The United States and United Kingdom have carried out strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen. But while many, including Glenn, believe it was way past time for America to show its dominance, maybe Biden should have asked Congress first. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) joins Glenn to explain what he believes this is really about: "This is election season. And when you're at war, there's a greater tendency to vote for the Commander-in-Chief...and I am worried that he's going to draw us into a war." Rep. Massie also lays out what the media ISN'T reporting: "With 33% of Congress, the President can go to war...It's ridiculous!" And he also addresses his recent drama with presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: Thomas Massie is with us. Who was just on CNN, questioning the intelligence of some of the -- the anchors there.
I don't know how you could possibly do that, Thomas Massie.
THOMAS: Well, I just questioned their preparedness. Now, I never questioned that about you or your staff.
GLENN: And we're the ones you should, really. Really.
THOMAS: No, she claims -- she referenced 19 different things I voted on. And claims, she spent a whopping two minutes studying one of them. And it made her an expert.
GLENN: Okay.
We want to talk to you about what's happening overseas with the Houthis.
I am -- I am really torn on this because I feel as though we are backing into yet another war.
I also think, there are people in this administration, that want war.
I also know that this administration continues to send money over to Iran.
So, you know, our -- our literal enemy in this, we're helping fund.
So this isn't serious on anybody's part.
However -- we -- however, they are shooting at us, launching missiles at our Navy.
And aren't we defending ourselves.
How should we look at this.
THOMAS: Well, first of all, you should look at it, as this is election season. When you're at war, there's a greater tendency to vote for the command-in-chief who is waging the war, and I am worried that he will draw us into a war with this.
Now, I believe he has an obligation to come to Congress.
And I think he had time to do it. If he had time to organize this international coalition. Or police with Great Britain to pull this off.
He had time to come to us. And, you know, the War Powers Act, requires him to do that. It allows him to respond defensively in the case of emergency.
But that would be like an imminent attack. It wouldn't be something where you planned, you know, some kind of retaliation for things that have gone on for months.
So --
GLENN: The war. Can we talk about the War Powers Act for a second.
Because I believe the War Powers Act, is correct, in a world where we have missiles.
If somebody is launching a missile. The president is it not have time to go to Congress.
And say, hey. I want to make my case here. That in 12 minutes, we will all be vaporized.
However, like you said, it's been 90 days.
Ninety-plus days since this happened, we've watched it happen.
They've been -- they've been fighting and shooting against us, et cetera, et cetera. The president has a responsibility to go in front of the American people, and Congress, and make his case. And Congress needs to decide. Correct?
THOMAS: Absolutely. Absolutely.
You are absolutely correct. We have abdicated -- we've been involved in Yemen. Here's what I don't see being reported in the news, since about 2015.
And in 2018, I teamed up with Ro Khanna, and he tried to get a War Powers Resolution passed.
GLENN: Yep.
THOMAS: To get it back out of him, and this was in 2018.
Paul Ryan did a parliamentary trick. He hid the vote on our War Powers Resolution in the farm bill. And then, so people voted for the farm bill. And put our War Powers Resolution to bed, so we tried again.
And he hid it in the Manage our Wolves Act if you voted for the Manager our Wolves Act to come to the floor of the House, you voted against the Ro Khanna/Thomas Massie War Powers Resolution, according to the War Powers Act, to get us out of Yemen.
GLENN: Think of this. Our Congress is voting on management of wolves, but not whether or not we go to war.
THOMAS: Correct. And then so a year later, we were able to get it to the floor. We passed it in the House. We followed -- you know, I don't even agree completely with the War Powers Act that was passed in the 1970s, especially not the interpretation that people have of it. But we were able to get a resolution passed. To get us out of Yemen in 2019. Then it went to the House and the Senate.
And they passed it with 53 votes. But Donald Trump vetoed it.
Now, it's within his authority to veto it.
But that demonstrated to me, how ridiculous the War Powers Act is.
Because effectively, it takes -- it takes two-thirds of us to override a president's veto.
So what it means is, the War Powers Act, with 33 percent of Congress, the president can go to war because it takes two-thirds to stop him.
It's ridiculous!
GLENN: So what are you hearing up on the Hill, about all of this?
Where are we headed, Thomas?
THOMAS: I mean, I am worried, that we are going to be expanding conflicts in the Middle East.
That this is -- that there's some people up here, that is just begging for a war with Iran.
And whether it's -- something that grows out of Gaza. And whether it's something that grows out of Yemen.
And I think we need to take a step back and look at this. And say, is that the best interest of our country, to have a full-blown war with Iran?
And I'm worried that this president would like to have something hot going on, before the election. Or during the election.
GLENN: Well, the national intelligence agencies came out today. And warned that the -- that Hezbollah, has assets here in America.
And that they're concerned that this could mean a direct strike here in the homeland.
Which I don't think would play well for all of those who have an open border.
THOMAS: Yeah. I mean, this is the big exposure we have with the open border. Not only are we going to economically destroy our country, by bringing so many illegal immigrants into the country so quickly.
It's so porous. That, you know, Hezbollah can walk across the border. And no doubt, they are here. They could activate.
I mean, what was it? Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were actually from Saudi Arabia, and were here legally for the most part, I think. But now we're looking at a different threat. And it only takes 19 to, you know, do something very bad in this country. As we saw on 9/11.
GLENN: Nikki Haley, during the last debate, basically called you an anti-Semite.
Why do you hate the Jews so much?
THOMAS: Oh, my gosh.
As Ron DeSantis says, that cheap garbage, and as I tweeted. I'm living rent-free in her head, and trust me, there's lots of empty space in here.
She has -- her understanding of the bills that I've been voting on, is 1 inch deep.
Whereas, Ron DeSantis, even though he and I disagree on this issue, he understands where I'm coming from.
And he's not AstroTurf like Nikki Haley is.
This is why she stopped taking questions at town halls.
If you go more than one question deep. She doesn't know what she's talking about.
But she was attacking me. I didn't vote for the 14 billion-dollar financial package to Israel.
Now, we can have a discussion about that.
Whether we should -- we can afford that. Whether we should be doing that or not.
But she claims I'm anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. Because I'm not voting for foreign aid.
But here's the thing. I've never voted for foreign aid on any country. I'm not picking on any country.
And then there were some resolutions where we can have legitimate disagreements about whether it's on free speech.
And that there were -- there was a vote that I took, against a resolution that says, anti-Zionism, is anti-Semitism.
Now it's true that a lot of anti-Semites are against Israel, just by definition. But it's not true.
That if you have harsh criticism of Israel, or even if you don't believe in Zionism, that you are also an anti-Semite.
Because if that were true, there would be a lot of Jews who were anti-Semite.
GLENN: I know. I was going to say. A lot of the Hasidic Jews in America.
Despise Israel.
Say it's an abomination of a state. Because it's not a religious state.
So are they anti-Semites too? Yeah, I don't think so.
THOMAS: I don't think Jerrold Nadler is an anti-Semite. Jewish. He spoke against that resolution against the floor.
GLENN: Okay.
DAVID: You know, the sad thing is we've had 19 votes like that, since our new Speaker became Speaker. And what we should be focusing on is our own spending bill cutting spending.
Instead, we passed these resolutions.
Which are frankly political gotchas.
The Republicans are trying to use that issue to catch the Democrats up in votes. Then use them to get unelected.
And, I mean, I just don't have an appetite for that when we should be focused on our fiscal issues.
Right now, in the House, we're about to throw away all the spending caps, that were put in place this summer. I was on your show talking about this, taking the heat from you.
GLENN: Because I said, oh, I remember when I was young and naive.
THOMAS: Yes. And I said, you know, maybe I'm getting fooled here. Because, Glenn, they're signing it into law.
They did the White House and the Senate, put those caps into law.
And now, they are undoing the law.
This is -- I mean, we've never gotten that far, kind of Lucy and the football.
I mean, my foot contacted the football.
I've never gotten to that point.
The problem is you said, illegally blocking or something. They are about to. What happened is the Senate and the White House had buyers remorse.
And the military hawks here, and the appropriators on the Republican side are forcing Mike Johnson through -- I will call it violence.
Parliamentary violence.
They're just like, well, we'll cause the government to shut down. And you will be blamed for it, if you don't undo the evil from this summer.
GLENN: Good. Good.
You know, honestly, Thomas, you know and I know, this government is dismantling America.
We would be better off with a government shut down for a while, to be able to put it back on a leash, by cutting all of this spending.
I mean, good! Good!
Shut it down.
THOMAS: I agree with you. But there's another option that they agreed to this summer.
Which is, if they would do what Jim Jordan and Warren Davids and I prescribed, and they agreed to.
Which is a long-term CR.
It would -- there would never be a threat of a shutdown, but there would be a one percent cut on April 30th to every department, in the United States, America's government.
And there wouldn't be a chance of a shutdown.
But that would motivate, I think, people to come to the table and get policies, like securing the border without a shutdown.
Here's what happens: When you have a shutdown.
We've got -- and you know this as well as I do.
There's at least a dozen members sharing the GOP conference who will cross the aisle and sign something with the Democrats to, you know, stiff us on this.
It's deplorable, but they will do it. And some of them have already announced their retirement. So they don't care.
GLENN: So bad. So bad.
Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thomas Massie. As always, keep taking them on. Thanks.
THOMAS: Thank you, brother, bye.