GOP Voters Want Congressmen Who Fight for Them and Stand With Trump: Rep. Stutzman

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]And the Associated Press just calling the Kentucky GOP Senate primary for Congressman Andy Bar with only 5% of the vote in. He'll be facing off with a Democrat for Senator in Mitch McConnell's race to fill that seat. The construction of the White House, meantime, uh the White House ballroom has demonstrated the amount of consideration that goes into balancing beauty and national security. to assess.

[00:00:26]We welcome Congressman Marlon Stzman from Indiana.

[00:00:31]Congressman Marlon Stzman, thanks so much for joining.

[00:00:34]>> Steve, great to see you. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:36]>> Absolutely. Congressman, President Trump this morning surveying the construction of the new White House ballroom. Here's what the president had to say.

[00:00:44]>> They're taken out of different parts of the world from very glamorous times.

[00:00:49]This is Rome. They like the flat roof.

[00:00:52]Greece likes the they call it the triangles. They have a 360 degree vision of Washington DC. Uh they have a massive drone capacity. Not only is it drone proof if a drone hits it, it bounces off. It won't have any impact, but uh it's also meant as a drone port, so it protects all of Washington, the roof of the building.

[00:01:16]Congressman, uh, the president in his first term and then after, you know, President Biden rescended his executive order, brought it back this term. It's really a a an executive order to require federal buildings to meet classical architecture standards. What do you make of how this ballroom uh is appearing to balance sort of traditional beauty and also accommodating modern security demands?

[00:01:43]>> Uh, I love it, Steve. Honestly, I mean, this is something that's been needed uh for a long time. I was at the White House correspondents dinner about 70 ft from where the shots rang out uh where a shooter tried to come in and assassinate the president and cabinet members. Uh we need it for security purposes, but I'm also, you know, so uh excited that President Trump is the one building it.

[00:02:04]He's a builder. Uh you look at his his buildings around the world and the architecture that he always has is it's classic. it's appropriate and and I believe that President Trump um you know having a background of being uh in the building space. He's going to build a ballroom that will be a lasting facility for Americans uh for years to come and not just Americans but people around the world that would ever visit Washington DC to have an event there. This is for presidents beyond him. This isn't just for him. In fact, he probably may not even use it by the time it's done. So I applaud President Trump for doing what he's doing right now. Yeah, we can see on the screen there the renderings of the ballroom maintaining uh the consistency and design of the White House on the front-facing uh portion uh the neocclassical architecture really um you know a value ad uh by many accounts to the area. Uh the president and private donors are covering the main costs of the building uh upwards of I think it's $4500 million. But Congress is looking to contribute um a billion dollars for security enhancements not to the structure itself but below the building different tunnels uh that are also attached to the White House. Um, in light of this recent assassination attempt um, at the dinner that you were at, which I was also there, it was uh, sort of a surreal, horrific experience for everybody. Um, do you think that this is needed more than ever?

[00:03:35]>> I do. Uh, you know, we want to keep the American uh, people safe when they come to visit their nation's capital. We want to be sure that they can can walk through the incredible uh capital that we have here in Washington DC. They can go into the buildings and know that they're safe. You know, when they come into the US capital, they go in through the capital visitor center and there's, you know, screening and there's rooms that uh, you know, help security be sure they can do their job to the best of their ability. If you go to the White House, you are actually entering in off of um the street on on either 17th or 15th Street and you go through tents.

[00:04:16]You go you're standing outside. Uh I you know I think there's plenty of places where uh those who are visiting would be vulnerable. Um but I think that uh you know looking forward uh that uh what we do now is going to benefit future generations. This is not about President Trump. This is not about Republicans in Congress. This is about America and being sure that when people come to visit the White House or the capital that they're safe and having these facilities built now by an incredible builder is u is is only appropriate.

[00:04:50]>> So significant night, Congressman, around the country when it comes to the midterms in the primary tonight.

[00:04:56]Kentucky, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Idaho, all voting. In Kentucky, though, it's a big one. President Trump endorsing Thomas Massiey's opponent Ed Gallerin uh saying that Representative Massie must be thrown out of office as soon as possible. We've seen the president before insert himself into different races, but none as much as it appears that he is uh particularly interested in this race. Has your colleague uh Congressman Thomas Massie hindered uh the GOP's priorities up on Capitol Hill?

[00:05:29]U you know what I have a lot of appreciation for Thomas Massie. He and I have served for together for a long time. Um but I think you know his strategy uh is more very independent but with a small majority in the House of Representatives. We are more conservative now than we've ever been.

[00:05:49]Speaker Mike Johnson has led our party down a conservative path. We, you know, the big beautiful bill was full of conservative priorities, whether it was defunding Planned Parenthood, tax cuts, um, energy supply, so many great things in there. And what I have seen is that, uh, is, you know, Thomas has just he's not been there and being part of the team when we need to be. The the opposition is the Democrat party and, uh, and sometimes we just have to stick together as a team and make sure that we pass the legislation. It may never be perfect the way we exactly want it, but if we get it close and we're going the right direction, uh I think that's when we have to stick together as a team. If we don't and if you vote with Democrats, you're only helping the Democrat party.

[00:06:35]And that's what's become very frustrating with uh Thomas Massiey's voting record.

[00:06:39]>> It's an interesting point you make.

[00:06:40]There's a lot of give and take uh especially at a time where um you know, there's such a slim majority. if you don't make some concession somewhere in uh what you stand for, it it it can actually be worse in the long run.

[00:06:55]Recently in Indiana, uh President Trump weighed in on uh those state level races. Uh the whole country was watching that a couple weeks ago, uh endorsing the opponents of state senators who blocked uh that major redistricting effort. Nearly all of his preferred candidates won. This is your home state.

[00:07:14]Uh, is this having a ripple effect? And what was it like on the ground there watching this whole situation play out?

[00:07:21]It >> it definitely is having a ripple effect.

[00:07:23]I think we saw that in Louisiana when Senator Cassidy lost last Saturday. We we'll see what happens today in Kentucky. Uh, but I do think the message that we need to take away from what happened in Indiana is that that Republican primary voters want candidates who are going to fight and that we're going to stand strong in Washington and, you know, uh, to to support the president, to support President Trump. We've never had a president like President Trump. I came in to Congress in 2010 with the big Tea Party wave and it was the same core principles that was driving the Tea Party back then that we wanted a president who was going to fight. And I think that's one of the reasons why Mitt Romney didn't win in 2012 against uh President Obama is because the party didn't see the base didn't see him as a true fighter.

[00:08:12]>> Indiana Congressman Marlon Stzman, appreciate you joining us.