Live from Virginia Tuesday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia, WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 PM) Hampton Roads, WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and Weekdays 6-10 am and 24/7 Stream – host Fredericks welcomed Congressman Ben Cline of Virginia’s Sixth District to weigh in on his campaign race and why no COVID deal is done.
Fredericks: Joining me now Ben Cline, Congressman Republican Sixth District of Virginia. Congressman Cline, great to have you with us.
Cline: John it’s always great to be with you. I could sit there and listen to your lead-in music all day long. Stevie Wonder and John Cougar Mellencamp. And I’m just jamming.
Fredericks: Yeah, it’s good. We get you a little fired up. Ben Cline with us. So Ben let’s start with politics and then go forward. Your race is a done deal right? You’re going to win that. But tell us about the spirit of the sixth district. I mean are we gonna have a big Trump vote there? What do you think and what have you seen?
Cline: Man I’ve never seen folks so excited about election day. Republicans have been voting early in the Sixth. So don’t believe the hype when the left says that they’re running away with the early vote out here in the Sixth. It’s conservatives who are so excited to really like Donald Trump that they are the ones getting to the polls and voting early. So the valley is going strong. It’s going red. And hopefully, it’s going to be enough to offset Northern Virginia and the ones who are dependent on the federal government for their jobs and voting for Joe Biden. And we’ll be able to elect Donald Trump and Daniel Gade will carry the state and send Mark Warner packing.
Fredericks: You know I got to tell you, I just had Daniel Gade on and you know he was down by 28 27-25 it was close to the gap even in our polling to about five or six. I think he’s got a shot. Remember last time Warner had a big lead and then it collapsed. And I thought Edward Gillespie was a terrible candidate – horrible campaign. He only got beat by one gay the opposite energetic, spirited campaign and right on the issues. Has taken it to Warner but he’s done it in a way that’s not like you know the Corey Stewart type. It’s been with class and I think he’s got a shot.
Cline: Well I was with Daniel gate last night at an event in Shenandoah County. Great event. So much electricity. This man is an American hero and Mark warner is a zero. But he hasn’t done anything in the Senate for the commonwealth of Virginia or for this country. And I tell you what, Daniel Gade has given and given and given. He is a public servant. An American hero. And the more folks learn about him the better he does. So hopefully folks will learn enough about him and put him in the U.S. Senate us and he’s going to be a leader for Virginia for a long time.
Fredericks: Yeah I think he is I kind of feel the same way. And I think mark warner is vulnerable he’s never really answered to the nonsense he did about the Russian collusion where he got on TV every week and told us there are more questions than answers. Where there’s smoke there’s fire. I’ve got the information you don’t have. At the end of the day didn’t have crap. I never got over that because I respected him on the intel committee and I said this to Gade. I respect Mark Warner when he was governor and I thought he was a serious politician. A serious statesman. And that whole thing I just can’t get past it. That was so partisan. He had nothing. So I figured he lied to me on TV like every Sunday over and over and over. So now it’s tough for me to believe him right?
Cline: Right. He’s Adam Schiff without the TV presence.
Fredericks: Exactly. Boy, that’s a great line. You ought to can that. Okay, let’s get the policy. Amy Coney Barrett. I popped the champagne last night. I’m not gonna lie. I’m a catholic. I was excited. She went to Notre Dame. She went to catholic school as I did. She not an Ivy Leaguer. She’s a mom with a bunch of children. I love it. I think she’s gonna be a great justice. Anne and I did have some champagne last night I do have to admit it. We’re catholic. We were very excited over here just the whole process you know the family and not Ivy Leaguer I think it’s going to be fantastic. But the Democrat’s gloom and doom. You would think is the end of the world.
Cline: They are coming unglued and I think part of that has to do with the fact that she is so appealing to the average American family. Where you have the first supreme court justice with school-age kids. We taped the process last night and watched it this morning as my kids were getting ready for school. And they got to see somebody who’s a mom. Who’s you know about the same age as my wife. Who has kids and who goes through the same things getting her kids ready for school that we get we go through. And to watch this great pro-life conservative woman take her place on the court means that there’s a place for my daughters and for others growing up who believe in the constitution and who believe in the values of this country. It’s great.
Fredericks: It’s fantastic and I think that she is just going to be a super justice and I can’t wait until today where she raises her hand and she’s actually officially sworn in. I got to hand it to Mitch McConnell I’ve not been a fan of his as you know for a long time and uh as an America first guy. He’s part of the Republican establishment that in our mind we defeated and tried to pull it up by it’s roots.
But he’s going to go down in history as probably the most effective Senate majority leader ever as far as I’m concerned with what he’s done with these judges and these three supreme court justices. And don’t forget, he didn’t go forward with Merrick Garland either. So I mean his imprint on the justice system in the United States not only with his supreme court but he’s shepherded through like 250 lower court judges. I mean it’s amazing what he’s been able to do.
Cline: His impact on the court will be so long-lasting. And you know he’s soft-spoken but the fact that he can uh cause liberals like Chuck Schumer and AOC and Elizabeth Warren to just melt into sputtering puddles of rage is just, it is also a bonus there where you can just watch them he drives them crazy just like trump drives them crazy because they’re effective. Because they get things done they get done what they say they’re going to do. And again Donald Trump promised to put conservatives on the court and he did it. He’s promised to build greater peace in the middle east.
And just agreement after agreement you see happening even now with Sudan recognizing Israel. It’s a great accomplishment. And around the world, he promised to strengthen our border. He’s done that. He promised to cut taxes during the swamp. He’s done that, and it just drives Democrats crazy that he and Mitch McConnell are doing what they said they were going to do
Fredericks: We’ve had you on for a month talking about the new COVID relief. And last week, when you were on you, said basically Nancy Pelosi isn’t going to do it because it’s all politics for her. It’s about power, not people. Now here we are seven days before the election we still have no bill. The Republicans have anted up 1.8 trillion. Her bill’s 2.2 trillion there’s a 400 billion dollar difference. Like who cares. why don’t you just make a deal? What is the problem?
Cline: The problem is Nancy Pelosi is a political animal first and foremost. She doesn’t care about the American people. She cares about maintaining political power. And it’s the political power play for her to not have an agreement now. She sees the possibility of a Democratic White House and a Democratic Senate and three or four trillion dollars going to bankrupt Democrats states that she owes. She owes Gavin out in California, that’s her state. So he’s on the phone with her no doubt saying, you need to bail us out because we’ve been running in the red for decades.
And it has nothing to do with COVID, but help us out. And so she’s trying to use it as a funnel of taxpayer money out to her failed state and to New York. And to other failed states that have mismanaged the public finances. We can’t let her get away with it. So we need Donald Trump back in there. We need Mitch McConnell to maintain his position as majority leader. That’s why these Senate races are so important. That’s why with Daniel Gade getting in there if he wins he’ll guarantee that Mitch McConnell stays majority leader.
Listen to the full show here:
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Photo “Ben Cline” by Congressman Ben Cline Facebook. Background Photo “U.S. Capitol” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
