Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Mike Lawler | Congressman, New York District 17 | 07-16-26

Transcript

Mike Lawler | Congressman, New York District 17 | 07-16-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The king of Rockland County, my guy, Congressman Mike Lawler,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and they've been fighting a very public feud, ugly on
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: the same team on Twitter for days. Here he is
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: my guy, Mike Lawler, Michael, good morning, how are you?
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: I'm doing well? Said, how are you?
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I'm great? So hey, why did that line piss you
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: off so much? From Nancy? And b how ugly has
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: it been? And hopefully he could get even uglier.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: I haven't had any back and forth with her since
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: I've responded to that, you know comment that she posted.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, look, first of all, it's distasteful. Second of all,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: it's just vile. I mean, the man literally died in
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: a you know, shocking death just hours before, and she
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: tweets out a meme, you know, saying, just when I
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: thought I was a lead, put back in. Like, No,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: nobody is pulling you back in. Nobody, nobody is asking
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: you to run, nobody, nobody wants you in the United
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: States Senate. Hell, we don't even want you in the
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: House of Representatives. The fact is, and it's sad because
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: she's just that there's clearly issues going on there. I'll
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: leave it at that, but it's she needs help and
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: she should not be in public office. The fact that
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: she ran for governor and she got absolutely.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: Smoked Trump and doors the other lady.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I didn't. It didn't screw her. She was unfit to
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: serve as governor. Look said said, I work with these people. Okay,
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: she's unfit to serve. And the fact is nobody was
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: asking her to run for the United States Senate. Nobody
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: is asking her to run for the United States Senate.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: And sometimes have a little class and say nothing. Just
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: say nothing. If you can't say something positive or you know,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: sincere in a moment of tragedy, just say nothing.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're better. No, I don't disagree with you. So
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: what did she say to you when you were like,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: come on, Nancy Bio wretched.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: I haven't seen any response. If she did respond, I
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: could care less, right, I mean, you know, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: it's funny. They certainly didn't say anything to me in person.
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: Okay. So what's funny is the night that you and
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: I really became friendly. The first night was when you
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: took me and Danielle on that really late night tour
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the Capitol. You were great. You were great. You and
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Anthony the Esposito. But we had dinner that night, you
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: may remember, at the Capitol Grill in DC, and it
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: was Nick Woloda, Nicole maly O'takis and you were there,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and Anthony was there and Nancy and I even noticed
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: that night. This is going back the night I got
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: thrown out, the night before I got thrown out of
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: the State of the Union. I even noticed back then
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: it didn't seem like you guys were all that buddy, buddy.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: So this is, yes, lower Mace. I don't want to
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: say feud, but at the very least the lawyer Mace disconnect.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Is this a couple of years old.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Listen from the time she voted to remove Kevin McCarthy
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: as speaker. I have no use for her. Ah, Absolutely,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: that's what it is.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So you're mad about that still, it's not.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Even it's not even mad about it. It's just you're
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: I have no use for you. Good luck. Like she's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: just it's all about her. It always has been, and
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: God bless her.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: She did get President Trump fifteen million dollars. You see.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: What did she do?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: She was on with George Steppanopolis when stopping George in that.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: In that Yeah, that exchange.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well Trump got fifteen million, god bless. So do
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: you think, on a serious note, she did get wiped
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: out in that gubernat Toil primary. Do you think basically
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: her pednocle career is over? Oh?
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Probably, But you know, you know why it's over because
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: of her own conduct. It has nothing to do with
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: President Trump. But it has nothing to do with getting
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: shell acted in a primary. It's because the voters in
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: South Carolina woke up to the fact that there's something wrong.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: There's something wrong, And honestly, I mean Kevin has said
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: this before, others have said it. I hope she gets help.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: She should not be in public office. There are some
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: people that this is just not the job for them,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: And you know, I think Nancy really should just focus
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: on herself and getting help and whatever. Fundamentally, public office
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: is not a role she should be in.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: And that's so very nice of you and very very fair.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: This is the great michae Lawler. All right, So you
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: got an election coming up in November, and maybe I
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: shouldn't do this, but because I think the world of
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: view I think is so smart and a great congressman,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I don't really worry about your upcoming elections. But I
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: was told by somebody may nameless, that this lady that's
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: running against you has a little bit of momentum. Is
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: there any truth to that? And if that is.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: True, why, Look, my district is one of the toughest
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: districts in the country, and we've been done very well.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: We've been very successful in our elections. I've won three
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: times in two to one Democratic districts, first for the
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: Assembly and twice for Congress, and now we're running for
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: the third time for Congress. But it's not an easy district.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: There's eighty thousand more Democrats than Republicans. It's home to
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: the Clintons and George Soros and New York State and
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: National Democrats are pouring in tens of millions of dollars
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: to try to defeat me. They are throwing everything they
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: can at me in the hopes that you know, I stumble.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: But the fact is we're doing the job, and we're
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: doing what is supposed to get done on behalf of
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: my constituents. I'm very proud of the record that I've
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: amassed during my time in Congress, delivering real results. I
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: just passed a major housing bill that became law last Friday,
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the biggest bipartisan housing package in thirty six years. Twenty
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: percent of the bill is mine. It's written by me,
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and the work that I've done on the Housing and
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Insurance Subcommittee, delivered on the issue of salt. I worked
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: tirelessly on behalf of my constituents and you know their
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: whole you know, campaign is Trump Trump, Trump, Trump Trump.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: To me, fundamentally, regardless of who the president is, if
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: you want to be able to get anything done for
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: your constituents, for your district, you have to be able
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: to work with people on both sides of the aisle,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: and especially whoever the president is. And my opponent, Kate Conley,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: combat war veteran, bless her for her service. We appreciate
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: her service to this country. She agrees with the radical socialists.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: She will empower the radical socialists that just came out
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: of these primaries in New York City, the brad Landers
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: of the world. In fact, she said she would welcome
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: brad Lander up to the district to campaign. Oh my god,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: I'll go pick them up.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: Right and bring them I mean, I mean. She also a.
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: Great conversation, correct me if I'm one.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: But she also embraces Mamdani, right, Ma'm donnie.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: She she has not disowned or or disassociated with any
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: of these people, from Mamdannie to AOC. She supports open borders,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: she supports sanctuary cities, she supports abolishing ice. The fact
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: is she can call herself whatever she wants, but she
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: agrees with the positions of these parties and her her
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: great benefactor, Pat Ryan, who helped recruit her to run
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: for the seat, literally just voted to defund Israeli yesterday
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: and she said nothing about it. So, you know, this
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: is the challenge. She's not frankly capable of handling this job.
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: She would not be able to push back on these people.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: She would go right along with them. You know, they
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: taught They try to say I vote one hundred percent
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: of the time with the president, that's just not true.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: And the record bears that out. And I have a
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: very clear record of being able to push back against
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: my own party but also to be able to work
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: to deliver for my constituents and my community. And that's
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: not an easy thing to do. You actually have to
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: understand how to work through the process. You have to
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: actually have to be able to work with people and
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: so I feel good about where we are. They put
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: out some Kakamamie poll last week's saying that she was
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: up sixth, which is laughable on its face. But you know,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: this is going to be a fight, and I'm fully
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: committed to it. I'm fully invested in this race, and
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I will do everything in my power between now and
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: election day to make sure that we not only win
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: my seat, but that we keep the House Republican majority.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: You know, Mike. Over my lifetime, I've made a lot
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: of mistakes, a lot, some of them pretty nasty. And
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: people say, sid you have regrets.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: I have regrets. There are things I would have done differently,
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: no doubt about it. And one of the things I
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: regret is I've been arrested twice in my life for DUIs,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: and I haven't driven a car now in like nine years,
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: and I know the dangerous innocent people die every day
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: because people have had too much a drink get behind
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the wheel. So I don't sugarcoat it, and I don't
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: blame anybody else. I got fired and it was my poll.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: But some reason the last couple of days, you brought
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: up an incident in your life that eats back fourteen
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: years ago to a very very sad time in your life,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Saint Patrick's day, when you found out your dad was really,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: really sick. So I guess it's two questions, did Conlin
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: bring this up? Is that why you bought the need
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: this week to talk about this incident fourteen years ago?
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: And how do you feel about it fourteen years later? Now?
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: We there was a mock DWI demonstration in my district
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: in Manuet, where I grew up when I was really young,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: and speaking to high school seniors about the perils of
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: you know, underage drinking and driving and impaired driving, and
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I decided to share my story and tell
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: them about, you know, an incident in which I drove
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: drunk and made a really poor decision. Fortunately nobody was hurt,
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: neither myself nor someone else, but I was pulled over
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: and arrested and ultimately led down to d w AI.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: And the point of telling them that was, you know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: that was the day it happened. The confluence of events,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: I drove home from Rochester, New York, where we had
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: the State Republican Convention I was the executive director at
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: the time, got home, my parents told me about you know,
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: my dad's cancer having metastasized, and you know, obviously very
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: shocking and upsetting. I was going to the city that
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: evening to see friends. It was Saint Patrick's Day, so
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: you know, probably should have just stayed home, but went
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: to the city. You know, had a lot to drink,
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: and I was on the phone with a friend and
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: I was kind of walking around the block and arrived
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: at my car and just decided I wanted to go
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: home and see my dad and be home, and drove home,
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: you know, drunk, and ultimately got pulled over on the
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Palisades Parkway. And you know, I'm grateful I got pulled
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: over and nobody was hurt. But I shared that story
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: because no matter what is happening in your life, no
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: matter you know, what the situation is, whether it's a
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: joyful occasion or whether it's something that's said and upsetting,
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: it's no justification to drive drunk. And I wanted these
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: children who are graduating high school and have some new
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: fam freedom and going to college soon and going into
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the real world, if you will, to understand even you know,
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: someone like me, who in a position of power can
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: make a really bad decision and Uh. So we we
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: shared that with him and ultimately, uh, you know, talk
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: to Tara Rosenbloom with News twelve about it. Uh. And
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: you know, wanted to wanted to share that it wasn't
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: some secret. I mean people and Rockland certainly knew about it. Uh.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: And it's not something I hadn't talked about with people before. Uh.
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: But obviously, you know, on a on a large scale
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: public interview, had not done that. So uh, we we
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: chose to do that and let people know about it.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: Good for you. Good for you, Michael Older. I do
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: want to ask you about this Joe Rogan jd Vance conversation.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: I don't like him. I don't like JD Vance. I
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: just don't love Michael Rubio. I know he's not going
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: to run. I don't know that, but I I that's
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: a feeling. I've got that bad feeling in my gut.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: And I do think JD. Vans will be the nominee.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I don't have to vote for him because I can't
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: vote for a Democrat, but I'm not a big JD
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: Van's guy. What are your thoughts on the Rogan JD
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: Vans conversation yesterday?
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: So I didn't get to watch the interview, but I
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: saw some of the headlines that came out of it.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: You know, obviously I have some concerns on some of
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: the comments made, especially surrounding Israel. You know, I've got
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: to know JD. I like him personally, and certainly, you know,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: it's I think it's going to be, you know, between
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: him and Marco, and I like Marco very much as well.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: But you know, look, there's some of these issues that
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: we're going to have to work through as as a party.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: You saw yesterday a vote on the House floor. Thankfully,
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: only one Republican voted to to defund you know, military
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: aid who was and that was Thomas masseew Tommy, it
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: was his amendment, but you had over one hundred Democrats,
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: including Nancy Pelosi, voted for it. I mean, it's just
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: this is obviously a major issue and a major fisher
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: in our politics right now, and you know, I think
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: this is this is something we're going to have to
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: work through as a party, as a country. I think
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: a lot of people really frankly, don't understand what's happening
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: in the world and don't recognize the very real threats
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: posed by China, Russia, Iran. Uh, the intersection between these countries. Uh.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: And you know what needs to be done to ensure
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: peace and stability. Uh. And you know, frankly, I think
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: so much of the criticism against Israel it's not only unjustified,
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: it's not recognizing reality. If, for instance, Canada was launching
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: missiles into you know, Upstate New York on a weekly basis,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: I think most Americans would have a very strong reaction.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: And so, you know, I think there's just a total
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: disconnect on the reality of what Israel has to deal with,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: what our allies in the region have to deal with,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: the threats posed. Frankly, not recognizing has been many American
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: lives lost, you know, as a result of these attacks
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: perpetrated by Iran and its terror proxy network. And so,
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you know, I think this is a debate that is
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: worth having. It's a discussion worth having, certainly, you know,
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: in in my engagement with the Vice President and others,
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: you know, I'm very direct on these issues. So you know,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: I the Vice President, very smart guy. I think he
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: obviously has strong opinions on a lot of things. But
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: this is this is why you have a primary process,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: It's why you have a electoral process, you know, and
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: these issues will all come out and be debated and
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: discussed in the future. But you know, I think the
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Vice President has been a very strong leader in a
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: lot of respects and certainly, like I said, a very
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: smart guy. I've got to know him a little bit,
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: and uh, you know, I've had very positive engagements with
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: him on a myriad of issues.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: You can have him. Good. Good for you, No thanks,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: but you I love, I love dearly. Took a lot
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: of courage to talk about that story. I know you've
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: done it before, but to do it on this show
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: live radio was great because it is a very important
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: message and I just think you're the greatest. So, mister Salt,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for another great appearance. Thank you.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I'll talk to you soon.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: But I love you. Mike. All right, man, Mike Laula
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: right there, the King of Rockland County, mister Salt, an
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: amazing congressman and even better man.
• 18:10
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• 18:13
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• 18:16
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  Speaker 3: for a new episode, so you never have to wonder
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: What the heck is going on here