The Michael Knowles Show


“I Got the Call, ‘Your Dad Was Shot’” ｜ Michael & Donald Trump Jr. EXCLUSIVE


Summary

Donald Trump Jr. talks about the day after his father was shot in Pennsylvania, and how he managed to survive the attack. He also talks about how he handled the aftermath of the attack and what he did to prepare for the possibility of another attack on his father.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I got a call, you know, 615, whatever it was, your dad's been shot.
00:00:04.560 I got a hold of my father and, you know, surprisingly, you know, calm in the hospital and, you know,
00:00:10.520 by then I'd already gotten to see the video and sort of him coming up defiant in the face of actual fire.
00:00:15.980 It was sort of amazing and he just sort of said, you know, hey man, you're the biggest badass I know.
00:00:20.960 And because I genuinely believe that.
00:00:22.880 Not 72 hours ago, a 15 degree turn of his head permitted President Donald Trump
00:00:35.820 to survive an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
00:00:42.040 Now, we are all sitting here at the Republican National Convention
00:00:46.740 and I am sitting down for the first long-form interview with the President's son, Donald Trump Jr.
00:00:54.020 We are able to bring you these kinds of conversations.
00:00:57.000 We're allowed to bring you these facts because of you,
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00:01:32.400 Donald Trump Jr.
00:01:33.600 Good to be with you.
00:01:34.160 Don, thank you for being here.
00:01:34.900 Thank you.
00:01:35.200 It's 6.03 p.m. on Saturday.
00:01:42.700 Your father takes the stage.
00:01:46.680 Take me from there.
00:01:48.600 Yeah, I wasn't there.
00:01:49.680 I was actually going to be there.
00:01:51.140 I was supposed to be there because I actually thought that's when they were going to do the VP announcement.
00:01:54.760 And so when I found out it wasn't going on, I was, you know, still being negotiated or talked
00:02:02.320 about or whatever it may be, sort of a long couple of weeks.
00:02:05.940 I was like, you know what?
00:02:07.340 I'm going to be in Milwaukee.
00:02:08.360 I'm going to be doing nonstop press and media.
00:02:10.660 I'm taking the afternoon off instead of, you know, campaigning because I'm going to have
00:02:14.240 pretty much a long sprint until November.
00:02:16.160 Or my daughter calls me, you know, hey, can we go fishing?
00:02:20.360 That doesn't usually happen.
00:02:21.180 She's the golfer, so she's always training and practicing and competing and whatever.
00:02:24.180 So it's like, yes.
00:02:26.080 Took my daughter out on the boat with a couple of her friends.
00:02:28.240 We went out fishing and I get a call, you know, 6.15, whatever it was.
00:02:32.860 Your dad's been shot.
00:02:34.860 And any other information?
00:02:37.780 No, we don't know anything.
00:02:39.620 You know, obviously I immediately get on the phone.
00:02:42.040 I try to call.
00:02:43.360 I guess at that point they're not sure what the attack is, so they lock down all the cell
00:02:46.440 phones and they jam, whatever it may be.
00:02:48.540 I couldn't get through to anyone.
00:02:49.780 And so literally 90 minutes before I even made contact, I, you know, obviously got back
00:02:56.740 in, got all my kids together, made sure everything was, you know, secure.
00:02:59.820 And I'm just literally waiting for a phone call to get even, you know, any information.
00:03:03.680 Finally, you know, I got a hold of my father and, you know, surprisingly calm in the hospital.
00:03:09.580 And, you know, by then I'd already gotten to see the video and sort of him coming up,
00:03:13.600 you know, defiant in the face of actual fire.
00:03:17.960 It was sort of amazing.
00:03:19.080 And he just sort of said, you know, hey man, you're the, you're the biggest badass I know.
00:03:23.020 And because I genuinely believe that.
00:03:25.340 Yeah, of course.
00:03:26.140 You know, everyone thinks they're tough until they're actually put in a situation.
00:03:29.060 He actually wasn't, you know, to come out that way.
00:03:31.280 It was sort of the most proud I'd ever been of him.
00:03:33.580 So you're on the fishing boat with your daughter having a lovely, you know, I was, we were baptizing
00:03:41.060 my youngest son that morning.
00:03:42.740 And so very festive.
00:03:43.840 I saw a text come through, shots at Trump rally.
00:03:47.160 Then I see a text, Trump shot.
00:03:49.160 Then I get a phone call, get to the studio.
00:03:51.760 No one knows what's going on.
00:03:53.600 And I don't think it's an exaggeration to say, had your father been assassinated, it
00:04:03.480 could have led to civil war.
00:04:05.300 Oh, I mean, yeah.
00:04:07.620 The amount of, honestly, Michael, what's really interesting, sort of the amount of reasonable
00:04:13.400 people I know that are, you know, professionals and, you know, successful and that are so frustrated
00:04:19.880 with the world we are, like, you know, imagine the people who are getting crushed by this
00:04:25.200 economy and there's a, I think, you know, that's not, it's not an exaggeration.
00:04:32.880 It's not like, oh, that, I think that could very well be real.
00:04:36.840 And I'm not encouraging that and neither are you because someone's going to say, but like,
00:04:40.720 you know.
00:04:41.160 But there's civil unrest for a lot less.
00:04:43.040 Civil thing.
00:04:44.420 And the reason I even mention it is, so much depends upon a 15 degree turn of the head.
00:04:51.120 When I went back, you know, obviously, you weren't getting any information for 90 minutes.
00:04:56.000 Everyone's trying to say, he just turns his head like a nanosecond before the shot is
00:05:02.780 right.
00:05:02.980 And so I think, I'm just a man who admires your father.
00:05:05.740 I'm just a man who supports his campaigns.
00:05:08.360 You're his son.
00:05:09.380 Yeah.
00:05:09.600 And you're watching this happen and you think, you know, but for the grace of God.
00:05:13.860 Yeah.
00:05:14.560 By the way, total, like, I can't think of anything other than divine intervention, right?
00:05:18.940 I don't believe in that much luck or coincidence anymore.
00:05:22.440 Yeah.
00:05:23.000 That was amazing.
00:05:25.580 By the way, I'm also, I come from a competitive shooting background.
00:05:28.500 I mean, you know, 140 yard shot, that's like a six inch putt, right?
00:05:33.000 That's almost impossible to miss.
00:05:36.380 And so to be able to move that way and that, it just, at that exact instant, you know,
00:05:40.840 literally at the speed of a bullet, it just, it.
00:05:43.160 So to what do you attribute it?
00:05:45.220 It is, you mean that literally divine intervention?
00:05:48.820 Oh, I mean, I.
00:05:50.160 I do.
00:05:50.800 I certainly do.
00:05:51.180 Like, you know, I'm not, you know, not a hyper spiritual guy.
00:05:54.560 It's not.
00:05:55.220 But man, that makes you wonder, you know, I kept just watching a sort of once, it was sort
00:06:00.220 of actually remarkably calm for the first, you know, until I actually spoke to him.
00:06:05.660 And then I finally, you know, got my kids settled and tried to, you know, I'm trying
00:06:08.760 to explain to a, you know, a 10 year old that her grandfather was just shot in the face.
00:06:13.840 It's, you know, it's, these are conversations you hope to never have to have, even if it
00:06:19.740 sort of worked out, you know, in a good way.
00:06:21.500 Like, uh, but, you know, you're doing that and then you, you actually sit down and sort
00:06:25.660 of that, you know, the adrenaline dump hits you and it was just like, yeah, just.
00:06:30.220 Were you, were you speaking to your siblings while this was?
00:06:32.460 Oh yeah.
00:06:32.820 That was the call to my father.
00:06:33.940 I, you know, I couldn't get, I couldn't get through.
00:06:36.040 I couldn't get through.
00:06:36.580 Finally, I got through to my brother.
00:06:37.560 He's like, Hey, I just got through, puts me on speakerphone.
00:06:40.480 So it's me and my brother, you know, Kim's there.
00:06:41.960 My, my ex-wife was there.
00:06:43.400 My kids are there.
00:06:44.380 Like everyone sort of, you know, most of the family's just on speaker.
00:06:47.580 I'd spoken to Ivanka a few seconds before that.
00:06:49.360 Um, you know, we're just on, on speakerphone, you know, talking to him.
00:06:53.160 He's just, you know, very calm, collected.
00:06:55.460 It got to the point where it was like almost, he sort of needed that icebreaker.
00:06:59.000 So me, I'm, I'm usually the inappropriate guy.
00:07:01.060 So I was like, so, you know, how's the hair?
00:07:04.300 How's the hair?
00:07:05.560 The hair's fine, but it's a little bloody.
00:07:07.440 There's a little blood in the hair, but it's, the hair's fine.
00:07:10.180 Uh, so, you know, we had a, we had a little moment of, you know, of levity there.
00:07:15.300 Yeah, yeah.
00:07:15.620 Uh, and, uh, but yeah, no, it was a, a somber moment.
00:07:21.380 And then, and then, what's so striking, I just got here to the RNC.
00:07:24.700 You've obviously been here a little bit longer.
00:07:28.160 There's this feeling of, it seems like jubilance or a lot of gratitude.
00:07:33.480 A lot of people, obviously, this is what.
00:07:35.700 I'm seeing grown men in tears.
00:07:37.360 Yeah, I, I got misty-eyed.
00:07:38.420 I got misty-eyed when I saw it.
00:07:39.460 Yeah, it's, uh, it's, it, it's, it's amazing, actually.
00:07:43.360 And I, it's such a contrast.
00:07:45.500 Honestly, you know, 2020 was sort of, you know, digital.
00:07:47.340 It didn't, you know, it was remote.
00:07:48.720 Uh, so it, it wasn't there.
00:07:49.980 But in, in 16, it was very different.
00:07:53.120 Yeah.
00:07:53.360 You know, I mean, I'm, I almost got in fist fight, you know, on the floor with a senator
00:07:56.380 because, you know, they were, he happens to be a good friend of mine now,
00:07:59.500 but at the time, he was a Ted Cruz guy, and he didn't know what we were coming in.
00:08:02.200 It was Mike Lee.
00:08:03.060 I, you know, now he's, it's one of my favorite senators.
00:08:05.320 He's a great guy, actually.
00:08:06.300 We hang out, like, but, but, like, literally, about to get in a fist fight with a U.S. senator
00:08:12.360 on the floor of the convention, and people didn't know.
00:08:13.960 Now he looks even tougher with that shaved head, you know?
00:08:16.180 Yeah, he's got the shaved head and stuff like that.
00:08:17.360 You know, just, why are we, I think I can take him.
00:08:21.000 Uh, but, uh.
00:08:22.360 But it's a very different.
00:08:23.220 But it's different, you know.
00:08:24.120 Then, then I get it.
00:08:25.140 You know, you had this sort of unknown entity that was, you know, not a D.C. guy,
00:08:29.180 wasn't in politics, wasn't this, that sort of took it by a storm.
00:08:31.660 A lot of people, you know, a lot of people make a lot of money in politics
00:08:34.860 and have a lot of vested interests.
00:08:35.980 They're not sure what's going on.
00:08:37.040 And, uh, so, you know, walking in there, uh, the other day,
00:08:42.020 it was just blown away.
00:08:44.640 I mean, the support is amazing.
00:08:46.160 You're literally seeing, like, even, even just for me, like, you know,
00:08:48.800 grown men, you see them go to shake your hand,
00:08:50.520 and you just see them, like, well up, and it's like.
00:08:52.640 Yeah.
00:08:53.220 Yeah.
00:08:54.560 History does seem to touch people, you know, in that,
00:08:57.020 I voted for your father happily in 2016.
00:09:00.200 I voted for him happily again in 2020.
00:09:01.980 I was going to vote for him happily again this time.
00:09:04.400 It does seem that this is different now,
00:09:08.480 that this is even more significant than it was.
00:09:11.940 I wonder, in your mind, maybe in your father's mind,
00:09:15.760 does the assassination attempt change anything about the campaign
00:09:21.920 or about the vision for 2024?
00:09:23.320 Yeah, you know, I think, you know, once you get shot in the face,
00:09:27.720 it puts things into perspective perhaps a little bit different.
00:09:29.740 So, you know, I imagine, uh, it certainly does.
00:09:32.780 I know, you know, on Friday, the day before he was shot,
00:09:35.340 you know, I was going, I spent four hours with my father
00:09:37.260 going through his speech, and, you know,
00:09:39.520 let's just say, you know, that's been thrown away
00:09:42.540 and, you know, sort of starting from scratch.
00:09:44.360 It's just, you know, a different tone.
00:09:46.800 Now, you know, my father's, you know,
00:09:49.400 I just did this thing with Axios,
00:09:51.180 and, well, is he going to be, I was like,
00:09:53.060 I think you can tone someone down,
00:09:54.500 but, you know, if you're also constantly attacked,
00:09:56.260 what makes Trump successful is that he fights back.
00:09:58.400 He doesn't just take those things, right?
00:09:59.740 So, you know, he's always going to be a fighter.
00:10:02.200 That doesn't mean you can't, uh, you know,
00:10:04.320 change your tone most of the time.
00:10:06.000 You know, you're still going to be out there.
00:10:07.980 I sort of dealt with this.
00:10:08.820 The one negative experience I had on the floor yesterday
00:10:10.780 was, uh, you know, MSNBC reporter.
00:10:14.100 I mean, I'm out there with my brother.
00:10:15.140 We're literally throwing him over.
00:10:16.340 We're giving the 125 Florida delegates.
00:10:18.200 We're throwing my father over,
00:10:19.480 so he's actually the nominee,
00:10:20.960 and it's about to go official, and the guy starts off,
00:10:23.680 so with all your father's hatred and this,
00:10:26.020 is he bringing that back?
00:10:26.860 I go, hatred and chaos?
00:10:29.700 Wasn't that created by you guys?
00:10:31.020 I mean, you guys were the ones that pushed Russia collusion.
00:10:32.940 You're the ones that vilifies half the country.
00:10:34.640 You're the ones calling us Nazis and fascists,
00:10:36.460 and he's the biggest threat to democracy in the world.
00:10:38.080 I'm like, that was you, not him.
00:10:39.940 I mean, if he responds, you have to respond to that.
00:10:42.280 You can't be called a traitor, uh,
00:10:43.960 and not respond.
00:10:46.360 And then he goes off on,
00:10:47.860 well, he put children in cages.
00:10:49.800 I go, you mean the Obama cages?
00:10:51.020 Right.
00:10:51.300 And he loses his mind.
00:10:52.500 Like, he, and I just said, you know what?
00:10:54.580 Like, you're a clown.
00:10:57.680 Yeah.
00:10:58.040 You know, I can say, you're a clown.
00:10:59.180 Like, you couldn't even wait 48 hours
00:11:01.860 to go back to your DNC talking points,
00:11:04.680 to your non-s, you couldn't even,
00:11:06.240 48 hours after my father was shot in the face.
00:11:08.260 So, you know, I guess the clip went fairly viral,
00:11:11.120 but, uh, they, they, they can't control themselves.
00:11:14.480 It, it's, uh, it's miraculous.
00:11:16.240 And we're never gonna,
00:11:17.700 we're never gonna change the tone
00:11:19.000 responding to that kind of idiocy.
00:11:20.440 No, or, I mean.
00:11:21.240 Nor, nor should we.
00:11:22.060 I'm sure you saw a lot of the clips
00:11:24.160 of prominent liberals, leftists.
00:11:26.680 Brutal, yeah.
00:11:27.120 Of, of campaign and, uh.
00:11:29.620 Hollywood types.
00:11:30.500 Political flax and Hollywood types.
00:11:33.480 Celebrating at first,
00:11:34.440 and then saying, doggone it,
00:11:36.260 next time they better not miss.
00:11:38.420 Um, far too much of it.
00:11:40.700 You know, if, if that was coming from our side,
00:11:43.920 those people would be,
00:11:45.200 they'd be thrown out of polite society.
00:11:47.680 Uh, they'd be canceled,
00:11:48.960 and probably rightfully so.
00:11:50.140 You know, it's one thing to have an opinion,
00:11:51.440 it's another to do that.
00:11:52.780 So, you know, even in the face of that,
00:11:56.680 they can't help themselves.
00:11:57.960 You know, you and your father
00:11:59.700 and your whole family have been,
00:12:01.140 I think, extraordinarily gracious,
00:12:03.360 uh, in the last 72 hours.
00:12:05.820 If I were you,
00:12:07.720 and a man,
00:12:09.300 President of the United States,
00:12:10.980 uh, spent years calling my father Hitler,
00:12:13.760 saying that he admires Nazis,
00:12:15.620 that he, in a way, is a Nazi,
00:12:17.340 or at least resembles them,
00:12:18.340 and that he poses an existential threat to democracy,
00:12:20.680 and then my, my father was nearly murdered.
00:12:23.800 I, uh, yeah.
00:12:24.600 Let's just say, I...
00:12:25.540 I won't even finish my sentence.
00:12:27.620 I showed, uh, what would be probably
00:12:30.100 an uncharacteristic level of restraint,
00:12:32.640 given what was going through my mind at that time.
00:12:34.700 But, uh, you know,
00:12:36.000 I guess that's the response
00:12:37.200 they're trying to elicit anyway,
00:12:38.320 so I'm not going to satisfy that,
00:12:39.880 uh, you know, that urge,
00:12:41.400 though it would have felt great.
00:12:43.700 Yes, yes.
00:12:44.780 And I, I saw an interview
00:12:46.220 with the current president,
00:12:48.100 uh, trying desperately after,
00:12:50.220 really, I guess this began
00:12:51.460 with that disastrous debate performance,
00:12:53.160 and then now his campaign's collapsed.
00:12:54.840 Uh, but, but he's, he lost his train of thought,
00:12:57.920 and he said,
00:12:58.480 well, my, my generic point is, uh,
00:13:01.480 some of the, some of the...
00:13:02.100 Yeah, you know the thing.
00:13:03.300 You know, you know, you know the thing.
00:13:04.740 And, and then it occurred to me,
00:13:05.920 well, of course he can no longer
00:13:08.280 articulate any point of the campaign,
00:13:10.840 because the point of the campaign,
00:13:12.200 he said from the beginning,
00:13:13.340 I am running because Donald Trump
00:13:15.100 is a threat to democracy,
00:13:16.540 an existential threat to our country.
00:13:17.800 If he can't say that anymore,
00:13:19.200 after that kind of language
00:13:21.180 has, has led to, uh,
00:13:23.960 certain incidents,
00:13:24.840 what's he going to say?
00:13:26.740 Well, it's not like they can
00:13:27.580 campaign on the economy.
00:13:28.980 It's not like they've created world peace,
00:13:31.220 they've created more wars than,
00:13:32.740 you know, anyone in modern history
00:13:35.040 and allowed them to happen,
00:13:35.980 and, you know, and that's the reality, right?
00:13:37.620 When, when you exude weakness,
00:13:40.080 Yeah.
00:13:40.660 Um, the world sees it.
00:13:43.280 Enemies, that's been,
00:13:44.740 I will say it's, you know,
00:13:45.460 it's sort of the nature of predation, right?
00:13:47.160 Predators prey on the weak.
00:13:48.220 Yeah.
00:13:48.720 Uh, when America is being led by adult,
00:13:51.560 of course it's going to happen.
00:13:53.220 Uh, that, that's why we're in these wars.
00:13:54.560 That's why it's not going to stop.
00:13:55.780 It's, it's insanity.
00:13:57.140 And so, you know,
00:13:58.320 I'm sure they'll be back to that,
00:13:59.720 you know, they,
00:14:00.200 because no one,
00:14:01.460 no one out there in the media
00:14:02.360 is going to hold them accountable.
00:14:03.340 They all feel the same way.
00:14:04.720 Uh, but it's nonsense
00:14:05.840 because, you know,
00:14:06.880 nothing screams democracy
00:14:07.900 like trying to jail
00:14:08.700 your political opponents,
00:14:09.760 uh, to bankrupt them,
00:14:11.820 uh, to, you know,
00:14:13.020 fine them and,
00:14:14.780 you know, uh,
00:14:15.920 Put them in dangerous situations.
00:14:17.240 Put them in dangerous situations.
00:14:18.360 And by the way, again,
00:14:19.000 it, you know,
00:14:20.080 it's, uh,
00:14:21.620 the whole thing's,
00:14:22.860 it, it's,
00:14:23.520 it's absolutely crazy.
00:14:24.360 I mean,
00:14:24.520 they're going to lose that talking point
00:14:25.660 for about a week,
00:14:26.240 but I'm sure they'll be right back at it
00:14:27.480 after, uh,
00:14:28.600 after their convention
00:14:29.380 and the media will let it slide
00:14:30.520 or they'll come up with some sort of way
00:14:32.020 to justify it
00:14:32.880 because they either believe it
00:14:34.040 or it's convenient.
00:14:35.040 There's a bill right now
00:14:36.400 in the House of Representatives
00:14:37.440 pushed by someone named Benny Thompson,
00:14:40.360 a Democrat congressman from Mars, I think.
00:14:42.240 I'm not sure exactly
00:14:42.860 where this guy's from.
00:14:44.160 Uh, one of his staffers,
00:14:45.460 uh, was among those
00:14:46.960 who, who wished
00:14:48.040 that the shooter would hit next time.
00:14:50.500 Uh, this bill would deprive
00:14:52.680 your father of Secret Service protection.
00:14:55.320 It was obviously designed
00:14:56.520 strictly to target him.
00:14:58.680 So that, that's still sitting
00:15:00.320 in Washington, D.C.
00:15:01.240 It's still sitting in Washington, D.C.
00:15:03.000 His staffer said those things.
00:15:05.160 Uh, what do we think
00:15:06.480 they actually think?
00:15:07.800 I mean, they're, they're right there
00:15:08.740 with the Hollywood people.
00:15:09.660 They may not say it out loud,
00:15:10.840 but their staffers have.
00:15:11.780 And, uh, you know, it, it's crazy.
00:15:14.280 And again, it's not like
00:15:15.640 they've presented anything
00:15:16.400 that's great for the American people
00:15:17.600 or they've, you know,
00:15:18.300 I can't think of a metric.
00:15:19.640 Hey, I was a real estate developer
00:15:21.220 before all of this insanity.
00:15:23.500 That was a lot easier.
00:15:24.980 Uh, you know, I used to say,
00:15:26.320 I'm not getting attacked every day
00:15:27.420 by the press and all this.
00:15:28.280 Now, you know,
00:15:28.760 we're also not getting shot at for it.
00:15:30.620 Yeah.
00:15:30.900 Uh, and so, uh,
00:15:33.580 I'd love for them,
00:15:34.720 to be successful.
00:15:36.120 I'd love for that
00:15:36.860 as a father of five young kids.
00:15:38.500 You know, I want them to grow up
00:15:39.380 in America that recognize it.
00:15:40.620 So I'd love not to have to be,
00:15:42.120 uh, in that game,
00:15:43.760 but we have no choice
00:15:45.440 because they're failing on,
00:15:46.980 you know, across the board.
00:15:49.060 Right.
00:15:49.320 Uh, it's an abject disaster
00:15:50.680 and I think everyone sees it
00:15:51.840 and it's why,
00:15:52.400 uh, you know,
00:15:53.620 it's why I'm seeing so many,
00:15:54.920 frankly, people from our,
00:15:56.120 who are not Republicans,
00:15:57.100 who are not from the demographics
00:15:58.120 you'd think,
00:15:58.640 who are not,
00:15:58.980 that come up to me
00:15:59.520 on a daily basis
00:16:00.140 and be like,
00:16:00.700 okay, I was wrong.
00:16:02.040 We've had enough.
00:16:03.040 We've had enough.
00:16:04.000 Right.
00:16:04.320 Please, get back at it.
00:16:06.180 It's a good point you make too
00:16:07.240 because you often hear this
00:16:08.540 from Republican politicians.
00:16:09.680 They say,
00:16:10.040 I wish I didn't have to be in politics
00:16:11.840 and they all want to be in politics.
00:16:13.080 Yeah, of course.
00:16:13.580 But when it comes from you guys,
00:16:15.660 the Trump family
00:16:16.440 has been very rich and famous
00:16:18.580 since before I was born.
00:16:19.960 Yeah.
00:16:20.140 So, you know,
00:16:20.860 in a sense,
00:16:22.020 it rings much truer
00:16:23.740 because you really could just
00:16:25.300 have a very comfortable,
00:16:27.200 pleasant life,
00:16:28.240 you know.
00:16:28.780 Yeah.
00:16:29.080 I was joking with my father.
00:16:30.260 He's the only person
00:16:30.820 to ever send to the presidency
00:16:31.900 who actually, you know,
00:16:33.080 got a downgrade to public housing.
00:16:34.740 It's a little, you know,
00:16:35.940 it's obviously.
00:16:36.900 And transportation.
00:16:37.480 Yeah.
00:16:38.320 It's a little tongue-in-cheek
00:16:39.420 but not really wrong.
00:16:40.660 I mean, you know.
00:16:41.080 Right.
00:16:41.820 It's fine, but, you know.
00:16:43.420 But so, you've had this past career,
00:16:45.980 real estate developer,
00:16:46.920 obviously helping run
00:16:47.720 the Trump organization,
00:16:49.100 TV.
00:16:50.500 Now, though,
00:16:51.280 you are a political advisor
00:16:52.520 and just yesterday,
00:16:54.640 the VP pick was announced.
00:16:56.160 Yeah.
00:16:56.260 I think it was an excellent pick,
00:16:58.720 a pick that I had been rooting for.
00:17:00.800 Right.
00:17:01.000 And I know a pick
00:17:01.720 that you had been rooting for.
00:17:02.860 Yeah.
00:17:03.340 If the reports are to be believed.
00:17:05.200 So.
00:17:05.920 Those reports are true.
00:17:06.820 And those reports are true.
00:17:07.760 Great.
00:17:07.940 A lot of fake news,
00:17:08.740 but those are not false.
00:17:10.220 So, you saw something
00:17:12.600 in J.D. Vance early on.
00:17:14.540 Maybe some of your father's
00:17:15.400 other advisors
00:17:16.000 liked other people.
00:17:17.980 Why J.D.?
00:17:20.040 Well, first of all,
00:17:21.280 I've gotten to know him
00:17:22.000 over the last couple years,
00:17:22.900 but I read his book
00:17:23.820 when it first came out
00:17:24.600 and I was like,
00:17:25.740 that's a guy you need to follow.
00:17:26.840 Like, the hillbilly elegy,
00:17:28.780 the story of, you know,
00:17:29.640 just coming from, you know,
00:17:30.540 literally Appalachia
00:17:31.640 and just like, you know,
00:17:33.020 growing into a business.
00:17:34.880 And it just,
00:17:35.880 it was one after the other,
00:17:37.160 you know,
00:17:37.440 I loved his military service,
00:17:38.860 but it was right out
00:17:39.960 of high school military service.
00:17:41.260 Not like,
00:17:42.200 okay, I'm a consultant at McKinsey
00:17:43.960 and now I'm going to go
00:17:44.620 check that box
00:17:45.620 so that I can run for office
00:17:46.720 one day.
00:17:47.180 And it's like,
00:17:47.800 it's like a different motivation
00:17:49.420 when you're doing it
00:17:49.960 in high school
00:17:50.340 before you know
00:17:50.820 what direction you're going
00:17:51.640 with anything else.
00:17:52.460 Yeah, yeah.
00:17:53.200 But, you know,
00:17:54.100 seeing,
00:17:55.020 reality is seeing the way he,
00:17:57.800 he'll go on CNN
00:17:58.820 and MSNBC
00:18:00.320 and he'll go into like
00:18:01.840 hostile territory
00:18:02.780 and just destroy
00:18:04.420 these people.
00:18:05.300 I mean,
00:18:05.420 he does a better job
00:18:06.420 in hostile territory
00:18:07.340 prosecuting the case
00:18:08.460 for sort of
00:18:09.360 the America First Movement,
00:18:10.360 for MAGA,
00:18:10.740 than like
00:18:12.360 the best Republicans do
00:18:14.100 on like Fox News
00:18:15.000 when they're like
00:18:15.540 pitching T-ball.
00:18:17.060 You know,
00:18:17.540 and I'm just like,
00:18:18.200 that's a guy
00:18:18.700 that can resonate.
00:18:19.400 He can break through.
00:18:20.400 You know,
00:18:20.800 when you talk about
00:18:21.540 sort of the Rust Belt
00:18:22.340 and you talk about
00:18:22.980 sort of the electoral map,
00:18:24.380 this is someone
00:18:25.040 who can play in there.
00:18:26.600 And, you know,
00:18:27.500 it's interesting
00:18:28.880 because, you know,
00:18:29.620 all these,
00:18:30.420 so many of the haters,
00:18:31.420 and you got to remember,
00:18:31.860 even a lot of the
00:18:32.440 political advisors,
00:18:33.520 they're on someone's payroll
00:18:34.700 and no one knows.
00:18:35.500 So they tell my father something,
00:18:36.680 but they omit
00:18:37.180 the important details.
00:18:38.280 Right.
00:18:38.560 You know,
00:18:38.800 they tell him just enough
00:18:40.000 to get the answer
00:18:40.600 that they want,
00:18:41.120 but not the right answer.
00:18:42.240 Of course.
00:18:42.860 You know,
00:18:43.300 politics is a disgusting game.
00:18:45.160 I was dealing with that
00:18:46.040 for the last couple months
00:18:46.840 as it related to this.
00:18:47.800 I'm like,
00:18:48.020 well,
00:18:48.140 did you know this?
00:18:48.700 I was like,
00:18:49.000 no,
00:18:49.180 no one told me that.
00:18:49.780 I'm like,
00:18:49.980 seems like a big one.
00:18:50.660 He goes,
00:18:50.880 what's going on?
00:18:51.740 You know,
00:18:51.940 it's so sick.
00:18:55.040 And I mean,
00:18:55.400 and that's all
00:18:55.920 from our side,
00:18:56.720 frankly.
00:18:57.180 Right.
00:18:57.700 Because they're lobbyists
00:18:58.740 for other candidates.
00:18:59.580 you know,
00:18:59.820 you had sort of the,
00:19:01.160 you know,
00:19:01.760 the trillionaire faction
00:19:03.600 of the party,
00:19:04.760 you had the neocons,
00:19:06.400 you had the rhinos,
00:19:07.780 and it's like,
00:19:08.260 and my father's a guy
00:19:09.180 that will listen to everyone.
00:19:10.280 He'll give everyone
00:19:10.700 a sort of a seat
00:19:11.200 at the table and chant it,
00:19:11.980 but like,
00:19:12.760 when they're just
00:19:13.500 so flagrantly lying
00:19:14.860 and they have an agenda
00:19:17.060 or they're being paid
00:19:18.280 to basically lobby
00:19:19.180 for someone,
00:19:19.840 even if they'd be terrible,
00:19:21.100 it's like,
00:19:21.500 you know,
00:19:22.120 just filtering through that.
00:19:23.620 So I think it's just
00:19:24.380 a huge win
00:19:25.680 for America first.
00:19:27.020 I think it's a huge loss
00:19:28.480 for the warmongers
00:19:29.840 in Washington, D.C.
00:19:33.040 I couldn't be more psyched.
00:19:34.800 I also love
00:19:36.300 that it's oriented
00:19:38.260 toward the future.
00:19:39.620 I mean,
00:19:39.820 J.D. Vance is decades younger
00:19:42.180 than your father,
00:19:43.020 obviously almost 40 years younger,
00:19:44.360 I think.
00:19:45.660 So, you know,
00:19:46.480 your father could have picked
00:19:47.440 someone around his age
00:19:49.420 as kind of a wallflower,
00:19:50.560 balance out the ticket
00:19:51.340 or something,
00:19:51.840 but he didn't.
00:19:52.520 He picked a guy
00:19:53.100 who's got really formed views,
00:19:55.420 who's very intelligent,
00:19:56.840 very articulate,
00:19:57.780 young, energetic.
00:19:59.220 So what your father
00:20:02.940 and your whole family
00:20:03.560 have done to the Republican Party
00:20:04.720 has been reported
00:20:05.700 as a change,
00:20:06.800 a radical departure.
00:20:07.760 In some ways,
00:20:08.600 that's true.
00:20:09.040 But I think of it more
00:20:10.080 as a restoration
00:20:11.020 of the Republican Party
00:20:12.500 in those early days
00:20:13.260 on things like trade,
00:20:14.200 on things like immigration,
00:20:15.080 on things like foreign policy.
00:20:16.520 The Trump view
00:20:17.660 is actually
00:20:18.640 a more traditionally
00:20:19.980 conservative view
00:20:20.920 than much of what
00:20:21.720 we've seen
00:20:22.020 in recent decades.
00:20:23.180 So tell me if I'm wrong.
00:20:25.360 It seems to me
00:20:25.820 the J.D. pick
00:20:26.560 is 2028,
00:20:28.600 2032,
00:20:29.880 2036.
00:20:31.040 For me,
00:20:32.140 you know,
00:20:32.480 as someone with young kids,
00:20:33.540 again,
00:20:33.720 I want to have a country
00:20:34.680 we recognize.
00:20:35.220 I don't want it to be,
00:20:36.700 well,
00:20:37.020 it was manga for four years
00:20:38.280 and then we went back
00:20:39.000 to the old ways.
00:20:39.800 Yeah.
00:20:40.380 You know,
00:20:40.820 so I love,
00:20:42.320 I love that you can have
00:20:43.260 a guy that can,
00:20:44.380 you know,
00:20:44.540 be a leader
00:20:45.040 in that movement
00:20:45.780 going forward
00:20:46.520 who can carry that torch,
00:20:48.420 not someone who's like,
00:20:49.180 okay,
00:20:50.020 four years of peace
00:20:51.040 and prosperity,
00:20:51.740 back to war
00:20:52.480 because,
00:20:52.920 you know,
00:20:52.980 there's no money in peace
00:20:53.820 for the swamp creatures.
00:20:55.480 And so,
00:20:56.480 you know,
00:20:56.700 that's so critical for me.
00:20:57.960 I want this to be
00:20:59.140 a 12-year run of that
00:21:00.880 and then we'll figure out
00:21:01.560 whoever's,
00:21:02.080 you know,
00:21:02.480 whoever's next.
00:21:04.360 But,
00:21:04.900 you know,
00:21:05.180 I think you're right,
00:21:05.920 you're going back to the ways,
00:21:06.660 but more importantly,
00:21:07.180 I think you're going back
00:21:08.020 to actually listening
00:21:09.260 to your constituents.
00:21:10.820 You know,
00:21:10.940 so many of these guys
00:21:11.600 in Washington,
00:21:12.160 you know,
00:21:12.280 they get voted in
00:21:13.060 to,
00:21:13.260 you know,
00:21:14.580 prosecute the case
00:21:15.180 for their people.
00:21:16.680 Then they get to D.C.
00:21:17.460 and then they do the opposite
00:21:18.420 of what their people want
00:21:19.340 and then,
00:21:19.620 you know,
00:21:19.760 they change their tune
00:21:20.620 around election time
00:21:21.440 and then they go back to do it.
00:21:22.300 And,
00:21:22.920 you know,
00:21:23.100 just having someone
00:21:23.880 who's actually willing
00:21:25.160 to fight for the will
00:21:26.380 of the people
00:21:27.180 who put them into office,
00:21:30.880 and just conformed
00:21:31.620 to the swamp is,
00:21:32.900 I think that's a really
00:21:34.040 huge deal as well
00:21:34.920 and that's something
00:21:35.380 that's been missing
00:21:35.940 from our party
00:21:36.520 and I think,
00:21:37.400 I think there was
00:21:38.880 an apathy
00:21:40.340 from our voters even
00:21:41.380 when they see it.
00:21:42.160 It's like,
00:21:42.320 I know,
00:21:42.760 it's not even worth it.
00:21:43.720 You know,
00:21:43.860 Trump changed that.
00:21:45.960 I think this,
00:21:46.840 this gives,
00:21:47.480 you know,
00:21:47.780 sort of Trumpism,
00:21:48.900 MAGA,
00:21:49.260 America First,
00:21:49.700 however you want to call it,
00:21:50.860 you know,
00:21:51.580 a real great,
00:21:52.460 you know,
00:21:52.720 leg into the future.
00:21:53.820 So,
00:21:54.900 speaking of personnel,
00:21:56.480 I'm not asking you
00:21:57.500 to cast your father's
00:21:58.680 administration,
00:21:59.820 you know,
00:22:00.000 number 47,
00:22:01.260 but surely some people
00:22:02.980 come to mind
00:22:03.760 that you,
00:22:04.440 you could envision
00:22:05.820 being important leaders.
00:22:07.780 Yeah,
00:22:08.040 you know,
00:22:08.380 I think,
00:22:09.040 you know,
00:22:09.940 I've also said,
00:22:10.660 hey,
00:22:10.760 I want to be on the
00:22:11.440 transition team
00:22:12.160 but it's not to put
00:22:12.880 a single person
00:22:13.620 into power,
00:22:14.320 it's to stop
00:22:15.200 the scumbags
00:22:16.780 from ascending to power,
00:22:18.660 right?
00:22:18.880 Just as important
00:22:19.860 as putting people
00:22:20.580 in power.
00:22:20.660 Oh,
00:22:20.820 more important.
00:22:21.560 You know,
00:22:22.060 listen,
00:22:22.360 I think the guys
00:22:23.860 that sort of tell you
00:22:24.660 what you want to hear
00:22:25.260 but then do the opposite
00:22:26.100 or slow roll something
00:22:27.680 or,
00:22:28.240 you know,
00:22:28.500 in politics,
00:22:29.860 in business,
00:22:30.400 it was always like,
00:22:30.880 you sort of understand
00:22:32.060 what people's motivation is,
00:22:33.320 right?
00:22:33.620 You know,
00:22:33.860 whether it's wealth creation
00:22:35.080 or money,
00:22:35.420 whatever,
00:22:35.760 like,
00:22:36.260 you kind of understand
00:22:37.100 where they're at.
00:22:37.720 So,
00:22:37.940 in politics,
00:22:39.200 it's like,
00:22:39.680 people will sell out
00:22:40.500 their cause
00:22:41.080 to get a good story
00:22:42.060 written about them
00:22:42.780 that they'll leverage
00:22:43.380 into some sort of other
00:22:44.260 next position
00:22:45.140 that they're,
00:22:45.820 you know,
00:22:46.240 ultimately leads to a board
00:22:47.600 seat at Raytheon.
00:22:49.540 It's,
00:22:50.100 you know,
00:22:50.500 so,
00:22:51.160 that's all crazy.
00:22:52.640 I just,
00:22:53.160 my whole thing is like,
00:22:53.900 I just want to stop
00:22:54.520 the scone bags
00:22:54.960 and now that we've been
00:22:55.600 in there for four years
00:22:56.260 and more importantly,
00:22:56.980 now that we've even
00:22:57.480 had four years
00:22:58.060 out watching
00:22:59.720 how people react,
00:23:01.180 see how they are
00:23:02.300 as it relates to,
00:23:03.300 you know,
00:23:03.420 my father
00:23:03.900 and the movement
00:23:04.500 and the people
00:23:05.040 once they think,
00:23:05.840 hey,
00:23:05.960 well,
00:23:06.160 Trump's out of it,
00:23:06.860 you know,
00:23:07.040 2021,
00:23:08.480 2022.
00:23:09.480 So,
00:23:09.940 they go back
00:23:10.620 to the old ways.
00:23:11.160 It's like,
00:23:11.360 that's a guy
00:23:12.960 that's just telling me
00:23:13.480 what we want to hear.
00:23:13.960 Let's just make sure
00:23:14.520 they don't have a seat
00:23:15.180 at the table.
00:23:15.780 It's a great point
00:23:16.740 on politics and business.
00:23:18.140 Not that I have
00:23:18.960 a lot of business experience.
00:23:20.140 I think you've had
00:23:20.560 considerably more,
00:23:21.680 but I have a cigar company,
00:23:23.480 a few other things,
00:23:24.120 and I noticed,
00:23:24.880 I was in politics first
00:23:25.840 and then I have
00:23:26.300 this little cigar company
00:23:27.420 and in business,
00:23:30.540 you just,
00:23:31.000 incentives line up
00:23:31.980 and you just kind of
00:23:32.680 figure it out
00:23:33.340 and it's good for you.
00:23:33.860 It can be vicious,
00:23:34.600 but not like politics.
00:23:35.580 There's a lot more
00:23:36.060 to get into.
00:23:36.720 First,
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00:23:38.120 to thank our friends
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00:24:50.760 The federal bureaucracy
00:24:51.680 is something like
00:24:52.160 2 million people.
00:24:52.920 Yeah.
00:24:53.400 Any given president
00:24:54.740 can replace
00:24:55.400 4,000 to 5,000 of them.
00:24:56.580 Yeah, the plumb book
00:24:57.140 is like 4,000 jobs.
00:24:58.340 Yeah.
00:24:59.220 You'd really,
00:24:59.900 what would you have to replace?
00:25:00.600 40,000 to 50,000
00:25:01.600 to start to get a handle
00:25:03.220 on things.
00:25:04.580 You don't need to answer,
00:25:05.780 of course.
00:25:07.120 There were a lot of,
00:25:07.580 I think there were
00:25:08.000 40,000 people
00:25:08.680 who ran for president
00:25:09.440 in 2024.
00:25:10.540 And so you got a lot
00:25:11.860 of candidates.
00:25:12.540 Do some people
00:25:13.080 come to mind?
00:25:13.920 I think you definitely do.
00:25:15.180 You just,
00:25:15.460 you ultimately need people
00:25:16.520 who are tough enough
00:25:17.180 to actually go in there
00:25:18.780 and not get enveloped
00:25:19.620 by that bureaucracy.
00:25:20.520 The people who are
00:25:21.020 tough enough to try
00:25:21.640 to get rid of
00:25:22.080 some of the bureaucrats
00:25:22.860 who are, you know,
00:25:23.640 not the elected
00:25:24.300 or appointed positions,
00:25:25.460 but the people
00:25:26.240 that have been in there
00:25:27.360 forever,
00:25:28.260 that slow everything down,
00:25:29.740 create the bureaucrats
00:25:31.580 democratic red tape
00:25:33.220 in Washington, D.C.
00:25:34.200 that have no outside experience.
00:25:35.560 I'd love to bring in
00:25:36.280 a lot of people, frankly,
00:25:37.680 you know,
00:25:37.860 from the outside
00:25:38.500 who have been successful
00:25:39.460 outside of the swap,
00:25:40.780 not creations of it.
00:25:43.100 And so, you know,
00:25:43.880 I think there's a lot of,
00:25:45.200 there is a lot of talent,
00:25:46.860 I think,
00:25:47.180 that'll be willing
00:25:47.740 to do that now
00:25:48.860 much more than they would
00:25:49.580 have in 16, right?
00:25:51.720 It's not,
00:25:52.460 no longer verboten
00:25:53.540 to say,
00:25:54.320 you know,
00:25:54.480 I'm having leftists
00:25:55.980 that I know,
00:25:56.500 you know,
00:25:56.640 sending me pictures.
00:25:57.200 I'm seeing people
00:25:57.780 wearing MAGA hats
00:25:58.580 in San Francisco.
00:25:59.720 It's just a change.
00:26:00.780 I think people
00:26:01.740 have watched
00:26:02.140 the last few years,
00:26:02.800 they understand
00:26:03.200 our government's
00:26:03.720 failed us across the board.
00:26:04.940 And so, you know,
00:26:05.820 I'd have people
00:26:06.340 who aren't just
00:26:07.140 creations of that.
00:26:08.620 I think there's a lot
00:26:09.500 of people I'd go from,
00:26:10.300 from, you know,
00:26:10.680 the business space
00:26:11.380 and otherwise that,
00:26:12.600 you know,
00:26:13.040 that I think we would
00:26:13.660 certainly look at
00:26:14.340 to head up some
00:26:15.220 of these things,
00:26:15.820 to have a change,
00:26:17.120 to have a different
00:26:18.300 perspective because,
00:26:19.640 you know,
00:26:19.880 the same old sort of
00:26:20.700 Washington, D.C.
00:26:22.080 groupthink
00:26:22.520 hasn't served us
00:26:23.920 all that well.
00:26:24.620 Of course.
00:26:25.520 It's amazing.
00:26:26.460 I'm even kind of
00:26:27.320 stepping out of myself
00:26:28.220 here in this conversation
00:26:29.440 in that we're having,
00:26:31.600 for the last five minutes,
00:26:32.860 a very normal conversation
00:26:34.180 about politics.
00:26:35.040 Oh, we'll replace
00:26:35.580 these people or others.
00:26:37.420 When, less than three days ago,
00:26:39.880 American history
00:26:40.460 almost took a major turn.
00:26:42.900 The thing that got me
00:26:43.620 to think of it is,
00:26:44.200 you say,
00:26:44.440 there are new people
00:26:45.440 who are attracted to us.
00:26:46.560 And I wonder,
00:26:47.320 to what is that attributable?
00:26:48.860 Is it because Biden's
00:26:50.560 been a total failure
00:26:51.260 and pretty much everyone
00:26:52.020 recognizes it,
00:26:52.800 including Democrats?
00:26:53.880 Is it because
00:26:55.140 your father destroyed
00:26:57.780 Biden at that debate
00:26:59.600 and it was just very clear
00:27:00.460 what the options are?
00:27:02.140 Is some of it because,
00:27:04.500 you know,
00:27:04.880 despite all the hot rhetoric
00:27:06.020 that we've seen,
00:27:07.100 people actually had to come
00:27:08.920 to terms with the fact
00:27:10.320 that there might have been
00:27:13.100 a world into 2024
00:27:15.000 without Donald Trump?
00:27:17.520 And it changed their view.
00:27:19.760 Yeah, well, you know,
00:27:20.780 I think all of those things,
00:27:22.780 like, you know,
00:27:23.080 I think, you know,
00:27:24.620 the response under fire,
00:27:26.060 you know,
00:27:26.440 coming back defined,
00:27:27.660 it's sort of,
00:27:28.560 that screams America, right?
00:27:29.980 That's, you know,
00:27:31.760 and again,
00:27:32.380 everyone's a badass
00:27:33.020 on the internet these days.
00:27:34.020 Like, you know,
00:27:34.260 we sort of covered that.
00:27:35.320 That's, you know,
00:27:35.700 everyone's a tough guy.
00:27:36.620 Everyone's, you know,
00:27:37.060 behind a keyboard,
00:27:37.740 everyone's a tough guy.
00:27:40.180 After getting shot
00:27:41.020 to still be a tough guy,
00:27:41.980 that says something.
00:27:43.000 I mean, that's the kind
00:27:44.360 of leadership
00:27:44.820 that keeps us out of wars.
00:27:46.820 That's the kind of leadership
00:27:47.960 and resolve that stops
00:27:49.120 despots from invading
00:27:50.640 their neighbors.
00:27:51.480 Yeah.
00:27:52.100 You know,
00:27:52.840 that's so critical
00:27:53.980 and it's so clear
00:27:55.400 that it's missing right now.
00:27:57.640 So I think people get that,
00:27:58.620 but it's just across the board.
00:28:01.000 You know,
00:28:01.680 I'm the son of a billionaire
00:28:02.920 from Manhattan, Michael.
00:28:04.100 Like, you know,
00:28:04.860 if I go to McDonald's
00:28:06.040 with my kids,
00:28:06.800 you know,
00:28:06.900 I took my two sons,
00:28:08.340 this summer,
00:28:09.300 it's like $48.
00:28:12.640 Yeah.
00:28:13.440 It's like me
00:28:13.880 and an 11-year-old
00:28:15.280 and a 14-year-old,
00:28:16.120 and I was like,
00:28:16.820 if I have sticker shock
00:28:19.520 at McDonald's,
00:28:21.540 I'm not saying
00:28:22.080 it's changing my habits.
00:28:22.860 I'm not one of these,
00:28:23.460 like, you know,
00:28:23.680 the leftists
00:28:24.120 where they do the,
00:28:24.900 my two-year-old
00:28:25.840 was crying about
00:28:26.740 nuclear proliferation
00:28:27.700 on the Korean Peninsula.
00:28:28.720 I'm like,
00:28:28.880 it didn't happen.
00:28:29.460 Like,
00:28:29.860 if I'm pissed off
00:28:30.920 at McDonald's
00:28:31.700 because I think
00:28:32.300 it's too expensive,
00:28:33.120 it's a problem.
00:28:35.040 That's a problem.
00:28:35.800 Everyone gets it.
00:28:36.440 Now they've had,
00:28:37.640 you know,
00:28:37.800 it's also different
00:28:38.620 than most politics
00:28:39.440 where you're used to,
00:28:40.680 hey, you know,
00:28:41.540 I'm going to do this,
00:28:42.400 I'm going to do this,
00:28:42.980 and I'm going to create
00:28:43.460 world peace
00:28:43.880 and everyone's
00:28:44.260 going to be a billionaire.
00:28:44.920 Like,
00:28:45.420 we've had four years,
00:28:46.480 or we'll have had four years
00:28:47.420 under both presidents
00:28:48.280 when we vote.
00:28:49.740 Yeah.
00:28:50.300 When were you better off?
00:28:52.580 You know,
00:28:53.080 when was your life
00:28:54.020 on a better trajectory?
00:28:55.180 Right.
00:28:55.620 Like,
00:28:56.320 it's sort of a no-brainer.
00:28:57.720 Like,
00:28:57.980 it's a no-brainer.
00:28:58.920 It's funny because
00:28:59.960 as you say all of that,
00:29:02.100 I think,
00:29:02.560 that picture of your dad
00:29:03.780 getting up
00:29:04.340 and saying,
00:29:04.840 fight, fight, fight,
00:29:05.980 and then now,
00:29:06.980 it's an overused word,
00:29:08.160 but it's apt here,
00:29:08.880 and it's an iconic photograph.
00:29:10.700 Oh yeah,
00:29:10.920 that's going to make
00:29:11.320 the mugshot look like
00:29:12.180 some kid drew it
00:29:12.800 with a crayon.
00:29:13.320 You know what I mean?
00:29:13.820 It's like,
00:29:14.040 it's totally,
00:29:15.000 like,
00:29:15.160 it really,
00:29:15.600 I thought that was
00:29:16.400 pretty damn iconic.
00:29:17.360 It could have been painted
00:29:18.400 by, you know,
00:29:19.200 like a renaissance painting.
00:29:20.300 It could have been,
00:29:20.720 you know,
00:29:21.000 done by Michelangelo.
00:29:22.120 The Sistine Chapel
00:29:22.960 of modern photography.
00:29:24.620 Modern politics.
00:29:25.800 But,
00:29:26.500 but,
00:29:27.000 so that,
00:29:28.000 that is what would get me,
00:29:30.040 I've heard some people say,
00:29:31.820 I was already going to crawl
00:29:33.000 over broken glass,
00:29:33.980 now I'm going to eat
00:29:34.440 broken glass.
00:29:35.760 But,
00:29:36.300 but for a lot of people,
00:29:37.200 I suspect,
00:29:38.120 it's also,
00:29:39.520 those kitchen table issues,
00:29:41.220 you know,
00:29:41.360 the fact that
00:29:41.860 you have to take out
00:29:42.880 a second mortgage
00:29:43.400 to go to McDonald's now
00:29:44.300 and all the rest of it.
00:29:47.200 Biden has really
00:29:48.440 had no response to this.
00:29:49.700 I think this is why
00:29:50.380 you hear all this rhetoric
00:29:51.280 about how Trump's,
00:29:52.140 you know,
00:29:52.660 the worst person ever,
00:29:54.100 big threat to the democracy,
00:29:56.000 whatever.
00:29:57.300 Biden says,
00:29:58.340 he spoke to your father
00:29:59.800 after the shooting.
00:30:02.380 Do you have any insight
00:30:03.300 into that?
00:30:03.720 You don't,
00:30:03.940 I actually don't.
00:30:04.880 It's,
00:30:05.480 you know.
00:30:05.760 Better that way.
00:30:06.240 Yeah,
00:30:06.860 you know,
00:30:07.220 I don't want to,
00:30:08.920 you know,
00:30:09.040 I'll get subpoenaed.
00:30:09.720 I've done 50 hours
00:30:10.460 of congressional testimony
00:30:11.640 for treason.
00:30:12.280 I understand I'm not
00:30:13.080 the upstanding citizen
00:30:14.220 that Hunter Biden is.
00:30:15.080 I know that.
00:30:15.700 You know,
00:30:15.940 I'm a terrible human being
00:30:16.740 according to the big answer.
00:30:17.060 When are you going to be
00:30:17.700 invited to a Ukrainian?
00:30:18.900 Yeah,
00:30:19.100 exactly.
00:30:20.600 Crackhead Hunter
00:30:21.120 can be running things
00:30:21.960 de facto behind the scenes
00:30:23.120 at the White House
00:30:23.680 and no one has a problem
00:30:24.480 with that.
00:30:25.020 But if I heard a conversation
00:30:27.600 even in the background,
00:30:28.440 I'll get subpoenaed
00:30:29.060 and be testifying.
00:30:29.940 So I rather not know.
00:30:31.300 So I actually have no insight
00:30:32.520 into it whatsoever.
00:30:33.180 If I,
00:30:34.460 look,
00:30:34.720 if your father's
00:30:37.060 public statements
00:30:37.920 are representative
00:30:39.060 of his private statements,
00:30:40.240 I'm sure he was very
00:30:40.920 gracious on the call.
00:30:42.520 I might not have been
00:30:43.940 if I were in his case.
00:30:44.960 No,
00:30:45.160 listen,
00:30:45.580 again,
00:30:46.260 it's,
00:30:47.100 you know,
00:30:47.540 you got to question,
00:30:49.160 you know,
00:30:49.620 some of,
00:30:50.340 so much of that.
00:30:51.660 How does a shooter
00:30:52.360 get inside of 150 yards?
00:30:54.200 Yeah.
00:30:54.360 Like,
00:30:55.820 it doesn't feel like
00:30:56.900 that's just a little lapse.
00:30:57.800 And again,
00:30:58.020 I'm not going to be the guy
00:30:58.580 that gets conspiratorial,
00:30:59.600 but like,
00:31:00.420 I don't think it's conspiratorial.
00:31:01.580 It's just abject fact.
00:31:02.840 Right?
00:31:03.180 How did it happen?
00:31:04.300 And,
00:31:04.420 yeah,
00:31:05.100 how does that happen?
00:31:06.300 I,
00:31:06.700 you know,
00:31:07.140 we now hear
00:31:08.160 that there,
00:31:09.240 that the Secret Service detail
00:31:10.760 has been beefed up
00:31:11.880 around your father.
00:31:12.740 But my question is,
00:31:14.560 why did it have to be beefed up?
00:31:17.080 Correct.
00:31:17.620 Why was it?
00:31:18.180 And again,
00:31:18.440 I know what these guys do.
00:31:19.180 I had one for four years
00:31:20.120 when my father was a thing.
00:31:20.880 I've watched it for eight years.
00:31:22.960 And,
00:31:23.420 you know,
00:31:23.960 more importantly,
00:31:24.780 even if it was,
00:31:26.140 he's been the presumptive nominee
00:31:27.180 for a while.
00:31:28.820 He was certainly
00:31:29.360 the presumptive nominee
00:31:30.280 on Saturday.
00:31:31.460 He was the presumptive nominee
00:31:33.660 in January of 2021.
00:31:35.180 So,
00:31:36.220 yeah.
00:31:37.940 Makes you ask some questions,
00:31:39.320 right?
00:31:39.920 It certainly does.
00:31:41.320 I hope that,
00:31:42.160 you know,
00:31:42.880 I hope there's people
00:31:43.540 actually pushing to get
00:31:44.300 those real answers
00:31:44.900 because as a,
00:31:46.700 let's call it,
00:31:48.300 calm,
00:31:49.200 but really,
00:31:49.920 really pissed off son,
00:31:51.340 kind of want to know.
00:31:53.020 There was a former,
00:31:54.240 another former Republican president
00:31:55.880 had a line
00:31:56.480 in a different context
00:31:57.560 where 20 years ago he said
00:31:58.960 that he was filled
00:32:01.000 with a quiet,
00:32:01.760 unyielding anger.
00:32:03.040 Yeah.
00:32:03.220 That's kind of how I felt
00:32:04.000 seeing these things play out.
00:32:05.400 I'm sure you felt it
00:32:06.380 10 times over.
00:32:07.860 The Homeland Security Secretary,
00:32:10.080 Alejandro Mayorkas,
00:32:11.640 says he has 100% confidence
00:32:13.080 in the director
00:32:14.140 of the U.S. Secret Service.
00:32:15.160 The director of the Secret Service
00:32:16.220 says...
00:32:16.860 Yeah,
00:32:16.980 he thinks the border's shut down.
00:32:18.500 Yeah,
00:32:18.700 right.
00:32:18.980 So, you know,
00:32:19.680 I don't think anything
00:32:21.020 that Alejandro Mayorkas says
00:32:22.520 is true
00:32:24.980 or means anything.
00:32:26.680 I don't take it,
00:32:28.260 it means nothing to me
00:32:28.980 what he says
00:32:29.400 because I think
00:32:30.300 he's just a liar.
00:32:31.120 If Mayorkas...
00:32:31.780 And he's done more damage,
00:32:33.240 killed more people probably
00:32:34.340 than any person
00:32:35.080 in American history
00:32:36.600 with what he's allowed
00:32:37.520 to happen
00:32:37.920 down at that border
00:32:38.940 between fentanyl,
00:32:40.480 between just the crime,
00:32:41.480 between the gangs
00:32:42.040 coming through.
00:32:43.100 So, honestly,
00:32:44.400 whatever he says
00:32:44.980 means nothing to me.
00:32:46.500 Yeah, fair.
00:32:47.140 But I also want
00:32:47.900 an investigation
00:32:48.420 that's not led
00:32:49.220 by the FBI
00:32:49.880 because I don't think
00:32:50.560 that anything
00:32:50.920 that they would do
00:32:51.520 would be unbiased
00:32:53.880 or, you know...
00:32:54.260 When I heard this
00:32:54.880 from...
00:32:55.140 Sort of like, you know,
00:32:56.380 O.J. searching for the killer
00:32:57.680 just working in a circle, right?
00:32:58.820 It's a little...
00:32:59.180 You know, it's like...
00:32:59.920 Come on, guys.
00:33:01.140 You're the guys
00:33:01.820 that think that
00:33:02.440 concerned mothers
00:33:03.200 at PTA meetings
00:33:03.940 are the greatest
00:33:04.520 domestic terror threat
00:33:05.500 in America, but...
00:33:06.400 And that spied
00:33:07.020 on your father's
00:33:07.660 first campaign.
00:33:08.040 Yeah, of course.
00:33:08.560 My father was right
00:33:09.280 and then they remember
00:33:10.040 the outrage of that.
00:33:10.940 He goes,
00:33:11.300 man, because my dad's
00:33:12.480 a business guy.
00:33:13.260 He's like,
00:33:13.920 it just seems on.
00:33:14.840 Like, the only way
00:33:15.680 we get to this fact
00:33:16.560 said if this is going on.
00:33:17.660 How dare you say that?
00:33:18.840 Oh, it turns out
00:33:19.260 they were.
00:33:19.600 You know, all the
00:33:20.460 conspiracy theories
00:33:21.200 turn out to be
00:33:21.760 100% true,
00:33:22.440 usually three or four
00:33:23.080 years later.
00:33:23.720 Right.
00:33:24.800 When Mayorkas came out
00:33:26.040 and I agree with you,
00:33:27.020 if Mayorkas told me
00:33:27.740 the sky's blue,
00:33:28.440 I'd start to question it.
00:33:29.180 Yeah.
00:33:30.380 But the Secret Service
00:33:32.860 director then also
00:33:33.600 came out and she said,
00:33:34.580 the buck stops with me,
00:33:35.760 I'm responsible,
00:33:37.120 but I have no plans
00:33:37.940 to quit my job.
00:33:39.500 Yeah, because,
00:33:40.380 again, they say all
00:33:41.300 these things,
00:33:42.640 but there's no...
00:33:43.080 It's government.
00:33:43.580 There's no accountability.
00:33:45.280 It's never anyone's fault.
00:33:47.900 You know,
00:33:48.040 there's always an excuse.
00:33:50.060 You know,
00:33:50.220 I know they have
00:33:50.980 an incredible,
00:33:51.540 you know,
00:33:52.240 DEI hiring policy
00:33:53.760 for, you know,
00:33:55.200 let's make sure we,
00:33:56.540 you know,
00:33:56.660 like the rest of,
00:33:57.380 you know,
00:33:57.540 our military,
00:33:58.100 we wonder why
00:33:58.500 there's a recruitment
00:33:59.100 crisis because,
00:34:00.080 you know,
00:34:00.260 people don't exactly
00:34:01.600 want to sign up
00:34:04.040 when they're being led
00:34:04.560 by a trans admiral
00:34:05.500 that is only there
00:34:06.560 because they checked
00:34:07.180 off the boxes.
00:34:07.940 You know,
00:34:08.300 I get it.
00:34:08.600 Selling about white rage.
00:34:09.420 It doesn't feel like,
00:34:10.040 yeah, yeah.
00:34:10.740 I never even heard
00:34:11.800 of white rage,
00:34:12.340 but I was like,
00:34:12.700 you know,
00:34:12.800 once I heard that,
00:34:13.840 I was like,
00:34:14.000 why can't I have rage?
00:34:15.360 So I guess,
00:34:16.300 now I know.
00:34:17.120 Yes.
00:34:17.440 Now I know,
00:34:17.920 but, you know,
00:34:18.820 it's insane
00:34:20.380 what's happening
00:34:21.020 in our country
00:34:21.460 and I think people
00:34:22.240 just want to return
00:34:22.980 to normalcy,
00:34:24.920 to common sense,
00:34:26.700 which is not at all
00:34:28.000 common anymore
00:34:29.560 and, you know,
00:34:30.180 I think we have
00:34:30.520 a great chance
00:34:30.900 to do that.
00:34:31.480 I agree.
00:34:31.960 I think you're,
00:34:33.120 I think really everyone
00:34:34.240 here is channeling
00:34:35.160 what easily could be rage.
00:34:36.540 If it were on the left,
00:34:37.300 it would be expressed
00:34:37.900 as rage
00:34:38.220 into something
00:34:39.360 really productive,
00:34:40.220 really beautiful,
00:34:41.480 I think really grateful
00:34:42.660 and focused on the future
00:34:45.340 at 24,
00:34:46.820 28,
00:34:47.440 32,
00:34:48.100 36.
00:34:49.280 Much more to talk about.
00:34:49.980 Like that meme?
00:34:51.620 It just kept going
00:34:52.880 and the left,
00:34:53.420 it just the crying.
00:34:54.400 40, 44,
00:34:55.200 yes.
00:34:55.900 Don,
00:34:56.280 you've got a lot of people
00:34:56.900 to talk to.
00:34:57.480 Thank you for sitting there.
00:34:58.100 Thanks a lot, Mike.
00:34:58.600 God bless.
00:34:58.900 God bless.