You are listening to the Sean Hannity Radio Show Podcast.
All right, happy Monday, and we're glad you're with us.
Write down our toll-free telephone number.
We're in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
You know, the Garth Brooks song Operator got to put me on through.
Got to send our love down here to Baton Rouge.
Anyway, we're in the studios of our affiliate down here, News Radio 1150, WJBO.
I cannot even, words can't describe what I've been through all day.
We got here last night.
The devastation is beyond anything that I can describe to you.
It does remind me.
And I know it was worse in New Orleans, but it's the same thing.
And I just, I am stunned at the lack of coverage considering the magnitude of the disaster that is down here.
At the bottom of this half hour, I'm going to introduce you to Livingston, Parish Sheriff, a really great guy.
This guy's like going to be, I love this guy.
Spent all morning with him, Jason Ard, and we toured the devastation just in his parish alone.
This is going to impact as many as 140,000 homes potentially.
I mean, literally, I would go through street after street after street after street after street.
I mean, entire neighborhoods.
These were no flood zones.
People didn't even have flood insurance because it's a no-flood zone.
How do you flood in a no-flood zone?
Well, it flooded.
And it flooded like halfway up every single solitary house.
When you see these pictures tonight, you're not going to believe what you see.
I mean, entire blocks, everybody had gutted their house and everything is gone.
Every single thing that people owned is like in the front of their house on the street.
And it goes on what seemingly forever.
It's been that bad.
And, you know, so we went, we came down here.
You know, I started getting, Linda was actually the first one that picked up on how bad this was.
I guess because she was getting calls from some of our listeners down here.
It's like, this is awful.
This is bad.
Then I started getting emails myself.
You guys need to know this is horrible.
This is the worst thing that's ever happened.
You have no idea.
The national media is ignoring this.
And lo and behold, they did.
And anyway, then I had some friends on the Trump campaign.
They were in the plane with Trump when he went down.
And they're calling me, and they're telling me, you cannot believe what we're seeing down here.
And so I said, all right, we're going to Baton Rouge.
I even talked to Trump himself.
I said, how bad was it?
He says, you have no idea.
No idea.
It said that bad.
Now, I got to believe that the president's been briefed.
All right, he's coming tomorrow.
A little late.
But as all these people literally fighting for their lives and losing everything that they own, he's out there teeing off every day on the golf course during the entire episode.
And Hillary, you know, she literally gives new meaning to phoning it in.
She made a phone call to the governor.
Gee, a lot of help that was.
Anyway, and there are great people down here.
I tell you who's amazing.
Franklin Graham, the Reverend Franklin Graham.
I've supported his Samaritans purse now for a lot of years.
I mean, just they were down here.
Tony Perkins was down here.
There was a front page article today in one of the local papers about literally borrowing churches because schools, churches.
The sheriff actually pointed out one particular nursing home.
I mean, they had like 75 old people in there on oxygen, bedridden, and half the place was packed with water.
And as people describe this to me, I'm like, all right, explain it.
It's like Noah's Ark in real life.
That the rain came down so fast and it was so devastating and there was no place for it to go that what happened is it just everybody's house is like five feet underwater.
And you say, and then the currents were horrible.
Now, there's 13 people that have died.
I know in the particular parish I was in with Sheriff Ard that it was only one person that they lost, and he told me it's a miracle.
And then when I talked to the people and what was happening, there's one elderly woman, she's got to be 78 years old, 80 years old.
I mean, her family flew in to clean out her house for her, but I mean, this house is done.
These homes are done.
The only way you're going to get these homes back up and working again as homes, you got to strip, I mean, strip it entirely.
You might be able to might, with the right treatment to prevent mold, you might be able to keep the brick and the structure.
And I know from my years of construction, but I mean, you're going to have to take out every single bit of every 2x4, every electrical outlet, it's just gone.
Everything.
Just strip it, and it's empty.
You're going to have to redo the what do you call these things?
The choice.
Yeah, everything's got to be redone.
The whole thing.
And I just, you know, I remember going down to New Orleans after Katrina, and I'm like, wow.
You just, I'm driving on a highway.
You look left, you look right.
Boom.
Everything's empty, boarded up, and done.
Remember the same thing when I went through Detroit and all these people suffering.
And of course, you know, this is the thing.
How many times do I tell all of you, don't count on the federal government?
You can't.
The only reason lives weren't lost in massive numbers, the only reason I'm telling you right now is because the good people in this community, everybody that had a boat, got in their boat and they went in the neighborhoods and they started doing it themselves.
They started getting the old people out.
They started getting the young people out.
They went to the nursing homes.
They went to the hospitals and they got everybody out.
Policemen I talked to some of the sheriff's department people, they worked 60-plus hours before they took one hour's sleep.
And then you had people outside of the area realizing the extent of the damage.
Then they all came in with food and blankets and water and baby formula and supplies.
I know the president was teeing off.
He was playing golf.
Hillary, she made a phone call.
And then Donald Trump got criticized, even though he told the press to stay away from him and he didn't want him around them.
But it did show it's, I don't, you know, all these years, it's my 30th year now on radio, my 20th year on the Fox News channel.
Although the New York Times, I guess, is shocked that I'm supporting the conservative, the more conservative candidate in the race, I don't even have time for these idiots in the liberal media today.
I have no time for them.
I've given too much attention to most of these clowns.
But I mean, you know, they didn't do their job either.
I actually asked the sheriff, I said, has there been any national media here?
He goes, no, you're the first.
I said, you've got to be kidding me.
It's unbelievable.
But I've been, I don't get shocked easily, right, James?
I say this.
I wonder sometimes that my heart is getting hard because I've covered too much.
And you just, you kind of get numb after a while and a little bit immune.
I felt like crying for these people today.
You know, a lady comes up to me, oh, so glad to see you.
Glad you're here.
And she's like, going to get me water.
I'm like, lady, ma'am, I'm fine.
Don't worry about me.
She gives me a hug.
I'm like, I ought to be hugging you.
And they lost everything.
Everything.
Isn't that the American dream?
I was asking the sheriff, what is the average home price about?
Yeah, like $150,000.
My first home cost $114, $118,000.
I don't know.
I remember I got that house.
It meant everything to me.
So you work your whole life.
You're able to get a mortgage.
You buy a house.
You know, there were people that literally got moved in their house two days and now their house is done.
Two-day-old house.
Incredibly sad, tragic.
And I keep telling all of you, don't trust your government.
Don't I say that?
I say, because you know what?
When it hits the fan, yeah, it hits the fan.
And it happens.
It's happened to a lot of people around the country.
You know, your government's not going to be there.
I'll never forget the interview I had with the Reverend Jackson.
I tell this story a lot.
Reverend Jackson, you know, he's blaming Bush.
They had five days' warning that Hurricane Katrina was coming.
They had no days' warning here in Baton Rouge and surrounding areas.
And, you know, Reverend Jackson, I'm like, Reverend, you know, you had a Democratic mayor, you know, you had a Democratic governor.
And remember, Mayor Negan, this city will be a chocolate.
Don't play it.
This city will be a chocolate city.
And I go, all right, great.
Imagine somebody saying this city's going to be vanilla, strawberry.
I mean, what's so stupid and ignorant.
Anyway, he was living life large in one of the hotels and high-rises doing nothing.
And Jackson's blaming Bush.
The Times Picky Youton of New Orleans actually predicted like 30, 35 years prior, what would happen if a Cat 3, 4, or 5 hurricane came to the coast of New Orleans and the levees broke.
They predicted it perfectly.
And nobody prepared for it.
Then they had five days' warning, and they still didn't prepare for it.
I said to Reverend Jackson, well, you know, did you expect George Bush to drive the thousand yellow buses underwater?
Why didn't you use the buses?
And he literally said to me, well, what are we supposed to do with the buses?
I'm like, how about you put the key in it?
And then he goes, then what?
I'm like, turn the ignition on.
Well, then what?
Pick up the people.
And where am I supposed to take them?
How about take them the hell away from the hurricane?
Good grief.
The same government that's bankrupt in your Social Security?
Oh, I got a story today about Obamacare.
Do you realize the people in Arizona now have no Obamacare?
None.
Zero.
No Obamacare.
I have it somewhere in my pack here.
I'll get to that in a second.
But what I saw today was incredible devastation, sadness.
You know, and just to do a little political commentary on this, you know, the president out there, TNO, this is the same president and same Hillary Clinton that said this about Bush during Hurricane Katrina.
Because when the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast extended their hand for help, help was not there.
When people looked up from the rooftops for too long, they saw an empty sky.
When the winds blew and the floodwaters came, we learned that for all of our wealth and our power, something wasn't right with America.
We can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005, and we should.
We can talk about levies that couldn't hold, about a FEMA that seemed not just incompetent, but paralyzed and powerless, about a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground trying to provide comfort and aid.
We can talk about a trust that was broken.
The promise that our government will be prepared, will protect us, and will respond in a catastrophe.
Time and again, Hillary Clinton has stood up to President and Bush stood up for us.
If you're stuck on a rooftop or stranded in the superdome during a hurricane, you're invisible to this president, even when you're on CNN.
Well, you are not invincible to me, and you should never be invisible to the President of the United States.
Wow, you should never be invisible to the President.
Hillary is not even going to bother.
Hillary says, Well, I'll visit Louisiana when I won't disrupt.
Wow.
Did you hear the people when Trump came down here?
Listen to this.
Listen, they were so happy he came down here.
Look at what they said.
Take pictures of that.
We knew you'd be here, Mr. Trump.
All right, guys, let's stay together.
We knew you would be here, Bros. A.P. Reddit.
Run!
Mr. Trump!
Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump, Mr. Trump!
We lost everything!
Donald Trump for America!
Mr. Trump!
Why did you come, Mr. Trump?
Why did you want to come help out?
We love you!
We love you, Donald.
What's your message, Mr. Scan?
What did you lose, and what does it mean to have Donald Trump here?
Let's see.
I didn't lose anything compared to what a lot of people lost.
I'm okay.
It's materialistic things.
They can be replaced.
And having Trump here, does that meant a lot to you?
Oh, yes, yes.
Because hell, America's got to wake up.
Donald Trump's the way to wake us up.
He's waking America up.
He's got to get busy.
America's got to get behind him.
Without America getting behind Donald Trump, we're going to lose, and we're going to lose bigger than this flood ever did.
So America's got to wake up.
Damn a Republican, damn a Democrat.
It's America.
It's America's time to stand up and take back America.
By the way, these are the same people that gave you more debt in the last eight years that they're going to put on your children and grandchildren than every other president before them combined.
They're the ones that added 12 million Americans to food stamps, 8 million in poverty, 8 million more.
The worst recovery since the 40s.
The lowest home ownership rate since the 50s.
The lowest labor participation since the 70s.
And a doubling of our national debt.
And one in five families in America don't have a single family member working.
You can add some other statistics to that as well.
You know, it just never ends.
In regard to the president's trip to Baton Rouge, did the White House schedule the trip in response to Donald Trump's visit?
Of course not.
The local paper has said the president is, quote, already late to this crisis, but it's better late than never.
Has the president been tardy in responding more personally to Baton Rouge's motion?
Kevin, I can tell you what the president's been focused on is the response on the ground and the people whose lives in Louisiana have been turned upside down by this terrible flooding event.
And the response that you've seen from the federal government has been effective.
And the president and the other members of his team that have operational responsibilities have been effective.
And again, you don't just have to take my word for it.
I would actually refer you to local officials in Louisiana who have said very positive things about the federal response.
Because when the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast extended their hand for help, help was not there.
When people looked up from the rooftops for too long, they saw an empty sky.
When the winds blew and the floodwaters came, we learned that for all of our wealth and our power, something wasn't right with America.
We can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005, and we should.
We can talk about levees that couldn't hold, about a FEMA that seemed not just incompetent, but paralyzed and powerless, about a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground trying to provide comfort and aid.
We can talk about a trust that was broken.
The promise that our government will be prepared, will protect us, and will respond in a catastrophe.
Time and again, Hillary Clinton has stood up to President Bush, stood up for us.
If you're stuck on a rooftop or stranded in the superdome during a hurricane, you're invisible to this president, even when you're on CNN.
Well, you are not invisible to me, and you should never be invisible to the President of the United States.
All right, that, of course, was both Obama and, of course, Hillary, and talking about using Katrina for political, cheap political points.
Well, now we're down here in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I've been out on the ground, and the devastation, it takes your breath away.
The depth, the amount of devastation.
I mean, neighborhood after neighborhood, home after home.
I had the honor of meeting the great sheriff of Livingston Parish, Sheriff Jason Ard.
He's with us now, and we spent a lot of time together this morning, Sheriff.
And I'm trying to explain to this audience just how devastating this all is.
And that's only one parish, one area.
And it goes on, you know, as many as 100,000-plus homes are impacted here, I'm told.
Yes, Joe Honor, I appreciate you coming out today to give our residents a little hope and try to get this message out in some of the video that you're going to be able to show.
Again, I don't think it does any justice to actually putting your own eyes on the devastation.
Yeah, it really does.
What I saw on TV, I mean, we saw images of coffins floating away in the rapids.
I mean, the amount of turmoil.
Here's, why don't you tell the whole story?
Because this is an unbelievable story to people, is that literally you had rains like you've never had before.
The particular areas you were taking me through today, they were described as no flood zones.
Many of the people we met today, you heard them, they don't even have flood insurance.
Those homes are done.
They don't have the money to rebuild those homes.
Right.
And you have a lot of people who are going to be in that situation.
And again, we had no notice.
Obviously, we knew there was a thunderstorm that was coming, but the amount of rain was just devastating in the timeframe.
It was almost like a Cat 5 hurricane with no wind sitting on top of us for 24 hours, just hammering on us.
And so the least likely place to flood is the Watson area, which is north of Denham Springs, north of the parish.
And that was the first place that we really started having a lot of issues, which was not what we were expecting, of course.
So we had a lot of resources there.
At the same time, that was going on, that hit right around Saturday afternoon, the wee hours of Saturday morning.
We started losing our 911 communications center.
So we fought that all morning into the wee hours of the morning.
At the same time, we had our detention center with 600 inmates taken on water.
So all this was going on at the same time, and this flood is moving to the south of our parish.
And it's also on the north side on the very far east, which is in the Albany area.
So it's actually moving, and we're getting just phone call after phone call.
Our system goes down.
We were able to keep up some phone lines and be able to move it to another location because the water took over our center.
Once we get over to this other location, we're able to set up some phone lines.
And of course, you have your 901 line and a couple of other lines, and you have over 50 to 60,000 people calling at one time, which is jamming your phone lines up.
Then the next morning, we're still up.
Nobody's had any sleep.
This is now Sunday.
And into Monday morning, the AT ⁇ T lines go down, and anybody has service with AT ⁇ T in the Baton Rouge area.
So now you have no communication with your loved ones.
Unbelievable.
There are rescuers out there trying to get to people.
People can't, they don't know if their loved ones are okay.
So it's a lot of chaos.
We have a lot of help.
And I told you this earlier today.
This isn't about what the sheriff's office did.
This isn't about what your local police department or your fire departments did.
This is about what Livingston Parish did as a community.
All came together.
You had people helping people, your neighbors helping neighbors.
There's people helping strangers.
They had a boat.
They would come dear, but did anything they could to rescue people.
We had people putting signs on the doors that just said, I need help.
We had a lot of veteran officers that was recognized and looking for those signs.
We were able to get what we needed.
Not every one of my deputies had boats, but it was nice to know when they got to that flooded area in a vehicle, they had someone, a citizen waiting with a boat saying, hey, where do I go?
So they were able to get with the deputy, and we worked together as a community to get these people evacuated.
And we're talking thousands upon thousands of people that were rescued out of their homes.
And by the way, these are a lot of these people, and I met a few of them.
I mean, they were elderly.
You pointed out a nursing home to me where, what did you have, 75 people or whatever the number was in there?
And a lot of these people are bedridden.
I mean, that in and of itself is a major operation, and you had to get them out on a boat.
Right.
A lot of things on a boat until we could get the high water vehicles in.
And luckily, I had a couple of high water vehicles that we owned that we were able to utilize.
And again, this is something that we're not prepared for.
I mean, usually when you have a hurricane, you know it's coming, and you're waiting, you're getting everything prepared, you're getting your vehicles here, you're getting things gassed up, getting your boats ready.
This was us laying in the bed Friday morning, listening to the watching the rainfall and realizing it's coming up.
And by Friday evening, we realized, you know what, we're going to have an issue.
I mean, it happened that quick.
And so we went to rescue and right off the bat.
By noon on Friday, we were rescuing right after this thing starts.
And so it was very quickly this thing started taking the, basically taking over our parish.
And we're very lucky, but like I said this morning, God was with us to be able to help us to save this many people.
Unbelievable.
So how many people total, when you look at not just your parish, but surrounding parishes and neighboring metro Baton Rouge, where I am now, and how many people do you think totally were rescued from all of this?
Because you showed me different, for example, in different areas, all right, maybe the flood was four feet.
You showed me one area that was above six feet.
In other words, you know, above people's heads in some neighborhoods.
So all of those people had to be rescued.
I mean, it really, it almost sounds like a miracle because you're talking about thousands of people that had to be rescued overall.
And I guess everybody that owns a boat in and around the area got in their boats and started doing all this.
It was all over.
I mean, you have all the surrounding parishes that are rescuing.
It's going to be, you know, I know my parish, we had well over 20 to 25,000 people that was rescued.
And I can't keep count of those who, the neighbors who were rescuing.
It's hard to keep count of all that.
But I know we have 141,000 people here.
And, you know, we're saying that we had over, from what I understand, the numbers around 80% of our parish are going to be impacted.
They may not have a turtle loss, but they were touched.
You start doing the numbers on that, you're getting up into 50,000.
So, it's going to be a large number of people.
Could even possibly be in the 100,000 of people that were rescued during ISI flood event.
And this is talking about East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office, the Tang Bahoe Sheriff's Office, Ascension Sheriff's Office.
I mean, it was a lot of rescues going on the entire time we were here.
Unreal.
Sheriff, I watched, I met a couple, I met a lot of your guys, and I met some of the National Guardsmen today, too.
And some of these guys were saying, what, they didn't sleep for 60 straight hours?
I mean, how long were you up for?
About the same.
None of us slept.
We couldn't sleep.
We didn't have time to sleep.
This was a serious rescue effort going on.
You know what was really what kept me moving was the fact that I had so many deputies that were devastated by this storm to watch them come in, go off for about 30 minutes, cheering up, realizing they have nothing left, they have nothing to go home to, and go back and get in that boat and go back out and start rescuing.
Wow.
Those men and women that did that just motivated me to work harder.
That's the kind of people we have that live here and work here, and I can't be more proud of them than I am today.
You know, a common theme of my program is I kind of believe in limited government.
I believe that, you know, anybody that thinks the government's going to be there for you, I'm like, don't count on it.
I can use Obamacare as an example.
You never got to keep your doctor your plan, and then people ended up paying $4,100 more over Obama's term than less.
He promised $2,400 savings per family per year.
That never happened.
And Social Security and Medicare is going bankrupt.
And I guarantee you that they're going to raise the eligibility age, mean test Social Security over the years, and they'll legalize stealing.
But this is an example.
There's basically, there was no federal government help here at all, right?
Well, you know, all I could do is reach out to our state to get some rescue vehicles here.
And I have to, again, I mean, I always agree with our governor's views.
I mean, everybody has, but the governor was there for me when I called him, and he actually called me personally to say, hey, what do you need?
I told him what I needed.
He got it here.
As far as the FEMA so far, you know, I think that they've worked with us.
I know our parish president, Lakeland Ricks, is working day in and day night trying to deal with that.
Luckily for me, in my job, I don't have to deal with that directly too much, other than the fact trying to get my men and women here taken care of.
But it's, you know, nothing could have been here quick enough.
And I'm not going to get into it.
I just, I don't really know what to say because I don't know.
I know everybody has things to do.
Everybody has things that they got to take care of.
But when I needed the help, it was here in a timely manner.
And then the other thing we were dealing with here as well, as you know, we became an island.
When we were shut off from Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes, there was no way to get to us, but there was one area you could get in and out, which was very north, which means a 15-minute ride to Baton Rouge became a three to four-hour ride.
Just in your one parish, how many homes do you think are impacted?
I don't think they have an exact number.
I think that it's going to be up to the quote.
I think that the last number I heard was somewhere around between 50 to 60,000 homes probably impacted.
Oh, my gosh.
And look, we were in these homes together today.
I mean, these homes are done.
I mean, you probably can keep your shell.
That's about all that you'll be able to keep.
Right.
Everything that was in there, every wall, every stud, every joist, everything's coming down.
Right.
I mean, everything.
I would say that our federal government understands that and works with our local government to make sure these people get help with this.
They're going to need help.
People don't have insurance.
The reason they don't have it is because they didn't need it.
And now they have to have it.
If you're not in a flood zone and you don't have insurance, most people are on fixed incomes.
They're not paying the insurance because they don't need it.
So, yeah, I mean, we need their help, and I hope they understand.
And I hope, and I really thank you for what you're doing to kind of get this message out there.
Levistin Paris needs help.
We were devastated.
You told me earlier today there's been no national real coverage of this.
I mean, you told me that was the first person you saw from the media.
Even local people are still dealing with other stuff that's going on down in Baton Rouge.
There's been no real national coverage of this except when Donald Trump came to town.
Yeah, you know, we had a few local national companies reached out during the actual rescue time and did some phone interviews.
But I think you're the first one that I know that actually have came down here to show the aftermath.
You know, it's one thing when you see the floodwaters, and that's when everything's really hot and people want stories, but now is the time they need you.
And I'm very appreciative that you would show up and show the people that y'all still care.
Did you see that lady?
She wanted to hug me today.
I'm like, I need to hug you.
You just lost everything you own.
It kind of blew me away.
One of the things I got to give a lot of credit where credit is due.
And I know my buddy, Reverend Franklin Graham, this guy's the real deal.
I love this guy.
He's been down here with Samaritan's Purse.
And I know that Tony Perkins and his group have been down here.
We're going to put all of these reputable charities up on Hannity.com.
I'm not a particular fan of the Red Cross for a lot of reasons, but these are really good people.
They're on the ground.
They're feeding people.
They're helping these people recover.
They even have people they brought in to help people, you know, just get all the stuff out of their house and take down the walls.
I mean, it's just so sad because, you know, everybody's life is, you know, you buy a home, you think the American dream is true now, and then you got to deal with this.
Yeah, you know, Sean, you got to meet some of our residents today, and now you know how it feels to be in my position.
The kind of people that are so appreciative of what we do and supportive, and they came together as a community, you got to see it firsthand what this parish is all about.
And if it wasn't for the organizations and Mr. Graham and different ones coming down and helping us, then, you know, I don't know what we would do.
Wow.
Listen, Sheriff, I got to be honest.
I really admire you.
I think you're probably the only person that's a politician that I know that ever got 93% of the vote.
Having now met you, I understand it.
And I know how much you care about your community.
Everybody here is in our thoughts and prayers.
I appreciate the time you spent today to help us tell this story.
We're putting all of these great charities up on my website.
And I just got two friends of mine that just texted me, and they wanted to know exactly what they could do.
And I know other people feel the same way.
Sheriff, you're the best, man.
Appreciate it.
Wow.
I appreciate you.
Thank you so much.
Such a good guy.
And all those guys, I got to meet all of them today.
We're hanging out with them.
Yeah, I just got a text from two friends of mine.
They're like, what can we do?
How can I help?
What can I do?
So people are incredibly generous.
And we'll put it up on my website, Hannity.com.
We're going to change a little bit of gears when we get back.
And Coulter has a brand new book out, and it is pretty powerful.
We'll get to that and much more.
We knew you'd be here, Mr. Trump.
We knew you would be here for us.
A.P. Ryder, come on.
Mr. Trump!
Thank you, Sony!
Mr Trump! Mr Trump! Mr Trump! Mr Trump! Mr Trump!
We lost everything!
This makes it a lot of fun!
Donald Trump for America!
We all love you!
Mr. Trump!
Where did you go, Mr. Trump?
What did you want to come here?
We love you, Man Love Enough!
What's your message?
Mr. Trouble, I mean, come on, help out everybody.
What did you lose, and what does it mean to have Donald Trump here?
Let's see.
I didn't lose anything compared to what a lot of people lost.
I'm okay.
It's materialistic things.
They can be replaced.
And having Trump here to that meant a lot to you.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
Because hell, America's got to wake up.
Donald Trump's the way to wake us up.
He's waking America up.
He's got to get busy.
America's got to get behind him.
Without America getting behind Donald Trump, we're going to lose, and we're going to lose bigger than this flood ever did.
So America's got to wake up.
Damn a Republican Democrat.
It's America.
It's America's time to stand up and take back America.
Here's what your fellow Democrat, former Louisiana Senator Mary Landers, said about the visit.
I want to thank Mr. Trump for coming to Louisiana.
He brought attention to our state and we need that now.
So Governor, why is she wrong?
She's not.
But you mischaracterized what I said.
I didn't dismiss his trip as a photo op before he came down.
I said, we welcome him here.
We want him to be helpful, and we hope that it doesn't turn into a mere photo op.
So you got the story backwards.
Okay, so was he helpful?
Now that it's come and gone, was he helpful?
Was it a good thing that he came down?
Well, I think, yeah, for the reasons that I stated earlier, because it helped to shine a spotlight on Louisiana and on the dire situation that we have here, that it was helpful.
And I will tell you that I also appreciated the good phone call, the conversation that I had with Governor Pence, who was sincere and genuine when he called and we spoke for a long time on Friday morning about their desire to be helpful.
All right, as we continue, we are in Baton Rouge today in Louisiana, news radio 1150 WJBO is our affiliate station down here and they've been magnificent and literally on short notice they're there and available to us.
800-941 Sean, it raises a question having been out most of the morning this morning, you know, just meeting people and viewing the devastating, you are not going to believe what you've seen on TV tonight.
You know, and there was President Bush rebuked by Democrats for his handling of Hurricane Katrina.
You've got, you know, hundreds of thousands of people impacted here.
You go through neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood after neighborhood, street after street, and these homes were all underwater.
And the water's now receded, but the homes are destroyed.
And many of these people, they didn't live in flood zones.
It's not like they have any help.
I know the president's been busy.
He's played his 400th round of golf for crying out loud.
The Baton Rouge advocate wrote a scathing editorial, all but blaming him and shaming him into interrupting his vacation.
He might come tomorrow, I guess.
I guess that's the plan.
Anyway, joining us now, what is bound to be, I guess, her 13th New York Times bestseller, Ann Coulter, is with us.
And she writes, you've got to love Ann in every book that she writes and the cover that she writes.
E. Ploribus Awesome in Trump We Trust.
How are you, Miss Coulter?
Good to see you.
We're in Baton Rouge today.
Yes, that's great.
The devastation is unbelievable.
The only guy that took his time out of his day to come down here was Donald Trump, as you just heard.
You write in this book, Donald Trump is not a politician.
He's a one-man wrecking ball against our dysfunctional and corrupt establishment.
We're about to see the deluxe version of the left's favorite theme, vote for us, or we'll call you stupid.
It's the working class against the smirking class.
Boy, that pretty much sums it up because isn't that the case with the Republican establishment now?
Yes, it really is.
I mean, I think my publisher was a little surprised to get this book, since I'm usually denouncing liberals, that this is mostly an attack on, well, the old Republican Party.
It's a new Republican Party with Donald Trump.
And all the people, you know, we've sort of counted on to run interference and tell us the truth.
The conservative think tanks, the conservative consultants, the conservative media.
It's Donald Trump against all of them.
And, you know, I knew the Democrats didn't care about America's middle class or America's working class, but I always thought our party did.
It took Trump coming along and saying, okay, how about we do something for Americans now?
How about we bring jobs back and stop signing these job-killing trade deals and build a wall on the border, stop dumping low-wage workers on the country, stop the endless wars in the Middle East that haven't left us any better off, whose eld that is, and I blame Obama.
Some will say that the war in Iraq was doomed to failure, but whatever going forward, why would you do it again?
And what is, you know, our party, our ex-party's response to that?
No, no, no, we can't help the working class.
Let's see what the Chamber of Commerce wants.
Let's see what Wall Street wants.
We'll get to you later.
Well, we've been waiting 20 years to get to the American people.
And what I noticed, I mean, I love Trump from the Mexican rapist speech, but what I've noticed about him, and one of the points I make in this book, is at first, I never thought much about Trump one way or another, but I was kind of surprised that, yes, this entertainment MAVEN and reality TV star, he's the one who's finally making the points I've been waiting all my life for a Republican to make.
And at first, I think like a lot of people, I was thinking, you know, why couldn't Mitt Romney have made these points?
And then you sit back and realize Mitt Romney would be curled up in a little ball if he were making these points and coming under one fraction of the attacks Donald Trump is coming under.
All the things that seem like a disability with Trump actually turn out to be an advantage.
We needed someone, this, you know, alpha dog reality TV star in order to withstand absolutely unprecedented attacks from the media.
You know, I want to go through something because I have had it as you have.
And I'll give you credit.
I think you are really ahead of the curve as it relates to Trump more than anybody in terms of winning the nomination.
I wasn't sure in the beginning that he'd compete at all.
And obviously, I'll tell you where I'm frustrated.
Every exit poll announ shows that 65% of Republicans feel betrayed by their own stupid party.
And they have earned that distinction because they make promise after promise and they don't fulfill them.
We'll repeal and replace Obamacare.
They give us show votes, but they won't use the power of the purse.
John Boehner gave us an additional $5 trillion in debt, and he had control of the purse.
That's inexcusable.
That's not conservative.
Next thing, I look at Republicans.
2014, well, we just need the Senate, and then we'll really get things done.
And we'll stop what they called illegal, unconstitutional executive amnesty.
Well, that's the big one.
The first two, look, it is true Obama could veto what they had.
It was, as I describe in the book, that was the real betrayal, and it happens to be the exact same betrayal we have been getting for 20 years, starting with George Bush, John McCain, Eric Cantor.
How many times, how many different ways can the American people say, we want an end to illegal immigration and we want a whole lot less legal immigration?
And every time Republicans run saying, oh, yes, absolutely, we'll do something about the border.
You just got to give us a majority.
You just got to give us a majority.
And when that executive amnesty, the defunding came up, it wasn't like Obamacare.
There was no government shutdown at issue.
As you will recall, they had passed all the other spending bills except Homeland Security.
And that's what Obama had tied the executive amnesty to, which isn't just, oh, I'm not going to prosecute.
It was giving illegals all kinds of money and work permits.
I mean, it was costing millions of dollars, probably up into the billion, considering how many there are.
All of that has to go through Congress.
Even Obama admitted it was unconstitutional.
If the House had refused to or continued to pass that Homeland Security bill without the money for the executive amnesty, even if Obama had vetoed it, as you know, about 200,000 of 230,000 Homeland Security Department employees are deemed essential employees.
Nothing would be shut down.
A few secretaries wouldn't show up.
There would be no Social Security checks at risk of not going out.
There would be no park closures.
There was no risk at all.
And still, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republicans betrayed the voters after promising to stop Obama's executive amnesty if they were given a majority.
And you remember me coming on your TV show and yelling at Republicans and saying, I don't care how bad the Republican is.
This is not a time to be pushing for purity.
We need a Republican Senate.
They did it.
They followed our instructions.
They gave Republicans a huge majority in the Senate.
And then both the Senate and the House went ahead and approved Obama's executive amnesty.
I mean, that was just the cherry on top of the state.
No, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Listen, I'm done with all of those people.
Do you understand?
I've had it with every single one of them.
I can't stand most of these people anymore.
And I'm going to tell you who's worse than anybody.
All these Republicans that ran against Trump and Trump trounced every one of them.
And they all stood there on stage and they all raised their hand and they all said that they'd support the nominee.
And the only one that didn't raise his hand eventually ended up signing the pledge.
But now you've got Jeb Bush.
Now you've got John Kasich.
Now you've got Lindsey Graham.
And I like Ted Cruz, but I'm very disappointed in him too because he also made the pledge.
And to me, in my mind, Ann.
No, of course.
Trump has done this over and over again.
He extends the olive branch.
He's the gentleman.
And then he gets his hands bit off by these people.
Incidentally, you will recall when you were being testy with Trump over not taking the pledge.
There was about a two-week period.
I went on your TV show and said, I want to hear the other guys take the pledge to support Trump because that's what I figured it was going to be.
And look at that.
In front of 20 million people, they took that pledge and now openly defy it.
It comes to the convention.
I mean, he's reached out to his rivals.
There's always a little bit of bitterness when you lose an election.
And I will remind you that when Romney was wrapping up the nomination in 2012, as each one of his rivals dropped out, they would endorse anyone but Romney.
Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, all of them.
You're always maddest at the guy who just beat you.
I understand that.
That's a common sentiment.
What's happening this time is there are all sorts of media rewards.
If you stick to your sore loser sour grapes posture, oh, you'll be praised as one of the respectable Republicans.
It comes to the convention.
Trump invites all of his former rivals to come and speak.
If you're not going to endorse him, don't come.
But instead, not only do you have Cruz coming and pointedly not endorsing him and recommending that people not vote for him by saying, vote your conscience, which was supposed to be the alternative, but you have in that state Governor Kasich denouncing Trump, refusing to show up.
It really is shocking.
And I'd add at this point, I have all new respect for Bob Dole, who is a good Republican and showed up and said, of course, he's voting for the nominee.
And I'd also remind you, there is no amount of dislike for Donald Trump that can compete with my dislike for John McCain.
And, you know, in the end, what do you do?
You have to, once he wrapped it up, I had to shut my mouth on John McCain, support the nominee.
But mostly, you know, what you're supposed to do if you're not wild about the nominee, besides sucking it up and supporting him, is, okay, fine, you work on the other races, work on the Senate and the House races.
We'll take care of the turkey.
You guys do the side dish and the dessert.
But no, they won't even do that.
It has to.
And why?
Because the media is rewarding anyone who attacks Trump.
I mean, we didn't live through Goldwater or Nixon even, but I've certainly read a lot about those periods.
And I think what is being done to Trump is absolutely unprecedented.
It is just, I'm not even watching this.
No, no, no.
Listen, it's open sabotage.
And look, I think you see what I've been going through with these idiots from National Review and the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and everybody else.
And it's Republicans want him to lose as much as Democrats.
And the strange thing about this is, I don't know what they think they're winning.
They think they're going to have 50 years of bragging rights, but I got to tell you, Sean, the country is going to be over.
There will be no purpose to what you do, to what I do, to Fox News, to talk radio.
Hillary has promised to grant all of the illegals, and there are 30, 40, maybe 50 million, grant them all amnesty.
That'll, of course, start another rush to the border.
She wants to more than quadruple the number of Muslim refugees we're bringing in.
The entire country becomes California.
Republicans never win another election.
And I know a lot of people in talk radio and at Fox News think, oh, Hillary's better for our bottom line.
Yeah, really, try going to a Cubs game.
Go to a baseball game when your team hasn't won a game for 20 years, because that's what Republicans are looking at.
This is, I thought in 2012 with Romney, it was pretty much over.
I held up out a tiny little hope, which is why I wrote Adios America, and thank God Donald Trump read it.
This is it.
This is it.
The country is at the tipping point.
Maybe it's already too late, and we'll find out in this election.
But if you're not going to be able to do that.
Stay right there.
We've got to take a break.
Ann Coulter's with us.
She's going to stay with us for the next half hour as well.
There's always too much to get to with her.
Her brand new book is out today.
It's on Hannity.com.
It's on Amazon.com.
It's called About Trump.
In Trump We Trust, E Ploribus Awesome.
And I'm predicting her 13th bestseller on the New York Times.
There it is.
That's the media.
That's CNN getting yelled at by the crowd.
Do your job, tell the truth.
Now we continue with New York Times best-selling author Ann Coulter, her brand new book out.
It's called In Trump We Trust, E Ploribus Awesome.
It's on Amazon.com.
We have a link on my website, Hannity.com, out in bookstores tomorrow.
You know, I think I have interviewed you now for every one of your books.
I never book you for a half hour because I can never get it in.
But the media is such a big story this year and how abusively biased they are.
You and I went through this in 2007 and 2008 when, you know, I tried to do their job.
I did the vetting of Obama.
Nobody paid attention to me.
And now the country's suffering because of that horrible decision.
And I really look at the biggest campaign contributor to Hillary is the media.
No, that's right.
And it's so much worse now.
It's hard to believe.
I mean, at least with Obama, and don't jump on me for saying this.
It's good news.
He can't run for another term.
But I have to say, in my lifetime, Obama is absolutely the most elegant, articulate, charming, forget his policies, Democrat they've run.
Compare that to Hillary, who, you know, keeps doing that, I don't know, like goose honking noise when she talks, can't hold a press conference, is just up to her ears in corruption.
And now we have the tech editor of the New York Times commanding Google to take down any story.
stories about Hillary's health.
And why is that, Sean?
Because Hillary says her health is fine.
And if you can't trust her word on this, then what can you trust?
The media has a lot more work to do with Hillary, and boy, are they up to the job.
Also, the New York Times, Jim Rutenberg just admitting, no, we're not going to be fair in our reporting.
Yeah, he did a hit piece on me today.
Can you believe it?
No, and I'm not using taking the Lord's name in vain.
Thank God it's Donald Trump who fights back.
I mean, this is when the media really has lost all credibility, and it's got to be destroyed.
It's got to be discredited the same way in the Soviet Union, you know, religion was discredited.
This is the time for people to turn off their TV sets, pick specific news outlets.
I just, you can't even keep up with all the lies.
This nonsense we're going through today.
I mean, only the media can present the same story they've been telling us for a year as if it's all new breaking news.
I mean, you remember during the debates, there was all that hysteria about Trump's off-the-record interview.
They all give off-the-record interviews with the editorial board of the New York Times.
And aha, he's not going to build the wall anyway.
I mean, he's always said, we'll see how we deport.
He's never admitted that it's only 11 million, by the way.
God bless him.
He insistently says probably a lot more than that.
He cited the fact that Dwight Eisenhower had something that was actually called at the time, Operation Wetback.
And by the way, a term I believe was coined by Cesar Chavez because he knew it was driving down the wages of the Mexican great pickers in the United States.
Also, Jesse.
All right, so let me ask this question.
But now suddenly, trying to protect low-wage jobs of Americans, including Hispanic Americans, including black Americans, protecting low-wage jobs of Americans is some sort of vicious thing to do.
Now this hysteria today, there may not be a deportation force.
Here's what I want to ask you, Dick.
Let me give a picture.
And this is what I want to ask you.
Because you know what?
You're very insightful.
You often are ahead of the curve, and I admire you for that a lot.
We've been friends for years.
And here's my take on where the country is now.
So you have the biggest liar ever to seek the office of the presidency.
You have the most ethically corrupt, somebody who sold access to her office.
Everybody knows she's a liar.
And then we've got, let's see, we've got 12 million more Americans in poverty than when Obama took office.
We have 46 million Americans in poverty.
8 million, I'm sorry, 12 million more on food stamps.
46 million Americans on food stamps.
50 million Americans in poverty.
8 million more than when Obama came into office.
The lowest labor participation rate since the 70s.
The lowest home ownership rate in 51 years.
The worst recovery since the 40s.
You have one in five American families, not a single family member working.
You got one in six American men 18 to 34 either incarcerated or living in mommy and daddy's basement.
You doubled the debt.
They destroyed Libya.
They ruined Iraq and cities we won like Mosul, Ramadi, Takrit, Fallucia, and even Baghdad for crying out loud and create an opening for ISIS.
They did the same thing in Syria.
You see what they have done with Egypt supporting an anti-Semite in the name of Mohamed Morsi at the time.
They have destroyed everything.
So my question to you is, why is this race even close?
And are you convinced that Trump wins this?
It's close, 100% because of the media.
I mean, it really is just lie after lie.
This is about him Trump changing his mind on amnesty over the weekend.
And then immediately we get reports from, you know, a half dozen people at the meeting saying, no, that didn't happen.
He said it would be humane, you know, looking at the deportations.
There's absolutely no way Trump is backing down on the general immigration plan.
You know, I have a whole chapter on this.
It's just a way to eat up time in an interview to attack Trump, whose policies are very popular.
All of the complaints with Trump are stylistic.
They're not on his issues.
His issues are fantastic, couldn't be better.
But what they say is, oh, no, policy specifics, no policy specifics.
That's a line.
That's just not true.
But it's more than that.
He is the only one giving policy specifics.
I mean, even compared to his Republican rivals, whom I do compare him to in the book, what was their position on a wall?
No, they wouldn't tell us.
It was just, oh, we need border security.
People are frustrated.
Politicians have learned all of these gobbledygook nothings to say.
It's just a word salad to prevent them from answering a question.
How is Rubio going to bring back jobs?
Well, it's a new economy.
And let me tell you how Amazon does business.
You ask Trump, he says, I'm going to renegotiate trade deals.
I'm going to bring manufacturing home.
I'm going to shut down the dump of low-wage workers on the country.
He has specific plans.
But there's even more than that.
He's going to allow multinational corporations to repatriate their money.
That's trillions of dollars.
He's going to allow drilling and fracking and more coal mining and nuclear power, and we'll be energy independent.
Look, there's so much here.
This is what this race comes down to for me.
Do you want unvetted refugees that every national intelligence leader has told us ISIS will infiltrate?
Yes or no?
Because there's a huge difference.
Do you want a wall built or not?
Do you want better trade deals?
Do you want to fix it?
Whether the wall built or not, Hillary has vowed that she will grant amnesty.
She will take Obama's executive amnesty and apply it to all illegals.
And by the way, who is the Speaker of the House?
Paul Ryan.
He'll be right there with her.
The country is finished if Hillary is elected.
There is no hope.
Good luck winning with nine Ruth Bader Ginsburgs.
Politics was fun, but it's adios America.
And I'll be writing mysteries.
You'll probably get another year or two out of talking about the.
Here's the question I want to know.
But there comes a point when nobody, do you think people care about local politics in California?
I'll tell you something else that changes in a, quote, multicultural society like this is it's not just going to be the Chuck Schumer Democrats against the Nancy Pelosi Democrats.
What happens in a multicultural society, as the president of Indonesia warned in the Financial Times about a decade ago, and has happened in California?
Oh, no, no, it's ethnic groups fighting with one another.
In California, it's the Asian Democrats against the Hispanic Democrats.
It all becomes a matter of ethnic politics.
What's the point of Fox News' clever arguments or Paul Ryan talking about an opportunity society there?
It has nothing to do with that.
Just tell me who to vote for.
Okay, this guy's my ethnicity.
That's who I'm voting for.
Let me ask you this.
When I go down Donald Trump's agenda, and for example, I looked at his Supreme Court justices and we compare it to who Hillary would appoint.
You look at him on the wall, Hillary wants amnesty.
Hillary wants to bring in a 550% increase in refugees.
Our intelligence officials say ISIS will infiltrate.
Trump talks about extreme vetting.
You look at the economy.
She's raising taxes.
He's going to cut taxes, wants to rein in spending.
You look at energy independence.
She wants to put coal miners out of work, coal companies out of business.
You know, go straight on down the list.
Obamacare, she keeps it, probably doubles down on it, and he's going to eliminate it and wants free market health care savings accounts.
I know because I've interviewed him.
So my question to you is simple.
You know, this is as big a choice election as we've ever had.
The only difference complaints you have from, quote, some people that are Republican is stylistics.
Why aren't they the if Donald Trump got the 94% of the base of Republican support, he'd win.
Right now he has about 73 percent.
And I would argue it's because of the establishment in D.C., the crybabies he ran against, and then you've got the National Review guys, and then you've got the Wall Street Journal guys, and then you've got the Bill Crystals, and then you got Mitt Romney, and all these other guys sabotaging him.
Well, this is chapter three of my book, and these are all the people you happen to see on TV.
You'll get, you know, the Hillary support versus a Republican, never Trumper.
So, you know, you get both sides of the argument.
Everybody's against Trump.
But it almost seems like there's something in the water in Washington.
Well, what it is, is we have this permanent bureaucracy.
I sort of hate the phrase Republican establishment because it's been misused, but that is the best phrase for it.
The Republican brain trust in Washington, it's the pollsters, it's the consultants, it's the think tanks.
They all are protecting not America, but the territorial interests of the Republican Party, their salaries.
They are making a lot of money by getting rich donors to contribute to them.
And the donors think, oh, they must know how to win elections because they're expensive.
Well, you know, why don't we have nominee Jeb exclamation point now then?
They don't know what they're doing.
They're utterly useless, but they've been ripping off the donor class for a long time.
Well, this is the election where we find out whether the donors actually have a Republican bone in their body or if they just want favors done for them.
And I think we can pretty much...
All right, so look into your crystal ball.
Who's going to win this race?
I still think Trump is going to win, but I'd say, you know, a more than 50-50 chance.
I was 90% on him winning the nomination.
I'd say I'm about 55, 60% he wins the presidency.
So what do you make of the polls now?
And for example, I had a Twitter battle with Nate Silver.
I said, no, I believe polls.
I actually know some of the methodology is wrong, but I would say right now, the race has tightened significantly in the last week.
I think Trump being on prompter is a really smart thing for him to do because the media is just looking to nitpick him in a way they would never do to her.
You lie about him more than nitpicking, just outright lies.
I have a whole chapter on the lie of him making fun of a disabled reporter.
It's nonsense.
Well, and so at the end of the day, I think for him to stay on prompter and, yes, give all the specifics he's giving versus Hillary just trashing Trump, I think there's a great distinction.
I just can't believe that she's even in play being as morally bankrupt and corrupt as she is and being the pathological, or as Sapphire once said, congenital liar that she is.
Yes, so she then corrected when she complained and said, I meant pathological lawyer.
I don't know, but there's plenty of time until the election.
What do you make of the chatter that you're getting?
I get as somebody that's supporting Trump, that all these people, the establishment types, the National Review, weekly standard Wall Street Journal people, what do you make of their opposition to him?
I think it's all a matter of their own power and who butters their bread.
Like I say, I mean, with the pollsters and the consultants, it's the donors.
The Republican Party, until Trump was perfectly happy to get 100% of the business roundtable vote and, you know, 20% of the regular vote, Trump has turned that upside down.
He wants a majority of the regular person vote, and he is getting regular people.
Those people, unfortunately, don't get invited on TV, don't write for the Wall Street Journal.
I mean, the Wall Street Journal has always been open borders.
They're serving the plutocrats.
It's good for the very rich.
I mean, you wonder why we have this massive income inequality.
Look, there's always going to be some income inequality in a free capitalist system, but that's not what's happening now.
Now, it is being done by design to screw over the middle class and the working class in America so that the rich can buy an extra island.
I mean, the difference between the very rich and the middle class is unlike you have to go back to the czar's court for something like this.
And this is being done by design.
Trump is absolutely right.
The system is corrupt.
It is rigged.
It is designed.
Both parties have been working overtime to give Wall Street a blank check, to give the Chamber of Commerce a blank check, and screw over average Americans.
And I think as long as Trump makes that point clear and sticks to his gun, you build the border wall, and guess what?
You know who's going to benefit?
Disproportionately, black Americans have suffered because of illegal immigration, more people competing for fewer jobs, 95 million Americans out of the labor force.
And it's not only are they losing those jobs in many instances, if they do get a job, well, the labor rates have been driven down because of the increased competition.
Yes, no, Trump is absolutely right about that.
And I really.
I got to run them.
Okay.
All right, but listen, it's called In Trump We Trust, Ann Coulter, destined to be her 13th New York Times bestseller.
I hate to correct you on that, but I think I should.
All right.
Sorry.
12-time New York Times best-selling author.
I'm just jumping the gun a week before they have to put your name in there again.
And literally, they'll be cringing the entire time.
Anyway, ePlorub is awesome, and it's on Hannity.com.
It's on Amazon.com.
And as of tomorrow, bookstores everywhere.
Ms. Coulter, we love you.
It's been a while.
Good to talk to you as always.
Good to talk to you, Sean.
Bye-bye.
Time and again, Hillary Clinton has stood up to President Bush, stood up for us.
If you're stuck on a rooftop or stranded in the superdome during a hurricane, you're invisible to this president, even when you're on CNN.
Well, you are not invisible to me, and you should never be invisible to the President of the United States.
Because when the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast extended their hand for help, help was not there.
When people looked up from the rooftops for too long, they saw an empty sky.
When the winds blew and the floodwaters came, we learned that for all of our wealth and our power, something wasn't right with America.
We can talk about what happened for a few days in 2005, and we should.
We can talk about levies that couldn't hold, about a FEMA that seemed not just incompetent, but paralyzed and powerless, about a president who only saw the people from the window of an airplane instead of down here on the ground trying to provide comfort and aid.
We can talk about a trust that was broken.
The promise that our government will be prepared, will protect us, and will respond in a catastrophe.
What did you lose and what does it mean to have Donald Trump here?
Let's see.
I didn't lose anything compared to what a lot of people lost.
I'm okay.
It's materialistic things.
They can be replaced.
And having Trump here to that Mendelotte.
Oh, yes, yes.
Because hell, America's got to wake up.
Donald Trump's the way to wake us up.
He's waking America up.
He's got to get busy.
America's got to get behind him.
Without America getting behind Donald Trump, we're going to lose, and we're going to lose bigger than this flood ever did.
So America's got to wake up.
Damn a Republican, damn a Democrat.
It's America.
It's America's time to stand up and take back America.
I'd like to take a moment to talk about the heartbreak and devastation in Louisiana, a state that is very, very special to me.
We are one nation.
When one state hurts, we all hurt.
And we must all work together to lift each other up.
Working, building, restoring together.
Our prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones, and we send them our deepest condolences.
Through words cannot express the sadness one feels at times like this.
I hope everyone in Louisiana knows that our country is praying for them and standing with them to help them in these difficult hours.
They are very, very difficult.
All right, there are the sights and sounds.
Glad you're with us.
News Roundup and Information Overload Hour here on the Sean Hannity Show.
We are in Baton Rouge.
We spent the majority of the day this morning looking at just, I mean, I can't even, words can't even describe it.
I kept saying to the camera crew, make sure you get the magnitude of this.
It was the devastation, street after street after street, home after home, neighborhood after neighborhood.
And we were out there, and I'm just stunned this has not been a nationally covered story the way it needs to be covered.
And I literally, I was talking to people in the Trump campaign, and I talked to him too.
And he says, you have no idea how bad this is.
And it's that bad.
And even worse, it's unbelievable.
Anyway, Ryan Romero is with us.
He's a guy that was out there trying to save people with his boat.
Greg Howell, he's from Alabama.
He literally drove here to Louisiana, and both are with this Navy that's called the Cajun Navy, which is a group of private citizens that literally joined together via Facebook to help all these people.
And they saved a lot of lives.
If it wasn't for these guys, these people would not have made it.
And I've had more than like a dozen people tell me that since I've been on the ground here in Baton Rouge.
Anyway, they're all afflicted with these floods.
And also with us is our friend and talk show host, C.L. Bryan's son, Louis Cleon Bryan.
He lives here in Baton Rouge.
He's been impacted by these floods.
His home was completely destroyed.
Let me start with you, Lewis.
I'm going to call you C.L. Jr. if you don't mind.
It's LC.
Yeah, well, do you know how much I love you, Father?
I just think the world of him.
He's such a great guy.
First, our thoughts and prayers go out to you.
And I've been out there, and I was just in Livingston Parish.
I can't believe everything I've seen, and I can't believe nobody's paying attention to this.
Yeah, I mean, that was the biggest thing for me and my wife.
Like, we started talking to people out of state, and they didn't even know what was going on.
And it was just unbelievable to even imagine it.
It really is.
And I mean, the fact that, you know, I know the president deserves a vacation.
I don't begrudge anybody a vacation.
I mean, this guy has more vacations than anybody I've ever met in my life, but he has more vacation in a year than I've had in the last eight.
But for crying out loud, I mean, all of, well, I mean, seriously, I mean, the images, now that I've seen it up close, the images of what was happening here and the fact that he's up on a tee and Hillary's too busy to come down because she's got to rest.
She's too tired.
I mean, it's pretty unbelievable.
And so you lost your entire home.
I mean, I'm glad to hear you laughing, but I talked to people that were in tears today.
Yeah, I mean, it's been hard, but, you know, it's a day-by-day thing.
And at the end of the day, as long as my family made it out safe, you know, it's a lot of people that weren't as fortunate as me and my family.
So, you know, it's just happy to see us pulling through it.
And it's just happy to see how much we banded together to overcome such a thing.
You know, in the midst of such devastation, this happened at 9-11 where I was in New York.
And I see it down here in Baton Rouge.
You get people like Ryan Romero, a guy with a boat that just wanted to help people, and Greg Howell from Alabama.
You guys, you drove all the way from Alabama to help the people here in Louisiana, and you helped form this Cajun Navy.
I talked to a guy that was a part of it earlier today, and literally they're talking about thousands of people that you guys got out of their homes, which was flooded with water and to safety.
Tell us your side of the story, Ryan.
Tell everybody what happened.
Hey, guys, this is Ryan.
What's up, Brian?
So you have a boat, so you went out and you just started saving people?
Yeah, pretty much, man.
I heard about what was going on, and I was actually in the process of cleaning a bunch of clothes out of the house, and I had them all piled up.
I said, you know, if I'm going to go that way, I'm not going to go that way just to go deliver some clothes.
So I hooked on my boat and found me a room in Lafayette and got there.
And I had to drive to Baton Rouge every day, but hey, it didn't matter, you know.
You know, how many people do you think you got out of their homes with your boat?
And what do you think would have happened if people like you didn't show up?
Would these people have made it?
Man, I don't know if they would have made it or not.
I know there was a lot of people out there rescuing on their own.
I'd probably say 30 or 40.
And how many of these were elderly people that, and again, from the people that I talked to, the currents were pretty strong, right?
Yeah, they were.
Spots.
I mean, currents were very strong in some spots.
And there were quite a few elderly people.
You know, the elderly ones really, you know, that's the ones that really needed the help most out of anybody.
Yeah.
You know, I actually ran into an elderly woman today, and she let me tour her house.
There's nothing left.
I mean, the water was literally six feet high in her house, or like, you know, it was that high.
And everything in that house is destroyed.
And as we went down these blocks, I mean, everybody, what was amazing is nobody's helped anybody except family members and friends and neighbors.
They all kind of, you know, were banding together.
And literally every house, you have to take everything out.
Everything's on their front lawn ready to be picked up.
And it goes on for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks.
Yeah, yeah, it's pretty devastating.
And being over there and seeing all that first hand, I mean, it was crazy.
It was definitely emotional.
I know the first two days in the afternoons when we get back.
I'd sit outside.
It gets pretty emotional for me.
Yeah.
And what was it like for you, Greg?
I mean, you're a part of this Cajun Navy.
What was it like for you?
Hey, Sean, this is Greg.
How you doing, buddy?
I'm so sorry.
So you literally drove from Alabama to come up here and help your friends in Louisiana.
Tell us part of what you were doing as part of your relief effort.
I got in kind of on the late part of it.
I was at work when it all took place, Sean.
I flew in.
I got off a tugboat, captain.
So when I got off Monday and flew in, got home with my wife and was telling her about it.
And we was at home for probably about three hours after getting home from the airport.
And we just made a Facebook post that we was heading that way.
And anybody that wanted to send stuff with us, you know, we'd pick it up.
We went over there that night, got there in Baton Rouge around 11 o'clock, dropped that first load of supplies off to a church on Jupiter Road and went back home, got in about 5.30 the next morning, took a couple hour nap, got up, and we had phone calls from all over our area over here in Alabama in two different counties.
And it was just more than I could do by myself.
So, I had a friend of mine, Todd Casey, joined up with us, and me, him, and my wife split up.
We ran errands and picked up all the donations and had it back over there that afternoon, which was Tuesday morning, or no, yeah, Tuesday morning, afternoon.
We got back over there, and we took a boat with us that time that a friend of mine had loaned me to go over there because mine wouldn't have been any use over there as a fiberglass boat.
But he had a 21-foot aluminum.
Let me ask you this: as a tugboat guy, you understand currents probably better than most people.
So, from your perspective, how dangerous was it?
Because, for example, when I was hanging out in one of the parishes with the local sheriff, I mean, a really great guy.
When I was hanging out with him from Livingston Parish, the guy's name is Sheriff Jason Ard.
I mean, he said they lost one person, and he said it was a miracle we didn't lose more.
Oh, yeah.
I think the run that stood out more with me was the night we had to go in late, late at night and go to a golf cart community down the Diversion Canal.
And the majority of the boats that was over there was little small aluminum skiffs, you know, 12, 14 feet long, small horsepower engines.
We were able to get this boat that I had brought with me, and there was another fella who had a surface-drive twin screw with two engines on it.
It was a pretty big boat.
We used them two bigger boats and loaded both of them down.
I had just about a whole pallet of water in my boat, and we run down to Diversion Canal there about three or four miles, I think it was.
And it was pretty rough.
The current was horrible.
You know, for example, the sheriff described to me, and we passed this one nursing home.
I think it had 75 patients in it.
And he's described, and they're all on oxygen.
Some of them are bedridden.
I mean, they were, you know, just clearing out that one nursing home was unbelievably difficult.
Yeah, I could imagine it was.
It was a golf car community.
It had 25 families.
And they were out of supplies completely.
And we were able to get down there that night, and we delivered, I think it was enough for like a thousand meals that we brought down there in one run between the two boats.
Yeah, that's the other thing I heard: everybody got together.
I mean, I saw, you know, all the churches have gotten together.
I know my good friend, Reverend Franklin Graham, Samaritans Purse, they've been here.
I know Tony Perkins has been here with a bunch of people.
He's helping everybody out.
There was a headline in one of the local papers here: borrow churches.
So, like, some of the churches that were underwater, well, they were able to borrow, you know, a church where they didn't have flooding.
I mean, it was a pretty cool story about people coming together.
It was really amazing.
You know, the worst of times sometimes brings out some of the better side of humanity, which we don't often see.
Yeah, Sean, this is about everybody coming together, man.
I tell you what, you mentioned at the beginning that I come over there to help my friends.
Sean, I didn't know anybody over there.
I knew not the first person in the Cajun Navy.
Once I got over there and got to listening to him on the Walkie-Talkie app, Raheem was the first one I spoke with.
Yeah.
Come find out he's a 15-year-old kid that works probably 18 to 20 hours a day helping this patch.
LC, I got to ask this question because we're running out of time.
LC, tell me real quick about donations.
I know Samaritans Purst.
I know Tony Perkins Group.
We've got it up on my website, Hannity.com.
Anything else we could do for you?
Man, I'm not really sure.
Just donate to a reputable cause where you know it's going to go to people that really need it.
Yeah, Ryan, what do you any that you're talking about, Ryan?
You know, we've been pulling together donations for a week now or so.
We've sent 13, 18 wheeler loads that way up over here, Louisiana, where I live.
So we're loading up some of the last stuff that we've got right now.
It's just slowing down, you know.
Yeah.
Well, I'm going to put all of this up on my website.
We have a full report from Baton Rouge.
You will not believe the devastation.
It's unbelievable.
Anyway, thank you all.
You're in our thoughts and prayers.
We'll continue from Baton Rouge.
Many thanks to our affiliate News Radio 1150, WJBO.
They've been incredibly accommodating during a very busy time for them here.
It's been a really tough day in Baton Rouge.
What we saw and witnessed all day is unbelievable.
Many thanks to our affiliate.
They've been very busy themselves.
News Radio 1150, WGBJBO.
And we'll have all of this coverage tonight on Hannity.
It's unbelievable that the national media has ignored the devastation here.
It is so it'll take your breath away.
It just is that devastating.
Anyway, we check in with Bickham is with us.
He's from Baton Rouge.
Like the Garth Brooks song, we're sending our love on down to Baton Rouge.
How are you, sir?
I'm good, Sean, and welcome to Baton Rouge.
I am actually from Gonzales in Ascension Parish, and we were hit very hard as well.
But, you know, the true story here isn't, this isn't a tragedy.
This is actually a victory.
We learned our lesson, Katrina.
We can't wait on the federal government.
Individuals stepped up, got in boats, and rescued neighbors and friends and strangers.
And we didn't wait around for the government to take care of us.
And that's how it's supposed to be.
And that's how this country was formed and created.
And that's the victory here.
And it's not just the boats.
Everybody in our community is going to evacuation centers and volunteering, washing clothes for people, gutting houses, just doing whatever needs to be done to help their neighbors and friends.
And like I said, even strangers.
You know, that's the story everybody keeps telling me because the government wasn't even here.
They're not even available.
I mean, the most incredible part of this story is exactly what you said.
And it's like everybody that had a boat got in their boat and started rescuing people.
I mean, this happened so quickly, so fast.
And, you know, I talked to the local sheriffs.
I mean, then you've got the National Guard, and then you've got, you know, you know, the average guy that works for Sheriff Alta we had on earlier in the program today?
Do you know the average?
They work 60 straight hours before they slept even one hour.
I mean, that's how hard everybody was working.
Yeah, and the local government, the local sheriff's departments, the first responders have been great.
The state has been good, but it takes them too long.
It takes the state too long.
It takes the federal government way too long.
And we know that.
We didn't wait on them.
Ascension Parish, Sean, my daughter's high school was flooded.
They're telling us.
By the way, I saw a number of those high schools.
I saw a ton of those high schools that were flooded.
And every school.
Potentially, that high school is going to be back up and running in four to six weeks, which is incredible because Ascension Parish has funds in place, private funds, to help clean up these schools.
And they're doing it.
They're not waiting for the state.
It's already started.
That's incredible.
That in itself is incredible.
My wife's elementary, she said, well, elementary teacher.
Her school is flooded.
My kids, half of them, I've had five kids.
Some of them go there, some of them go to the high school.
It looks like they're going to be back in a school somewhere next week, which is incredible because the devastation, as you said, you cannot, the pictures don't show it.
You have to see it in person.
It's unbelievable.
And that's what I kept saying to everybody when I kept saying to my television crew, these are people I've worked with with 20 years.
I mean, they're the best people in the business.
And I kept saying, guys, we got to make sure you show this.
Because you can't capture it until you see it.
These are not flood zone areas.
These are areas that are lost.
No, I know.
And a lot of these people that I met today, they don't have flood insurance, and they don't have the money to rebuild their homes, and their homes are done.
I mean, maybe you can keep the outside because a lot of the homes are made out of brick, but they're still going to have to be treated.
I mean, the tendency for mold to come into any of this.
Right.
You have to rip everything out.
Everything's got to be gutted.
Yep.
You have to treat them for mold, and it's going to be a long, slow process, but we'll do it.
I mean, you know what?
It's not Louisiana.
It's America.
These types of communities are all over this country, and we need to quit being silent.
That's the problem.
We are letting the loudmouth complainers get all the publicity.
while the hardworking Americans are getting the short end of the stick.
And we have to start speaking up.
Yeah, I'm telling you, listen, you're in our thoughts and prayers.
I'm very, very impressed at how people are able to do this on their own.
And I'm really disappointed that there haven't been more people that have come to your rescue and support.
And it's like the nation went dark.
I mean, it's unbelievable.
And I didn't know myself until I started talking to some of my friends in the Trump campaign.
And then I talked to him at one point.
And everybody kept telling me, you got to get down here.
They all kept saying, you got to get down here.
You've got to get down here.
And so I said, all right, I'm coming.
I'm coming.
It's tremendous and is very helpful.
Do you realize a woman that lost three homes in this whole thing came up and hugged me and said, thank you for being here.
And I'm like, whoa, hello.
You're the one that's suffering here.
I should be hugging you.
Well, and it's too late for Obama and Hillary to show up now for a photo op.
We don't need them.
We don't need them.
It's going to cause more confusion and logistical problems.
Just stay away.
We don't need it.
Yeah, I hear what you're saying.
Well, he's coming tomorrow.
He got off the links for five minutes, and I guess we've, you know, it's sort of like the Democratic Convention.
They had to be shamed into putting an American flag up on the stage for crying out loud.
It's so stupid.
Now they're coming.
Donald Trump comes down here on his own.
You know, and I actually asked him.
This was all fair.
I'll ask him tomorrow at the town hall.
I said, well, what made you decide to go?
I was talking to him.
And he said to me, well, I'm watching TV and nobody's helping these people.
And he goes, how many more coffins do I need to see floating down the street before somebody goes down to try and bring at least a little awareness to this?
And I thought he did it the right way.
He said, I don't want any press.
They didn't even bring the press that usually travels with them.
They just took off and left.
So anyway, this is going to be a very, very long process of bringing you guys back to the place you need to be.
And you're in our thoughts and prayers.
Lola is in Tulsa, Oklahoma, K-R-M-G.
What's up, Lola?
How are you?
And welcome to Baton Rouge.
Hi, Sean.
I am honestly a little bit frustrated, and I'm pretty angry at this point at what's been going on in the media.
Yesterday, I saw a video of Donald Trump standing out in the hot August Louisiana heat with Mike Pence, and they were handing out and unloading.
Like he was standing there and unloading the back of a semi-truck.
And the media has, and I guess now they're backpedaling and retracting this, but they were saying how, oh, he's only down there for a photo op and everything.
And that really kind of made me angry because when you watch that video, he's down there working.
You know, he's standing out there in the hot sun.
He's not just driving by in some armored SUV and looking out the window and going, oh, yeah, that looks really sad.
He's actually down there doing stuff.
And another thing I want to know is why is the Clinton Family Foundation not helping out?
You know, I heard today that they took a $32 million donation from the Crown Prince of Bahrain.
You know, why are they not sending some of that down to aid the families in Louisiana?
You know, where are they?
And they have the audacity to go and say something bad about Donald Trump going down there.
And oh, he's only there for a photo op.
Well, I think the best thing that he did was what others didn't do, and that's call the nation's attention to what's going on down here.
Right.
And, you know, I watched even some of the coverage.
I'm like, all right, I saw the coffins floating down the street.
I'm like, what the hell is going on here?
And then I started talking to people, and then I talked to people that we hear, then I talked to the Trump people, and then I talked to other people.
I'm like, we're going to Baton Rouge.
That's what I said.
And I said, and the idea is to show the country just how bad this has been.
And, you know, the fact that everybody here did it on their own is even that much more impressive.
Yeah, it really is.
It's amazing.
And the fact is, the video that I saw of Donald Trump when he was unloading that truck is there were some media down there, and they tried to ask him some questions, and he wouldn't answer their questions.
He said, I'm just here to help, and kind of blew them off, and they went inside to go do something else.
Yeah, well, I know that they said they didn't want the press, and they asked the press to stay away, which is the right way to do it.
But, you know, and from what I hear, he's been pretty generous in trying to help people.
So anyway, thank you so much, Lola.
God bless you.
800-941 Sean, you want to be a part of the program.
Let us go to Michael in California.
Michael, we're down here sending our love down to Baton Rouge.
What's going on, sir?
Hey, I just want to tell you I appreciate everything you're doing, and the people of Louisiana should know that the country's prayers are with them.
Yeah, thank you, buddy.
Appreciate it.
I'm sure they appreciate it.
Oh, I know.
Hey, you know, I hate to bring it up now because, you know, we're working here as a country.
We're not going against everybody.
The only grief I got right now, I got a little beef with you.
I'm a good, I'm a big fan.
I'm a conservative.
That's right.
Hit me with it.
What is it?
Yeah, you know, I wish you would just stop throwing Cruz into the same pile as the rest of these guys.
You know, Kasich is, I don't know what to call him.
I don't want to use any foul language, but he was at his convention in his own state, and he couldn't even show up.
But, you know, Ted Cruz, he's a man of the people.
He's a good conservative.
He believes in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights.
You know, he's never said anything that told people not to vote for Trump.
And, you know, even Trump said during the primaries that if tables were turned and Cruz would have treated Trump the way that Trump treated Cruz, he wouldn't endorse him either.
So I think you've got to give him a little bit of a break there.
Look, I've always liked Ted Cruz.
And I know it got very, very brutal between them.
I've said this many times.
Look, politics is not for the faint-hearted.
It's a blood sport.
But with that said, he gave his word.
And, you know, I'm assuming Ted Cruz wants to run again and be president.
And, you know, one of the first things you got to ask him at that point is, well, how do we trust you?
Now, I give him a lot of credit because, you know, when other Republicans were weak and timid, he stood up and he did the filibuster on Obamacare and spending, and he was trying to push Republicans to have a backbone.
I give him all the credit in the world for that.
I've always liked him.
I liked him during the campaign.
And I'm just disappointed because I think, you know, what's the alternative here?
This is not something I have to think long and hard about.
Let's see, Trump or Hillary.
You know, Supreme Court justices, refugees, you know, the border, Obamacare, energy independence, schools back to the states.
I don't have to think about this, and neither should any other Republican or conservative or one that calls themselves that.
And I think this has been extraordinarily harmful in terms of Trump being able to shore up the base of the party.
And if he could shore up just the base, I think he wins this election pretty handily.
And I think all those undermining him and sabotaging him are hurting that potential from happening.
I don't think Cruz is undermining Trump at all.
I don't think he's going out.
Well, he's not.
But listen, by not endorsing him, I think he made a promise he'd endorse the winner.
And I know he got pissed off over, you know, what Trump said and the battle that they had back and forth.
He's going after his family.
Well, look, as I said, but let me tell you, I haven't interviewed Ted Cruz a lot during that time.
He was pretty brutal on Trump, too.
Maybe not as personal, but he was pretty brutal.
I don't think he got personal, and I think that was the difference there.
I think it's fair, but I think he needs to jump on, period.
That's how I feel.
Well, I think they're going to have to do it as a team.
The two of them are going to have to get together, and they're going to have to straighten out their issues because I think they're strong together because Cruz is going to be a great fighter in the Senate for us.
All right, stay right there.
Say hi to Doug in Pasadena, California.
Doug, say hi to Michael in California.
What's going on?
Hey, you doing, Doug?
Hi, Michael.
How are you?
I'm good, man.
I disagree with what you're saying.
I mean, Cruz gave his word.
He should have stood by his word.
And every time that he gives a mixed message, he's helping Hillary every time.
And it's not just Cruz.
It's not just Cruz.
It's people like Beck and Med Ved and even Levin.
They are not getting behind the Trump train, and he's the only option here between Trump and Hillary.
Oh, no, I agree that Trump is our only option, and he's going to do something great.
But, you know, he gave, my eyes, he gave Cruz a pass when he said, look, I wouldn't have been so.
My buddy Levin has been saying a lot of good things about Trump and his speeches and the speeches he gave last week.
And so he said a lot of things.
I think Beck is off the rails, but that's his own choice and problems.
And whatever he wants to do is his business.
I don't care.
Hey, Mark, anytime I, anytime.
I don't think Trump either.
Recently, he's taken shots at Donald Trump.
I haven't heard his speeches.
I've just heard his program.
And I don't think he's.
No, I'm saying that he's been saying nice things about the direction of Trump and the things that he's been saying because he told me personally.
And I know he's been saying it on his program, but I think Beck has dug a hole for himself.
And you know what?
Look, I'm standing where I am.
I am saying to everybody here that if Hillary appoints Supreme Court nominees, you guys, you never Trumpers, you own it.
If you don't get a wall built and immigrants, illegal immigrants kill Americans, which has happened, you own it.
If refugees kill people, you own that too, because those are all problems that can be solved if Trump becomes president.
Same thing with refugees, same thing with Obamacare, same thing with record deficit debts and people out of the labor force.
You guys own it.
If coal miners are put out of business, out of work, and coal mining companies out of business, you own that too.
So you get what you will get, you will reap the rewards of your decision.
It's not a matter anymore with 16 people, 17 people versus one.
It's one-on-one here.
I know you have two other candidates, but they're not going to win.
All right, 800-941-Sean are toll for a telephone number.