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Feb. 19, 2023 - Huckabee Today
45:59
BIG BROTHER PUNISHES US FOR THIS! | Stephen Moore, Chonda Pierce & MORE | FULL EPISODE | Huckabee
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Now, I know that, like me, you realize the government has to have money to pay for the military, cover the cost of obligations that we've made, like Medicare and Social Security, and to build roads, bridges, and airports.
I mean, we need some things government does.
So, clearly, there has to be some kind of a tax process.
But the one we have is a detriment to our economy.
So, what if there was a plan that was flat, fair, and family-friendly?
Well, there is one, and it's called the fair tax.
And it would supercharge our economy.
But, unfortunately, it is terribly misunderstood, and opponents say that it would raise your taxes.
It wouldn't.
Now it's pretty simple really.
You wouldn't be taxed for your work, your savings, inheritance, or good business decisions.
The fair tax would be collected at the point of purchase instead of the point of production.
The current tax system, if you think about it, is essentially a penalty on what you produce.
We tax your work in the form of an income tax or a payroll tax.
And if you work for somebody else, your money gets taxed before you even get it.
It's taken out of your paycheck before you even cash your check.
I mean, most people don't have any idea how much they actually pay in taxes because they never see their money.
How nice of you to let the government take your money and use it all year long interest-free, huh?
You know, the fair tax is essentially a sales tax, or more broadly, it's a consumption tax.
You only pay when you purchase something that is new and hasn't been taxed already.
Presently, think about this, we punish productivity, but we subsidize irresponsibility.
Let me explain.
If I invest in something that increases in value, which means I made a smart investment, I pay capital gains taxes for that.
But if I invest in something that loses money, I can write that off of my taxes.
Get that?
Successful investments are punished.
Failed investments are rewarded.
Only the government could create something so stupid.
You know what makes a strong economy?
Work.
Investments in businesses.
Savings.
Even putting aside some money to leave for your family to get started with a house or a business.
And maybe even saving enough to give to a charity that you love at your death.
But we tax every bit of that.
If you spend all your money on stupid stuff, or if you just don't work, you know what happens?
The government will help you out with your medical bills and provide a check so you can stay home, get up at the crack of noon, and play video games all day.
Now here is a simple principle.
If there is a behavior that you want more of, what do you do?
You reward it and you get more of it.
If there is some behavior that you want less of, what do you do?
You punish it.
That's how we raise children.
By the way, it's how we train dogs.
Do the trick and get the treat.
That's how it works, right?
But our tax system is the opposite of that.
We punish productivity and reward irresponsibility.
The fair tax changes that by letting you keep the money that you earn, invest, or save.
It eliminates the income tax, the capital gains tax, and the death tax.
You pay taxes when you buy something, and it completely, I love this, it eliminates the IRS. Yes, it does.
They wouldn't be bothering you because they would be disbanded.
So if you don't want to pay as much tax, just don't buy stuff.
But you know who doesn't pay income tax, capital gains, or inheritance tax like you do?
Prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, and gamblers.
They don't.
You know why?
Because they don't fill out forms in April and tell the government how much they made selling crack to Hunter Biden.
They don't do that.
So here you are paying your taxes and you're paying theirs.
But if we paid taxes when we purchased things, the prostitutes, pimps, drug dealers, and gamblers would pay their own taxes because they do buy stuff.
Sometimes lots of stuff that you can't afford because you're paying your taxes.
Now, the fair tax was created by a group of some of the most brilliant economists in the country.
They were charged with proposing the fairest and most efficient form of getting the money that the government needs without creating a tax code that is so complicated that even the IRS doesn't understand it.
And you need accountants and lawyers just to comply with it.
With a fair tax, there are no tax returns.
Nothing is taken out of your paycheck when you get it.
Now, for most of you, for the first time in your life, you would get your entire paycheck.
And April 15th would just be another beautiful spring day.
Nice, huh?
Well, in the coming weeks, I'm going to tell you more about the fair tax because there are a lot of people in government who don't want it.
And the reason?
It takes away the power to manipulate the tax code in order to reward political donors and to punish political enemies.
I feel pretty sure I can help you understand that the system we have now needs to be thrown out and a new plan put in place that's fair, flat, and family-friendly.
Oh, and did I mention it?
It eliminates the IRS. As inflation continues to eat up Americans' paychecks, Joe Biden takes no blame for it.
That's what he said this week.
Yes, he just said that this week.
Now, remember that $1.9 trillion spending bill?
Well, that has pushed wages down nearly every month since it was signed into law, according to economist Stephen Moore.
Would you please welcome back to the show one of our favorite economists, in fact, one of the few that make any sense, Stephen Moore.
well you just wanted me on the show because i love the fair tax you Well, you know, that's true, but you're a smart guy, and that's why you love the fair tax.
Look, I know politically it's going to be a hard sell and a heavy lift.
You know why?
Because nobody in Washington wants to get rid of the income tax.
They don't.
That's how everybody makes their money.
If you want to drain the swamp, get rid of the IRS tax code, right?
Like, just burn it up.
Let's have a big bonfire and burn it up.
But Stephen, you'll be able...
This is important.
The congressmen buy and sell favors with the tax code.
That's what Joe Biden does.
That's what members of both parties are doing.
Republicans do it, too.
And that's why they don't want to get rid of it.
So what you're doing is trying to create this kind of populist revolt around the country against...
By the way, we wouldn't have to hire 87,000 new IRS agents if we had your system.
Absolutely.
You know, and you understand better than most people because you were there when a lot of these economists were first, and they were very smart people.
And they weren't charged with finding a way to get more money for the government.
Just get what we have to have to operate as we're operating.
But paying at consumption does make a huge difference because, as you just pointed out, Congress can no longer say, hey, you gave to my campaign.
I'm going to get you a nice little carve out in the tax code so your company doesn't have to pay as much as your competitor.
People don't understand.
That's how Washington works.
That's right.
Now we have a tax code.
That is over 80,000 pages long when you include the legalese.
Most people can't understand it.
The people at the IRS can't understand it.
If you call the helpline at the IRS, they're not going to provide you any help if you can get through to them.
I've talked to IRS agents, by the way, who say, I love the fair tax because they don't even understand it.
So let me make another point, though, that I think is really important for America.
Can you imagine what this would do to our economy, Mike?
I mean, we would beat the pants off the Chinese if we didn't have any income tax.
Russia, all these other countries.
You would have money flowing into the country.
Factories would be built in the United States.
They wouldn't be going to Mexico and these other countries.
We would become a magnet.
We would be the high-growth country in the world.
But we have just, in the recent few years, done some things to really raise taxes.
The...
The so-called infrastructure bill and then the investment bill that the president has signed and Congress passed, you have said that that really has caused the cost of everything to go up.
How does it go up because of that bill?
Well, listen, this is the most financially reckless president we've ever had in history.
And I don't say that with any joy.
I mean, his performance.
And by the way, in his State of the Union speech, he talked about how great the economy was.
And I'm scratching my head, what country is he talking about?
I mean, really.
I mean, you look at what's happened.
And look, I worked for Donald Trump.
As you know, I was one of his economic advisors.
Trump was a great president, right?
What he did for our country, what he did for our economy.
And to see in two years how Biden has just allowed that to go in the trash bin.
We have 1.4% inflation the month.
Did you know that?
1.4% inflation the month Trump left office.
It went up to 9% under Biden.
And then he has the gall to say, oh, I inherited an inflation crisis.
No, he didn't.
Just like he says, I inherited a bad economy.
We're coming out of COVID. I mean...
Governor, I'm so frustrated because the economy should be booming today, and it's not.
And you know who's getting hurt the most?
The middle-income people are getting crushed by this inflation.
Wages have gone up 5%.
Inflation has gone up 8%.
Do the math there.
That means every month that Biden has been president, middle-class Americans are getting poor.
You know, I don't think a lot of people fully grasp that.
Energy prices are up dramatically because we've essentially said...
We're going to cease energy production of our own domestic energy sources and we're going to bring it in from somewhere else.
That is a gut punch to the typical American family as well as to the typical American factory.
I don't understand this.
Think of the jobs we're losing?
Think of the In fact, we wouldn't have a trade deficit if we could produce all this oil and gas and coal.
I mean, you're into all-American energy.
Donald Trump was into this.
There's no reason we would have to import a single teaspoon of oil from the rest of the world.
And by the way, the other thing, you know this, what Joe Biden did because he wouldn't produce the oil here, we had to deplete our strategic reserve.
So now we don't have reserves.
I mean, this is criminally negligent that you would, you know, if people always ask, how many of you think this is intentional?
You think this is a touchback?
I mean, if you wanted to destroy a country, you'd destroy its energy supply.
And unfortunately, that's what Joe Biden has done.
Now, we've got the big debate going on in Washington over the debt ceiling, and there are some people saying, you know, we don't want to continue just to raise the credit limit until we've had a little conversation about stopping so much runaway spending.
I've heard some of the people, including the White House Press Secretary, say it is the duty of Congress to raise the debt ceiling.
And I'm scratching my head and said, I don't remember reading that of the Constitution.
Yeah.
Well, let me make this really simple, because I feel very strongly that this is the one opportunity we have to get this debt under control.
When I came to Washington in 1985 or so, the debt was $1.5 trillion.
It's $31.5 trillion today.
Think about that.
From $1.5 trillion to $31.5 trillion in 30 years.
We just add to it year after year after year.
And by the way, Republicans and Democrats are responsible for it, okay?
You can't blame Democrats alone for that, exactly.
If Biden comes in, he spends $4.5 trillion his first two years in office.
We have got to stop this debt right now, right?
We've got to stop it.
It's a cancer.
Do you think the Republicans will have the courage to say, that's it, we're not going to keep just raising the debt on it?
This is how Newt Gingrich got a deal.
Remember, the only time we balanced the budget in the last 35 years was when Bill Clinton was president of Democrat because we negotiated a deal.
We brought spending down.
We've got to grow the economy.
None of those are happening right now.
So I'm totally with Kevin McCarthy on this.
This is our rock of Gibraltar.
We cannot blink on this.
We cannot flinch.
We have to make a pact.
As Republicans, that we are going to act for fiscal responsibility.
This is a great country.
We have so much opportunity in this nation.
I really believe the thing that worries me most, though, is out-of-control government and out-of-control debt that nobody wants to do anything about.
Let's hope that the leaders of Congress are listening to you, Stephen Moore, because I certainly am, and I always have.
You're one of the best.
I like the flat tax, but I like the fair tax even better.
Me too.
Stephen Moore, and let me just say to our audience, if you want to keep up with Stephen Moore on social media as always, we've got the links to do that at Huckabee.tv, and you will want to.
As I say, he's one of the few economists I've ever known who makes sense, and he understands, and he can communicate it.
Now, somebody else who can communicate, and that's Keith Bilbrey.
And before our audience gets all bearish on the economy, I want Keith to disclose what we have coming up next.
Well, we're grabbing the bull by the horns with former Trump lawyer John Eastman, plus the incredible stories and songs from country sensation Ray Lynn.
More Huckabee is on the way!
Samaritan's Purse is on the ground doing some incredible work to help the lives and livelihood of so many people all over the world.
And when you give to Samaritan's Purse, you're not only helping to meet the physical and immediate needs of a whole lot of people, but you're speaking the love of Christ into their hearts.
I hope you'll be a part of this great work that they're doing by visiting the Samaritan's Purse website Or you can pick up the phone and you can call them and make a generous contribution to what they're doing to help people.
Thanks and God bless.
Well, Dr. John Eastman is a constitutional scholar.
He's the former dean of Chapman University's Law School.
And he also served as President Donald Trump's attorney on election law in 2020. Now he's facing disciplinary actions from the California Bar Association for what they say were efforts to overturn the election And for his role at the January 6th riot at the Capitol, Dr. Eastman says these complaints from the California bar are distortions, half-truths, and outright lies.
He's here tonight to set the record straight and tell his side of the story.
Please welcome to the show, Dr. John Eastman.
Good to have you here, John.
Thank you very much.
When I first started hearing about the things that were happening, I'm thinking, wait a minute, let me see if I get this right.
They're not going after the people they say were responsible for January 6th, are responsible for any issues in the election.
They're going after the attorneys representing.
And I'm thinking, everybody is entitled to legal representation.
Even a serial killer is entitled to that.
Well, the terrorists at Guantanamo Bay got legal representation.
That we paid for.
Yeah, exactly.
When you were teaching constitutional laws, you have for decades, did you ever think that we would be in a situation where an attorney would be threatened with disbarment because he represented the client that the government didn't like?
No.
In fact, my daughter that year gave me the brief we filed in the Supreme Court.
She had it framed for me and put it up as a Christmas present.
She was so proud that I'd been asked to represent the President of the United States.
And now you're just not supposed to do that because the government had decided the election was over and nobody's allowed to challenge it.
No matter how clear-cut the evidence comes in...
Of outright illegality and fraud.
You're not allowed to talk about it because the government or the New York Times has decided that there was a different narrative that we're going to put out.
And anybody that questions it, we're going to destroy.
John, I have said I can't say definitively the election was rigged because I don't know.
I haven't seen the evidence.
But what I remind people, no one else has either.
I mean, the real challenge is, people say, the courts have already made their decisions, but the courts never took the case to look at, so how can they make a decision on something they didn't review?
Can you explain to us, because I think most people think that the courts reviewed everything, said it's all hunky-dory, everything's fine, the election's all on the up and up.
Well, you hear that line over and over again.
More than 65 courts looked at this evidence and rejected it every time.
That is one of the biggest lies out there.
Most of those courts' actions were dismissed because they were brought by the wrong party.
A citizen or a taxpayer doesn't have standing to challenge an election.
And they were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
Mm-hmm.
But the other thing that there's no dispute about is illegality.
Our Constitution makes very clear that the state legislature directs the manner for choosing presidential electors.
They do that by election codes.
And when the local officials in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin or Georgia altered those election rules, that was unconstitutional.
And there's no dispute that that happened.
The only question is, did it affect enough ballots to have affected the results of the election?
And we know that there's a difference between, in some states, it is perfectly legal to do mail-in votes in ballot harvesting.
But it's not okay to say that the deadline for those ballots to be in is, let's say, November the 8th, and they were postmarked November the 12th.
That's what you're talking about.
That's right.
Everybody has the right to vote, but they all still have the right to vote playing according to the rules that are on the books that everybody else has to play with.
And if I show up at my local polling place the day after the election, I don't get to cast a vote.
But the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said if you mail your ballot in the day after the election, you get to have that vote counted.
It is an opening for fraud and for manipulation of the voter rolls, and we saw that happen over and over again.
How do we fix this, John?
Well, you know...
The Constitution begins with three words.
We the people.
And, you know, that preamble ends with something I'll refer back to your last guest.
You know, the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.
I think $31 trillion, we've kind of passed that line a long time ago.
But we the people.
We have the ultimate authority.
And what I've seen over the last couple of years are homegrown organizations in every precinct and every county in the country paying attention to what's on their voter rolls.
And when they see 28 people living in the same efficiency apartment and all of them voting, they know there's something wrong about that, and they're calling it to people's attention.
And I think we just have to redouble our efforts to make sure that those kind of criminal activities are prosecuted so people quit doing it.
Are you worried about losing your law license?
I mean, is that a real threat?
Well, you know, I mean, there's nothing we did that was illegal or unethical.
I was making—I had well-documented support.
Our response to the bar was over 100 pages.
They said, well, what evidence did you have of this?
And I gave them, you know, lots of evidence for everything we said all along the way.
So in a just world with a fair court, I have no concern at all.
Well, what you're saying is you're cooked.
No, let's hope not.
Because honestly, I think that a case like yours gets to the heart of our system of government, which is that everybody has a right to go to court and express and get their grievances dealt with.
John, I hope that your case is heard legitimately because it's not you at stake, quite frankly.
I mean, I like you.
You're a friend.
But I'm more concerned about the bigger picture.
If people who try to help others...
Get punished for that.
We're in a world of hurt.
That's what we can't have.
We certainly are.
And there's a group called the 65 Project.
They're gloating that they are actually preventing law firms from wanting to take on conservative clients, conservative causes.
And they think that's a good thing.
Our adversarial system of justice will fall apart if you destroy the ability to represent one side on political disputes.
We'll keep following it.
May love to have you back when this is all resolved.
Now, for our audience, I know that you would like to follow John Eastman, and you can do that online by heading to Huckabee.tv.
We have all the links.
We also can connect you to John's Legal Defense Fund, which I'm sure he could use the help.
Right now, somebody who needs a whole lot of help is our very own Keith Bilbrey, but we're going to let him help us by telling us what we have yet to come on the program.
Thanks, I think.
But up next, stories that make us grin and giggle on In Case You Missed It.
Then later, more laughs with Shonda Pierce on Huckabee.
Hey!
Thank you.
Thank you.
You know, we have the best band in all of the country right here on our show.
Trey Corley and the Music City Connection.
Give them a big old hand.
Well, from cheesy dreams to dangerous dogs, we're sinking our teeth into the week's weirdest news on In Case You Missed It.
It is not a good idea to eat before going to sleep.
But it might be lucrative.
Really?
Yeah.
There is a mattress rating website.
It's called Sleep Junkie.
And they want to test the theory, not that I ever thought we needed to, but they think we do.
And that's the theory that eating cheese before bedtime will cause nightmares.
Really?
Oh, that's what they think.
Well, as long as they rule out peanut butter.
I gotta have my peanut butter.
You're gonna like this, Keith.
They advertised for five dairy dreamers to be paid $1,000 to eat cheese snacks just before bed for three months.
Sign me up.
I think it is a Gouda deal, right?
Oh!
Oh!
I thought paying people $1,000 to sleep plus free cheese, I thought that was the Democrats' economic plan.
Ouch.
That's my dream job.
They also want to see if different cheeses have different effects.
Like, if you eat rat cheese, do you dream you're in New York City?
Right?
Could be, yeah.
And if you eat stinky cheese, do you dream that you're talking to Keith?
Oh.
Whoa!
Ow.
Ow.
Was that wrong?
I'm glad he's picking on you and not me, dude.
Hey, yours is coming.
Don't worry.
Thanks.
Hey, if you eat Cheez Whiz, do you wake up and have to go to the bathroom?
Oh, yeah.
Just wondering.
I know what you're thinking.
No more cheesy jokes.
Wow.
Because I can't Camembert.
Wow.
I say we move on.
I do.
I say we move on.
Let's do.
From our Hux Criminal Mastermind desk comes 19-year-old Joshua Reed of Broward County, Florida.
He is accused of being part of a gang that burglarized the house and stole a Mercedes.
Wow.
Yeah.
Make it worth your while.
Well, I'll tell you what, police identified him, and that was thanks to the fact that While he was allegedly stealing the car, he was also wearing a GPS ankle monitor because he was out on bail for Grand Theft Auto.
Did you just not know?
Well, doggone it, that's how they caught him the last time.
I've decided this kid doesn't need a monitor.
He needs a brain.
That's right.
All right, after that, we need a sweet story.
I want you to look at this adorable dog.
This little dog, his name is Ralphie, and he's at an animal shelter in Niagara, New York.
I bet you'd love to adopt him.
But be warned, the shelter describes Ralphie as a jerk.
They do.
The shelter says this.
They call him a terror in a somewhat small package and a fire-breathing demon.
He looked like such a cute little doll.
Yeah.
I mean, he does kind of look like a cross between a pug and a piranha, maybe.
Well, yeah.
He's twice been adopted and then returned back to the shelter.
The shelter reported that one family said he annoyed their older dog, but what that actually meant was that Ralphie will actually eat your dog.
Oh, no.
Yeah, and that's not good.
His favorite meal is a wiener dog with a chocolate lab for dessert.
Yeah.
Wow.
Anyway, the shelter said everything he thinks belongs to him, and if you dare test that, wrath will ensue.
Ooh.
Anyway, they invited anyone who thinks they can handle Ralphie to get in touch.
And they actually say, if you're that crazy.
So there you go.
So he's a selfish, dangerous, entitled jerk.
Sounds like he could get a job at the White House.
I knew it was coming.
I saw it coming that time.
You didn't think I was going to let him off the hook on that one.
Finally!
That favorite word.
Finally!
Finally!
Here is a photo for the history books.
And it's not a grizzly bear selfie.
It's not even George Soros' driver's license photo.
It's not.
This is a picture, an actual picture of the surface of Mars taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
NASA claims that it is a natural formation.
The eyes are actually two craters.
The nose is a collapsed hill, and the head is a circular fracture pattern.
Oh, come on.
We know that's a cover-up, right?
They just don't want the public to know that we're about to be invaded by Martian bears.
Yes, in balloons.
Yeah.
I'm not worried, though, because we got Ralphie, and he'll kill them all.
That's right.
Very territorial.
Before we get all these jokes that become unbearable, I'm going to end it right here.
But until next time, always remember, we read the news.
Well, don't you dare move.
the hilarious Shonda Pierce performs next on Huckabee.
Thank you.
And follow AdGov Mike Huckabee on Twitter.
Thank you.
And welcome back.
Shonda Pierce is one of my very favorite comedians.
And she is one of my favorite people.
I just love her.
She has been doing stand-up for over two decades and has rightfully earned for herself the nickname of the Queen of Clean.
We are always excited to have her here and thrilled to have her back.
Please give a big welcome to my good friend, comedian Shonda Pierce.
I love y'all.
Thank you.
Y'all, I thought I was going to be late.
I had Father McSphere sit at my house because we did an exorcism on the TV today because the Grammys were on last night.
I'm telling you, and I wish I could think of something funny to say about it.
It was just terrible.
But I got all the demons out of my house.
But it's because I adopted Ralphie.
So...
I might have more luck with Ralphie than I will a date.
Y'all, I've been online again trying it for the second time because I lost like three pounds.
And I could get on again.
Maybe people wouldn't know who I was before.
And I had a new wig.
That helped.
For a while.
And then I got on the line.
This is the thing.
I signed up for Plenty of Fish because I'm cheap.
And the men on there are pretty cheap.
And I built a new house and I have a lake.
So I thought, well, y'all find me somebody that likes to fish.
Did you know Plenty of Fish, the dating site, has nothing to do with fishing?
Yeah.
You can't put stuff on the internet, y'all.
What is wrong with you?
Don't take stupid pictures.
And that even means Facebook.
Girls, come on.
I don't want to see your cleavage and your macaroni and cheese.
I am so tired.
I am so tired of excellent cooks in skinny waist.
And they spend all day fixing that photograph.
And if you put it out there, it never goes away.
That's what they say.
That picture is in the basement of Hillary Clinton's house right now.
It's probably the screensaver on Hunter Biden's laptop.
That's all I'm saying.
So I moved out to the country.
I built a house.
It was so wonderful.
But the construction guy, he went way over budget, which means we had to raise the debt ceiling.
And then my liberal snowflake son moved home because he liked to have his own room.
Wasn't that precious?
And it's free.
So every time I fix him lunch, I cut 30% out of his food and eat it myself.
It's just the craziest times we're living in.
People ask me all the time, how do you stay being funny?
You know, because of all the troubling things that's going on in the world.
I say, well, all I'll do is watch Huckabee and steal his material.
I go to church.
Hear something from the preacher and then talk about him the next weekend.
That's what you do as Christians.
It's the Christian way.
We don't gossip, we share.
Some people call it prayer requests, but we know what it is.
And I learned that from my daddy.
I was a preacher's kid, which would explain my career.
31 years I've been trying to make people funny and now I'm trying to retire.
People keep buying tickets.
Stop!
I need to stay home with Ralphie.
Maybe he'll eat my son.
This has turned out to be a really sick show.
LAUGHTER No, but really, I love my roots as growing up a preacher's kid because funny things would happen, you just can't get over it.
You know, in our church now, we were, you know, we were very conservative.
Hair up, skirt down.
That's the whole church motto that I grew up in.
I even got my little Pentecostal dew on tonight just in case, you know, trying to be all things for all people.
I got on Baptist drawers and...
Well, there depends, but it's clothes.
Yeah.
I wasn't going to wear the pins, but I was in such a hurry.
I was so afraid, you know, when you walk and laugh and run at the same time.
At my age, you need the pins.
Y'all are a wonderful audience.
It's always good to see you.
Great to be here.
Thanks for having me.
We'll be right back.
We're going to be talking to Shonda and another very special guest about an exciting project they've got coming up.
Stay with us right here on Huckabee.
Go to Huckabee.tv and get your very own Made in the USA Huckabee mugs, t-shirts, and more.
*music* And welcome back.
Martha Bolton is an award-winning author, playwright, and TV writer.
First female comedy writer for none other than Bob Hope.
Yes, you heard me right.
The Bob Hope.
Now, her latest project is called The Confession Musical and is coming to theaters February the 20th.
In this very film, you're going to see a new side of Shonda Pierce as she co-stars with John Schneider.
Please welcome to the show, Martha Bolton, and now musical theater star, Shonda Pierce.
Martha, when you were writing this, did you have Shonda in mind?
Did you write this for her?
Looking back, I think I did.
But you didn't think so at the time.
She does such a good job of playing that part.
So it's very Shonda-esque.
Yeah.
Frumpy.
I know.
I'm anxious to see it.
I think it's going to be great.
I mean, when I look at your career and I'm thinking, wow, Bob Hope, one of the greatest comedians of all time, one of the funniest people, he entertained America, America's troops.
He was America for so many decades.
Yes.
Working with him, please tell us what that was like, if it was nice.
If it wasn't, I don't want to hear it.
Well, it was a comedy writer's dream assignment, of course.
And it was just, he ran in such an incredible crowd.
So we would do the shows, and we'd get called in sometimes for a line change into his dressing room.
And you'd walk in and there Bob would be in the makeup chair.
And there, you know, next to him is Lucille Ball or George Burns or Milton Berle.
And you're just pinching yourself constantly with the crowd that he was in that would come on the shows that you got to write for, you got to work with.
I mean, that's the way Shonda feels when she's around me.
She's just blown away by that.
You never know who's going to be in the chair beside him.
An officer?
Oh, a lawyer?
But I mean, to write this particular musical, what is the inspiration of it, and how does it unfold?
And we're going to let you answer that, and then I'm going to let us see a clip with Shonda.
It was a great opportunity that started with Mel Reseker, who is the...
Blue Gate Theater, he's our executive producer.
Dan Postema, who's here tonight as well, he's our producer.
And Mel talked to Dan about doing Amish musicals.
And so we chose Beverly Lewis's trilogy to do and had to adapt it to the stage.
And then I picked out the places that I thought could tell the story.
And then also it needed, because it is such a heavy, heavy topic, I do serious stuff.
You do serious stuff?
Yes, it was hard.
You should get an Oscar for this.
Yes, I should.
If the Grammys can get out awards, I should get an award somewhere.
Well, you know, you really had me, Martha, when you said an Amish music.
Isn't it funny?
I said, whoa.
The Amish are going to love this.
Yeah, I'm wondering about that.
One of my very favorite people, John Schneider, is in this.
And we're going to show a scene.
This is from the Confession Musical.
And you're going to see John Schneider and Shonda Pierce.
Let's watch.
There's no need for you to explain anything.
I just want you to make sure that this one knows her place.
Yes, sir, Mr. Bennett.
Now go, go, go get a pillow for Miss Laura's back.
Shoo!
Yes, Mr. Bennett.
Walton, I know that you heard her, I hope!
If she is Amish, I am the Pope!
I never eavesdrop.
Oh, give me a break.
You always eavesdrop.
Katie's a fake.
I can't wait to see it.
Now, it's going to be in theaters February 20th.
Yes, and they asked me to put on some pounds and to try to look like my mother.
You look great.
It was so, you know, it's hard work.
Movies are easy.
But stage is hard.
And the curtain goes up and you don't stop till it's over.
And these kids, you talk about talent.
And the story, I know we say Amish musical and I always go, there's got to be a better way to explain it.
But the bottom line is, there is a piece of the storyline for everybody's life and for everybody's heart.
Now, they can only see it that one night in the theaters.
Is that right?
Theconfessionmusical.com.
And then it'll eventually be on streaming and we'll be able to see it over and over again.
Was this fun for you?
It's the hardest work I ever did.
Really?
Well, I wish I had been a little more prepared.
And I had just gotten off the road, off tour, and went straight there and kind of did this.
And John was mean.
Oh, he's not mean.
John Schneider's one of the nicest guys I've ever known.
He is a wonderful man.
Yeah.
You know, our mothers were in the same nursing home.
So we've been friends for a long, long time.
I mean, we didn't kill them.
They're in heaven now.
And I think they're in the same heaven.
But John and I, you know, and so to see him deliver lines, and he is really a snobby, mean person in this.
I didn't like it.
But that's his character.
That's not John.
I didn't like it.
I'm not going to tell him you said that because I think he would be deeply hurt.
He's a very sensitive man.
No, he's not.
Well, the Confession Musical is in theaters February the 20th, and it's only on that date.
So if you go to Huckabee.tv for a link, you can reserve your advance tickets right now, which you will want to do.
And plus, I know you're going to want to connect to all of the things that Shonda is up to, which, by the way, you're going to not only be with me in Israel, you're going on a cruise with us this fall, aren't you?
Yes, I'm hoping to get in the wheel by the end of the year.
That ain't happening.
I just want to tell you now, that ain't happening.
I may not even put my own kids in there.
You sure ain't going in there.
Right now, Keith, I know this is no laughing matter because you still have to tell us what's coming up.
I'll do my best.
Country music star Ray Lynn talks to Mike, then performs with Trey and the band.
and it's straight ahead on Huckabee.
Huckabee! Huckabee! Huckabee! Huckabee!
We'll be right back.
first grabbed America's attention on The Voice.
Her debut album was a Billboard number one hit.
That is a big deal.
And since then, her music, give her a hand for it.
That is a big deal.
Her music has been streamed over 800 million times.
That is a big deal, too.
But tonight, she's going to be performing a new song from an upcoming album.
First, I just want to chat with her for a little bit.
Please give a very warm welcome to an amazing singer, Raelynn.
Raelynn, great having you here.
Thank you for having me.
I am excited.
You've got a new album that is out, and I want you to talk about a couple of the songs.
One you're going to perform on the show and one that'll be later, but there's one that you're talking about a very serious subject.
Now, this is a powerful song.
Thank you.
I mean, it must be something from deep within you that you wanted people to think about.
Yes, so I got approached by a man named Tim Ballard, who is the president of an organization called Operation Underground Railroad.
And they're one of the leading organizations to help fight child exploitation and human trafficking that's happening.
In the U.S. and all across the world.
And so they put together this amazing documentary that's out now, so you should go see it.
And it's called It's Happening Right Here.
And it's just talking about the fact that human trafficking is happening everywhere.
It's in your backyard.
It's a multi-billion dollar industry.
The best way it was described to me is, you know, Walmart's a billion dollar industry and there's one on every corner.
So just think of it in that way.
I mean, trafficking is happening everywhere.
And it's a great documentary because it gives you tools to be able to educate your children and to know how to fight this.
And so Tim called me up and played me this song, It's Happening Right Here, and asked me if I would lend my voice and be a part of it.
And to me, it was 100% yes, right off the bat.
Any way that I can use my platform for good, I want to.
So I love this song.
The new album comes out this summer.
I'm coming out this summer.
I'm working on it now.
Yeah.
Now, the song Raisin' Me a Country Girl.
Raisin' Me a Country Girl.
That's going to be on the album.
Yes, it is.
I'm telling you, this is a song that's pretty personal, too.
Thank you.
Who's it about?
It's my daughter.
The girl that rocks my world every single day.
She's amazing.
Her name is Daisy.
Her name is Daisy Ray.
Yes, I... If that isn't a southern girl, I don't know what it is.
I know.
I was looking up names, and there's some weird names these days, and I was just like, okay, so I typed in, I did, I was like, Southern girl names, and Daisy came up, and no, I became a mother in 2021, so she's a year and a half old, and she is so special.
I mean, I've...
I think, you know, this is a very selfish industry that you can be in.
I mean, everything's about you.
When you're a singer, it's, what do you want?
What are this?
But when you become a mom, it is selfless.
Every mother out here can say, yeah, that's the truth.
Being a mother makes you just so much...
I mean, to me, it's made me such a more, just I'm a better person.
I mean, I have her on the road with me.
I was on the road this summer with Kane Brown, and I was literally changing a dirty diaper walking on stage.
And I was like, this is awesome.
This is true girl empowerment.
And when I wrote this song, Raising Me a Country Girl, I was thinking about, okay, what song can I write for my daughter?
I was eight and a half months pregnant in the studio.
The last song I wrote before, you know, I had my daughter.
And, you know, I grew up, you know, wearing a sundress and cowboy boots and a sandbox playing with the boys.
And I was just like, I want her to be tough, but I want her to be sweet.
But, you know, everything that my mother instilled in me, my values, everything about me, I want her to have that.
And so that's why I got the idea for Raising a Country Girl.
The lyrics are fantastic.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We're going to have you sing that for us.
And I want everybody to listen to the lyrics.
They're going to want to get it.
And they can get the new album when it comes out this summer, which they want to do.
I guess you'll be back on tour sometime in the near future.
We're going to probably do a tour this fall.
So y'all come see me.
It'll be fun.
Want to find out where that's going to be.
Keith, we're going to move to the stage to get ready to do some music.
Right now, tell our viewers how they can find Raelynn's incredible music.
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