It's a Numbers Game: The Numbers Behind Trump's New GOP: Sen. Jim Banks on Working-Class Voters, Election Integrity & China

This is Anthony Wiener vibes. This is, I mean, this is sociopathic behavior to a certain degree. Like there is, there is something to him. This is not a man who's changed his stripes over time or grew from, you know, the quote unquote PTSD hardened combat marine, like this sob story that the left is betraying him as. This is a person who has very little self control and very little discipline. And what's interesting about the whole sexting story that is not made as much news is the fact that he was using the app kick, K-I-K, as I spell it, kick, to cheat on his wife to meet these women. And if you've never heard of the website kick or the app kick, rather, and you're over the age of 40, I want to congratulate you because you're probably never going to go on to get your predator. Kick is a very popular or it used to be very popular, but it's a popular encrypted message app that is considered one of the top. apps for child predators to lure children into sexual relationships. In Britain, it was involved in over 1,100 child abuse cases. A convicted child molester told CBS's news is 48 hours that kick is a, quote, predator's paradise. And according to New York Times, law enforcement officials have said that they have run into kick in many cases of blackmail in which sexual predators coax young people to send nude photos of themselves. And that's the app that Graham Platner was using. He wasn't like using OKCupid. He wasn't using Tinder. That's weird. I'm not saying, I'm not saying anything, but I'm saying something. How old were these women? Does anyone know? I'm sure the papers do because according to Graham Platner, right, Graham Platner's team. right after the story broke blamed it on a former staffer the former staffer came forward and said that basically saying the staffer had leaked is what they said the staffer came forward and said no i didn't leak it the paper came with me with these women with this story and i just confirmed it That probably means that they're talking, like they're going to come out to talk to the papers. It's my guess. It's just a guess. It's just an assumption if what this former staff are saying is true that these women are already coming forward to the papers and saying this man was cheating on his wife with me or reaching out asking for new photographs or sent me new photographs. that's that's a big that's a big deal that's a probably a big question in mind of what's going to come in the future like it's weird we've seen this movie before we've watched anthony we're like we've seen this movie before we know kind of how it ends and yet

we're still playing along. Like we're like, this is going to, who knows what's going to happen? We kind of know what's going to happen. And I want to bring one other thing. It's really pissed me off. The left has said, oh, but you have Ken Paxton and Donald Trump and Ken Paxton and Donald Trump and Ken Paxton is corrupt. And he cheated on his wife. And he did it. Okay, great, fine. We all said Mark Robinson and the entire GOP unendorsed Mark Robinson and refused to fund his campaign. So and Mark Robinson was a weird guy. He did weird things. It's like 100% did weird things. I talked to him on a podcast. He was a very, he was not the friendliest person in the world. I'll just say it like that. So we've, we've held people to a certain standard. Not always, but we have. Graham Platner should be held to a standard by the left at all. By any which way. And I wonder what happens with Senator Angus King, who has been completely and totally silent on this issue, on a Graham Platner, not saying a word. He's an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. I think he has a good working relationship with Susan Collins. If his son is running for the Democratic primary for governor, if he loses, he should endorse Susan Collins and make a statement about this. This is reprehensible behavior and this is a man who's got, who should not be in office. Also, one other thing he said, which was wild. He said that he, his wife, and their joint psychiatrists or working them through it. Two people do not have three psychiatrists. Like, I mean, that's. I'm not shaming him for seeing a psychiatrist. I've seen a psychiatrist many times throughout my life in different periods. However, or psychologist or whatever. However, that's a lot. You need a lot. And if you're, if you need a lot constantly, you probably shouldn't be in a place where you're making major decisions. And I, you know, I've read friends on the left who've been very combative and saying, you're just doing this because you want Susan Collins to win. No, I have not been like this with Sherrod Brown or Mary Peltola or, you know, the guy Sands from Iowa or or even James Talarico. I haven't meant like this for James Talarico or whoever is running in Florida. I don't even know the name or Cooper from North Carolina. This is different. I want you all to realize that this is different. This man is different. This is. And if you're so upset, if anyone's so upset about the norms that Donald Trump broke and we need to return to norms, that's, and that's what a lot of Democrats have been saying, then it is your job at this point to govern, to police yourselves and to. say this man should not be in office. Especially as Susan Collins, of all people, not exactly the, you know, fire breathing right winger. I mean, these people need to get a grip. Okay.

enough with Angus King. I'm not going to make this the Angus King, the Graham Platner. I'm not going to make this the grand platinum or the AI podcast. I just, I, this guy is whack. I mean, we'll have more stories in the future. I guarantee it. I want to talk about an election and not the election in California, which happened yesterday where they're going to still count the votes and we'll be counting votes for six months because that's California and we can't live in a first world society in California. I want to talk about the election that happened in Colombia, the country in South America. Shrest Miller, like, Colombia, I don't care of them in South America. Why should I? Because it's very important and it picks up on a big political trend that will change what's happening overall in our hemisphere. On Sunday, Colombia held its first round of presidential elections and the right-wing candidate. And I'm sorry if I butcher his name. I've tried to memorize it, but they only say it in Spanish. And they say like, you know, you know, one syllable. They speed rush his name. It's a Alberto di la Esperala, I believe. He's the right wing candidate. He came in first with 44% and the left wing candidate. He came in like, Ivan Sapita came in second with 41. Sorry, 44 and 41%. So the right winger 44, the left wing are 41. Other minor parties also trailed, but they came in like, you know, they got like 7% was the other conservative. party and then other minor parties got less than that. Because neither party got an outright majority, they're going to have a runoff election on June 21st. Dila Esperala, the right-wing candidate, has portrayed himself as really a political outsider who said that liberals want to turn Colombia into the next Venezuela. He's also promised to crackdown on crime and rising. Crime, by the way, is rising in Colombia at a very fast pace. He says he's going to build 10 Buceli-style maximum security prisons in the jungle and rid the country of crime. Buceli, what I'm referring to is the president of El Salvador. If you don't know, he has a 90% approval rating because he turned that country from one of the most dangerous in the world to one of the safest, definitely in Latin America, but also in the Western Hemisphere. So why should Americans care? Well, Dila Esperala wins this election. It will be the most recent election where almost a wave of populist conservative candidates have won across Latin America, across like the continent and the greater Latin America region. And it's really turning Latin America from a socialist experiment into a right-wing populist haven, one that is much more likely to work with the United States than China and really give us an opportunity to decouple South America from China in a big way. In the last couple of years, you've seen right-wing parties such as like they've had victories in places like Argentina. Paraguay, El Salvador, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras, Costa Rica, and now potentially Colombia. And let's not count, by the way, the arrest of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela, which definitely kneecap that regime, which has spent decades funding left-wing parties across South America and Latin America.

Now, that's pretty extraordinary, especially when you're given that the continent's left-wing parties have been very hostile to the United States, very favorable towards Cuba, towards Venezuela, and towards China. And it helps build America's sphere of influence in the West. Right-wing populist candidates are also currently leading, by the way, in the upcoming election in Peru in the first round, the right-wing candidate won and the second round. It's supposed to be very tight. They're also in a close second, but the election is very close in Brazil. And if Brazil and Peru go towards conservatives, conservative candidates or right-wing candidates, Mexico becomes an island within itself. It'll be like the last major nation, aside from like Venezuela and Cuba, but those aren't democracies. Mexico is the last major nation to really have a sizable left-wing party infrastructure. Other countries will, but none are as big as Mexico. If the Trump administration can work on forging. you know, positive relationships, positive cohesive working relationship with these right wing parties in a way that left wing parties were resistant to. I think that it could be. gigantic for the United States and Latin America. Remember, most of these countries that these right-wing parties will control have a majority of the ports all throughout the Pacific Ocean. They will have access to a lot of things. They will probably, a lot of them will start, you know, cutting regulations and making their countries dynamic and the sensible will attract investors. A lot of them from the United States, that is really. really important to kind of gain national trust and build relationships aren't so many issues that are important to Americans, you know, the cartel, human smuggling, drug smuggling, you know, fentanyl and what's going on with there. All of that stuff matters a lot when it comes to working positive relations with these countries and once again kicking China out of our sphere. I think that and also, by the way, it would be so ironic and it is so ironic that you see Latin America, which was been backwards on so many issues for decades, Latin America electing dynamic, interesting populist candidates who are trying to. change their country's destiny. And in Europe, they are just clinging onto things that have been controlling their nations for decades and are leading to like a dying continent. It's a very strange dichotomy of which places are trying to forge a new path forward and which places are really trying to kind of leave themselves in the past. I don't know.

There's a real chance though right now. We're at a real moment for South America and we'll see what happens in Brazil and what happens in Chile and Colombia. But if they go to the right, we're really in a new day in our continent, in our sphere, in our Western Hemisphere. And that'll be great. I mean, there's a lot of opportunity. Okay. Coming up next is my interview center, Jim Banks from Indiana. That's coming up. Stay tuned. Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring. And tedious. And depressing. And makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. What you doing? Can you be informed without being all of those other things? We think so. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, the Armstrong and Getty Show. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world. If you shoot at us and we deflect it, it doesn't really count. And that just doesn't make any sense. You've got to make a rule. Don't shoot at the United States. Or if you prefer, Iran, blah, blah, blah. America haters are winning. The would-be communists, the Marxists are winning in America. and they're doing so openly and nobody cares. I think giving the downtrodden money enables them. They aren't getting the money. I'm winning. Good Lord, that was the voice of the patriarchy right there, folks. Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Senator Jim Banks has represented the state of Indiana in the U.S. sentence since 2025. And before that, he was the congressman from Indiana's third congressional district since 2017. You won your election day of the first day that Trump won, the first time that Trump won his election in 2016, right? That's right. And you told me that I think you told me that your dad was more excited that Trump won that you won. Yeah, the same election night. It's true. My dad was for Trump. He was one of those voters that was for Trump from the day he came down the escalator. And I told my dad, I thought he was crazy. There's no way this guy's going to win. But my dad bought in early on. And Indiana, our primary in May is... usually late enough primary that it doesn't matter in presidential politics. But in that case, in 2016, the Republican primary came down to Indiana. If you recall, it was the Indiana primary that... That night that Ted Cruz finally dropped out and Trump cemented the Republican nomination. It was a lot of voters like my dad who carried him through it. Yeah. Your dad would work manufacturing, right? He was like an early, he figured it. In fact, he's a real working class backbone right there. That's right. Yeah. And he just, he got it. I mean, he bought into it from day one. And I think a big part of it was, you know, as a working class voter.

When we were kids, my dad was, he hated politics and politicians, but he supported Ross Perot. I'll never forget the Perot bumper sticker on the pickup truck. which at that time I thought that was a little crazy too. But it wasn't until 2016 when Trump ran because my dad didn't like the Bushes. He was anti-Napta. NAFTA was a four-letter word in our house. And it wasn't until Trump coming down the escalator that he got pumped up and excited about a presidential candidate between Perrault and then. It was the first time that he was motivated. I just happened to be on the ballot. at the same time, too. And election night, I remember pulling off my, I narrowly won my primary. And Trump won Indiana, Cruz dropped out. And I remember my dad being, he was on cloud nine about that. I mean, of course, he was especially excited about President Trump. He's been right about him since day one. I mean, Trump has changed American politics, I think, forever. Does your dad, does having a dad who's working class, because there is a general disconnect between working class people and Congress, by having a father who's legitimately working class, does it tap you into a certain zeit guys in the population that a lot of other people are not attuned to? Without a doubt, I mean, I grew up in it. I've lived it in a family that lives paycheck to paycheck from week to week and struggles. I find that to be true. today more than ever. It's the people who the elites and the rich who don't, they don't struggle. And I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't, uh, demean them for that is a lot different than most of my voters in Indiana who when it, when you have, when, when you have gas prices at five bucks a gallon, they, they feel it. I mean, the, the elites and the rich in our society, they don't, they don't feel it. When health care costs go up. My dad and all the members of my family, they feel it. The elites and the rich in this country, they don't feel it. So I think you are dialed into that, tuned into that. My grandma is still alive. My mom's mom is still alive. And she's my only grandparent left. And she was a union factory worker as well. And she regularly is on Facebook and sees the fake memes about. Congress cutting her, Republicans cutting her social security or issues like that. And She's one of two people who are still allowed to call me Jimmy. My mom didn't the other one. And she'll call and say, Jimmy, are you cutting my social security? And I have to tell grandma that, no, that's a fake meme or a fake post on Facebook. And so when you hear from your grandma or your dad or members of your family, that you know most and you realize what they're suffering through. And, you know, another example of that, Ryan, completely off topic was during COVID.

As you know, Amanda and I have three daughters. They're teenagers now, but COVID was what, five or six years ago. I remember how much my wife struggled through that period, especially at the outset of it when our kids were the lockdowns on the schools. And I just remember my just intuitively understanding because it was an experience that we were living through and sharing. with everybody else having kids in school and the school's locked down and how how painful that was psychologically for moms. And if you don't have kids in school and you're an elite in Washington or you're a policymaker or a decision maker of some sort, you don't understand it. So the same is true for working class voters. If you didn't grow up in a trailer park like I did and. have parents like I did and still. see what my parents struggle through and what they experience, you don't understand it. But I find Ryan that I'm elected in the Senate now, and it's like it's an incredible honor to be a senator. But most of these senators come from a very different place than what I come from. And they've been very successful, which is great. Many of them have lived the American dream or others have benefited from their parents or grandparents living the American dream. They don't share the same experience that I've lived with my dad. Yeah. Well, I wanted to bring up something different, I mean, different election, which was the recent elections in the Indiana State Senate, which you played a big part in. You were a big push promoter of the. most of the can i think everyone but two won their primary people who had run um promising to redistrict the redistricting fight is really interesting nationwide because you had some legislators like texas and north carolina and you know tennessee jump right on board and then you had indiana alabama and south carolina really resist and it was one of those moments that even though trump's been in office now for over a decade where Republican voters, rank in by Republican voters, feel like the party isn't willing to fight for them. And this was felt like a most obvious case, especially considering every Democratic state outside of like independent redistricting ones. And by that, I really just mean New York, even California, even New Jersey. They are gerrymandered. Uh, even before the referendum, they were gerrymandered. What do you make of like that divide where just Republican voters feel like the party isn't fighting for them? Well, that's the difference between the old school Republican Party and the Trump Party, the new Republican Party. And when President Trump called on these legislators to simply do that, to simply fight back, redistricting was an opportunity to fight back against the games that the Democrats play. I mean, the way the Democrats cheat like they did, by the way, in the 2020 census. President Trump was president when the census was conducted, but when Biden took over.

the way they took the census data. and the shady formula that they used, the way that they counted the data and gave blue states extra congressional seats and took away seats from red states or denied states like Texas and Florida, it's a fact. They would have gained congressional seats and states like Rhode Island and Illinois and Colorado, blue states would have lost. congressional seats, but the way that they scattered the data and counted illegals and some of the other games that they played, they manipulated the census data. There was a real, there was a true intellectual case here to make in favor of mid-cycle redistricting. The Democrats picked the fight Republicans didn't. And President Trump called on Indiana legislators to do what we could and make up for the games that the Democrats played and do a redistricting. In Indiana, we've been way too nice for decades when it comes to redistricting. And our state is drawn as a. seven to two map, but easily could be a nine to zero map in a red state, a barn red pro-Trump state like Indiana. So you had most Republican legislators in Indiana who supported redistricting, but you had a handful in the state Senate led by the state Senate president, Rod Bray, who denied redistricting and blocked it. The House passed it. The Senate blocked it. by a handful of votes, I mean, maybe a dozen Republicans and a super majority of 40 Republicans in a chamber of only 50 state senators that blocked it. Five of them just lost their primary because those Republican primary voters said, you weren't willing to fight back. President Trump highlighted that and we got involved in those primaries through my organizations and my campaign entities and helped. President Trump make that case and you saw the whole the whole country saw the outcome and I think it affected how other states and state legislators around the country how they reacted to it too but it all comes down to the point that you made at the outset President Trump has taught us how to fight back, and the new Republican Party has to fight back against the games that the Democrats play. It also was a point where it made you a leader in the state, not just an elected state. There's a lot of elected statewide officials, but no one took the mantle as aggressively as you did and was as victorious as you were. You know, I worry about the idea of, you know, the race to the bottom where...

blue states have no republicans and red states have no democrats uh and it's not trump's fault about i i hate the line of like oh you know texas started it's been going on for decades democrats are doing in california back in the 70s and in texas in the 60s so it's gone on longer than i've been alive what what i worry about that is that is that gerrymandering like a nationwide gerrymandering thing is there a way to kind of not have it in this aggressive manner where there'll be no Democrats or Republicans in entire regions of the country. Well, in the perfect ideal world, we would ban mid-cycle redistricting and only do it once every 10 years. But. Right now we don't live in that ideal political world. And the Democrats knew that. That's why they seized on the opportunity that they had in California. And states like Indiana had a role here to play that Indiana punted on, but other states did play that did take to make up for it. But I think you could pass a constitutional amendment or states could pass state laws to ban the mid-cycle redistricting. But if you don't have that, then you have, you sort of have this arms race among the states. I mean, the other part of it, though, too, is that the, again, go back to the, the way the census was conducted and how the Democrats manipulated the census. counting illegals. Indiana, we have a, the first district of Indiana has been held by, has been held by a Democrat for 100 years. It's the, it's the district outside of Chicago that we call the region. So East Chicago, Gary Hammond. But it's also the largest steel producing district in the country. So those steel workers. And the black voters that make up that district have long voted Democrat. But because of President Trump and the working class values of the Trump era Republican Party, those voters are largely coming our way. So that is a competitive district that the NRCC is already competing in. And the fact that they counted illegals and made that. Yeah, the census had a ton of problems. There's no doubt about it. And there's definitely, you know, hopefully in the 2030 census, which is going to be a major game changer for the entire day. Totally. Totally. With California, New York and Illinois and Oregon, expected to lose almost 10 seats between all that, or more than 10 seats even. Yeah, an issue that my voter, my listeners, rather my voters, my listeners are always bringing up is the save act. I mean, I get an email about it at least once a week. It is. kind of like the the policy issue that people are obsessed with. And here's, and we know why it's not moving forward. They don't have enough votes. Trump's called for entering the filibuster. This is my question. Even if we ended the filibuster, we have Lisa Murkowski, Curtis, Susan Collins, Thom Tillis, lots of Republican Mitch McConnell, lots of Republicans who probably wouldn't be on board.

Is there, do you think that that would happen even from the end of the filbust or that we could get this piece of legislation through? Well, we know that's a fact already because we had an amendment a few weeks ago on a larger piece of legislation that was the content of the Save America Act and it failed by less, I think it only got 47 or 48 votes. So. You already know, I'm all for nuking the filibuster. I mean, I was agnostic mostly about this subject when I got to the Senate a year and a half ago. Now count me in the category of being all on board. I mean, this is senseless. to have a majority of the senators in a body who can't do anything that the voters elected us to do because of these arcane Senate filibuster rules that don't go back to Thomas Jefferson, but are more modern rules that tie our hands. We need to do, if it's not totally nuking the filibuster, changing the Senate rules in a way that allows us to legislate, I mean, just on any subject. But the Save America Act is... enormously popular, not just among Republicans, but among independents and Democrat voters as well. So I'm all for doing whatever it takes, whether it's the eliminating the talking filibuster or changing the rules somehow to allow for an up or down vote on. the Save America Act and give us a chance to vote. What about like the old rule or if you wanted to Philadelphia, you'd have to be talking the entire time. Yes. Like that was the old rule that you just have to just keep talking until eventually it means you have to stop. I mean, you can't go on forever the way you can now. Yeah, that's what I mean when I'm talking about these modern rules that are in place that don't date back to the founding of our country that you could change those rules to allow for. eliminating the talking filibuster, we only get to give one speech instead of two speeches or multiple speeches and ways to do that. But the sad reality is we still have enough squishy Republicans in the Republican majority that even if you nuke the filibuster, we don't have the 50 votes for a tie vote to allow JD Vance to break the vice president to break the tie vote. To give us the Save America Act has passed out of the House. A majority of the House voted for it. A majority of the Senate, if they did, if they, right now, the majority of the Senate doesn't support it. I mean, talk about Mitch McConnell and. Some of these guys are retiring. I think if push comes to shove, if you actually had a vote on it, you have enough of these retiring Republican senators who come from the old GOP, the establishment wing of the GOP, or those who just hate President Trump who are going to vote against it and block it. You go back to the McCain thumbs down moment. You might have a few more of those types of protest votes that aren't protesting the policy.

who dislike President Trump that much as their payback opportunity. It's really sad because it's so fundamental and important that we secure our elections, stop illegals from voting, and we can't get it passed because we have that kind of mindset with some of these old school Republicans. Is it true? I mean, this is the way it feels that the Democrats are a lot more, I don't want to say organized, but on the same page than Republicans are. And you served in both the House and the Senate now. The Senate's obviously much smaller. it much more collegial where people are friendly with one another or like, you know, because it is considered like a club that, you know, you're there for a long time and everyone's kind of hanging out a little longer or a lot of people are. Yeah, I don't know if, I don't know if I think it's more clubby, but, you know, there is a different, there is a different environment in the Senate. I mean, I don't want to give her credit for anything because in so many ways I think she's evil, but. The Nancy Pelosi led Democrat Party in the House. I mean, my grandpa, who was also, my mom's dad also worked at the same factory that my dad did and belonged to the union. And he was that kind of voter. He would, and he passed away right around the time I got elected to the house for the first time. He would always ask that question. Why do the... Why do the Democrats all fall in lockstep and do exactly what Nancy Pelosi tells them to do? And then the Republicans just fight with each other. I mean, there's no unity. I think President Trump has changed that. He's got involved in so many of these primaries and changed the makeup and the look of the Republican Party, the fighting spirit of the Republican Party. So I think that's a little bit different now. I do think the Democrats are more, they eat their own more. So. You do see some of that dynamic, although I think they're, I think, you know, the good news is President Trump has changed things enough that these Republicans are struggling. I mean, they nominate these lunatic left-wing candidates in some of these states and look at what they got going on in Maine. I tell a grand platinum, I think almost every day on this podcast. It's not funny. The Democrats own him, right? I mean, they're, they're potentially going to own a lunatic left-wing radical in Michigan. So you look at these, the types of candidates and the Democrats are nominating. They can't nominate that the moderate. Republican, the moderate Democrat type of candidate that can win in states like every now and then states like Indiana or in the states like Maine, they can't, they can't pick those candidates because the lunatic radical left wing base of their party is taken over. So my another policy question I really have for you is during your last term in the Senate in the House, you became a big leader on the issue of decoupling industries from China, especially supply chains.

It's been six years since COVID. China is still the largest supply of our medical supplies. Where are we on trying to bring supply chains home from China? Do we get any closer? Is there any progress being made at all? I think so. There's been good news through the Trump tariffs and both iterations from Liberation Day. I was at the White House when the president signed. the tariffs into law, and we immediately saw the outcome of that. And then the changes in tax policy from the Tax Custs and Jobs Act back in 2017 and extending and modernizing many of those tax cuts in the big, the so-called Big Beautiful bill. that we passed last year, you've seen, you know, companies like Eli Lilly and Indiana bring back a substantial amount, billions of dollars of manufacturing to the U.S. instead of placing that manufacturing abroad. All of the auto... companies, the big auto companies have been growing and increasing overtime. And in Indiana, we've seen many, many announcements. Indiana is the top manufacturing state per capita in the country. So you've seen the outcome of it, I think, more heavily in states like mine, but there's been a good deal of good news. Has there been enough? I mean, I think President Trump is very focused on this. And if anything, his legacy would be many things, but restoring the made in America. economy, especially the manufacturing base of our economy is something that we've seen healthy signs that there will be a lot of that to come even after he's gone. Yeah, I don't, one thing I'm frustrated with. I mean, I don't understand why Biden didn't do this. I don't understand why Trump hasn't done this yet, but mandating that we buy the Pentagon, like buy medicine from companies that only manufacture in America would make that a lot easier. It's just very frustrating. Last policy question for you, because I know you're a busy guy. There was because of COVID, one of our national hangovers because of COVID, which you've mentioned a few times, is the explosion in the deficit and the debt. And now we're running close to $2 trillion. When you first got elected, it was $580 billion, which was also crazy. Is there anything? I mean, the debt is the deficit is what's killing working class people's paychecks. It's what's eating away with their dollar. We're having inflation. It's the tax you don't hear about. Is anyone in Congress even having this conversation like, well, this deficit's crazy high? Yes. And many of us have voted. You go back to the early Doge debates and this Congress and many of the spending cuts that many of us supported. Unfortunately, you still have a. large number of Republicans who have been soft on this. And you're right about this. You're identifying the biggest source of inflation is government debt. And

While COVID was part of it, the Democrats used under Biden, they increase, Biden increased spending by $2 trillion. Yeah. And the debt and the debt ballooned substantially more and inflation skyrocketed because of that because of the Green New Deal and energy policy, energy cost. Now you have an interesting dynamic. Trump brought down gas prices immediately because he eliminated what he could of the Green New Deal. We extended the tax cuts. If you get under the hood, the economy is very healthy. But the war in Iran has sent gas prices back up, spike gas prices again, and inflation has increased with it. The good news about that is as soon as President Trump signs a deal. we get out of Iran and hopefully get out of it, what we want to get out of it, gas prices will immediately go back down. In Indiana, we just did a gas tax holiday. The governor suspended the gas tax, and so our gas prices are temporarily low. But I drove from Indiana to Washington yesterday and, you know, the sky high gas prices has sent inflation back up. So the good news is when the war is over, which I hope will happen very soon. And we signed a deal and Iran doesn't have the ability to create a nuclear weapon. And all of that's over. Gas prices are going to immediately go back down. And inflation is going to go back down. You're going to see the signs of a very healthy economy at that point that's sort of covered up with the gas price dynamic that we're seeing. But the bad news is that all of that COVID-era spending, all of the Biden, massive increases in spending is still sending the deficit and the debt through the roof. And you're right, the people who are going to pay for that aren't the boomers going to be the, you know, the 50-somethings and younger. My kid, my teenage daughters, their generation. My generation, we're in the same generation, our generation. Our generation, our kids' generation, they're going to pay the price for it. And it's because. So far, I voted for all of these spending, all of the Doge spending cuts. I have a couple of colleagues and, you know, myself included, they will offer spending cut amendments. And you might only get 10, 20 Republicans in the Senate who vote for those spending cuts is whatever you're cutting is. you know, something that's popular with somebody and the senators are afraid to vote to cut it. So you still have those squishy Republicans. I found, as you know, when I chaired the Republican Study Committee, this was our biggest focus when I was in the House and putting budgets, putting budget proposals on the table that would eliminate the, that would bring down the, bring down deficits, eliminate deficits and bring down the debt, eliminate the debt in 10 years. you know, those, we would put those proposals on the floor in the House, there's more of an appetite for it. Those, I think it's partly because there's two-year cycles in the six-year cycle on the Senate. You have a lot of senators who are afraid of their own shadow and.

or who don't want to vote for it. Also, president company excluded red states and the Senate oftentimes elect very moderate members. And I've discovered that over and over and over again. Well, I would encourage anybody listening to go, you know, take a look at how your senators vote on these spending cuts. I mean, when I got to the Senate, Rand Paul, whenever we have these voter dramas, he'll put some of these big spending cut amendments on the floor. fascinating to see who votes, who actually, when it comes to a vote, who actually votes to cut spending and who doesn't, I think for your point. Okay, where people go to read more about what you're working on, subscribe to like a newsletter or a social media account, where people go to hear more about what Jim Banks is doing? I always appreciate feedback and we post a lot on social media on my Facebook page, Senator Jim Banks on my ex account at. Senator Banks, and you can find me on Instagram too, which is just more fun. But we appreciate the feedback. And we have a lot of work to do. I'm proud here to be here on behalf of Indiana and to fight for our country and for our values and this cause. And appreciate you, Ryan, and all that you do, I read your newsletter every Sunday. It's most substantive substack that I read every week and appreciate the material that you put out. It makes me a better senator. Oh, I appreciate that. Thank you for me on this podcast. I really appreciate it. You got it. Take care. Why should you listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand? We're not boring. A lot of news is boring. And tedious. And depressing. And makes you angry. You don't want to live your life like that. What you doing? Can you be informed without being all of those other things? We think so. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty, the Armstrong and Getty Show. We try to bring you the truth and help you figure out this crazy modern world. If you shoot at us and we deflect it, it doesn't really count. And that just doesn't make any sense. You've got to make a rule. Don't shoot at the United States. Or if you prefer, Iran, blah, blah, blah. America haters are winning. The would-be communists, the Marxists are winning in America. and they're doing so openly and nobody cares. I think giving the downtrodden money enables them. They aren't getting the money. I'm winning. Good Lord, that was the voice of the patriarchy right there, folks. Listen to Armstrong and Getty on demand on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Now it's time for the Ask Me Anything question. If you want to be part of the Ask Me Anything question, email me, Ryan at Numbersgamepodcast.com. That's Ryan at Plural Numbers Game Podcast.com. First question comes from Robbie. Robbie says, Ryan, thank you for the excellent explanation of perceived housing crisis that I asked. I watched an interview with Jim Jordan and a committee, and I'm not positive who was talking to but discussion about additional Supreme Court justice came up in his point. If we need 13 justice instead of nine, why don't we do it now? I know he's calling Democrats bluff. Would and his... But the question, though, is would adding additional justice require a simple majority or two thirds? That is a great question. The answer is a simple majority. You don't need two thirds. The key reasons is the Constitution does not fix the size of the Supreme Court. I have been saying to Republicans, this should be a constitutional...

You know, this should be an issue, you try to get on the Constitution. This would be overwhelmingly supported by a majority of people, including Democrats, I think. But the Constitution does not fix it to nine members. It simply just says there's one Supreme Court. Congress has the authority to set the number of justices through ordinary legislation. This power comes from the same clause that's Congress. Great. inferior federal courts, and the number has been changed several times. The Judiciary Act is 1786, 89, rather, had six justices, 1801 had 5 to 6, 1837 had 9, 1863 had 10, they reduced that to 7, and then in 1869, they increased it to 9 its current size, and all these legislations passed with simple majorities in both the House and Senate. So, yeah, they just need a some majority. They do not need a super majority, which is what would make it almost impossible if they wanted to do it, but that means that they can. Next question comes from Michael. He says, great job on the podcast. Keep plugging away. Thank you, Michael, for listening. It was very interesting to see that students, graduations, boot speakers who mention AI. I wonder. how many boot AI use AI to complete their college assignments. My guess, probably a lot, but that's besides the point. Do never, never let hypocrisy stand in the way of your values. My son will be going to a senior college this fall. He's a computer science major. He had an internship with a software company that the team that was supposed to start on June 1st. He was on the AI development and implementation team. He worked for them last summer. They loved him and expected a permanent offer. Last Friday, they called him and said his internship was canceled. apparently the existing AI team I made such great strides using AI. They would not need him or other new people. He was upset, started working for his network, and then three offers came on a Monday. Congratulations to him. He goes, your son is smart and hardworking, but he's not a genius. I love that honesty from parents, and that's not a shame. I do love on parents like, listen, my kid's great, but he's not a genius. It's important, I think, to not be, because he needs parents and are like, my kid's incredible at everything. You're like, calm down. Take the Lexapro. All young people need to learn AI, not just tech guys. I worry more if I was 42 than if I was 22. Cities and states need to start up about data centers. They are in the driver's seat and should not be giving big tax breaks to developers for these buildings. They really need to coordinate. What are the governors and mayors associations for anyway? That is a great point. Local governments are in the driver seats as far as what they want from these data centers, especially these rural smaller communities that can make these deals. They need the land and only these rural communities have the land. They could be, I mean. I get if you don't want a data center in your area, but let's say you're like, listen, this will bring tax revenue, this will bring some construction jobs and maybe a few temporary jobs. I don't mind about the noise or the light or whatever. And your community wants, the majority of your community wants it. It's at that point that the, um,

that the legislators, the local legislators should be saying, you need to give X, Y, and Z to this community to build this data center. And they would probably give it. The problem that these legislators are having is they're so, they're winding nine that these benefits are absolutely going to come, that now they're all rushing to give goodies away to kind of get ahead of the next person. What they should be doing is saying, how do I benefit my community any which way possible? say you're not going to face a backlash. We will do whatever, but you're going to pay the taxes. You're not going to get a tax break. And you have to give a, you know, something back to the community. You have to, you have to fund our, I don't know, programs for X, Y, and Z. Or like, even better, you could say to them, you could say to your constituents, and I think this would work. if we bring this data center and they're going to pay property taxes for the entire community for the next 10 years there'll be a tax moratorium for existing property owners for 10 years that would be so popular this is so many easy wins and and local legislators unlike national ones never have to or rarely have to kind of hold big companies to the fire their feet to the fire And they get intimidated by these big guys and they shouldn't. They're in the driver's seat. Local government is in the driver seat. You need to demand things to make your districts and your areas better. I completely agree and I hate these tax updates for these data centers. They are the richest companies in the world and they should pay like it. That is all. Thank you for this podcast episode. If you like this podcast, please like and subscribe on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. And on YouTube, like and subscribe on YouTube. I appreciate you all. Talk to you guys on Friday.