Lee Greenwood shares his experience opening up for President Trump at a recent event in New York City. He also talks about being held up by the Secret Service at the end of the event and how they handled the situation. Lee also reflects on his 40th anniversary of his debut album, The Patriot.
00:03:57.020He looked at me like and then he looked at the microphone is like, who in the heck are you?
00:04:01.380You know, and then somebody said in his ear, let him go.
00:04:04.480That I walked up. I don't believe Melania knew I was standing behind her the entire time
00:04:09.560until she turned around when the president came on to the stage and then faced me.
00:04:14.240And then she turned around and faced me as well. And what a wonderful moment that was.
00:04:18.460I can I can reflect on the 1984 RNC when I sang and Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan are standing watching me do the same song.
00:04:27.820So as I as I look back in all of those years, we're at the 40 year anniversary of God Bless the USA
00:04:33.840and the American Patriot CD that was released that year.
00:04:38.180It's unbelievable. It's hard to believe that I'm still doing this.
00:04:41.300Well, you know, I it's funny that you describe that whole reaction and transaction with that,
00:04:47.040because I was sitting about you guys had their little VIP area and then I was about four rows up in the in the seating area.
00:04:53.900And I'm looking at I'm reading the guest list and I see Lee Greenwood.
00:04:57.880And I'm like, he's got to be opening up for for the president.
00:05:00.440And then I see you sitting in the corner. I see you start walking your cowboy boots on.
00:05:04.400And I see you take a stop before the stage and then I see you proceed up.
00:05:08.360And I as I said to you when we started the show, every time I hear your song, it literally gives me chills down my back.
00:05:14.880And it doesn't matter, you know, if I'm hearing it the first time, the second time or third time in a row.
00:05:19.820When I grew up in schools, Lee, it was at a time I'm 30 years old now.
00:05:24.180It was at a time I consider it the best times to have grown up, at least in the millennial era.
00:05:30.680You know, we got to experience life without cell phones.
00:05:33.640We got to experience life riding bicycles around the neighborhood, throwing toilet paper on people's houses during Halloween.
00:05:39.160They'll stop there. That's all I've ever done.
00:05:41.460So, you know, I got to experience life both ways.
00:05:45.520And Lee, the most important thing is I don't even know if they're still doing the Pledge of Allegiance in schools nowadays.
00:05:51.040It's how long I've been out of school.
00:05:52.640But when I was in school, Lee, we've got to experience what it was like to be patriotic.
00:05:57.800And I'll never forget in one of my great classes, we have these shows and your song was one of the songs that we had to learn.
00:06:05.220So it really it just brings back memories.
00:06:07.620And if you listen to the words of it, Lee, to every grain, it's literally just chilling.
00:06:14.020But I'm reading this week that Will Ferrell now is trying to compete with you because he's tired of hearing about your song.
00:06:20.660Lee, we've seen this transactional issue we're having in America now where they want to wipe away every fabric that this country was built on, the patrioticness of it, you know, the core being that America is a great place.
00:06:38.080You just celebrated your 82nd birthday, which I don't believe you because there's no way you're 82 years old.
00:06:43.900That's that's first of all. But in your 82 years on this earthly working for many presidents, working with many presidents, including many Democrats, what is your thoughts on where this country has gone?
00:06:57.540Well, we're an interesting place. I think more and more were influenced by world events, as you see Russia trying to take out the Ukraine and then the attack on Israel and now the war in Gaza with Hezbollah and and Hamas.
00:07:12.820And we're affected by that. And we shouldn't be. As a country, we should keep our own direction.
00:07:18.040I am appalled to know that our current administration sent one hundred million dollars to Lebanon and knowing that the money is going to go to the to the terrorists.
00:07:28.500When we had people in North Carolina suffering from Hurricane Helene, I, you know, the irresponsibility of of of of the left and and the White House is just it's unfathomable.
00:07:42.340I have seen a lot. Yes. And I am like you. I was I was going places without a cell phone and they said, how did you get there?
00:07:49.560I use the map. What's a map? It was a map. You open up. It's got streets on it.
00:07:53.740You know, well, my phone's got streets on it. I didn't have a phone then.
00:07:57.100And and so learning directions, learning about life.
00:08:01.040And of course, World War one and two were something extremely critical in America's survival.
00:08:07.540Oh, and and we got over it. My father joined the Navy right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
00:08:13.000So I have military family. My wife and I have been married 32 years.
00:08:16.680I did not serve in the military. I was three in the draft.
00:08:19.920And and so I would have been a good soldier. I like discipline.
00:08:22.960I like what my wife's tell me to do when I do it.
00:08:25.700And so, you know, Kim and I have a wonderful existence.
00:08:29.780We have two two sons that, like you, are twenty nine and twenty six.
00:08:33.920And Dalton is is a biotech analyst in Chicago for a financial firm.
00:08:38.860And our young boy who was chancellor scholar at TCU is now at the University of Miami,
00:08:43.500getting a musical degree in production and engineering.
00:08:45.940And this country has given me that chance.
00:08:48.680If I was not an American and to to try to just map out where I would have gone early on in my life,
00:08:55.420it wouldn't have been here. I would probably be in construction helping my stepfather build hotels or my grandfather work in the fields.
00:09:02.780So, you know, here I am just very lucky and very blessed.
00:09:05.940And I want to pass that on. And you mentioned about how you build patriotism early in children.
00:09:11.840I get these videos all the time of kids that are like five, six, seven years old.
00:09:16.780And they're standing there waving a little flag and they're singing, I'm proud to be an American where I'm free.
00:09:24.160You know, it's just it just warms my heart to know that that people my age pass it to people that your age and now your people your age are passing to your kids.
00:09:35.460Another generation of learning that God bless USA, like the national anthem, like God bless America and all of those songs that are on my American Patriots CD,
00:09:44.100by the way, was released this year by Universal on a 33 and a third, which was never released early on.
00:09:50.680It was only on a CD. So 40 years later, they're releasing the American Patriots CD to make sure people understand patriotism is still alive.
00:09:59.120America is still the greatest country on the earth.
00:10:01.220And we have to make sure we honor our veterans who have paid the price.
00:10:06.240Yeah. You know, I was telling you before the show, Lou Dobbs is a massive fan of yours.
00:10:10.980He loved your music. And before he passed away or after he passed away, his wife had given me a few things of his to remember him by this American flag pin is one of them,
00:10:19.400which I wear every single day on the show to remember him.
00:10:21.760But I was on an event, Lee, a few weeks ago, probably wearing this jacket or one like it, but I put it on every jacket I own.
00:10:28.480And someone asked me, why are you wearing an American flag? What are you, a politician?
00:10:32.500And I sat back and I thought, this is really how stupid society has gotten, Lee, that I have to be a politician to wear an American flag.
00:10:42.800And it was sort of disrespectful, not on that aspect, that someone would call me a politician, compare me to a politician,
00:10:48.280because I like to think I'm a lot more patriotic than some of these people who are sitting there selling out our country in Congress right now.
00:10:54.320So we're going to take a quick break. We're talking with Lee Greenwood, a great American, an amazing singer and a staple of President Trump's campaign since 2016.
00:11:05.140Coming right back with Lee. Stay with us.
00:11:08.980Folks, as a lot of you may know, Mike Lindell and MyPillow no longer have the support of their box stores or shopping channels the way they used to.
00:11:15.580They've been part of this cancel culture, so they want to pass savings directly on to you.
00:11:19.140So they're bringing back the $25 extravaganza.
00:11:22.440When Mike started MyPillow, it was just a one problem, one solution company.
00:11:26.340Well, since then, with the help of his dedicated employees, they now have hundreds of products some of you may not even know about.
00:11:32.960To get the word out, they're having a $25 extravaganza.
00:11:36.540Two-pack multi-use MyPillows, just $25.
00:14:25.260You know, I'm surprised, Lee, that we haven't gotten more from the left.
00:14:29.160He's accusing you of being a racist or a xenophobe or any of that garbage, because it seems anybody who associates themselves with President Trump gets called any of those adjectives, Lee, because it's just it's the way they do business.
00:14:43.100So for you to have passed all of those name callings and all that stuff is truly remarkable.
00:14:49.780It must mean that you actually are a great human being.
00:14:51.860And from everything I've seen, Lee, you really do love this country.
00:14:55.900But if you go to the left and you ask them about us, Lee, as conservatives, they have this to say, or at least their leader, Joe Biden or de facto leader.
00:16:33.300And then I would say to Vice President Kamala Harris, please stop talking.
00:16:38.600Neither one of them can say anything that has any substance at all.
00:16:41.380And when they do speak, they speak in circles.
00:16:43.580I passed the litmus test, and I think the reason is because if you go back to my history when I got to Nashville, Tennessee, and we're not going to talk about the years in Vegas.
00:16:54.420There were 20 years of those, and I dealt cards in the casinos, and I had no career, really.
00:16:59.660I was a working musician and a writer in reviews, but my passion became supporting the military when I got to Nashville.
00:17:07.660We started a number of our USO tours, which I had done already as a teenager out of California.
00:17:13.780I went to Alaska before it was a state.
00:17:16.360I worked all of the up and down Air Force bases, Marine, Army bases in California.
00:17:21.720And then when I got to Tennessee, I started traveling to Tennessee National Guard, and we did 16 USO tours around the world.
00:17:28.240So right away, I have to mention my passion has been to build homes for wounded warriors.
00:17:33.360And there's a profound foundation called Helping a Hero.
00:17:37.660Which over the past 12 years, as their ambassador and live performer, we built 220 homes in more than 16 states.
00:17:46.140And so I think when you talk about you want to slap my hand because I'm a conservative, it's really difficult for the left to do that to me as the American patriot.
00:17:57.620I think that's the thing they have trouble with.
00:18:35.880And, you know, if you will, tell the audience, because I don't think many people know about this.
00:18:40.180When Ronald Reagan sort of brought your song out to God Bless the USA to use it as his campaign slogan, and obviously we see the parallels between President Trump and Ronald Reagan.
00:18:49.380It seems he's probably his biggest fan, President Trump being the biggest fan of Ronald Reagan.
00:18:55.420Tell them what you charged Ronald Reagan to use your song on his campaigns.
00:19:01.080Well, interestingly enough, you know, my manager at the time named Jerry Bentley, who's deceased now, unfortunately.
00:21:45.220Folks, as a lot of you may know, Mike Lindell and MyPillow no longer have the support of their box stores or shopping channels the way they used to.
00:21:53.460They've been part of this cancel culture, so they want to pass savings directly on to you.
00:21:57.380So they're bringing back the $25 extravaganza.
00:22:00.300When Mike started MyPillow, it was just a one-problem-one-solution company.
00:22:04.220Well, since then, with the help of his dedicated employees, they now have hundreds of products some of you may not even know about.
00:22:10.640To get the word out, they're having a $25 extravaganza.
00:22:13.800Two-pack multi-use MyPillows, just $25.
00:23:19.180How do we get more Lee Greenwoods in this world?
00:23:23.700Well, we have a – I try to be a good image for everyone.
00:23:27.040And as a footnote to that, my music goes on now for over four generations, and we've just released a rock version of God Bless the USA on iTunes.
00:26:09.720As we wrap up here, Lee, I want to give you the chance, as a man who's seen a lot of things, God bless you.
00:26:16.160You look as healthy as possibly can be.
00:26:19.460I want to give you an opportunity to tell our audience, the younger folks who tune into this show,
00:26:24.500the older folks who have grandchildren and children, what we can do, Lee, to get this country back after November 5th,
00:26:32.000pending, you know, President Trump wins and takes this country back.
00:26:34.500What can we do to instill the patriotism back in this country that we saw after 9-11 and united country, Lee?
00:26:42.060And now 9-11 is probably not a good example because we had just come from a bad time.
00:26:45.280But that was the last time, Lee, I remember this country being united and the American folks sticking together and raising their fist that we're Americans.
00:26:54.040We're in this together, and it's America versus everybody else.
00:26:57.580What is your message to those folks, Lee?
00:27:00.620Well, the first thing would be don't destroy the past.
00:27:03.060We try to learn about the future from what we've been through.
00:27:06.640Don't try to destroy the documents of how we got started.
00:27:09.300In the God Bless the USA Bible, you'll find the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights,
00:27:14.940things we should never forget and how this country got started.
00:27:17.760Those people that signed the Declaration of Independence, they put their lives, their fortunes on the line to start this country.