Newly announced presidential candidate Gov. Scott Walker joined the radio show Wednesday morning to discuss his stance on many of 2016’s key issues, including fighting Common Core and illegal immigration. Walker also outlined his record as a governor of a state infected with progressivism and the conservative victories he had achieved. Has anyone else been able to fight off liberals and progressives in order to push an agenda that works?
PAT: Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere. Jeffy as well for Glenn on the Glenn Beck Program. He's still resting his vocal cords. Should be back, target date, August 3rd. Things are looking so far. He's well on the way to a complete and total recovery. In the meantime, today, we're really excited because on Monday, the official announcement came out that Scott Walker is, in fact -- we've been waiting for this quite a while. He's officially running for president of the United States.
STU: I was stunned.
PAT: We've telegraphed this for a while.
STU: I thought he would come out and say, nope, not interested.
PAT: Is that what you expected? A lot of people announce that they'll announce and then say no. Yeah, I decided not to.
STU: Thank you for your time.
PAT: So joining us now is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. Governor Walker, welcome to the Glenn Beck Program with Pat and Stu.
SCOTT: Hey, great to be with you guys. Hey, Stu, what did you think I would just walk out on the stage and drop the mic and say I'm not running.
PAT: Now, that would have been funny.
JEFFY: Yes.
PAT: And then come back out and pick it back up and say just kidding.
SCOTT: Sorry. Just kidding.
STU: Well, you're a welcome addition to the race, Scott. We've talked about your record before as far as Wisconsin goes. Our audience really sees you as one of the top contenders as we go --
PAT: Definitely.
SCOTT: Well, thanks.
STU: Go ahead. Go ahead.
SCOTT: I was saying, one of the interesting things is that there's a lot of great people including a number of good friends out there. People ask, well, why would you run if there's other people you know and admire and like out there? And I said, well, there's really two groups. There's people who are good fighters that have largely not won those fights, and there are other people who are good winners who largely have not taken on those fights. I think what we bring that's unique to this race is we've done both. We have fought, and we've won. Not just elections. Although, we won three elections in four years in a blue state. But we've won good, common sense conservative battles over and over again. And I think that's what people are hungry for not just in our party and our movement, but I think Americans are hungry for that.
PAT: This is an amazing year. Because there's been a lot of years where we've looked at the field and we've thought, jeez, there's nobody. Okay, maybe I could hold my nose and vote for this guy. You know, if push comes to shove, maybe I can vote for that guy. This time, though, there's 17 people that will be in this race. Eighteen or 36. Or whatever it is. And like you said, there's some good people in this. Ted Cruz we really like a lot. We like Rand Paul. Bobby Jindal is a good guy. You probably know him well as a fellow governor.
SCOTT: Very well.
PAT: So you come into this race. So what differentiates yourself and your policies from the rest of the field?
SCOTT: Well, I really think there's a hunger out there. I talked to people all over the country. I was in South Carolina today. Was Nevada yesterday. Will be New Hampshire tomorrow. Over the weekend in Iowa. And no matter where I go, there are Republican and conservative activists who are frustrated because we have a Republican House, we just got a Republican Senate, and they want people to lead in Washington.
You know, it's one thing to fight. A lot of good people, some of the folks you mentioned, great with a lot of issues out there. But they have yet to win those fights. Then there are others that are good at winning elections. But they haven't taken on the kind of fight. If someone wants proof, not just talk, they want proof that if I elect this person president, they will follow through on the common sense conservative reforms they're talking about. I think there's no one in America who has been better tested over the last four years than we have. Think about it. We not only took on the unions in one. We have right to work. We did prevail with wage reform. We cut taxes by $2 billion. We defunded Planned Parenthood and passed pro-life legislation. We passed conceal carry. My state now has a requirement now of photo ID to vote. Who would have thought that in a blue state like Wisconsin? But yet we should -- excuse me -- we showed that common sense conservative reforms can win. And if they can win in a blue state like Wisconsin, I believe we can make them work in America.
STU: You brought up having a majority in the House and the Senate for Republicans. What is the point of that? If you can't do something about this Planned Parenthood video that just came out just yesterday, where you have them on tape allegedly saying that they were essentially selling these baby parts, they're denying part of that. They're not seemingly denying the fact that they're skirting federal partial birth abortion law. I mean, they pretty much straight-out admit that that's going on in the video. What can be done about Planned Parenthood?
SCOTT: You look in the states. Others have done it as well. In the states, we've been aggressive in defunding them, which they've screamed about. Ran millions of dollars -- their supporters ran millions of dollars in attack ads. At the federal level, not only is this the right thing, but just fundamentally the right thing to do to crack down on this. So it's the right policy.
But also politically, strategically, I think it makes a lot of sense. Put that legislation on the president's desk. Make him veto it. And then make some of these -- particularly some of these Democrats who live in and represent somewhat vulnerable areas, for them politically, make them explain -- not just people like me who are pro-life. But I think most Americans look at that and say, that's just wrong. This is one of those where we have to get on offensive, instead of being defensive.
Same way we need to put a bill on the president's desk that gets rid of Obamacare, once and for all. That takes on one issue after another, to show Americans, this is what you get if you have a Republican House, Republican Senate, and you have a Republican as president, these are the kind of positive things from tax reform to -- to education reform to legal reform. You name it, we can do it in America. But the sooner we can show it, the more people have confidence.
Because most independents, I believe, aren't independents because they're moderates. They're independents because they're tired of being burned by candidates who promise one thing and then fail to deliver it after the election. This is why we carried our faith more than just about any government in America, and yet won independents in my state by 11, almost 12 points because they want someone to lead.
PAT: Governor, you -- if you were to win the presidency, you inherit, I mean, this guy talks about what a mess he inherited from the last guy. I mean, you look at the things that have to be unraveled that have gotten America enmeshed in such socialism and such wrongheaded policies. First of all, I mean, you have Obamacare, which you have to deal with. Is your policy to repeal Obamacare? Is it repeal and replace?
SCOTT: Repeal it entirely you have to put patients and families back in charge. I believe -- I was asked out at the Western Conservative Summit would I support going into a so-called nuclear option in the Senate? I said absolutely. We can't let rules that aren't in the Constitution, let the minority on an issue, particularly as important as this, when you have checks and balances in the House and the Senate as far as branches. We need to have an all-out attack to repeal Obamacare and put patients and families back in charge.
We need to day one, pull back on this outrageous -- we need to terminate this outrageous deal with Iran and put in place crippling economic sanctions against that country, which is the leading state sponsor of terrorism, and convince our allies to do the same. We need to get rid of this action the president has taken on illegal immigration, which is completely wrong and why I joined the federal lawsuit. But we shouldn't need a federal lawsuit to do that. We need to get rid of things like Dodd-Frank and other regulations out there. We need to do that right away, just like we did four years ago, where we took on the big reforms right away.
STU: Talking to Governor Scott Walker. Governor, obviously as a governor, you have executive-level experience, which is something obviously beneficial when you'll run a country. But the other side of that is you have not necessarily dabbled in or at least are heavily involved in foreign policy, and that's something you'll get hit on at least. You have this Iran thing that comes down yesterday. The sanctions were working against Iran which is why they're on the table, I suppose. Now that this deal is supposedly in place, what can you do to unwind it? And is there any teeth in that sort of movement?
SCOTT: Sure. Well, two parts.
First, I should point out for anyone who doubts -- in my lifetime, at least I would argue, the best president on foreign policy and national security was a governor from California. So I think it's important to remember it's all about leadership. Here's a guy who helped us rebuild the military. He stood up for our allies. He stood up to our enemies. He stood for American values without apology. That led to one of the most peaceful times in modern American history.
The bottom line is, it's not so much about the position as it is about the ability and the capacity to lead. And I think we've shown in the most difficult of circumstances, at the state level, we can lead. And we've applied that to the federal level as well. Surrounding us with a great cabinet, listening to our military leaders.
But when it comes to Iran, I really do believe that we can terminate that deal. The only good part about this is because the president doesn't have the courage to take it to Congress, particularly ratified by the Senate. The next president is not bound by it.
So as president, literally on my first day, I would terminate this deal, and I would put back in place the sanctions, even greater I would argue, crippling sanctions, economic sanctions against Iran. And I believe, unlike the Obama and Clinton doctrine of leading from behind, if we lead again, I believe major numbers of our allies would follow suit.
PAT: How do you get the allies back on -- how do you get everybody involved in these sanctions back on board?
STU: Because Russia is getting billions and billions of dollars in arms sales.
PAT: So you just do it unilaterally at that point, Governor?
SCOTT: I would acknowledge it's not easy. I've looked at this for some time, and it's not easy. In many ways, it's kind of like putting a genie back into a bottle. It would be tough with places like Russia and China, although I don't consider either of them allies. But the United Kingdom. For certainly -- think about it. Who would have thought that France would be to the right of us on this issue? But that's what happened, you know, earlier this last year and how that shook their way of life there. They saw firsthand what happens when you don't deal with elements of radical terrorism.
Which, by the way, the president earlier this year proclaimed that the greatest challenge to future generations is climate change. And I would say, respectfully, Mr. President, I disagree. The greatest challenge to future generations is radical Islamic terrorism. That's not just ISIS. Iran is part of that problem. They're the chief state sponsor of terrorism in the world, particularly in that region, whether it's with Hezbollah or Hamas, certainly what they're doing with Syria and connected to Assad there. What they're doing with the Houthis in Yemen. What they're doing with the Shiite-based militias in parts of Iraq. These are bad actors that have not changed back from the days when they held 52 Americans for 444 days. We should not be doing business with them.
STU: The foundational issue with all this stuff is that we put a lot of the wrong people in control for a long period of time. Part of that goes back to our education system. Our audience is very passionate about Common Core. They do not like it at all. Can you tell us what the status is in Wisconsin about Common Core and what -- how do you see this developing going forward?
SCOTT: You know, we passed the budget. I included language that removes any requirement for the state -- or, excuse me -- that the state has on local school districts. So they're no longer bound by Common Core. That's completely out. It was put in place before I was governor. We finally got the legislature to approve that as part of the budget I proposed. We got rid of the funding for the so-called Smarter Balanced Tests.
But I think even more importantly, not just what I'm doing in the state and others are trying to do in Washington, even though it clearly is not a federal law, that's what proponents -- it's not a federal law, but it has become a federal policy in part because of the Department of Education interweaving that into their funding issues for state and for schools across the country. It's yet one more reason why I believe the country would be better off if we took money and power out of Washington, particularly when it comes to education, and send it back not to just our states, but our schools, where local decisions are better made by local parents, tax payers, teachers, families, instead of the bureaucracies in our nation's capitol. It's much more effective. Much more efficient. And definitely more accountable. No Common Core. No nationwide school bar.
PAT: Okay. And finally, probably the hottest topic going right now especially with the sanctuary city situation and the tragic death of that young woman in San Francisco, and I imagine in Wisconsin I'll bet Madison and Milwaukee are probably both sanctuary cities which you don't have control over, obviously. But what -- what do you do about the out-of-control illegal immigration situation? I mean, I would suspect the first thing is we secure the border. But then what do you do with the sanctuary city policies that are nationwide, with the illegal aliens that are estimated anywhere from 11 to 30 million here, what do you do about that?
SCOTT: Yeah, well, in specific, sanctuary cities, you have to enforce the law. I've said that about all our immigration, particularly when it comes to these sanctuary cities. And if they're dealing with someone, particularly violent criminals -- I mean, these cases where we've had these tragic occurrences, that typically involve situations where someone has been in and out of the criminal justice system.
They're not assisting -- I think there's huge problems with that. But even before you get to those specific examples, I believe you secure the border. I took Governor Abbott on his request earlier this year, and I went to the border, not only up in the air and on the ground, but saw the videos, spoke to not only federal officials, but state and local officials. And it is -- I knew there was a problem, but it was so eye-opening.
I talked to others in Arizona and other states as well about this. It is so eye-opening. Because what you have are -- you have international criminal organizations penetrating our land-based borders in a way that if it was happening on our coast, on the east or west coast, we would be sending in the Coast Guard, if not the Navy out here.
So it's people trying to bring over drugs, they're bringing over firearms. They're bringing over people, not just people that work, they're bringing over people to (inaudible). So we have to deal with that issue. People say, oh, you can't secure the border. That's nonsense. We can do it both through infrastructure, but also through technology and personnel.
I was -- earlier this year, I looked at the fence that they built and staffed and monitor in Israel, and after they were effective, it's about 500 miles. For a small country, that's a lot of fencing. They saw something like a more than 90 percent reduction in terrorist-related activities by having a secure fence there.
We have a border four times that, but we're a lot bigger country. We have plenty more assets. We should be able to secure the border. Along with that, enforce the law. No amnesty. Citizenship should have a high standard. And then when people want to talk about legal immigration, my priority is this, we should be looking out for Americans, working families and their wages in a way that will continue to improve the American economy.
STU: Governor Scott Walker.
PAT: Too bad there's not a place people could go and help your campaign.
SCOTT: ScottWalker.com.
PAT: That's an amazing coincidence. There is a place.
STU: Governor, we only have time for a one-word answer. Are you going to go see Brett Farv (phonetic) retire?
SCOTT: Absolutely. I'm looking forward to the big event on Thanksgiving. It will be a lot of fun.
STU: Thanks, Governor Scott Walker. ScottWalker.com.
PAT: ScottWalker.com.
Featured Image:LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 14: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at Red Rock Harley-Davidson on July 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Walker launched his campaign on Monday, joining 14 other Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential race. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
