My conversation with former Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO)

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.

Below, we've transcribed our interview and edited it for length and clarity. The transcription is available for Tangle members only, but 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. If you'd like to listen to the podcast, you can do that here.