Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, Cooner contrary. Okay, my friends, a lot and
I mean a lot to talk about today. We touched
on it briefly in yesterday's show, and again MAGA is
divided on this proposal being pushed aggressively by President Trump
and his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. Many of you liked
(00:24):
the idea, many of you did not like the idea. So,
in a nutshell, here is now what President Trump is
trying to do. He has put forth a very bold,
frankly outside the box plan to create instead of a
green card, what he is calling a gold card. And
(00:45):
many of you may be asking jeeheiff jehilf jehif what
the hell is a gold card? A gold card essentially
would be a green card plus Green card with X
strip privileges. And the way you would acquire a gold
card is if you're a wealthy foreigner, you pay five
(01:10):
million dollars and with that five million dollars along with
a promise, a vow that you will invest in the
United States and you will create jobs in the process.
So it's not just five million and a check of
five million and they just give you essentially citizenship. It's
(01:35):
five million to get the Gold card, but you also
have to promise that you are going to invest substantially
in America, create numerous jobs, and of course pay taxes.
If you promise to do all of those things and
you pay the fee, the five million up front, then
(01:56):
you will be given permanent residency I'll like a green card,
and you will be put on a path towards citizenship.
This will also allow you to bring your spouse and
your children ages twenty one and under. They would be
covered under this so called gold card. Now listen to
(02:18):
President Trump the reason why he is aggressively pushing this idea.
In fact, the idea originated with Howard Lutnik, the Commerce Secretary,
who says this is a way to attract wealthy successful
investors create jobs in the United States, but the five
(02:40):
million dollar up front fee is a way to pay
down the national debt. Trump believes that he can get
about a million people to buy these gold cards. That's
five trillion dollars. All of the money that comes in
for the gold card will be used to pay down
(03:01):
the national debt. Listen now to President Trump roll out
this idea at a press conference at the Oval Office.
Roll Cut twenty two Mike, we're.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Going to be doing something else. It's going to be
very very good. We're going to be selling a gold card.
You have a green card. This is a gold card.
We're going to be putting a price on that card
of about five million dollars and that's going to give
you green card privileges. Plus it's going to be a
route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into
(03:39):
our country by buying this card. They'll be wealthy and
they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of
money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a
lot of people.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
And we think it's going to be extremely.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Successful now in particular, and this is one of the
key points. Is a reporter asks, Okay, besides the five
million and the upfront fee, is there going to be
some kind of amount of money? Do you have to
pledge that you will invest in America, whether it be
(04:11):
in a startup, in a factory, in a business, whatever
it may be. In other words, it's not just a
five million. Do you have to also pledge that you
will invest more money to create jobs. Listen to Trump's
response roll cut twenty three, Mic, do you have to
(04:33):
invest a certain amount of money in this country in
order to qualify for that GO card. Yeah, exactly, they
so basically yes. So it's a way to create jobs.
It's a way to bring in a ton of cash
for an investment into the United States. And if every
card costs five million dollars and there's a very strong
(04:55):
demand to get permanent residency and eventually citizenship, Trump believes
this can bring in just in terms of the debt,
trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars. Now, the other
part of the plan is very interesting. Trump is also saying, look,
(05:15):
if wealthy people like Elon Musk, or say Cook at Apple,
or Jeff Bezos at Amazon, or take your pick, if
they want to bring in some of the top engineers
or it or tech people, say from India or China
(05:36):
or the European Union or wherever it may be, you
pay the five million dollars and those employees can come
in get permanent residency, path to ag the path to citizenship,
and you can hire them on the spot. And so
(05:56):
this is another way to encourage people to bring in
the best and the brightest from around the world. But
they got to pay a fee, and they got to
pay a fee up front roll cut twenty four Mike,
with the gold.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Card, we'll bring in with it people that create jobs,
very high level people.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think companies will pay to get people in.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
For instance, you today graduate from the Wharton School of Finance,
or Harvard or Stanford or any college, and nobody knows
if you can even go to work for a company.
So Apple and all these companies that want to get
people to be working for them will be able to
(06:45):
buy a card and for the people that are number
one in their class at top schools.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I see that as one of the things.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
But so now he means these are foreign students, right,
These are foreign students who are top of their class.
They graduate, but there's no jobs waiting for them. And
he says, fine, no, no, you don't have to go
back to your home country. If Apple wants to sponsor you,
or Amazon or I'm just using those as an example,
any company pay the five million and you can hire
(07:16):
this person on the spot and they will get immediate
permanent residency with a path to citizenship. Now, let me
be brutally honest with all of you. I am divided
on this issue. I'm honestly truly conflicted at a discussion
with Grace about it last night. We went back and forth. Anyway,
(07:37):
let me just tell you I can see the pros
and cons. Obviously, beggars can't be choosers, and we are beggars.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We have a.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Thirty six point five trillion dollar national debt going up
now quickly to thirty seven trillion. We are the most
indebted nation in the history of the world. There is
a very powerful piece op at Peace out by Scottish
historian Neil Ferguson who says, you look at every country
(08:10):
in the history of the world in which the interest
on the debt cost more than what they paid for
defense or any other item in the budget, and every
single country has collapsed. And that's now where we are
as the United States of America. We now pay more
(08:32):
just the interest on the debt. I'm not talking principle,
just to finance the interest than we do on national
defense or social security, or Medicare or Medicaid, healthcare, education.
It doesn't matter the number one budget expense. The number
one budget item is financing the interest on the debt.
(08:55):
It is a time bomb that is going to destroy,
a ticking time bomb that is going to financially, fiscally
economically destroy the United States. What Trump is trying to
do is some come up with a bold proposal outside
the box to start generating trillions of dollars to start
aggressively paying down this debt. So I clearly see the fiscal, budgetary,
(09:22):
economic rationale, and yes, our backs are against the wall.
We have to move on this and move fast. But
let me be also honest with you. On the other side,
the idea of selling our country to the highest bidder,
(09:43):
of selling our citizenship to the highest bidder, of selling
permanent residency and the ability to live and work in
the United States to someone who can just, you know,
drop five million dollars, It's almost like we're selling our
country out. It dilutes citizenship, the value, the meaning of
(10:07):
what it is to be an American citizen. So what
we can foreigners can just buy their way to become
an American. They can just buy their way and become
citizens for themselves and their families. It sticks in my
craw Honestly, I don't like it. That part I don't like.
(10:29):
I really don't like. And so in the end, when
I look at the pros and cons and I can
see arguments obviously for both sides, But in the end,
I'm against the idea as an America first, as a
naturalized American, as a very proud American, I don't like
(10:53):
the idea of auctioning or selling off citizenship. I understand
the argument about the debt. Two six sixty eight sixty
eight is the number.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So President Trump now proposing a Gold Card in many
ways to replace the Green Card. Not that they will
get rid of the Green Card, but it's kind of
an extra tier in which now wealthy successful business people
from around the world, foreigners, if they pay five million
upfront with a pledge to invest in businesses or a
(11:28):
factory or a startup, that they will then be given
a permanent residency with a path to citizenship. President Trump
says the money is going to go exclusively to pay
down the debt. They are hoping to raise trillions of
dollars from this now, just so that everybody knows, because
I want to be fair to both sides of the argument,
(11:50):
you know, I'm kind of leaning against it for the
reasons that I stated in my monologue. But as Elon
Musk said yesterday, and he is right, there's no question
He's right. If we don't turn things around when it
comes to the debt and the deficit, we are going bankrupt.
That there's just no other way to say it. We
(12:12):
are going bankrupt. Two trillion dollar deficits are unsustainable. A
thirty six almost thirty seven trillion dollar national debt is unsustainable.
That's why they have to do doge. That's why they
have to cut spending. And that's why Trump and his
Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik, this is really Lutnick's brainchild, are saying,
(12:35):
let's do something out of the box like the gold card,
which they believe can raise potentially three four, maybe even
five trillion dollars which they will use right away to
pay down debt. So there is a fiscal crisis. Thank
you Joe Biden, thank you Barack Obama, thank you George W. Bush.
(12:56):
Thank you Democrats and Republicans over the last twenty twenty
five years. So in many ways, as I said in
my opening monologue, I understand the idea of it, the
need for it, because our backs are against the wall now. Furthermore,
this is not unprecedented. It's unprecedented in the United States,
(13:17):
but it's not unprecedented around the world, about one hundred
countries have some kind of a either citizenship in exchange
for investment or residency in exchange for investment program. For example,
in the Caribbean, this is very popular. Just to give
(13:38):
you some examples, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
It's a well known investment migration hub there, though the
price tag is much cheaper. It's two hundred and thirty
thousand dollars. In Saint Kitts and Nevis which pioneered this
(14:00):
what thirty forty years ago, the price there is two
hundred and fifty thousand for citizenship. So you pay your
two fifty, you become a citizen, and you also can
invest your money or you have strings are attached. You
need to invest money and create jobs. Malta in the
(14:21):
European Union, they charge about six fifty to seven hundred
thousand dollars. So it's not like it's unprecedented, that's right. Yeah,
there's the and then there's the HB five visa program,
which is what Trump is really trying to replace, modernize
(14:42):
and improve. And so here's the program that we have.
It's the EB five program, which is if it depends
you invest in some areas, it's eight hundred thousand dollars,
say rural areas or more marginal areas. Other areas that
have higher unemployment up to one point eight million dollars,
(15:05):
So it's basically eight hundred thousand to one point eight million.
If you are willing to put that money up front
and a pledge to invest in those more marginalized or
high unemployment areas, you will get an automatic green card.
That's the HB five system that we already have. Not citizenship,
(15:28):
but a green card. Now after five years, if you
have a green card and you don't commit a crime,
you do become a citizen. Now this is being used
by China. China has been a lot of Chinese investors
are coming into America that way, Vietnamese investors, Korean investors,
so it is being used by investors around the world.
(15:51):
There is a big backlog because there are quotas. They
don't just give it to everybody and unlimited, so they
only get out about ten thousand a year, so there's
a backlog and people complaining that. With the backlog, it's
very hard for other countries to compete, say against China
(16:13):
or against Vietnam. Or Taiwan is another one, Taiwan or
South Korea. Trump would open the whole thing up. Trump
would basically replace the HB five program with this new
gold card program. You don't get a green card, you
basically get citizenship. You don't have to give a eight
(16:34):
hundred thousand or a million or one point five, it's
got to be five million. And we want guarantees. EB
five program. You have to show that you will create
ten jobs. Trump is saying, I want you to create
many more jobs. Yeah, and you have to be vetted
as well. Trump is adamant on this point that individuals,
(16:57):
you know, if someone asked them at a presser, well,
with that include Russian oligarchs, and he said, well maybe
if they're properly vetted, so they don't want to see
drug cartels, people who launder money, notorious criminals, you know,
just come in and buy up citizenship and then set
(17:17):
up shop in the United States. Individuals will be vetted.
So that's the pro and it's a very impressive pro.
I mean, there's no question, there's a lot of strong arguments.
In the end, you're still buying citizenship, You're still in
a sense, you're still putting your country up for sale.
(17:39):
And that's the part, as I said, that sticks in
my crawl. I don't like it, super quick. I just
want to ask all of you. This was the point
that Grace made to me as well last night, and
I just briefly touched on it at the end of
the last segment.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
My concern is it's selling the country out and it's
selling citizenship to the highest bidder, which I think cheapens
and demeans and devalues our country. But think about you
know what was Trump campaigning on a one tier system
of justice, a one tier standard for everybody. Well here
(18:15):
you come out with this plan that if you're mega rich,
and you've got to be pretty much mega rich to
go for this gold card, then you can come to
America and buy yourself, essentially citizenship for you and your family.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I don't like it. I'll be honest with you. Just
sticks in my crawl. I don't like it, But that's
me I want to hear from you. Six one seven
two six six sixty eight sixty eight is the number. Okay,
it's the Kooner country Pole Question of the Day, sponsored
by Marios Marios Quality roofing, siding, and windows. Trump is
(19:02):
now proposed his Gold Card five million dollars and you
can purchase essentially citizenship in the United States with a
pledge to invest money and create jobs. A. Do you
believe it's a great way to pay down the national debt,
which is really the purpose of this Or B do
(19:26):
you fear that it is selling the country out? You're
basically selling the country to the highest bidder, citizenship to
the highest bidder. A you like, B you don't like.
You can vote on our web page wrko dot com
slash cooner wrko dot com slash cooner kuh and as
(19:51):
a national Er, you can also vote via x my handle.
There all one word at the Coooner Report k u
h Enna's in national Er Gina in Burlington. You're going
to kick us off, Gina, thanks for holding and welcome.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Hi.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Good morning, Jeff, Hi Jack. I've been trying to get
in touch with you since November. I've had to work
two jobs thanks to lovely Biden, but regard and one
of the things I really wanted to say. I wrote
down a couple of things because I actually have the
morning off, and I hope you give me time to
say them.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
For the debt.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
I don't know if anyone's touched on this or not,
but you know, China, with everyone admitting that COVID was
speculated and proof from China, et cetera. However you want
to word it, Why do we owe all of our
debt back to China? If anything, it should be cut
in half or less because they inflicted that upon the world,
(20:56):
loss of life, jobs are economy crashed, et cetera. So
I don't think we need to pay back everything we
owe to China, So that would help with the debt.
If anything, they owe us money for charging us masks
and medication for what they inflicted upon us.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
And in the words of Dave Ramsey, he always said
to sell what you don't need. And why does Pelosi
Fauci Biden they get pardoned?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, please, Gina, be careful. That's one word we can't
say on the air. Yeah please say crap, say you know,
VC saint manure, say garbage. But no, look your overall point,
I get it. There are other ways to help pay
down the debt, and I think a big one is
(21:47):
to tell China to go fly a kite. They're the
biggest foreign country that owns our debt, and I'm sorry,
they unleashed a biological attack on the United States and
on the world. That's what COVID was. That they released
it from that lab in Wuhan. I don't care if
it was deliberate or intentional. It came from that lab
(22:07):
in Wuhan, and they allowed it out and then they
didn't tell us about it, and they allowed people in
China to fly even though they knew they were infected
into the United States, into Europe because Jijinping didn't want
to just have China deal with it, and so that's
(22:27):
what released it and turned it into a global pandemic.
Now I'm sorry, but to me, those are reparations. So yeah,
I would say, we don't owe you that. There's you know,
we're writing off everything that we owe you gone gone,
So that would pay down the debts substantially. But look
(22:49):
in the end, and again this is why I think
you can really be on both sides of this issue.
And I think in the end, I think Trump's going
to get it. I think they're gonna they're gonna create
the program. Whatever doubts or opposition there is to this
gold card. I think The fact of the matter is
(23:11):
when you're looking at a thirty seven trillion dollar debt,
when you're looking at two trillion dollar budget deficits, when
you're looking at just servicing the interest on the debt alone. Again,
it's nearly now a trillion dollars a year. It's not
like nine hundred and forty five billion, nine forty five,
(23:33):
nine thirty five, nine fifty I read different figures, but
let's not quibble. It's basically a trillion dollars just the
interest on the debt. That's why Elon got up yesterday
at that cabinet meeting and looked around the room and said,
ladies and gentlemen, we're calling bankrupt. Man like, do you
(23:54):
understand If we don't get this thing under control, our
country's finished. So who you know. Basically Trump is saying,
all hands on deck. I'll try any idea. I'll throw base,
I'll throw anything at the wall at this point, so
a we got a slash government spending. Slash the bloated,
corrupt federal bureaucracy, bring spending down, start you know, lower
(24:18):
our deficits, start paying off debt. And then Lutnick came
up with this idea Hey, let's start selling a gold card.
Other countries sell citizenship, why don't we sell citizenship? And
we have the most valuable citizenship in the world. Everybody
wants to be an American citizen, and they're willing to
pay top dollar for it. So I believe me. I
(24:40):
understand the economic rationale. I really do, and I sympathize
with the argument, Hey, I don't want to see this
country economically crash. But I'm just telling you, as a patriot,
as an immigrant, myself as a naturalized citizen, I don't know, man,
you just sell it to the high is bitter like,
(25:00):
that's all it takes is five million.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
I don't know. It's like selling your daughter or selling
your son.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It's just to me, citizenship is something so precious, so noble,
so beautiful to just sell it, to put a price
tag on it. I'm just being honest with you. It
leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. Okay, very quick.
Listen now to President Trump saying, look, you know, I
(25:31):
mean to be honest. He's being very very upfront about it.
He goes, no, this is for people with money. This
is for wealthy foreigners with a lot of cash who
can invest, and who can buy, and who are successful
Roll cut twenty five, Mike.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Generally speaking, it'll be people with money and people that
create jobs, and they won't have to pay any tax
on income outside of the United States, which you're not
paying right now.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
They're not citizens, but they'll have to.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Pay if they create jobs in the United States, they'll
pay full taxes like everybody else. So you're getting big taxpayers,
big job producers.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
And we'll be able to.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And then he says, think about what a million is, right,
He says, okay, well, you know, do the math, five
million per card. Let's say you sell a million of
these cards. Roll cut twenty six, Mike, a million.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Cards would be worth five trillion dollars, five trillion, and
if you sell ten million of the cards, that's a
total of fifty trillion dollars.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, we have thirty five trillion in debt. That'd be nice.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So we'll see, but it could be great. Maybe it
will be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So the persons saying, wow, that was Howard Lutnik, the
Commerce secretary. So you know what Trump is saying is, look,
let's go low I think we can get a million
for this, a millillion buyers. That's five trillion dollars.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Boom. We can put that right to the debt.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And he's looking at Lutnik and he says, maybe what
ten million? Now you know it's aspirational. I don't know
if we can get to ten million. He goes, but
you put ten million, that's fifty trillion dollars. That wipes
out the entire debt, the whole damn thing. So I
understand the allure, I really do. But are we giving
(27:28):
up our soul a piece of ourselves in the process. That,
to me is the question. Sean in New Hampshire. Thanks
for holding Sean, and welcome.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Hi Jeff. I've been on before, and I think I
attended one of your things earlier. I just wanted to
point out there's a big history a feign money in
this country. It goes back probably a long time. But
I'm thinking about the laundering that the Islamic radicals did
from the early nineteen eighties on in Boston and elsewhere,
(28:01):
and George Sorow's and the money he's pumped into this country,
and I got to say this, You've got a valid
question about this because there's a there's a question I
have about the very successful and the idea of national identity.
It's so often and the globals may have already made
this point, rounded it into the consciousity society, the national
(28:26):
identity of investment. They've got so much money abroad, so
much money abroad?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Is it five million dollars from a wealthy foreign investor
or business person and citizenship is theirs? Good idea? Bad idea.
Let's go right back to Sean in New Hampshire. Sean,
you were talking about our country's national identity and how
increasingly it's being tied to investment and attracting foreign investment.
(28:54):
Please pick up where you left off, Sean.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Okay, it always has been, but it's really kind of
tied for the you know, the latter decades of the
twentieth century, we had Islamic fundamentals laundering, buying up property
and laundering money, the politicians going right along with it,
giving them great deals on land for mosques and down
near Roxbury and places like that. And you know, we've
(29:18):
had George Sorows funding rioters and assassins in the United
States for crime. These stakes and the loyalty of many
of the people who do business internationally is to their
firm and to their interests. And I wonder how often
state secrets, military secrets, technical secrets have been just funneled
off to China, and China's been allowed to throw a
(29:41):
lot of money into the country too, unopposed and not
not really looked at the way it should be. If
Trump wants to do what he wants to do, he
needs to look very closely at where we've made major
mistakes before and trying not to make those mistakes again.
There's too much at stake. I'm off of hitting the debt,
but I'm not for selling out my soul, and you know,
(30:04):
no checks and balances on who's doing what and when.
Maybe he knows how to do that because he's had
a hell of a lot of experience, a heck of
a lot of experience in doing what he's been doing
for so long. But there's a there's a bottom line
here that you just you've got to understand checks and
balances when when you're dealing with human nature. Founding fathers
(30:24):
in America knew that. That's why we got the Constitution
and gradually progressed socially to reform, not transform.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Oh, Sean, I couldn't have said it better myself, really,
very very powerfully said no. Look, Sean, that's exactly my concern. Look,
you the EB five program, which is the green card
program for wealthy investors, that this, this will supplant, this
will you know, basically modernize, make it more efficient, and
(30:54):
really replace already is dominated by China. Now you can
imagine there's going to be no limit. You know, they're
not capping this, there's no quota. We're only going to
give ten thousand or one hundred thousand or a million.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Trump is saying, hey, look if we can sell five million,
ten million, however million, and the more money the better,
so we can pay down you know, the debt and
maybe all of the debt. But I'm thinking you're going
to see Chinese investors pour into the United States.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
They're licking their chops. Now. They may not.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Be you know, an immediate national security threat, yes, or
they may not be fentanyl dealers who are trying to
launder their money.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
But they're going to have some connections to the Chinese
Communist Party. There's no question their loyalty is not to
the United States. You know, you mentioned, you know, the
the mosques and the madrasas that are being funded around
the world, and in some cases here in the United States.
The Saudis are going to jump all over this. You're
(31:58):
gonna you know, the Kataris, the Kuwaitis, the Chikhs, You're
gonna have Russian oligarchs, there's no question. So what I'm
saying is you have to put some really strict safeguards
if this thing is going to be successful. And my
fear is when you have that kind of money coming
(32:18):
in slashing around.
Speaker 8 (32:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
The one thing people have said about these programs in
other countries that they're rife with corruption and fraud, whether
you know Saint Kitts or Antigua or Malta. I mentioned
some examples of places where they do this, and they
all say, no, it does attract a lot of fraud.
It does attract what they call illicit actors, that's the
(32:44):
technical term they use, meaning drug dealers, drug traffickers, warlords, oligarchs,
people with dirty money who are trying to clean up
their money. So you know, when it's tried in other places,
there's a lot of fraud and a lot of abuse.
(33:07):
Now we're you know, We're not charging two hundred and
thirty thousand, two hundred and fifty six hundred and fifty thousand,
or even a million. We're charging five million, you know,
to just cough up five mil like like it's nothing.
And then you've also got to give a commitment for
investments for jobs. You're talking about the super rich, and
(33:32):
I'm worried about people getting paid off. I'm worried about
the bar being lowered. I'm worried about people not doing
proper background checks because they're being paid to look the
other way. That's why I look at this and I'm like,
and just overall, I don't know. Just to me, it's
so if you got the cash, you can become an
American citizen. Like that's how it works now, you know.
(33:56):
It's it's we're not just selling the country. We're not
just selling like assets or land. Now, we're selling to
me our most precious thing, which is our birthright, our citizenship.
That's why I don't like it, Sean, I'll be honest,
I don't like it. I mean, I'm not saying he
implements it, and I'm you know, I'm gonna wage a
(34:18):
gihaud against it. I can definitely see the rationale for it,
because we're in such a deep financial hole.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
But I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I gotta tell you, it's that bone now that's sticking
in my crawl. Sean, thank you very much for that call.
In other words, this is very tough for the cooner
man to swallow. So and you know, Grace and I
were going back and forth on this last night, pros
and con, pros and con. And you know, in the end,
(34:47):
you attract citizens because you think in the end they
love America, they're willing to assimilate in America, They're willing
to contribute and give to America. This is almost like
selling to the highest bidder, like we're just sort of
auctioning off citizenship. Dave in Pennsylvania, Thanks for holding Dave,
(35:09):
and welcome.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Hey Jefskin morning.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
How you John Dave, our Western PA correspondent.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
How are you good?
Speaker 8 (35:17):
Hey, Jeff? About that, I was wondering could I add
something to the title since you gave me the title?
Go ahead, how about you Western Pennsylvania Constitutional Correspondent. Because
I don't want to be not saying you can induce me,
but some wing in the media think of one of them.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Oh, Kay, sure, I mean I thought Cooner Country's Western
PA correspondent. I mean that to me implies constitutionalist Dave.
But if you want to add the extra word, go ahead,
my friend, You've earned it.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
I'm going to put up on my Facebook profile that
way I'll get a lot of hitsfully. But anyway, Jeff, listen,
you know, you know, I just real quick before I
get to what I called about. Isn't it good? We
might not agree on everything, Jeff, but we can sit
down and we can have a good argument. I don't
mean they an argument like a fight. To the dumbass
liberals out there, like Bill and said very an argument
means a discussion, right, Jeff, and in legal terms too,
(36:11):
But we don't expect Bill or people like that to understand, Jeff.
But anyways, I respectfully agree and discreet with you, Jeff.
I think it's going to be good to pay down
the debt. But on the bad side, I don't know
if you agree with this is that, Yeah, they're going
to be vetted. But Jeff, anyone can turn on a dime, buddy.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Oh, you mean in other words, yeah, they may be
initially vetted and it's fine, but then when they come here,
they could be influenced in a negative way. Say, let's
just take an example. You mean like a Chinese investor. Right,
so they're vetted and no, really, they just want to
put in money and invest and make money and do
well and achieve you know, the American dream. But then
(36:51):
five years later whatever, they could be influenced by the
Chinese Communist Party or by family members. So they come
in with good intentions, but they could be corrupted over
several years.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Correct, Is that your concern, Dave?
Speaker 8 (37:07):
Something like that, Jeff, And I don't know if this
is a good analogy. Please let me know. Remember in
the nineteen eighties when the moves of Hadeen was on
our side, and that's understand because he had a common enemy,
the Soviet Union. But right after the Gulf War, Laden
supposedly who did turn on us? Who was the CIA arborative?
If you remember that, bin Laden and Saddama once on
the CIA table again my friends and my enemy and
(37:29):
my friend of mees. But Jeff, the moves of Hadeen
turned right on us and joined the Taliban. So guess what, Jeff,
one day you get your buddy next day you get
your enemy. You know what I'm saying, Jeff, I'm just.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Speaking brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Dave. Let me ask you this,
how serious?
Speaker 1 (37:47):
How much of a crisis do you think our deficit
and debt is? I think in many ways, I think
that's going to determine which side people fall on in
this debate. Elon and are now convinced it's an existential threat.
Do you think it's an existential threat?
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Yeah? Yeah, Jeff, I think it could be also a
national security threat if we don't get it taken now,
because remember before Trump came and China was buying up
a lot of our debt. You know, from what I understand.
But Jeff, I think I think it's a good idea.
I think I'm sixty faudy, Jeff. I'm leaning more towards
the sixty. But you know, like I said, Jeff, I
(38:26):
make weight analogies. But I'm glad you agree with that because,
like I said, Jeff, one day, if your neighbor could
be your best friend, have a cookout with you, the
next day he's busting down your fence. But no, Jeff,
I think it's also a national security crisis because like
a person who's indebted to it's debtor. You know they're
going to come collect sometimes.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Well that's you, Jeff Dave.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
You again, you're on fire, by the way, our Western
PA constitutionalist corresponded, Dave is on fire because China has
us by the tonsils they do if they if they
want to call in the debt, they could bring America
to its niece. And that's what Trump is telling everybody
over and over. That's what Elon is telling everybody over
(39:08):
and over. He says, you don't understand, We've got to
make these cuts. Talking about Doge and then with Lutnik
came to him and said, look, you know what, let's
not grind it out. You know, a million here, another sorry,
a trillion here, a trillion there. I think we can
get trillions and trillions and trillions. You're like, well, how
let's do a gold card. And Trump was like, whoa
(39:31):
really yeah, five million dollars. Other countries do it, but
they don't charge what we charge five million. And they
got to invest, and they got to create jobs, and
they got to pay taxes, and of course we'll vet them.
I'm not going to let anybody come in. And that's
why Trump Trump now sees a pot of gold. And
you know, even if he can get ten trillion taken
(39:53):
off the debt, how much that would lower our interest
payments like already that would let us breathe a little
bit more. But you know, look, Dave, I'm preaching to
the choir now when I'm saying this, but I have
to say this, How did we allow ourselves to get
to this point? That, to me is what is so
freaking criminal that you know, basically nine, as I said
(40:18):
in my opening monologue, beggars can't be choosers. Like it's
gotten to the point like just do it, do whatever
you got to do. So it's almost like a home
that has been so mismanaged, a household, and you've put
yourself in such debt that to pay off the interest
(40:39):
on the debt, you've got to sell one of your
daughters or one of your sons, or one of your
family members, which, by the way, happens a lot in
the world.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
It just does.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So it's like, look, we got to eat, all right,
which of my daughters do you want? I mean, it's
starting to become like that, And that's the part I
don't like. I don't like you put this much money
and you get citizenship.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
So that's what American citizenship now means. It's it's like
at a Las Vegas casino. It's now you know, it's
just it's just's for sale. That's that's what I don't like.
But again, you may agree to disagree. I mean, that's
you know, that's why we have America. That's why we
have freedom. Dave, thank you very much for that call.
(41:31):
Six one seven two sixty six sixty eight sixty eight.
You know, as I always say, this is America, you're
always free to disagree. That's the beauty of this country.
Barbara in Abington, Thanks for holding Barbara.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
And welcome.
Speaker 7 (41:46):
Good morning yet Hi Barn, thank you Hi. I just
want to say condolences to you and your family for
the loss of.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
The Thank you, thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
I want to say I think Trump's I dally brilliant.
There are millions and millions of illegals in this country
who are living on the taxpayers, dying, so to speak.
So I think charging someone who is as wealthy as
(42:17):
they are, I don't really think you'll get the rift
for haf that we're getting now. You won't get the rapists,
the pedophilers, the drug dealers, the gang bangers. People think
that all they have to do is come across, have
a baby, and they instantly get citizenship. So what is
(42:42):
wrong with charging somebody for a patchway to citizenship other
than having people think, well, i'll get into the United States,
I'll have a baby, and now I'm a citizen.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Well, no, that's a very good arguments, I got to say,
it's a very very persuasive argument. Look, you look at
the open borders that we've had. You're right, it's third
world illegals who are pouring in and either their criminals
or their gang bangers, or many of them are you know,
(43:17):
rapists or let's just say many of them Jeff will know.
And many of them are not that. But they're low skilled.
It's not their fault, but they just come from very
poor countries, low education, very low income, low skill. Most
don't speak the language. So you know, as Trump said,
we're not getting the world's best. They're not sending us
(43:39):
their best. Even if you leave aside the criminals and
the gangs and the sex traffickers and all the crime,
just if you just say, look just these you know
they want to come to work. Okay, these you know,
hard working migrants, but many of them have no little
to no skills. Most of them have a six to
eighth grade education, almost no money, no income, which is
(44:04):
why many of them go on welfare on top of working.
Trump is saying, why don't we flip it, how about
we bring in and this is what he said, the
best and the brightest. It's not just their money that
we're bringing in. It's their know how, it's their education,
it's their investment, it's their ability to create jobs and businesses.
(44:24):
They become taxpayers in other words, not takers like all
of these illegals. But they become makers immediately. I mean
they start off with five million right into the pot
right away. They put in a five million, you know,
a five million fee. Never mind everything else that they
have to do. They got to pay taxes, they got
to create a company or a factory or whatever. They
(44:45):
got to hire people. So what he's saying is, you know,
we're not from We're not. This is to bring in
the world's best, not the world's worst. And so that's
how he sees it. In fact, let me just play
a quick cut barber, and I promise I'll let you finish.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
This is.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
What Trump said, saying, look, oh, and by the way,
if they want to hire someone who's a foreigner but
has gone to one of our schools or elite universities,
he says, fine, you really value some of these people,
You give them, buy them a gold card, five million
dollars and they can work. So not only are they
(45:29):
creating jobs, not only are they putting five million dollars
towards paying down to debt, they're also going to be
hiring people. And they got to pay five million for
them too. Roll cut twenty four.
Speaker 9 (45:41):
Mike at the gold card will bring in with it
people that create jobs, very high level people.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
I think companies will pay to get people in.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
For instance, you today graduate from Wharton's going to Finance
or Harvard or Stanford or any college, and nobody knows
that you can even go to work for a company.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
So Apple and all these companies.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
That want to get people to be working for them
will be able to buy a card. And for the
people that are number one of that last a top schools,
you know, I see that as one of the things.
Speaker 4 (46:24):
But so Barbara, there you go.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
He's saying it'll attract capital, investors, businesses know how, people
with good skills and education. In other words, the very
exact opposite of all the illegals that I've been pouring
in final word to you, Barbara.
Speaker 7 (46:45):
Exactly, this is why I think it's brilliant. And you're
going to vet these people. No one has been vetted
for the last four years. Everybody has been coming in
and living off of the tax payer is at least
now you own a company and your company is steymied
(47:06):
and you have to think of a way how to
get it making money again. So maybe the US it's
like a company, and the way to make money again
is to let these outer rich people pay for a
pathway to citizenship that we're not going to have to support,
(47:28):
that are going to make jobs and make us rich
again in that sense, I don't know what do.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
You think, well, Barbara, Look, that's the argument. I mean,
that's that's what let make Musk and Trump are arguing.
You've laid it out. I think very very well, and Barbara,
thank you very much for that call. Now, look this,
I think this is the this. If there's a disagreement,
this is the disagreement. And I think you laid it
out very clearly, Barbara, America, run America like a business. Right,
(48:00):
As you said, America in many ways is a company.
So run it like a company. Bring in the best people,
bring in the best talent, bring in the best money,
the best capital, the best investment. This is where I
kind of slightly agree disagree to me. America is more
than a company. To me, America is a nation. It's
a family. And the idea that someone can just buy
(48:26):
their way into the United States, that's the part I
don't like.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
Now.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Again, I recognize the fiscal economic realities. I understand we're
thirty seven trillion dollars in the hole. I don't see
a better idea out there, nothing like anything that comes
close to this that can potentially generate trillions and trillions
and trillions of dollars. So we may have no choice,
But I'm just gonna be honest with you. I don't
(48:53):
know if this is a precedent we want to set.
Just stand back. Basically, if here's what we're saying, if
you have money and you're willing to plunk it into
the United States, you become an American citizen. That basically,
American citizenship is for sale. It's a commodity. It's a commodity.
(49:17):
It's like like a corporation or a company. It's a
product that we sell. That's I don't think that's what
George Washington had in mind. It's certainly, I'll be honest,
it's not what I had in mind when I came
to America. I came to work, I came to pay taxes,
I came to contribute. But I'm here honestly because I
(49:38):
love America. I mean, I love the freedom of America.
I love the Constitution of America. I love the history
of America. I love the heritage and culture of America.
Like it's not a business proposition. And you know, Okay, fine,
I get it. We're going to generate trillions of dollars.
But remember these are people coming from around the world,
(50:02):
many of whom don't have our best interests at heart.
I mean, they may be vetted. I'm not saying to criminals.
Good morning, Cooner contrary. Okay, my friends, a lot and
I mean a lot to talk about today. We touched
on it briefly in yesterday's show, and again MAGA is
divided on this proposal being pushed aggressively by President Trump
and his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik. Many of you liked
(00:24):
the idea, many of you did not like the idea. So,
in a nutshell, here is now what President Trump is
trying to do. He has put forth a very bold,
frankly outside the box plan to create instead of a
green card, what he is calling a gold card. And
(00:45):
many of you may be asking jeeheiff jehilf jehif what
the hell is a gold card? A gold card essentially
would be a green card plus Green card with X
strip privileges. And the way you would acquire a gold
card is if you're a wealthy foreigner, you pay five
(01:10):
million dollars and with that five million dollars along with
a promise, a vow that you will invest in the
United States and you will create jobs in the process.
So it's not just five million and a check of
five million and they just give you essentially citizenship. It's
(01:35):
five million to get the Gold card, but you also
have to promise that you are going to invest substantially
in America, create numerous jobs, and of course pay taxes.
If you promise to do all of those things and
you pay the fee, the five million up front, then
(01:56):
you will be given permanent residency I'll like a green card,
and you will be put on a path towards citizenship.
This will also allow you to bring your spouse and
your children ages twenty one and under. They would be
covered under this so called gold card. Now listen to
(02:18):
President Trump the reason why he is aggressively pushing this idea.
In fact, the idea originated with Howard Lutnik, the Commerce Secretary,
who says this is a way to attract wealthy successful
investors create jobs in the United States, but the five
(02:40):
million dollar up front fee is a way to pay
down the national debt. Trump believes that he can get
about a million people to buy these gold cards. That's
five trillion dollars. All of the money that comes in
for the gold card will be used to pay down
(03:01):
the national debt. Listen now to President Trump roll out
this idea at a press conference at the Oval Office.
Roll Cut twenty two Mike, we're.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Going to be doing something else. It's going to be
very very good. We're going to be selling a gold card.
You have a green card. This is a gold card.
We're going to be putting a price on that card
of about five million dollars and that's going to give
you green card privileges. Plus it's going to be a
route to citizenship, and wealthy people will be coming into
(03:39):
our country by buying this card. They'll be wealthy and
they'll be successful, and they'll be spending a lot of
money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a
lot of people.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
And we think it's going to be extremely.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Successful now in particular, and this is one of the
key points. Is a reporter asks, Okay, besides the five
million and the upfront fee, is there going to be
some kind of amount of money? Do you have to
pledge that you will invest in America, whether it be
(04:11):
in a startup, in a factory, in a business, whatever
it may be. In other words, it's not just a
five million. Do you have to also pledge that you
will invest more money to create jobs. Listen to Trump's
response roll cut twenty three, Mic, do you have to
(04:33):
invest a certain amount of money in this country in
order to qualify for that GO card. Yeah, exactly, they
so basically yes. So it's a way to create jobs.
It's a way to bring in a ton of cash
for an investment into the United States. And if every
card costs five million dollars and there's a very strong
(04:55):
demand to get permanent residency and eventually citizenship, Trump believes
this can bring in just in terms of the debt,
trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars. Now, the other
part of the plan is very interesting. Trump is also saying, look,
(05:15):
if wealthy people like Elon Musk, or say Cook at Apple,
or Jeff Bezos at Amazon, or take your pick, if
they want to bring in some of the top engineers
or it or tech people, say from India or China
(05:36):
or the European Union or wherever it may be, you
pay the five million dollars and those employees can come
in get permanent residency, path to ag the path to citizenship,
and you can hire them on the spot. And so
(05:56):
this is another way to encourage people to bring in
the best and the brightest from around the world. But
they got to pay a fee, and they got to
pay a fee up front roll cut twenty four Mike,
with the gold.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Card, we'll bring in with it people that create jobs,
very high level people.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
I think companies will pay to get people in.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
For instance, you today graduate from the Wharton School of Finance,
or Harvard or Stanford or any college, and nobody knows
if you can even go to work for a company.
So Apple and all these companies that want to get
people to be working for them will be able to
(06:45):
buy a card and for the people that are number
one in their class at top schools.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
I see that as one of the things.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
But so now he means these are foreign students, right,
These are foreign students who are top of their class.
They graduate, but there's no jobs waiting for them. And
he says, fine, no, no, you don't have to go
back to your home country. If Apple wants to sponsor you,
or Amazon or I'm just using those as an example,
any company pay the five million and you can hire
(07:16):
this person on the spot and they will get immediate
permanent residency with a path to citizenship. Now, let me
be brutally honest with all of you. I am divided
on this issue. I'm honestly truly conflicted at a discussion
with Grace about it last night. We went back and forth. Anyway,
(07:37):
let me just tell you I can see the pros
and cons. Obviously, beggars can't be choosers, and we are beggars.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
We have a.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Thirty six point five trillion dollar national debt going up
now quickly to thirty seven trillion. We are the most
indebted nation in the history of the world. There is
a very powerful piece op at Peace out by Scottish
historian Neil Ferguson who says, you look at every country
(08:10):
in the history of the world in which the interest
on the debt cost more than what they paid for
defense or any other item in the budget, and every
single country has collapsed. And that's now where we are
as the United States of America. We now pay more
(08:32):
just the interest on the debt. I'm not talking principle,
just to finance the interest than we do on national
defense or social security, or Medicare or Medicaid, healthcare, education.
It doesn't matter the number one budget expense. The number
one budget item is financing the interest on the debt.
(08:55):
It is a time bomb that is going to destroy,
a ticking time bomb that is going to financially, fiscally
economically destroy the United States. What Trump is trying to
do is some come up with a bold proposal outside
the box to start generating trillions of dollars to start
aggressively paying down this debt. So I clearly see the fiscal, budgetary,
(09:22):
economic rationale, and yes, our backs are against the wall.
We have to move on this and move fast. But
let me be also honest with you. On the other side,
the idea of selling our country to the highest bidder,
(09:43):
of selling our citizenship to the highest bidder, of selling
permanent residency and the ability to live and work in
the United States to someone who can just, you know,
drop five million dollars, It's almost like we're selling our
country out. It dilutes citizenship, the value, the meaning of
(10:07):
what it is to be an American citizen. So what
we can foreigners can just buy their way to become
an American. They can just buy their way and become
citizens for themselves and their families. It sticks in my
craw Honestly, I don't like it. That part I don't like.
(10:29):
I really don't like. And so in the end, when
I look at the pros and cons and I can
see arguments obviously for both sides, But in the end,
I'm against the idea as an America first, as a
naturalized American, as a very proud American, I don't like
(10:53):
the idea of auctioning or selling off citizenship. I understand
the argument about the debt. Two six sixty eight sixty
eight is the number.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
So President Trump now proposing a Gold Card in many
ways to replace the Green Card. Not that they will
get rid of the Green Card, but it's kind of
an extra tier in which now wealthy successful business people
from around the world, foreigners, if they pay five million
upfront with a pledge to invest in businesses or a
(11:28):
factory or a startup, that they will then be given
a permanent residency with a path to citizenship. President Trump
says the money is going to go exclusively to pay
down the debt. They are hoping to raise trillions of
dollars from this now, just so that everybody knows, because
I want to be fair to both sides of the argument,
(11:50):
you know, I'm kind of leaning against it for the
reasons that I stated in my monologue. But as Elon
Musk said yesterday, and he is right, there's no question
He's right. If we don't turn things around when it
comes to the debt and the deficit, we are going bankrupt.
That there's just no other way to say it. We
(12:12):
are going bankrupt. Two trillion dollar deficits are unsustainable. A
thirty six almost thirty seven trillion dollar national debt is unsustainable.
That's why they have to do doge. That's why they
have to cut spending. And that's why Trump and his
Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnik, this is really Lutnick's brainchild, are saying,
(12:35):
let's do something out of the box like the gold card,
which they believe can raise potentially three four, maybe even
five trillion dollars which they will use right away to
pay down debt. So there is a fiscal crisis. Thank
you Joe Biden, thank you Barack Obama, thank you George W. Bush.
(12:56):
Thank you Democrats and Republicans over the last twenty twenty
five years. So in many ways, as I said in
my opening monologue, I understand the idea of it, the
need for it, because our backs are against the wall now. Furthermore,
this is not unprecedented. It's unprecedented in the United States,
(13:17):
but it's not unprecedented around the world, about one hundred
countries have some kind of a either citizenship in exchange
for investment or residency in exchange for investment program. For example,
in the Caribbean, this is very popular. Just to give
(13:38):
you some examples, the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda.
It's a well known investment migration hub there, though the
price tag is much cheaper. It's two hundred and thirty
thousand dollars. In Saint Kitts and Nevis which pioneered this
(14:00):
what thirty forty years ago, the price there is two
hundred and fifty thousand for citizenship. So you pay your
two fifty, you become a citizen, and you also can
invest your money or you have strings are attached. You
need to invest money and create jobs. Malta in the
(14:21):
European Union, they charge about six fifty to seven hundred
thousand dollars. So it's not like it's unprecedented, that's right. Yeah,
there's the and then there's the HB five visa program,
which is what Trump is really trying to replace, modernize
(14:42):
and improve. And so here's the program that we have.
It's the EB five program, which is if it depends
you invest in some areas, it's eight hundred thousand dollars,
say rural areas or more marginal areas. Other areas that
have higher unemployment up to one point eight million dollars,
(15:05):
So it's basically eight hundred thousand to one point eight million.
If you are willing to put that money up front
and a pledge to invest in those more marginalized or
high unemployment areas, you will get an automatic green card.
That's the HB five system that we already have. Not citizenship,
(15:28):
but a green card. Now after five years, if you
have a green card and you don't commit a crime,
you do become a citizen. Now this is being used
by China. China has been a lot of Chinese investors
are coming into America that way, Vietnamese investors, Korean investors,
so it is being used by investors around the world.
(15:51):
There is a big backlog because there are quotas. They
don't just give it to everybody and unlimited, so they
only get out about ten thousand a year, so there's
a backlog and people complaining that. With the backlog, it's
very hard for other countries to compete, say against China
(16:13):
or against Vietnam. Or Taiwan is another one, Taiwan or
South Korea. Trump would open the whole thing up. Trump
would basically replace the HB five program with this new
gold card program. You don't get a green card, you
basically get citizenship. You don't have to give a eight
(16:34):
hundred thousand or a million or one point five, it's
got to be five million. And we want guarantees. EB
five program. You have to show that you will create
ten jobs. Trump is saying, I want you to create
many more jobs. Yeah, and you have to be vetted
as well. Trump is adamant on this point that individuals,
(16:57):
you know, if someone asked them at a presser, well,
with that include Russian oligarchs, and he said, well maybe
if they're properly vetted, so they don't want to see
drug cartels, people who launder money, notorious criminals, you know,
just come in and buy up citizenship and then set
(17:17):
up shop in the United States. Individuals will be vetted.
So that's the pro and it's a very impressive pro.
I mean, there's no question, there's a lot of strong arguments.
In the end, you're still buying citizenship, You're still in
a sense, you're still putting your country up for sale.
(17:39):
And that's the part, as I said, that sticks in
my crawl. I don't like it, super quick. I just
want to ask all of you. This was the point
that Grace made to me as well last night, and
I just briefly touched on it at the end of
the last segment.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
My concern is it's selling the country out and it's
selling citizenship to the highest bidder, which I think cheapens
and demeans and devalues our country. But think about you
know what was Trump campaigning on a one tier system
of justice, a one tier standard for everybody. Well here
(18:15):
you come out with this plan that if you're mega rich,
and you've got to be pretty much mega rich to
go for this gold card, then you can come to
America and buy yourself, essentially citizenship for you and your family.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
I don't like it. I'll be honest with you. Just
sticks in my crawl. I don't like it, But that's
me I want to hear from you. Six one seven
two six six sixty eight sixty eight is the number. Okay,
it's the Kooner country Pole Question of the Day, sponsored
by Marios Marios Quality roofing, siding, and windows. Trump is
(19:02):
now proposed his Gold Card five million dollars and you
can purchase essentially citizenship in the United States with a
pledge to invest money and create jobs. A. Do you
believe it's a great way to pay down the national debt,
which is really the purpose of this Or B do
(19:26):
you fear that it is selling the country out? You're
basically selling the country to the highest bidder, citizenship to
the highest bidder. A you like, B you don't like.
You can vote on our web page wrko dot com
slash cooner wrko dot com slash cooner kuh and as
(19:51):
a national Er, you can also vote via x my handle.
There all one word at the Coooner Report k u
h Enna's in national Er Gina in Burlington. You're going
to kick us off, Gina, thanks for holding and welcome.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Hi.
Speaker 6 (20:11):
Good morning, Jeff, Hi Jack. I've been trying to get
in touch with you since November. I've had to work
two jobs thanks to lovely Biden, but regard and one
of the things I really wanted to say. I wrote
down a couple of things because I actually have the
morning off, and I hope you give me time to
say them.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
For the debt.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
I don't know if anyone's touched on this or not,
but you know, China, with everyone admitting that COVID was
speculated and proof from China, et cetera. However you want
to word it, Why do we owe all of our
debt back to China? If anything, it should be cut
in half or less because they inflicted that upon the world,
(20:56):
loss of life, jobs are economy crashed, et cetera. So
I don't think we need to pay back everything we
owe to China, So that would help with the debt.
If anything, they owe us money for charging us masks
and medication for what they inflicted upon us.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
You know.
Speaker 6 (21:17):
And in the words of Dave Ramsey, he always said
to sell what you don't need. And why does Pelosi
Fauci Biden they get pardoned?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yeah, please, Gina, be careful. That's one word we can't
say on the air. Yeah please say crap, say you know,
VC saint manure, say garbage. But no, look your overall point,
I get it. There are other ways to help pay
down the debt, and I think a big one is
(21:47):
to tell China to go fly a kite. They're the
biggest foreign country that owns our debt, and I'm sorry,
they unleashed a biological attack on the United States and
on the world. That's what COVID was. That they released
it from that lab in Wuhan. I don't care if
it was deliberate or intentional. It came from that lab
(22:07):
in Wuhan, and they allowed it out and then they
didn't tell us about it, and they allowed people in
China to fly even though they knew they were infected
into the United States, into Europe because Jijinping didn't want
to just have China deal with it, and so that's
(22:27):
what released it and turned it into a global pandemic.
Now I'm sorry, but to me, those are reparations. So yeah,
I would say, we don't owe you that. There's you know,
we're writing off everything that we owe you gone gone,
So that would pay down the debts substantially. But look
(22:49):
in the end, and again this is why I think
you can really be on both sides of this issue.
And I think in the end, I think Trump's going
to get it. I think they're gonna they're gonna create
the program. Whatever doubts or opposition there is to this
gold card. I think The fact of the matter is
(23:11):
when you're looking at a thirty seven trillion dollar debt,
when you're looking at two trillion dollar budget deficits, when
you're looking at just servicing the interest on the debt alone. Again,
it's nearly now a trillion dollars a year. It's not
like nine hundred and forty five billion, nine forty five,
(23:33):
nine thirty five, nine fifty I read different figures, but
let's not quibble. It's basically a trillion dollars just the
interest on the debt. That's why Elon got up yesterday
at that cabinet meeting and looked around the room and said,
ladies and gentlemen, we're calling bankrupt. Man like, do you
(23:54):
understand If we don't get this thing under control, our
country's finished. So who you know. Basically Trump is saying,
all hands on deck. I'll try any idea. I'll throw base,
I'll throw anything at the wall at this point, so
a we got a slash government spending. Slash the bloated,
corrupt federal bureaucracy, bring spending down, start you know, lower
(24:18):
our deficits, start paying off debt. And then Lutnick came
up with this idea Hey, let's start selling a gold card.
Other countries sell citizenship, why don't we sell citizenship? And
we have the most valuable citizenship in the world. Everybody
wants to be an American citizen, and they're willing to
pay top dollar for it. So I believe me. I
(24:40):
understand the economic rationale. I really do, and I sympathize
with the argument, Hey, I don't want to see this
country economically crash. But I'm just telling you, as a patriot,
as an immigrant, myself as a naturalized citizen, I don't know, man,
you just sell it to the high is bitter like,
(25:00):
that's all it takes is five million.
Speaker 4 (25:03):
I don't know. It's like selling your daughter or selling
your son.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
It's just to me, citizenship is something so precious, so noble,
so beautiful to just sell it, to put a price
tag on it. I'm just being honest with you. It
leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. Okay, very quick.
Listen now to President Trump saying, look, you know, I
(25:31):
mean to be honest. He's being very very upfront about it.
He goes, no, this is for people with money. This
is for wealthy foreigners with a lot of cash who
can invest, and who can buy, and who are successful
Roll cut twenty five, Mike.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Generally speaking, it'll be people with money and people that
create jobs, and they won't have to pay any tax
on income outside of the United States, which you're not
paying right now.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
They're not citizens, but they'll have to.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Pay if they create jobs in the United States, they'll
pay full taxes like everybody else. So you're getting big taxpayers,
big job producers.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
And we'll be able to.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
Sell maybe a million of these cards, maybe more than that.
Speaker 1 (26:15):
And then he says, think about what a million is, right,
He says, okay, well, you know, do the math, five
million per card. Let's say you sell a million of
these cards. Roll cut twenty six, Mike, a million.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Cards would be worth five trillion dollars, five trillion, and
if you sell ten million of the cards, that's a
total of fifty trillion dollars.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Well, we have thirty five trillion in debt. That'd be nice.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
So we'll see, but it could be great. Maybe it
will be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
So the persons saying, wow, that was Howard Lutnik, the
Commerce secretary. So you know what Trump is saying is, look,
let's go low I think we can get a million
for this, a millillion buyers. That's five trillion dollars.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Boom. We can put that right to the debt.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
And he's looking at Lutnik and he says, maybe what
ten million? Now you know it's aspirational. I don't know
if we can get to ten million. He goes, but
you put ten million, that's fifty trillion dollars. That wipes
out the entire debt, the whole damn thing. So I
understand the allure, I really do. But are we giving
(27:28):
up our soul a piece of ourselves in the process. That,
to me is the question. Sean in New Hampshire. Thanks
for holding Sean, and welcome.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
Hi Jeff. I've been on before, and I think I
attended one of your things earlier. I just wanted to
point out there's a big history a feign money in
this country. It goes back probably a long time. But
I'm thinking about the laundering that the Islamic radicals did
from the early nineteen eighties on in Boston and elsewhere,
(28:01):
and George Sorow's and the money he's pumped into this country,
and I got to say this, You've got a valid
question about this because there's a there's a question I
have about the very successful and the idea of national identity.
It's so often and the globals may have already made
this point, rounded it into the consciousity society, the national
(28:26):
identity of investment. They've got so much money abroad, so
much money abroad?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Is it five million dollars from a wealthy foreign investor
or business person and citizenship is theirs? Good idea? Bad idea.
Let's go right back to Sean in New Hampshire. Sean,
you were talking about our country's national identity and how
increasingly it's being tied to investment and attracting foreign investment.
(28:54):
Please pick up where you left off, Sean.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
Okay, it always has been, but it's really kind of
tied for the you know, the latter decades of the
twentieth century, we had Islamic fundamentals laundering, buying up property
and laundering money, the politicians going right along with it,
giving them great deals on land for mosques and down
near Roxbury and places like that. And you know, we've
(29:18):
had George Sorows funding rioters and assassins in the United
States for crime. These stakes and the loyalty of many
of the people who do business internationally is to their
firm and to their interests. And I wonder how often
state secrets, military secrets, technical secrets have been just funneled
off to China, and China's been allowed to throw a
(29:41):
lot of money into the country too, unopposed and not
not really looked at the way it should be. If
Trump wants to do what he wants to do, he
needs to look very closely at where we've made major
mistakes before and trying not to make those mistakes again.
There's too much at stake. I'm off of hitting the debt,
but I'm not for selling out my soul, and you know,
(30:04):
no checks and balances on who's doing what and when.
Maybe he knows how to do that because he's had
a hell of a lot of experience, a heck of
a lot of experience in doing what he's been doing
for so long. But there's a there's a bottom line
here that you just you've got to understand checks and
balances when when you're dealing with human nature. Founding fathers
(30:24):
in America knew that. That's why we got the Constitution
and gradually progressed socially to reform, not transform.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Oh, Sean, I couldn't have said it better myself, really,
very very powerfully said no. Look, Sean, that's exactly my concern. Look,
you the EB five program, which is the green card
program for wealthy investors, that this, this will supplant, this
will you know, basically modernize, make it more efficient, and
(30:54):
really replace already is dominated by China. Now you can
imagine there's going to be no limit. You know, they're
not capping this, there's no quota. We're only going to
give ten thousand or one hundred thousand or a million.
Speaker 4 (31:08):
You know.
Speaker 1 (31:09):
Trump is saying, hey, look if we can sell five million,
ten million, however million, and the more money the better,
so we can pay down you know, the debt and
maybe all of the debt. But I'm thinking you're going
to see Chinese investors pour into the United States.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
They're licking their chops. Now. They may not.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Be you know, an immediate national security threat, yes, or
they may not be fentanyl dealers who are trying to
launder their money.
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I get it.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
But they're going to have some connections to the Chinese
Communist Party. There's no question their loyalty is not to
the United States. You know, you mentioned, you know, the
the mosques and the madrasas that are being funded around
the world, and in some cases here in the United States.
The Saudis are going to jump all over this. You're
(31:58):
gonna you know, the Kataris, the Kuwaitis, the Chikhs, You're
gonna have Russian oligarchs, there's no question. So what I'm
saying is you have to put some really strict safeguards
if this thing is going to be successful. And my
fear is when you have that kind of money coming
(32:18):
in slashing around.
Speaker 8 (32:21):
You know.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
The one thing people have said about these programs in
other countries that they're rife with corruption and fraud, whether
you know Saint Kitts or Antigua or Malta. I mentioned
some examples of places where they do this, and they
all say, no, it does attract a lot of fraud.
It does attract what they call illicit actors, that's the
(32:44):
technical term they use, meaning drug dealers, drug traffickers, warlords, oligarchs,
people with dirty money who are trying to clean up
their money. So you know, when it's tried in other places,
there's a lot of fraud and a lot of abuse.
(33:07):
Now we're you know, We're not charging two hundred and
thirty thousand, two hundred and fifty six hundred and fifty thousand,
or even a million. We're charging five million, you know,
to just cough up five mil like like it's nothing.
And then you've also got to give a commitment for
investments for jobs. You're talking about the super rich, and
(33:32):
I'm worried about people getting paid off. I'm worried about
the bar being lowered. I'm worried about people not doing
proper background checks because they're being paid to look the
other way. That's why I look at this and I'm like,
and just overall, I don't know. Just to me, it's
so if you got the cash, you can become an
American citizen. Like that's how it works now, you know.
(33:56):
It's it's we're not just selling the country. We're not
just selling like assets or land. Now, we're selling to
me our most precious thing, which is our birthright, our citizenship.
That's why I don't like it, Sean, I'll be honest,
I don't like it. I mean, I'm not saying he
implements it, and I'm you know, I'm gonna wage a
(34:18):
gihaud against it. I can definitely see the rationale for it,
because we're in such a deep financial hole.
Speaker 4 (34:25):
But I don't like it.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I gotta tell you, it's that bone now that's sticking
in my crawl. Sean, thank you very much for that call.
In other words, this is very tough for the cooner
man to swallow. So and you know, Grace and I
were going back and forth on this last night, pros
and con, pros and con. And you know, in the end,
(34:47):
you attract citizens because you think in the end they
love America, they're willing to assimilate in America, They're willing
to contribute and give to America. This is almost like
selling to the highest bidder, like we're just sort of
auctioning off citizenship. Dave in Pennsylvania, Thanks for holding Dave,
(35:09):
and welcome.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
Hey Jefskin morning.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
How you John Dave, our Western PA correspondent.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
How are you good?
Speaker 8 (35:17):
Hey, Jeff? About that, I was wondering could I add
something to the title since you gave me the title?
Go ahead, how about you Western Pennsylvania Constitutional Correspondent. Because
I don't want to be not saying you can induce me,
but some wing in the media think of one of them.
Speaker 1 (35:35):
Oh, Kay, sure, I mean I thought Cooner Country's Western
PA correspondent. I mean that to me implies constitutionalist Dave.
But if you want to add the extra word, go ahead,
my friend, You've earned it.
Speaker 8 (35:49):
I'm going to put up on my Facebook profile that
way I'll get a lot of hitsfully. But anyway, Jeff, listen,
you know, you know, I just real quick before I
get to what I called about. Isn't it good? We
might not agree on everything, Jeff, but we can sit
down and we can have a good argument. I don't
mean they an argument like a fight. To the dumbass
liberals out there, like Bill and said very an argument
means a discussion, right, Jeff, and in legal terms too,
(36:11):
But we don't expect Bill or people like that to understand, Jeff.
But anyways, I respectfully agree and discreet with you, Jeff.
I think it's going to be good to pay down
the debt. But on the bad side, I don't know
if you agree with this is that, Yeah, they're going
to be vetted. But Jeff, anyone can turn on a dime, buddy.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
Oh, you mean in other words, yeah, they may be
initially vetted and it's fine, but then when they come here,
they could be influenced in a negative way. Say, let's
just take an example. You mean like a Chinese investor. Right,
so they're vetted and no, really, they just want to
put in money and invest and make money and do
well and achieve you know, the American dream. But then
(36:51):
five years later whatever, they could be influenced by the
Chinese Communist Party or by family members. So they come
in with good intentions, but they could be corrupted over
several years.
Speaker 4 (37:04):
Correct, Is that your concern, Dave?
Speaker 8 (37:07):
Something like that, Jeff, And I don't know if this
is a good analogy. Please let me know. Remember in
the nineteen eighties when the moves of Hadeen was on
our side, and that's understand because he had a common enemy,
the Soviet Union. But right after the Gulf War, Laden
supposedly who did turn on us? Who was the CIA arborative?
If you remember that, bin Laden and Saddama once on
the CIA table again my friends and my enemy and
(37:29):
my friend of mees. But Jeff, the moves of Hadeen
turned right on us and joined the Taliban. So guess what, Jeff,
one day you get your buddy next day you get
your enemy. You know what I'm saying, Jeff, I'm just.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Speaking brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Dave. Let me ask you this,
how serious?
Speaker 1 (37:47):
How much of a crisis do you think our deficit
and debt is? I think in many ways, I think
that's going to determine which side people fall on in
this debate. Elon and are now convinced it's an existential threat.
Do you think it's an existential threat?
Speaker 8 (38:06):
Yeah? Yeah, Jeff, I think it could be also a
national security threat if we don't get it taken now,
because remember before Trump came and China was buying up
a lot of our debt. You know, from what I understand.
But Jeff, I think I think it's a good idea.
I think I'm sixty faudy, Jeff. I'm leaning more towards
the sixty. But you know, like I said, Jeff, I
(38:26):
make weight analogies. But I'm glad you agree with that because,
like I said, Jeff, one day, if your neighbor could
be your best friend, have a cookout with you, the
next day he's busting down your fence. But no, Jeff,
I think it's also a national security crisis because like
a person who's indebted to it's debtor. You know they're
going to come collect sometimes.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Well that's you, Jeff Dave.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
You again, you're on fire, by the way, our Western
PA constitutionalist corresponded, Dave is on fire because China has
us by the tonsils they do if they if they
want to call in the debt, they could bring America
to its niece. And that's what Trump is telling everybody
over and over. That's what Elon is telling everybody over
(39:08):
and over. He says, you don't understand, We've got to
make these cuts. Talking about Doge and then with Lutnik
came to him and said, look, you know what, let's
not grind it out. You know, a million here, another sorry,
a trillion here, a trillion there. I think we can
get trillions and trillions and trillions. You're like, well, how
let's do a gold card. And Trump was like, whoa
(39:31):
really yeah, five million dollars. Other countries do it, but
they don't charge what we charge five million. And they
got to invest, and they got to create jobs, and
they got to pay taxes, and of course we'll vet them.
I'm not going to let anybody come in. And that's
why Trump Trump now sees a pot of gold. And
you know, even if he can get ten trillion taken
(39:53):
off the debt, how much that would lower our interest
payments like already that would let us breathe a little
bit more. But you know, look, Dave, I'm preaching to
the choir now when I'm saying this, but I have
to say this, How did we allow ourselves to get
to this point? That, to me is what is so
freaking criminal that you know, basically nine, as I said
(40:18):
in my opening monologue, beggars can't be choosers. Like it's
gotten to the point like just do it, do whatever
you got to do. So it's almost like a home
that has been so mismanaged, a household, and you've put
yourself in such debt that to pay off the interest
(40:39):
on the debt, you've got to sell one of your
daughters or one of your sons, or one of your
family members, which, by the way, happens a lot in
the world.
Speaker 4 (40:50):
It just does.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
So it's like, look, we got to eat, all right,
which of my daughters do you want? I mean, it's
starting to become like that, And that's the part I
don't like. I don't like you put this much money
and you get citizenship.
Speaker 4 (41:07):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
So that's what American citizenship now means. It's it's like
at a Las Vegas casino. It's now you know, it's
just it's just's for sale. That's that's what I don't like.
But again, you may agree to disagree. I mean, that's
you know, that's why we have America. That's why we
have freedom. Dave, thank you very much for that call.
(41:31):
Six one seven two sixty six sixty eight sixty eight.
You know, as I always say, this is America, you're
always free to disagree. That's the beauty of this country.
Barbara in Abington, Thanks for holding Barbara.
Speaker 4 (41:45):
And welcome.
Speaker 7 (41:46):
Good morning yet Hi Barn, thank you Hi. I just
want to say condolences to you and your family for
the loss of.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
The Thank you, thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 7 (41:57):
I want to say I think Trump's I dally brilliant.
There are millions and millions of illegals in this country
who are living on the taxpayers, dying, so to speak.
So I think charging someone who is as wealthy as
(42:17):
they are, I don't really think you'll get the rift
for haf that we're getting now. You won't get the rapists,
the pedophilers, the drug dealers, the gang bangers. People think
that all they have to do is come across, have
a baby, and they instantly get citizenship. So what is
(42:42):
wrong with charging somebody for a patchway to citizenship other
than having people think, well, i'll get into the United States,
I'll have a baby, and now I'm a citizen.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
Well, no, that's a very good arguments, I got to say,
it's a very very persuasive argument. Look, you look at
the open borders that we've had. You're right, it's third
world illegals who are pouring in and either their criminals
or their gang bangers, or many of them are you know,
(43:17):
rapists or let's just say many of them Jeff will know.
And many of them are not that. But they're low skilled.
It's not their fault, but they just come from very
poor countries, low education, very low income, low skill. Most
don't speak the language. So you know, as Trump said,
we're not getting the world's best. They're not sending us
(43:39):
their best. Even if you leave aside the criminals and
the gangs and the sex traffickers and all the crime,
just if you just say, look just these you know
they want to come to work. Okay, these you know,
hard working migrants, but many of them have no little
to no skills. Most of them have a six to
eighth grade education, almost no money, no income, which is
(44:04):
why many of them go on welfare on top of working.
Trump is saying, why don't we flip it, how about
we bring in and this is what he said, the
best and the brightest. It's not just their money that
we're bringing in. It's their know how, it's their education,
it's their investment, it's their ability to create jobs and businesses.
(44:24):
They become taxpayers in other words, not takers like all
of these illegals. But they become makers immediately. I mean
they start off with five million right into the pot
right away. They put in a five million, you know,
a five million fee. Never mind everything else that they
have to do. They got to pay taxes, they got
to create a company or a factory or whatever. They
(44:45):
got to hire people. So what he's saying is, you know,
we're not from We're not. This is to bring in
the world's best, not the world's worst. And so that's
how he sees it. In fact, let me just play
a quick cut barber, and I promise I'll let you finish.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
This is.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
What Trump said, saying, look, oh, and by the way,
if they want to hire someone who's a foreigner but
has gone to one of our schools or elite universities,
he says, fine, you really value some of these people,
You give them, buy them a gold card, five million
dollars and they can work. So not only are they
(45:29):
creating jobs, not only are they putting five million dollars
towards paying down to debt, they're also going to be
hiring people. And they got to pay five million for
them too. Roll cut twenty four.
Speaker 9 (45:41):
Mike at the gold card will bring in with it
people that create jobs, very high level people.
Speaker 3 (45:54):
I think companies will pay to get people in.
Speaker 2 (45:56):
For instance, you today graduate from Wharton's going to Finance
or Harvard or Stanford or any college, and nobody knows
that you can even go to work for a company.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
So Apple and all these companies.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
That want to get people to be working for them
will be able to buy a card. And for the
people that are number one of that last a top schools,
you know, I see that as one of the things.
Speaker 4 (46:24):
But so Barbara, there you go.
Speaker 1 (46:27):
He's saying it'll attract capital, investors, businesses know how, people
with good skills and education. In other words, the very
exact opposite of all the illegals that I've been pouring
in final word to you, Barbara.
Speaker 7 (46:45):
Exactly, this is why I think it's brilliant. And you're
going to vet these people. No one has been vetted
for the last four years. Everybody has been coming in
and living off of the tax payer is at least
now you own a company and your company is steymied
(47:06):
and you have to think of a way how to
get it making money again. So maybe the US it's
like a company, and the way to make money again
is to let these outer rich people pay for a
pathway to citizenship that we're not going to have to support,
(47:28):
that are going to make jobs and make us rich
again in that sense, I don't know what do.
Speaker 1 (47:36):
You think, well, Barbara, Look, that's the argument. I mean,
that's that's what let make Musk and Trump are arguing.
You've laid it out. I think very very well, and Barbara,
thank you very much for that call. Now, look this,
I think this is the this. If there's a disagreement,
this is the disagreement. And I think you laid it
out very clearly, Barbara, America, run America like a business. Right,
(48:00):
As you said, America in many ways is a company.
So run it like a company. Bring in the best people,
bring in the best talent, bring in the best money,
the best capital, the best investment. This is where I
kind of slightly agree disagree to me. America is more
than a company. To me, America is a nation. It's
a family. And the idea that someone can just buy
(48:26):
their way into the United States, that's the part I
don't like.
Speaker 4 (48:31):
Now.
Speaker 1 (48:32):
Again, I recognize the fiscal economic realities. I understand we're
thirty seven trillion dollars in the hole. I don't see
a better idea out there, nothing like anything that comes
close to this that can potentially generate trillions and trillions
and trillions of dollars. So we may have no choice,
But I'm just gonna be honest with you. I don't
(48:53):
know if this is a precedent we want to set.
Just stand back. Basically, if here's what we're saying, if
you have money and you're willing to plunk it into
the United States, you become an American citizen. That basically,
American citizenship is for sale. It's a commodity. It's a commodity.
(49:17):
It's like like a corporation or a company. It's a
product that we sell. That's I don't think that's what
George Washington had in mind. It's certainly, I'll be honest,
it's not what I had in mind when I came
to America. I came to work, I came to pay taxes,
I came to contribute. But I'm here honestly because I
(49:38):
love America. I mean, I love the freedom of America.
I love the Constitution of America. I love the history
of America. I love the heritage and culture of America.
Like it's not a business proposition. And you know, Okay, fine,
I get it. We're going to generate trillions of dollars.
But remember these are people coming from around the world,
(50:02):
many of whom don't have our best interests at heart.
I mean, they may be vetted. I'm not saying to criminals.
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