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[00:00:02]

Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Welcome to Dan Bongino interview show. I always appreciate you all tuning in, especially on the weekends. He shows I've done really great today. Show Batebi Express VPN. Keep your online information safe from prying eyes today. Go get a VPN, use express VPN, go to express VPN dotcom, pick up your VPN today. Again, I appreciate you all tuning in.

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Sean Hannity is my guest today. Coming up in just a minute. I interviewed him today. We talked about his new book, Live Free or Die, which is really a spectacular read. It's pretty deep, folks. The chapters go five over from socialism to why the Democrats have lurched left. We hear that a lot. The Democrats have gone super left. But why he gets into that, he talks about the mechanics of how it happened. Really, really good book.

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He gets into Marx, socialism, electoral dynamics, the importance of 20, 20. We'll ask him all that. I also ask him in the end a question. I heard a rumor how he wound up at Fox and he confirmed that it's in fact true. So stay tuned all the way to the end. It's a really great interview. I'm proud of it. Today show brought to you by our friends at simply say, ladies and gentlemen, here's the thing about home security companies.

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It's simply safe. Dotcom Dan Bongino. They should get that website right. Simply safe. That's simply simply safe. Dotcom Dan Bongino, get free shipping and a 60 day risk free trial. There's nothing to lose that's simply safe dotcom. Dan Bongino go today. Check out my interview now with the great Sean Hannity. All welcome to Dan Bongino Show. This is a weird position for me to be in interview and the great Sean Hannity. You know, Sean, I really think it would be kind now if you'd have me on your show once in a while.

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It's only right. I mean, come on. You know, never have you have a brother. I just I got to stop here.

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And the first thing I have to say to you among everything else is thank you. Not only are you a huge part of our ensemble cast every night, you've also become a dear friend. Your success speaks for itself. You're killing it on in every platform that you're on. You your background as a law enforcement officer, Secret Service agent, you know, NYPD is more than inspiring. You bring you bring strength. You bring energy. Well, your audience may not know is we talk a lot about our passion for martial arts.

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Oh, yeah. Yeah.

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I just I just I love who you are as a person. You're a dear friend. It's an honor to be here with you and reverse roles. It's about time you can you can tear my head off everyone.

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Well, it's it is a little bit weird. We're here to talk about Sean, some really terrific new book. Folks Live Free or Die. I've got the hard copy. I've got a bunch of questions about it, Sean, but I just said, are you going to get me choked up here because you are a mentor to me. I know you know that. And I've seen you behind the scenes and are a lot of things people don't know about you, your incredible work for charity and how many people.

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And you can't I know you don't like the pray, but you're going to have to deal with it for a second. My show now you're going to deal with the praise and you're going to take I like it or not, whether you like it or not, you you want them or not. They're good for you. I know you hate this and you get embarrassed, but I don't think folks, you have any idea and I'm not kidding how many people in this industry are who they are because of what Sean Hannity, Linda Tiffany Porter and all of Sean and his team have done.

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I thanked him in my first book. I thanked him in my second book. He got an acknowledgement there with my wife and everyone else because I'm not kidding. Linda picked up the phone one day, had me on his radio show and TV show. That was eight years ago. And I'm telling you right now, this show would not have existed without you. And I speak for at least ten or fifteen friends. The reason I'm going to give you my snapshot analysis of why you are so successful, you you you have an infectious warmth and your personality and intellect and life experience, which I think is as or more important than anything you can ever learn in a classroom.

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And we share a love of this country. We share a love of what's right. We love law enforcement. We we really, really care about the people of this country. We want. The only reason I'm a conservative is because conservatism works. And when you apply it, whether you be Ronald Reagan or whether you be Donald Trump or Newt Gingrich when he did the Contract with America, if you want the three waves of conservatism, it's it's Reagan, it's Newt, it's with the contract and it's Donald Trump today.

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And then you see what we're up against, knowing where this country would go. I think some of your more recent commentary, especially on the police and restoring law and order in Portland and Seattle, in Chicago and New York City, where you were once a police officer before you became a Secret Service, a Secret Service agent. You know, that to us is fundamental because we care enough about people that we want them to be safe and secure. If we really believe in this idea and I do on our founding document and I think I can actually remember it, that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by their creator, Joe.

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And by the way, the creator of the thing. The thing, the creator of everything. Right. But life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, it says a lot there. And it's an undeniable truth that we are we believe in natural rights from God, you know, and then life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. Dan Bongino, there's not one person that is watching your podcast and listening to your shows, not one that can pursue happiness if they don't have safety and security, if they don't have law and order.

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You know, what would what do all of these cities have in common? They have one thing. They've all been run into the ground by liberal Democrats for decades, Donald Trump. And this is how important the election becomes. He wants to restore that. You know, a lot of this comes down to liberty and freedom and capitalism versus the statism, the tyranny even of and the false promises of socialism and live free means that we're going to remain free.

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Die means the greatest country God gave man can go away. At the bottom of the book, it says in Latin Live Free or America dies. The whole purpose of me even wanting to write a book. It's been ten years. I don't like writing books. It's too much work. It's hard. I like I much prefer to conversation is because I saw a year ago where I thought this election was going. This is now the biggest choice election in our lifetime and we need to get this right.

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I always talk about my grandparents came from Ireland. They were all dirt poor. All four of my grandparents turn of the last century. My mom, she grew up very poor in the South Bronx. She was a prison guard. She worked 16 hour shifts my entire life growing up. My dad was a family court probation guy. My dad was a waiter on the weekends. So for them, that was the American dream when they got out of Bed Stuy where my father was, and the South Bronx where my mother was.

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And then they got this fifty by one hundred lot on Long Island, you know, one of those little row houses or eleven houses we call. And by the way, was a little rough for me. I thought I was poor because I had three older sisters. We only have one tiny bathroom and I never got to use it. I go behind the garage more than I did in the house. And but so so my friends used to say showing the world is a man's bathroom.

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He was an old friend of mine. I'm just saying now be careful now.

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It's going to be on videotape wherever you happen to be. Right. That's so. So I'm saying all of this is that all of this is in play. I saw this a year ago. I didn't think it would be this bad. In other words, I never thought we'd have a major political party presidential candidate like we have now go this hard radical socialist left. Biden said earlier today. I can guarantee you we're not where we're getting off of fossil fuels.

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We're going to go out. We're getting out of the energy industry. He's pledging trillions of dollars to the madness of a osses new green deal. He literally plagiarized, which he has a history of doing Bernie Sanders Bolshevik Party's economic plan. He really, really said to Beto Boso that he's going to be his guns are OK. He's a confiscation guy that destroys our Second Amendment. And then you got Pelosi, Schumer and Biden. One hundred and twenty five years of failure.

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We've been having fun on the show, putting out our mutual friend Lawrence Jones and asking people, OK, he's been in the swamp 50 years. What has he ever done? Can you name one thing he's done? Well, he's nice. And he smiles with Obama, with Barack Obama. What did he do when Lady Goes Health? So let me tie this all together for you. So my grandparents come, my father, mom, come. I stand on their shoulders right now not to pursue happiness with our as our founding document tells us.

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Well, he can't possibly think about pursuing happiness if you don't have safety and security. Right. Law and order now. I mean, how does somebody in Chicago or New York City or Portland, in the midst of the rioting in Seattle and the you know, when they take over the summer of love, Chaz Chope. So how do you pursue happiness if you're not safe and secure? I argue you cannot. How do you all these liberal cities, they have the worst the absolute worst educational systems.

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OK, well, the ladder to success. If you imagine or visualize a ladder, you might well just take a sledgehammer, knock out every rung on that ladder, because if you don't get a good education, you will be denied, you will be shut out. Opportunities won't exist for you. That should exist for you. Now, the question becomes this as it become as we now get into this battle of socialism and capitalism, OK, the new green deal, Joe Biden saying everything is going to be free, everything is free pre-K through college education, loan forgiveness, guaranteed government job, guaranteed government wage, guaranteed government, health care, guaranteed government retirement, guaranteed government, healthy food and vacations, all the stuff.

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OK, No one, when you add up the cost of it is ninety four trillion on top of it as part of that deal. Want to get rid of the lifeblood of the world's economy. And that's oil, gas, fracking, coal. That's, that's what we've accomplished. Donald Trump finally got us for the first time in seventy five years to the point where we are energy independent. We're also the world's largest producer of energy, which we haven't been in over seventy five years.

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So they're going to make these false promises. And then Donald Trump, meanwhile, by instituting the conservative principles of capitalism, liberty, freedom, risk reward and initiative and innovation in a free society, again, bringing out of people what they are naturally born with is from God. We set record low after record low unemployment for African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian-Americans, women in the workplace, youth unemployment. So what is at stake in eighty nine days, Dan Bongino, is pretty much this is the whole ball of wax.

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This is it. The biggest choice election in our in our lifetime. And I shudder to think and I want to say this to anybody that might be enticed, although I think our audiences are too smart by these false promises of socialism. OK, how did Obamacare work out how to work out? Millions lost their doctor. Millions lost their plans. Right. And we're all paying on average two hundred percent more. And there's almost 40 percent of the country that only has one Obama care exchange option.

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That's it now. So how did how the public school systems work out in most of these liberal cities? They're a disaster. There are thirteen public high schools in Baltimore alone. And if you were to guess how many kids are proficient in math and reading, I don't know what your guess would be. That's not a quiz. But there's not one child in those 13 high schools proficient in math. Not as I saw the child. I saw that you talk about that on our show a lot.

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Can you imagine that? I do. I mean, think about it in your neighborhood now and say, hey, this is the the the just the disgrace of Democrats saying they're in this for equality and for the little guy and they're all in for the minority community. If a white upper middle class community had not one kid proficient in math and reading, Sean, they'd be burning the state house down. They'd be there with pitchforks, understandably so. But because it happens in the black community by Democrats, everybody ignores it.

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You know, New York had a great experience in that was that they had a, oh, all girls public school, it was doing great, predominantly African-American, I believe, at the time, and minority. And the kids love it. Loved it. The parents loved it. The teachers loved it. The scores started going through the roof. And then the New York Civil Liberties Union went in and to the courts and shut it down. They did not even open to the possibility of anything innovative that would help fix the system.

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But forget that this is about every child in America. To me, this isn't about race. This is about they are our precious treasure. That's the next generation. We're failing them in all of these cities. So I ask people that might be inclined towards believing that somehow this utopia can exist where everything's free. OK, how did Obamacare work out? Lousy. Last time I checked, Social Security, Medicare, they're going broke. That's not worked out well.

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How how is it working out in these liberal cities with safety, law order, security? It's not. How's it working out in their public schools? They're a disaster. Now we're going to give government more of our freedom in the name of false security. And we're going to say here, we trust you so much, we're going to give you more to do. By the way, how's the post office work it out? Is the post office not exactly the most efficient organization in the world either?

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Yeah, we probably should even privatize that. So I am I'm just saying all of this in eighty nine days is on the ballot. Their stated policies. You got a team, you got Joe Biden, who we all know was not there. This guy. Something's going on. Not a doctor. You don't need to be a doctor. I don't need to go to Harvard to see that. The guy that left office after eight years as vice president has declined significantly.

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He looks frail, he looks tired. He looks like he needs a nappy and a hot cocoa by mid-afternoon every day. Sean, I told you on your show last night, my sources have never let me down. Are Paula messing with Sean here? I'm telling you every day are reaching out to convince yourself. I've been on my show for years now. I know. I know. There are they. I know. And one of them said to me, it is so bad that they're concerned each day that not that he's going to get through the day physically, that he's not in that kind of thank God, I don't wish any physical wheelerville on anyone, but that each day that he's going be able to get through the day and even get a coherent sentence out, that it's getting really, really bad.

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Sean, I got to get that book. I have all these guys read your book, you know, as I did Gutfeld last week on the show. And most times they send you up. I actually read them. And this folks, Mark Levin said something about Sean's book, Live Free or Die, Pick It Up, Amazon, Barnes and Noble bookstores everywhere. Don't make the mistake of not getting this book. Mark said something about your book, by the way.

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Marketers want people to save money. Amazon has been has a has it up for thirty four percent off. I want people to save money. I didn't write this book for money. My last book, I gave every penny that we made on it for charity.

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Yeah. I heard you were OK with money. I think you'll be all right. All right. Rubinoff really I. I spent two decades of my life washing dishes, cooking and then a contract. Thanks a lot for your. Did you are you listed brother. You earned it made me who I was. But when you say you're not doing it for the money, I can personally attest that this was not motivated by cash. I promise you. I promise.

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Yes. So go ahead. You're going to ask me a question. So Mark said about the book on Life Liberty in the Van. When you did the interview with him, he said that he could be very critical of authors who dylon it because, you know, Mark, you know, you go to Mark's got books everywhere. He writes the guy writes like his hair is on fire every time he doesn't mess around. This is a deep look.

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I mean, Sean, your chapter on socialism is fantastic, but you have a chapter about the friction and ambition between the branches of government and how that was always meant by the founders to keep a lid on the other branches. You know, Congress would be ambitious and senators would be ambitious within the Congress and the president would be ambitious, keeping a lid on the Congress and how that's like all gone away now. Everything is like turned over to the courts.

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The courts judge it, the big government rules. There's no more ambition any more. And I thought this is really, really well done. Now, that's all seemingly disappeared. This, this, this, this jealous almost hold on power. Everybody's forfeiting power over the courts now. Then they want to stack the Supreme Court if they get power, they want to eliminate the Electoral College, by the way, they eliminate the Electoral College. I'm going to tell you what's going to happen.

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Some states are going to say bye bye because the purpose was that every state gets equal representation. So we're talking about checks and balances. You know, thing about Obama on the issue of immigration must that 50 times. I wish I had the power to do that on on immigration. But I don't you know, we're a system of checks and balances. Ended up just doing it anyway. And Donald Trump's been cleaning up the mess ever since. Or, you know, usually what Democrats would do, what they could never get elected at the ballot box running on or they could never get done in terms of of passing legislation.

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They would always hope that they would put these judicial activists on the courts and through executive fiat just do that which they wanted. And by the way, they've been successful over the years and a lot of areas like in the environment, immigration and so many other areas that it's actually chilling. Just, you know, you even had Supreme Court justices citing foreign law, not our own constitution, to justify their bad decision. Look, this is what is state ism.

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This is who they are.

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We take a quick break. We're here talking with Sean Hannity about his new book, Live Free or Die. We'll be right back with Sean in a second show also brought to you by our friends at Rakan. Ladies and gentlemen, you working from home, working on your fitness, bouncing around, taking a walk. You need Rakan. Everyone needs a great pair of wireless earbuds. I choose Rakan for my conference calls and my music and my travel don't drop hundreds of dollars on a pair Check-Out wireless earbuds from Rakan.

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We always break down the fourth wall. We're here to talk about his new book, a book I'm not messing with you. Sean Hannity's Live Free or Die of Fox. Seriously, please go pick this up. It was a little more than I expected, Sean. You get into a lot of different things. We were talking before the break about you have this chapter about the ambition and the friction between branches of government. You also have this fascinating chapter about why the Democrats lurch left.

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Now, you and I talk. This on your show every night, the Democrats obviously have gone far left, but no one ever really gets into why. And you bring up this fascinating point in the chapter that, well, it's pretty simple that the Democrat primary base, voters who identify as consistently liberal, the radicals and the lefties basically are the seventy five percent of the primary. So if you want to win a Democrat primary, you've got to be a lefty.

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I don't think anybody said that before. So that's a good point.

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But but what's different here is liberals always hid who they were in primaries. They go left. Usually they try to appear moderate in a general election. Now, I think it's a sign of weakness on Biden's part is that it's not only he's gone left, he's lurch far radical left. And by that I mean he he literally has opted Bolshevik Bernie's economic policies. He's even lifted the exact verbiage out of Bernie's plan. He's now pledging trillions and trillions of dollars to a new green deal.

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I mean, this is the most radical presidential candidate. I want to I want to show you I want to read one thing to you today. Yeah, I got it right here. I love wearing my glasses because I think they make me look smarter than I am. But Biden literally saying today that he's going to eliminate all these jobs. I mean, he was out there earlier tonight. What did you say exactly? Said, Oh, he literally says, listen to me, I'm not I'm getting rid of our dependence on energy.

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OK, he's going to have clean energy in 10 years. That means let me define it for you. That means no oil, no gas, no fracking and no coal. And you know what else that means? It means that the lifeblood of our economy and the world's economy goes down the tubes. Now, if they had the technology, I'd say, fine, show me a technology that's going to save us money. That's cleaner energy. I think we should all be good stewards of the gifts that God has given us, but that doesn't exist yet.

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And if they want to invent it, if they can invent it, that's fine. I haven't seen it. I don't believe government is good at inventing anything. As a matter of fact, as Reagan said, you know, government is the problem here. They are the problem. But they get so even a little bit deeper. If you buy the false promises of socialism and you buy into the new Green Deal madness and you add up the cost of trillions of dollars that Biden and Co.

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are committing, you first eliminate millions, 10 million career high paying jobs for Americans. That's a bad idea. That's not going to end well. The other thing is, is those promises that they are making, the amount of money that they're spending, if you don't need to have Amitay engineering degree or be a math professor to understand the numbers don't add up because they're talking about ninety four trillion dollars. They're fifty two trillion dollars for the new green deal.

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I'm sorry for Medicare for all. You add it together. We only take in for four and a half trillion dollars a year. Dan Bongino, no simple math. You don't even need it. You don't even need your iPhone calculator. You just use an abacus. Probably feels more comfortable with an abacus the way he's walking around lately. And so I, I don't want people to think maybe there's a psychological component to this that young people in particular seem to be drawn to, like Bolshevik Bernie socialism.

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And they're thinking, I want to pay back my student loan, health care free retirements free, don't have to have the stress of having a job. The only problem with that philosophy is you're assuming that the government does anything well. Well, OK, tell me what they do. Well, because it's not very much when you give the data in the book, you have great data and there you have this 2014 poll. Forty three percent of 18 to twenty nine year olds had a positive view of socialism.

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I read that and I can't I mean, it was because they didn't see the Soviet Union. I mean, you have a lot of warnings in this book. You know, one of the things, though, Sean, I really want to get to this book is you really address the importance of the choices coming up in 20, 20. But I've been dying to ask you this question for a long time. You are an early adopter. All that has to do is pick up the phone.

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I never bother you. I've texted you one time. That was then. I never, ever listen. I see you on your show when I'm in studio and people are always texting you and you're kind enough to answer. Everybody is when Dan and I hang out, this is what we do, you know. OK, what are you what are you what's your workout these days? That's it. That's all we talk show. We never talk politics over Japanese.

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It's a movie. Michaux I can how I can manipulate two fingers. Right. We never talk politics. I never you would think they're by genuine shot at it. You're talking about Obama. Biden. Never. Never. It's always about Lycett by Sensei is with me. Oh, forget it. I chewed his ear off at the Super Bowl for like forty five minutes. I might think of boxing in relationship to him. I tell you, take elbows.

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What do you think? That's all we were doing. I didn't mention politics was no. We have a lot in common. I'm not going to mention it on the air. There's one weakness that I have. Oh, they know he's Bill. They know I played about it all the time. There's only one weakness then has when it comes to crawling. So I'm going to say is go high. Go high. That's right. That's right. Go think about an elbow.

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You were asking is if you come down with this part of the sharpest part, it's just that strike. And if you'll open someone right up, you gave me a tie kick once to the quadriceps rampolla. Remember this? I came home and I'm like, I'm in the studio. And, you know, I didn't think, you know, I knew you'd talk, mom. I didn't know you could. Do I be honest with an older guy about it?

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Oh, you keep me in the quad. I was like the next day I was like, son of a bitch. I'm like, that dude can't kick. Did I not come home and stayed up all night? This guy's got some kick on him. He's like, let me show you this little tyke. That's a specific kick. Actually drive it right. It is that that was five percent. I'm not. Oh yeah. Thank you. Yeah.

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It was like a little tap. That was the tap. What was that. It was a good tap. You're a strong guy said Irish. You got to get you know, you guys are strong. You got, you got big guys in your family. I met one of your cousins or whoever it was. I want that the guy was enormous. We had a shooting range. Got that guys like seven feet tall. He's huge. I'm like, now, now I know where Sean gets his kicks from that.

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And you're like this. He was only a year older than me, man. Look, I've been honest on the air. I was an incorrigible kid, but for prison guard mom was saying, don't leave this house and I'll be like, you can't stop me and walk out the door and we wait to I get so. But anyway, did you say he was already a year older? And every time we got in trouble because he was so much taller, he got blamed.

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It was great, he said, to be responsible. He's a big out hands like this. But, you know, I know a lot of your crew, they're really great. And, you know, they've helped me throughout my career. And I'll never forget a call. I don't know, six years ago, probably when Trump was first whispers of him getting him. And I'm talking to some of your folks, I'm like, you know, I really like Cruz and I still like Ted Cruz a lot.

[00:32:00]

And I will never forget to like Sean loves Donald Trump. And I swear, Sean, I was like, what Trump was like, that doesn't make sense. Like, what did you know about Trump now that he's had the most conservative presidency since Reagan? I mean, judges, great deregulation, school choice, abortion, everything. What did you know that a lot of us missed? I've been dying to ask you this question. It is a great question that many people ask me now.

[00:32:29]

By the way, I like all those guys back in what was a twenty, fifteen, twenty, fifteen. I did 16 of the 17 first interviews when they would announce their candidacy. So I was I was headed all around the country. The one that I didn't get, interestingly, was Donald Trump. And so Ted Cruz, I didn't think he as he as the campaign went along, I didn't think he was ready. And there's a certain quality, I think, that a candidate needs that has to resonate and connect.

[00:33:09]

It's sort of like whatever it is, I can't explain it. It's not gravitas. It's he knows Reagan chapter and verse like we do. He was great on the stump. He's a great debater. But I didn't believe at the time, at that time that he may run again. And I think you'd be you always a better candidate the second time you run. But I've known Trump for twenty five years. This is the answer. And I knew that I was throwing all of my conservative credentials.

[00:33:40]

I built up over twenty whatever many years on the line, and I always tell my audience the truth. And I knew Donald Trump personally for twenty five years. I mean, I can tell you in the middle of the Iraq war, we would talk often. And he passionately disagreed with my position on the Iraq war and explained why and and so on and so forth. I still stand by the decision. I think it was the right decision post 9/11.

[00:34:08]

We didn't have the weaponry available that we have today for our military where we can push buttons in Tampa, Florida, and with pinpoint accuracy and take out the likes of Soleimani on a runway the way the president did or Baghdadi, the way we took out him and his associates. But I knew that. When conservatives were worried that he really is a liberal because he donated to Republicans and Democrats and he stated strongly that he was pro-choice, I had already known that he didn't believe all that all it was doing in New York.

[00:34:43]

And he's even been transparent about it. He was playing the game. He wanted to keep his buildings going up. He wanted to fight with the city to get better tax rates for him. When he was building, he wanted to keep his workers working, contractors, construction guys working, and he wanted to make money. That's what he was doing. And in the process, like all good capitalists, he did well. But we had spent a lot of time together just on the phone, even just talking and talking and talking.

[00:35:11]

He convinced me that he was right. We should have taken the oil. Why not? Why? If we're going to liberate a country, why don't we make them pay for their own liberation? Why didn't we take millions of barrels of oil and say we're going to give millions of dollars to the families that lost their lives fighting that that benefited you in the future? I think what we've learned out of Baghdad especially is and with the new technology that we have, that we don't need to send our national treasure, our sons and daughters overseas for a protracted, long conflict when we have the weaponry that we've now perfected.

[00:35:52]

When I was in Baghdad, I could tell you when I saw the first one of the first drones going up there, I literally sat and I was stunned and I was amazed and inspired by their incredible technology. So so I don't think President Bush had those. He didn't have the capability we certainly have today. But I knew he was conservative. I also know where he felt on the border security. I knew where he felt about judges. I knew he told me the story, how he had transformed went from pro-choice to pro-life on that issue.

[00:36:25]

Now, in the end, let's look at the let's look at the track record. He's the only president ever to speak at the rally for life that we have once a year. That's the only one that's ever gone and done that. He's been the best friend Israel has ever had. He's been the best friend of religious liberty and freedom this country's ever seen. He also kept his promises, gave us the tax cuts. No president has ended the bureaucracy the way he has.

[00:36:50]

He also gave us a list of judges that he would choose from for the Supreme Court, and he stuck to his list. Then he said he's going to fight for the border. Yes. What they wouldn't help him in Congress, even though in Obama's second term, Democrats want to do so. So he has one obstacle thrown up in front of him after another, but he was able to figure out how to do it and bypass them and reallocate funds, for example, from the Defense Department and elsewhere kept that promise.

[00:37:18]

He said he wants better free or fair trade deals. Many of my conservative brethren interpreted that as, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, that's going to be protectionism. No, it's not. Because he understood as a negotiator that they didn't believe these other countries, that he meant there would be reciprocity, then they'd never make a new trade deal. And look at what he's done, Western Europe, Canada, Mexico, Japan, even China.

[00:37:44]

We got new trade deals. When he said that he would open and more, he meant it when he said he build the Dakota pipeline, Keystone XL pipeline. He got that done. And now we're energy independent. As I mentioned earlier, everything he said he'd pull us out of foreign entanglements, but at the same time, he used the military technology that Biden and Obama put the handcuffs on the military and he drove out the caliphate in Syria.

[00:38:11]

Biden Obama didn't do that and then got rid of like that sub, that dreadful offense, that suburb where they were going to build a bunch of low income housing. No, Obama. I mean, Sean, the guy's record, President Trump's record is outstanding. And I think a lot of the objections to him are clearly just personal. They're they have nothing to do with this actual record. Sean, I know you've got to run. I just want to slide in one last question.

[00:38:36]

I don't want to hold you again. We're talking to Sean Hannity about his really folks an incredible book. Sean Hannity, Live Free or Die, I knew would be good. But this is really it surprised me because it's actually really fantastic socialist. I didn't think I could do that much research. Neither did I. No, I mean, really, I don't know how you did it because the book is deep. It's even a pretty small took me a long time to get through this, possibly even go through a chapter here.

[00:39:01]

You know, we're on now thirty, forty minutes or whatever it is. You can't even you. I cannot. In a four hour day, a 20 hour on air week. I can't go through the depth of even one chapter now. So much compelled to do it. You have the polling data, the history of socialism. You have a Spygate chapter which I didn't even I had questions on that. But I know you got one last question for you and a little bit off topic, but there's no better person.

[00:39:26]

My audience would love to hear this from you. There's obviously a sea change going on with cable news and talk radio, you have cord cutting and all this stuff going on, the digital transformation. Sean, it's not hyperbole to say that you Rush and Mark invented a new market. Yeah, we had talk radio before, but I was watching an interesting ESPN documentary and I thought of you there was about Mike and the Mad Dog, how there was always sports radio, but Mike and the Mad Dog changed the style of the argument.

[00:39:54]

Cristeros everybody to screw. And then there were all these copier's they all copied the man that I liked about the book. I love the Mad Dog. He was great. I grew up in New York listening a fan. But I thought whereas they changed an established market, you in Russian ma created a market national conservative did not exist. Sean, you guys did that. You made a choice not to go first. Go ahead. Russia's Babe Ruth.

[00:40:21]

I mean. No, nobody. Well, because when he syndicated in nineteen eighty eight, I had actually I first heard of him. I was in the college radio station where I started in nineteen eighty seven and I had to hang out, I had to volunteer. I spent hours and hours there. Finally they gave me a show and I was horrible at it, but then I got run out of town. Deservedly so. And, and, but once, once the light went on I changed my life.

[00:40:49]

But somebody said, do you ever hear of this guy, Rush Limbaugh at the time? He's syndicated Dan there only two hundred plus talk radio stations in the country. That's it. It was not a huge format. He was looking at a forest. It wasn't a single tree cut. And he literally had to go in there and forge that difficult path. We all benefit by following him. So all credit to him. And what now? You know, on AM and FM, I think we're up to like three fourths of over three thousand, probably four thousand.

[00:41:23]

Now, talk news talk stations in the country. Then you've got podcasting, which is now massive. Fox News. I was there from day one. I don't know if you've ever read Malcolm Gladwell books, but outliers. Yeah, it's pretty much my life and I don't think I deserve any of this. If you want to call success, I don't think I deserve any of it, to be honest. And I will tell you it's right. The timing couldn't have been better in the sense that when I got into Radio Rush syndicated a year later after I started, I've been in radio now thirty three years, and when I had an opportunity to move, I took all those those chances and I went to Huntsville, Alabama.

[00:42:07]

Then I went to Atlanta lanas where I started well actually started in Huntsville. I had a little show on a local CBS station and but then I got the call to audition in Atlanta for a local station there that our mutual friend, Neal Boortz, he left to go to the competition. So I did two shows. They hired me. And then while there, it changed my life, too, because now we're Huntsville is ninety two, ninety two and ninety two.

[00:42:32]

I go to Atlanta and we know what happens in nineteen ninety four. I had become in the process best friends with Newt Gingrich. Republicans take control of the House of Representatives with the contract first time in 40 years. I'm the emcee that night of Newt's event. When he becomes speaker, cable TV was nonexistent except for CNN that nobody ever even thought of or watched or even knew what it was. And that led to TV a lot on CNN for me.

[00:43:01]

And then I got called up to do the daytime shows like Phil Donahue Faraldo, Sally Jessy Raphael I did wrong, and then Roger Ailes. One time I caught his eye and he gave me a chance to host the show on Saturday night when he was running CNBC. And I did two shows for him. And the last thing you said to me is, whatever you do, don't sign another contract till you talk to me. So I said, OK, lo and behold, he's putting Fox on.

[00:43:27]

And now I'm like the old man there. I'm in my twenty fifth year.

[00:43:31]

Listen, you're an icon up there and I'm not. And let me just say, when I met you, Sean, you are the most humble guy. And I'm not saying that the Grecia I think we're past that point. My audience knows I don't do that crap anyway, but know we're friends. Yeah. When you go to Fox, Sean comes out, he goes into the green room, he buzzes with everybody. There's no and I don't myself, I, I never expected that I was.

[00:43:58]

And I remember calling my wife the first time I was on the great American panel with Penny Nance, and this is ten years ago. And I'm like he was like talking to me like I was one of the guy. Couldn't believe it. I was so flattered. But one last thing. I'll let you go.

[00:44:09]

I heard a rumor about you. You inspired me. Oh, come on. You know what you do? You remind me of all my best friends and my family growing up. Thanks, brother in law enforcement. I appreciate the fact that you've been able to transition so seamlessly into this great success. You. Is to me, inspiring to you deserve all of it from listening to you. I'm serious. Radio and TV is not a zero sum game.

[00:44:34]

My my success is not predicated on other people failing. It's now and I'm telling you, I have at least 10 or 15 friends in the business who have personally attributed their careers to you. Give them their separate exit question. Just quick. I heard a rumor about Fox when you first started that you interviewed with Fox only because you were up in New York on a different interview for a radio station. And like the Fox thing was second there. You like to let me just throw in this Foxe thing, whatever they're doing over here.

[00:45:00]

Is that true? No, I went Bob Grant was a legend since passed away and very Asaba controversial. He was like Mark Levin on steroids. And I with my vote, you treat it disgusting. You know, very if you like the entertaining side, it was like that. But then I went to meet Bill Boyce before I even sat down with them. Because you didn't get the job. I thought maybe I was being I was considered to replace him anyway.

[00:45:28]

I then I called our mutual friend Limbaugh. I said, I can get it. He goes, let me call. Roger went into Roger's office. I was hired and less than ten minutes, OK, we'll do a debate show with you. Is that OK? Yeah, sure. All right. Fox hasn't gone on the air yet. It turns out that I work for ABC one year overnights from 11:00 at 2:00 in the morning. And then I got that job that I had gone up for earlier in nineteen ninety nineteen ninety eight.

[00:45:57]

And that that is true, you were up in New York for a different I heard that from someone, a friend, a mutual friend there, like, yeah, Sean, the Fox thing was secondary. He was up there for a radio thing. And now look the most watched in cable news. Congrats. It is number one again. God has been better than I deserve, this is why I have my copy here. I will I do not want, as Reagan said, freedoms, but one generation away from extinction.

[00:46:26]

It can't be our generation. And that's what drove me to write this thing. And there's so much at stake. And just eighty nine days. We love freedom. We love liberty. We love capitalism if we don't re-elect Donald Trump. This is what they are proposing to do, their stated policies will destroy this country and, you know, it is predictable as the day is long, I go all through what made us great in Chapter one that I talk about the rise of the radical left.

[00:46:57]

Then I talk about fantasy land, the Democrats 20 20 agenda, and I let people read that first. And it's sort of percolating up so that when they read socialism, a history of failure, they'll they'll hear the same false promises modern Democrats are making here that, you know, I don't care if it's China and the revolution or the Bolsheviks or, you know, look at East Germany versus West Germany or more modern day Venezuela or Cuba. Where's it working?

[00:47:29]

You know, even Finland's government collapsed in the last year. So it's my hope and my prayer that that every great American understands what's at stake or else we'll lose the greatest country God gave. Man, we can't allow that to happen on our watch.

[00:47:43]

Ladies and gentlemen, it's all in this really spectacular new book. I'm asking you to do me a favor. Not because of because of Sean. Because my friend. Because this book is information I promise you haven't seen before. Sean Hannity live free or die beautifully written. Really. You can read a chapter by chapter. You know, you can even read it out of order. The chapters are set up and just wonderfully laid out fashion. Great. I did the whole audio book too.

[00:48:07]

I did. Most authors don't do that.

[00:48:09]

I wasn't allowed by contract last time to say how much I hate reading audiobooks. I'm out of that contract reading audiobooks, but I do it myself too. It is hard. It took me about a week to get through for me. I got a book coming out in October, but go get Shaun's new book. Sean Hannity, good friend, great band to the best with an honor. Thank you for doing my show for you tonight on your show.

[00:48:31]

Keep it up. All right, folks, thanks again. That was Sean Hannity, the great Sean Hannity, author of Live Free or Die. Can't miss it. Check out his new book, Talk to you.

[00:48:38]

Also, you just heard Dan Bongino.