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March 1, 2022 - Sean Hannity Show
32:52
Sen. Mike Lee - March 1st, Hour 2
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All right, Hour 2, Sean Hannity Show, toll-free, 800-941-SHAWN.
You'll want to be a part of the program.
We will check in with Utah Senator Mike Lee in just a minute.
Obviously, we see this, what, 40-mile convoy and the beginning of what will be hell raining down on Kyiv in Ukraine.
And I am not looking forward to the next couple of days' footage coming out of Ukraine because I think it's going to be disastrous.
I think many innocent men, women, and children will be murdered and slaughtered unnecessarily as Putin and his thugs invade an innocent sovereign country.
And of course, just indiscriminately bombing anybody and everybody that gets in their way.
And of course, Ukraine does not have the means to sufficiently defend itself.
Although I got to give a lot of credit to all the Ukrainians that have taken up arms and are trying to defend their country to the best of their ability.
Jen Saki dodged the question.
I keep saying the one sanction that would be the most effective is to put sanctions on the importation, exportation of energy from Russia.
Bad for the environment.
Okay, well, if it's bad for the environment, is it equally bad to extract barrels of oil in Russia, the Middle East, or the United States?
Is it the same equivalent to the environment?
Why wouldn't we get the national security benefits of drilling for our own oil?
And you don't have to worry about the Middle East and unrest and the free flow of oil at market prices.
You don't have to worry anymore about the Straits of Hormuz.
You know, we could beat Russia hands down because we have more energy resources than they do.
And our oil in Alaska, by the way, as confirmed by the governor of Alaska, our oil in Alaska is a lot cleaner than the oil that they get out of Russia.
Just as a side note, Sosaki dodged the question on the consumption of Russian oil, and then she addressed the issue of increasing oil production, and she lies and says it wouldn't address rising gas prices.
That is not true.
Listen.
What is the stance of the U.S. and buying Russian gas at this point?
At this point, are we ready to pledge not to buy any more Russian gas?
Well, as you know, it's really, let me give you actually kind of an update on this because it's, I think there's been a little confusion.
One moment.
So as it relates to Russian gas, U.S. government doesn't dictate where the U.S. market sells our own oil and gas products nor where it acquires crude or refined products for domestic consumption.
Well, I would say, Dana, the president shares the concern about any impact on gas prices on energy prices for the American people.
And that's why a range of options remain on the table.
He already recently tapped into the Strategic Petroleum Reserve just last fall, which had an impact.
But I would say the customer pipeline.
But the impact, Jen, that was pretty, that was a clip.
That was a 10 cents thing, but it doesn't last.
But Dana, the policies you mentioned, I know Senator Cotton and others have mentioned these.
They are not policies that would address the issue at all.
This Keystone pipeline, it would take years for that to have an impact on prices.
Anyway, joining us now to react to this and so much more, Senator Mike Lee of Utah.
Senator, thanks for being with us.
You know, I look at Joe Biden.
He inherits energy independence.
He inherits an America that's a net exporter of energy.
And he gives into these climate change alarmist cults, the new Green Deal Democratic Socialists.
And he puts all of these restrictions on exploration and extraction of energy.
It, number one, makes us vulnerable on a national security front.
Number two, it hurts our economy.
Number three, I think it's probably the single biggest contributor to this 40-year high of inflation we have.
And they're not willing to use our own resources.
Tell me why, because it makes no sense to me.
It makes no sense, and no one can breathe sense into it because it can't exist.
But Putin's military ambition, there's no question about it.
It's further emboldened by Russia's stronghold on the European oil and gas market.
Meanwhile, at home, President Biden has crippled the American energy independence, the American energy security that we had achieved over the course of years.
He's done that just over the last year alone since he's been in office.
And now he's insisting that Americans just have to stomach higher prices of the pump as war wages in Europe, even while he does nothing to reverse his own bad policies.
President Biden's policies leave the United States, including the American consumer and the United States as a sovereign unit, as well as our allies, poor and vulnerable.
This is inexcusable.
Meanwhile, they try to defend this by saying, look, we're trying to balance the interests of saving the planet against the needs of consumers in America and in Europe.
That's nonsense.
When national security is at stake and when the well-being of the American people are at stake, we shouldn't be just deferring to these omniscient climate balancers as they see themselves.
We should allow free markets to operate, especially considering that our energy burns cleaner.
Our energy is secured in a more environmentally responsible fashion.
So we're actually harming the planet when we encourage people to consume more Russian energy and less American.
It's insane on every level.
These are high-paying career jobs, and Joe Biden's policies literally have pushed NATO allies, Western European allies, right into the arms of Putin.
Let me go to tonight's State of the Union.
My understanding is that they lifted the mask mandate, but everybody has to have a COVID test before they go in, and there's going to be social distancing.
Can you tell me what the final call is on this?
Is every senator, is every congressman going to be allowed in the room?
We certainly should be, and if we're not, they're really doing something ugly, something that will set a bad precedent that I think all Americans will later regret.
My understanding is that we'll all be able to be there, and I think there are going to be some very unhappy people and some very long-lasting problems if they don't.
What about guests that are usually in the balcony?
Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen tonight because they've become, they've so fetishized their attachment to COVID and all things related to COVID restrictions that that seems to carry the day for them.
It's really unfortunate.
Now, you were involved in an effort, and I want to give you kudos for this.
And that is that you distributed a letter to colleagues stating that they would not grant consent to expedite the passage of the continuing resolution.
Now, remember, I did not approve of Mitch McConnell's handling of any of this, the two extensions that he gave Schumer and Biden to continue to push Buildback broke.
Anyway, tell us what happened in this particular case, because if enough Republicans had showed up, you would have won.
Yes.
Well, the American people understand that the vaccine mandates are morally wrong and unpopular.
That's why we set the letter that we did.
That's why we said, if you want our help facilitating the time agreement to get your spending bill passed, recognizing that the spending period expired on February 18th, just a week ago, Friday, then you need to give us a vote on not giving the government the money to fund vaccine mandate enforcement during that period.
We really have the Democrats up against the ropes here.
The American people are tired of government dictating the small details of their lives and forcing them to defer to presidential medical orthodoxy at pain of losing their job and being rendered unemployable.
We could have won.
We would have won had we just shown up.
The Democrats had more absences than we did.
And had our members who were already in town just shown up, we would have won that vote.
And at least for the period of that spending bill, we would have been able to withhold spending on vaccine mandate enforcement.
It's really unfortunate because had we all shown up, we could have won that one.
But have no fear because we're going to have another opportunity between now and March 11th.
Our current spending period expires on March 11th.
Well, maybe these guys can show up and do their job for once.
It's not like you guys work a lot of days of the year anyway.
And by the way, I'm fine with that because you're not doing any more damage when you're out.
Not meaning you, but the Democratic Socialist Party is not capable of doing damage when they're in recess.
You know, I noticed out in Utah, and I'm very fond, as you know, of Utah, and we have a very big audience out in Utah, and I'm very grateful for that.
And I noticed that Republicans are trying to attack you.
That's kind of like the Mitt Romney Rhino Republicans out in Utah, and they're putting up primary opponents.
And I'm listening to the rationale because you have been a consistent constitutional conservative from the day you got there to today.
And you've done a great job for your constituents in Utah.
What is this all about?
And who do you think is really behind it?
Is Mitt Romney behind it?
I don't have any reason to believe that he's behind it.
He's a friend and a colleague.
I don't think he is.
I'm always reluctant to speak to what somebody else's motivation, one of my opponents or whoever might be supporting one of my opponents, what their subjective motivation might be.
What I do know, Sean, is what I stand for.
And what I stand for is constitutionally limited government.
What I stand for is the idea that the federal government's become too big, too expensive, and too intrusive because it's doing too many things it was never intended to do.
We've openly flouted limitations on our government and what it's supposed to do and where it's supposed to operate and where it's not supposed to operate, but leave action to the states or to the people.
That's what I stand for, and that involves voting no a lot.
A lot of these folks find that offensive.
That's why they're running against me, but I'm going to win.
And the reason I'm going to win is that.
I'm not worried about you not winning the race.
I just don't like the fact that there's a concerted effort to force you into a primary when you've done a great job for Utah, and it all seems political to me.
And I guess it's the nature of the business, but it seems that I know the people of Utah are very happy with the job that you've been doing.
And I know that there are times you just stand on principle and you're saying, no, I'm not supporting this bill.
It costs too much.
It'll add to the deficit.
It'll add to the debt.
And we cannot afford to do so.
And you're very clear in your rationale and the reasons that you give for voting the way you do.
You can't be any more upfront than you are.
I certainly try to be shown.
I appreciate the compliment.
These are things I believe in strongly.
They're things I stand for.
And there is definitely a concerted effort to defeat me.
We've got two Republican challengers.
We've got a separate independent challenger who's raised a million dollars against me in the last quarter alone who don't like my constitutional conservative approach.
They don't like the idea that I oppose legislation as much as I do.
I know that many Americans, most Utahns, and I suspect most of your listeners agree that we need someone who's willing to say no.
And those of your listeners who agree and would love to support my campaign, I'd love it if they could support me at leeforsenate.com.
Well, I think you get a lot of support from this audience for sure.
Quick break more with Senator Mike Lee.
Then we're going to remember Andrew Breitbart 10 years ago today passed away.
And we'll get to your calls, 800-941-Sean.
Our number.
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The radio show the mainstream media loves to hate.
This is the Sean Hannity Show with Utah Senator Mike Lee.
Now, when this continuing resolution comes up again, Joe Biden, I've been reading it in the preview.
He's not going to say the things I want him to say tonight or the things you want him to say tonight.
He's not going to announce that he's lifting all of his restrictions on exploration and extraction of energy, which would be the smartest thing that we could do to defeat Vladimir Putin, and that would be drill.
And I expect him now that they're even telegraphing they're bringing back Build Back Broke, but they're just not going to call it Build Back Broke.
And it'll be the exact same policies, except in different packaging.
Do you think there's any chance that they will be successful this round?
I don't believe they will be successful.
And the reason I don't is because President Biden speaks to a narrow base because he's losing it.
He speaks to Putin because his own weak policies have forced confrontation.
Instead of giving Americans reason to have confidence in our future, President Biden speaks to the next election.
That's the weakest position of any leader.
And that's the kind of rhetoric that I think will be reflected tonight, speaking to an exceptionally narrow base from a position of profound weakness.
It really is a frightening time for the world and for America.
You know, I listened to Pete Budajudge.
He said, we can't drill for any more oil because we're transforming away from fossil fuels and Jen Saki demanding, dismissing GOP demands to drill oil, calling it a misdiagnosis, as she said.
And then even going further, saying increasing U.S. oil production would not address rising gas prices.
Can somebody send her to an Eco 101 class?
Because that is exactly not true.
That is the exact opposite would happen.
If you increase the supply worldwide and the demand remains constant, guess what?
The price is going to go down.
Exactly.
And the opposite also happens, where they have artificially clamped down on supply.
It necessarily led to higher prices than we would otherwise face.
So, yeah, I can't imagine what school of economics they studied under, but it's wrong to the extent that they're describing a situation in which increased capacity wouldn't bring down prices.
All right, Senator Mike Lee, Utah.
Senator, thank you.
We're following your re-election very closely.
It's an important seat that we need you there.
Anyway, 800-941, Sean, on number when we come back, we'll honor Andrew Breitbart, who passed away 10 years ago today.
And there was a tribute put up made for him.
I was a part of it, and so were many other people.
We'll play a little bit of that.
We'll get to your calls.
800-941-SEAN.
Quick break, right back.
Exposing left-wing media bias.
No stone left unturned.
The Sean Hannity Show is back on the air.
All right, 25 now till the top of the hour, 800-941.
Sean, you want to be a part of the program?
I knew Andrew Breitbart really well.
I mean, we had some incredible times together.
He was a firebrand.
I mean, he was an iconoclastic, bombastic, in-your-face, no apologies, conservative.
And I have some stories about him.
It's the 10-year anniversary since he passed away.
I can't even believe it.
It feels like yesterday.
I have a picture in my office of Andrew Breitbart, myself, and John Andrasik from Five for Fighting.
And Andrew was just, he was a character.
One night he gave a speech, and I don't remember what the politicians, which one it was.
And he used kind of like really, really harsh language that I could never even utter on the radio.
And I called him.
I said, Andrew, I said, what are you doing?
I said, this is the type of thing that people will harp on, and it will take away your credibility and so on and so forth.
It was just a small little thing.
It was one word, but it's a word you don't use in relation to any person.
And I'm being very obscure here on purpose.
Anyway, so he starts yelling.
He goes, but the crowd loved it.
I said, of course the crowd loved it.
I said, I was sitting there cheering myself.
But I said, you're too smart, and you got to play long ball because that's the type of thing that could be career-ending if you keep doing it.
And so, you know, we get into a little bit of an argument.
He hangs up the phone.
Linda, you know this story.
And then a minute later, he calls me back.
And then we start arguing again.
And I said, fine, if you want to do what you want, I'm just giving you my opinion.
As a friend, I'm trying to offer you a little bit of counsel and advice because I would like to see you as a leading voice of conservatism for decades to come.
But if you keep doing this, I think your chances are greatly reduced.
And got mad, hung up, hung up again.
He called me back like 10 minutes later.
I think you're right.
I shouldn't have done it.
I get it.
All right.
Thank you.
I love you.
Bye.
And that was the conversation.
And we just had this relationship that was kind of like that.
We were always honest with each other.
He was a lot of fun to be around.
You remember one night that I don't remember where it was.
I know it was in DC.
It was at somebody's house and we were hanging out and he was the life of the party.
He loved this country.
He loved everything about this country.
And he fought like hell to protect and preserve the cause of liberty, freedom, and conservatism.
I was asked to do a tribute.
I don't want to play mine, but I will play President Trump, Dennis Miller, Newt Ingrid, Peter Schweitzer, Joel Pollack.
I'm in this, but I just feel it's self-serving if I play mine.
So let me just play this on the 10-year anniversary of Andrew Breitbart's passing.
Andrew Breitbart has an incredible legacy, a legacy that will live on for a long time.
What he's done is so important.
And what the people and many of them I'm speaking to right now, what the people that followed him to keep that legacy going, what they've done is incredible.
So I just want to thank all of the folks at Breitbart.
I want to thank everybody in the room right now because you really have done something very important, very special.
We have to keep it going.
Our country is a different place.
In one year, it's gone to hell.
And we have to change that and we will change it.
So I want to thank Breitbart and I want to pay my respects up there to Andrew.
Great job, Andrew.
Hey, folks.
Well, 10 years, Andrew Breitbart.
And he did not like bullies.
And he did not abide bullies.
I always admired that about him.
10 years, unbelievable.
Rest in peace, Andrew Breitbart.
I remember the first time I met Andrew Breitbart, and I thought, who is this guy?
Here's a guy that starts fights.
He's in the middle of fights, and he's having so much fun.
And once I got to know Andrew, I was just overwhelmed by his personality, his generosity, and his fighting spirit.
He said, I want you to pursue the stories that you want to pursue that you think are important.
It doesn't matter who they're about.
It doesn't matter who they calls out.
Just follow the truth.
Andrew, we love you.
We miss you.
And this legacy is your legacy.
Andrew Breitbart quite literally changed my life.
When I met him, I had all sorts of different career plans and other things.
I was going to go work elsewhere in the media.
He inspired me.
There was that fire in the belly, that fight back mentality, a righteous indignation that was very much like a police officer running towards the gunfire or a firefighter running into a burning building that inspired me to join Breitbart News Network.
And part of why I work here is because he taught us how to fight back.
And I'll never forget my friend Andrew Breitbart.
And I can't believe it's been 10 years since he's passed away.
Andrew Breitbart was a remarkable patriot, a man of great vision, somebody who galvanized the conservative movement and established an institution that was at the cutting edge of doing the kind of investigative reporting, the kind of hard news reporting that really mattered.
He's deeply missed.
He was just a wonderful person.
And he's somebody that so many of us look to as a leader.
And it's a great honor for me to be able to speak well of Andrew Breitbart.
I had the privilege of working side by side with Andrew Breitbart at Breitbart.com.
Literally, our desks were next to one another.
And we would spend hours debating, discussing, joking, comparing music, talking about ideas.
Andrew inspired thousands of people across the country with his philosophy of citizen journalism, which basically held that if you just do the legwork, if you use the camera that's on your phone and you record what you see at public meetings and you talk to elected officials, you can do a better job than the establishment media journalists who are there to push a particular narrative.
And that example, that philosophy still inspires us today, inspires many other people.
And I feel his presence every day in everything we do at Breitbart.com.
Andrew is sorely missed, but he's still very much part of our lives.
Now we have the entire tribute available if you want to watch it on Hannity.com.
Do you remember the day that the Anthony Wiener press conference and he took the thing over, Linda?
Oh, yes.
And that was back in June of 2011.
And we were on the phone with him while he was there.
And then he gave me a call.
Get off the podium, I call.
I go to you.
Call Andrew quick.
Hurry up.
Put him on the air.
And he comes over.
He was insane.
And he's laughing the whole time.
I mean, we'd have to go back in the archives to find it, but it was priceless.
If my memory serves me well, the media started questioning him.
Are you kidding me?
They had importance.
He took the whole thing over.
It was insane.
I was like, what is happening right now?
And I'm texting him and I'm like, are you okay?
He goes, this is great.
I'm like, okay, never mind.
I'll be over here if you need me.
Oh, my gosh.
It's so funny.
He's missed.
I thought Joel Pollack nailed it.
Citizen journalism.
Everybody can be a journalist now with a phone.
That's such a good point.
But I just also want to, Sean, really quickly, you did a really beautiful tribute, too.
I know you won't play it because you hate doing that.
But that's also on HandyD.com.
And I want to shout out John Kahn, who works at the top of the helm over there at Breitbart, keeping the messaging and the work alive, too.
They're doing great work.
They've always been friends of ours.
So shout out to them for keeping it going.
And Joel, we love Joel Pollock.
By the way, Joel Pollock is smart as hell.
Right now, he's in South Africa putting pictures up on Instagram of all the beautiful sunsets.
I'm like, hello, what are you doing?
He's hysterical.
Anyway, we miss you, Andrew.
Godspeed.
And I guess we're all going to see him one day.
And it's just the nature of life, right?
The circle of life.
All right, quick break.
We'll get to the phones, 800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
All right, let's get back to our phones here.
Let's say hi to Frank.
He's in New York.
What are you doing in New York, Frank?
Not a smart decision.
And I'm here with you.
We're not very smart.
For some of us, it's not by choice.
I'm assuming maybe that's your situation as well, too, Sean.
Well, I'm getting there.
Slowly but surely, I'm getting there.
What's going on?
You know, lately we've been witnessing on television the heroics of the Ukrainians and a president that says, don't send me a ride.
I want ammo.
It's been awe-inspiring.
And it makes me think about some of the other things we've seen on television before Ukraine was invaded, such as witnessing the summer of love with the flags being burnt and all these calls for socialism and communism.
My question to you is, Sean, is do you feel that right now there could be an ideological shift taking place, maybe now or maybe sometime in our near future in our country as we witness what's unfolding in Ukraine?
Do you think we can get back to being that beacon of what we once were that Ukraine seems to have stepped in and become?
We're Americans.
The answer to that question is yes.
And we've been through world wars before.
We've been through a depression before.
We made it through 9-11.
And we're going to make it through Joe Biden's presidency.
We've had many bad presidents over the years.
In my lifetime, nobody as bad as this guy.
And the swing of the pendulum, I don't know why, but this country continually, you know, we get on a great trajectory.
And then the appeal of everything being free and those rich people don't pay their fair share and class warfare and dividing Americans, you know, along racial lines, rich versus poor, old versus young, men versus women, black versus white.
You know, that's the Democratic playbook.
And the appeal of socialism is, I mean, I'll never have to worry again for the rest of my life about anything.
It becomes appealing, and then we give up in exchange for false promises, false hope, things that they will never succeed at.
We give up our freedom and liberty in the process.
I do think that at some point, something's got to give here because it's never been this divided.
I mean, you either like Donald Trump or you hate Donald Trump.
And you either are a new Green Deal radical socialist Democrat or you believe in liberty, freedom, capitalism, and our Constitution.
And I don't know how it ultimately plays out.
I would like to think that we, the United States of America, can peacefully, you know, work out our differences and do what's right for the country.
But there are people that want to dramatically alter what America is, what it has been, and turn it into something that we know fails.
And I don't, for the life of me, know why.
And the antidote to that is to educate people on the issues of freedom and conservatism.
You always say to us, Sean, let your heart not be troubled.
But my heart has been troubled for a very long time watching this ideological war taking place over Twitterverse and other platforms, the censorship that's taken place.
I just don't want to see us turn in the Rome because Rome fell.
Every country has the capability of falling.
And if there's one big lesson to take from this, Sean, there is a reason to have AR-15s because we civilians can definitely stem off with our militias any red dawn moment that could potentially happen in this country.
And we're not a bust.
And we don't want to go there.
I mean, we're talking about our fellow Americans.
Americans can agree to disagree.
At the end of the day, it's going to be the American people that decide the direction of the country.
And it's an ideological struggle.
It's a battle of ideas.
Yeah, yes.
And when I made that question.
And by the way, I believe in the first and I believe in the Second Amendment, but we don't want to get to a point where America splits that way.
I know many people think it could happen, may happen, will happen.
I hope it doesn't happen because I want to be the United States of America.
But if you look at a state like where you're from in New York or a state like California, I mean, it's just irreconcilable differences.
I just, I have nothing in common with the government in the state of New York or the state of California.
And even Andrew Cuomo said, if you're one of those conservatives and you're pro-life and pro-Second Amendment, you're not a New Yorker.
I mean, he's even saying people that think like me have no place here.
So much for liberal inclusivity.
But I think the battle is fought at the ballot box.
I think the pendulum now is swinging back.
There's not a single thing Joe Biden will say tonight that is true in terms of the policies being successful that he has brought into this country.
And the American people see it.
The polling data proves it.
It is consistent across the board.
And I think that the Republicans are headed for a wipeout in the House.
I think they'll take control of the House.
That'll stop the Biden agenda.
And I think the next step has got to be 2024.
The Senate is a little harder, but hopefully it's a wave election that carries a lot of people in with it.
And at that point, if we get a Republican president that stands on the principles we believe in that I outline all the time, I believe there's nothing we can't accomplish.
And we can be the shining city on the hill and build up our defenses and build up our economy again and get back to the cause of freedom and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which is a God-given right, not a government-given right.
Anyway, appreciate the call.
We've got to make it work.
You know, Reagan always said freedom is but one generation away from extinction, but not on our watch.
We've all got to be committed to that cause.
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