, I think Sinema's too left wing. I'd rather have a conservative Republican. But if you have to have a Democrat, you want it to be Kyrsten Sinema. I respect her independence and responsibility.

and on key moments, key issues. She stopped the Build Back Better bill, which would have just, you think inflation's bad now, it'd be 25% had they printed another $3 trillion in Build Back Better.

And she protected the filibuster, which I think literally saved the country. So she's somewhat independent. Mark Kelly made all those same noises when he was campaigning. He says he's independent. He says he's been independent, but that's just a lie. He's a rubber stamp for Chuck Schumer. And so when Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden, when they want to spend a trillion dollars, Mark Kelly's right there to say yes. When they want to, yes, double the size of the IRS.

Mark Kelly's there to say yes. Mark Kelly even rejected doubling the size of the Border Patrol.

How about we have 18,000 new border patrol agents to solve this border crisis? Doesn't that sound good? Well, Mark Kelly said no to that. And yes, 87,000 new IRS agents. It's just an America-lapsed agenda. He signed up for it. And then he's trying to lie to people in Arizona, pretending to be the late John McCain. Well, he's no John McCain. He's not even a Kyrsten Sinema. He is a stooge and a puppet of Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden.

There's never I would really doubt that there's ever a time when Schumer works with the White House and they're trying to count votes, what will be acceptable and not. Mark Kelly is never on us. He is a sure thing.

They never have to worry about it. You have to wonder which way is Sinema going to vote. And look, again, I'm disappointed with Sinema for voting for the Inflation Reduction Act. Ridiculous piece of legislation. $700 billion tax and spend bill. It's a down payment on the Green New Deal. It's not going to reduce inflation. If anything, it's going to increase it. So, yeah, she voted the wrong way on that. But isn't it interesting? We had to wonder which way is Sinema going to vote.

You never have to wonder which way Mark Kelly's going to vote because he's already decided in advance he's going to support the Joe Biden agenda. And people are suffering for it. Well, I'm going to get you in trouble here, Blake. But in sex and politics, there's a name for a sure thing. I mean, I'm not making you say it. And I'll let our listeners guess at what I'm getting at there. But when you're being paid off, when you are bought and paid for, it's no better in politics than it is in private life.

And Mark Kelly has sold his soul. I mean, that's what we've seen over and over. If he had one, he's long since sold it. What is the biggest contrast between you and Mark Kelly on positions? When you say, hey, this is where we are the farthest apart, where is that? Maybe on the border. I mean, call me old fashioned. I believe in a border. You don't have a nation if you don't have a border. And the way it's supposed to work is when someone breaks into this country, illegal aliens,

they're supposed to be caught and turned over to ICE and, hey, nothing personal, but you don't get to break into our country. You're deported back to your home country or some other country that wants you. Well, Mark Kelly doesn't agree with that. Mark Kelly believes in open borders. He won't admit that. He's clever enough to know that's incredibly unpopular. So he'll pretend that, oh, I've been focused on the border since day one. We're trying to secure the border. No, that's just what he says when he's campaigning. In

In D.C., he has voted in lockstep for Joe Biden's open borders agenda. Mark Kelly doesn't believe in deporting anybody at all. His policies have hamstrung our brave men and women of Border Patrol and ICE. And Mark Kelly and Joe Biden have laid out the welcome mat. They've opened up our border. They've ceded the territory to the Mexican drug cartels. And they put out the welcome mat and positively encouraged illegal immigration. They've welcomed more than four and a half million.

illegal aliens into our country, sometimes incentivizing them with cash payments, cell phones. I mean, it's just ridiculous. It's hideous. Mark Kelly believes in open borders, and I don't. Mark Kelly is a border hawk six months out of every six years. What do we do about the cartels? We had Mike Pompeo on recently, and he just, you know, his opinion was we have to go straight after the cartels. What is your opinion? If you're a U.S. senator, what do we do about the cartels? Is there a clear and present danger to our country and our youth?

They absolutely are. The first thing you can do is stop working with them as a business partner. Joe Biden and Mark Kelly, they're really acting like business partners to the Mexican drug cartels. Cartels profits, I think they made $500 million from human smuggling in 2018. Now they're making $13 billion from human smuggling. That's up by a factor of 20.

And it's because Joe Biden and Mark Kelly threw the border open. If the cartel members could vote in this election, 100% of them would vote for Mark Kelly because Mark Kelly gives them everything they want. So the first step is let's stop making it so easy. Let's reimplement the policies that we had just three years ago. Let's finish the border wall. Let's hire those 18,000 more border patrol agents. I'm a tech guy, right? I want drones and advanced imaging, thermal imaging cameras on every inch of the border.

One of the things, Blake, I think a lot of people who aren't here in Arizona or aren't familiar with the border don't understand is the cartels actually have better tech on our border for their use than our Border Patrol does.

That's right. Yeah. And that's just an issue of political will. You know, we got to support our border patrol. We hadn't look, it's policy too. Let's just re-implement remain in Mexico. Let's end this crazy catch and release that forbids deporting anybody. Right. But then after all that, once we kind of plug the hole and stop the bleeding, then I think we have to go on offense. I do think the cartels should be designated and considered terrorist organization. You know,

Look at the fentanyl that they're sending through. If the cartels were lobbing rockets, like Hamas lobbies rockets into Israel all the time,

If that's what the cartel were doing and it was killing young people in Arizona, killing anybody in Arizona, we would respond with force. Our military would get engaged. We would designate the cartels as terrorists and go after them. Well, this fentanyl is doing the same thing. It's just silent. It's just a deadly killer. We have only about a minute left. I'm going to ask you real quick. You're coming back in the next segment, Blake Masters, running for U.S. Senate in Arizona.

But interesting. I mean, that's a great point you bring up because if we had them lobbing rockets into this country, we'd be using the iron dome. Same thing that Israel does. We'd be stopping most of those rockets. They would be killing fewer people right now if they were bombing us than they are with fentanyl. This fentanyl is, you know, it's poison. I've stopped using the term overdose to talk about fentanyl deaths because the more apt term is poison. Uh,

This stuff is coming from China. China, the Chinese Communist Party, they ship the precursor chemicals over into Mexico. The narcos, the drug cartels, compound this stuff up and send it right through our border. 90% of this poison is coming right through our southern border. And Joe Biden and Mark Kelly are not doing a single thing to stop it. So you have to conclude, for whatever reason, they like it this way. That's the last word for this segment. Breaking Battlegrounds coming right back.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren, with Sam Stone. Today, our guest is Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona, Blake Masters. Blake was raised in Tucson, married his middle school sweetheart. Not just high school, middle school sweetheart. He lives there now, raising three sons with his beautiful wife, and he's running against Mark Kelly, a...

disciple of Joe Biden who votes with them 94% of the time. Folks, we're going to get into this real quick. Is inflation eating your retirement?

If it is, that's not good because it's eating everybody's retirement. So we suggest you go look at Yrefy.com. That's R-E-F-Y.com or call 855-316-3087 where you can get interest rate returns of up to 10.25%. Tell them Chuck and Sam sent you. Again, visit R-E-F-Y.com or call 855-316-3087. All right, Blake, thanks.

If I watch the morning news in Arizona, you're going to kick grandma on the street. You're going to dissolve Social Security. No one's going to get their check that they put into the system. And, you know, dogs and cats will be raining from the sky. What are they lying about on your record?

Well, Mark Kelly is just lying about my views on Social Security. He's doing it because he's insecure. He knows that the crushing inflation that he and Joe Biden have caused, that is by far the greatest threat to seniors' retirement today. So he's insecure about it, and therefore he's lying about me to try to terrify people so he can win an election. No, no, no. I don't want to cut Social Security. We can never cut Social Security. I agree with President Trump.

Republicans have been talking about this, Paul Ryan or whatever. No, they're wrong. We can never cut Social Security benefits. I'm committed to shoring up the system and saving it because, you know what, seniors have paid into this. People have built their whole financial lives around the assurances that the government gave them. And we're going to honor those obligations. We can never cut Social Security benefits. In fact, I think they should immediately not be taxable anymore.

That's actually compensated for this crushing inflation that Joe Biden and Mark Kelly are causing. Now, look, I'm looking for ways to save the system long term. My three children, my boys are eight, six, and two, don't necessarily feel like they're on track to get Social Security. There's some long-term challenges. So I've proposed, hey, let's take young people. You could draw the line at, say, 30 years old and completely supplemental, completely additional to Social Security. Don't change the system, but enable a new class of private retirement accounts.

where people can squirrel as much money away as they want, tax-free on the way in, tax-free on the way out. Let's encourage young people to become a generation of savers. Invest that money over time. And maybe by the time they're 65, they're doing great, and they won't need Social Security. All the more left for the people who do need it. So I think we need some innovative thinking like that. Mark Kelly here at that, and then he cuts a negative attack. Blake wants to steal your Social Security. No, it's just the opposite. It's Mark Kelly who is...

who is ruining people's financial lives today with his crazy, demented economic policies. It's always the opposite. Have you noticed that the left calls us what they actually are? They say, well, you're a racist. If you stand up for parents and say, hey, we shouldn't have mandatory COVID vaccines for three-year-olds, they'll say, oh, you're an authoritarian. It's always the opposite. Well, that's how it is here. Mark Kelly's attacking me because

He's vulnerable. He knows he's destroyed Arizona seniors' retirement savings. I say Democrats look in the mirror in the morning and accuse Republicans of being what they see. That's it. Paging Sigmund Freud, right? What is the United States federal government's responsibility on law and order? We know there's local police, there's budgets for the mayor's office. Sam's really up to speed on this.

But what is your role as a U.S. senator to stop the increase in crime? And it's happening. And as much as they try to play with numbers, it's happening. It's real. I mean, you can't go to me. I've been in Chicago this year, Philadelphia, New York. I'm telling you, people talk about it. Chuck, let me throw this out there because I've been watching this. And, Blake, I know we're kind of coming at you with a new one here, but.

The federal government across the board, the IRS, Department of Homeland Security, but also then a lot of ones you wouldn't expect, like the Department of Agriculture, are adding huge numbers of armed agents, armed federal agents and all those agencies. Would we not be better off simply not having those people being hired and giving that money in block grants to local police departments across this country?

Oh, absolutely. I'm worried about this trend where every single federal agency needs to have its own police force, right? The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not need to be buying 10,000 shotguns or whatever.

Department of Education buying millions of rounds of ammunition. Education. Even scarier, right? And look, so I agree with what you just said, Sam. I also think that a lot of this lawlessness, it does start at the southern border. You know, right here in Arizona, we've got this wide open border. We drove the brunt of that. Sentinel, illegal aliens, but just the crime, the lawlessness. And you look at Phoenix, homicide in Phoenix is up huge, 50%.

Yep. Compared to just 2019, right? 55%, yeah. In Tucson, homicides up 87% since 2019. That means almost double the number of people are getting murdered. And, you know, the press wants to say, well, that's totally disconnected from the southern border. Most of these people we're arresting for these crimes aren't illegal aliens. Looks like, you know, what about the ones who were not arresting? They disappear. But also just the culture of lawlessness at the border. Like when people see that...

we're not enforcing federal law. You know, when people see that, hey, even at the local level, when you shoplift, nothing bad happens to you. This culture of lawlessness, it's corrosive to the rule of law. And surprise, surprise, pretty soon you start to see a huge uptick in

in very, very serious crime. So I think we need to seal the border. I do think we need to demilitarize a lot of these federal agencies that have no natural policing function. And we need to just regain a culture of law and order. And, you know, half the job of a U.S. senator, I think a lot of them don't

actually use their cultural power, but it's like educate people, use this cultural power. Yes, you have to vote the right way on legislation that comes across your desk. Yes, you should be introducing good bills and trying to pass them, but what about just speaking out? Again,

against this culture of defund the police. We need to be funding our police, hiring more police, supporting them, right? Calling out these left-wing prosecutors that don't want to put away people who hurt people. And I'm going to champion this, you know, whether it's in legislation or going on Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan, right? We need to regain the will to slap the handcuffs on people who do bad things.

Well, and when you do, the results are immediate. I mean, we've seen this in New York and a handful of other places. We only have a couple of minutes left here. Blake Masters running for U.S. Senate in Arizona. Blake, make your final, you got a minute, make your final argument to voters why they should support you over Mark Kelly and make sure you give your information how folks can stay in touch with you.

Thank you, Sam. Let me invite you to just look around. Just take stock of where we are. If you like the way things are going, if you think you're better off now than you were three years ago, if you look at that wide open southern border and you like all the illegal immigration, all the fentanyl and all the crime, if you like paying too much for gas or groceries, if the prospect is $8, $10 a gallon gasoline, if that excites you, hey, I don't know what's wrong with you.

But to each his own. There's a U.S. Senate candidate for you who could vote for Mark Kelly because he's delivered these problems. And if you give him any more time to implement Biden's agenda, he'll do so much worse. But if you and your family, if you think you deserve better, then let's vote for a change in November. Vote Republican up and down the ticket. Send me to D.C. to replace Mark Kelly, and I will actually fight for Arizonans and Arizona families. Can't wait to have that opportunity.

Fantastic. Blake Masters, how do folks stay in touch with your campaign and how do they support you? Very simple. Just go to BlakeMasters.com, ship in what you can, sign up to volunteer. We're going to sprint for the next 18 days and win back the Senate seats to the people of Arizona. BlakeMasters.com. Fantastic. Blake Masters, thank you so much. Love to have you back again. Good luck. We're all rooting for you. Breaking Battlegrounds, back in just a moment.

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Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. And we are welcoming back friend of the program, Congressman Drew Ferguson. Congressman Ferguson represents Georgia's third congressional district. He is the chief deputy whip for House Republicans and serves on Ways and Means. Would make a fantastic whip. Fingers crossed. Yes, absolutely. Congressman Ferguson, so tell us, how do you think the election plays out for Republicans coming up November?

Look, I think we're headed to a good spot. I think Republicans take back the majority in the House. I think there's still a shot we take the majority in the Senate. And as I look around the nation, I'm seeing the impact of big government socialist policies that have been implemented by this administration today.

and House Democrats in particular. I'm looking at what's happening to American families right now, and it's not good.

the price of everything is too high. What you used to pay $200 a month for in the grocery store is now $420 a month. When you put $100 worth of gas in your car, it hurts. And now with winter coming on, we are going to see families having to choose between rent, power, and food on the table. And there

Parents are worried about that. They're scared about the crime that is just ravaging this nation. Look, Julie,

Julie and I still have three teenagers under the roof, and our greatest fear is that they quote-unquote experiment with something, and it's like fentanyl, and we get that horrible call that no parent wants to get. And if you look at the border, the insecurity at the border, the human trafficking, the drug trafficking, the defund the police movement, these DAs that aren't prosecuting,

and cashless bail, you understand that Americans are fearful for where they are right now. And that fear is going to drive Americans to the polls in record numbers because what Joe Biden said he was going to do and what he's done don't line up. And the American voter is going to take it out on the Democrats at the polls in November. Congressman, I love what you were just saying, but the one thing I'm concerned about is do Republicans –

Are we doing enough to or messaging well enough that all of those things you're just talking about are the direct result of Democrat policies? These are intentional outcomes in many cases of Democrat policies.

Look, I think Americans are pretty intuitive, and we saw some very early polling numbers last year that showed that we didn't have to convince Americans that the American Rescue Plan and things like a Build Back Better plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, which is just –

the worst name on the planet for a bill because it really is not it it goes in the opposite direction but americans know intuitively when government spends too much prices go up um and look nobody it's no secret to the america to the american uh worker in the american family who's responsible for these ridiculous energy costs it is

It is Joe Biden and this Green New Deal economy that he's trying to force down the throats of our fellow Americans. He's the one that canceled the Keystone Pipeline on day one. He's the one that basically banned offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. He is the one that banned drilling in Alaska. He is the one that cut off the permit process. He is the one that green-lighted the Nord Stream 2 pipeline for Russia to sell gas to Europe.

Americans know this. Before we end, we have two minutes left in this first segment here with you, Congressman. Tell us quickly here, sir, what's going on in Georgia as Governor Kemp win reelection, Herschel Walker. What do you see happening there?

Yeah, I think Governor Kemp is going to win re-election. I think he gets over 50%. People throw wild numbers out there. Landslide election in Georgia these days is about three points. So, you know, I think it probably winds up there. Maybe it's better. You know, if

Herschel Walker, a trend, he's got an outside shot to beat Raphael Warnock with a Libertarian candidate there, and I think that race very well could go to a runoff.

Yeah, it seems likely that that one will head to a runoff, but Kemp looks like he's in a very good position. And I think that's on December 4th, a runoff. Is that correct, Congressman? That would be correct. And just so all the listeners are keeping the perspective here, this would be a runoff runoff.

potentially for control of the Senate again. As Yogi Berra said, it's like deja vu all over again. I think that just be prepared for that runoff in Georgia to control the Senate. So it could be a very interesting December. I think voters need to be paying very close attention to Arizona and Georgia, not just this year, but for probably quite a few years to come.

We're going to be going to a break here in just a moment. When we come back, we're going to have more with Congressman Drew Ferguson. We're going to be talking a little bit more about inflation, the borders, and the mess Joe Biden is making in this country. Breaking Battlegrounds coming back in just a moment. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Moran. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, are you concerned with stock market volatility? Is your portfolio getting eaten alive by Biden inflation like mine is?

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Fantastic opportunity. Chuck, as we're coming back, more with Congressman Drew Ferguson from Georgia's 3rd Congressional District, right now Chief Deputy Whip for the House Republicans, and a friend of this program and someone we're hoping will be the whip one day. Absolutely. Congressman, Republicans get a majority. What are their top three priorities for a Republican-controlled House?

Well, I think that we have to address the things that are hurting Americans the most right now. Obviously, the price of energy is through the roof. So I think refocusing on American energy independence, making sure that the policies are in place that drive down the cost of energy. And look, we're going to have a battle with Senate Democrats and we're going to have a battle with the White House over this.

But we have to restore energy independence to America for a variety of reasons. I think that's one. Border security. If you look at what's happening coming across the border, Joe Biden's border crisis is really making America much less safe, whether it's fentanyl, whether it's –

trafficking, whether it's known terror, people on the terrorist watch list coming across. And then the economic impact that having, you know, millions of new people coming into the country that we don't know who they are. We don't know they, you know, what,

what jobs they can have. We just don't know any of that. And so we know the economic impact of this could be very high as well. So I think focusing on energy independence, I think focusing on border security,

And then, look, I think Americans are just kind of have had enough of the federal government's just horrible overreach ever since the pandemic started. And, I mean, it's in everything from looking at the Department of Justice and, you know, you kind of see what's beginning to come out with the Durham report.

Durham report and where the FBI has been on some of this stuff. I think really making sure that we do the oversight to look at how these agencies have made these horrific decisions that have had such negative impact on Americans' lives. I think that's where, I think those are the areas that we're really going to be focused on. Congressman, we're with Congressman Drew Ferguson, Georgia 3rd Congressional District. Congressman, one thing I always like about you is that being a former small business owner, a dentist, a former mayor,

You seem to come from the real world. A lot of guests we have who've been in Congress or so forth don't. And so you made a comment to me that Sam and I both raised our eyebrows. You have three children still in your house and you're concerned about fentanyl.

He has three teenagers, Chuck. And given the inflation, three teenagers can eat you out of house and home even without Biden inflation. Exactly. So you have three teenagers at home, and obviously this is something you and your better half have discussed, is the fentanyl crisis. Do you have people in your district or when you're on the road mention fentanyl?

They're concerned about this a lot. Do you hear this a lot? Yes. And look, when you have 100,000 of our fellow Americans that died last year from opioid overdose, it's hard for it not to touch Americans.

a given community. I'll give you an example. I was doing a campaign event at someone's house here in the district. Nice couple hosted it for us, and we were talking about this issue. And the host looked at me and he said, Drew, you're spot on with this. There are three families in this room tonight that have either lost a child or grandchild due to fentanyl. How many people are in the room? So

Gosh, I think they were probably 25. Oh, my gosh.

And look, this fentanyl crisis, it knows no socioeconomic borders. It touches all of us. And it's horrific. It's really horrific. And the only people that are winning right now with Joe Biden's border policies are the Mexican drug cartels and the Chinese cartels.

Exactly. Kylie, our producer here, and I were in a focus group two weeks ago on a Sunday, and we have about 26 people. And on another merit, and this really stood out to us, the fear in their eyes about their economic future was palpable. And we asked, as I'm listening to them, and they're discussing what they have to cut from their budgets to afford gas and groceries. And

It just came to my mind, I asked, well, how many of you here have had a relative move in with you over the last three months because they couldn't afford rent? We had about, what, 25, 26 people there. Seven raised their hands. This is in Tempe, Arizona. This is not a low-income area, basically. That's a very wealthy community. Seven people raised their hands out of 26 people.

I mean, that is a concern. And one of the I had talked to a donor who does a lot for Republican candidates. And his concern was that we're going to get off track on investigating this or that. And what will you do as part of the leadership to say, guys, we got to focus on what matters to these people? Border inflation, you know, those things. What can you do?

Look, we have to – we are going to have a phenomenal freshman class that comes in after this election. Great men and women, very diverse backgrounds, a lot of veterans, highest number of minority and female candidates that we will have ever had elected into the Republican ranks. And that's on top.

of already a talented freshman class. And Chuck and Sam, I want to give you this number that I think is pretty stunning. It will be pretty stunning to people. If we have a 23 seat majority in the House, which I think is reasonable expectation, if we have a 23 seat majority, 74 percent of House Republicans will have been elected for the first time since 2016. That is that is actually that is a stunning number.

And 54% of this group will have never seen anything normal in Congress, meaning they've only seen pandemic voting. They've only seen remote committee work. The reason I say this to answer your question is that these two freshman classes – and going back to the sophomore class and my class that came in in 2016 –

are laser focused on passing legislation that puts this country and our fellow citizens first. Sure, we have a responsibility and a duty to do oversight and to investigate this administration, and we should do that because it's part of a normal functioning government process. But make no mistake, the message that we hear loud and clear from our constituents is

loud and clear is we're sick and tired of paying too much for everything. We're sick and tired of being afraid to send our kids out into a park. We're sick and tired of worrying about things like, will the candy that my kids get for Halloween be laced with fentanyl? Americans have had enough. We are chomping at the bit as House Republicans to show that we have the policies and can put the policies in place that

that build an economy that is incredibly strong, that ensures a safe place for Americans to live and work, and ensures that Americans have a future that's built on freedom. We can do all of those things. And I think if you listen to what our candidates are saying right now across the country, that is their number one focus, because they know that the reason that they're going to get a chance to serve is that the Democrats have not only not listened to them, they've pushed the wrong direction.

What do we do about Iran? Now they're supplying the Russians with drones. They're, you know, they're a terrorist state. What do we do about Iran? Well, the first thing that we don't do is allow them to go back into an Iran nuclear deal. Then it's worse than what Obama put in place that guarantees that they'll have a nuclear weapon. I mean, look, this again, why are we why are we?

allowing Iran and Saudi Arabia and Russia and Venezuela to be the ones supplying the world with fossil fuels. This is crazy. It's environmentally unfriendly because they certainly don't have the environmental standards that we do. That's number one. And number two, you're enriching the people that are terrorizing the world.

So, again, if you want to deal with Iran, don't give them hundreds of billions of dollars of cash to allow them to continue to do their nefarious activities in a new nuclear deal. But also, let's cripple their economy by putting American energy and American energy workers first. How quickly, given this new Congress, I mean, how much can you do to expand American energy exploration, given that

Even with all the pain Americans are feeling, the Biden administration seems clear that they intend to continue to crack down on the ability to produce oil and gas in this country. Well, I think when we win a resounding victory in November and we have a pretty solid election,

I think it's going to show the House Democrats in particular and this administration that they do not have a mandate to turn this country into a socialist nation. They don't have a mandate to chase, you know, to go chase this this this crazy green agenda that absolutely makes no sense whatsoever. And I'm open that that shock will will pull some of them back to reality. That's number one.

Number two, look, Americans have said we have had enough. So at what point – we have to be very thoughtful in where we find the right leverage points, and we have to be thoughtful about where we put the appropriate pressure on the administration through the legislation.

process with either appropriations or other must-pass bills where we absolutely break the will of this administration to continue to push it with this fantasy that they continue to pursue. In terms of doing that, Republicans have repeatedly backed down because, you know, at some point you'll probably be required to shut down the government.

And Democrats win that fight in the press every time. And largely it's because the trash cans start overflowing at the National Monument. Are Republicans ready to take that battle on and to call for help? I mean, if you if you send out a call to Republicans across this country to come clean up Washington, D.C., they would probably do it. Right.

Sure, absolutely. Yeah, look, I think as we go through this, we know that America is fast approaching a breaking point. And we're going to have to operate with a significant amount of political courage. But I

But I think you don't just shut the government down over nilly-willy stuff. I think you've got to do the hard work. You've got to draw the contrast, and you've got to build the case with the American people and

And quite candidly, in my world, from my point of view, we pass very clean bills that say, if we do this, the price of gas is going down. If we do this, the price of food is going down. If we do this, the price to heat your home is going down. If we do those things, we do them well, then the American, I think the vast number of our fellow Americans are going to demand that the administration change course.

Quickly here, as we have two minutes left in this segment, and we appreciate your time greatly today, Congressman, has the Biden White House in the last two years, as Speaker Pelosi, do they even try to reach across the aisle and get your guys' two cents? No, no, they don't. I have, particularly

particularly for, I can give you firsthand the, the ways and means committee, um, uh, the house house Democrats on the ways and means committee have had virtually no say, um, in the legislation that comes through, that comes through our committee. Everything comes through the speaker's office, which is prearranged with Chuck Schumer in the Senate and, um, who, whoever is running the show behind the scenes at the, at, at the white house. Um,

This is what one party rule looks like and feels like. This is what, you know, this is what big government socialism is all about, which is total control of the politics and people's lives. Americans have had enough of it. It's time to end one party rule in D.C. under this administration. And let's bring some sanity back to the conversation.

We'll let that more or less be the final word. But the last last word is how do folks stay in touch with you? How do they follow the good work you're doing?

Look, we've got a Facebook page, a Twitter account, at Rep Drew Ferguson. We've got the normal social media means. It's probably the best way to follow us. And let's just keep an eye on this majority that's coming in November. Got to keep a real close eye on them. They're slippery, breaking battlegrounds. We're also slippery, and we're coming back on your air next week.

Welcome to the podcast-only segment of Breaking Battlegrounds with your hosts Sam Stone and Chuck Warren. Some new snazzier music because we actually got in copyright trouble for using the clip we kept using. Chuck, we're lawbreakers. We are. Rebels without a cause. In studio though with us right now, a guy we're excited to talk to, Timothy Sandefur, Goldwater Institute Vice President for Legal Affairs.

which means you get to do a lot of fighting with local and state governments across this country. That's right. I sue the government for a living, and it's the greatest job in the world. He said it with such great pride and enthusiasm, too. It's why I went to law school. See, and I just love that.

Did you know that when you went to law school saying, I want to just sue government? I did. I was in college and I heard a speech by a lawyer who worked for an organization that did this kind of work. And I said, that's what I want to do with my life. So I went to law school in order to do it. Now, see, there's two types of lawsuits against government. This is the honorable type. This is the I'm fighting for the public type.

The other type is the one we get when they trip at City Hall and demand $37 million. Yes, I should say. The Goldwater Institute is focused on defending constitutional rights, limited government, individual freedoms, private property, economic liberty, that sort of thing. And they have done a fantastic job here in Phoenix and across the country. Well, they are the premier think tank in litigation, think tank in the country. We certainly aspire to that. Well, nothing to aspire to. That's just a fact. We know a lot of them. There's no aspiration here. They aspire to be Goldwater. Right.

Well, we were founded almost 35 years ago now with the senator's blessing, and we have struggled to make sure that we are true to his vision of limited government and the defense of freedom. Can I ask you a question? That's a good question, since he gave his blessing to use his name. Is there sometimes when you have issues come up and people say, that's not Goldwater's vision, that's not what...

We're named after that's the vision. Oh, yeah, certainly. Sometimes there are issues out there that might play well with certain crowds, but that aren't really in the service of our vision of individual liberty. And we don't touch on those sorts of things. And we try to maintain our focus. It's very easy for any ideologically oriented organization to kind of get distracted. And you can end up doing too much, have too many fingers in the pie, and then you accomplish nothing. And as the old saying has it,

If the water table is 30 feet down, it does not matter how many 20-foot wells you dig. So in litigation, for instance, in our lawsuits, we very often find ourselves going back over and over again to the courts with the same kind of case because it's a lot of work and a long haul in litigation. At this U.S. Supreme Court gift shop, they sell ties with little pictures of turtles on them to symbolize how slow the law is.

So that's the way it is sometimes in the government. You have to bring the same case basically over and over again sometimes before you win. And that only makes it all the more gratifying when you finally do win. And folks, if you go on YouTube and you watch this video, you're going to see Tim is wearing a little Goldwater pin on his lapel. Yeah, that's right. Which is a fantastic pin. I'm pretty sure that's the same decoration that Kate Gallego, the mayor of Phoenix, uses as the bullseye on her doorstep.

Because you guys have been wrecking Phoenix's liberal fantasies for decades now. Well, no, no, no, no, no. Reality wrecks liberal fantasies. We're simply along to cheer the process along.

along the way. We have a lot of Goldwater for President, Goldwater for Senator buttons and pins around the office. I always try to make it a point to wear one. I love it. I love it. Now, tell us about the lawsuit you're involved in right now, because this is actually kind of a groundbreaking lawsuit nationwide, but it's an important one for precedents, not just in Arizona, but all across this country.

Yeah. So this is a case that was filed a couple months ago now challenging the city of Phoenix's failure to enforce restrictions on – not just to enforce restrictions on homeless populations sleeping on the streets, but to actually –

basically cordon the homeless population into an area of Phoenix that has now become one of the largest homeless encampments in the country. They call it the zone. About a thousand people now living on the streets of Phoenix. And as a result, there's violence going on. There's people are dying. People are being beaten. There's people are defecating and urinating on the streets and in the sidewalks, which is causing pollution. And it's ruining the businesses in the area, which can't

get customers to come down there. And so a lot of the business and property owners have filed a suit against the city of Phoenix for maintaining what is called a public nuisance. A nuisance, of course, is when you're using your property in a way that harms the general public.

A public nuisance is a little bit different. A public nuisance means when the government itself is maintaining an activity on its property that is harming the general society in a way that, frankly, just violates the law. Among other things, it violates environmental law that prohibits pollution like this from going on within walking distance of the Salt River.

Well, and San Francisco just had a big thing with – was it red blooming algae or a fish die off? I think it was fish dying off, right? And they were blaming it on global warming and then they dug into it and it's because of the untreated feces and urine running into –

San Francisco Bay from their homeless encampments. And you're right, we have the Salt River right there. The city's job, the government's job, is supposed to be to defend people's rights and enforce the law. And by failing to do that, what it's doing is basically the city is our understanding.

We have been told that city officials have instructed the police not to enforce the law in this area and to stand back and basically ordered them to go on strike against the public safety. I can tell you that is absolutely a fact. From my contacts within the Phoenix Police Department, that is 100 percent fact.

And the result of that, of course, is to violate the rights of the citizens, the taxpaying, hardworking citizens who are trying to run businesses in this area to provide for themselves and their families. They are the innocent victims in this scenario. They didn't cause the homeless problem. It's wrong to impose this cost on them against their will and against the law when the law already prohibits vagrancy and loitering and the kind of violence and pollution that's going on in this area.

And there are things the city could do to address this problem, right? Of course. This is not an insurmountable problem. What are some examples, Sam, of what they could do? Well, I mean, for one thing, you can create a closed campus for them to stay on, whether that's shelter beds, whether it's

There are a whole number of things you can do there. And there's property downtown. You can do that, obviously. Yeah, there's property downtown. You could do that. The city could go ahead and buy the St. Joseph's Hospital on Van Buren that is still up for sale, that is empty right now, that could be used for these services. There's a lot of things they can do.

In fact, in the complaint that's been filed in the court, it lists some of those examples and says here are some alternatives that the city could do if it decided to enforce the law. And here's an interesting legal tidbit is that camping on a city street or something, that's illegal. It's a nuisance.

But a homeless shelter is not a nuisance. A homeless shelter that's maintained properly and so that people have their rights and their interests protected in a way that the law provides for, those are not a nuisance. If the city were to spend some of the $70 million it's been given by the federal government to provide for this sort of thing, if it were to – instead of sitting on the money like it's doing now, if it were to spend that to solve the immediate crisis, we would see an improvement.

If it would allow the police to enforce the law in this area, we would see improvement. Instead, what we're seeing is that the city is maintaining one of the largest nuisances on the western coast of the United States. Why are they setting on the $70 million? I mean, what do they plan to do? It's being eaten up by all their insider groups and

Well, my understanding – and again, this is what I've been told. This is a rumor, so I can't prove this. But my understanding is just what you said earlier, liberal schemes of general social blah, blah, blah, in that the idea is, well, no, we need to fix our housing policy in the city and create a low-income housing and so forth. All right, fine.

even if you accept that that's true, there is a crisis going on right now in this city. It needs to be addressed right now in the city instead of holding it over people's heads as some kind of political game. Well, and what's amazing about this, it is a crisis.

So we all know Kate Gallego had a meltdown about COVID, right? I mean, clearly lost her mind. Okay, so she viewed this crisis. Why would you not view this as much as a crisis? I mean, this is a... And you're not even talking about the city of Phoenix. Take out the small business owners who it's affecting.

It's not good for these people living on the streets. Of course. This is not compassion. It's inhumane. It's not compassion. And these are the same people that moan and groan about the poor migrants coming across the border, which we all agree these people are sacrificing, right? There's a real problem with the border down there. But this is no... These people...

are really in danger health-wise crime-wise i mean when you when when you say well maybe what the city ought to do is allow the police to enforce the law here the response on the left is don't you have any compassion for these people well having a thousand people in camping on city streets

and in the process destroying family businesses in the area. How is that compassion? That's not compassion at all. I want to throw in some statistics, some things we know about that. We love statistics. Which we do, right? Which we do. So if you are a female who ends up down in the zone, single female, your chances of being raped or sex trafficked within 24 hours are 80%. Really? 80%. Here's another one that we know for a fact.

that there is almost all the crime that is occurring against the homeless population. 90% is being committed by other members of the homeless population. Oh, certainly. And so there's a big news story every time. Well, they know who's most vulnerable. A homeless person knows who's vulnerable in their street. No, and that's right. And so all of these things we're ignoring.

Our violence, murder, mayhem occurring largely against this population because we refuse to enforce. And this zone is so large. We're talking about it's starting to I mean, it's approaching the ASU campus downtown. Right. It's it's within easy walking distance of the state Supreme Court. It's what about 10 square blocks now from what I can tell. That's right.

Ten square blocks. Well, I just drove past it the other day and you can see this block after block of people living in tents. And what goes on in these tents is very often violent and self-destructive behavior. And I was – I mean I'm sort of laughing and sort of not. But when we went down – I think most folks know I'm part of Carrie Lake's campaign. When we went down and did a press conference there about this issue –

All these reporters who came to that press conference, their first question as they were showing up is, well, I got to be able to park where I can see the vehicle while we're holding the press conference. Their number one concern was being able to keep their vehicle inside of themselves. Can you blame them? I don't. But what I blame them for is the coverage they then tried to roll out, dismissing all this. Like, you won't let your bloody newsman out of your sight. You got to be tethered to it there. Yeah.

But that's okay. It's just everyone else can kind of just live in this. And the city's response to this lawsuit that's been filed, the city has filed a motion to throw this case out on the grounds that, well, you can't force the city to enforce, to act under its discretion. We have the discretion to choose what budget priorities we're going and what laws need to be enforced more than others. And these things call for political judgment and you can't force our hand. Well,

OK, fine. But we can say that you have an obligation to enforce the law. And it's not just that the city is allowing other people to engage in nuisances. It's that the city itself has created this nuisance. It has basically cordoned off this area or not even cordoned off. It's created this area and not cordoned it off. They designated this, like you said, by telling Phoenix PD not to enforce the law in this area. Right.

They did it by telling all the service providers and the homeless population there that they wouldn't enforce the law in that area and that it would be a free-for-all. And there you can go. You can get your services. You can get meals.

And you've got all your drug dealers right at hand. So this is just a self-perpetuating open air drug market and that is saturated with violence and horror. One of the legal precedents that we point to in our brief is in the 1930s, the city maintained a sewage treatment facility in downtown Phoenix, which was poorly maintained and poorly designed and polluted the Salt River area.

And they were sued for maintaining a nuisance. And the court ruled in favor of the property owners and said, yes, this is a public nuisance. And the court said, look, everybody knows you have to have a sewage treatment plant, but you can't run it in a way that that that pollutes and causes danger to the public. The same principle applies here. You've got to treat the homeless. They're always there. You have to do something to help them. But you can't do it in such a way that violates people's rights and contributes to pollution.

So I have two questions, one for you, Sam, one for you, Tim. First of all, Sam, how much does the city of Phoenix spend annually on homelessness? It's about now it's over $20,000 per homeless person per year. So what they're always going to say is conservatives have a cold heart. Has any conservative come out and say we need to spend less on them? No, but let's look at Los Angeles, Los Angeles County that are going to be spending $250,000 per homeless person per year. And tell me how much more spending is going to help.

Well, it's not. I mean, that's the question. Tim, you talked about the brief you filed. I think one thing our audience would like to understand is we hear all the time about lawsuits and briefs. What is the process on this you're doing now, the city thing? Explain it to them, you know, directly.

Dummy's Guide to Sam and Chuck Understanding the Law. Explain to our audience and us what is the process. You filed this brief. What's the timeline? The Dummy's Guide and Sam and Chuck Understanding the Law are the same thing. Like all other lawsuits, the lawsuit begins with a complaint that you file with the judge. And along with that complaint, the plaintiffs have filed a motion for preliminary injunction. A preliminary injunction is asking the judge to issue a temporary order that takes some kind of immediate action, like

You know you're going to be hurt some way, so you ask the judge to issue an order preventing you from being hurt until after the trial is held and the court can hear all the arguments. So that's basically where the case stands right now. The complaint was filed. The city has asked the judge to throw the case out, and the plaintiffs have asked the judge to issue an order right away that will say, you have to enforce the laws immediately, and then we can address the bigger legal issues later on down the road. There's going to be a hearing next week.

on both of those things, on whether the case can go forward at all, and if so, whether the judge should issue this temporary order immediately commanding the city to enforce the law. Okay, perfect. Well, we wish you luck on that one because I think it's a critical issue and this lawsuit could really help pave the way for citizens in other cities. Oh, yes. In fact, that is already, there are some lawsuits that are going on in some other cities in Seattle and Portland. Remember the CHOP, or was it CHES, or whatever, the Autonomous...

They kept changing the name of it.

And that was a federal case. And the court allowed that case to proceed. I think it's still being litigated right now. So there is already precedent where other cities this has been done. And we're, of course, relying on some of those cases and saying Phoenix really needs to do its job and stop taking away the legal and constitutional rights of the property owners in this area.

That's fantastic. Well, Tim, we appreciate you joining us today. Thank you. This was very helpful. Where can people learn more about the Goldwater Institute? Our website is goldwaterinstitute.org. We also have a blog there where we cover this and all of the dozens of other cases that we have going on right now against, not just in Phoenix and Arizona, but across the country. All right. One last question. Since you went to law school, got fired up to sue governments, what have you learned about this process since you've been doing this for a while now?

About suing? What's the process? What have I learned about suing the government? What have you learned and what has surprised you about it? What has surprised me about it is, so government lawyers, I mean, I don't want to cast too much shade on my government lawyer friends. Yeah, I do. But government lawyers know one kind of law. They know the law that says you can't sue the government.

There's all sorts of different laws out there that say you're not allowed to sue the government. And that's primarily what they spend their time on. You have to get past that hurdle and say, well, none of those reasons apply here, so I am allowed to sue you. Once you do that, you're kind of on easy street in most cases. Oh, that's amazing. So that kind of came as a surprise to me. Interesting. Well, Tim, thanks a million for joining us, folks. Thank you. Visit thegoldwaterinstitute.org, learn more. And if you like what they do, contribute.

You guys can always use money, right? Yes. We are supported entirely by donations from people who agree with the work that we do. So please check us out. And if you like the stuff you see there, please send us a few. And where can people follow you on social media? Oh, I have a Twitter account, Facebook, all the stories. It doesn't take much. Just search my name on Google, Timothy Sandefur. Find out about my brand new book. Spell your last name. Remember, public education is not the greatest right now. Just spell your last name. S-A-N-D-E-F-U-R.

And you can find out more information about me and my colleagues that way. Thank you, Tim. Fantastic. Timothy Sandefur, Goldwater Institute. Pleasure having you on the program today. Thanks. The political field is all about reputation. So don't let someone squash yours online. Secure your name and political future with a yourname.vote web address from godaddy.com. Your political career depends on it.