September 8 2023
Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odWe7qsrrGk
- Governor Chris Christie on the pod
- Friedberg and Governor sang karaoke on stage together at a bar in Idaho some time ago
- Debt
- Trump added $8T, Biden added $4T
- Has experience with dealing with deficits when he comes into office
- Removed almost 700 programs - didn’t raise taxes
- It was unpopular - approval rating went down < 40 in the first 6 months - had been elected with 48% of the vote
- Consider raising retirement age (for entitlements)
- Social Security and Medicare could be cut in 11 years
- Look at all the programs that were ramped up during Covid - bring them back to pre-covid levels and then examine more closely
- Would look at school spending
- Wouldn’t cut military spending
- Ukraine, Taiwan, etc
- Christie listens to the pod - his son Andrew listens all the time
- (RFK Jr’s son also got him on the pod)
- Voted for Iraq war because he was misled about WMDs
- Endorsed Trump because he thought he was a better choice than Hilary Clinton
- 2014 Biden works for Obama government on Ukraine issue
- Victoria Nuland picked Ukraine government on a phone call
- She said she has to get approval from Biden (and Sullivan?) to appoint the government
- That govt went into effect after a US backed coup (apparently)
- 3 months later Hunter Biden is appointed to the board of Burisma
- Agrees Hunter got the appointment because of Biden’s influence
- Victoria Nuland picked Ukraine government on a phone call
- 2015 Ukraine prosecutor is investigating Burisma - Joe Biden said that he should get fired and then the investigation immediately stops - intrigued by this
- Says Biden might not be as in charge as his staff
- Interesting that apparently Biden communicated with his son using a pseudonym “Robert Peters”?
- Considers Putin responsible for attacking Ukraine - admits US inaction was also to blame
- Wouldn’t admit Ukraine to NATO until after the war
- Things 2021 was too late to take NATO expansion off the table
- Considers expressing aspirational goals a mistake in foreign policy
- Considers Biden a hand-wringer on the Ukraine issue
- Spoke to Zelenskyy a month ago who said he just needed hardware, not troops
- Considers Putin wants to re-assemble old Soviet Union
- Disagrees with predictions made by Patraeus, etc on signs of early victories
- Admits armament deficiencies - wants to work with other NATO allies to ramp it up
- Seems like we’re getting ripped off in defense budget - $877B spent and no armaments, no paid leave or benefits for military folks
- First governor in NJ to do zero-based budgeting
- How is there waste?
- Lobbyists
- Incompetence/Corruption
- Never waste a crisis
- Need to look at the revolving door between public office and private companies
- Christie listens to the pod - his son Andrew listens all the time
- Doesn’t regret not running for president in 2012
- Immigration
- Balanced view of both parties’ positions
- Looks up to Reagan on this issue
- Holds Biden responsible for his rhetoric and policies - democratic politicians said they would be sanctuary cities and states and now Eric Adams is admitting they can’t handle the influx in NY
- 1000s of immigrant children are going to show up at the NYC school system
- Fentanyl is the biggest problem - kills young men the most
- Would put National Guard at the border
- and use intelligence community
- Talk to China about not sending Fentanyl to the US
- Fentanyl crisis
- Soros group funded prosecutors - its a planned failure
- This is not a states issue - its affecting the country - so Federal government has to step in
- NYC is the worst since the 1970s
- Has experience from NJ governorship
- Worked with democrats to amend constitution
- Crime is down in NJ - much better than NY
- Approval from PBA and ACLU (A+)
- Thinks FBI can spy on Americans but only for terrorism threats
- Trump
- Would have indicted the federal cases
- Not the NY or Atlanta cases
- Doesn’t think it makes sense for him to go to jail
- Sending someone that old to prison - even minimum security - is like a death sentence
- Would consider commuting his sentence
- Jan 6th
- Oathkeepers, Proud Boys folks got long sentences (by Trump appointed judges)
- Doesn’t think Trump believes the election was stolen
- Has balanced view of Trump cases
- Doesn’t think prosecutors can win - too soon or too late - 6 months vs 3 years
- What is the alternative - what if he was guilty - then you just run for president after breaking the rules
- Doesn’t believe in Russiagate - was there in 2016 and doesn’t think the campaign was sophisticated enough to pull it off
- Destroyed Sacks on Trump vs Biden grift
- Beachgate
- All beaches in NJ except one were open
- State Park was closed because legislature didn’t send him a budget in time
- Thinks it was a mistake to go to the beach
- All beaches in NJ except one were open
- Bridgegate
- Democratic hit job
- All 3 investigations found that he didn’t know what was going on and didn’t find out until much after the fact
- RBG and Clarence Thomas agreed on something
- His son was excited
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