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Nov. 16, 2022 - Sean Hannity Show
32:48
VP Mike Pence - November 15th, Hour 2
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This is an iHeart Podcast.
All right, our two Sean Hannity show, toll-free our numbers, 800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, former Vice President Mike Pence will be here in a second.
He has a brand new book out, and actually, this is a promotion for it.
Let me play this for you.
So Help Me God is really just the story of my life.
And it was a great privilege for me to be able to put it on paper to tell the story of my family.
My Irish immigrant grandfather, my combat veteran dad, my precocious and unstoppable mom, now 90 years young.
But also to tell the story about our journey, my own development.
Starting in politics as a Democrat, being drawn to the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan, and a lifelong love for the Constitution of the United States would inform my path.
Early days, lessons learned in congressional campaigns would always be the guiding principle to me.
And former Vice President Mike Pence's brand new book is out today.
It's in bookstores all across the country.
It's on Hannity.com, Amazon.com.
He's been a friend of mine for, I guess, now 30 years, and I'm honored to call him a friend.
And he's a real friend and probably one of the most legitimately devout Christians I've ever met in my life.
And he lives that life.
Mr. Vice President, it's an honor to have you.
How are you, sir?
Sean Hannity.
Thank you for those overly generous words.
Great to be on the radio program today.
And I'm hearing from people all over the country about our conversation last night.
Thanks for giving us a chance.
The response was phenomenal.
Help me God.
Honestly, it was, and we get response every night, but some nights, my phone just explodes.
And that was the case last night, which is all a tribute to you because they weren't exploding.
It wasn't exploding because I'm on because I'm on every night.
But, you know, so help me God.
This is a part of you that people don't know that I want people to know.
Not only in my life, but in the life of many, many people I know.
You make the call when you know it's a hard time.
You make the call when people are under fire.
You make the call when there's a death in the family.
You make the call when an accident has happened.
And you do it all day, every day, and have done it for decades.
And people, I bet, don't know that about you.
Well, you're very kind.
And I thought you were talking about so many Americans who've taken the oath of office.
You know, the title of the book comes from the last words in my oath of office as vice president.
And to no less extent when I was governor and when I was for 12 years a fighting conservative in the Congress of the United States.
It ends with a prayer, so help me God.
But it's the same oath as my Marine Corps son reminded me one time during some difficult days a few years ago.
It's the same oath he took.
It's the same oath all of our men and women in uniform take, Sean.
It's the same oath that men and women who serve in law enforcement and public safety all over the country take.
So I'm humbled to be associated with those people.
And I love what the Bible says that in Psalm 15 that he keeps his oath even when it hurts.
And I have some experience with that.
I know what it means to have to stand in the gap and keep your word.
But I gave my word to the American people.
I gave my word to Almighty God.
And by God's grace, we worked every day to keep it.
Well, I don't think there's been a more successful administration, and it was rooted on conservative principles.
I describe conservatism simply.
My audience knows my 45-second pitch on how easy conservatism really is.
You can break it down.
But you actually did spur economic growth.
You did lower taxes.
You did bring energy independence back after 75 years.
You did stop illegal immigration.
Peace through strength was clear and obvious.
America's place in the world was dominant, and people feared us, rightly so.
I think that's the way it should be, not that we would ever abuse that power or want to abuse that power.
And I think we've lost a lot of that, and I worry about it.
I'm happy the Republicans captured the House, but I'd like to see Republicans in charge completely.
Well, and nobody summarizes it better than you.
And I think one of the things I appreciated about last night on television was thank you for noticing that my autobiography is not only about my whole life, but it's been described as maybe the most thorough defense of the record of the Trump Pence administration that's been written.
It was the greatest privilege of my life to be Vice President of the United States in an administration that literally rebuilt our military, revived our economy, and gave Americans a new beginning for life with a conservative majority on the Supreme Court of the United States.
Obviously, it didn't end well.
And I write candidly about those days and about how the President and I found a way to part amicably nonetheless.
But I hope that people that share our conservative values around the country will take time to look at this book because I think as I describe the battles for conservative values in the Congress, our battles back home in Indiana, lessons learned there, and then the extraordinary success of the Trump Pence administration, my heart's desire is that so help me God will give people confidence and hope about the future.
We did it before, and we can do it all again.
And whenever those principles are applied, they work.
It worked for Reagan.
It worked when Newt Gingrich became Speaker.
It worked under the administration with you and President Trump.
It just works.
These policies and principles, they're timeless, and they can get us out of a lot of problems we're now experiencing.
I believe a lot of it self-inflicted.
You know, you said something to me last year.
I really believe that.
I mean, I was asked earlier today if I had any regrets, and my only regret is having to witness the policies that we put into effect, you know, policies that secured our border, that had America standing with our allies, standing up to our enemies around the world, saw historic peace breakthrough in the Middle East, saw 7 million jobs created, unemployment at a 50-year low, saw a new beginning for the sanctity of life.
Literally one policy after another dismantled by an administration that seems intent on weakening America at home and abroad every day.
But I hope as people take a look at So Help Me God, it'll remind them of everything we were able to do in such a short period of time.
With those two years of a Republican House and a Republican Senate, with voices like yours in the national debate out there giving us the air cover, Sean, we made incredible progress for this country.
And my desire is that the story in So Help Me God will give people hope that we can do it all again, that it'll all come back faster than you could ever imagine.
But it's going to take that new leadership coming into the House of Representatives, going to take a new Senate, going to take new leadership in the White House, and I believe it's all coming, Sean.
How do you explain what happened on Tuesday last week, one week ago today?
And I mean, it's amazing.
Republicans won the House, albeit by a smaller majority than some anticipated.
I was warning people not to be overly exuberant, and they weren't listening.
And only because every Senate race was a swing state, bellwether state, very hard to win for Republicans.
But there are certain things I can explain.
Republicans never win the vote count.
They don't win by 5 million votes, and they did this time.
We did.
And yet they didn't win more races.
I'm having a hard time reconciling that.
It doesn't make sense to me.
And usually things I can figure out and give a good explanation for, but that doesn't, it's inexplicable somewhat to me.
Well, first off, let me, you know me well.
We have known each other for 30 years.
I'm a glasses half full, guy.
I mean, look, a win is a win.
I was there the last time we fired Nancy Pelosi, and I'll tell you the day she hands that gavel to Kevin McCarthy as the new Speaker of the House, it's going to be a great day for America.
But I share the disappointment of so many around the country that we didn't do even better in the House, that we didn't win the Senate and win some key governorships around the country where we had extraordinary candidates like Lise Eldon and Christine Dresen in Oregon and Mark Ronchetti in New Mexico.
And for me, one of the enduring lessons of the election was that elections are about the future.
And the candidates that we put forward that were truly focused on the future, on the challenges facing the American people today, with record inflation and crisis at our border and gasoline prices through the roof and crime in our major cities.
The candidates that focused on the challenges today and solutions for the future did well.
But the candidates that were looking back, candidates that were focused on the past and relitigating the past, didn't do as well.
And so I think it is a reminder to us that the American people want to see men and women in public life that are truly focused where they're focused on the needs of their family, the challenges that they're facing, and the opportunities that we have to put those same principles of the Trump Pence administration back into policy at every level for a boundless American future.
It really is out there.
You can smell it.
You can feel it.
You can taste it.
And we did it before.
We'll do it again.
I mean, America's had, you know, we went through a Civil War, a revolutionary war.
We went through two world wars.
My dad fought in World War II.
And we went through 9-11, a depression.
I mean, I can mention all sorts of things that we've gone through as a country, and we always come out on the other side.
One thing that I'm looking at, though, I'm seeing a country more divided philosophically than I've ever seen.
I mean, I look at, for example, Raphael Warnock.
I look at John Fetterman.
I look at Mandela Barnes as the three most extreme candidates that I've ever covered in my lifetime.
Usually Democrats, if they had radical views, they kept it to themselves.
And that's why they would often try to pack the courts or use the courts to legislate from the bench.
Now they're just out there with these views.
How do we reconcile capitalism versus socialism?
How do you reconcile energy independence with no domestic energy production?
How do you reconcile, defund, dismantle the police, no bail laws with law and order and safety and security?
How do you reconcile woke education versus classical education, reading, writing, math, science, history, and computers?
Because I see the divide has never been this big.
Well, look, I think our politics are more divided than at any time in my lifetime.
But I'm not convinced the American people are as divided as our politics.
I mean, as I've traveled around the country, having returned home to Indiana now almost two years ago, I'm more convinced than ever that there's more that unites us in this country than could ever divide us.
And chief among those things is our faith, our dedication to family, our belief in freedom.
And I think now we have the opportunity to step forward and articulate a vision for the American people that will unite us around those timeless American ideals.
But I think it's going to take us producing candidates at every level that I'm sure we'll do, that'll focus on those issues and appeal to those core values of the American people in new and in renewed ways.
We do that.
Not only will Republicans win, but we'll win the future for every American.
I also believe that pain is a great awakener.
And I think at some point when Americans get sick and tired of record-high inflation and record-high gas prices and wide-open borders and record high crime rates, I think at some point there's a tipping point and they say, this just isn't working anymore.
It sounded great, defund, dismantle, reimagine the police, but having men and women willing to put their lives on the line and protecting our cities and small towns, there's no better solution than that.
That's right.
That's right.
Look, I think the American people know what makes this country strong and secure and prosperous.
We just got to have government as good as our people again.
And as I've said to you before, I think that in the days ahead, we need to not only stand strong on common sense conservative principles, which you've done every day of your broadcast life, and I've sought to do, and as I chronicle in my book, So Help Me God, but also I think we need to begin to articulate those in ways that unite the American people around our highest ideals.
You get outside of politics, Sean, the people in this country actually get along pretty well.
I mean, I'm back to shopping.
You haven't been out with me lately.
Half the country hates me, but that's a different story.
Well, take a poll on me.
You'll find the same thing is true about Trump.
I don't want to poll on any of us.
Let me ask you this.
People of this country can come together around our highest ideals, and we speak to those.
We'll speak to the future.
All right, Mr. Vice President, if you could stay a few more moments.
I have one more question.
I really want this audience to hear this part of the book that you describe, a private meeting that you had towards the end of the administration with the president.
We'll get to that on the other side.
Mike Pence's new book is out, so help me God.
It's in bookstores everywhere, amazon.com, Hannity.com.
And we'll take a quick break.
We'll come back.
We'll continue more with the vice president on the other side.
Come on, man.
It's taken me 47 years to perfect doing nothing.
I had to become president to show you I could do that better than anybody.
Joe Biden, the most dangerous man in America.
This is the John Hannity Show.
So Help Me God is really just the story of my life.
And it was a great privilege for me to be able to put it on paper, to tell the story of my family.
My Irish immigrant grandfather, my combat veteran dad, my precocious and unstoppable mom, now 90 years young.
But also to tell the story about our journey, my own development, starting in politics as a Democrat, being drawn to the Republican Party by Ronald Reagan, and a lifelong love for the Constitution of the United States would inform my path.
Early days, lessons learned in congressional campaigns, would always be the guiding principle to me.
All right, before we get back to Vice President Mike Pance, his new book is out, by the way, so help me God.
And the question, my last question for him, and then we'll get to your calls.
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It's all part of the political dialogue, all part of this show every day.
It's at the heart of so much that goes on in this country.
Do we know what our founding fathers had to say, though, about these issues?
You know, we've almost moved so far from the founders' understanding and vision of our government, you're going to be surprised by their answers.
And our favorite college, Hillsdale College, now has the best way to learn about our founders' deep and wise insights into human nature and the human condition.
And today you can join Hillsdale professors Thomas West and David Azarad as they explore the thoughts, the ideas of our great founders in Hillsdale's new free, that's right, totally free online course, The Real American Founding a Conversation.
So it's absolutely free.
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And you can see a trailer when you go to Seanforhillsdale.com.
You're going to want to take this course absolutely free.
Sean, S-E-A-N-F-O-R, Hillsdale.com, from our friends at Hillsdale College.
Sean Hannity is back on the radio.
All right, 25 to the top of the hour, 800-941 Sean, our number.
If you want to be a part of the program, we continue.
I have one more question for former Vice President Mike Pence.
His new book is out today.
It's called So Help Me God, and it's in bookstores all around the country, Hannity.com, Amazon.com.
And Mr. Vice President, as we continue, there are over what, the 52, 53 chapters I forget off the top of my head that you have in the book.
And I know in almost every interview except the one you did with me, they only focused on one topic.
And so I wanted to make our interview a little bit different.
But there's one part of that that intrigues me the most, and that is when all was said and done.
And, you know, after you went through this tough period, because I would argue, you know, up until the election of November 2020, you worked as a phenomenal team.
That's what I saw.
And I know both you and President Trump for 30 years.
But there was a private meeting between the two of you.
You discuss it in the book, and I think it's very insightful.
You want to tell us about it?
You bet.
And first, let me just affirm what you just said.
Look, for four and a half years, I was always loyal to President Donald Trump.
He was not only my president, he was my friend.
And whenever we had disagreements, I kept them in private, and I supported the president and his policies without fail.
My only higher loyalty was to God and the Constitution, and that's what caused the clash, the confrontation on that tragic day in January.
But to your point, in the roughly five days after that, the President asked for an opportunity to meet with me.
He'd already said all the right things.
He'd condemned the violence, committed to a peaceful transfer of power, and in fact, took time to address the nation and called for unity in America.
When I went down to the Oval Office, I couldn't help but think of that Bible verse that says, Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
But it was easier said than done because I was angry, Sean.
I was angry at what had happened.
I was angry at many of the president's words and actions, but I wanted to hear him out.
And I went down to the Oval Office, walked back to that small dining room, and there we spoke.
And the president expressed concern for my wife and daughter.
I told him they were fine.
I was candid with him and direct about my feelings about that day.
But I also encouraged him to pray.
The president's told me many times that he's a believer.
And I also told him that I was praying for him.
And in another meeting, he reflected, I think, a genuine sadness about what had happened.
I thought the president was genuinely remorseful about what had occurred, not just with regard to me, but at the Capitol itself.
And when I was leaving after a meeting a few days later, I told him I was praying for him again.
And he immediately was dismissive about it.
But as I was leaving the room, I looked at him as he sat at the end of the table and I said, well, I guess there's two things we're probably always going to disagree on.
And he looked up wearily and said, what?
And I said, referring to our disagreement over my role on January 6th.
And then I said, I'm also never going to stop praying for you.
And he smiled faintly and looked at me and said, that's right.
Don't ever change.
And it was on that foundation that we parted amicably.
And for several months thereafter, we spoke every few weeks over the phone.
But candidly, Sean, when he returned to some of the same rhetoric, being critical of me and others who had done our duty under the Constitution that day, I thought it best for us to go our separate ways.
But I'll always be proud of the record of our administration.
And I'll always keep that promise to pray for our president and always be grateful to have been a part of what together we did for the American people.
Mr. Vice President, we appreciate the time that you have given the show.
As always, you're always welcome on these airwaves.
Mike Pence, former Vice President, Mike Pence, his new book is out.
It's called So Help Me God.
It's in bookstores all across the country.
It's on Hannity.com, Amazon.com, and definitely worth a read.
And you are who you say you are.
You always have been.
And you've been very kind to me throughout all the years that I've known you.
And we love having you on the program.
And we'll talk soon.
Thank you, Sean.
God bless you.
God bless you.
800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
All right, let's get to our busy phones as we say hi to Craig is in New York.
Craig, hi, how are you?
Glad you called.
How are you doing, Sean?
Yeah, I was just wondering, and I was hoping that maybe you could sit down.
You talked to a lot of the senators.
Maybe you could sit down with a couple of the senators and ask them to go over and talk to Manchin.
Now is a perfect time.
He's mad about not getting the pipeline.
He's mad about how they stabbed him in the back.
Maybe they could bring him over to the Republican Party and they could put enough money behind Walker in order to push that race toward the Republicans.
And that would kill the Democrats.
They'd be jumping out windows.
It would make like 4th of July look like a kid throwing a firecracker.
It would be the greatest thing in the world if they could do something like that.
Is there any chance that you could talk to them about that?
Listen, the answer is I think it's more viable than it's ever been.
Number one, Manchin is coming up for re-election, I believe, in the next cycle.
Number two, when he was standing up to Biden and the radical socialist Democrats, he was never more popular in his home state of West Virginia.
When he gave in on the tax the rich, I'm sorry, tax the poor, tax the middle class, and tax people on fixed income inflation reduction act, his approval ratings plummeted.
You know, at the end of this recent campaign cycle, Joe Biden came out and said, we're done with coal.
Well, that destroys the economy of Joe Manchin State.
No one's building new coal plants because they can't rely on it, even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of their existence of the plan.
So it's going to become a wind generation.
And all they're doing is you're going to save them a hell of a lot of money and they're using the same transmission line that transmitted the coal-fired electric on.
We're going to be shutting these plants down all across America.
And Joe Manchin was livid about the comments.
Then Biden went even further and said he's going to end all drilling in America.
No more drilling.
There is no more drilling.
I haven't formed any new drilling.
Planning for the Pacific, but in the United States of Mexico.
We're on the Gulf of Mexico.
That was before I was president.
We're trying to work on that, get that done.
Which means, you know, it's a disaster because we're all going to be paying massive rates for the lifeblood of the world's economy, our own economy, and ignore our very own resources here at home and ignore the fact that we do it cleaner, faster, and cheaper.
So is there an opportunity?
And one other thing, he was promised something when he went along with Schumer and Biden.
He was promised a pipeline.
That pipeline was to benefit the people of West Virginia.
That pipeline is never going to happen.
And so they offered something that they didn't deliver on.
And I think if I'm Joe Manchin, I am apoplectic at all of it.
And I think what he's probably going to wait for are the results out of Georgia.
This is why this race with Herschel Walker is critical.
I mean, because if we're 50-50, Joe Manchin can walk into the Oval Office, you know, invite Chuck Schumer to come in with him and say, you guys didn't keep your word.
You guys lied to me.
Joe, you're now the enemy of the economy of my state.
And I'm leaving this party.
I'll see you later.
And then walk out.
And he could do that in two seconds and say, I'm going to go announce and hold a press conference that I am switching parties and I am leaving your party.
And you pushed me out, both of you, because you're dishonest.
You lied to me and you lied to the people of my state.
And I'm not going to take it anymore.
I agree.
100%, sir.
That's what I do.
Anyway, appreciate you being with us.
Dan in Arizona.
Dan, how are you?
Glad you're with us.
Hey, Sean, it's an honor to talk to you.
Listen to you every day.
I'm a 57-year-old, 57-year-old truck driver, an Arizona native, independent, conservative.
And I'm just totally upset, dismayed, and angry with everything that's been going on here in Arizona.
I remember Arizona when it was a conservative state.
We've had an influx of Californians coming in here with their politics and people from who knows where else with their politics.
And this state isn't what it used to be.
And I'm upset at the voters that they didn't pay attention to.
We've got illegals being dropped off in our streets.
We've got drug cartel members having shootouts on I-10.
We've got home invasions.
We've got car theft.
You know, we've had all kinds of stuff.
I live in a little bedroom community out of Phoenix, Talawatukee.
They've dropped busloads of illegals off at hotels out there, and nobody seems to remember this stuff.
And they vote the Democrats in.
We have an element of society that gets their news blurbs off these little five-second things off of CNN and MSNBC.
They're not getting the full story from Fox News or other conservative reporters.
And it's just frustrating to me to sit back and see this happening.
Now we're blessed with a trifecta of ignorance and incompetence.
Katie Hobbs, governor, Mark Kelly, senator, and Joe Biden, president.
There's an optimistic message.
Look, I wish I could tell you that these issues are going to be resolved.
They're not.
You know, what the Republicans now can do with the majority in the House can't be understated, though.
And this will help a lot because they can now challenge Mayorkis on the issues.
I mean, you're not going to impeach him because the Democrats, you know, even, you know, with the 50-50 Senate, it's going to be impossible.
However, they can now, they have the investigative subpoena power to get to the bottom of how it is this administration is not enforcing the laws of the land.
And not only that, they're offering preferential treatment to illegal immigrants.
They are violating the law, not enforcing, you know, sanctuary state, sanctuary city, by its very nature, is in violation of our laws.
It's, you know, you're not allowed to enter this country illegally.
It's illegal.
You know, that's it.
It's simple.
But anyway, and then, of course, you have the human trafficking aspect of it.
You know, you come in, you get no COVID checks, you get no background check.
You get a free Biden phone, then you get free transportation to any one of the 48 states in the continental U.S.
And that system, Joe, plans to continue, but it's got to be stopped.
And the way I think it's going to happen is I think that all these people now are going to be called in and held accountable.
And I think that the hearings rightfully will expose this for what it is, and that is institutionalizing lawbreaking.
And I think there's going to be great power there for the Republicans with this majority now in the House.
And I'm glad that they have it.
That's why, you know, for those people that are disappointed that a lot of these swing states didn't go the Republicans' way, sure, I would have preferred to go that they go the other way.
The only I can say is I knew at the beginning of this election cycle that these were all bellwether swing states and none of them were going to be easy to win.
So you got to take your wins where you can get them and then hold these people accountable.
And I think now the House is going to go headstrong right into all of these issues.
The power to subpoena, the power of the purse are the two biggest weapons that the Republicans have in the House.
And I would anticipate that they're going to use it.
And so that's good for the country because we need to resolve these issues.
Anyway, listen, I wish I had better words.
How are you doing in your trucking business, by the way?
I'm worried about all you guys and the price you're paying for diesel.
If you can even find the diesel, there is a shortage now nationwide that is getting scary.
We're starting to feel the pinch because the housing is slowing down.
And I haul construction equipment.
So it's starting to put the kibosh on us a little bit with the interest rates going up on housing.
Listen, what did I say would happen?
And I predicted it over a year ago.
I said, watch what happens.
New home construction will come to a screeching halt.
The next step, the next shoe to drop is going to be sales of pre-existing homes.
That'll come to a screeching halt.
That has now happened, except for some.
There are some exceptions in states that have, you know, all these, this mass migration I keep talking about or accelerated migration, people leaving blue states that are conservative and moving to red states.
They will fare so much better.
And home prices have plummeted and we've lost billions of dollars in valuations for people's homes, which end up being their biggest investment.
And add that to the bad stock market, and it's not good.
Yeah.
Anyway, I appreciate the call.
Listen, thanks for what you do also.
I mean, it's now, do you have an 18-wheeler or a flatbed?
What do you got?
It's an 18-wheeler, and I also have a big, big low boy for Holland.
I can gross out anywhere from 80 to 125,000.
I know people in the trucking business that have decided to sit it out until the business gets better and it becomes more profitable.
And it's sad to see.
But supply and demand now will drive up the prices of what you guys can charge.
You cannot absorb the high cost, especially independent operators, the high cost of diesel and do routes and not make any money.
And if people are not making money, they're not going to stay in business.
That much I can tell you.
Anyway, appreciate the call.
Hang in there, buddy.
800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Exposing terrorism and supporting America's freedom.
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