At the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference, we sit down with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to discuss his hopes for a Trump 2024 Run, why he believes the Equality Act threatens religious liberty, and how to combat cancel culture.
I hope he runs again. He changed that town in so many ways. If he gets another four years,
he will continue to do the good work. We'll just have to wait and see if he does, but
I hope he does.
You're at CPAC 2021 with Congressman Jim Jordan.
Good to be with you.
Very good to be with you here. Many, many topics we could talk about. You're very vocal
on a whole suite of policy issues. Let's talk about this. This is something you've been
criticized for a bit. You've basically said that Donald J. Trump is the leader of the
Republican Party.
He sure is.
How does that work?
He's the leader of the conservative movement. He's the leader of the America First movement.
He's the leader of the Republican Party. Frankly, I hope in 2025, he's once again the leader
of our country. No one, no president in our lifetime, in my lifetime, has done more of
what they said they would do when they were president than President Trump. He said he
cut taxes, he said he reduced regulations, he said he had the best economy in 50 years,
lowest unemployment in 50 years, out of the Iran deal, embassy in Jerusalem, hostages
home from North Korea, new NAFTA agreement, built the wall, and a host of other things
I can't think of right now.
This guy went to that town, took on the swamp, did what he said he did, and that's why the
American people so appreciate him because he fought for them, fought for us. He is certainly
the leader of our party.
He faced, and frankly, you also faced this to some extent. Huge, huge backlash as well,
right?
Yeah. The swamp doesn't like it when you come there and do what the people want. The swamp
wants you to do what the swamp wants. So often what happens in politics is someone will say
a certain thing at election time, get to D.C., and then pretend they're doing what they said
they would do, not do what they said they would do, make excuses for not doing what
they told you they were going to do. President Trump got there and says, why don't I just
do it? And he did. Again, middle class, working class people across this country, citizens,
all kinds of families across this country appreciate that. Here was a guy who said he
would build the wall, for example, and went and built the wall. They knew he was fighting
for them. They knew it was genuine, that he believed it. They knew he was taking all the
shots for them as well. That's why there's this intensity of support for the president.
Let's talk about building the wall. When I heard about building the wall way back when,
I didn't actually think a wall would be built. I'm just being honest here. A wall was built,
at least some sections of wall were built, and a transformation of the immigration policy,
unquestionably. Some of that is changing again. You've been critical of that. Tell me about
this.
Well, let's be honest. Forty days in the Biden administration, it's opened the borders and
closed the schools. It's take down the wall on the southern border that protects the country,
to put up a wall around the Capitol that protects the politicians. That's frankly not
what we, the people, the American people, I don't think that's what they signed up for.
That's frustrating for them. It's frustrating for me. But again, it shows the contrast between
where the left wants to take the nation and where we were under the leadership of President
Trump. I hope he runs again. He changed that town in so many ways. If he gets another four
years, he will continue to do the good work. We'll just have to wait and see if he does,
but I hope he does.
Where else do you see that contrast that you just described in immigration?
You see, they're spending a $1.9 trillion, $2 trillion spending package that's supposed
to be targeted towards dealing with the virus, but 91 percent of it's not. I always say the
best stimulus is let people go back to work, let people go back to school, let people go
back to normal. That's the best stimulus package. Why don't we just let that happen
instead of taking taxpayer money and running up the debt for our kids and our grandkids
and everything else? Democrats are going to try to raise taxes. You see it on, as we said
before, on the border policy and a host of other issues.
HR1, their election law bill. This election law says that your tax dollars, the same people
who spent $1.9 trillion on a package where 91 percent of it doesn't go towards COVID
relief and COVID help, those same individuals now want you to pay for them to get reelected.
Such a deal for the taxpayers, right? The folks I get the privilege of representing
are now going to have their tax dollars not only used for spending on ridiculous things,
but also used to help Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi get reelected. Not to mention in this
bill, it basically codifies and federalizes the very same practices that were such a controversy
in this last election that created this mess with mail-in voting. It basically makes that
the norm for the country. That's another example of just how radical the left has become today
in the country.
Presumably with HR1, it wouldn't just be the Democrats which would get help getting elected,
right? It would be the Republicans as well?
Right. It would be used to finance campaigns, which I'm totally against. But this is something
the left has always wanted. They want to use your taxpayer dollars to get elected,
to keep running against and doing against the things that would actually help you and
your family. I just think that's wrong. Go raise money yourself if you're going to run
for office to get reelected.
Another thing you've been vocal on, a bill that just passed recently, the Equality Act,
of course. You've been basically saying it doesn't actually promote that.
It would actually undermine your most fundamental liberty, the first liberty they chose to mention
in the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights, which is your right to religious freedom,
your right to practice your faith the way you think the good Lord wants you to. It goes
directly at that fundamental right, not to mention the undermining of the spirit of Title
IX, which we all know has helped so many women in athletics.
During the debate in the Rules Committee and on the House floor, Democrats said, nothing
in this bill will harm women's right to participate in sports. I said, that's true. It may not
hurt their right to participate in sports, but it's sure going to make it harder for
them to win. That's the spirit of Title IX. You're going to be able to set your goals,
get in the car, and actually accomplish your dream. So, a very, very dangerous piece of
legislation, and I'm hopeful that it's not going to pass the Senate.
The Title IX stuff is talked about a bit more, but how is this an assault on religious freedom
exactly?
Specifically, it says in the legislation, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed
back in the 90s, which basically was statutorily stating what your First Amendment liberties
are, defending your right to practice your faith. There's some compelling government
reason to undermine that. I always say, look, there are a handful of key rights mentioned
in the First Amendment. Freedom of the press, freedom to petition the government, freedom
to assemble, freedom to speak and to speak in a political nature. Then, of course, the
first right mentioned is your right to practice your religion, to practice your faith. Congress
shall make no law hurting that fundamental right. That was buttressed and emphasized
with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This Equality Act that passed the House just
this past week specifically says on page 25 of the legislation, you cannot use that as
a defense against what the bill is trying to do. That's a problem. That's a big problem.
Presumably, there would be some constitutional challenges based on what you're saying right
now.
I don't think this thing's going to pass. That's what I hope for. I don't think it's
going to get through the Senate. That's ideal. Before it passes and becomes law and you
have to challenge it in court, let's just keep it from passing.
As we finish up here, what do you expect is going to happen over the next couple of years?
Hang on. Our job is to hang on. I've said many times, my favorite Scripture verse is
2 Timothy 4.7, fight the good fight, finish the course, keep the faith. It's a verse of
action. It's a verse that I think fits our country because I always say Americans aren't
timid. We're not wimpy people. We're people of action, initiative, and intensity. We need
to fight to preserve the values and principles that make our country special against this
onslaught from the cancel culture left and all they're trying to do to the country.
Just hang on, push back, stop as much as we can of what the left wants to do, take back
the House in 2022, make Leader McCarthy the Speaker of the House, and then in 2024, President
Trump runs for re-election and wins. Then we can get back to doing the things that are
actually going to make America a better place and keep us the great country we are.
For the typical American, the theme of the conference is America Uncanceled. You just
referenced this cancel culture that we're just seeing accelerating. How does the typical
American deal with that in your mind? Not everybody has your voice or your energy and
so forth.
Speak out every time you see it. You've got to step back and ask the question, who's next?
Who's the cancel culture coming after next? They canceled the host of The Bachelor. They
canceled the star of Mandalorian. They're trying to cancel Fox News, One America News,
Newsmax. Last week, they tried to cancel Kermit the Frog and The Muppets. Who is next?
Every single citizen who cares about fundamental liberty, who cares about the Constitution,
the Bill of Rights, has got to speak out every time they see someone getting canceled. I
met the head of Goya Foods backstage. They tried to cancel him simply because he said
President Trump's doing a good job. Imagine that. You compliment the president of your
country and the left tries to cancel you. Guess what happened? Americans all over this
great country went out and bought Goya Food products.
He called it a boycott.
That's how you do it. When you see someone who speaks out on a local level and the left
starts attacking them, defend that individual. You have to stand up and defend your rights.
If we do that, that's what America's always been about. We'll be fine in the long run.
This is interesting because you're saying basically defend everybody's rights, whoever
it is that's being canceled. We're not just talking about the conservatives.
One of my friends, he's no longer in Congress, and he is way left, Dennis Kucinich. But Dennis
Kucinich is an old school liberal. He actually believes, he believes all that left wing stuff.
I think he's wrong. He thinks I'm wrong. But we're friends because he believes in the
First Amendment. His attitude, let's shake hands, let's have the debate, and whoever
wins, wins. Then we'll have the next issue and then we can come back to this.
But it's a fair debate. He's not into canceling people who are conservative. I'm certainly
not into canceling people who are liberal. I just want an honest debate because you can't
have a functioning First Amendment if only one side's allowed to talk. You can't have
free speech if the left is the only entity that gets to define what speech is. That's
the scariest thing happening in the country. If we don't stop that, because if you can't
have a First Amendment real debate, if you can't speak out, how are you going to win
the tax debate? How are you going to win the border security debate? How are you going
to win on any public policy issue if only one side's allowed to talk? That's why we
got to fight this more than anything else.
Any final thoughts?
We're good.
All right. Have yourself a great day.
You too. Thank you so much.
Thank you.
