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Dec. 30, 2021 - Sean Hannity Show
31:42
The Power of Russia - December 30th, Hour 2
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All right, news roundup information overload hours, Sean Hannity's show.
Well, Biden, another disastrous, you know, that he did a Zoom call.
I guess it's too too much for him to do what President Trump used to do, and that's, you know, fly to Singapore, fly to Vietnam, uh, fly to Helsinki.
I mean, oh, we went on all these trips and actually meet world leaders in person and get spied on the way we did, but that's a different story for a different day.
Um, anyway, so now we have all these troops that Putin is now amassed of a huge army on the Ukrainian border.
Every indication, even our own intelligence community, is recognizing it looks like he's getting prepared to invade.
Now, next week, I guess Joe will speak to President Chiv.
Now we know what China's been doing.
They've been flying their fighter jets over Taiwan airspace, and they keep talking about reunification, and none of them seem particularly concerned at all with anything that Joe Biden has to say about any topic.
None none whatsoever.
The Biden administration apparently is exploring options for a potential evacuation of U.S. citizens in Ukraine if Russia were to invade the country.
Okay.
Can we go and get the people that we left at Joe abandoned in Afghanistan first?
There are hundreds of Americans still there.
Uh here's what John Kirby says.
Uh, it's not entirely clear what Putin's intentions are with Ukraine.
I know what they are.
He just wanted to see if he could mobilize his troops and scare the crap out of Ukraine.
That's what it probably is, right?
Listen.
We continue to see uh a buildup of military, Russian military forces in the areas around uh eastern, northeastern and eastern Ukraine.
Uh, but on obviously in Western uh Russia.
Um this build-up is concerning to us.
It is still not uh entirely clear what Mr. Putin's intentions are.
Um again, I won't speak for the White House.
I think the my my colleague at the White House has already spoken to the president's upcoming conversation with President Putin.
Um and uh uh what we have done here at the department is continue to have conversations with our allies and partners about this situation.
Um, uh sharing with them what we can uh about what we're seeing, um, and making sure that that they know that our commitment to NATO and to the alliance uh priorities is um is simply not gonna change.
Putin's already figured out Joe is not gonna lift a finger.
He already knows that.
Uh, we haven't figured out what Putin's intentions are.
I know what he's doing.
He's amassing all these armed troops on the border with Ukraine so they could have a block party.
That's probably what he's doing.
I have a big block party right there on the border.
How stupid can you be?
He's already done it with Crimea.
He's already done it twice with Ukraine.
We know where his mind is on this issue.
Uh Joe Biden, you know, before this this disaster of a teleconference, if you want to call it that, we'll show you on TV tonight.
We're going to have a long discussion with Putin to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin doesn't care what Joe says because he's already compromised by Ukraine and by Russia.
Because zero experience Hunter made a fortune from both those countries.
And next week when he talks to President Chi of China, that's another country that has the Biden syndicate compromise because of all the money dealings Of Hunter and him there.
That's right, him, according to the laptop from hell.
Also, so we're going to play Biden talking about his long discussion.
Russia from invading Ukraine.
JP is reporting that they're expected to be invaded 2022.
We've aware of Russia's action for a long time.
And uh expectation is we're gonna have a long discussion.
You got that booking red lines on his face.
I want to accept everybody's red line.
Yeah, what is Joe gonna do?
Let's go through this.
Let's ex go through this exercise.
What do you think Joe's gonna do?
Nothing.
He's gonna the worst sanctions you've ever had ever in the history of sanctions.
It's not gonna work.
He just removed sanctions from Iran.
His sanctions have no teeth in them.
You know, Tony Blinken, the dope that he is.
I mean, he's one of the dumbest secretaries of state this country's ever seen.
You know, vows high impact economic sanctions if Putin invades.
Now, we don't know whether President Putin has made the decision to invade.
We do know that he is putting in place the capacity to do so on short order, should he so decide.
We've made it clear to the Kremlin that we will respond resolutely, including with a range of high impact economic measures that we've refrained from using in the past.
High impact economic sanctions.
That that's really gonna scare Putin away.
I'm sure of it.
Rebecca Confler is with us, former defense intelligence agency, intelligence officer, author of the book, it's coming out soon.
Uh Putin's playbook, Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America.
Scott Ulinger is back with us, retired CIA ops officer, Russian Intel ops expert.
Uh, he's written extensively uh on on Russia.
Thank you both for being with us.
Uh Rebecca and Scott, I'll ask you both the same question.
Uh, to me, it's pretty apparent what Putin's intentions are.
It's not to have a block party, it's to invade Ukraine.
That's what seems to be in the very near future.
Your take, Rebecca.
Exactly right, Sean.
It's it's really, really maddening when I hear words like we don't know what Putin's intentions are.
You don't need to be an expert to know.
And by the way, $85 billion a year that we spend in intelligence cannot provide us the visibility into our foreign androids to their intentions.
Then what's the purpose of intelligence?
Yes, please, you know, I tell the Pentagon, read my book.
It's spelled out right there, as you said.
Putin wants to keep everyone on edge and wants us guessing whether he's gonna invade or not.
And he's testing our responses, and he's amassing all the capabilities to make sure that if he is ready to invade, he can do so.
Scott, what are his intentions?
A block party or invasion?
Because I don't think there's any in between here.
Well, I think I actually think there is, Sean, a little bit of a little bit of in-between, because I think he's using these forces as a big cudgel to intimidate the West and do it very effectively.
The man smells blood in the water.
He knows that uh Biden administration has made so many foreign policy mistakes, it's like they've invented a new dance or something.
And he's taking advantage of Biden's weakness to try to extract concessions such as a commitment that will never let Ukraine enter NATO and things like that.
Now, he doesn't really expect to get that, but he expects to intimidate Biden and intimidate the West.
He's been very successful.
Well, I think he's also, I think China and Russia also are simultaneously trying to test America's military response capabilities by creating all these crises simultaneously.
Am I wrong in that assessment?
No, no, that's absolutely correct.
There's no question that they're doing that, and there's no question that at some levels the Chinese and Russians are talking about coordinating their efforts, whether it's the Black Sea, whether it's the South China Sea, or Ukraine, they are coordinating their policies all to take advantage of what they perceive as U.S. weakness.
So there's no question about that.
Um, the other thing to remember is that effectively Putin does occupy Eastern Ukraine.
Now, those are technically breakaway provinces, but everyone who knows knows that those are those breakaway provinces are controlled by Russia.
Their militias are officered by Russian military officers.
And so basically, he has effectively checkmated Ukraine because by having all these unsettled border disputes, it really makes it difficult for them for Ukraine to get into NATO.
And then by swinging around his you know 150,000 odd men along the Ukrainian border, he expects to get more concessions from um from the West.
And so he doesn't really need he he's gambling that he doesn't need to have a messy invasion or a war because the West is going to give him what he wants without any blood being uh bloodshed being shed except for the occasional unfortunate border skirmishes in the trench in the trench line between uh between in the Donbass between Western Ukraine and Eastern.
You know, it's uh a really scary scenario.
Rebecca, now your background is if I'm not mistaken from the last time I interviewed you.
I remember I if I'm not mistaken that you grew up in Russia, right?
Well the former Soviet Union.
Exactly.
Yes, exactly.
And uh I try to, when I worked in the intelligence community, I tried to really, you know, explain that the mindset of Putin should not be mirror-imaged.
He doesn't think like Americans.
As uh, you know, Scott mentioned, his real intentions are to reassemble, reconstitute this sphere of influence, which includes Ukraine.
And he perceives the Biden presidency as a window of opportunity for his takeover to reverse the outcome of the loss uh during the cold war, you know, the collapse of the Soviet Union.
He wants to reconstitute what he has lost because he doesn't take Biden seriously.
We have with uh withdrawn from Afghanistan, despite the fact that we have superior military capability.
Putin knows that.
He knows that our Pentagon is more concerned about spreading Marxist ideology amongst the military officers than teaching them how to win battles.
And therefore, he has developed a strategy to take over Ukraine and former uh Soviet um states in terms of spreading influence, not taking them over necessarily, you know, uh by force,
but as Scott said, intimidating them in order to compel them to abandon their plans to join the Western camp, NATO and EU, and therefore keep them within Russia's orbit.
And this is why it's dangerous, why uh the perception that President Biden is very weak is dangerous because the conflict could escalate and drag the United States into war with Russia, which would be a disaster.
If someone who participated in multiple war games, our losses would be catastrophic.
It would be disastrous for the world.
You're looking at two major nuclear powers uh and an unholy alliance that has emerged now between Russia, Iran, and China.
That very few people seem to want to want to point out.
Quick break, we'll come back more with Rebecca Kopfler on the other side, Scott Eulinger on the other side as well.
All right, we continue now the danger that it represented by China and Iran and Russia in particular, Rebecca Kaufler is with us and Scott Eulinger is with us.
You know, with Trump, we were we're on the verge of uh of literally reconfiguring uh world alliances.
I mean, I never thought prior to Trump that we'd ever see the United States, Israel, the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Jordanians, the emirates and other countries aligned together against Iranian hegemony.
Now, since Biden has been in office, that's now fallen apart, and now you got Iran aligning with China and Russia, uh, and and one has to worry that they might share nuclear information with them.
Right, there's no question about that.
And then also uh um I'm sure you've brought this up on your show before, our energy policy.
So literally, the United States is empowering Putin right now, because at this moment we're buying more Russian natural gas and oil products from Russia than ever before compared to the Trump administration, right?
So we are paying them, we are financing their military to do these types of things.
So this is why, you know, you can you can see why.
Well, let me let me put it differently, Scott.
You know what you know What Biden's doing?
He's making Russia and Putin rich again.
He's making them great again.
He's giving them the money that they can amass these troops on the Ukrainian border.
And by the way, he gives Putin the Nord Stream 2 pipeline waiver while simultaneously firing Keystone XL pipeline workers, reducing our own oil, our own energy production 38%.
And now he's begging OPEC and Russia to produce more energy so we can import it from them.
How stupid is that?
Right, exactly.
It's it's it's literally inconceivable that that we have put ourselves in this own position.
And so for anyone who puts themselves in this position, we're surprised that a former KGB intelligence officer is going to take advantage of this when he basically sees the Americans are holding a gun to their own head, and I'll just help them pull the trick.
They're loving it, Rebecca.
Putin loves a weak United States.
Chi loves a weak United States.
The Iranians love a weak United States.
And the press can cover up for Joe's significant cognitive daily decline.
But our enemies see it.
These hostile regimes see it and they're exploiting it.
Last word.
They exploit both.
The fact that we effectively finance Russia's military modernization program.
Why do you think they just uh launched a few weeks ago an anti-satellite uh missile uh test?
It's to demonstrate to the United States that they can blind and deafen us in the time of conflict, but also if Putin chooses so during peacetime, because our daily lives depends on satellites and our entire military capability depends on satellites for navigation, precision strike, targeting, command and control, you name it.
So they definitely have a sense of what our weaknesses are, and they're planning to exploit those uh vulnerabilities, all of them, all the rogues, China, Russia, Iran, all of them that you uh uh named just now.
It's it's it's extremely concerning.
It is a this is probably the most stabilizing period of international relationships we've ever had because he's supposed to be the leader of the free world.
This is what you get when you get a cognitively compromised, weak, frail mess of a president.
Uh Rebecca, thank you.
Scott Ulinger, thank you.
800-941 Sean, you want to be a part of the program.
All right, 25 to the top of the hour, toll-free.
It's 800-941 Sean.
You want to be a part of the program.
Uh, we just had the 20th anniversary of 9-11, and uh every year, every hour on this radio program, we play a song.
It's called There She Stands.
It's uh written, composed, and sung by our friend Michael W. Smith.
He's been a part of our Freedom Concert Tours, been a very dear friend for many, many years.
The thing that I love about Michael W. He's a Christian contemporary singer.
He's been way ahead of the curve of uh of an explosion in the music industry, and that's contemporary Christian music.
And you know, if you look at places like you know, Hill's song and the music that they have there, um, it's it's become extraordinarily popular.
He's led the way and opened the door for so many people.
The movie's being released today, and it's also as a book companion to the film, uh, released today, and it's in theaters nationwide, and it's called the The Jesus Music of a Visual Story of Redemption as told by those who live it.
Now, it's bringing the history of this this phenomenon known as contemporary Christian music uh to life.
I mean, you have all these these these anthem songs that have emerged.
I I can't even begin.
You can I can only imagine by mercy me and Michael W.'s songs and you know, Waymaker and Reckless Love of God, and I can go on and on.
These are amazing songs.
And some nights I just put on YouTube on my my big screen TV, and I just watched them all.
And many nights I've just watched Michael W. You know, put on a concert.
Every Christmas, he often goes out with Amy Grant, puts on the best Christmas tour of of any.
Uh in the movie, they have Michael W. Smith singing America the Beautiful.
It's an incredible rendition.
I want to play some of it for you.
Oh, beautiful.
Forever waves of grace.
for purple mountain majesties upon the fruited plain
God shed his grace on thee, and crown thy good with brother good from sea to shore.
shining sea America America God shed his praise on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood From C to Shine.
See.
So every 911 we play it our radio version and we do a TV version at night.
And I write Michael every year, and he's very gracious.
I said, Do you mind if I you're supposed to get the rights to play these things, right?
Some people are such pains in the neck.
It's ridiculous.
The thing that I know about Michael is bet only a couple of people in my life.
And I don't know why.
And I was raised Catholic.
I'm now a non-denominational Christian.
My faith means more to me now at this age and point in my life than it's ever meant.
It's everything.
You know, we're endowed by our not a thing, the God, the creator of everything.
And Michael's played a very instrumental role in helping me get there.
And but there are two people in my life that would call me and say, I just wanted you to know I was praying for you today.
I'd be like, the first person that did it was Jerry Falwell Sr.
You know, and I'm like, okay, hi, I'm just Sean little old Sean Hannity over here at the dog show host.
You're probably wasting your prayers.
I was been incorrigible my whole freaking life, and I cuss a lot, and uh I like to drink vodka and uh smoke e-siggs.
Um probably not the guy.
I'm the one that needs the salvation Christian guy.
Uh and anyway, but that's where his heart is, and I know he does it for a lot of other people.
And Franklin Graham, the same thing.
Another amazing man.
Um, and the this this movement that Michael is is really one of the great pioneers of because he went out with Billy Graham for for a long time, and it's now blossomed into an area where younger and younger people now are drawn to the church and brought drawn to faith.
And I I I know I think there's a big huge misunderstanding of what Christianity is all about.
You know, people think, oh, you're you're a Christian, you're supposed to live the perfect life, et cetera.
That's that's not my understanding of Christianity.
My understanding of Christianity is you know you're flawed, you know you fail, you know that you sin, you want to be better, and you want salvation, and you're asking for God's grace to get there.
So, in other words, it's the antithesis of the way the media often portrays it.
Um, you know, are there corrupt people in every movement?
Yeah, that's why I'm not a Catholic anymore, to be very blunt, because of what I thought was institutional corruption that was pushed under the rug.
And I felt it was evil.
And does it mean every priest is?
No, not at all.
Do I still think the mass is a beautiful thing?
I do actually.
Anyway, Michael W. is with us now.
How are you, sir?
Hey, Sean, how are you?
Good.
Congratulations on the release of the movie, and the book comes out Tuesday, and uh that was an amazing version of America the beautiful, and I do need to thank you publicly for allowing us to always use There She Stands every year and and rob your your music company blind.
Well, thank you.
I thought the video was incredible.
But what you did with There She Stands this year was amazing.
And I'm excited about the film.
I mean, I think it's gonna be I think Sean, a lot of people are gonna be surprised how this whole thing started.
I think you know, probably over 90% of the people who love this genre of music um will be shocked to know that it was you know that it was it was born and uh and birthed out of this late 60s of you know we think things are crazy now things were crazy back then it was Vietnam civil unrest uh you know we had a lot of assassinations Kennedy Robert and John F. Kennedy Martin Luther King Malcolm X right it was it was crazy and and then what happened you know these hippies
You know, I guess Hendricks died, Janis Joplin, Morrison, you know, all these heroes of these hippies, you know, started dying.
And then they found out about some hippie preaching at a place called Calvary Chapel in Southern California, Costa Mason.
And the hippies started getting saved, and a lot of those hippies were doing music.
And they thought, well, gosh, we don't want to change what we love.
We've been radically changed by Jesus.
Crazy.
And so they just started changing the lyrics.
literally what we what was dubbed back then which I think it still is the Jesus music they call contribute Christian music literally just born in six months over 12 bands and it all and it and all those records somehow made its way into my hometown of Canova West Virginia in 1973 and changed my life and really you really I don't think you look at yourself this way.
By the way this this guy never ages I can't believe it he never he's got his grandfather and he looks like he's 30.
It's unbelievable it's frankly annoying as your friend that you know I'm aging my hair gets whiter every day and um but anyway as a as a side note but you really are one of the pioneers of this and I know you've also been very instrumental in helping many young artists in the genre um with their careers giving them advice how to handle fame a lot of fame is not healthy.
You know it and I know it fame is not healthy.
It's not normal and a lot of people we both know don't handle it well.
Um and and you have handled it well and you've navigated through these troubled waters and look at the movement that has grown into today you played a big role in that and I don't know if you you really understand the role you played but you were like one of the first and Billy Graham recognized the power of your music early on and you went on many crusades with him.
And the thing and look I'll say this I do radio and TV but the power of music is on a power a hundred times more powerful.
I don't make people cry.
I I look out at when you're doing a concert and I look in the audience and you're touching people's hearts in ways that I can never touch them.
And you're changing their life.
Well thank you Sean I mean I I really do believe that music is the most powerful universal language in in the world.
I mean I say that in the movie and how a three and a half minute song can completely change somebody's life for the good and God knows we need some we need some a force of of positivity in in the climate that we're living in now especially here in America it's just insane you know but um I think when things kind of get rocky and and people there there's fear and all that sort of thing I think people start to go maybe this thing really is true.
Maybe maybe I'm not here by mistake maybe there really is a place for me you know and no pun intended people trying to find their place in this world and you know what they're trying to fill this hole that I think it can only be filled with one thing and that's Jesus you know and um and this music place in this world is one of Michael's breakthrough crossover one big crossover hit that that made it into you know onto contemporary music stations.
You know I I'm really dying to see this movie and it's put out by Lionsgate and I like Lionsgate a lot and and I had one little foray into this world that's hard and and I'm proud of what what the product that went that came out let there be light I think you saw it.
I don't think it's gotten out even completely I think the growth potential is much larger than maybe even both of us imagine today.
Because as things go bad people people start looking inward for answers don't they?
They do absolutely it's pretty bad Michael it's not the best of times I'll tell you that no it's not it's it's it's pretty ugly you know but I but I think in the midst of all that I mean this is not the first time that we've been in trouble.
I mean obviously it's it's we're obviously in twenty one and it's a whole different deal and what's happening in DC and It's insane.
I'm I'm with you on that.
But uh, I mean, we've been through hardships through centuries and thousands of years, you know.
So the good news is I know how the book ends.
I know how the story ends.
That's the good news.
Uh, but my hope for the movie is that people are going to go go see this documentary, and it's powerful.
I mean, really powerful.
And they're they're gonna go, oh my gosh, I had no idea.
And you're gonna have a whole new uh generation of people.
I I'm hoping tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people who will discover this music, and it will be life-giving and life-changing for them.
How do you find out what movie theaters this is now in?
Because it's in movie theaters tonight.
Yeah, well, I think it opened up in 200, I think it was a little over 250, and I think it'll increase probably next week to 500.
You just have to, you know, just have to Google your city.
You know, I'm sure it's all in the major cities, and uh, I'm getting calls left and right, going, gosh, where can I see this movie?
It will go to Hulu and streaming here in December.
Uh, but you know, this week and the next month here is the is the big moment for people to get out in theaters to see it.
And I know people now are going out more than ever, and they're glad to.
And tell us how uh the newsboys' role in all this.
Yeah, they they were a big part in this movie.
Um, you know, Toby Mack, Amy Grant, Kirk Franklin.
That's some really, really, really great moments.
But um, yeah, Michael Tate, the great friend, and they all did a great job.
I think what makes the also, Sean, about the movie, what makes this so appealing is that this is just not the all the good and oh, this is the really great stuff that happens with Christian music.
These these artists get vulnerable.
So, Jesus Music Top movie.
If you want to look at one of the official websites in theaters now everywhere, and it's going to be all over the country by next week.
Um, you know, it's it's an amazing.
Did you ever think you'd be at this this long and that it would ex experience this exponential growth?
We only have about a minute left.
Well, you know what?
Not really, Sean.
I mean, I gosh, I just take it a day at a time.
I mean, I've you know, I cut that first record back in 82 and was grateful.
I got to do one record and thought, man, this is my dream came true, and here I am 36 records later.
I just I'm sort of pinched myself every day.
And I'm a grateful man.
Uh I've survived success, which uh probably one of my greatest achievements.
Thanks, thank God for a great wife and a great prayer group and great friends, you know, walking this thing out.
And um, as you said earlier, I think that it I think that's probably one of my roles in the future is just to father people to try to help guide them through this crazy thing called celebrity and trying to walk through the whole fame thing and be able to just keep your head on straight and and uh and just finish well.
Well, I uh urge everybody it starts this weekend tonight, actually, uh, and it's called the Jesus Music.
It's about the contemporary Christian music, a uh explosion in the country, a documentary film and a visual story of redemption told by people like Michael and others that have lived it.
Um I can only imagine was a great movie.
I just don't know why they put a faked up Michael W. Smith in there when they could have gotten the real Michael W. Smith.
That's uh my only complaint about the movie.
Um but anyway, it shows the power of music to change people's lives, something you've been doing your entire career, and and to be able to call you a friend is is an honor.
Well, uh feeling as usual, Sean.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it.
All right.
800 941 Sean is on number if you want to be a part of the program.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
Now I'm Carol Markovich.
And I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations, thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday, normally on the iHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.
I'm Ben Ferguson, and I'm Ted Cruz.
Three times a week, we do our podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz.
Nationwide, we have millions of listeners every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
We break down the news and bring you behind the scenes inside the White House, inside the Senate, inside the United States Supreme Court.
And we cover the stories that you're not getting anywhere else.
We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family.
So Dell a verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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