President-elect Donald Trump has made creating jobs his number one priority. 60 Minutes recently ran a story on Joe Max Higgins, CEO of GTRLink, The Golden Triangle Development Group in Mississippi who has created over 6,000 jobs in the state. Could Mr. Higgins be the "job fixer" that President Trump needs? The Sean Hannity Show is live Monday through Friday from 3pm - 6pm ET on iHeart Radio and Hannity.com Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Let not your heart be troubled.
You are listening to the Sean Hannity Radio Show Podcast.
Let's start the uh program with some good news today.
For once, shall we?
Now you got Obama saying the magic, well, what's he gonna do?
Magic wand and then the For those folks who've lost their job right now because a plant went down to Mexico.
You know, that isn't gonna make you feel better.
And so what we have to do is to make sure that folks are trained for the jobs that are coming in now because some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back.
And when somebody says, like the person you just mentioned, who I'm not going to advertise for, that he's gonna bring all these jobs back.
Well, how exactly are you gonna do that?
What are you gonna do?
There's the there's no answer to it.
He just says, Well, I'm going I'm gonna negotiate a better deal.
Well, how what how exactly are you going to negotiate that?
What magic wand do you have?
And usually the answer is he doesn't have an answer.
Uh usually it's called a telephone, and usually it's called negotiating from a position of strength.
And the big announcement today is in the lobby of Trump Tower about an hour ago, Donald Trump announced that Soft Bank of Japan is going to invest $50 billion into the United States, and they're gonna create 50,000 jobs here in the United States, which is a big difference from a magic wand.
It's called the telephone, it's called effort, it's called attitude between this this community organizer, this rigid radical ideologue worshiping at the church of Acorn and Alinsky and the church of GD America, Reverend Wright, and uh, you know, bowing at the altar of Bernardine Dorn and Bill Ayers.
You know, I mean, that's 50,000 jobs more.
This is Massa, a soft bank from Japan, and he's just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs.
And he's one of the great men of industry.
So I just want to thank you for the first time.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is one uh and you if you'd like to speak to him, you can.
But one of the truly great men, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, the guy in the background.
Wow, that was pretty cool.
Play that again.
Here the guy in the listen to the guy in the back.
And he's just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs.
And he's one of the great men.
I mean, that's hilarious.
Wow.
Somebody just hanging out in the in the Trump Tower lobby, which has now become a major tourist attraction.
You can't between the the tree at Rockefeller Center in New York, you can't it travel and Donald Trump's Trump Tower and shutting down Fifth Avenue around Trump Tower.
It is an unmitigated disaster.
And Comrade de Blasio is whining and complaining and begging Obama because he's got to pay the police to do their job.
And that's actually cracking me.
All right, 50,000 jobs.
He picked up his magic wand again.
It's called the telephone, and he's negotiating deals.
By the way, if I'm in business, I'm gonna like, I want to make a deal tomorrow, because you can't buy that kind of advertisement the way Trump is.
Um, you know, later the next hour of this program, I want you to listen in.
This guy's pretty amazing.
Joe Max Higgins.
That's the guy I was telling you about yesterday that, you know, he's credited with generating six thousand plus manufacturing jobs in Mississippi's Golden Triangle.
You know, when you kind of add in the the truckers and and those people that do transport of steel and the helicopters and and all the associated businesses, the restaurants, the stores, the Walmarts, the targets, the sh the grocery stores, it's it's like he's created 12,000 jobs.
This was in a very depressed part of the country.
And this guy is doing on a smaller scale what Trump is now trying to do on a big scale.
And what he's done is he was able to convince local politicians.
He would fly around in a helicopter around the Golden Triangle in Mississippi.
He'd look down and he'd say, Oh, there's a good place to put a manufacturing center.
There's a good place to build a steel mill.
Uh there's a good place to build a tire mill, uh tire manufacturing center.
There's a good place to build uh engines, there's a good place to build a drone plant, and he'd go and build the roads, put the sewers in, and then he would go fight for the jobs and incentivize the companies and say, see, we've got everything built out for you.
Why don't you come here and all the labor you could ever want?
And he was able to end up getting one of the big tire companies to go there, one of the big helicopter building companies to go there, a steel mill to go there, an engine building company, and a drone building company.
And people that were once out of work, you know, at the steel mill, in particular, the average wage is eighty thousand dollars a year.
They interviewed this one one young man working at the steel mill, and he was trained to do the job, and this guy said he's now making more than twice what he used to make.
He's got a bigger house, more property, a nice car, and his kids go to better schools.
Well, that's kind of like the rungs of the ladder that he keep telling you about that we want to put in there.
You know, winning elections isn't just about being able to say, My guy won and your guy lost.
It's it's what good is it if we don't improve the lives of the American people?
And that's why I'm so disgusted with Washington Republicans and Democrats, because they always want to do things the wrong way.
And here you got this guy, a former coach, Joe Maxy likes to call himself, uh, and he's out there and and he's thinking outside the box.
He's getting government government to partner with him in a smart way, incentivizing companies with the attitude if we can make them money, they're gonna create jobs for the people that live in our town and our cities, in our area, and those people are gonna be happy and they'll have a better future than they had before these manufacturing plants came in here.
Do you realize we have lost since Obama's been president, over a million, over a million manufacturing jobs gone.
You want to know why Donald Trump won?
This is it.
He picked up the phone to carrier.
He picked up the phone, he got a surprise visit, working behind the scenes with the president, the CEO of Soft Bank.
50 billion, 50,000 jobs.
That's not bad.
It's a good start.
Now, if we can duplicate all of these models on a grand scale, well, you know, for example, the the one company that he was able to bring in, Packar, truck maker uh uh Packar used to build engines only in Europe.
Well, now they're building them in the Golden Triangle.
You know, the helicopter plant, now they're there.
You know, steel mills used to be all over the Rust Belt, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin.
These states sound familiar to you.
Well, those are the people Hannity was talking about day in and day out last year.
Those are the real lives, the real people in real poverty on real food stamps that can't get a job, that can't buy a house, that can't advance.
Well, Hannity, you called this the forgotten man election.
Well, that's what we're talking about.
You know what bothers me, I was reading in Breitbart today, alt right radical news site, Breitbart, which isn't true, but that's the way the left wants to project it.
GOP leadership to delay Donald Trump's election winning priorities.
This scared me today.
Now, between this, you know, I'm thinking about this guy who we'll talk to at the top of the next hour, Joe Max, and I'm thinking about, all right, well, look at what he did in the Golden Triangle, and I'm thinking, well, they're talking about Democrats are loving it.
Anytime you talk about spending government money, they love it because that means they get to hang on to their power base, and that means they get to bring Bacon back to their individual districts, and then they go out to brag to their constituents, look at what I did, and basically all it is is bringing money back, and it's like a big grand pay-to-play scheme.
And I'm thinking, if you're going to spend a trillion dollars, Paul Ryan was on 60 minutes too.
He never explained how he's going to pay for it.
How are we going to pay for a trillion dollars in infrastructure without going further into debt?
Well, one of the ways you do it is you grow the economy.
Another way to do it is, you know, there's all sorts of resources under our feet that we don't tap into.
Another way to do it is you pay as you go based on how the economy's going.
The way that you do it and get the most bank for your buck and don't lose 50% of every 50 cents of every dollar on the bureaucracy in Washington is you take it out of their hands.
You take it out of the hands of elected officials because they have shown themselves incompetent, incapable of getting anything done.
So if you're going to spend 500 billion, maybe to start, because what worries me after reading this article in Breitbart today is all they want to do, even the Republicans is do the things that they want, not the things that Trump won.
And probably the most difficult policy Trump is going to face is controlling our borders, immigration reform, deporting criminals and others that are that didn't respect our laws and sovereignty.
But they got this guy, Representative Bill Flores of Texas saying that he talked to Paul Ryan, and their strategy is to isolate and block Trump's populist campaign promises.
Well, that's a problem to me.
Like his immigration reforms.
Let's just do the things we agree on.
Let's do tax reform.
Let's do Obamacare.
Let's replace Obamacare.
Let us start dealing with border security.
Start, start the infrastructure on the word starting.
Let us rebuild our national security.
And then on those areas where we're not exactly aligned with ours, we'll figure out the rest later in the next six months.
Let me translate what that means in Washington.
Go to hell.
We're not going to do that.
That's getting the tax increase up front.
You never get the spending cuts ten years later.
That's getting the amnesty, never getting the wall built.
That's the way Washington works.
And if I'm Trump, I'd read this very closely.
Because I'd see this as the writing is on the wall.
And if he wants to get his issues passed, he's got to keep negotiating just like he's doing with Carrier, with Soft Bank, and with everybody else.
You know, I told a very good friend of mine, strong conservative, likes Trump, is worried about protectionism and his call for 35% tariff.
And I said, look, I'm telling you right now, that's 99% bluster.
It could happen.
He said it, he would do it.
I believe he'd do it, but I think that this why do you think Japan has soft bank and Japan doesn't want to trade war with us.
China doesn't want to trade war with us.
And if Trump goes in there and says, okay, we're going to let your products come in here for free the way they always do, but you're going to let our products in for free too.
That's called a negotiation.
And one of the things I've learned with Trump over the years is this guy never stops negotiating.
Everything in his mind circles around the prism of negotiation.
I don't think he all of this is him negotiating with these countries ahead of time.
And he's probably got half of them literally wetting their pants over this, which is a good thing to do.
So the same thing needs to be there for Congress as well.
And Congress needs to know that if they want those things that they've been wanting for a long time and promising their constituents for a long time, well, they've they've got to do their part too.
And that means there might be parts of the Trump agenda that they don't like that he's got to use as a bargaining chip now, not just give them what they want.
And I'll tell you, um the only thing that's scaring me about infrastructure is how do we pay for it?
The second thing that scares me about infrastructure is they constantly waste and abuse the process of spending your money.
And I don't want them wasting any more money with promises of shovel-ready jobs that won't be so shovel-ready or infrastructure.
Shuttle already was not as uh shovel ready as we expect.
Or infrastructure projects that are Never going to get off the ground that aren't the ones that are that should be prioritized, but are only there because Congressman A is going to say to Congressman B C D E and F if you support my project, I'll support your project.
And maybe those aren't the best projects that's going to build the infrastructure in the country the way we need to.
And then the fact that it runs through the Washington bureaucracy means that you're really getting about 50 cents of every dollar because they waste it, they squander it, and they basically piss it down the toilet.
And so what I'm saying is, you get a guy like Joe Max and say, Joe, here, all of these congressmen are going to write you.
All these senators are going to write you.
535 people are going to write you and tell you what they want.
After they write, I want you to study it, and then I want you to go through the infrastructure projects that every state needs, and I want you to make a priority list.
And the next thing I want you to do is I want a real true competitive bidding on every single solitary penny that we spend on infrastructure.
In other words, run government like a business.
Don't run it like they have been running it all these years gone by.
And that's that's common sense.
That means more jobs are going to be created, more money's available for those jobs.
You get more bang out of your buck, you'll actually get a dollar out of a dollar spent rather than 50% wasted or 50 cents of the dollar wasted.
And you'll actually get some real things done.
There's other ways of doing things.
And for all those people, well, economic fascism.
Well, Joe Max Higgins, who convinced his government down in the Golden Triangle to go ahead and invest in roads and sewers and electric grid for a steel mill before they even agreed to come.
Well, I wouldn't say that's economic fascism to the 12,000 people that now have good high-paying jobs and careers in industries that never existed there.
And he's getting back four times in some cases what their estimates were that they would finally get back if they built it and the companies came.
And then he went out and showed these people look at the look at the roads we built you.
Look at the grid we built you, look at the sewers we built you.
There's where you're gonna build it, and we've got all the permits and it's ready to go.
You want to start?
That's how he did it.
That's called common sense.
That's how smart business people work.
Not community organizers, not acorn members, not Alinsky disciples, not Church of GD disciples.
GD America disciples.
That's how it works.
And I'm gonna tell you, there's a reason those states voted the way they did.
Now, Donald Trump's got four years.
You either deliver or you will go home.
Because the American people will send you home.
And if he's counting on Paul Ryan and company and the establishment to help him forget it, they're only gonna do what's in their best interest.
That's my take.
Anyway, we want to hear from you.
800 941 Sean is our toe-free telephone number.
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For some companies, offshore wasn't as great as they thought it was or as it was portrayed to be.
Many of the companies said, hey, if it's gonna be consumed in the U.S., we can produce it in the U.S. cheaper, more efficiently than we can elsewhere and bring it in.
They save money by being here in Mississippi.
Now tell our staff if you leave our office and and you didn't do something to make our place a better place today, then you need to find another job.
I said, These guys should be winning.
You know, it's something's not right.
They didn't see they didn't see that.
They didn't realize that they were big and strong and fast.
Nobody'd ever told them they were big and strong and fast.
I just thought they were, you know, slow and stupid, I guess.
Joe Max Higgins enlisted the community college to provide customized training for PACAR.
So when the plant was ready, the workforce was ready.
Is the workforce here prepared for these new jobs coming in?
Nobody in the Golden Triangle made engines.
Nobody made any of this stuff.
So what you're really looking for is do our citizens have the acumen for work?
Do they have the work ethic?
Are they skilled enough to be trained to do jobs?
And the answer is yes, yes, and yes.
The school now gears its training for each manufacturer coming in.
Higgins told us it's the critical part of his business plan.
The promise of a trained workforce caught the eye of his biggest catch yet.
Yokohama tire.
The Japanese company plans to employ two thousand workers, not far from the old Sarah Lee plant.
It considered every county in the continental U.S. So the people who say that the glory days of American manufacturing are over, you say I think that's not right.
These plants, they pay well.
Most of the working conditions are very good, and those are the jobs that are in demand.
If we can create those types of industries, those types of jobs, I think the sky's still the limit for the United States.
And he's just agreed to invest 50 billion dollars in the United States and 50,000 jobs.
And he's one of the great men of industry, so I just want to thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is my uh and you if you'd like to speak to him, you can.
But one of the truly great men, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, that was from Sixty Minutes on Sunday night.
I was watching Paul Ryan, and then I stayed watching Sixty Minutes, and they they did a feature on a guy by the name of Joe Max Higgins.
He's the CEO of GTR Link, the Golden Triangle Development Group of Mississippi.
Now, this is a place that had disproportionate amount of unemployment.
This is a place that was suffering.
And you know, in light of the carrier deal and what Donald Trump announced earlier today that you got a surprise visit in Trump Tower today saying that Soft Bank of Japan is going to invest fifty billion dollars into the U.S., creating fifty thousand new jobs.
I guess the magic wand that Obama was worrying about was now being waived again.
It was probably called the telephone.
And that's the difference between a businessman who has done deals his entire life versus a community organizer who, you know, worshipped at the church of Valinski and Frank Marshall Davis and Acorn and the Church of GD America, Reverend Wright, and hung out with unrepentant terrorists Harrison Dorn.
So I'm watching this report and I'm blown away.
Because the Golden Triangle literally is uh a part of the country, was a part of the country that was doing very, very poorly.
We have lost since Obama's been president about a million manufacturing jobs.
Some of these jobs we can't fill because factories can't find properly trained workers.
And here comes a guy they call the coach, uh Joe Max, he likes to call himself, and he takes it upon himself to persuade local dumb politicians to build infrastructure, roads and sewers, and in the case of of in enticing a steel company, which eventually did move to the Golden Triangle, an electric grid that they would need for their plant to power their plant.
So he brings a big tire company, a helicopter building company, a steel plant.
Uh then he brought one of his biggest gets was the truck maker Packar to build engines.
They used to only build engines in Europe.
Now they build them in Mississippi in the Golden Triangle.
Now, if the government's gonna spend a trillion dollars in infrastructure, why do I not want that money in the hands of Washington bureaucrats, five hundred and thirty-five greedy politicians that only know one way to spend your money, and that's to waste it.
And frankly, to piss it all away.
I'd rather put it in the hands of somebody like Joe Max who joins us now from Mississippi.
How are you?
I'm fine, sir.
How are you?
Did you get a lot of reaction to that sixty minutes piece?
We we were unprepared for the sixty minute piece.
I I I I I I will tell you, uh our phones are blowing up, emails, uh, every one of my staffers is doing nothing but answering the phone since that since that report and your uh teaser yesterday ran.
Well, have you heard from anybody related to the Trump organization?
No, no, sir.
Well, I personally wrote uh a summary of what happened on sixty minutes, and I sent it to the Trump kids and some of the people in the Trump campaign that they may want to pay attention to it.
And I I hope one day you get a call.
How did you do this?
Explain how you got this position.
What was the state of the golden triangle?
And tell us about the business deals you you put together.
Okay, I'm I'm in economic development doing deals for about thirty years.
They're just just shy.
Uh uh about thirteen and a half years ago, I got a call from a national head hunter that specializes in citing people like us.
She said, I've got a job for you in Mississippi, I want you to look at.
Uh I I said, You gotta be blank and kidding me.
There's no blanking way, I'm going to Mississippi.
Uh, I just watched Mississippi burning.
I see I see poverty, despair, no future, and no hope for a future.
I'm not interested.
Uh Sean, I need to tell you, I was sitting in Arkansas doing this for a living when I said that, so a lot of people get tickled about that.
But but I hung up on her uh and then that night I looked on the computer, I started looking to see about this golden triangle area, what was here, and and I made a decision pretty quickly.
I said, if God could give it to them or man could build it, they're in pretty good shape.
Good four-lane roads, they got a uh waterway that connects the Great Lakes with with the Gulf of Mexico, six railroads, major research university, engineering, major engineering school at Mississippi State, and I said, These guys are losers, but they should be winning.
So I took the job.
Uh and the first six months I was here, I was miserable as hell.
Uh uh, the they we w the I I figured out pretty quickly that that they were they were they they didn't know how to win, they didn't know what to do, and they they really just I mean they were it was like pushing a noodle.
We couldn't get it done.
First Christmas I was here, I came in June, Christmas I was here, uh some of the community leadership tried to get me fired.
The people that were on my board said, no, we're gonna keep him.
Uh uh very shortly thereafter, TVA came out with this mega site certification program, one of a kind, never been done in the in the business to identify some of the best industrial sites in the Tennessee Valley, 80,000 square miles.
Uh, we entered a site, us in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, one, we were certified, and then just months later, uh, the steel mill came calling, and now there's a 1.75 billion dollar steel mill on that first mega site.
How many people are employed by the steel mill?
Well, directly directly employed getting a check from the steel mill, six hundred and fifty.
And if you add all the associated jobs with the contractors and the other vendors on there, the truck drivers that that deliver the steel in and out, you can you can times that times you got probably twelve you probably got twice that many that work out there that don't get a uh uh a check from the steel mill, but six hundred and fifty at the steel mill at an average wage of eighty thousand dollars a year.
I saw the one guy on sixty minutes, he makes a hundred grand a year, double what he used to make.
He's got a bigger house, more property, and more opportunity for his kids to go to better schools and a better truck.
Not a bad deal.
No, and that well, and that that's that's the whole deal.
That's the whole story of the whole triangle.
Uh Pat Collins general manager lives across the street from me, and and we were talking one day, and he said, you know, the first year we were here every three months, we had to on off day bring steam cleaners out and s and squirt the oil off the parking lot where uh where the people that parked the cars.
He said, We don't do that anymore.
Well Wow.
Let me ask this how many deals have you now brought to the Golden Triangle and explain the infrastructure setup that you did to entice and how it paid off.
In other words, when you were building roads and sewers, when you built that power plant, whatever that thing is, the the extra power grid for the for the steel mill, um, how that really turned the whole deal around so you can have those thirteen hundred jobs.
You know, I uh how did you convince the local authorities to invest, not knowing for sure they're getting a return?
Well, you know, that that that's a good question.
And in the early days, you know, I I there's there's two key county leaders here the president board of supervisors, Harry Sanders, who is a Republican, and the longest serving member of the county government, Leroy Brooks, who's a Democrat, and I brought them both in, and I said, Guys, if we're gonna win here, you can't make economic development be a football.
You cannot do it.
We have to play for the long haul, and we have to invest in ourselves, and we have to reinvest in ourselves.
I said, When we make money, we've got to take it as a corporation, not take a dividend and plow it back in, hard assets, water, sewer, roads, acquisition of land.
And and those two guys uh uh uh bought a hook line and sinker and said, We're in, and I mean, I mean, and and they've been in since day one.
And how much did they have to invest?
That initial investment that we're the the the initial investment to to to to to get the certified megasite was 170,000 we had to spend on engineering and and and work.
Once that happened, when the steel mill came, we had to invest twelve and a half million dollars of local money, twelve and a half million dollars that purchased the site, and that did some site improvement.
Uh uh, and that leveraged that what was supposed to be a six hundred twenty-five million dollar investment that ended up being a billion dollars.
Uh the math on that were that we were going to be able to pay our note.
We were gonna be able to pay and we suck suck sought out low interest loans uh with with good terms, and and we borrowed twelve and a half million dollars, and and the way our model ran is we anticipated we were gonna we were gonna profit a quarter of a million dollars a year, get the plant, pay our bills, and and put a quarter of a million dollars in in the county's coffers.
As it turned out, the steel mill missed its estimate, it cost more to build it, but the incentives were such that they didn't go up.
So instead of making a quarter of a million dollar profit on the deal, we made a million dollars a year profit a year.
So we sit down and we said, okay, let's take that money and let's plow that into purchase land and other stuff.
So since that time, we have purchased almost 8,000 acres of land.
We've installed miles and miles and miles of road, water, and sewer lines.
And by the way, you I just want people to know you're you're building this out in the wilderness, the roads, the power, the sewer lines.
I mean, there's nothing there.
But you're building it to show them, hey, you can just drop your plan in here, we've got everything set up for you.
Yeah, and not only do we have the water and sewer there, but we've done all the environmental work, all the due diligence with the cultural resources and all the wetlands and all the rules and regulations you have to follow.
We spend all the money to do that up front so that it is literally plug and play.
When they come in, there is there is no doubt, no chance.
Uh and and look, these companies want to get speed to market.
You know, every day, every month that they're in construction, they're not making money.
And so the quicker you can get them to making money, the quicker you can show them that that they can be succeeding, the more you increase your chance of winning.
Well, I gotta tell you, I found this whole thing amazing.
Let me ask you a question.
If d like for example, we just had this this deal that Trump announced in Trump Tower with Soft Bank, fifty billion dollars, fifty thousand jobs.
We know the carrier deal, that was a thousand or eleven hundred jobs.
Do you think you could duplicate this model that you've created in the Golden Triangle?
Can you help Detroit?
Could you help Baltimore?
Could you help m Milwaukee?
Could you help any depressed city using this model with government resources around the country?
Like, for example, Detroit, they're now talking about bulldozing entire neighborhoods to consolidate services because the population has had to leave as the auto industry has left Detroit, one of our great cities of all time.
Do you think this model could be duplicated?
Do you think government if if Donald Trump called you and said, I want you in charge of all the infrastructure money, and it was your job and your task to do what you did in the Golden Triangle, could you duplicate that on a grand scale?
Well, Sean, I don't know that I would be the guy to do that, but what I will tell you is Well, how about this question?
Could it be duplicating what you do?
Well look what we have done here is is no is no magic deal.
It's not rocket sign.
Uh I tell my guys it's blocking and tackling.
And and I I watch you every night and and and uh uh uh uh know you're a footballer, you're a sports fan, and I will tell you this.
I told my guys when we came here, I said, here's the way we're gonna run this program.
Uh you're Sean, you remember the Washington Redskins.
Yeah, of course.
You remember Rig O. You remember Thy Right?
Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.
I'm friends with Joe Tizman.
Yeah, well, introduce me.
Done.
What was their signature play?
Riggins and and Joe?
The the Washington Redskins signature play was the counter trade.
Okay.
So it was uh well, basically what happened is they come to the line, tight ends on the left side, he goes into cadence, the tight end goes in motion to the right.
When the ball is snapped, Riggins took one half step to the to the left, the guard and tackle on the left side pulled to the right side.
Then Riggins turned and and and Thisman handed him off the ball.
You had two guards, two tackles, a center, and a big ass tight end leading the way for Riggins to get that second and two, second to third, or third and third and two, third and three, whatever the play was.
I mean, it w it was it was crazy.
And I mean the Chicago Bears, I mean, they they would be sitting there, they knew what they were gonna run, they couldn't stop them.
So what I said was we've got to create in this business that that that counter tray uh mentality that we do blocking and tackling, we do we do the small things, we do them right, we repeat them, repeat them till we can do them in our in in in the dark, and and and more than likely we're gonna succeed.
So this is not rocket science.
I mean, people have to have infrastructure, they have to have good power, they have to have water, they have to have sewer, they have to have those things.
There's got to be a tax climate available uh uh there that will make them profitable.
These companies do not create jobs for the people.
These companies create jobs to make a profit.
And if you can help them make a profit, they will continue to invest in you.
You know, I gotta tell you, that is the single most You're right, it should be obvious.
But you see how government mismanages people's money.
You see what they if for example a stimulus bill ends up going all their cronies and all their friends and and all their fellow contractors and nothing gets done.
I am gonna put you in touch with Newt Gingrich.
I sent him, he wrote me back about you.
And um I I just I'm interested in pursuing this on a grand scale because I'm worried about the amount of money they're talking about for infrastructure, knowing how Washington works, and I think what you've done here, you know, like the seven what million dollars or billion dollars that they're what is it milli seven million dollars.
That's all it is in the tax incentives that carriers getting, but they're spending thirty-five billion redoing the plan and other things.
But I'm very impressed.
You don't get paid a whole lot hell of a lot of money for what you do and the money you're making for your community and the jobs you're creating for your community.
I just thought you were a local hero.
So but let me see you had a tire plan, a helicopter plan, a steel mill, and an engine plan.
And two uh uh unmanned aircraft uh manufacturers, uh manufacturers.
Unbelievable.
Well, get me a discount on a drone.
I think I want one.
Well, they these are military and uh they won't let you know.
That's exactly the one I want.
I want that one.
Hey, Joe Max coach, God bless you, man.
You uh you really made my day.
I really you're inspiring.
My not every night.
I'll uh I'll tune in and listen to you watching.
Did you hear me talk about your last thing?
Yes, I did, and my wife turned red.
You embarrassed her.
I didn't why did I embarrass her?
I was proud of you.
Well, I was you you really inspired me.
So you were so kind, sorry.
All right, my friend, God bless you.
You keep up the good work.
A lot of people owe you a debt of gratitude.
God bless you.
Thank you.
We're saving the jobs at the carrier plant from going to Mexico, one thousand one hundred jobs.
And I'm asking all companies to keep their jobs in America, and we will work to make America a better environment for workers and businesses, and we will crack down on all foreign trade abuses that undermine your ability and your company's ability to compete.
Those days are over when those companies are gonna leave.
This Massa, a soft bank from Japan, and he's just agreed to invest $50 billion in the United States and 50,000 jobs.
And he's one of the great men of industry.
So I just want to thank you for that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
This is what uh and you if you'd like to speak to him, you can.
But one of the truly great men, thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right, more jobs, Trump president.
You know, I haven't talked a whole lot about it because the stock market is not the greatest indicator to me of of where the economy is.
It does do one thing.
It shows investors have confidence in the market, confidence in the economic plan of the incoming president.
So uh, I mean, that's a good sign that way, but you know, uh people would call me and say, Well, Lahannity, you're trashing the Obama economy.
Look at the stock market.
I'm like, people in poverty don't give a flying rip about the stock market.
People out of work don't care about the stock market.
You know, people on food stamps, they don't give a rip about the the stock market.
And I'll be honest, I have money that I can invest in the stock market, and I don't ever want to invest in the stock market.
I have the biggest fights with my financial guy who wants me to put more money in the stock market.
And I'm like, I don't want money in the stock market.
I don't trust it.
I don't know it, I don't believe it, I don't trust it, and I want no part of it.
And he's like, how do you really feel?
Anyway, so the president elect made this surprise visit at Trump Tower lobby today and says that SoftBank, a Japan company, is gonna invest $50 billion into the economy.
How many jobs did they say?
Fi 50,000 new jobs.
Okay, now maybe maybe Obama's gonna say, Well, that's the magic wand.
How's he gonna make that happen?
I guess the magic wand ends up being a telephone.
And maybe, and this is what I said, it was a very, very good close friend of mine, who's just livid over the idea of protectionism.
It's a very close friend.
I said, I'm telling you, I know this guy.
All of that is a negotiation.
Everything with Trump is a negotiation.
And by saying he's gonna put tariffs on Japan and China, guess what?
China and Japan are gonna do.
They don't want to stop their products from coming into the United States.
We're gonna get a much better deal.
It's called the negotiation.
Like, for example, I negotiate a contract for radio, contract for TV.
I say I want an obscene amount of money.
They come back with an obscenely low amount of money, and then I come down like an inch, and then they come up two feet.
And that's how the negoti no, I'm kidding.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm just um you make a deal.
We used to negotiate for cars.
We don't really negotiate for cars anymore because everybody knows what the price of the car is, what the car dealership paid for it.
You know what the Deals are and frankly, they want to sell cars so bad they're gonna tell you what the deals are, even if you don't know what the deals are.
I mean, I my buddy at King O'Rourke Cadillac, um what's it that Dave Pericone, like all I do is call him.
I don't even ask what the price is.
Because he's not gonna screw me.
Because that's the kind of relationship we have.
He's not he's he he actually called me back after I bought my last escalator and he said, Well, if you wait a little longer, they have this incentive that's coming out.
Why don't you just wait?
I mean, that's that's a guy that's looking out for my interests.
Why would I go anywhere else?
That's a guy when I call him and said the stupid car doesn't work, and you pick it up, he comes by my house, sends somebody over, picks up the car, leaves me another car, so I don't have to worry about the car, and and I get it back fixed, and it never cost me a dime.
Because that's what my warranty is included with.
I mean, that's how you want to do business.
So Trump picks up the phone, makes a deal with Carrier, carrier on top of the money.
All right, they are getting incentives from Indiana.
Just like every other state offers incentives.
The only thing Trump offered was he's gonna advance his agenda, which is a fifteen percent corporate tax, it's definitely gonna be lower than the 35% it is now.
He's gonna eliminate regulations, they will have a seat at the table carrier.
Because now, if the the head of carrier, the CEO of that company calls and says, This regulation is killing my business.
Please help me.
Trump will look at it.
That's called win-win.
It's not pay to play, it's called business.
It's keeping American jobs here.
And this is what Democrats don't seem to understand.
This look, I keep going back to three reasons why this election came out the way it did.
It's simple.
Obama screwed up royally.
Hillary's a horrible candidate with with ethical and honesty issues, and Trump was able to talk to the people that have suffered the most and say, This is how I'm gonna fix it.
And now he's following through on it.
You know, I keep saying the best thing Donald Trump can do, just stay focused on your promises.
If I was him, I'd put a big checklist on his desk when he gets to Washington.
And on his desk, I'd have my checklist.
And that means the first people he's got to watch out for are Republicans, because they're only gonna want to pass their agenda.
And I'd say, okay, we'll pass your agenda and my agenda, and we're gonna pass this and this and this too.
Or you're not getting what you want.
And they'll have to cave.
That's the difference between a community organizer and acorn, Frank Marshall Davis, Church of GD America of Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dorn that couldn't get the only president in American history that couldn't get a single year of GDP over three percent.
And a guy that's been a businessman that that's made deals his entire life.
You know, the most one of the more fun things, aspects in my life and career have been deal negotiations.
And I do it all the time.
You know, I t I've told you very honestly on this program, I don't like stocks.
And I prefer bricks and mortar.
You know, I recently helped somebody buy a place, a house, and so I told him exactly what to put in as a bid.
I I researched the neighborhood for this friend.
This friend just doesn't know how to do it.
Research the neighborhood, researched the last two years, recent sales, got a really good feel for what the price of the house should be.
I factored in how long the house had been on the market, which was a fairly long period of time, and I said, okay, I would go in with this offer, close in 30 days, say you want to keep the furniture, and they will accept it and say you need to know within two hours, or else you're gonna go bid on another property.
And I said, also the furna take it furnished.
There's a long story why they did that.
And then I said, they're gonna come back.
This is gonna be their counter, and they're gonna say, okay, we'll do the deal, but we need five pieces of grandma's furniture because grandma gave it to us and we have to take it with us.
It came back exactly at the number I said, and five pieces of grandma's furniture, and they can keep everything else.
And I don't believe it was grandma's furniture, by the way, just they wanted that furniture.
Um you just you get a feel for doing these deals.
You just do.
The more you do them, the better you get at them.
And a deal's not good if it doesn't benefit both sides.
When I do contract negotiations, I okay, I this is what I want.
This is what I bring to the table.
And everything that I do is based on performance.
And based on how hard I'm willing to work on my job and serve you, my audience every day.
I'm very proud this election year.
I really am.
I'm very, very proud that in the last 18 months, that very specific promises were made to you by me and my team.
And my team pulled it off every day.
And we fulfilled our promise.
We gave access to every candidate.
We let you decide the candidate.
You pick Trump.
I think you made a good choice.
And Donald Trump won the election, and we went all in.
We went up the tree with the large what do you call it?
Trunk out on a the tallest branch, out to the littlest twig, out to the smallest leaf, and we had a little piece of thread from the leaf we were hanging on because that's what our job is.
And we went all in and you went all in, and the country were like spokes in a wheel.
We all went in the wheel.
We're all little spokes.
We all did our part.
Some of you just voted, some of you were active, some of you donated, some of you just had time to go out and vote.
Some of you encouraged other people to vote, some of you took people to the polls, and lo and behold, we were able to get a win this time.
That's what it is.
We're all spokes in a wheel.
You need every spoke to make the wheel go round.
You need every vote to make the wheel go round to win an election.
So we're proud that we fulfilled our promise.
And other people, I can tell you right now, we're up and down like yo-yos during this election, and we stayed firm to our our promise and our commitment.
Once you make a commitment, it's easy to stay firm on it.
It was simple.
Our job, we just had to make sure we delivered on the guests we promised you.
And I think uh, you know, it's funny.
The New York Times called Fox today, they want to do a piece.
Now, I've been screwed by the New York Times so many times.
And they want to do a piece on how did Hannity get it right.
I'm like, well, I got it right about Obama.
Are you gonna write about that?
I predicted every horrible thing that would happen.
Nobody ever says, you know, Hannity was right about Obama.
They don't say that either.
What what am I seeing that everybody else seems to be missing?
It's not that complicated.
If you understand that there's actually real people that live between New York, DC and San Francisco and LA that work hard, build the country, produce all the goods and services that people want, need, and desire, and they're the forgotten men and women that have been screwed,
then you kind of find out it's pretty easy to just listen to them and see the status of their lives and the rungs of the ladder that I once climbed up are all gone but below my feet.
And the idea is to put the rungs of the ladder back in so everybody can climb up.
It's not that complicated.
Linda, am I right about this?
You have to not nodding your head doesn't work on radio.
I tell you every day.
Yes, I think that you're making a lot of really good points that America, we all work together to be spokes in a wheel, and that we all pay attention.
You were talking about the ladder and the falling beneath you.
I'm I'm listening.
I'm just commenting on all of it.
It's a grand theme that you're putting out today.
No, I'm just saying it's it's very profound, and you missed it.
I'm having a moment of your profound statement where I'm encompassing it with the prelude.
She was totally distracted, half paying attention.
She picked up a couple of words, and now she's like trying to cover her tracks.
But it's all right.
You have other duties besides listening to every word that you're gonna do.
I listened and I'm staring at you to every word, and the last words I got.
That's the only reason I talked to you because you were looking at me.
So whatever you were multitasking.
No, right at that moment when you asked me to turn my mic on, someone did ask me a question.
Oh, it was Ethan.
Let me guess.
Listen, I'm not gonna believe Ethan or Lauren or Jason, because you cover for them and they'll cover for you.
You just left Linda ask a question.
You left her speechless, Sean.
She's in awe of your words.
Okay, this is now the whole team covers for Linda.
Like, for example, let's say somebody screws up the time that somebody's supposed to call into the show, and I'm like, now, should I fill, should I do another segment?
Or should I just sit here on live radio and say, okay, we're waiting for so and so to call in, and or should I go in another direction in the show because I'm always way overprepared.
Anyway, I don't care which way it goes.
And Linda will say, I'll say, Well, who screwed it up?
I did.
I did it, I did it.
But let me just get back to the room.
And meanwhile, she had nothing to do with it.
Well, let me answer your question.
Because you cover up for your team in there, and they now are covering up for you.
It's like a grand conspiracy.
How out of touch people are with the middle of the country.
And you know, Mark Wahlberg, I don't know if you saw his comments.
I did, actually.
That was good.
That is literally someone in Hollywood saying what you're saying.
You know, the rest of the world, Hollywood is not in touch with the middle of America.
You know why, like, I met Mark Wahlberg.
He's amazing.
I met Mark Wahlberg at a Super Bowl one year.
You know, that's my son's Christmas present every year.
All right.
So I'm at a Super Bowl, and I went to like a pre-Super Bowl party thing.
I don't even know what the hell.
I mean, there's so much nonsense that you gotta go to before you actually get to the game, which is all I really care about.
And I met him there, and you know what?
I like the guy immediately.
He's hanging out, he's got his he's got his Harley boots on, he's got jeans on, he's got a t-shirt on, and he goes, Hannity, what's up, man?
How are you?
Hey, my buddy likes your show.
Would you say hi to him?
Just very normal.
Nor and I'm assuming he's a big Hollywood star, right?
I mean, he's Mark Wahlberg?
Yeah.
Are you joking?
He's like a really big deal.
He's like the biggest deal.
Well, he was very nice to me.
He's incredible.
And he was laughing.
He goes, My buddy so and so is a big fan of yours.
Oh my God, he's gonna go nuts when he meets.
He was on our show, you do remember that, right?
Yeah, I remember.
He was incredible.
I thought he was amazing in that that movie.
I thought he was phenomenal.
But the point is, there's a Hollywood star who put himself out on the limb.
And his brother does that that uh cheeseburger place, Wahlberg's or whatever.
Wallburg's Wahlburgers, yeah.
They have a great family, he believes in family feelings.
He's a Boston kid that grew up and did what's not my point.
My point is that he went out on a limb because all of his Hollywood friends are gonna smack the crap out of him.
And he said, You guys need to be quiet, you don't get the middle common, you know, forgotten man.
And that's exactly what you say.
And that's where I was going with all this before you berated me.
I didn't berate you.
I just was pointing out the obvious that you're being covered for by my staff in there.
No, we're not working on a deportation force.
Uh here's what we're working on with respect to immigration, securing our border, enforcing our current laws.
He talked about uh criminal aliens.
That's just enforcing laws for people who came here illegally who came and committed violent crimes.
Um we should enforce those laws.
Uh but really what we're focused on is securing our border.
Well, Trump said he was gonna build a wall.
Yeah, I think conditions on the ground determine what you need in in particular areas.
Some areas you might need a wall, some area you might need double fencing.
I my own view on this is whatever kind of device or barrier or policy to secure the border is necessary to secure the border, then do it.
Abdul Razak Ali Artan, the man police say deliberately rammed a car into a group of pedestrians, then got out and started slashing people with a butcher knife.
According to federal law enforcement officials, Artan was an 18-year-old Somali citizen living near the university as a legal permanent resident.
ISIS is now claiming responsibility for inspiring the attack on the Ohio State University campus.
Sometimes when I'm talking to young interns of the White House uh who are still immunizing themselves from the cynicism that's so chronic in this town, um I remind them if you had to choose a moment in history to be born and you didn't know ahead of time who you were gonna be.
You'd choose now.
Because the world has never been less violent, healthier, better educated, more tolerant, with more opportunity for more people and more connected than it is today.
I have no idea who he's talking about, none, what country's talking about either.
Anyway, news roundup and information overload hour here on the Sean Hannity show, toll free our telephone numbers 800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
As I mentioned earlier, the thing that is concerning me the most in what I see Congress and their priorities and what they're laying out.
Now, of course, they hope to adjourn for the year by the end of the week, and we're told that the continuing resolution budget is is unveiled along with a final deal on water resources and that bill.
And but what concerns me is after January twentieth, you got a top a top ally of House Speaker Paul Ryan outlining the GOP leadership strategy To in the beginning isolate and block President Donald Trump's populist campaign promises, which include some of his immigration reforms.
For example, what they're saying is, and this was quoted by Bill Flores, Congressman from Texas.
We all agree that some of the President's proposed policies are not going to line up very well with our policies.
Let's do the things we agree on.
Let's do tax reform.
Let's do Obamacare.
Let's replace Obamacare.
Let's start dealing with border security.
Let's rebuild our national security, and then on those areas where his agenda is not exactly aligned with ours, we'll figure out the rest in the next six months.
The GOP congressional leadership, in other words, they want to pass all their priorities, but they don't want to pass Donald Trump's priorities.
Which means Donald Trump, I'm sure, at some point is going to figure out that there might be typical Washington maneuvering in in place here.
And I hope that he is aware of what's going on.
Congressman Dave Brad is from Virginia and uh Representative Congressman Brian Babin is from Texas here to uh talk about this.
Some of the few congressmen that actually come on this program anymore.
Uh Congressman Brad, how are you?
Hey, doing great, Sean.
Feeling feeling good with the new momentum we have.
And uh you're right.
The the uh the election year issues that this seismic shift everyone felt was due to precisely these issues that affect the forgotten man, right?
The immigration issues, the trade issues, the cleaning the swamp, Paul Ryan's better way agenda has some great stuff in it, right?
Tax reform, we're all gonna get to that.
But uh we we've got the the the issues that won this election for us in Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, et cetera, are the issues we've been fighting for.
I came in the week of Obama's unconstitutional amnesty, and Boehner said we're gonna fight tooth and nail on that, and we didn't lift a finger, and then there's been executive action ever since.
And then my good friend Brian Babin from Texas uh will tee it up, but he's had the great bill on the the refugee cleanup, which he can explain to you.
And uh he's had the vetting stuff before it was cool.
And so uh we've had bills in the hopper.
We have five bills that have passed out of Goodlat uh committee at Judiciary on immigration, and Good Lad is a very rational uh chairman.
These are not hair on fire bills.
These are just five immigration bills that will make this country a safer place.
And we have not our leadership has not moved these bills.
And so that's the issue.
These five bills have to go.
Well, I agree with that.
I mean, look, for example, I mean, they have funding over the government that Obanda Obama's demanding three point nine billion for refugee resettlement.
That's a two hundred and fifty percent increase over the current year funding.
And I'm saying, well, well, Congress has the power of the purse.
The last time I checked our Constitution, does that still exist, or was it did we have an amendment that I didn't know about?
Here you ask.
Brian, you want to weigh in?
Sure, I will.
Uh Sean, how are you?
Great to be back with you.
Great to have you back, sir.
Yeah, and good good to be on with my friend uh Dave Brad as well.
It it's uh the the continuing resolution negotiations that are going on right now.
Uh we I have uh we I've had an op ed out, I've talked to the conference, I've talked to a lot of my colleagues, including Dave, and he understands this.
We cannot add and increase the budget of the ORR or the Office of Refugee Resettlement and the Refugee Program.
We did that last December in the omnibus.
We increased it by a hundred million dollars.
And we must, we absolutely must prevent uh increasing the budget because we know, as you just said, Sean, this president is trying to get an end-of-the-year gift uh of uh two point two billion to his refugee program.
Well, we know absolutely on the heels of this Ohio State attack, a Somali refugee.
We have got to stop the program until we can vet these people.
And we need to stop it from these hotbeds of uh of Islamic terrorism.
And uh this this refugees whole refugee program uh has been uh just uh taken over by this president.
Uh you know, this this bill started in nineteen eighty, this this law.
It was sponsored by Ted Kennedy, none other, and signed by President Carter.
It was funded at two hundred million and now it's approaching two billion.
We don't really even know.
Well, actually it's it's hitting he's demanding three point nine billion.
It's not even I mean, my only point is this.
I mean, I think one of the reasons, and I keep arguing that the Republican Party created Donald Trump is because they don't keep their promises.
They didn't they had show votes to repeal and replace Obamacare, but they'd never use the power of the purse.
Ted Cruz became a pariah because he tried to.
And and then when it comes to an issue like this, that they don't want to fight before they go home for their Christmas vacation.
And then I look at their priorities.
Well, let's only do the things we agree on first, and that to me is Washington speak for we're not gonna do the things that you really want and that you promised Mr. Trump, which tells me that Trump better get his negotiating hat on and and go in there and say, Well, if we do what you want, we're also doing what I want.
We must, we must support this pre this President Elect's uh agenda.
And immigration is one of the, if not the top uh plank in his platform.
And uh so this is why I think uh that my bill or any of the other bills that would stop this program, uh as Dave uh uh mentioned a a second ago uh has got to be followed through with.
Well, Dave, I um d do you see what I'm seeing here?
Why you know, for example, every time you're told with if from Washington that you're gonna get a spending cut or or a tax uh you're gonna get the tax increase, but you're also gonna get a spending cut.
You always get the s the tax increase up front.
Ten years later, you never end up getting that spending cut.
Ever.
If you offer amnesty, you always get the amnesty, you never get the wall.
That's the way Washington works.
I'm tired of that game.
I'm tired of Republicans playing that game.
Yeah, no, you you got it right.
I'm on the budget committee, and I think everybody knows uh Trump just won because we've had a vacuum here when it comes to fiscal responsibility, the debts at twenty trillion, the unfunded liabilities, Medicare and Social Security are insolvent in twelve years, and we have a hundred trillion dollar bill, and the kids won't get those programs.
And so for the last six years, instead of doing a budget, we don't do a budget, we do an omnibus right before Christmas, load it up with every toy imaginable that adds to the debt, and then go home.
And then for some reason the American people uh we had a huge outsider wave this year, right?
With Trump and Bruce and all the good guys, the outsider wave is only what it is.
It is what it is, but the reality is we all know gerrymandering has rendered ninety percent of politician seats safe.
Let's be honest.
Look, and money.
Well, and the problem is like I know they're talking about one trillion dollars in infrastructure spending.
And Democrats love it and Republicans love it because they're thinking it's gonna work the same old way it's always worked, which is okay, I'll give you this number of dollars for the project in your district, you give me these this number of dollars for the project in my district, it runs through the Washington bureaucracy.
You get fifty cents on the dollar, rather than having a guy like a hat on in the last hour, Joe Max Higgins, the guy that was featured on 60 Minutes this weekend, uh a guy that has figured out how to transcend the bureaucracy, incentivize businesses to build in the golden triangle in Mississippi, and he's creating thousands of jobs.
If if we were to duplicate that success, that paradigm, that model, and take Wash like for example, if we're gonna spend one trillion in infrastructure, how are we gonna pay for it?
Paul Ryan didn't answer that question Sunday night.
He was asked that he just went right around it.
Now there are ways to pay for things.
I would prefer infrastructure, spend as you go and take it out of the hands with all due respect to you guys, of your five five hundred and thirty-three other congressmen and senators that have agendas that basically the top agenda being them being reelected.
Am I wrong?
Yeah, well, that's right.
Money's money's in the circle there, and it's run in the city, and everybody knows that.
And so the key is can Trump set up some new capital pool where the money goes directly to shovel ready jobs and bypasses the federal government network of cronies, right, where we doled out to our buddies and the state senators and the U.S. Senators or whatever.
And uh that's the challenge going forward.
I I think he's up to it.
I mean, he's been brilliant so far on the first few moves here.
Uh it's looking good, but that's everybody all of a sudden the Democrats found the debt plot hiding somewhere back in the closet.
And the press is on our case, and the Democrats are on our case, and it's it's almost comical.
Congress were being held up to all these standards and on ethics reform and uh and the you know the walling off uh Trump from his money after the Clinton Foundation has two billion dollars and no press reports at all.
I watched Congressman Babbin th this morning.
I I saw this article.
Donald Trump tweeted out, the President elect tweeted out, that he didn't want he wanted to cancel the building of a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents because he said they were gonna spend four billion dollars, and he later spoke to reporters and uh Trump Tower saying the project is ridiculous.
I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number.
We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money, he said.
They issued a statement saying that the company's currently under contract for 170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States.
Um did we really spend four billion dollars on an airplane?
I mean, did we really spend that much money?
It certainly has the appearance of that, Sean.
And uh, you know, as as far as this is the man who when you're talking about Trump, this is the man that's not even gonna take a salary.
Uh these are the kinds of things that I believe show a great example.
He is determined to drain the swamp.
Uh as Dave said, he has made some great appointments already for his inner circle as far as uh his cabinet goes.
And we must, by all means, as uh as a body uh in the Congress, both House and Senate, support this man and his agenda and push it through.
Okay, so now my next question, Congressman Babin.
Are you getting the any indication from Speaker Ryan who said on sixty minutes that he talks to Trump almost daily that Speaker Ryan is also going to look at Trump's priorities uh not only the things quote that are on his agenda?
Well, uh, you know, we have a better way agenda uh in the House and Trump's got his agenda, and there's quite a bit of overlap there.
I mean, there's some really, really good stuff.
And uh I what when uh right before the speaker uh for our conference when we were gonna uh talk about leadership, uh I I talked to Speaker Ryan on the phone with a in a private conversation, I ask him point blank, are we going to a push?
Will will you be pushing the uh the uh uh President elect's agenda?
And he said he would.
It ju it it it really uh it jives with uh with our better way, and I I really do agree with that with all the why do I think why why does the suspicious side of me and and maybe I'm too cynical.
I've only been in radio now thirty years.
Maybe it maybe I've seen too much.
Maybe I've become too big a skeptic, but why do I think Donald Trump better trust and verify and make sure the drain the swamp part of the agenda, the building the wall part of the agenda, the deportation part of the agenda, why do I think that has to be done up front?
Well, I agree with you a hundred percent.
We we're in the we're in the process of negotiating this const uh continuing a resolution, and the proof's gonna be in the pudding.
And if we can't stop uh the increase in of the budgets of our refugee program and riff and the uh immigration, uh monies being uh funded to uh uh to build new infrastructure and housing and and monies to to spend on unaccompanied minors pouring across the Texas border.
Uh these these are the things that America's Americans stood up and had a revolution at the ballot box to stop.
Well, I just hope I I just hope look apparently Ryan's gonna remain speaker.
I just hope that Ryan is cognitive of the fact that Americans are fed up with the old way the Congress works, and this is an opportunity to reform Congress, get rid of the bureaucracy, drain the swamp, all those things that we've been talking about, and if he's unwilling to do so, then I guess you know, maybe a Freedom Caucus member will have to challenge him.
But if he says he's willing to follow through on it, I guess the proof, as you said, will be in the pudding.
But I hate to rush you guys off.
I wish we had more time, but we don't.
I appreciate you both being with us.
By the way, are you both members of the Freedom Caucus?
Yes.
Yep, absolutely.
So yeah, and on the s on the speaker vote, I did lay out my position in Newsmack.
If your folks want to Google Bratt and News, yeah, you're not voting for Ryan, right?
You're not voting for Ryan?
Yeah, I I I didn't last time, and so far he has not met my criterion for the vote yet.
And so and it's tied to what you're talking about.
I we need there are five bills out of the House, mandatory you verify, strong interior enforcement, refugee program, Babbin's bill, asylum reform, and an end to Central American unaccompanied minority.
I gotta run.
But you know what?
It is interesting, the only people that will come on my show now are Freedom Caucus members.
They're the only you're the only people you're the only people that like me.
It's interesting the other people won't come on anymore.
All right.
We love you, Sean.
Hey, Sean, thank you for what you do.
All right, appreciate it.
Well, in fairness, Kevin McCarthy said he'd come on the program when I talked to him fairly recently before the election.
Let me just warn all of you after talking with Congressman Dave Bratt and Congressman Babin of Texas and other Freedom Caucus members that I check in with on a fairly regular basis.
I don't trust the Republicans in the House.
Sorry, I'm a Reaganite, a trust but verify guy.
That's how I that's how I view all of these things.
Anyway, so to me, Donald Trump's got to be very careful because it is a swamp in D.C. And while I guess there's agreement on taxes and seven brackets to three and uh fifteen percent corporate tax, although Ryan wants a twenty percent corporate tax, I prefer the fifteen percent and repatriation and energy independence and building the wall, or you know, th there's some agreement on some things.
But if you really want to get the reforms that he wants, if he wants to get those reforms, he's gotta understand that every time we get a tax increase And spending cuts, we only get the tax increase, and the spending cuts are pushed way down the line, and they never happen.
Every time we talk about border security, you get the amnesty, you get the forgiveness up front, but you never get the wall.
And that's just the way Washington works, and he needs to be fundamentally aware of what he is dealing with there.
These are people, Democrats and Republicans, that the only thing they really seem to care about is getting re-elected.
You know, infrastructure, you're gonna spend a trillion dollars, you better pay for it as you go, figure out a way to pay for it, unleashing America's resources.
That would be at least a good way to start when the money comes in, I'd do it as spend as you go, but I'd also pick somebody like this guy we had on earlier today, Joe Max Higgins, and I'd give put him in charge.
Have Congress appropriate the money to him.
So they don't have any say in this.
They can send in their request, they can give them ideas, but ultimately you need an outsider that's not gonna benefit from that money in charge of that money, or else it's never gonna work.
Just telling you, I've been around this game too long.
I know how this all works.
All right, let's go to our busy uh telephones here.
Adam is in Montana.
Adam, hi, how are you?
And we're glad you called.
Thanks, Sean.
Love you love your show.
I've been listening for a long time.
Um used to be a liberal Democrat and was hanitized.
Oh, thank you.
How long were you a Democrat?
Oh, I was a musician in Los Angeles, playing forever, you know, uh growing up.
My dad was uh a Reaganite, and back then, you know, we just clashed heads all the time.
But anyway, my question to you is did your heart sink a little bit when Trump uh brought Elaine Cho to the fold and and and Corker.
I mean, these are that's not draining the swamp as far as I'm concerned.
I I'm not a fan of I don't know Elaine Chow.
I know she was labor secretary for some period of time.
I know she's related to Mitch McConnell, it's his wife.
Um, you know, that's not the biggest assignment to me in my mind, and you know, I'm looking at some of the other appointments that I view as far more critical.
Uh I am a little concerned about some of the past positions of DeVoss at education.
I do like mad dog mad as defense secretary.
Um there's you know, I look, I like Carson at h at HUD, I think that's a good selection.
I can't even remember them all off the top of my head.
Look, there's good people out there.
I don't know why we're agonizing and we're having a a public, I don't know, it's like a public trial, a public audition for everybody that wants to be secretary of state, but that's you know, Donald Trump's a smart guy.
He's way ahead of where other transition administrations coming in have been at this point in the transition, so I'm fine with it.
Um but at the end of the day, it's gotta be people that want to advance his agenda, not their own agendas.
You know, they call it public service for a reason.
Yeah, yeah, and you're supposed to serve the public.
Well, when you think of a servant, what does a servant do?
Well, servant cooks your meals, I guess cleans your house if you have a servant at your house.
And by the way, I know that's not the the politically correct term.
You know what I mean?
I'm making somebody who serves somebody else.
Jesus served people when he was beaten and died on a cross to serve others.
He washed the apostles' feet, which I'm sure were particularly disgusting considering they were walking around in sandals and uh were probably pretty dirty, and it was a custom to be gracious, and I'm sure it wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world to do, but it was a show of humility by Jesus.
Okay, I don't see a lot of politicians that have the idea of public service in their minds.
There are some.
I don't speak with a broad sweeping generalization here, but that's what I'm really wanting.
I want real service.
All right, 800, 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Dan Traverse City, Michigan on the Sean Hannity Show.
How are you?
Good.
Hey, Sean, how are you doing?
I'm good.
What's going on?
Good.
Hey, I'm gonna make uh comment on the Supreme Court nominee, but uh just a bit of fun for you.
You are correct.
Uh Laura Ingram and Newt Gingrich do laugh at you every time you have them on your TV show.
And I have to tell you it's fun for the viewers to watch them laugh.
All right, wait, wait, well.
You're making your I'm I'm missing your point.
Say it again.
I missed what you're saying.
Okay, Laura Laura, this is a fun point for you.
Laura Ingram.
Yeah.
And Newton Gingrich do laugh at you every time you try to make your serious point on the TV show.
And you always say, hold it, why are you laughing at me?
Now, Newton Gingrich and I, you gotta understand.
We go back since 1990 when I first interviewed him.
And we've been friends ever since.
You gotta understand the night he became Speaker of the House, I was MCing that event at the Cobb Galleria in Georgia.
We're really good friends.
He knows when I'm tweaking him, he knows what I'm playing with him, and he plays along.
No, no, no.
That's no, Sean, that's what I'm saying.
No, no, I we we all know it's it's fun.
Yeah, it's all in good fun.
Well, you it's it it's it's in fun, but it's fun watching you complain to them, even though we know it's in fun.
That's just a side note.
I just want you to know we we enjoy that little fun interaction between you and Newton Laura.
But hey, Sean, I'm the Supreme Court Pip.
Yeah.
There's there's no listen, I'm I feel like I'm a second you, and I and the Democrats will not they play to win.
I guarantee you, they are going to do a recess appointment with this garland or whatever his name is after January 3rd, whatever, they're gonna do it because they're gonna flip the finger to to everybody.
And I also am willing to bet you, I believe he's gonna do it, period.
I kind of want you to be thinking on that and and and and give giving the battle plan for it.
And I also think he's gonna pardon Hillary.
I'm willing to bet you he's gonna pardon Hillary.
Do the recess appointment and pardon Hillary.
I think those bombs are coming because they will do anything.
Well, I don't doubt at all on the Hillary issue.
Um I don't doubt a lot of things that he's gonna do on the way out are gonna be pretty ugly and and pretty shocking.
I think uh he doesn't care, and he really doesn't have a whole lot to hang on to in terms of a legacy.
Do you realize because Obama acted so unconstitutionally and illegally so often that Donald Trump will probably spend the first hours of his presidency undoing 80% of the Obama presidency, which was executive order, fiat, et cetera.
I mean, then Obamacare gets taken away.
What's left?
What is his legacy?
But poverty, food stamps, a doubling of the debt, the Irani, the Iranian deal, uh, the creation of ISIS, Benghazi, Libya, North Africa, uh, the emergence or reemergence of Russia and Putin.
Uh there's there's no legacy here.
You're gonna watch, you know, I'm sure CNN, the Clinton News Network and MSNBC will try and thread the needle and make something up that he did, and they'll use the unemployment number.
That's when it went in half.
Yeah, of course it goes in half when you don't count half the people that are still unemployed, but you don't count them anymore.
It's so idiotic, but I mean, whatever.
It's kind of stupid to me.
Uh anyway, I um I would say to the Republicans on the recess appointment in the Senate, don't shut the Senate down.
Keep them in session.
Just keep it in session.
Like they've done before, in fairness to McConnell, he did it before.
He can do it again.
Uh Tom is in Altoona, P.A., Pennsylvania, the now swing red state.
How are you?
Hi, I'm good.
I just want to say Trump needs to focus on pushing his agenda and not worrying about compromising with Democrats right now, because if he does, he's gonna get rolled by them.
I mean, they're vicious, and they won't stop at anything.
I have told many people that the that are around the president-elect exactly that thing.
Look, I'm telling you right now, things are gonna get ugly.
You've got all the signs, all the evidence, all the indications that the left is not accepting defeat.
They're not gonna go away.
They're gonna do exactly what they did during the Bush years.
They're the loony left is going to emerge, and it just is what it is.
And I just think it's you know, if they put Keith Ellison, great, they keep Nancy Pelosi.
I'm all for that.
They want to go loony left.
I'm I'm all for it.
And if Donald Trump, look, conservatism works.
The reason that I warned about Obama, but the very things that happened, the the labor participation rate, the poverty rate, the numbers of people on food stamps, the doubling of the debt.
You know, I warned about foreign policy.
The The one thing I'll say about Obama, he is a rigid, radical ideologue.
And say what you will about Bill Clinton.
And I was never a fan of his.
Bill Clinton was a lot smarter, far more pragmatic pragmatic, and far less ideological than Obama.
And Hillary was more like Obama than her own husband.
In as much as, you know, when give me one example where Obama had a sister soldier moment.
Give me one example where he said something unpredictable.
The era of big government is over.
The end of welfare as we know it.
Now, you can argue that Newt Gingrich's election and a Republican Congress for the first time in 40 years had a pretty dramatic impact on then President Clinton, but it doesn't matter.
At least there are examples where he got it.
He understood the electorate that they were speaking loudly to him, rejecting Hillary Kerr and his way of governance.
And lo and behold, it was one of those rare times where you have a democratic president going along with a strong vision from a strong Congressman.
Great historian, and they were able to balance the budget.
We haven't done it since.
And it would be nice to see it happen again.
It would like I'd like to see in these years government bureaucracies transformed.
You know, why did I spend time on the program today talking about well, if you're going to spend a trillion dollars in infrastructure, give it to Higgins.
Give it to the coach.
Because I know how these people act in DC.
And they're not changing.
You know, some of them will go along with the flow, but as soon as the tide in their minds begins to shift, it's just going to be like Hillary voting for the war and pulling out.
They're not standing on principles that guide them.
They're standing on, uh-oh.
Let me put my finger in the air, let me see which way the wind's blowing, and let me catch the wind and I'll surf on with the wind at my back.
Always.
They always want the wind at their back.
They never want it in their face.
Well, I want the guys that can accept that the wind is not always gonna be at your back in life.
And life's a little tougher than that.
And you're gonna have headwinds.
And when you have headwinds, your job is to plow through and fight for the things you believe in.
That's why the Reagan presidency was so successful.
I'd argue that's why Newt Gingrich's governance was so successful.
And what did Newt Gingrich get for it?
He got thrown out.
There's only so much time that he had the goodwill of Congress, and and finally they blew up on him and they abandoned him.
That's how I view it.
And I'm sure some will think they were so principled in what they were doing.
That's not really what happened.
The winds will shift against Donald Trump.
And probably sooner than later.
The media has already latched on to doing everything they can do to smear slander, besmirch, undermine, and destroy the Trump presidency before he's even taken office.
The games are only beginning.
I'm telling everybody, you know, go have your nice Christmas vacation.
Because when we come back in January, you better be ready to hit the ground running and buckle up.
You've got very rocky waters ahead of you.
And the only thing I'd say to President Elect Trump, don't trust these people.
None of them.
They're not your friends.
If you want a friend in Washington, I'll buy you a dog.
Okay?
I'll buy you any puppy you want.
You can have it.
I'm not going to rescue.
I buy real dogs.
Oh, look at Linda.
Go ahead, put your mic on.
It was a joke.
Say it.
Say what you want to say.
Swallow your phone.
You should just say you're going to rescue a dog.
Rescue a dog.
You rescued dogs, right?
The dogs need a dog.
There are plenty of dogs that need to be rescued.
How many dogs need to be rescued?
Many.
Many dogs.
Millions.
So you want them to get a rescue dog, not a purebred like I got.
Correct.
Do you fault me for adopting and buying my puppies?
All animals deserve a home.
All animals deserve a home, even dogs.
And you say one of those bougie dog lovers.
Oh, shut up.
I need to hear out of you.
I need to hear this out of you like I need a hole in the head.
