The Megyn Kelly Show - 20230801_potential-biden-bribery-revelations-and-power-of-f
Aired: 2023-08-01
Duration: 01:38:01


=== Devin Archer's Burisma Testimony (15:00) ===

[00:00:35]  Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show, your home for open, honest, and provocative conversations.
[00:00:41]  Hi everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly.
[00:00:48]  Welcome to The Megyn Kelly Show.
[00:00:50]  Hunter Biden's one-time buddy appears before Congress to detail their joint business dealings, but today it appears no one agrees what, if anything, his testimony proves about alleged influence peddling by the Bidens, including the big guy.
[00:01:05]  Joining me now, Peter Schweitzer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and host of the Drill Down podcast.
[00:01:12]  All right, Peter, so- So, what would you say were the highlights of what we learned from Devin Archer yesterday?
[00:01:18]  Well, I think we learned a couple of things, Megan.
[00:01:21]  First of all, we learned from the business partner that Hunter Biden would call his father, the sitting vice president, with his business partners.
[00:01:30]  And it was a way to kind of show off the brand.
[00:01:33]  What is the brand?
[00:01:35]  Is his father the head of some tech company with business acumen?
[00:01:38]  No.
[00:01:39]  His father's the vice president of the United States, and the brand is access.
[00:01:44]  You know, the Democrats, I think, are being a little disingenuous when they say they didn't discuss business.
[00:01:50]  What's the big deal?
[00:01:52]  Look at how campaign fundraising is done in Washington, Megan.
[00:01:56]  Somebody comes in, they express concern about the bill.
[00:01:59]  President or an office holder talks about it.
[00:02:03]  The fundraisers contact them later to discuss a donation.
[00:02:07]  That's probably the same way that it happened here.
[00:02:10]  So, that I think is an important development because it shows the lie that Joe Biden has said consistently that he never met with, never discussed, never had any conversations with any of his business partners.
[00:02:23]  The second thing from this testimony that's important, Megan, is that Devin Archer said very clearly, and remember, Devin Archer served on the board of Burisma, this Ukrainian energy company, with Hunter Biden.
[00:02:37]  He said that Burisma executives were pressing Hunter Biden to get the prosecutor fired, the prosecutor that was looking into the CEO of Burisma, issues related to taxes, financial irregularities, et cetera.
[00:02:52]  So, that's confirmation that Burisma wanted him fired.
[00:02:57]  You add to that evidence that Joe Biden bragging on video that he was the one that got the prosecutor fired by withholding U.S. aid.
[00:03:07]  That I think is also an enormous development.
[00:03:11]  So, you have Devin Archer saying he knows firsthand that Burisma was speaking to Hunter about trying to get this prosecutor in Ukraine fired.
[00:03:19]  They wanted this anti-corruption prosecutor, allegedly, off of their back.
[00:03:25]  And we know from the laptop and other testimonials that one of the conversations that Joe Biden had was with Burisma, the executives, Hunter Biden, shortly before he fired that prosecutor.
[00:03:39]  Now, years later, Joe Biden would tell us all that he had that prosecutor fired.
[00:03:45]  He fired him back in 2015 when he was the vice president.
[00:03:47]  He didn't speak to the Council on Foreign Relations about it until 2018, which is when this soundbite is from, the first half of this sound bite.
[00:03:55]  But James Comer was on Hannity last night, and here's a bit of Joe Biden in 2018 and then Comer commenting on what he believes happened right after it.
[00:04:05]  Watch this.
[00:04:07]  Had gotten a commitment from Poroshenko and from Yachenyuk that they would take action against the state prosecutor and they didn't.
[00:04:16]  So they said they had it.
[00:04:17]  They were walking out to press confidence and said, no, I said, I'm not going to, we're not going to give you the billion dollars.
[00:04:23]  They said, you have no authority.
[00:04:24]  You're not the president.
[00:04:25]  The president said, I said, call him.
[00:04:28]  I said, I'm telling you, you're not getting a billion dollars.
[00:04:31]  I said, you're not getting the billion.
[00:04:32]  I'm going to be leaving here.
[00:04:33]  I think it was, what, six hours?
[00:04:34]  I look at it.
[00:04:35]  I said, I'm leaving in six hours.
[00:04:36]  If the prosecutor's not fired, you're not getting the money.
[00:04:39]  Oh, son of a got fired.
[00:04:43]  That's a quid pro quo, Sean.
[00:04:45]  That's very illegal.
[00:04:46]  We have evidence in this sworn testimony that from a fellow Burisma board member that they were pressuring Hunter to immediately get on the phone with his father and get this stopped.
[00:05:01]  Because we do know that Archer reportedly yesterday testified that on December 9th, 2015, Joe Biden traveled to Ukraine to make this speech about corruption and so on.
[00:05:15]  And then shortly thereafter, he fired, he made sure that they fired Shokin.
[00:05:19]  And that was right after he and Hunter met with the Ukrainian business officials.
[00:05:27]  Yeah, that's right, Megan.
[00:05:29]  This is an enormously important development, I think, what Devin Archer said, because it shows the motivation of Burisma to get this prosecutor fired.
[00:05:38]  Remember the consistent line from Teen Biden and a lot of the fact checkers, so-called fact checkers out there, went along with it to say that, no, the investigation was dormant.
[00:05:49]  The investigation was really no longer existent.
[00:05:52]  This is clear evidence that Burisma certainly didn't see it that way.
[00:05:56]  And in fact, it wasn't until later that Burisma announced that they were no longer under legal jeopardy.
[00:06:03]  So when this first came out, when that video was first released and people were talking about the quid pro quo, I was kind of skeptical.
[00:06:12]  But this new piece from Devin Archer, I think, conclusively shows that there's a connection between the two.
[00:06:19]  Hunter Biden was not hired by Burisma because he had background in energy or Ukrainian policy or regulatory affairs.
[00:06:27]  He was hired because of who his father was.
[00:06:29]  He basically acknowledged that in a 2019 ABC News interview.
[00:06:34]  And lo and behold, who's the one that later brags about firing the prosecutor that Hunter's employer wants fired?
[00:06:42]  His father, the vice president of the United States.
[00:06:44]  I don't think it gets too much.
[00:06:46]  I don't think it gets more damning than that.
[00:06:49]  And I think we have to really think about the legal standards here, Megan.
[00:06:53]  You're the attorney in this conversation.
[00:06:55]  I'm not.
[00:06:56]  But if the standard is we have to show a video of Joe Biden talking to his son saying, I will get this done.
[00:07:05]  That's a ridiculous legal standard.
[00:07:07]  I think the evidence is clear-cut.
[00:07:09]  It's a quid pro quo.
[00:07:11]  And Hunter Biden was paid in part to have his father take official actions on his behalf.
[00:07:17]  And that includes getting this prosecutor fired.
[00:07:20]  That's the only thing that makes any sense.
[00:07:22]  That's the only thing that makes any sense.
[00:07:23]  Neither Devin Archer nor Hunter had any expertise in oil, gas, energy whatsoever.
[00:07:29]  They got placed in that burisma board when Joe Biden was the sitting vice president.
[00:07:34]  Then they have a meeting at which Punter makes clear that he has daily access to his father, the sitting vice president, and they get 83 grand a month from this company.
[00:07:42]  And then lo and behold, what happens?
[00:07:44]  But Joe Biden fires the prosecutor in Ukraine or makes sure that they fire this prosecutor in Ukraine looking into burisma.
[00:07:50]  What else makes sense?
[00:07:52]  And what Hunter Biden seems to be saying, what Joe Biden seems to be saying went on a podcast yesterday and talked about how he talks to his kids and his grandkids every day, every day.
[00:08:00]  He's been laying that foundation.
[00:08:03]  Why would he like I call my mom all the time, but I don't call her in the middle of my show.
[00:08:09]  I don't call her in the middle of my business negotiations with Sirius XM.
[00:08:14]  I don't call mom.
[00:08:15]  No, that would be inappropriate.
[00:08:16]  There's only one reason he would be calling him in the middle of a business meeting, and that's to show the door's open.
[00:08:23]  I do have access.
[00:08:25]  Yeah, no, you're exactly right, Megan.
[00:08:27]  I mean, look, they're trying to paint it as they talk to each other every day because it's so important for them to bond and connect.
[00:08:34]  You don't bond and connect when you're sitting with four guys over drinks at a bar at the four seasons.
[00:08:41]  That's not how you bond and connect.
[00:08:44]  The other thing here is Joe Biden's responsibility.
[00:08:47]  I mean, they play up the fact that Hunter had lost his brother and they're worried about substance abuse.
[00:08:52]  Be very easy for Joe Biden the first time that Hunter Biden did this, you know, called him with his business partners.
[00:08:58]  Be very easy for Joe Biden to say, look, son, call me at any time.
[00:09:02]  Call me at three in the morning.
[00:09:03]  I'd love to hear from you, but do not call me when your business partners are present.
[00:09:08]  That apparently never happened because this has been Joe Biden's mode of operation.
[00:09:13]  Let's remember, before Hunter Biden started this so-called international financial business, he was a lobbyist and he was lobbying his father on behalf of entities in Delaware.
[00:09:26]  So they're very well versed on how to do this in a manner that's not obvious, but is still very effective for the clients, in this case, foreign clients like Burisma.
[00:09:38]  I want somebody to, at a minimum, ask Joe Biden this question.
[00:09:41]  I wrote it down.
[00:09:42]  It's very simple.
[00:09:43]  You were the point man on Ukrainian corruption when you were the sitting vice president.
[00:09:47]  Burisma, a Ukrainian company, was being investigated at that time for corruption.
[00:09:53]  How did you allow your son to sit on the Burisma board, a position only offered to him after you became vice president?
[00:10:01]  Will any reporter worth his or her salt ask Joe Biden that question?
[00:10:06]  I wrote it for you.
[00:10:07]  You can steal it verbatim.
[00:10:09]  You don't have to give me credit.
[00:10:10]  Just ask it.
[00:10:11]  Ask it.
[00:10:12]  That's one piece of it.
[00:10:14]  The total impropriety of that decision, which we know for a fact happened.
[00:10:18]  There's no disputing any of that.
[00:10:20]  The second question is, why?
[00:10:22]  Why?
[00:10:23]  Did you do it knowingly because you wanted him to extort some sort of a benefit out of Burisma?
[00:10:29]  Did you get a piece of his board salary or some other payment that may have been made to your son?
[00:10:34]  And that's really what the House Oversight is investigating right now.
[00:10:37]  Devin Archer did speak to that in part, but I will tell you as a lawyer, I heard this following testimonial described and I thought, so Devin Archer wasn't in a position to know whether there was a bribe, that he was not in a position to know.
[00:10:50]  Dan Goldman, this New York representative who's basically the cover guy now for the Bidens, he says this is their sort of game set match on the whole second piece of that inquiry I just mentioned.
[00:10:59]  Here he is trying to spin the FBI form 1023, which alleged from a confidential informant that there was a direct bribe paid by Burisma to Joe Biden, to Hunter Biden of $5 million a piece in exchange allegedly for getting this prosecutor fired.
[00:11:17]  Here's Dan Goldman speaking about it yesterday, 21.
[00:11:21]  We did bring up the FDA 1023 and he categorically said that he was unaware, had no knowledge of any $5 million payment made to either Hunter Biden or to Joe Biden and would be shocked if that actually existed.
[00:11:40]  And let's remember, he was on the Burisma board with Hunter Biden.
[00:11:45]  So as a board member, he would have known if Burisma was paying a bribe to any of the Bidens.
[00:11:54]  Yeah.
[00:11:55]  Is that how bribery works, Peter?
[00:11:57]  Right, exactly.
[00:11:58]  And Burisma, as we know, has such high ethical standards.
[00:12:04]  It was regarded, Megan, within the Ukrainian industry, which has a massive corruption problem, as a horribly corrupt place.
[00:12:12]  So, no, this is just laughable.
[00:12:14]  And look, there are plenty of other examples in the Biden world where the Bidens carve out money for themselves and other people don't know about it.
[00:12:22]  Look at the Tony Bobolinski case.
[00:12:25]  What happened to Tony Bobolinski is they set up a company, Hudson West, that was supposed to be getting money from CEFC, $5 million.
[00:12:34]  Hunter contacted CEFC and had it sent to his personal account instead of the corporate account.
[00:12:40]  And Tony Bobolinski didn't even know that that money had been transferred.
[00:12:45]  So this idea that Devin Archer didn't know it didn't happen is just simply ridiculous.
[00:12:53]  You're talking about paying a bribe to the sitting vice president of the United States.
[00:12:56]  Do you think, everyone in favor on the board?
[00:13:00]  Give an eye.
[00:13:02]  Who's Dan Goldman kidding?
[00:13:05]  It went through the accounting department, I'm sure.
[00:13:08]  And the check was cut from barisma to the, but yeah, it's just laughable.
[00:13:13]  Look, this is the retreat that they have undergone.
[00:13:17]  I think the real culprits here, I get that the Bidens are defending themselves and their political advisors and hacks have to defend them.
[00:13:24]  The real culpable people here are the mainstream media because they continue to cover for this.
[00:13:30]  The New York Times is now sort of downplaying the Devin Archer testimony by saying, yeah, we kind of knew that Joe Biden talked to the business partners and associates.
[00:13:40]  Well, if you'd read the New York Times over the last five years, you didn't know that because they haven't reported that.
[00:13:46]  And they've parroted the Biden line that there were no conversations.
[00:13:50]  So it's really the media here.
[00:13:52]  Where's the fourth estate that's supposed to be speaking truth to power, this being the most powerful man in the world right now?
[00:13:59]  They're non-existent.
[00:14:00]  A couple of things to set that record straight.
[00:14:02]  We've got, I think this was actually put together by Hannity putting together like a string of the Joe Biden and the Hunter Biden, the Joe Biden comments about Hunter and his business.
[00:14:11]  Take a look at this, SOT 22.
[00:14:14]  Mr. Vice President, how many times have you ever spoken to your son about his overseas business dealings?
[00:14:20]  I've never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings.
[00:14:23]  I have never discussed with my son or my brother or anyone else anything having to do with their businesses, period.
[00:14:31]  And what I will do is the same thing we did in our administration.
[00:14:35]  There will be an absolute wall between personal and private and the government.
[00:14:41]  Do you stand by your statement that you did not discuss any of your son's overseas business?
[00:14:46]  I stand by that statement.
[00:14:47]  I did not know he was on the board of that company.
[00:14:50]  I've never discussed my business or their business, my sons or daughters.
[00:14:55]  I never discussed a single thing with my son about anything having to do with Ukraine.
[00:15:04]  Okay.
[00:15:05]  So he made very clear.
[00:15:07]  I mean, I guess he was just like, are you at home in your living room, Hunter?
[00:15:11]  Oh, okay, then we're good.
[00:15:12]  Then we can talk.
[00:15:14]  No, he was phoning in at least 20 times to these business meetings where Hunter called him at these business meetings and he knew very well what the purpose was.
[00:15:21]  However, the spin continues from Dan Goldman, again, spinner in chief.
[00:15:27]  He's just downright dishonest.
[00:15:28]  I'm sorry, but he is that that last soundbite shows it.
[00:15:32]  But here he is in now what's become in the past 18 hours an infamous soundbite.

=== Creating a China Scandal (13:09) ===

[00:15:36]  It's sandwiched in the middle of a bunch of nonsense, but where he tries to say they would talk about the weather.
[00:15:42]  Listen, SOT 20.
[00:15:44]  He did describe that there were approximately 20 occasions over the course of their nearly decade-long business relationship that Hunter Biden would ask his father to say hello to whomever he was at dinner.
[00:16:00]  He said there were sometimes when it was friends and sometimes when it was a potential business partner.
[00:16:06]  But the witness was unequivocal and stated very clearly that they never discussed any business on that phone conversations.
[00:16:16]  There were niceties and there was a hello and there we talked about the weather.
[00:16:21]  If he says hello to someone that he sees his son with, is he supposed to say, hi, son?
[00:16:28]  No, I'm not going to say hello to the other people at the table or the other people on the phone.
[00:16:32]  The witness was very, very consistent that none of those conversations ever had to do with any business dealings or transactions.
[00:16:42]  They were purely what he called casual conversations.
[00:16:46]  Peter, Molly Hemingway, writes in a piece on the Federalist Today, while no one actually thinks Joe Biden has a secret interest in meteorology that he only shares with corrupt foreign oligarchs who happen to be in business with his son.
[00:16:59]  The claim is ridiculous for another reason, which is, and she's giving credit to Larry O'Connor here, quote, understand this, Hunter getting Joe on speakerphone was the deliverable.
[00:17:12]  Exactly right.
[00:17:13]  Yeah.
[00:17:14]  When I first heard him, Dan Goldman say this, I thought, you know, there are these things called weather apps.
[00:17:19]  You don't need to call your dad to discuss the weather.
[00:17:22]  I mean, you have weather apps.
[00:17:23]  This information is not hard to get.
[00:17:26]  But more to the point, look, in all of these dealings, the question I would ask Hunter Biden and I would ask Joe Biden is, what was your son's business?
[00:17:37]  What services did he provide?
[00:17:39]  Tangible services did he provide?
[00:17:41]  And or what product did he provide for these tens of millions of dollars that flowed to him from China and Ukraine?
[00:17:48]  Because he had no skill set.
[00:17:50]  And we know the answer.
[00:17:51]  The product was Joe Biden.
[00:17:54]  And again, I mean, Dan Goldman knows this.
[00:17:57]  It's the way fundraising is done in Washington, D.C. You know, a lobbyist comes into the office.
[00:18:02]  He's concerned about the bill.
[00:18:03]  The senator congressman talks with him about the bill.
[00:18:06]  He doesn't ask them for a donation.
[00:18:08]  He doesn't ask them to hold a fundraiser.
[00:18:11]  That happens after the fact.
[00:18:12]  A subordinate calls them.
[00:18:14]  That's where the financial transaction takes place.
[00:18:17]  It's the same thing here.
[00:18:19]  These foreign entities were investing in the Biden family.
[00:18:23]  In fact, Chairman Yi, who was the head of the CEFC, when he sent $6 million to Hunter Biden, he said, this is not just for you.
[00:18:33]  This is for all the Bidens.
[00:18:35]  So they all knew who they were in business with.
[00:18:38]  They were in business with the Biden family.
[00:18:40]  And I think as this investigation proceeds, Megan, we're going to actually see more evidence that Joe Biden actually benefited personally from his son's financially, from his son's overseas business dealings.
[00:18:54]  You're right.
[00:18:55]  What business were you in?
[00:18:57]  What business were you in?
[00:18:58]  That's a great question because it's very clearly the access business.
[00:19:01]  My last name is Biden, and so is my dad's.
[00:19:04]  And he's the sitting vice president.
[00:19:05]  From the laptop, again, this is from the New York Post.
[00:19:09]  There was an email September 22nd, 2011, where Hunter told Devin Archer that a Chinese mogul who secured them a multi-million dollar deal, quote, loved him for his last name.
[00:19:22]  A Chinese businessman, Che Fang, who was referred to as the super chairman by this pair, Devin and Hunter, helped Biden's firm Rosemont and another one.
[00:19:34]  And then Hunter emailed Archer, I don't believe in lottery tickets anymore, but I do believe in the super chairman.
[00:19:41]  When Archer questioned why Feng was so generous to Hunter, Hunter speculated that his favorable position had everything to do with his hyper-connected father.
[00:19:50]  And to your point about what actual services could he provide, he wasn't an energy expert.
[00:19:55]  This is a lie.
[00:19:56]  There's no reason for Barisma to have him on the board.
[00:19:58]  Something happened in court last week that Margot Cleveland of the Federalists was pointing out.
[00:20:02]  I don't have it totally understood in my head.
[00:20:05]  So forgive me, I'm going to try to go, but from memory, but she was pointing out that the judge was saying to Hunter, in this plea deal, you're saying in the statement of facts that you provided legal services to this one Chinese mogul, and that's why you got this million dollar payment.
[00:20:21]  And Hunter said, yes, if memory serves, but I'm not 100%.
[00:20:28]  And she's pointing out it was a clear lie.
[00:20:30]  He got this million-dollar check for the same reason he was on the Burisma board.
[00:20:35]  They tried to paper it by making it look like they were paying him for legal services.
[00:20:41]  But this is a pattern, Peter.
[00:20:43]  It's a pattern.
[00:20:44]  And now you've got, to your point about the media, the spin, the spin, to try to like pretend that yesterday was an insignificant day and that all this stuff that went down with Joe Biden on the phone 20 times.
[00:21:00]  Who the hell's getting on the phone with Romania?
[00:21:03]  Romanian businessman when you're the vice president, that it all had to do with the tumult that was caused by the death of Bo Biden.
[00:21:15]  It's the most cynical, disgusting spin.
[00:21:18]  Some of that is in the soundbite I'm about to play you from this morning over on MSNBC SOP14.
[00:21:24]  As far as Hunter Biden goes, even those close to the Biden family suggest that some of his behavior is pretty unseemly.
[00:21:29]  That doesn't make it illegal.
[00:21:31]  Yeah, maybe he is guilty of turning a blind eye to some of his son's behavior.
[00:21:35]  And we should put this in context.
[00:21:37]  This is a time when Bo Biden, the president's other son, was ill and then dying.
[00:21:41]  We hear here from Comer and other Republicans, it's wishful thinking.
[00:21:45]  They're trying to create a scandal.
[00:21:46]  They're trying to create a scandal or at least the appearance of a scandal, the sort of smokiness of a scandal.
[00:21:55]  I think it's pretty clear, at least so far, there is nothing there.
[00:21:58]  This was a sort of very fraught and sad time for the Biden family.
[00:22:06]  And we know how important family is to the president.
[00:22:10]  Let's put this in context.
[00:22:12]  Bo Biden got very sick in early 2015.
[00:22:16]  At that point, Joe Biden and Hunter Biden began to speak every day because they were both devastated.
[00:22:22]  But the critical part here for Congress, and that's what we have to make sure we understand, is that Joe Biden was doing nothing to benefit his son.
[00:22:31]  What about the Biden bribery tapes we've heard about?
[00:22:34]  The witness completely debunked those allegations.
[00:22:37]  And he said there was no bribe of either Hunter or Joe.
[00:22:42]  Look at that lie at the end, Peter.
[00:22:43]  That lie at the end.
[00:22:45]  I was laughing too until that.
[00:22:46]  He said there was no bribe.
[00:22:48]  That's a lie.
[00:22:49]  That's not, that's not even what Dan Goldman said happened yesterday.
[00:22:53]  He upped his rhetoric for mourning Joe.
[00:22:56]  That's not even arguably what even Dan Goldman said the witness said.
[00:23:00]  The witness said yesterday, according to Dan Goldman, not that he was aware of, but he states it definitively there on MSNBC to their audience.
[00:23:09]  And how about the nonsense about they were just too upset about Bo to realize what, that they were breaking laws?
[00:23:17]  Yeah, you know, and look, I wouldn't bring this up except for the fact that they're playing the Bo Biden card.
[00:23:23]  You know, I guess Hunter Biden was so distraught about his brother's death that he ended up having an affair with his brother's widow while he was still married.
[00:23:34]  I mean, it's just so ridiculous.
[00:23:36]  And look, I think these sort of twisted, this twisted logic, these distortions, in my mind, are a sign of desperation.
[00:23:45]  I mean, it's becoming increasingly untenable.
[00:23:48]  They keep shifting the goalposts.
[00:23:50]  The arguments keep shifting and changing.
[00:23:53]  And another important point here, Megan, is we focused on the corruption aspect of this, but something we also have to put into context is the national security implication of this.
[00:24:04]  You have in the case of China, three Chinese businessmen.
[00:24:07]  You mentioned the super chairman, Che Feng.
[00:24:10]  All three of the Chinese businessmen that funneled tens of millions of dollars to the Bidens had ties to the highest levels of Chinese intelligence.
[00:24:19]  The super chairman, Che Feng, at the same time he is setting up Hunter Biden for this private equity deal, BHR, that nets him by some estimates $20 million.
[00:24:30]  At the same time, he's setting Hunter Biden up for this lottery-like win.
[00:24:35]  He has business partners with the vice minister of state security in China, whose responsibility is recruiting foreign nationals to spy on behalf of China.
[00:24:47]  So this is not about, oh, can we prove the legal standard of whether there's a quid pro quo?
[00:24:53]  There is a larger national security question here.
[00:24:56]  The first family of the United States has received tens of millions of dollars from foreign sources, and many of those foreign sources have ties to foreign intelligence services.
[00:25:07]  Does that not matter anymore?
[00:25:09]  I think it does.
[00:25:10]  And I think most people think it does.
[00:25:12]  This guy, Hunter Biden, was doing all this when Joe Biden, by his own admission, knew that he was a cocaine addict.
[00:25:20]  He was a crackhead.
[00:25:21]  He knew.
[00:25:22]  And he didn't say this is a dangerous position for the country for you to be having this kind of access to people in Ukraine, to people in China, while putting me on the phone with them.
[00:25:34]  This guy lied about his taxes, cheated on his taxes, lied on his gun application form.
[00:25:42]  Is it really so hard to believe he took access he had to Joe Biden's confidential papers from his days in the Senate, never mind the vice presidency, at one of the homes that we now know Joe Biden was keeping inappropriately in those locations and let somebody take a look for a payment so he could get his crack?
[00:25:59]  He was sniffing parmesan for the love of God in an effort to try to get some sort of a high.
[00:26:04]  No one cares.
[00:26:05]  Imagine if you had a prosecutor with the tenacity of Jack Smith on this case, Peter, instead of figuring out the Trump scheme to go talk to the guy who ran surveillance at Mar-a-Lago to see if whether a tape could be erased or not, something Trump denies.
[00:26:19]  But imagine, this is what gets people so aggravated.
[00:26:25]  There's no two systems of justice, that it was Trump's Justice Department that was weaponized, not Biden's.
[00:26:30]  And we're all supposed to sit back and say, that Trump, he sure is horrible.
[00:26:34]  He shouldn't be running at all.
[00:26:35]  It's four more years for the sitting honest Uncle Joe.
[00:26:40]  Yeah.
[00:26:41]  Yeah.
[00:26:41]  No, look, it's interesting how their characterization of Hunter has changed completely.
[00:26:46]  They argued for years he's a legitimate businessman.
[00:26:49]  He was a Yale-trained lawyer.
[00:26:51]  He got these deals because of his merit.
[00:26:54]  Now they're saying, oh, well, he was just distraught and he was on drugs the whole time, which to me just doubles down on the question, then why do you think these foreign nationals were sending him all this money?
[00:27:04]  Let's remember also another thing, Megan, that Joe Biden apparently went along with, which is in 2014, the U.S. Senate released this back in 2020.
[00:27:13]  In 2014, Hunter Biden said, I no longer want secret service protection.
[00:27:20]  So he was traveling to China.
[00:27:22]  He was traveling to these other foreign locations without secret service protection, taking money from people connected to foreign intelligence services with a major drug problem.
[00:27:32]  And apparently, Joe Biden had no problem with him doing that.
[00:27:36]  So it's a massive security threat.
[00:27:39]  And you're right.
[00:27:39]  There are two tiers of justice in this country.
[00:27:42]  There is no effort, serious effort by DOJ to investigate this in any serious way.
[00:27:49]  If this was a Trump rather than a Biden, the investigation would be handled far, far differently.
[00:27:56]  And if you look through the span of human history, Megan, the surest example of a decline of a civilization, it's not free elections.
[00:28:03]  Those are enormously important.
[00:28:05]  It is when the criminal justice system is seen as totally corrupt and favoring a select few.
[00:28:11]  That's when you see the decline and collapse of civilizations.
[00:28:15]  And people are starting to seriously distrust our criminal justice system in this country, I think for good reason.
[00:28:23]  Thank God Republicans won the House.
[00:28:26]  Thank God they won the House.
[00:28:28]  You people out there, you voters, you can do what you want when it comes to the White House.
[00:28:32]  That's up to you.
[00:28:32]  Do not give up divided government.
[00:28:35]  Otherwise, we're not going to know any of this stuff.
[00:28:37]  The only reason we know this stuff is because you, people, voters, you voted in divided government, and that is a blessing.

=== Women Soccer Team Anthem Disrespect (06:13) ===

[00:28:45]  Peter Schweitzer, so are you.
[00:28:47]  Thank you so much for being on with such clear, concise explanations of it all.
[00:28:51]  It's always a pleasure.
[00:28:52]  Thanks, Megan.
[00:28:54]  Wow.
[00:28:54]  All right.
[00:28:55]  When we come back, a longtime former star whose name you will know on the U.S. women's soccer team calls out her former teammates.
[00:29:03]  That's next.
[00:29:34]  And two extra streaming-tjenester Som du velger helt selv HBO Max, Prime Video, Sky Showtime You name it Du får underholdning til hele familien Og det fungerer overalt På mobilen i teltet, nettbrett i bilen Eller med Chromecast på hotell-tv Etter en stranddag på Granka Alente fungerer i hele EU og EUS.
[00:29:56]  Alt du trenger er nett.
[00:29:57]  Åh, Alente da.
[00:29:59]  Tre måneder, 79 kroner måneden.
[00:30:01]  Null binding, bare TV og streaming akkurat som du vil ha det.
[00:30:05]  Gå inn på alente.no og test det i sommer.
[00:30:09]  Tilbudsprisen på 79 kroner får du i tre måneder.
[00:30:12]  Deretter gjelder normalpris på 499 kroner per måned.
[00:30:31]  And back with us from the Florida Standard is Will Witt, whose new book, Do Not Comply, Taking Power Back from America's Corrupt Elite, comes out on September 19th.
[00:30:43]  Caroline and Will, great to see you.
[00:30:45]  Thank you for being here.
[00:30:46]  Let's kick it off with, so to speak, kick it, get it, American soccer.
[00:30:51]  These morons on the women's soccer team continue to embarrass us on the national stage.
[00:30:55]  They tied, okay?
[00:30:58]  They got into a 0-0 tie with Portugal.
[00:31:02]  And this is, they've only scored four goals in three games.
[00:31:05]  It's the first time ever that the women's team does not have at least two wins at this stage of the competition.
[00:31:12]  And yet they're celebrating out there like they've just won the whole thing.
[00:31:16]  They're making fools of themselves.
[00:31:17]  They won't sing the national anthem.
[00:31:19]  Half of them won't put their hands over their hearts.
[00:31:21]  Even the ones who are singing are half-assing it.
[00:31:23]  They clearly don't want to be doing it.
[00:31:25]  I mean, they look like they don't even want to be there.
[00:31:26]  It's like some sort of inconvenience to be representing the USA.
[00:31:30]  So Carly Lloyd, God lover, she's with Fox Sports now, goes out there, and it's very unusual for a former player on the team to actually take shots at the sitting team.
[00:31:40]  But God bless her, because she was right in everything she said.
[00:31:42]  And listen to what she said.
[00:31:45]  I have never witnessed, and just seeing these images for the first time right now on the desk, I have never witnessed something like that.
[00:31:53]  There's a difference between being respectful of the fans and saying hello to your family, but to be dancing, to be smiling.
[00:32:01]  I mean, the player of the match was that post.
[00:32:04]  You were lucky to not be going home right now.
[00:32:06]  Started to shift post 2020.
[00:32:08]  I think there's just a lot of off-the-field things that are happening.
[00:32:11]  And, you know, you never, you never want to take anything for granted.
[00:32:14]  You put on that jersey and you want to give it everything you have for the people that came before you, for the people that are going to come after you.
[00:32:21]  And I'm just not seeing that passion.
[00:32:23]  I'm just seeing a very lackluster, uninspiring taking it for granted where winning and training and doing all that you can to be the best possible individual player is not happening.
[00:32:37]  Right.
[00:32:38]  Because she mentions 2020.
[00:32:39]  That was post-George Floyd when you had the Megan Rapinos of the world saying, we're not singing the national anthem.
[00:32:44]  We're all taking a knee.
[00:32:45]  We're never going to sing the national anthem again.
[00:32:48]  And now she said that the player of the match was that post because a post blocked one of the other team's kicks into our goal, not us.
[00:32:57]  So this team is prancing around like they've won the whole thing.
[00:33:00]  They won't respect us.
[00:33:01]  They won't respect our country.
[00:33:02]  They won't respect the men and women who have died for the United States by just managing a heart, a hand over the heart.
[00:33:08]  And yet they celebrate themselves like crazy, even though at best they've tied.
[00:33:14]  I don't, Caroline, what do you make of it?
[00:33:18]  Well, I may be sports illiterate, but I can recognize when a team like this is clearly settling for mediocrity.
[00:33:26]  I mean, I saw this sports columnist describe the performance of this team as lackluster, because like you said, they tied with Portugal and they had beaten that team, I think, at least 10 meetings prior.
[00:33:40]  So this is clearly a decline in their, you know, athletic performance.
[00:33:47]  And I think it's probably because they're prioritizing other issues besides being a winning team for the United States and representing the U.S. well.
[00:33:55]  And it's definitely politics.
[00:33:57]  They're definitely investing a lot of energy into woke things.
[00:34:04]  Like you mentioned, Megan Rapinoe.
[00:34:06]  She, I think, just the other day said that if a transgender individual were to want to come onto her team, she'd accept them with open arms, which is very ironic because a women's team was beaten by a UK men's team, I think last month, 12 to 0.
[00:34:26]  So clearly she's not convinced of the overwhelming physical advantages that men have.
[00:34:31]  Megan Rapino, she's the leader of all this.
[00:34:34]  She didn't make the team exactly.
[00:34:35]  She's on the team, but she's on the sidelines.
[00:34:36]  She's not a starter.
[00:34:38]  So that's why she's not on camera when they're doing the national anthem.
[00:34:40]  But she's behind a lot of this.
[00:34:42]  She's poisoned the entire team against the country for which they play, Will.
[00:34:49]  And I don't know about you, but I'm watching this team.
[00:34:50]  I'm not rooting for them.
[00:34:52]  I'm not with them.
[00:34:53]  I hope they lose.
[00:34:55]  Well, it's funny.
[00:34:55]  Your producer, you know, they sent the topics this morning and they're talking about women's soccer.

=== Gain of Function Research Doubts (15:26) ===

[00:34:59]  I didn't even know any of this was happening.
[00:35:01]  I had to go look all this up.
[00:35:02]  I mean, this is how outside of the realm, you know, women's soccer is for a lot of people in this country.
[00:35:07]  And honestly, this team reminds me of the Republican Party in America.
[00:35:10]  It's full of losers and they love losing is what it seems like.
[00:35:14]  I mean, I see these people celebrating that they have lost or tied a game.
[00:35:19]  And it's just this entire culture of what it means to be many people living in America today.
[00:35:23]  They're fine with mediocrity.
[00:35:25]  They're fine with foreigners coming in and eating our lunch here in America.
[00:35:28]  They're fine with sending our jobs overseas so that they can work cushy jobs and that working hard is a relic of the past.
[00:35:35]  That's what it seems like this team is doing.
[00:35:37]  And so, in reality, it's hard to blame them in the sense because it's really just exemplary of what so many Americans are now doing.
[00:35:44]  I think that our country is really going downwards in a way where we are saying losing is great, being a loser or mediocre is fantastic, and being someone who excels, who is courageous, who is outside of the box is wrong.
[00:35:57]  And I think that's a huge, a huge mistake on our country's part and what we've prioritized.
[00:36:03]  It's shameful.
[00:36:04]  These girls are shameful.
[00:36:05]  They ought to be ashamed of themselves.
[00:36:07]  In other big news this week, Rand Paul, Senator Rand Paul, is now pushing for criminal charges against Dr. Anthony Fauci for lying to Congress in his testimony.
[00:36:19]  We learned this week that in an now unredacted, I'll show the audience here.
[00:36:24]  Hold on.
[00:36:25]  Here is the original.
[00:36:27]  You can see all the redactions as this was originally provided to the public.
[00:36:31]  Fauci email to all of his closest compadres within the government.
[00:36:38]  And it was Saturday, February 1st, 2020.
[00:36:42]  Okay, the pandemic was just starting.
[00:36:44]  He knew it.
[00:36:44]  A lot of us didn't yet know it.
[00:36:46]  This is how we originally got it.
[00:36:48]  And this is how it's now been produced.
[00:36:49]  Okay, so now we see the whole thing.
[00:36:51]  It's been unredacted.
[00:36:52]  Rand Paul got a look at it.
[00:36:54]  And the same guy, Anthony Fauci, who for months was telling Rand Paul and all of our other lawmakers under oath that we did not fund any gain of function research at the Wuhan lab and that there was no gain of function at research at the Wuhan lab, meaning research on bat coronaviruses to make them either more lethal or more contagious.
[00:37:12]  That's what gain of function is.
[00:37:13]  He denied repeatedly that it was happening over and over and over.
[00:37:17]  And what does this document say?
[00:37:18]  I'll read it to you.
[00:37:19]  This is February 2020.
[00:37:20]  So he knew the whole time while he was testifying to Congress, he knew the following.
[00:37:23]  This is him.
[00:37:24]  The suspicion was heightened by the fact that scientists in the Wuhan University, which is the compadre organization with the Wuhan Lab, are known to have been working on gain of function experiments to determine the molecular mechanisms associated with bat viruses adapting to human infection and the outbreak originated in Wuhan.
[00:37:44]  He's saying the experts he's talking to think it came from the lab.
[00:37:47]  Another thing he lied about.
[00:37:48]  Here he is on camera speaking to Rand Paul, trying to say, we don't fund it and you're out of line to even ask me about it.
[00:37:56]  Let's try SOT 28.
[00:37:59]  You are entirely and completely incorrect that the NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute.
[00:38:13]  Do they fund our knowledge?
[00:38:14]  Dr. Barrick, we do not fund Dr. Barrick's gain of function research.
[00:38:20]  Dr. Barrett does not doing gain of function research.
[00:38:23]  And if it is, it's according to the guidelines and it is being conducted in North Carolina.
[00:38:30]  I don't think inserting a bat virus spike protein that he got from the Wuhan Institute into the SARS virus is gain of function.
[00:38:37]  That is not a minority because at least 200 scientists have signed a statement from the Cambridge Working Group saying that it is gain of function.
[00:38:46]  Well, it is not.
[00:38:47]  And if you look at the grant and you look at the progress reports, it is not gain of function.
[00:38:53]  This paper that you are referring to was judged by qualified staff up and down the chain as not being gain of function.
[00:39:04]  If the point that you are making is that the grant that was funded as a sub-award from EcoHealth to Wuhan created SARS-CoV-2, that's where you are getting.
[00:39:18]  Let me finish.
[00:39:19]  We don't know.
[00:39:20]  I totally resent the lie that you are now propagating, Senator, because if you look at the viruses that were used in the experiments that were given in the annual reports that were published in the literature, it is molecularly impossible.
[00:39:42]  All right, so just two things and I'll give it to you guys.
[00:39:45]  So he's denying that we funded gain of research or gain of function research and that and he's denied elsewhere that there was gain of function research happening there.
[00:39:53]  And this letter says exactly the opposite, that there was gain of function research and he knew it.
[00:39:58]  And secondly, he's denying, as he always has, that any gain of function research that was being done there caused this virus, this particular virus.
[00:40:05]  Well, Robert Redfield, the former head of the CDC, came out this week and said he believes exactly the opposite on both points.
[00:40:12]  He actually says that virus, the actual virus, came out of that lab and we funded it.
[00:40:18]  So, I mean, you can't get a better official on the record to come out.
[00:40:23]  So what do you make of it?
[00:40:24]  Rand Fall trying to hold criminally, Fauci criminally responsible.
[00:40:28]  Will?
[00:40:30]  I think it's a good thing.
[00:40:31]  He's obviously telling the truth, but it's hard to imagine that something's actually going to come of this.
[00:40:35]  I think of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and all of her emails and her being held accountable.
[00:40:41]  Haven't seen that yet.
[00:40:41]  Or who knows what's actually going to happen with Hunter Biden with everything that they were just talking about.
[00:40:45]  I mean, we can be hopeful about these things and we can think that Fauci is going to be prosecuted for something like this, but it's hard for me to get too excited thinking that something's actually going to happen.
[00:40:55]  It seems like all the time, the people who are the most evil or doing the most harm in this country usually are able to get away with the things that they do.
[00:41:02]  I hope that's not the case because obviously the truth is there.
[00:41:05]  I mean, you could, you had Dr. Fauci lying about masks, saying that the masks work and the social distancing worked, but most people don't know this.
[00:41:12]  You could actually go on the NIH website and this is so much bigger.
[00:41:15]  And there were studies against the pressure.
[00:41:18]  That's one thing, Will.
[00:41:19]  This is what caused the pandemic.
[00:41:21]  This is, we're getting to what caused the pandemic.
[00:41:25]  Why did so many people die?
[00:41:27]  And the answer very much looks to be because we funded a dangerous research experiment in a lab in Wuhan that we knew didn't have the proper safety protocols because why?
[00:41:40]  Because research.
[00:41:41]  And then we refuse to investigate or hold the Chinese accountable because science, Caroline, that's why.
[00:41:48]  Yeah, I mean, it was reckless scientific investment.
[00:41:52]  And when you think about how many scientists were suppressed and silenced for challenging the ongoing narrative years ago that this virus naturally emerged from animals in a wet market, I mean, they were taken offline.
[00:42:06]  The amount of the crackdowns on social media over this.
[00:42:10]  I mean, to Rand Paul's credit, he's the only one subjecting Fauci to a reckoning right now.
[00:42:16]  But obviously there needs to be way more accountability.
[00:42:18]  And like Will said, unless there's prosecution against Fauci, I don't really know what hope we have.
[00:42:25]  I think, you know, Ron DeSantis has pledged to go after him.
[00:42:29]  And that's all well and good.
[00:42:31]  But I mean, it's unbelievable.
[00:42:32]  He's lying through his teeth repeatedly when we have the evidence.
[00:42:36]  We have the testimonies, like you said, from public health officials who said, no, like we are culpable, the United States, partially.
[00:42:44]  Because here's the thing.
[00:42:46]  Fauci, the NIH later came out and admitted that EcoHealth was doing gain of function research.
[00:42:51]  They tried to say, oh, they were doing this research and it kind of turned into gain of function.
[00:42:55]  It was an unexpected result.
[00:42:56]  And then they didn't tell us about it until 2021.
[00:42:59]  So we're sorry.
[00:43:00]  We didn't find out about it until 2021.
[00:43:02]  Here's February 2020.
[00:43:04]  Anthony Fauci saying they're doing gain of function in Wuhan, notwithstanding all the testimony that we just watched, which was under oath.
[00:43:10]  So yes, Ron DeSantis and any other president should hold that guy accountable.
[00:43:15]  And we for once and for all should get to the bottom of exactly how far that gain of function went and whether it was responsible for the virus that's killed so many, though not as many as they tell us, because they're lying even about that.
[00:43:27]  I want to switch to aged politicians.
[00:43:30]  We covered last week when DeSantis was on what happened with 81-year-old Mitch McConnell.
[00:43:34]  We've, of course, been watching the deterioration of President Biden.
[00:43:38]  And then we saw Diane Feinstein yet again, yet again, with just such an embarrassing moment.
[00:43:43]  All she needed to say was I.
[00:43:45]  She seemed to think it was her opportunity to like opine about the measure.
[00:43:49]  And she had to be corrected by Democratic Senator Patty Murray to just say I. Here's a clip of it.
[00:43:54]  SAT 26.
[00:43:56]  Senator Feinstein.
[00:44:00]  I would like to support a yes vote on this.
[00:44:05]  It provides $823 billion and it funds priorities submitted.
[00:44:16]  Yeah, just say aye.
[00:44:17]  Okay.
[00:44:17]  Just aye.
[00:44:21]  Thank you.
[00:44:22]  She's 90, Caroline.
[00:44:24]  So how old is too old?
[00:44:26]  Oh my gosh, it's heartbreaking.
[00:44:28]  I just think there's a point where this is elder abuse.
[00:44:32]  And that applies to our president.
[00:44:34]  I mean, Feinstein is recovering from shingles still.
[00:44:37]  She was in the hospital for so long that she missed many votes to the point where her Democratic colleagues are saying you should resign.
[00:44:44]  I mean, what happened to just gracefully retiring to private life, returning to your grandchildren, to just, you know what I mean, just leaving public office after a life of service.
[00:44:57]  I don't understand why people like Feinstein, I mean, even you could argue Fetterman is becoming a pawn of the political machine when these people are not well.
[00:45:08]  I mean, Biden mentally incapacitated.
[00:45:10]  McConnell showed signs of that the other day.
[00:45:13]  That was terrifying.
[00:45:14]  I mean, that was like almost a 30-second pause.
[00:45:16]  I mean, we can't, first of all, have this liability in Congress on Capitol Hill.
[00:45:22]  I think it's a liability that these elderly politicians are becoming, they're so frail.
[00:45:28]  And, you know, again, to DeSantis' credit, he's invoked the energetic executive multiple times, and that comes from Hamilton and the Federalist Papers.
[00:45:36]  But I think he meant that in more ways than one, not just like a spirited person prepared to use power for like just ends.
[00:45:44]  I also think he meant vitality, usefulness, someone who is capable because they are healthy.
[00:45:53]  Yeah, he said, Will, in our interview last week, that he'll be ready to spit nails on day one of his presidency.
[00:45:58]  He's only 44.
[00:45:59]  I believe the guy, I mean, 90 years old.
[00:46:03]  I think about Sandra Day O'Connor.
[00:46:05]  You know, she's alive.
[00:46:06]  Sandra Day O'Connor has not passed, but she's suffering from Alzheimer's.
[00:46:11]  She recognized when it was time to leave the stage and when it would be a compromise to her service to the nation to remain on it.
[00:46:19]  And I'm sure that wasn't an easy decision for her.
[00:46:21]  And I'm sure it's not easy for any of these guys, but for the good of the country, they have to do it.
[00:46:27]  I think so, but it's very hard to give up power once you have power.
[00:46:30]  And I think that a lot of people take advantage of the elderly in this country, at least especially the elderly politicians.
[00:46:36]  I mean, you have a military industrial complex.
[00:46:38]  You have big pharma.
[00:46:39]  You have the lobbying group in D.C. who say there's some old person who wants to retain onto everything they have.
[00:46:45]  Let's grease some palms and make sure that they get everything they need and just sit there.
[00:46:48]  They do nothing.
[00:46:49]  You know, it's a complete waste of a House seat or a Senate seat or a presidency to have someone in there who is inept and can't even speak or make complete sentences.
[00:46:59]  And it's all part of the plan where these people will go along with whatever it is because someone's paying the bills, someone's greasing the palms to make sure that these people stay in power.
[00:47:07]  So of course these people are too old.
[00:47:08]  You should be much, much younger being in office and much more chipper.
[00:47:12]  Unfortunately, this is the way that it goes.
[00:47:14]  Yeah, when I was practicing law, there was a mandatory get out clause.
[00:47:20]  I think it's 62.
[00:47:22]  Memory serves, you know, so you could become a partner.
[00:47:25]  But at 62, they wanted you out, not because they couldn't have another partner in the law firm, but because they understand the natural workings of one's brain may not allow one to be at peak performance.
[00:47:36]  You know, maybe 62 is too young, but certainly at 81 and at 90, it's time.
[00:47:43]  And yet, if you write too much about this, Caroline, you'll be called an ableist and an ageist and sort of shamed out of pushing it.
[00:47:53]  I mean, younger generations have a very large stake in the future of this country.
[00:47:58]  I think it's fair that we say, you know, pass the baton to us.
[00:48:04]  We would like to lead because we honestly, we're, we have the pulse.
[00:48:08]  We're on the pulse of God what needs to be done, what's happening on the ground in this country.
[00:48:13]  And I think if you're insulated in government for decades and decades, in a way, I think the founding father said that was a good thing because then you weren't too sensitive to the fray and kind of the popular currents, which are sometimes dangerous.
[00:48:28]  But in another sense, they're way, way too removed from, I think, what is going on.
[00:48:34]  And yes, there's the decay.
[00:48:36]  There's the physical and mental decay.
[00:48:40]  You know, we're still looking, well, at a presidential race that looks like it's going to be a 77-year-old against an 80-year-old.
[00:48:45]  So, I mean, we're forging right ahead with that battle.
[00:48:48]  What do you make of that?
[00:48:50]  I think that personally, we need someone younger from the Republican Party, unless, you know, Donald Trump and Biden are drinking their raw milk.
[00:48:57]  I can't see this being too exciting.
[00:48:59]  I had to bring that back for the show, just like last time.
[00:49:02]  My husband was like, Was he drinking raw milk?
[00:49:04]  Keep going.
[00:49:05]  Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:49:06]  I'm drinking it again now with some chocolate too.
[00:49:08]  Anyway, it's very exciting to see what's going to happen in the presidential election.
[00:49:12]  It's heating up to be one of the most exciting that I've seen in my lifetime.
[00:49:16]  But if it turns out that it's just two older people who, you know, their mental capacity somewhat seem to go, it obviously seems like Donald Trump is much more awake and on it than a Joe Biden.
[00:49:25]  But still, for me personally, I think we need some vigor.
[00:49:28]  Vigor would be nice.
[00:49:30]  I like the phrase spit nails on day one.
[00:49:32]  I've got to admit.
[00:49:32]  I do too.
[00:49:33]  That worked for me.
[00:49:37]  Now, an old pal of mine and legendary actor, Dennis Quaid, is here.
[00:49:43]  Dennis rose to fame in the 1980s, starring in hit films like The Right Stuff and Great Balls of Fire.
[00:49:51]  His career spans decades, but he is here today to discuss something in addition to his acting that he's doing.
[00:49:58]  As a musician and songwriter since the age of 12, Dennis has brought his faith to music in his new album, Fallen, a gospel record for sinners.
[00:50:09]  And we mean all of you and yours truly.
[00:50:12]  It's actually really good.
[00:50:14]  I'll tell you the songs that I love most on it.
[00:50:16]  We'll pay you a little bit, play you a little bit, and we'll get into what inspired him to write the album and how faith has played such a major role in his life.
[00:50:24]  Dennis, great to see you again.

=== Dennis Quaid's Secret Film Role (04:11) ===

[00:50:26]  Hey, Megan.
[00:50:27]  It's been a while.
[00:50:28]  It's been a minute.
[00:50:29]  How's it going?
[00:50:30]  Yeah, it's been a minute.
[00:50:30]  It was like 18, I think, was the last time we were together.
[00:50:34]  Kind of sort of at the Reagan Ranch.
[00:50:37]  Yep, exactly.
[00:50:38]  You were shooting Reagan, but we're not allowed to talk about Reagan because you're on strike because you're a member of SAG.
[00:50:43]  Is that the right thing?
[00:50:44]  I just said Reagan Ranch.
[00:50:45]  That's all.
[00:50:47]  Okay, so you may not know this, but since I last, and my audience doesn't know this, but since I last saw you, I am also an actor now.
[00:50:53]  I had to join SAG because I haven't told my audience about this because it's not ready for prime time.
[00:50:59]  But I have actually taken a role, a bit part in something I'm not at liberty to disclose.
[00:51:06]  It's a very small, very bit.
[00:51:09]  But they made me join the union.
[00:51:10]  I took my union.
[00:51:11]  I'm also on strike.
[00:51:12]  We're on strike together.
[00:51:14]  Alrighty then.
[00:51:14]  You'll have to tell me about that off air.
[00:51:17]  So what are we doing on strike?
[00:51:19]  Like, do we, should we go to the picket line together?
[00:51:21]  Do we get to hold placards?
[00:51:23]  I am planning on going to the picket line, in fact, because it's a real thing with streaming and everything.
[00:51:31]  A lot of actors, they depend on that residual money that comes in, which, you know, with network, and if you do movies that play on TV or in different markets, you get that.
[00:51:42]  And it's, you know, it's kind of a person's social security that they get for life.
[00:51:47]  I mean, I still get substantial amounts for movies I did back, you know, in the 80s, in fact.
[00:51:54]  And they need that.
[00:51:56]  And, you know, streaming, I don't think they have a business model for it yet.
[00:52:01]  And I think that's been a big problem, but they will get it.
[00:52:07]  And I think, you know, it's going to happen.
[00:52:09]  It's just a question of chicken right now, I guess, because nobody wants to talk.
[00:52:15]  Well, I mean, it's a bummer for the consumers because as everything is halted, the writers are on strike, the actors are on strike.
[00:52:23]  You know, these things aren't being produced.
[00:52:24]  And so I don't know what's the lag time, 12 months, 24 months from now, we're going to be wondering where all our great shows are.
[00:52:32]  Right.
[00:52:32]  And of course, during COVID, all the streamers and everything, it's kind of a golden age.
[00:52:38]  So they have a big backlog of product, I think, that they have yet to put out.
[00:52:45]  And so, like I said, it's going to be a game of chicken, I think, for a while.
[00:52:50]  The streaming thing is interesting because it used to be that guys like you would star in something.
[00:52:55]  I don't know.
[00:52:56]  Maybe I think more of in terms of television, but you'd star in a television show.
[00:53:00]  And then when the reruns were on, you get paid all these residuals.
[00:53:04]  And now that we just have all this streaming, it's like, well, how do you get paid for all the residuals?
[00:53:09]  I mean, right now, I've noticed that I don't even know what streaming service it is, but one of them is forcing suits on us.
[00:53:17]  Suits is everywhere.
[00:53:18]  I believe it's Ari Emanuel, Megan Markle's new agent, shoving this down our throat so he can relaunch her career.
[00:53:26]  But I mean, I sort of see the point.
[00:53:27]  Like, so she's now everywhere.
[00:53:29]  And so that show is now everywhere, whereas it was not everywhere recently.
[00:53:33]  And so do those actors get paid on that or no?
[00:53:35]  Because it's not like a rerun.
[00:53:37]  It's just born again on streaming.
[00:53:40]  Right.
[00:53:41]  Exactly.
[00:53:42]  There's a buyout that goes on there.
[00:53:43]  And that money is going somewhere, but it's just not going into the actress' pockets.
[00:53:48]  And, you know, some of the streaming services, they don't have to report how many views and all that to subscription.
[00:53:56]  So, I mean, I see their point of view from where they're at as a business, but this has always been part of a business and it's the right thing to do.
[00:54:07]  Well, I'm following it with great interest since I too.
[00:54:10]  I feel like Norma Ray, I'm on strike.
[00:54:12]  I'm ready.
[00:54:13]  Right.
[00:54:13]  I don't, I have no idea what I'm doing.
[00:54:15]  They made me join it just to do my very small little part.
[00:54:19]  Like, oh, great.
[00:54:20]  I think I could get some cool benefits.
[00:54:21]  I'll go to the meetings.
[00:54:22]  I'll go to the cocktail parties.
[00:54:23]  They'll be like, ew, get it out of here.
[00:54:25]  Who is she?
[00:54:25]  What cocktail parties?
[00:54:27]  Yeah, there probably aren't any.
[00:54:29]  Let's talk about music.
[00:54:31]  So I knew that you were in a band.
[00:54:33]  We talked about this when I interviewed you a few years ago.
[00:54:35]  It was the sharks, Dennis Quaid, and the sharks.

=== Joining the Actors Union Strike (02:39) ===

[00:54:38]  So how now have we parleyed this into gospel, into something more about your faith?
[00:54:44]  Well, gospel music is, I love gospel music.
[00:54:49]  And, you know, I grew up in the Baptist church and a lot of those hymns, five of which are on the record, I loved that I picked.
[00:55:01]  And I wrote a song after I got out of what I call cocaine school back in 1990.
[00:55:10]  And when I got off that, you know, it was that leaves a big hole in you, actually, even though you're not using it.
[00:55:19]  It takes a while to really get to feeling like, you know, human being, you know, you're gnawing your teeth and you've got to fill that hole.
[00:55:30]  And, you know, that's an AA or whatever.
[00:55:34]  They call it a higher power, but it's really...
[00:55:39]  God, it's really, it's really the spirit.
[00:55:42]  You've got to fill that hole with.
[00:55:44]  And that's the only thing that really fills that hole.
[00:55:47]  And I wrote this song called On My Way to Heaven, which I wrote it for my mother because to let her know I was okay.
[00:55:57]  And the whole record really is a spiritual journey, not just from that time, but from growing up as a kid.
[00:56:10]  And hopefully I think people relate to it because it's, I think it's hopefully universal in that it is the story of a spiritual journey.
[00:56:25]  Well, what I like about it is, it reminds me when I first started at Fox News, we were basically funded by these Christie Lane commercials.
[00:56:33]  And he'd have this Christie Lane thing like singing about faith as she was on the, you know, she was oceanfront as the sunset went down and she had the flowing dress and the 1980s hair.
[00:56:46]  And, you know, Christie Lane had never committed a sin in her life.
[00:56:49]  That's how it sort of appeared.
[00:56:50]  This is very different, Dennis.
[00:56:52]  This is basically like quite a few missteps, but I fall into a soft place thanks to you.
[00:57:02]  Well, I titled the album Fallen and it's Fallen, a gospel album for sinners because I wanted to have the broadest possible audience with it.

=== Fallen Gospel Album for Sinners (04:18) ===

[00:57:17]  And that's, you know, it's my story in a way.
[00:57:22]  You know, it's got the church aspect, but it's also got a little bit of the outlaw thing with it.
[00:57:34]  We have a little bit from Fallen.
[00:57:37]  The words are really beautiful.
[00:57:39]  You talk about feeling so ashamed.
[00:57:41]  Let's let the audience take a listen.
[00:57:42]  Fallen.
[00:57:44]  But bad things happen to good people when you're riding with the devil on focus.
[00:58:10]  Now, you reference getting out of cocaine school, but a lot of the audience may not even be aware of this chapter of your life.
[00:58:17]  It may just be looking at you as this huge movie star who's made 75 movies and is in the household name and you're rich and you're famous.
[00:58:24]  But you know of what you speak.
[00:58:27]  Yeah, you know, during the 80s, you know, that was part of the 80s.
[00:58:33]  You know, that's back when we were all having blind fun and or, you know, thought we were.
[00:58:39]  And it was fun and then fun with problems and then just problems with that.
[00:58:43]  And I had one of those white light experiences where I kind of saw my, I saw myself either dead or in jail or losing everything I had and worked for.
[00:58:54]  And so I checked myself into a rehab facility.
[00:58:59]  That was back before they had the ones with couches and pools and stuff like that.
[00:59:05]  Hardcore.
[00:59:06]  Yeah.
[00:59:08]  It was 30 days, and I was lucky I got it.
[00:59:12]  And, you know, I spent pretty much the next kind of four years kind of grinding my teeth.
[00:59:17]  And so I started, I read the Bible again, cover to cover.
[00:59:24]  And I was really struck by the red words of Jesus.
[00:59:30]  And as a kid, I'd grown up in the Baptist church, but I got disillusioned with what I saw kind of hypocritical or churchianity, as I call it.
[00:59:43]  And, you know, it had these nice sayings and everything, but it would people were doing things.
[00:59:51]  They weren't living them out, or at least in my mind.
[00:59:57]  But the problem was with me.
[01:00:00]  But not only the Bible, but I read the Dhammapada.
[01:00:03]  I read the Bhagavad Gita.
[01:00:04]  I read the Koran.
[01:00:06]  And I was what you call a seeker, I guess, looking for something.
[01:00:11]  And it came back to the red words of Jesus in the New Testament that really struck me and really hit home, hit my heart, and opened up a whole new world.
[01:00:23]  And he became my personal savior.
[01:00:26]  This is a much different relationship.
[01:00:30]  How do you, looking back on it, did you just get sucked into it because it was okay?
[01:00:34]  You were in an industry that I remember you telling me when we sat together the last time there were like provisions in movie contracts allowing like a budget for drugs or something.
[01:00:44]  You said something along those lines.
[01:00:46]  Well, yeah, cocaine was in the budget back then.
[01:00:48]  You know, it's all that side cash they cash on hand they have.
[01:00:52]  But it was, and, you know, People magazine, I remember having, you know, a big story about how cocaine was, you know, not harmful at all.
[01:01:00]  It was just fun.
[01:01:01]  And everybody bought into it.
[01:01:04]  But, you know, then John Belushi and Freddie Prince and quite a number of people started dropping.
[01:01:13]  And, you know, towards the end of the 80s, it got pretty scary, I think.
[01:01:19]  This is when you were married to Meg Ryan.
[01:01:22]  It was right before I got married.
[01:01:25]  We weren't married yet.
[01:01:26]  In fact, we were to be married.
[01:01:29]  And about two months before our wedding, I mean, that's when that event happened that I told you about.

=== Living with Twins and Cocaine Past (06:17) ===

[01:01:36]  And I sat her down on a couch and told her, you know, I was, you should know I'm addicted to cocaine.
[01:01:45]  And, you know, her jaw dropped.
[01:01:48]  And she really had no idea.
[01:01:49]  She just thought I had a whole lot of energy and thought I was going into rehab and stuff.
[01:01:56]  And she really stuck with me and really grateful for that at the time.
[01:02:03]  She had a lot of support.
[01:02:04]  And I can say I believe it because I'm one of those people who I'll go out to dinner with a group of friends and, you know, I'll meet somebody new at the table.
[01:02:15]  And later I'll be like, that guy was so weird.
[01:02:17]  He was so strange.
[01:02:18]  And my husband Doug will be like, Meg, he was on drugs.
[01:02:21]  I'm like, what?
[01:02:22]  What?
[01:02:22]  I never know.
[01:02:23]  I have no, I am the worst.
[01:02:25]  Why was he sweating so much?
[01:02:28]  Why'd you go to the bathroom like 12 times?
[01:02:30]  You should see a doctor about that.
[01:02:34]  So I believe it is possible to have someone in your life who's on drugs without you knowing, although these are not people I was ever married to.
[01:02:41]  So yeah, so you get the help that you needed.
[01:02:45]  And then you wind up divorcing Meg Ryan and you had some other relationships.
[01:02:50]  Well, that was, what, 11, 12 years later.
[01:02:55]  Yeah, your relationships have been pretty good.
[01:02:56]  Your first wife was, I think, five years.
[01:02:58]  Meg Ryan was 10.
[01:03:00]  Then came, forgive me, I forget the mother of your twins, her name.
[01:03:04]  Kimberly.
[01:03:05]  Kimberly, yeah.
[01:03:06]  Yeah.
[01:03:07]  And then you, Ever the Optimist, have found love again.
[01:03:13]  Look at you.
[01:03:13]  You're basically a newlywed.
[01:03:17]  Yeah, we've been Laura and I three years and we're coming up on what, five years being together.
[01:03:24]  And she's really the love of my life.
[01:03:26]  And, you know, I wasn't looking for her.
[01:03:28]  I was really kind of giving up on all that.
[01:03:32]  And she comes along and life surprises you so much.
[01:03:36]  And we just have the greatest relationship.
[01:03:40]  Just a lot of joy.
[01:03:43]  Joy through everything.
[01:03:44]  Joy through, you know, the adversities that life throws at you and the good things, the bad things.
[01:03:51]  It's just wonderful.
[01:03:53]  And what I love about it is so, it's, I think, really the most honest relationship I've ever had.
[01:04:02]  Why do you say that?
[01:04:05]  Well, because I don't know.
[01:04:07]  It's people, I don't know, we feel like through shame or this or that.
[01:04:11]  We feel like we have to hide things from one another or we can't say that because, you know, this will all go away or whatever.
[01:04:19]  You're afraid to show who you really are.
[01:04:21]  Sometimes you don't even know who you really are.
[01:04:24]  And that's probably most of the time.
[01:04:27]  And we just talk about everything and it feels so easy doing that, which was so difficult before.
[01:04:38]  I mean, it's hard enough for men to talk anyway, you know, about their feelings or about what's going on with them.
[01:04:44]  And, you know, it's just different.
[01:04:48]  She's not only beautiful, she's smart.
[01:04:51]  I read that she was valedictorian in her class at Pepperdine.
[01:04:55]  She's an accountant.
[01:04:56]  She's got intellectual chops.
[01:04:58]  She has a double master's in economics from the Combs School and from Notre Dame.
[01:05:04]  And she was working on her PhD when I met her.
[01:05:08]  And I was a little disruptive in that, I think.
[01:05:12]  Now, almost 40 years younger.
[01:05:16]  So we talked about the last time.
[01:05:18]  Almost 40 years younger.
[01:05:19]  But you keep yourself in shape.
[01:05:20]  You were told me you go to the gym every day because you're vain.
[01:05:23]  That's good.
[01:05:24]  I like that you admit it.
[01:05:25]  Most of us are.
[01:05:28]  So how is that?
[01:05:28]  Is it even a factor?
[01:05:30]  I think if you younger, if you marry somebody that much younger who's smart, it can be an equalizer.
[01:05:34]  That's important.
[01:05:35]  If you married some dope, I think that would get old fast.
[01:05:39]  I don't say she's an old soul or whatever, but she's just, you know, I, we just don't even think about it.
[01:05:46]  I don't know how it comes up.
[01:05:48]  And, you know, I wasn't looking for it.
[01:05:51]  I wasn't even looking for, you know, somebody younger or anything like that.
[01:05:56]  People tell me that I have kind of a young spirit about me, you know, because I have, I'm always going.
[01:06:01]  But you just never know who God's going to put in your path.
[01:06:10]  Now, if my math is correct, the parent trap just hit 25.
[01:06:14]  She's 30.
[01:06:15]  So she was five when you made that movie.
[01:06:17]  Yeah.
[01:06:18]  Is that what you're?
[01:06:23]  Well, you got to live with that.
[01:06:26]  There it is.
[01:06:28]  Yeah.
[01:06:30]  We have a lot of fun with that, actually.
[01:06:33]  With the whole Meredith thing, because I have twins, you know.
[01:06:37]  Yeah.
[01:06:37]  Like you, you could have married her or adopted her.
[01:06:42]  She doesn't have a twin.
[01:06:45]  Look, I think it's very optimistic.
[01:06:47]  I always root for people who, if your first marriage doesn't work, second, third, whatever.
[01:06:51]  It's like so optimistic.
[01:06:52]  I say it's my fourth and final.
[01:06:55]  Yes, I like that.
[01:06:56]  Good.
[01:06:57]  Well, and what about kids?
[01:06:58]  Do you think about that?
[01:06:59]  Now it's 69 and she's 30.
[01:07:01]  She's probably awesome, no?
[01:07:03]  Oh, sure.
[01:07:04]  I'd be all up for that.
[01:07:06]  And, you know, we're just right now, we're kind of back and forth between Los Angeles and Nashville and a lot of traveling.
[01:07:15]  And so, you know, we're planning it and also seeing what happens with it.
[01:07:24]  So different.
[01:07:25]  I mean, I could like when I was 35 and I fell in love with Doug.
[01:07:30]  We got married when I was 37.
[01:07:31]  I mean, that clock was ticking.
[01:07:32]  The thought of being able to just be like, sure, I'll do it at 69.
[01:07:35]  It's so different, Dennis Quaid.
[01:07:37]  So what do you think about like, well, you know, do you worry though still?
[01:07:41]  Cause it's like, you know, life is what it is.
[01:07:43]  Longevity is what it is.
[01:07:44]  You would still be.
[01:07:45]  I don't.
[01:07:45]  You know, it's like I've been chasing kids now for so long.
[01:07:51]  And I really like it.

=== True Story Behind Hunger Games (07:29) ===

[01:07:53]  And kids, they, you know, you get to know yourself a lot better, you know, who you are with kids.
[01:08:02]  And never regretted having having one of them.
[01:08:07]  And it's, you know, just love, loving the house.
[01:08:11]  It's wonderful.
[01:08:12]  That's so true.
[01:08:13]  Sometimes you want to blow your brains out, but yeah.
[01:08:19]  But it's really worth it.
[01:08:21]  It's worth it.
[01:08:24]  Your eldest is famous in his own right now, Jack Quaid, the son you had with Meg.
[01:08:31]  Yeah.
[01:08:31]  He looks like such a combo of the two of you.
[01:08:33]  It's actually remarkable.
[01:08:36]  Yeah.
[01:08:36]  He has part legitimately as a big polywitch.
[01:08:40]  He was in Hunger Games.
[01:08:41]  He's in Oppenheimer.
[01:08:44]  Yes, he is.
[01:08:45]  You know, it was obvious that he was always going to be an actor.
[01:08:49]  You know, his mom's Meg Ryan and me, and we never pushed him to do that.
[01:08:55]  But, you know, he just gravitated by the time he was four years old.
[01:08:59]  He had a video camera in his hand, you know, one of those old 90s versions, you know, and was making movies and just all throughout.
[01:09:08]  And, you know, then he got into high school drama and really did it the right way.
[01:09:13]  That's what I did.
[01:09:14]  It was, you know, in school and never let him be a child actor because we kind of didn't want that pressure on him.
[01:09:21]  But then came time, he was going to get an agent.
[01:09:25]  And my agent actually had, you know, since he was a kid, wanted to represent him.
[01:09:34]  And so, you know, I told him that he said, no, I want to do it on my own.
[01:09:38]  So he went out and got his own agent and fine.
[01:09:41]  Then, you know, here he's got the Hunger Games.
[01:09:43]  That's his first movie, The Hunger Games.
[01:09:47]  And then his second job, he's working with Martin Scorsese in vinyl.
[01:09:52]  That was a great series that was on.
[01:09:55]  And so it was like, hey, Jack, how about helping me out a little bit?
[01:10:00]  You know, he's just doing great guns.
[01:10:03]  And you should tell him to put you on a Joe Biden plan.
[01:10:07]  Yeah.
[01:10:08]  Just so.
[01:10:11]  He's, it must be odd, like, to see the chip off the old block doing exactly what you do.
[01:10:17]  You know, like, we're all rooting for our children, but it must be, it must be interesting just to watch them do exactly your craft and do it in his own way.
[01:10:24]  Like, did you, how does it make you feel when you go to a big movie premiere of his?
[01:10:31]  It's just, I just feel so proud of him, actually.
[01:10:35]  He's on this show called The Boys, you know, with Amazon as well.
[01:10:40]  And I just feel so proud of him.
[01:10:43]  Every time I see him, I forget, you know, that he's my son a little bit.
[01:10:48]  And he's very much his own person.
[01:10:51]  And, you know, he's had to deal with this, what do they call it?
[01:10:56]  The Nepa baby thing.
[01:11:00]  But He's very much his own person.
[01:11:05]  Who cares, right?
[01:11:06]  In the end, like, yes, he's got two famous parents.
[01:11:09]  Maybe that made life easier for him and breaking into a very competitive business.
[01:11:13]  But I mean, honestly, it's tough enough right now to be a white guy.
[01:11:16]  So good for him.
[01:11:17]  Yeah, but you gotta, you gotta have the talent to stay there, you know?
[01:11:20]  No, yeah.
[01:11:21]  And he really did do it on his own.
[01:11:24]  Yeah.
[01:11:24]  Of course, they're not gonna keep casting him in these big films if he doesn't have the acting chops.
[01:11:30]  True.
[01:11:30]  Now, how old is he now, Dennis?
[01:11:32]  He's 32, 32.
[01:11:35]  Okay.
[01:11:36]  Because one of the things that I was thinking about was, you know, we talked about you and your drug past.
[01:11:43]  And, you know, just this week, I'm sure you saw that Angus Cloud died, this 25-year-old actor who starred in Euphoria.
[01:11:51]  They're not exactly saying I just saw a little bit of that.
[01:11:55]  Read about that last night, in fact.
[01:11:57]  Yeah, it's really sad.
[01:11:59]  Yeah.
[01:12:00]  They don't, they're not saying the cause of death, but every like the directors who worked with him, they're saying, like many of us, he suffered with addiction and depression.
[01:12:09]  So it, you know, they're leading us to believe it has something to do with one of those possibly an overdose.
[01:12:14]  We don't, we just don't know.
[01:12:16]  Yeah.
[01:12:16]  But these are why it's no, no, no, but I'm not going to ask you.
[01:12:22]  These are the reasons why I would be worried if one of my kids wanted to become an actor.
[01:12:26]  Like the industry seems to have a fair amount of this.
[01:12:30]  I think it's everywhere, Megan.
[01:12:32]  I think it gets just not publicized like it is in the entertainment industry.
[01:12:40]  It's everywhere.
[01:12:41]  It's in all walks of life.
[01:12:44]  And it's so many people are dying of fentanyl these days.
[01:12:49]  I mean, things that, you know, weren't around when I was doing my thing.
[01:12:54]  It really scares me.
[01:12:56]  And, but I don't worry about that with him.
[01:12:59]  He's got such a great head on his shoulders.
[01:13:01]  And God, he was such an easy kid.
[01:13:05]  Well, how's that possible?
[01:13:06]  Right.
[01:13:07]  How do you inoculate from a family of privilege with the parents?
[01:13:11]  I mean, he obviously got a divorce when he was five.
[01:13:13]  He's spoken about it publicly, talking about how that was sort of young enough to not totally get it.
[01:13:18]  Oh, okay.
[01:13:19]  All right.
[01:13:20]  But he seems very well adjusted.
[01:13:22]  And even he has said that, like, he thought you guys handled it pretty well.
[01:13:25]  And that growing up, you know, you, you were obviously just mom and dad, even though he knew you were famous and he saw your divorce on the cover of People Magazine.
[01:13:33]  He said with like the paper shred down the middle.
[01:13:36]  So how did he turn out well?
[01:13:37]  Like for all those other parents out there, what did you do?
[01:13:40]  Well, I think you just had to be there for them, you know, as a family.
[01:13:45]  It's about the relationship you have with your kids.
[01:13:49]  You know, it's, you have to be there and be present.
[01:13:54]  And, you know, I'm just, I'm just talking about if you want a relationship later on in life, you got to build that all the way through.
[01:14:09]  And, you know, he's always been, we've always had a great communication.
[01:14:13]  And I think that's really important.
[01:14:18]  I think you're right.
[01:14:19]  I mean, I think there's, you know, there's no do-overs.
[01:14:22]  And if you miss the childhood, if you miss the ability to make your imprint, then you just spend a lifetime regretting it.
[01:14:27]  There's certain things you can't get back.
[01:14:30]  Yeah, true.
[01:14:31]  That's regret on that is that's tough.
[01:14:36]  Speaking of the fentanyl, Jamie Lee Curtis was on TV recently saying she's admitted she's a recovering addict and her drug of choice was Vicodin back in the day.
[01:14:47]  She said she thanks God that fentanyl wasn't out there when she was using because she probably would have tried it and she probably would have been hurt by it.
[01:14:55]  That's what she thinks.
[01:14:56]  Do you feel like that?
[01:14:59]  Yeah, probably so, because, you know, you never think it's going to be you, and you hear all the scare stories from your parents or, you know, the media or whatever.
[01:15:08]  And I mean, I remember that's the way it was back then.
[01:15:12]  I mean, look, you know, cocaine, the way they talked about that and stuff.
[01:15:15]  And it's pretty frightening.

=== Faith Over Fentanyl Addiction (04:53) ===

[01:15:23]  Well, at least now we have more attention being drawn to it.
[01:15:27]  There's certainly no People Magazine articles singing the praises of fentanyl right now as a recreational drug.
[01:15:33]  So that's progress.
[01:15:35]  On messaging, like, what do you hope to achieve by sharing these stories, like the stories of faith?
[01:15:41]  It's not very popular right now.
[01:15:43]  Faith is going, sadly, down in terms of its popularity.
[01:15:49]  Church attendance is at record lows, not just church, but temple, et cetera.
[01:15:54]  I mean, what do you, do you hope to inspire anybody to give it another look?
[01:15:58]  Not necessarily, as you say, church, but just spirituality and connection with God.
[01:16:04]  I'm just trying to connect with people and just tell my story.
[01:16:08]  And it's funny, you say that.
[01:16:10]  I mean, yeah, church attendance is compared to like 1960 is completely inverted.
[01:16:19]  The people went to church.
[01:16:20]  And I got disillusioned with church early, or what I call churchianity.
[01:16:32]  But I think there's actually, I think, in COVID, I think there is kind of a spiritual reawakening, I think, that maybe we're just starting to see the effects of in this country because people have been so busy for so long and they finally had to like stop and they were at home and with all with their life.
[01:16:58]  And I think they became contemplative.
[01:17:00]  And the only thing to do for a lot of people who play music was go in the studio.
[01:17:06]  And I think we all started to turn inward, I think, and reevaluate our lives and think about the big questions.
[01:17:16]  I mean, COVID caused a lot of death.
[01:17:20]  I lost four or five people that four people that I dearly love to it.
[01:17:29]  And it makes you think about the big picture and what am I doing and why am I here?
[01:17:38]  And there's no answers for a lot of it.
[01:17:46]  And where am I going next?
[01:17:49]  I mean, that's something we all contemplate.
[01:17:52]  What does it mean?
[01:17:54]  You sit there in church.
[01:17:55]  I do go every week with my family and I think of that question all the time.
[01:17:58]  I too have had loss in my life too much for the past year or so.
[01:18:03]  And so you wonder.
[01:18:05]  I will say I loved the song on the album, I'll Fly Away.
[01:18:09]  I thought it was, it spoke to some of this, but it also, it's kind of fun.
[01:18:14]  Like it talks about what's next a bit, but in a snappy, it sounds, I don't know, a little honky tonk.
[01:18:21]  We have a little clip of it.
[01:18:22]  We'll let the audience hear it.
[01:18:23]  Take a listen.
[01:18:25]  Like a bird from these prison walls I'll fly.
[01:18:31]  I'll fly away.
[01:18:36]  I'll fly away.
[01:18:42]  I will fly away in the morning when I die.
[01:18:50]  Hallelujah.
[01:18:51]  By and by, Dennis Quaid, you're channeling a little Johnny Cash there, if you don't mind me saying in a great way.
[01:19:03]  Maybe a little bit.
[01:19:04]  He was such my hero, and still is.
[01:19:08]  Jackson Hubley, whose father, his father wrote that song, I'll Fly Away, is in the background on that.
[01:19:18]  So I thought that was kind of cool.
[01:19:21]  Unfortunately, he just passed about three days ago.
[01:19:24]  And I'd like to send out my regards to his family, and we're sure going to miss him.
[01:19:33]  But it was great to have him on the record.
[01:19:35]  When you're singing a song like that, you know, with lyrics like that, which are addressing some profound questions, but in a way that picks up the spirit, what does that feel like?
[01:19:48]  Because I think the experience of God and faith is a feeling of joy.
[01:19:55]  You know, it's called the good news, is what it is.
[01:19:59]  And I really feel Jesus came here to tell us about heaven, yes, but he also came here to, I think, teach us about how to have heaven here on earth.
[01:20:11]  And inside of yourself, that's not always easy or whatever.

=== Parent Trap Gave New Life (05:49) ===

[01:20:17]  And a lot of it just has to do with faith.
[01:20:22]  And it's that part of we all know that hole that's inside of ourselves that it's usually the last thing we think of at night or the first thing about when we wake up in the morning.
[01:20:34]  And so to me, it's joy.
[01:20:39]  My mom used to say, don't ever let anybody take away your joy.
[01:20:44]  And it's good to live by.
[01:20:49]  How important has Big been in your marriage to Laura?
[01:20:53]  God is really part of our relationship.
[01:20:57]  It truly is.
[01:21:00]  I think I understand what that means now, where I did not before.
[01:21:06]  And I think that comes through having a personal relationship with God.
[01:21:14]  Is she a faithful person?
[01:21:16]  Oh, yeah.
[01:21:16]  She grew up.
[01:21:18]  She grew up like that.
[01:21:20]  In fact, her parents were missionaries over in Japan.
[01:21:23]  And her father is a professor and he's a poet.
[01:21:31]  He writes his poetry is very faith-driven himself.
[01:21:36]  And they're great people.
[01:21:39]  How do they feel about you?
[01:21:42]  We all get along great.
[01:21:45]  It's got to be so nerve-wracking to meet the parents.
[01:21:48]  At first, it was.
[01:21:49]  At first, it was.
[01:21:50]  Yeah.
[01:21:51]  For the age difference and everything.
[01:21:53]  But, you know, they're just really good people.
[01:21:58]  And, you know, Laura and I were, we feel about each other.
[01:22:03]  And that's a very natural thing.
[01:22:07]  She's got an old soul.
[01:22:08]  You have a young personality.
[01:22:10]  So I feel like that could work potentially.
[01:22:13]  I could see why it landed.
[01:22:16]  All right.
[01:22:16]  Stand by, Dennis.
[01:22:17]  There's more to go over.
[01:22:18]  We're going to take a quick commercial break.
[01:22:19]  We will be right back with Dennis Quaid right after this.
[01:22:47]  And Hallie wanted to know mom.
[01:22:49]  And are you angry?
[01:22:51]  Oh, honey, of course not.
[01:22:54]  I just can't believe it's you.
[01:23:00]  Last time I saw you, you had diaper rats.
[01:23:03]  It's a nice.
[01:23:04]  Look at you.
[01:23:06]  Well, I'm quite grown up now and quite without a father.
[01:23:11]  And I've had it into my crazy mixed-up teenage years.
[01:23:14]  And I'll be the only girl I know without a mother to fight with.
[01:23:18]  Allie, you've been in London all this time?
[01:23:21]  Come here, squirt.
[01:23:25]  Dennis Quaid breaking the rules of never sharing the stage with children or animals.
[01:23:31]  He's broken that rule too.
[01:23:32]  Yeah, there was a dog in that scene, too.
[01:23:35]  Lindsay Lohan at, I think 11 years old there, amazing.
[01:23:39]  By the way, Dennis's new album is called Fallen, a Gospel Record for Sinners.
[01:23:44]  It's out right now.
[01:23:46]  So, Dennis, she just had a baby.
[01:23:48]  Lindsay Lohan just welcomed her first baby.
[01:23:52]  She's now 36 years old.
[01:23:54]  Can you believe it?
[01:23:55]  That is news to me.
[01:23:57]  Oh, congratulations.
[01:23:59]  Great.
[01:24:00]  Last time I talked to you, you were saying, come back, come back.
[01:24:05]  She's an incredible talent, no?
[01:24:08]  She's the most talented person I think I've ever met.
[01:24:12]  She was 11, you know, at the screen test.
[01:24:15]  And we got to shooting this scene at 11.
[01:24:20]  She's doing like this English accent and, you know, an American accent.
[01:24:24]  And I thought it was two different people for, I just bought it.
[01:24:28]  Everything that she did.
[01:24:29]  And she did it like so easy.
[01:24:32]  And just amazing.
[01:24:37]  And she, you know, she went through her trials as we all do or whatever.
[01:24:44]  But, you know, I still think that there's her story is definitely not over.
[01:24:50]  And obviously her story is definitely not over.
[01:24:53]  And it's congratulations on the baby.
[01:24:55]  Yeah.
[01:24:56]  She's just got talent like oozing out of her pores.
[01:24:58]  That one.
[01:24:58]  There's just not going to be keeping that down.
[01:25:02]  And you can't say that about everybody.
[01:25:03]  A lot of people make it because they work hard or what have you.
[01:25:06]  She's just, she seems naturally talented.
[01:25:08]  I got to ask you the question of when you look back on your career in the 75 movies.
[01:25:13]  It's unbelievable.
[01:25:14]  I know you told me, I think you told me last time, the right stuff is one of your favorites, if not your favorite.
[01:25:20]  But what are, you know, what are the ones that jump out at you sitting here right now?
[01:25:24]  Well, the parent trap was one of them.
[01:25:26]  I really, Parent Trap gave me new life.
[01:25:29]  You know, I, you know, told you about, you know, getting off cocaine and all that stuff.
[01:25:34]  And, you know, you think you're doing the right thing and now things are going to get better.
[01:25:40]  But they actually got worse.
[01:25:41]  It's like I took a year off to really kind of work on myself, which turned into two.
[01:25:46]  And then so it was Hollywood forgets about you pretty quick, I found out.
[01:25:53]  And, you know, along came the parent trap about six years later and it gave me another career, really.
[01:26:01]  So it's, it's always, it's, that's always in my heart.

=== Reagan Era Political Reflections (07:09) ===

[01:26:06]  And then I would say that like the rookie Reagan, which I just did, you know, I've got a bunch of them.
[01:26:18]  A frequency, which father-son stories.
[01:26:20]  I've done a lot of father-son stories, which always vibrates with me.
[01:26:26]  Why?
[01:26:29]  Because, well, it's what guys do.
[01:26:33]  You know, they're struggling with their fathers inwardly or outwardly and who they are themselves.
[01:26:43]  And, you know, how are they in relief?
[01:26:46]  Who are they in relief to this other person?
[01:26:50]  And it's something that wells up in guys, I think.
[01:26:59]  Did you, did you have a struggle with your dad?
[01:27:03]  Yeah.
[01:27:04]  And yes, I did.
[01:27:06]  You know, there's a lot of things.
[01:27:07]  Well, I don't want to be like that.
[01:27:09]  And then it wound up like that.
[01:27:11]  Or I can actually feel my father actually inside me.
[01:27:15]  He passed in 86 of a heart attack at 63.
[01:27:23]  But I could, it's, yeah, I could feel them inside me, but we wound up being really good, close friends in the latter part of his life, which was really wonderful.
[01:27:35]  You know, my parents were divorced and he was when I was about 11.
[01:27:40]  And so he wasn't around, but then we wound up really having a great adult relationship.
[01:27:46]  What did he do?
[01:27:47]  You were raised in Houston, yes?
[01:27:49]  Yeah, he was an electrician.
[01:27:51]  Okay.
[01:27:52]  Yeah.
[01:27:52]  So you're a good Texas boy, which explains to some of your connection with faith.
[01:27:56]  I do think like, depending on where you grow up, you're more than likely to have a connection with God and in certain places like New York City, less likely.
[01:28:04]  More accessible.
[01:28:07]  Yeah.
[01:28:08]  And you know what else?
[01:28:09]  Not just God, but love of country, love of God, love of, love of country, selflessness.
[01:28:14]  I think there's a lot of people in those big cities that have a love of country and a love of God, too.
[01:28:20]  You know what it is, though?
[01:28:21]  Find them all the time.
[01:28:23]  The young people are not feeling the love of country.
[01:28:25]  We actually just saw this in a poll in 19.
[01:28:29]  Hold on a second.
[01:28:30]  I wrote it down.
[01:28:31]  Okay.
[01:28:32]  Gallup.
[01:28:33]  And get this.
[01:28:35]  2013.
[01:28:36]  So that's 10 years ago.
[01:28:39]  Back then, 85% of people aged 18 to 29 felt patriotic.
[01:28:46]  85.
[01:28:47]  That's just 10 years ago.
[01:28:48]  Guess what it is today?
[01:28:50]  18.
[01:28:51]  18%.
[01:28:53]  Yes.
[01:28:54]  You know, right before the right stuff, right before the right stuff came out, we had a screening of it.
[01:29:01]  And somebody said they were in a bathroom and another person came into the bathroom, you know, after the screening and went, I don't know what's going on.
[01:29:14]  I kind of feel patriotic.
[01:29:15]  It's like about that movie.
[01:29:17]  What's going on?
[01:29:18]  And it was kind of, it reminds me of what's going on today reminds me very much of the way it was back then too.
[01:29:28]  You know, that was the time of like, you know, Iran, the Iran hostages.
[01:29:34]  We were, you know, we sort of given up as a country.
[01:29:37]  And I just, I think that it's going to come back around.
[01:29:41]  It really, this is America.
[01:29:43]  Even during the Revolutionary War, they were, you know, and we went through the Civil War.
[01:29:49]  It's always ebbed and flowed.
[01:29:51]  And it's part of the strength of this country is to be able to bend and then snap back.
[01:29:58]  And I really have faith in this country that that is going to come back.
[01:30:03]  I certainly hope you're right.
[01:30:04]  I mean, I've been railing on the show about the women's national soccer team out there at the World Cup.
[01:30:09]  They won't sing, Dennis.
[01:30:10]  They won't put their hands on their hearts.
[01:30:14]  They don't feel prideful when they're out there, even though they're representing the United States of America.
[01:30:21]  Yes, we've got some flaws.
[01:30:23]  Yes, there have been some warts.
[01:30:25]  But I remember the 1968 Olympic Games with the fist in the air.
[01:30:32]  But I do, I think I have a faith that the people are going to come together.
[01:30:42]  And I think the pendulum has already started to swing back.
[01:30:44]  I really do.
[01:30:46]  Do you?
[01:30:46]  Why?
[01:30:50]  Because our country is an experiment.
[01:30:54]  It really is.
[01:30:54]  And sometimes that experiment goes awry and tears us apart in a way.
[01:31:00]  And, you know, there always is a revolution going on in America.
[01:31:05]  And but we all, we've got it back together in the past and we will now, too.
[01:31:13]  I mean, I look back at the 70s and we had written ourselves off, really, that we were on the decline.
[01:31:22]  And we came roaring back.
[01:31:26]  Who was the president who brought us back?
[01:31:28]  Ronald Reagan.
[01:31:31]  It's not approved.
[01:31:32]  Ronald Reagan, but there was a yearning there already going on.
[01:31:38]  And I think that I do believe that whoever's president in the United States really is a reflection of what is going on with the American people at the time.
[01:31:54]  And it's in a way that kind of we get the president that we deserve, in a sense, because it is a reflection of what is happening.
[01:32:09]  And there's so much divisiveness, which is built up and political correctness and just the ability to state the obvious common sense.
[01:32:21]  But it's coming back.
[01:32:24]  I can already feel it.
[01:32:26]  I know you're an independent, which is that's about as right as you're allowed to be.
[01:32:33]  It's about as right as you're allowed to be in Hollywood.
[01:32:37]  Well, I've voted both ways throughout my life.
[01:32:40]  You know, Ronald Reagan was the first president that I actually, I voted for Jimmy Carter, and then I voted for Ronald Reagan.
[01:32:51]  I don't think you were alone in that.
[01:32:55]  This video went viral just over the past couple of days.
[01:32:58]  Fox News posted it, and it's at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
[01:33:04]  You know, I don't know if it was this way where you live, but this past Saturday was nuts with the storms on the East Coast and in the Virginia area where Arlington is.
[01:33:14]  It's in Virginia.

=== Avoiding the Modern Plague (02:52) ===

[01:33:16]  They had winds of up to 80 miles an hour here at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier nearby.
[01:33:20]  They call it.
[01:33:20]  Are you talking about the sentry at the tomb?
[01:33:22]  Yes, the sentry.
[01:33:23]  Yeah.
[01:33:24]  The winds were 59 miles an hour.
[01:33:26]  The rain was pouring.
[01:33:27]  And look at this guy.
[01:33:28]  Look at this guy.
[01:33:28]  3rd Infantry Regiment.
[01:33:30]  The sentry's walking.
[01:33:31]  Listen.
[01:33:39]  It's beautiful.
[01:33:40]  This is why we salute.
[01:33:41]  This is why we put the hand on the heart.
[01:33:42]  It's why we sing.
[01:33:43]  It's why we love our country to honor guys who's ever in that unknown soldier tomb.
[01:33:50]  That's what I mean.
[01:33:51]  Keep the faith, you know, because that's us out there in the storm.
[01:33:58]  And just stay with it and the storm will pass.
[01:34:02]  It always does.
[01:34:04]  Do you, like, when you're, do you talk politics like at any sort of a Hollywood gathering or do you avoid that like the plague?
[01:34:11]  I kind of avoid it like the plague because I want to talk to people.
[01:34:15]  I don't want to like because I know something's going to come up about it, you know, and I respect everybody's point of view.
[01:34:23]  I really do.
[01:34:24]  And I, you know, I think we, we need to get back to that.
[01:34:28]  And it's, I think right now we're just kind of talking at each other.
[01:34:35]  And, but it's, you know, I'm not like afraid of it, but, you know, I don't want to alienate people.
[01:34:44]  And, you know, I like to keep my opinions to myself a lot.
[01:34:50]  But it's, we need to get back to where a place where we, you know, we used to have liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats somewhere in the middle there that were at least kind of controlling things that were, you know, you felt like the adults were in the room and we weren't that far apart, the two parties.
[01:35:18]  And it seemed to be, it seems to be very polarized right now.
[01:35:22]  But I think it's, like I said, I think the pendulum is swinging back.
[01:35:28]  Well, I think it's interesting.
[01:35:30]  Like you're just hearing you talk about your movie choices.
[01:35:34]  You've done a lot of films about faith, family connection, as you point out, things that will stir one's patriotism from the right stuff to Reagan, which will come out soon.
[01:35:46]  And we'll have you back when that happens.
[01:35:48]  Like, I feel like you've done your part as an American to try to bring us together in a way that everyone can get behind, right?
[01:35:56]  Irrespective of your politics.
[01:35:58]  Well, I don't think that people want to hear an actor spout on about his politics just because he's on TV either.

=== Megan Kelly's Patriotic Movie Choices (01:52) ===

[01:36:08]  I see actors do it.
[01:36:09]  I get a little bored with it, to tell you the truth.
[01:36:13]  Right.
[01:36:13]  So you tried to get at it a different way.
[01:36:16]  And you know what?
[01:36:17]  It's been so effective.
[01:36:18]  And it's why you're.
[01:36:19]  I don't know if it's universal.
[01:36:20]  It's universal amongst the Megan Kelly fans.
[01:36:23]  Universally loved.
[01:36:25]  Dennis, thank you so much.
[01:36:26]  Please come back when you are promoting and we're off strike.
[01:36:30]  Okay.
[01:36:32]  That movie.
[01:36:33]  Reagan.
[01:36:33]  Megan, it's been really great to see you.
[01:36:36]  And you look great.
[01:36:37]  And I look forward to the next time, maybe in person.
[01:36:41]  Thank you.
[01:36:42]  God bless you and keep on going.
[01:36:45]  Thank you.
[01:36:46]  Back at you.
[01:36:47]  And please support Dennis by buying his album Fallen, a gospel record for sinners.
[01:36:53]  It's available to stream right now.
[01:36:54]  I just got it on Spotify.
[01:36:56]  You will love it.
[01:36:57]  It's actually really good.
[01:36:58]  It will uplift you.
[01:36:59]  It'll make you think.
[01:37:01]  And he's a great singer.
[01:37:02]  Doesn't he channel a little Johnny Cash there?
[01:37:04]  I think you will see the same.
[01:37:06]  Thanks to all of you for joining me today.
[01:37:07]  Tomorrow, remember that story about the NAACP?
[01:37:10]  Of all groups, the NAACP, fighting back about the crime in San Francisco, complaining about the defund the police movement and the soft young crime DA.
[01:37:20]  Well, the two key players speaking out for the first time right here tomorrow.
[01:37:25]  Don't miss that.
[01:37:29]  Thanks for listening to The Megan Kelly Show.
[01:37:32]  No BS, no agenda, and no fear.
[01:37:55]  30 gigabytes for bar 214.
[01:37:58]  One call, it's not a good thing.