Republican Congressman Mike Bost is running for another term to represent Illinois’ 12th District, which includes roughly the bottom third of Illinois. His opponent is Democrat Julie Fortier, who joined The 21st Show in August.
Bost appeared on The 21st Show earlier this week. He spoke with IPM’s Brian Mackey about why he decided to pass on a debate with Fortier as well as his views on changes to Medicaid, the war in Iran and the U.S.’ relationship with Israel.
Interview Highlights
On the Iran War
“Me, but not knowing what [Trump] knows, I would have moved quicker to go ahead and continue to hit them harder and beat them into submission, not negotiate, because I have been — my time in the Marine Corps and my time in government — Iran does not, are not fair brokers when it comes to negotiation. They cheat and they are — the only time they want to negotiate is when they want to slow the attack down so they can build their forces back up. So the answer is we’re winning. The question is how soon do we drop them completely.”
On Israel as a U.S. ally
“They’re our greatest ally. They have worked side by side with us. And many of the young — and not just young, anyone who doesn’t understand this — the technology we have received from Israel is an amazing amount … we are building right now and looking into a system that will be similar to the Iron Dome on the United States to protect us from those enemies that might develop weapons at a higher level. Um, and we got a lot of that technology from Israel. Um, so the friendship that we have with them is very good and should stay good.”
On Medicaid cuts
“More politics is played with this than you realize, and I’m telling you, we have not cut Medicaid. We only put rules in place for people so that hopefully it is not a generation after generation of an entrapment, but is an opportunity to get a hand up, not a handout, and to be able to be taken care of and give the opportunity to move on to productive income and job opportunities.”
On why he will not debate his Democratic opponent Julie Fortier
“So when you do a debate, you’ve got a small group, and I can have my time more valuable to my constituents by being out, and going to events and going to meet people and going to greet people and get there and go to their doors, go around to events, go to farm bureau meetings, go to each one of this and gain the opportunity to talk with my constituents one on one. [Fortier] has that right as well. That means both of us can present our argument without going to a studio to where you only get the small audience.”