00:00And final thing I'll say is, you know, I've been getting asked about this idea of of this Elon Musk political party.
00:10And I just want to say, I mean, I think Elon Musk has been, you know, one of the most innovative entrepreneurs, not just in our country's history, but probably in world history.
00:21And I think he's done a lot. I think he's got a lot more left in the tank.
00:24Obviously, I appreciated him, his efforts in the 2024 election. And I've been a big supporter of the idea of the Doge because the federal government spending way too much money.
00:36We we've adopted that in Florida, even though we have a budget surplus and are paying down debt and we have the second lowest spending per capita of all 50 states.
00:44We're still doing it in Florida because you always want to do better.
00:47But when Elon was in the Doge, there were grants that had been done that we rejected in Florida.
00:54We would call Elon. They would cancel it immediately.
00:57We sent over almost a billion dollars to where they were able to recover.
01:01There were DEI. There was stuff we're not doing. And so so there was a lot that was done that was very, very positive.
01:07And so I think I've been a big fan of what he's done.
01:11The problem is when you do another party, especially if you're running on some of the issues that he talks about, you know, that would end up if he funds Senate candidates and House candidates and competitive races, that would likely end up meaning the Democrats would win all the competitive Senate and House races.
01:28And so, look, I'm a Republican. You know, I don't want to see that happen.
01:31And I think if you want to, you know, get get involved and hold accountable, you know, we do have a problem in the Republican Party with these D.C. congressmen.
01:41They always run saying there's out of control spending and they're going to spend less and they never do it.
01:47And so there's a gap between the campaign rhetoric and then the performance.
01:51Elon was doing Doge and a lot of Congress didn't want anything to do with actually adopting the Doge cuts, just like they didn't want to.
02:00They haven't wanted to adopt the Trump executive orders on immigration and all these other things, which I think you have to adopt in law if you want them to have staying power.
02:08So I think there is a lot of frustration with the gap between the rhetoric and their district and the performance once they get into D.C.
02:17But the way you do that is expose that in a primary and show that there's a another way forward.
02:23Honestly, if you're concerned about the debt, I wouldn't even worry about that because I don't think just electing a few better people is going to change their trajectory.
02:32We need the incentives in Washington are going to lead to these outcomes, really regardless of the outcome of elections at this point.
02:40So you need to do a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and you can do that through the states.
02:47You can do it through Article 5. We've got 28 states that have approved this.
02:52There's another four or five that are on the docket.
02:54Once you hit 34, then you write an amendment, and then the states are able to ratify that.
02:59You need three quarters.
03:00You know, if Elon wanted to weigh in on that and work on those state ledges, I mean, he would have a monumental impact on doing this.
03:10And we also need term limits for members of Congress.
03:12And so you can do both of those things.
03:17But I think if you did that, all of a sudden, that moves the needle on both of those issues, you know, under Article 5 of the Constitution.
03:25You are going to see major, major positive changes, but you have to change the incentives and the structures up there.
03:33Because we've seen it time and time again, you have the rhetoric, same results.
03:37You have the rhetoric, same results when it comes to debt.
03:40And so this is one way to do it.
03:42And it's within our grasp to do it.
03:43Florida's already certified both of those.
03:46Term limits has really gained a lot of steam over the last couple years.
03:49There was only one or two states that had done it like five or six years ago.
03:52Now you've got a lot more balanced budget amendment has been out there for a long time.
03:57A lot of people have wanted to do it.
03:59That's very close.
04:00And if you do those things, then I think you actually have a chance to really change Congress.
04:05But as it is now, you know, even if somehow a third party could elect some people that were, you know, so-called fiscal conservative,
04:13I don't think it would even move the needle even if they got elected.
04:15And we know that they wouldn't get elected because it's really one of two parties.
04:19So you're either just taking votes away from one side or the other is really how it ends up doing.
04:24So, you know, I'm a believer in trying to work this stuff out through the Republican process rather than do that.
04:30But I think even more than that, doing these amendments, which are within our grasp, it doesn't require Congress.
04:38You can do it through Article 5 and do it through the states.
04:41You know, that would have a huge impact on the trajectory of the country.
04:45You know, in the late 90s, they were one vote away in the U.S. Senate from passing a balanced budget amendment.
04:51It would have had to have been ratified by the states, but I think it would have been at the time.
04:55Now, we had a budget surplus federally at the time.
04:57Just imagine how different our fiscal trajectory would be right now had that balanced budget amendment passed 26, 27 years ago.
05:07I mean, we wouldn't be having, you know, some of these debates about all the mounting debt.
05:12And so we were very close to doing it.
05:14And I think because we were in pretty good fiscal shape, I think people just said it was better to not, you know, kind of the swing votes.
05:22Well, why tie hands, things are going well, but had they done that, man, we would be in really good shape.
05:28So let's do a balanced budget amendment, tie the hands of the big spenders, term limit them so they can't ensconce themselves in office for decades like Nancy Pelosi.
05:41You know, I don't know why.
05:43I mean, like, if she were to run a hedge fund with her stock trades, I mean, man, she would make a lot of money.
05:49So why don't we do that?
05:51That is achievable.
05:52And especially, I mean, if somebody as significant as Elon wants to get in the game on that, he will have a, I think, very consequential impact on that.
06:03And I think would be just the type that could bring this across the finish line.
06:07And wouldn't we want to see these guys have some limits on how much damage that they can do?
06:13So I think Washington needs to be overall the 100 percent.
06:17I just don't think a third party is going to do it.
06:20But I do think these these amendments can make a big, big difference.
