INTERVIEW: Isaac talks with former Congressman Ken Buck

A couple of weeks ago, we sent Tangle News YouTube and podcast editor Jon Lall to the home of former Representative Ken Buck (R-CO).

Buck, who recently retired from the House of Representatives, was enjoying his first few days of free time since leaving Congress. Long known as one of the most outspoken members of his party, Buck had been making waves in the news for criticizing the state of Congress, referring to his former colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene as "Moscow Marjorie," and breaking publicly from the House Freedom Caucus, a group he was a longtime member of.

After Jon set up Buck's computer and studio, the former Congressman sat down for a 45-minute chat with me, recording from the Tangle studio in Philadelphia. In our conversation we covered his recent comments about Green, whether he planned to endorse Trump, if he regretted voting to oust Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), his view on new Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), how broken Congress really is, why he was still so focused on the debt and deficit, and what he planned to do now that he had left Congress. It was a fascinating, wide-ranging conversation.

Given how honest and blunt Buck was even when he was in office, I was expecting him to be pretty forthright in our interview, too. Aside from one or two small dodges, he didn't disappoint.

We’ve also released the interview as a YouTube video and podcast for free. If you'd like to watch it on YouTube, you can do that here.

We just released the next episode of our new podcast series, The Undecideds. In episode 2, our undecided voters primarily talk about Trump’s legal troubles. How do they feel about his alleged crimes? How would him being convicted - or exonerated - change the way they vote? What about his claims he should have immunity as president? You’ll hear how they consider these major themes of the race, and also what they made of Haley dropping out and Biden’s State of the Union Address. You can listen to Episode 2 ⁠⁠here.⁠⁠

Today’s clickables: Introduction (0:32), Resigning from Congress (2:48), The difference between conservative and MAGA (4:14), "Moscow Marjorie" (6:01), Why support Ukraine (8:37), Mike Johnson (9:58), Kevin McCarthy (11:21), Dysfunction in Congress (13:17), Got more done under Democrats control (15:12), The primary problem (18:36), How to fix the primary problem (20:13), The problem with Biden (22:02), Reforming Social Security (26:09), Endorsing Trump (28:26), Perpetual fundraising (30:00), What are you doing now? (34:20), Will you continue in public service? (35:48), "America is the greatest country in the history of the world" (37:07)

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Tangle is looking for a part-time intern to work as an assistant to our YouTube and podcast producer. This is a part-time, paid position that would be ideal for a college student or recent college graduate looking to get real-world deadline experience in the industry. Applicants should have:

• Proficiency in Adobe Premiere — After Effects a plus.

• Minimum of one year of video editing (Adobe Premiere)

• Minimum of one year of audio editing and mixing (Any DAW)

• Good organizational and communication skills

• Understanding of composition and aesthetic choices

• Self-sufficiency in solving technical problems

• Proficiency in color grading and vertical video formatting (preferred, not required)

To apply, email your resume and a few paragraphs about why you are applying to [email protected] and [email protected] with the subject line "Editor opening"

The job listing is posted here. Preference will be given to candidates in the greater Philadelphia area. 

Our podcast is written by Isaac Saul and edited and engineered by Jon Lall. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. 

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