April 10, 2025 • 25 mins
I've lost track of how many times Rep. Don Bacon has come on my show to defend himself against angry MAGAs!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vorgi pleasure to welcome back Nebraska second District Representative
Don Bacon to News Radio eleven to ten kfab what's
going on with the votes? Is this the big beautiful bill?
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, we're it's the there's three votes that we've got
to take over time to get the big beautiful bill done.
This is the second vote to get to. Basically, it
helps us reconcile with the Senate what the target numbers
should be. And so it's now they have sixteen mainly
Freedom coccas guys who's not voted yet, and they're being
called being whipped on the floor to vote yes. But
this is the we're trying to extend the tax cuts,
(00:34):
and if we don't get this done, it's gonna be
a twenty percent tax increase on most citizens or taxpayers,
and also a twenty percent increase on small businesses, and
it takes away the investment tax credits that we have,
which have been very good for economy. But for some reason,
the Freedom Caucus folks have been the harvest on getting
these tax cuts extended. And so we had an hour
(00:56):
and a half vote yesterday trying to whip them yes,
and they couldn't do it, so we're back to doing
the end of to day.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm confused because President Trump said Republicans are working together nicely.
He posted that this morning on truth Social And I
don't know why the speaker would call a vote on
this unless it was felt that this would be something
that would be a pretty easy putt.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
What happened, well, I would think so too. And yesterday
we I thought, I asked him, hey, we must have
the vote because they're voting on it. They go, trust us,
we got this under control. Uh, then they then all
the Freedom Cocus walked out, so I guess they didn't
have another control. We stood in the chamber for hour
and a half trying to get the vote done, and
so then they canceled it and we we're back at
(01:36):
it today. So I would like to think they negotiated
this too. But right now we have twelve that's not
voting yet, and that's gone on about more about twenty
minutes over the vote. So but you know, I got
to think cow of such prevails. Who wants to be
a Republican who votes for who basically is voting for
a twenty percent tax increase and that's that's what this vote.
This is what this is about. And it would be
(01:57):
terrible for the economy. And and have a Republican White House,
republic Center, Republican House, and you put a twenty percent
tax increase on Americans. I mean, that's unfathomable from my perspective.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Sounds like that you are on board with extending the
Trump tax cuts, the big beautiful bill that the President
wants to pass. That's that'll be a music to the
ears of those who I know have been hitting you
on social media. Let's let's address the tariff issue here.
The assessment from one person is is that President Trump
(02:32):
just rope adope the financial markets, the political circus, and
the entire world, forcing seventy plus countries into tariff negotiations
doing it quickly. China, though, decided they wanted to go
to battle and play themselves. Their tariffs go to one
hundred and twenty five percent. There's a ninety day pause
for everyone else with lowered reciprocal tariffs of just ten percent.
(02:55):
During this period, China comes off looking like and they're
going to be tax like the bad guy. Everyone else
is negotiating towards something better for American exporters, and everyone's
saying that Trump. Not everyone, but some people are saying
Trump was the master for doing this and doing it quickly.
You have said Congress should play a bigger role in this.
(03:17):
What are your thoughts on what the President has done
just in the last eight days, what that led to yesterday,
and why it would be better to have Congress do
this and have it take months.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, it's a good question. And if, by the way,
I have four terrorists on China, I think China's been
a turble trading partner. They block our goods, they subsidize
their industries bank to bankrupt hours, and they steal our secrets.
I'm the cybersecurity chairman and I know these guys are
all over our technology stealing it. Why I talked for that,
(03:52):
I I'm trying to take the conservative position on this.
Scott the Constitution Article one, section eight. So this is
the role of Congress attacks and to do terriffs. And
by the way, terifts are attacks. It's a tax on consumers.
And I'm not asking to negotiate. I think the president
should negotiate, but if he's going to determine to do
broad teriffs, he should have congressional approval. And I don't
(04:13):
think the Founders ever dreamed of having one person unilaterally
doing terrorists against sixty seventy countries. And I just founders
didn't envision that. And so I've been I've been hit on, said, well,
you guys can't negotiate that. You're right, we can't. The
president should, but he needs to come to Congress for approval.
And that's that's to me, that's the Constitution. And I
(04:37):
think we could have helped prevent some things that were
not done wisely, like why aren't we tariffing Israel that
has no terriff on us. I mean, there's some I
think there's some pushback here. I think we should be focusing.
We should be focusing. By the way, it just passed, Scott,
we just got the votes, So that's good. We can
move on and start negotiating with the Sunate.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
All right, So here, let's let's break the news on this.
What just passed and what does that mean for people
in Nebraska second District and across the country.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, there's the second hurdle of three that we got
to get through. Now we've been cleared to negotiate actual numbers. Okay,
with the Senate. So we're going to do negotiations with
the Senate. How much we're gonna cut here, how much're
gonna cut here, What kind of tax What taxes are
we continuing to keep cut, you know, extending them? Are
we going to talk about taking taxes on tips and
give them more money back to people? They're what about
(05:25):
social security? Most people agree, we don't want to tax
those security and that will probably in the bill. But
now we can actually negotiate with the Senate on the
particulars and get an agreement. So this takes us to
the third round, which is the final round.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Okay, so a good step forward. We're not there yet,
but it looks a lot better than it did when
we started this conversation. That is very good here. So
back back to the issue of tariffs. Do you really
think that President Trump wanted any tariffs or he was
just doing the usual Trump thing of here's some negotiation
that starts out here someplace crazy to get us back
(05:58):
to where we really need to be, which is he's
done pretty effectively throughout his terms.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Well, it depends who you talk to, you know what.
The Secretary of Treasury said that he wanted him permanent
because he wanted to bring manufacturing back. And sometimes President
Trump has said that, and other times he says, I'm
trying to do this to negotiate, And I think the
fact is they weren't too sure there. But he got
so much pushback two nights that we had, you know,
(06:25):
Jackie Diamond or Jamie Jamie, Jackie Diamond, Jamie Diamond call
him and say, hey, the bomb markets, you know, thinking,
and he had Elon Musk And as you're saying, hey this,
terrorists are are hurt in the country. There's a big
risk because the last time Republicans or our country pushed
vast terrorists is nineteen thirty and that did not work well.
In fact, the Republicans lost the Congress for five five
(06:47):
decades except for one two years ste under Eisenhower. But
it put us into a deep depression. But it was
ambiguous a little bit what the President was wanting to do.
I mean, sometimes it's saying is this is gonna be
permit to bring back manufacturing. Others this is a negotiating technique.
It was really hard to know. If I think the
pushback got so bad two days ago, you know, the
stock market fears of inflation, you name it. So I
(07:10):
think I think he backed up a little bit and
he's doing what I would have recommended. Target the bad guys.
That's China, right Well, I think I don't know why
we did target Russia because Russia got no terrorists on this,
which baffles me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It took a few days to get there, and I
imagine that Russia is there at the same reason why
there would be suddenly a tariff against Israel, and that
is because he doesn't want tariffs. He and he doesn't
want to telegraph what he will or won't do in
these negotiations because he wants something else. And it seems
like yesterday we got a lot closer to getting there.
(07:44):
Do you feel comfortable with where we are today? You
said you like tariffs on China. There aren't any tariffs
on these other nations right now, and we got the
President got us back in just a few days to
where you said you wanted to be. So again I asked,
why would it be better for Congress to do this
and have to take nine months?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, I just had to go on the floor and
let me get back in here, all right, talk to
do you and voting at the same time.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You want to do you want to call us back?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No, I just I just did it and I'm walking
back in.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
That's that's how that go away. You just you just
voted live on kfa B.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, I just did. And I'll also have a phone
in the chambers. I just broke the rule. But don't
tell anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, this is just between us. This, This isn't even
going to go on the air. This, this is for
a podcast and only my mom listens to. All right,
So the short question I just asked is again, you.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Got your question.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Okay, please.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I'm for the China terrorists. I think we got to
deal with them. I worry about putting ten terraces across
the board. It's not going to tell you, Scott, that's
going to be about a ten percent tax increase consumers.
So hopefully this is still part of the negotiating, but.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Not on every not on everyone, right, it's just on
it for people that buy some of this stuff from China.
And it's again, what's the countries that outsource labor to China?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, no, it's ten percent to the sixty countries that
he had, so pretty sweeping ten percent terrif on everybody
or the sixty countries anyway. But it's a huge It's
like one hundred percent plus on China right right, and
I think we should play hardball with them. I don't
really think teriffs are I mean, I want a fair trade,
but ultimately we want to get to free trade because
(09:25):
free trade gives you the bus products at the best price,
the most efficient manner. That's what conservatives have always believed
in since nineteen thirty when we made the mistake, you know,
with the Smooth Holly Act that created a worse depression
and we didn't get out until World War two. So
I would have concerns personally about a ten percent broad
but I do think if a country's got terifts on us,
(09:47):
it should be reciprocal. I was just telling you some
of these cases they don't have terrorists on us and
when we're doing it. So I own for fair trade.
In the end, we want a free trade deal because
I think it's bust for consumers, and we just got
to be honest. Teriffs are attached and then it's attached
up the consumer space.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well, we'll have to see. We're midway through these negotiations.
They've been put off in terms of the full four
alarm emergency fire situation for ninety days, and we'll hopefully
talk more in the days ahead. I just want to
ask you, finally, your Congressman, as we're talking for another
minute with Don Bacon. You and I have had variations
of this conversation before. You've got the Ultramga people in
(10:25):
Nebraska second District that say, well, Congressman Don Bacon fights
President Trump at every turn. I don't know why he
doesn't get on board. We're gonna primary him and he's
gonna lose, and then there's a primary and you win. Well,
he's not gonna win in November, and then you win
in November. So are you to the point now where
you be like, look, I don't need to pay attention
(10:45):
to the concerns of the people. Apparently just don't like
me because I'm gonna win anyway I can. I can
battle the president on some things, I can side with
him on some things. I can grow a mustache and
I'll be just fine. Is that kind of your attitude
right now?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I should say I must dash off, But I heard
about that. What constituent told me she wanted me to
shave it, So I did, and that was my bride.
You know, I would say I do care about what
people think. But but number one, I do what I
say I'm going to do. And so I've had this
position on tariffs. I talk about we should have a
fear of playing field, and I think China's a bad person.
(11:20):
I'm not into terraffing our friends. We could sit down
and negotiate with them. You know, we were negotiating with
Europe up until when President Trump got elected the first time,
and he got he pulled out of the negotiations. So
we have opportunities to work with our European friends to
make things more more level. I will tell you right now,
Scott our. First of if you look at polling, it's
about sixty five thirty five against tariffs in our district.
(11:43):
The in district foe calls. I'm getting twenty to one
against tariffs. And I talked to you know, obviously I
got a range of supporters. I've been doing this now
for nine years. The Republican businessmen and women in Omaha
are I would tell you it's got like ninety ten.
I've been hearing from Republican businessmen a women, particularly those
(12:03):
who own their businesses and they are very much against
these terrorists. I had one guy in particular, he imports
parts from Europe and then he puts them together here
and he sells them and he said this could cost
him sixty four million dollars. Right, And so I hear
from a range of the range of people, and I
do get some of those folks from the right that, hey,
(12:24):
they don't like to I smoke my mind on it,
but I would just tell you the overwhelming stunts that
I'm getting is our district doesn't doesn't support terrors. So
I am listening. I'm listening to everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And You've always been good to come on this program
and talk about it. And I appreciate the time today,
including while voting, while voting on the House floor during
our conversation, Don Bacon, thank you very much. We'll talk
again soon. Thank you here on news radio eleven ten
kfab Scott for he's.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Where are you going?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
News Radio eleven ten kfab. It was kind of funny.
I tried to ask him a couple of times to
almost have him understand that we are right now where
he said he wanted to be, and that is tariffs
against China and not having these big tariffs against our
(13:18):
friends because he doesn't like tariffs, ignoring the fact that
our friends have been leveling tariffs against the United States
for decades, and the President has paused most of the
rather punitive tariffs on those nations. Just a flat ten
percent reciprocal tariff against nations that in some instances have
(13:40):
tariffs of between twenty and thirty percent on us. We
just went back with ten. And that is to try
and get to free trade. This is something President Trump
does all the time. He's like, all right, whether it's
the European Union or the South American country or whatever,
He's like, Okay, here's what I want. I want your
whole country, what, mister president. Yeah, I'm gonna take it
(14:04):
any means necessary. And that's where negotiations start. And then
the President starts saying stuff like yeah, we might, we
might send the navy in there. You're like, the navy,
what are you talking about? So President Trump never says
what he will or won't do. He starts off with
some way out in left field negotiation because he's trying
(14:25):
to get us towards where he actually wants to be.
And he's been very effective with it, even though the
media and the Democrats and some Republicans can't see that
this follows the same pattern. That's not a secret because
this is his book, The Art of the Deal, which
came out over forty years ago, So this isn't a secret.
(14:49):
Yet there are still people like Don Bacon going, I
don't know what he's doing. He's saying this one day,
and he's saying this another day, and he's doing this
tariff and this country isn't even like it's it's the negotiation.
And if it goes through Congress, rather than taking the
eight days it took to get us to yesterday, it
would take eight months before we do anything. It would
(15:09):
have no teeth and would get us back to the
exact same place we are now, which is tariffs against
China and no tariffs, hardly any tariffs against any of
these other nations. And Congressman Bacon basically said, yeah, I
kind of like where we got. I just don't like
how we got there. Well, we can either get there
in nine months or we can get there in nine days. Now,
(15:34):
I'm not changing my mind from what I said on
the radio the other day. I would like Congress to
have a hand in this. A unified front a constitutional
way of doing this. But if these guys don't look
at what President Trump is doing and the timing that
is taking to do it, Congress can do this too. Basically,
(15:55):
they're like, you know, we want to play two Trump's like, Hey,
you're already laging by. I'm months ahead of you on this.
You want to play catch up? We can play now.
Bacon said, I don't know why he didn't have any
tariffs against Russia.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Why.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think that we can answer that after a Fox
News update next scottes. The Zonker's custom Woods inbox is
open for you and has been while we were talking
to Congressman Don Bacon earlier in this hour. If you
missed it, it will be posted on the Vintage for
Heats podcast link on the Scott Vorheaths page at kfab
(16:40):
dot com later this morning. Well, one of the things
that Congressman Bacon said was that, well, I don't know
why we would do all these tariffs against some of
our friends, and he said, including Israel, they weren't even
doing any tariffs on US. I thought that that was incorrect,
Laurie says the Ogresman Bacon stated that Israel had no
(17:02):
tariffs on the US. That's incorrect. They did up until
Trump's reciprocal tariff. Israel and one other nation another one
were immediately before Trump's tariffs took effect a week ago,
came out and said, all right, we're dropping our tariffs. Now.
Israel they used to have tariffs and then for several
(17:24):
decades they really didn't accept on ag exports from America
to Israel. Now it wasn't a lot, and it amounted
to a few million shekels, it wasn't a ton, but
they were there. But Congressman Bacon seemed to be wondering, well,
why was Israel on that list and Russia wasn't. I
(17:45):
imagine for a couple of reasons. Yeah, why would Trump
suddenly put Israel on that list. He's had a great
relationship with Israel, he and the Prime Minister and that
whole team and working great together the world. Would President
Trump say, yeah, We're gonna slap a fifteen percent tariff
on Israel just because or whatever it was going to be. Maybe,
(18:10):
and I don't know, I haven't been invited in these conversations.
I'm just Scott Vorhees, I'm not Sean Hannity. So maybe though,
is because Trump wanted a ringer, someone to show the
rest of the world here's how you behave right now,
so Trump says, twenty percent tariff on Israel. Israel's like,
(18:33):
mister President, you have shown us the light. Thank you
very much for your leadership on free trade for the
world for those who seek it. We have decided to
drop our tariffs against the United States and solidarity for
what you're trying to do. We see your vision and
we stand with you. Mister President. What a guy and
(18:54):
an incredible golf swing too. I tell you what, we'd
all be better off if we we're all a little
bit more like Donald Trump. Israel is ending our tariffs
against the United States, and President Trump says, well, Israel,
I thank you very much for your leadership, good sir
on all of this. We will drop our tariffs against Israel.
(19:15):
And then they kind of wink at each other and
wait to see if everyone else follows suit. It's the ringer.
I I don't know, but boy, that sounds like it
would be the right way of doing it right.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Why not Russia? Well Todd emails and this is one
of those emails. I'll have to change a word or
two on as Some of these emails regarding Don Bacon
were filled with profanity, or at least sprinkled with them.
Todd says, Don Bacon is so dumb. You so dumb.
(19:53):
We got your T shirt. That was the guy from
the news store. Anyway, Don Bacon so dumb. If you
tariff Russia, Russia sides with China. This guy just needs
to stay out of the blanket way. He constantly wants
to be a thorn in Trump's side except when it's
election time, and then he plays all neutral, which is
(20:15):
a bunch of stuff. Pardon my French. That's from Todd.
I don't know how much of those words of French
on frontis. Yeah, I didn't think about Russia and the
siding with China thing. I thought President Trump is not
putting Russia on that list. One because of what he said,
(20:37):
which is, we already have a bazillion sanctions on Russia.
An extra ten percent or whatever tariff pales in comparison
to what is already happening against Russia, not just from America,
but these other nations as well. So Russia is pretty
well in the doghouse. That's what Trump has said. But
(20:58):
also he didn't want to add to that because he's
trying to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine. And
by the way, whatever happened with all of that been
a little quiet. Maybe that's a good thing. But Trump
didn't put them on the list because he's still stroking
Putin's ego. Keep playing ball with what's going on in Ukraine.
(21:21):
Don't worry about this tariff thing. That's not for you,
that's for other people. You just keep pulling your troops
out of Ukraine. Stop bombing stuff, and let's continue to
talk about what will be Russia's and what will be Ukraine's,
and we'll all move forward as friends. And maybe if
everything goes well, maybe instead of issuing a tariff against Russia,
(21:42):
maybe we drop a tariff against Russia. Maybe would you
like the sound to that, Vladimir, you save a little face,
We save a little face. Zelenski's able to save a
little face. Everyone gets a little face. How about that
big beautiful face. I don't think it's because Trump forgot Russia.
(22:03):
I know that. Mark in the soon to be Sortinoless
Ralston emails, Oh sorry that made people sad. Mark emails
from Ralston and says please ask don Bacon O, Why
can't he's not on the show anymore? Please ask him
if his issue with Tariff's is strictly procedural, is he
(22:25):
going to go after other issues that do not follow procedure?
Congress has not followed procedure and many other issues. Do
we rescind all of those decisions? Yeah? I said earlier
this week, all of you guys complaining against Don Bacon
would all be cheering if President Kamala Harris was in
(22:45):
there and she's like, I'm gonna do this with executive orders.
I'm going to do that with executive order and tariff
here and tariff though I don't know that she would
do that, but let's say she did. Let's say Kamala
Harris did the exact same thing Trump did and the
market spent two days dropping three plus percent or more.
(23:05):
That's the plus three percent or more over two days straight.
Republicans would say this, she doesn't know what she's doing,
and then Don Bacon says, we want to take the
power away from her, and people are like, yeah, Don Bacon,
he grew a pair way to go. Don you know
that you would? Yet, don't yell at me. You know
you would, But we're also tribal on our politics that
(23:29):
we don't really think about things in that way. Plus,
I said Don Bacon and Chuck Grassley in the Senate saying, well,
we want to do this too. My biggest problem is
it would take forever if they said we want to
do this too. It doesn't automatically mean that we're not
gonna do what Trump wants to do. Maybe we just
want to be here as a solidified front against some
of these nations, and Congress wants to be a part
(23:52):
of that. That's great. They should get on board. Let's
play Trump's out here already playing. You're you're months behind.
That's what I said last Monday or Tuesday, and I'm
saying that again. But Richard says, Scott, you are totally
changing your stance on this and agreeing with me. I
(24:15):
don't remember what you said the other day. Sorry, Richard,
I'll go back and read that email. He says, your
original stance sounds good in theory, but totally sucks an application.
Nothing will would could may might happen with tariffs if
Congress took it over. I said that, and I'm saying
it again today. So Richard says, so like I said
a few days ago, I would rather have this in
(24:38):
the hands of a bad president than Congress. No, no, no,
you wouldn't, No, you wouldn't. A good president can fix it,
but Congress never will ever. I see what you're saying there,
But then we have this ping pong ball of all right,
everything the last president did with executive action, I now
undo bingo, bengo, bungo. Ohoh, and it's just like it's
(25:03):
I don't love the way Congress takes forever, but I
also don't love all these executive actions President Obama, President
Penn in the phone, he was real big on this stuff,
and everyone hated it. That's why Trump had to undo it.
I know, I get it, But wouldn't it be better.
(25:24):
Wouldn't it be better if we did it the right way?
I don't care about the right way. I just want results,
all right. I'm not saying. I'm just saying. I'm not saying.
I'm just saying. Look, people were accusing me the other
day of talking out of both sides of my mouth. Look,
I can want a unicorn and still at the same
time say yeah, but I don't think a unicorn exists.
(25:45):
But if it does, I want to go for a ride?
Scott Boys Mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB
Scott Vorgi pleasure to welcome back Nebraska second District Representative
Don Bacon to News Radio eleven to ten kfab what's
going on with the votes? Is this the big beautiful bill?
What's happening?
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Yeah, we're it's the there's three votes that we've got
to take over time to get the big beautiful bill done.
This is the second vote to get to. Basically, it
helps us reconcile with the Senate what the target numbers
should be. And so it's now they have sixteen mainly
Freedom coccas guys who's not voted yet, and they're being
called being whipped on the floor to vote yes. But
this is the we're trying to extend the tax cuts,
(00:34):
and if we don't get this done, it's gonna be
a twenty percent tax increase on most citizens or taxpayers,
and also a twenty percent increase on small businesses, and
it takes away the investment tax credits that we have,
which have been very good for economy. But for some reason,
the Freedom Caucus folks have been the harvest on getting
these tax cuts extended. And so we had an hour
(00:56):
and a half vote yesterday trying to whip them yes,
and they couldn't do it, so we're back to doing
the end of to day.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm confused because President Trump said Republicans are working together nicely.
He posted that this morning on truth Social And I
don't know why the speaker would call a vote on
this unless it was felt that this would be something
that would be a pretty easy putt.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
What happened, well, I would think so too. And yesterday
we I thought, I asked him, hey, we must have
the vote because they're voting on it. They go, trust us,
we got this under control. Uh, then they then all
the Freedom Cocus walked out, so I guess they didn't
have another control. We stood in the chamber for hour
and a half trying to get the vote done, and
so then they canceled it and we we're back at
(01:36):
it today. So I would like to think they negotiated
this too. But right now we have twelve that's not
voting yet, and that's gone on about more about twenty
minutes over the vote. So but you know, I got
to think cow of such prevails. Who wants to be
a Republican who votes for who basically is voting for
a twenty percent tax increase and that's that's what this vote.
This is what this is about. And it would be
(01:57):
terrible for the economy. And and have a Republican White House,
republic Center, Republican House, and you put a twenty percent
tax increase on Americans. I mean, that's unfathomable from my perspective.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Sounds like that you are on board with extending the
Trump tax cuts, the big beautiful bill that the President
wants to pass. That's that'll be a music to the
ears of those who I know have been hitting you
on social media. Let's let's address the tariff issue here.
The assessment from one person is is that President Trump
(02:32):
just rope adope the financial markets, the political circus, and
the entire world, forcing seventy plus countries into tariff negotiations
doing it quickly. China, though, decided they wanted to go
to battle and play themselves. Their tariffs go to one
hundred and twenty five percent. There's a ninety day pause
for everyone else with lowered reciprocal tariffs of just ten percent.
(02:55):
During this period, China comes off looking like and they're
going to be tax like the bad guy. Everyone else
is negotiating towards something better for American exporters, and everyone's
saying that Trump. Not everyone, but some people are saying
Trump was the master for doing this and doing it quickly.
You have said Congress should play a bigger role in this.
(03:17):
What are your thoughts on what the President has done
just in the last eight days, what that led to yesterday,
and why it would be better to have Congress do
this and have it take months.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Well, it's a good question. And if, by the way,
I have four terrorists on China, I think China's been
a turble trading partner. They block our goods, they subsidize
their industries bank to bankrupt hours, and they steal our secrets.
I'm the cybersecurity chairman and I know these guys are
all over our technology stealing it. Why I talked for that,
(03:52):
I I'm trying to take the conservative position on this.
Scott the Constitution Article one, section eight. So this is
the role of Congress attacks and to do terriffs. And
by the way, terifts are attacks. It's a tax on consumers.
And I'm not asking to negotiate. I think the president
should negotiate, but if he's going to determine to do
broad teriffs, he should have congressional approval. And I don't
(04:13):
think the Founders ever dreamed of having one person unilaterally
doing terrorists against sixty seventy countries. And I just founders
didn't envision that. And so I've been I've been hit on, said, well,
you guys can't negotiate that. You're right, we can't. The
president should, but he needs to come to Congress for approval.
And that's that's to me, that's the Constitution. And I
(04:37):
think we could have helped prevent some things that were
not done wisely, like why aren't we tariffing Israel that
has no terriff on us. I mean, there's some I
think there's some pushback here. I think we should be focusing.
We should be focusing. By the way, it just passed, Scott,
we just got the votes, So that's good. We can
move on and start negotiating with the Sunate.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
All right, So here, let's let's break the news on this.
What just passed and what does that mean for people
in Nebraska second District and across the country.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Well, there's the second hurdle of three that we got
to get through. Now we've been cleared to negotiate actual numbers. Okay,
with the Senate. So we're going to do negotiations with
the Senate. How much we're gonna cut here, how much're
gonna cut here, What kind of tax What taxes are
we continuing to keep cut, you know, extending them? Are
we going to talk about taking taxes on tips and
give them more money back to people? They're what about
(05:25):
social security? Most people agree, we don't want to tax
those security and that will probably in the bill. But
now we can actually negotiate with the Senate on the
particulars and get an agreement. So this takes us to
the third round, which is the final round.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Okay, so a good step forward. We're not there yet,
but it looks a lot better than it did when
we started this conversation. That is very good here. So
back back to the issue of tariffs. Do you really
think that President Trump wanted any tariffs or he was
just doing the usual Trump thing of here's some negotiation
that starts out here someplace crazy to get us back
(05:58):
to where we really need to be, which is he's
done pretty effectively throughout his terms.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Well, it depends who you talk to, you know what.
The Secretary of Treasury said that he wanted him permanent
because he wanted to bring manufacturing back. And sometimes President
Trump has said that, and other times he says, I'm
trying to do this to negotiate, And I think the
fact is they weren't too sure there. But he got
so much pushback two nights that we had, you know,
(06:25):
Jackie Diamond or Jamie Jamie, Jackie Diamond, Jamie Diamond call
him and say, hey, the bomb markets, you know, thinking,
and he had Elon Musk And as you're saying, hey this,
terrorists are are hurt in the country. There's a big
risk because the last time Republicans or our country pushed
vast terrorists is nineteen thirty and that did not work well.
In fact, the Republicans lost the Congress for five five
(06:47):
decades except for one two years ste under Eisenhower. But
it put us into a deep depression. But it was
ambiguous a little bit what the President was wanting to do.
I mean, sometimes it's saying is this is gonna be
permit to bring back manufacturing. Others this is a negotiating technique.
It was really hard to know. If I think the
pushback got so bad two days ago, you know, the
stock market fears of inflation, you name it. So I
(07:10):
think I think he backed up a little bit and
he's doing what I would have recommended. Target the bad guys.
That's China, right Well, I think I don't know why
we did target Russia because Russia got no terrorists on this,
which baffles me a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
It took a few days to get there, and I
imagine that Russia is there at the same reason why
there would be suddenly a tariff against Israel, and that
is because he doesn't want tariffs. He and he doesn't
want to telegraph what he will or won't do in
these negotiations because he wants something else. And it seems
like yesterday we got a lot closer to getting there.
(07:44):
Do you feel comfortable with where we are today? You
said you like tariffs on China. There aren't any tariffs
on these other nations right now, and we got the
President got us back in just a few days to
where you said you wanted to be. So again I asked,
why would it be better for Congress to do this
and have to take nine months?
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, I just had to go on the floor and
let me get back in here, all right, talk to
do you and voting at the same time.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
You want to do you want to call us back?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
No, I just I just did it and I'm walking
back in.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
That's that's how that go away. You just you just
voted live on kfa B.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yes, I just did. And I'll also have a phone
in the chambers. I just broke the rule. But don't
tell anybody.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
No, this is just between us. This, This isn't even
going to go on the air. This, this is for
a podcast and only my mom listens to. All right,
So the short question I just asked is again, you.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Got your question.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Okay, please.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
I'm for the China terrorists. I think we got to
deal with them. I worry about putting ten terraces across
the board. It's not going to tell you, Scott, that's
going to be about a ten percent tax increase consumers.
So hopefully this is still part of the negotiating, but.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Not on every not on everyone, right, it's just on
it for people that buy some of this stuff from China.
And it's again, what's the countries that outsource labor to China?
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Okay, no, it's ten percent to the sixty countries that
he had, so pretty sweeping ten percent terrif on everybody
or the sixty countries anyway. But it's a huge It's
like one hundred percent plus on China right right, and
I think we should play hardball with them. I don't
really think teriffs are I mean, I want a fair trade,
but ultimately we want to get to free trade because
(09:25):
free trade gives you the bus products at the best price,
the most efficient manner. That's what conservatives have always believed
in since nineteen thirty when we made the mistake, you know,
with the Smooth Holly Act that created a worse depression
and we didn't get out until World War two. So
I would have concerns personally about a ten percent broad
but I do think if a country's got terifts on us,
(09:47):
it should be reciprocal. I was just telling you some
of these cases they don't have terrorists on us and
when we're doing it. So I own for fair trade.
In the end, we want a free trade deal because
I think it's bust for consumers, and we just got
to be honest. Teriffs are attached and then it's attached
up the consumer space.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Well, we'll have to see. We're midway through these negotiations.
They've been put off in terms of the full four
alarm emergency fire situation for ninety days, and we'll hopefully
talk more in the days ahead. I just want to
ask you, finally, your Congressman, as we're talking for another
minute with Don Bacon. You and I have had variations
of this conversation before. You've got the Ultramga people in
(10:25):
Nebraska second District that say, well, Congressman Don Bacon fights
President Trump at every turn. I don't know why he
doesn't get on board. We're gonna primary him and he's
gonna lose, and then there's a primary and you win. Well,
he's not gonna win in November, and then you win
in November. So are you to the point now where
you be like, look, I don't need to pay attention
(10:45):
to the concerns of the people. Apparently just don't like
me because I'm gonna win anyway I can. I can
battle the president on some things, I can side with
him on some things. I can grow a mustache and
I'll be just fine. Is that kind of your attitude
right now?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I should say I must dash off, But I heard
about that. What constituent told me she wanted me to
shave it, So I did, and that was my bride.
You know, I would say I do care about what
people think. But but number one, I do what I
say I'm going to do. And so I've had this
position on tariffs. I talk about we should have a
fear of playing field, and I think China's a bad person.
(11:20):
I'm not into terraffing our friends. We could sit down
and negotiate with them. You know, we were negotiating with
Europe up until when President Trump got elected the first time,
and he got he pulled out of the negotiations. So
we have opportunities to work with our European friends to
make things more more level. I will tell you right now,
Scott our. First of if you look at polling, it's
about sixty five thirty five against tariffs in our district.
(11:43):
The in district foe calls. I'm getting twenty to one
against tariffs. And I talked to you know, obviously I
got a range of supporters. I've been doing this now
for nine years. The Republican businessmen and women in Omaha
are I would tell you it's got like ninety ten.
I've been hearing from Republican businessmen a women, particularly those
(12:03):
who own their businesses and they are very much against
these terrorists. I had one guy in particular, he imports
parts from Europe and then he puts them together here
and he sells them and he said this could cost
him sixty four million dollars. Right, And so I hear
from a range of the range of people, and I
do get some of those folks from the right that, hey,
(12:24):
they don't like to I smoke my mind on it,
but I would just tell you the overwhelming stunts that
I'm getting is our district doesn't doesn't support terrors. So
I am listening. I'm listening to everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
And You've always been good to come on this program
and talk about it. And I appreciate the time today,
including while voting, while voting on the House floor during
our conversation, Don Bacon, thank you very much. We'll talk
again soon. Thank you here on news radio eleven ten
kfab Scott for he's.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Where are you going?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
News Radio eleven ten kfab. It was kind of funny.
I tried to ask him a couple of times to
almost have him understand that we are right now where
he said he wanted to be, and that is tariffs
against China and not having these big tariffs against our
(13:18):
friends because he doesn't like tariffs, ignoring the fact that
our friends have been leveling tariffs against the United States
for decades, and the President has paused most of the
rather punitive tariffs on those nations. Just a flat ten
percent reciprocal tariff against nations that in some instances have
(13:40):
tariffs of between twenty and thirty percent on us. We
just went back with ten. And that is to try
and get to free trade. This is something President Trump
does all the time. He's like, all right, whether it's
the European Union or the South American country or whatever,
He's like, Okay, here's what I want. I want your
whole country, what, mister president. Yeah, I'm gonna take it
(14:04):
any means necessary. And that's where negotiations start. And then
the President starts saying stuff like yeah, we might, we
might send the navy in there. You're like, the navy,
what are you talking about? So President Trump never says
what he will or won't do. He starts off with
some way out in left field negotiation because he's trying
(14:25):
to get us towards where he actually wants to be.
And he's been very effective with it, even though the
media and the Democrats and some Republicans can't see that
this follows the same pattern. That's not a secret because
this is his book, The Art of the Deal, which
came out over forty years ago, So this isn't a secret.
(14:49):
Yet there are still people like Don Bacon going, I
don't know what he's doing. He's saying this one day,
and he's saying this another day, and he's doing this
tariff and this country isn't even like it's it's the negotiation.
And if it goes through Congress, rather than taking the
eight days it took to get us to yesterday, it
would take eight months before we do anything. It would
(15:09):
have no teeth and would get us back to the
exact same place we are now, which is tariffs against
China and no tariffs, hardly any tariffs against any of
these other nations. And Congressman Bacon basically said, yeah, I
kind of like where we got. I just don't like
how we got there. Well, we can either get there
in nine months or we can get there in nine days. Now,
(15:34):
I'm not changing my mind from what I said on
the radio the other day. I would like Congress to
have a hand in this. A unified front a constitutional
way of doing this. But if these guys don't look
at what President Trump is doing and the timing that
is taking to do it, Congress can do this too. Basically,
(15:55):
they're like, you know, we want to play two Trump's like, Hey,
you're already laging by. I'm months ahead of you on this.
You want to play catch up? We can play now.
Bacon said, I don't know why he didn't have any
tariffs against Russia.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Why.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
I think that we can answer that after a Fox
News update next scottes. The Zonker's custom Woods inbox is
open for you and has been while we were talking
to Congressman Don Bacon earlier in this hour. If you
missed it, it will be posted on the Vintage for
Heats podcast link on the Scott Vorheaths page at kfab
(16:40):
dot com later this morning. Well, one of the things
that Congressman Bacon said was that, well, I don't know
why we would do all these tariffs against some of
our friends, and he said, including Israel, they weren't even
doing any tariffs on US. I thought that that was incorrect,
Laurie says the Ogresman Bacon stated that Israel had no
(17:02):
tariffs on the US. That's incorrect. They did up until
Trump's reciprocal tariff. Israel and one other nation another one
were immediately before Trump's tariffs took effect a week ago,
came out and said, all right, we're dropping our tariffs. Now.
Israel they used to have tariffs and then for several
(17:24):
decades they really didn't accept on ag exports from America
to Israel. Now it wasn't a lot, and it amounted
to a few million shekels, it wasn't a ton, but
they were there. But Congressman Bacon seemed to be wondering, well,
why was Israel on that list and Russia wasn't. I
(17:45):
imagine for a couple of reasons. Yeah, why would Trump
suddenly put Israel on that list. He's had a great
relationship with Israel, he and the Prime Minister and that
whole team and working great together the world. Would President
Trump say, yeah, We're gonna slap a fifteen percent tariff
on Israel just because or whatever it was going to be. Maybe,
(18:10):
and I don't know, I haven't been invited in these conversations.
I'm just Scott Vorhees, I'm not Sean Hannity. So maybe though,
is because Trump wanted a ringer, someone to show the
rest of the world here's how you behave right now,
so Trump says, twenty percent tariff on Israel. Israel's like,
(18:33):
mister President, you have shown us the light. Thank you
very much for your leadership on free trade for the
world for those who seek it. We have decided to
drop our tariffs against the United States and solidarity for
what you're trying to do. We see your vision and
we stand with you. Mister President. What a guy and
(18:54):
an incredible golf swing too. I tell you what, we'd
all be better off if we we're all a little
bit more like Donald Trump. Israel is ending our tariffs
against the United States, and President Trump says, well, Israel,
I thank you very much for your leadership, good sir
on all of this. We will drop our tariffs against Israel.
(19:15):
And then they kind of wink at each other and
wait to see if everyone else follows suit. It's the ringer.
I I don't know, but boy, that sounds like it
would be the right way of doing it right.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
Now.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Why not Russia? Well Todd emails and this is one
of those emails. I'll have to change a word or
two on as Some of these emails regarding Don Bacon
were filled with profanity, or at least sprinkled with them.
Todd says, Don Bacon is so dumb. You so dumb.
(19:53):
We got your T shirt. That was the guy from
the news store. Anyway, Don Bacon so dumb. If you
tariff Russia, Russia sides with China. This guy just needs
to stay out of the blanket way. He constantly wants
to be a thorn in Trump's side except when it's
election time, and then he plays all neutral, which is
(20:15):
a bunch of stuff. Pardon my French. That's from Todd.
I don't know how much of those words of French
on frontis. Yeah, I didn't think about Russia and the
siding with China thing. I thought President Trump is not
putting Russia on that list. One because of what he said,
(20:37):
which is, we already have a bazillion sanctions on Russia.
An extra ten percent or whatever tariff pales in comparison
to what is already happening against Russia, not just from America,
but these other nations as well. So Russia is pretty
well in the doghouse. That's what Trump has said. But
(20:58):
also he didn't want to add to that because he's
trying to broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine. And
by the way, whatever happened with all of that been
a little quiet. Maybe that's a good thing. But Trump
didn't put them on the list because he's still stroking
Putin's ego. Keep playing ball with what's going on in Ukraine.
(21:21):
Don't worry about this tariff thing. That's not for you,
that's for other people. You just keep pulling your troops
out of Ukraine. Stop bombing stuff, and let's continue to
talk about what will be Russia's and what will be Ukraine's,
and we'll all move forward as friends. And maybe if
everything goes well, maybe instead of issuing a tariff against Russia,
(21:42):
maybe we drop a tariff against Russia. Maybe would you
like the sound to that, Vladimir, you save a little face,
We save a little face. Zelenski's able to save a
little face. Everyone gets a little face. How about that
big beautiful face. I don't think it's because Trump forgot Russia.
(22:03):
I know that. Mark in the soon to be Sortinoless
Ralston emails, Oh sorry that made people sad. Mark emails
from Ralston and says please ask don Bacon O, Why
can't he's not on the show anymore? Please ask him
if his issue with Tariff's is strictly procedural, is he
(22:25):
going to go after other issues that do not follow procedure?
Congress has not followed procedure and many other issues. Do
we rescind all of those decisions? Yeah? I said earlier
this week, all of you guys complaining against Don Bacon
would all be cheering if President Kamala Harris was in
(22:45):
there and she's like, I'm gonna do this with executive orders.
I'm going to do that with executive order and tariff
here and tariff though I don't know that she would
do that, but let's say she did. Let's say Kamala
Harris did the exact same thing Trump did and the
market spent two days dropping three plus percent or more.
(23:05):
That's the plus three percent or more over two days straight.
Republicans would say this, she doesn't know what she's doing,
and then Don Bacon says, we want to take the
power away from her, and people are like, yeah, Don Bacon,
he grew a pair way to go. Don you know
that you would? Yet, don't yell at me. You know
you would, But we're also tribal on our politics that
(23:29):
we don't really think about things in that way. Plus,
I said Don Bacon and Chuck Grassley in the Senate saying, well,
we want to do this too. My biggest problem is
it would take forever if they said we want to
do this too. It doesn't automatically mean that we're not
gonna do what Trump wants to do. Maybe we just
want to be here as a solidified front against some
of these nations, and Congress wants to be a part
(23:52):
of that. That's great. They should get on board. Let's
play Trump's out here already playing. You're you're months behind.
That's what I said last Monday or Tuesday, and I'm
saying that again. But Richard says, Scott, you are totally
changing your stance on this and agreeing with me. I
(24:15):
don't remember what you said the other day. Sorry, Richard,
I'll go back and read that email. He says, your
original stance sounds good in theory, but totally sucks an application.
Nothing will would could may might happen with tariffs if
Congress took it over. I said that, and I'm saying
it again today. So Richard says, so like I said
a few days ago, I would rather have this in
(24:38):
the hands of a bad president than Congress. No, no, no,
you wouldn't, No, you wouldn't. A good president can fix it,
but Congress never will ever. I see what you're saying there,
But then we have this ping pong ball of all right,
everything the last president did with executive action, I now
undo bingo, bengo, bungo. Ohoh, and it's just like it's
(25:03):
I don't love the way Congress takes forever, but I
also don't love all these executive actions President Obama, President
Penn in the phone, he was real big on this stuff,
and everyone hated it. That's why Trump had to undo it.
I know, I get it, But wouldn't it be better.
(25:24):
Wouldn't it be better if we did it the right way?
I don't care about the right way. I just want results,
all right. I'm not saying. I'm just saying. I'm not saying.
I'm just saying. Look, people were accusing me the other
day of talking out of both sides of my mouth. Look,
I can want a unicorn and still at the same
time say yeah, but I don't think a unicorn exists.
(25:45):
But if it does, I want to go for a ride?
Scott Boys Mornings nine to eleven, Our News Radio eleven
ten KFAB
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