David Whelan joins "The Best of Hannity" to talk about his brother Paul's unlawful imprisonment in Russia and just how difficult it has been to secure his release.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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| Hour two, Sean Hannity show toll free. | |
| It's 800-941-SEAN. | |
| If you want to be a part of the program, we had this report come out yesterday. | |
| NBC reported a statement that contradicted President Biden's claim that Russia offered to free only Brittany Griner in exchange for this, you know, merchant of death. | |
| And they said Biden said this was not a choice. | |
| NBC News later reported that a senior U.S. official told them that the U.S. government had sought both Greiner and, of course, the gentleman of Marine, where we've been talking about Paul Whelan and. | |
| released as part of the swap with the Kremlin, but the officials said Russia was treating Wayland differently and that the Kremlin offered either Wayland or Greiner. | |
| Or nothing at all. | |
| That contradicts exactly what the Democrats said. | |
| Anyway, here's John Kirby trying to clear this up. | |
| It is accurate that they have set up a separate set of expectations for Mr. Whelan than what they had set for Ms. Greiner. | |
| The deal that we got with Ms. Greiner was the only deal we could get, and now was the only moment we could get it. | |
| So we took advantage of that to get one American home. | |
| But as the president said, we're going to stay focused on Mr. Whalen. | |
| This was not, as the president also said, some choice between the two. | |
| So I would push back on this uh notion that uh that we deliberately, you know, uh we we chose Brittany over Paul. | |
| Uh there was only one way to get one American home, and that was this particular deal. | |
| So we're gonna stay at it. | |
| Uh we were working on it yesterday, we're working on it today, and I can guarantee the Whalen family that tomorrow and every day hereafter, we're gonna continue to work to br to bring Paul home. | |
| So anyway, um, I don't understand why I'm still sitting here. | |
| These are the words of a devastated Paul Whalen. | |
| He broke his silence from this Russian uh penal colony. | |
| Uh his brother slamming the catastrophic exclusion of his brother, rightly so. | |
| Uh I'm ready to go home, the former Marine said. | |
| Now he's been behind bars for four long years here. | |
| Uh there's no evidence at all that he committed any crime. | |
| Griner and her case, it was kind of a slam-dung case, a minor issue involving marijuana, but it still broke the law, and we have no evidence at all that what Putin is saying and Russia is saying is anything but a lie. | |
| Um Congressman Mike Waltz accused the White House of putting celebrities over veterans. | |
| Um also Saudi Arabia reportedly played a role in this. | |
| Anyway, joining us now is David Whalen. | |
| It's his brother Paul, uh, who in fact uh is still in this Russian prison. | |
| Uh sir, welcome to the program. | |
| I'm so sorry uh to you, to your brother, to your family. | |
| Um this has got to be pretty heart-wrenching for all of you. | |
| It is. | |
| Thank you for having me. | |
| And uh yeah, it's it's a very difficult uh very difficult couple of days. | |
| I read your initial comments, and you are extraordinarily gracious, uh, happy that Brittany Griner was released. | |
| Um then this MBC news report comes out. | |
| I'm sure you read it. | |
| What were your thoughts on it? | |
| Uh uh the one about uh w th that it might have been an either-or situation. | |
| Yes. | |
| Yes, no, uh I I assume That that was a uh a misstatement. | |
| Uh that doesn't sound right to me. | |
| Uh it's not what we understood was happening, and uh I'm sure that it was just a uh uh a misunderstanding. | |
| Uh we have always understood that the US government had made a two for one um uh offer of a concession to the Russian government. | |
| Um that's what was reported back in the the uh uh uh uh late summer, and uh it's not surprising that they didn't go for two two to one. | |
| Russia always wants parity. | |
| Um, but I don't think that there would ever have been a position where um there would have been an either-or uh between the two Americans. | |
| Well, if you look at, for example, your brother, I mean, he's a Marine, he served in Iraq. | |
| Um the United States gave up one of the biggest arms dealers in the world, the most notorious armed de arms dealer in his time, you know, he earned his name, Victor Boot did, the merchant of death for good reason, profiting off of weapons that fueled uh international conflicts, especially in Africa, the Mid East and Asia, and accused of helping uh arm cartels as well. | |
| And he previously served in the Soviet Union armed forces. | |
| Uh this is this is hardly a fair deal by by any objective measure. | |
| Um so I'm I'm I'm a little bewildered by the fact that MBC would make such a report because they did cite senior U.S. officials. | |
| And I doubt they would have cited senior U.S. officials had they not spoken to senior U.S. officials. | |
| So maybe I'm more suspicious because of the nature of my job, but um I am suspicious nonetheless. | |
| Um you have spoken to your brother. | |
| Uh he knows about Brittany Griner's release, he knows about the prisons prisoner swap. | |
| He knows he wasn't part of it, and he has no knowledge of when he's getting out of jail, does he? | |
| No, I think that that's the real issue we have here is that uh he's been there for four years and initially in the first couple of years, uh two names had been floated as possible exchange candidates for Paul, uh Konstantin Yarashenko and and Victor Boot. | |
| And both of those uh Russians have now gone home from U.S. custody to Russia. | |
| And uh in in this last attempt to bring Paul home, uh bring both Paul and Brittany uh home, uh the U.S. government appears to have gone through a long list of other um concessions. | |
| Who knows what they were, whether they were people or things or ideas like uh, you know, reduce sanctions on somebody, I don't know. | |
| Um and uh and apparently Russia didn't go for any of those either. | |
| So I think the the real difficulty for us here and and probably for Paul, I'm sure he's done this math too, is well, if they haven't gone for anything that the U.S. currently has in its control, then then what does Russia want and how does the U.S. government acquire it? | |
| David, let's talk a little bit about your brother and about his case and when this nightmare began, I guess it was before twenty eighteen when he was finally sentenced, correct? | |
| Uh he was sentenced in uh twenty twenty. | |
| He was arrested in uh December of twenty eighteen. | |
| And he's being charged with being a U.S. spy, correct? | |
| Right, yeah. | |
| Uh in the same way that the Russian government used to do it with paper, uh, and they did it with American uh Nicholas Daniloff and then again with Edmund Pope. | |
| Um they they slip you information uh in a packet that you can't see. | |
| And so the digital version of that is a USB stick, and they gave Paul a USB stick, he was entrapped in a hotel and arrested, and uh the rest is history. | |
| You know, it's unbelievable, and I I hope Americans are listening to this and learn maybe taking a trip like Bernie Sanders did to the former Soviet Union to honeymoon is not necessarily a good idea. | |
| Um how many years is your brother sentenced now? | |
| Uh he has served four out of a sixteen-year sentence. | |
| Is there any other avenues that you've tried over the years? | |
| Uh is there any third party broker that maybe you can go to if the U.S. doesn't have anything else left in its arsenal to offer? | |
| Are there not any other prisoners that that Russia would want back besides the merchant of death? | |
| Well, that's the trick, you know. | |
| Uh I think in the past um we were often uh looking at nation states dealing with terrorist groups. | |
| And so in that case you could send in a military unit, you had a lot more options if you wanted to retrieve your citizen. | |
| When is another nation state, a sovereign nation, uh who is essentially the hostage taker in this case, and it's it's Russia, it's China, it's Iran, it's Syria, it's Egypt. | |
| Um you don't have those tools, and it becomes very difficult if those countries aren't going to uh be persuaded, uh and they do need to be persuaded. | |
| You have to have uh perhaps punishments like sanctions or you need to have a concession that you can release. | |
| Um we had thought about with Paul that it might not be people, it might be things. | |
| You know, the Obama administration had taken uh properties from the Russian government um that they had in the U.S. for their embassies and consulates, and the Russian government has wanted those back, so we thought, well, maybe that would be a fair exchange to bring back a tourist who is uh kept by the Russians but uh I don't think we're there. | |
| Well is that ever offered to your knowledge? | |
| I don't know. | |
| Uh we we try to um send suggestions to US government. | |
| Obviously there are people who are far more specialized within the U.S. government who are uh looking at this too and uh I think Paul is unfortunately in the middle of an evolution of the U.S. government uh certainly over the last four years i i it has just changed and changed and changed uh and then with the executive order last summer um there are now you know people who are tasked to come up with a strategy to on how to how to prepare for this and how to you know not be caught uh only after the detention has happened but you know to be thinking about it in advance. | |
| When you hear the reaction the DEA agent, for example it helped put uh Victor Boop behind bars slam this deal said quote we couldn't even get two people for the world's most notorious weapons traffickers uh former Kremlin aides they are saying Putin outplayed Biden on the prisoner swamp. | |
| I think that's just stating the the obvious even some top Democrats are blasting Biden over releasing this guy. | |
| Bob Menendez for example in New Jersey is is one of them. | |
| Um senior defense officials are concerned that he's going to resume his arms trafficking there is a bipartisan backlash to all of this uh because the price was so high and Britney Griner's offense so so minor in in comparison. | |
| Let's talk a little bit about how your brother's being treated uh is he able to tell you in a conversation knowing that he's probably being listened to is he able to describe for you what the conditions are? | |
| He is and and they are uh they do record a lot of his calls there's always a guard standing there and he's able to speak to our parents on uh almost a daily basis uh and it's as bad as you probably can imagine it's uh you know six days of working in a sewing sweatshop uh they're long days um there's not very much food there has been less food since the Russian invasion of Ukraine uh because the uh the sanctions are uh are obviously hitting the Russian economy and and that trickles down to the prisoners. | |
| Um so you know he's lost weight uh he has found an equilibrium um he has found uh survival tactics that he uses so things like uh you know getting up in the morning and singing the US national anthem uh is both you know something that helps him have a a ritual or a routine it's something that uh irritates the guards and you know and the Russians so you know he he does those things to survive and uh I think he's doing the best he can but you know mentally you've got to wonder how uh he's been doing this for four years and now he's just had a huge disappointment. | |
| Um how does he face to do this for another twelve years? | |
| Is there anything that that the people listening to this program can do to show support? | |
| Is there for example an address? | |
| Does he get mail? | |
| Is he able to get um food or or uh even simple things like toiletries or anything like that is he is is that allowable? | |
| Well the two best things that they can do is that if if they're able to uh financially support Paul there's a go fund me at GoFundMe dot com slash free Paul Wheelan and that money goes into a prison account that we then buy those things because you're not able to ship those to him but we can buy those things for him in Russia and have the the US embassy will then get them to him. | |
| The other thing is and and it's much simpler and well what are the things that he would be able to have if you don't mind me asking specifically things like um apples, oranges, bananas, uh fruits and vegetables uh those are not supplied by the prison. | |
| Um if he wants uh protein beyond the two inches of fish he gets a day uh you know we send him peanuts and things but uh all of that has to come in in Russian packaging. | |
| So uh so it's that sort of stuff. | |
| And he and he does receive those th that sort of thing? | |
| How do the other prisoners there treat him and does he have any means of communicating with most of them I would assume they they mostly speak Russian Well the US Embassy is really good. | |
| They take a package he's allowed one package which is why we don't a we ask people not to send him any packages. | |
| He's only allowed one package every quarter and uh and they're really good so that's how we know he gets the things. | |
| The labor colony he is in has other foreigners and so there are uh two Americans there are a couple of uh other English speakers and he you know he's wor learned a couple a couple of words in Tajik he's learned a couple of words in other languages so that he's able to communicate with uh other prisoners and uh you know and and avoid getting punished by the guards for you Know not having his uniform shirt on, right, or not wearing his hat right at formation and things like that. | |
| Is there any abuse that you know has taken place? | |
| Have they tortured him at all? | |
| It's gotten better. | |
| Uh it was uh bad up until um what, I guess it was almost a year ago, and then the warden then uh was arrested and has been charged for corruption and since been sentenced to three years to spend in in another colony. | |
| So uh, you know, the the corruption is all the way to the top from uh well, from Putin all the way down, I guess I I might say. | |
| The last year has been much better since that warden left. | |
| Uh Paul had been put in solitary periodically. | |
| Obviously, uh the UN considers 15 days in solitary to be um torture, and so uh Paul has had a number stint there. | |
| There's theft, you know, when we send him medicine. | |
| Uh sometimes it gets as far as the uh the uh prison and then guards will steal it. | |
| So, you know, it it's not a great existence. | |
| We do the best we can to support him, and uh and he I think does his best to s to survive. | |
| Does he have access to doctors if he gets sick? | |
| In an emergency, there is a prison hospital. | |
| Uh they tend to actually send him to the prison hospital when they don't want him to see what's going on at the low the labor camp. | |
| So recently the the Wagner mercenary group came to recruit prisoners to go to the Ukraine war, uh, and they shipped Paul off to the hospital. | |
| He didn't have any illnesses, he didn't get any treatment when he was there, but uh that's where he went. | |
| So in an emergency, there would be some uh healthcare nearby. | |
| All right, so if people want to help your brother out, he's been there now four long years, and he's got a long stint to go uh moving forward. | |
| If the government's not allowed to get him out, um, it's gotta be heartbreaking for you and your entire family. | |
| Uh, you have a GoFundMe account. | |
| What's that address again? | |
| GoFundMe.com slash free Paul Wheelan. | |
| And then the other thing you can do is to write uh to the uh State Department Counselor Services, and if you go to freepaulwheeland.com, there's an address there. | |
| Uh uh a letter, a card, anything to let him know that he is he isn't forgotten would be a huge help. | |
| Um with the war in Ukraine, uh mail to Russia has stopped. | |
| Uh the US mail mail doesn't go to Russia, Russia mail doesn't come back. | |
| And so uh he's been cut off from a lot of the mail that we used to be able to send him. | |
| So cards sent to that address will go to the State Department, and the State Department will then make sure that they get over to Paul. | |
| And uh yeah, they're a real lifeline. | |
| I mean, the State Department has been just such a huge help for Paul and for our family. | |
| Uh what I'd like to do is we're gonna put this up on my website, Hannity.com, because many people might be driving and obviously can't remember that address. | |
| Uh, but we'll put all the information. | |
| If you want to help out, uh David's brother, Paul Whalen, in this Russian prison. | |
| Uh and uh man, I s it's I feel bad for you, I feel bad for your brother, I feel bad for your whole family. | |
| Uh it's a travesty, and it's gotta be so disappointing in light of the the magnitude of of this prisoner swap and the disparity in this swap. | |
| Um certainly your brother should have been included in my view. | |
| Um anyway, we'll put that up on Hannity.com. | |
| David, our prayers are with you and your family and your brother. | |
| Thank you for being with us. | |
| Hey there. | |
| I'm Mary Catherine Hamm. | |
| And I'm Carol Markowitz. | |
| We've been in political media for a long time. | |
| Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane. | |
| That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity. | |
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| Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday. | |
| On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. | |
| 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. | |
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| We arm you with the facts to be able to know and advocate for the truth with your friends and family. | |
| So Down, verdict with Ted Cruz now, wherever you get your podcasts. | |
| Hey there. | |
| I'm Mary Catherine Hammond. | |
| And I'm Carol Markowitz. | |
| We've been in political media for a long time. | |
| Long enough to know that it's gotten, well, a little insane. | |
| That's why we started normally a podcast for people who are over the hysteria and just want clarity. | |
| We talk about the issues that actually matter to the country without panic, without yelling, and with a healthy dose of humor. | |
| We don't take ourselves too seriously, but we do take the truth seriously. | |
| So if you're into common sense, sanity, and some occasional sass. | |
| you're our kind of people. | |
| Catch new episodes of Normally every Tuesday and Thursday. | |
| On the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. | |
| 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 pointing out that oil analysts are saying, even with the new licenses to Chevron in this case, uh with Venezuela and Venezuelan output, it's unlikely to increase by more than 0.2% of the world's demand in the next year or two. | |
| So the administration now says that the sanctions relief uh for Caracas is unrelated to oil and instead is a carrot for talking with the opposition about returning to democracy. | |
| Now remember, they're doing this, and America does not even recognize this murdering dictator Thug Maduro as a duly elected leader in Venezuela. | |
| It doesn't get any more insane. | |
| Anyway, Congressman Jimenez is with Florida's twenty-sixth congressional district, and he represents the largest constituency of Venezuelans in the U.S. And he's outraged at what Biden is doing here. | |
| Uh he put out that Biden will do anything to crush American energy independence, including giving in to dictators, which is exactly what's happening. | |
| Anyway, uh Congressman uh Carlos Jimenez is with us now. | |
| Uh Congressman, thanks for being here. | |
| My pleasure, Sean. | |
| How are you doing? | |
| I'm good, my friend. | |
| Uh I can't believe it. | |
| We have more energy resources in this country that we would never need to import any energy for hundreds of years, and yet Joe Biden and the Democratic Party, they steadfastly refuse the production of the light blood of the world's economy here. | |
| Why is that? | |
| Um your guess is as good as mine, uh, Sean. | |
| I it's it's probably because it's good for America, and everything that this president does is not good for America. | |
| He wakes up every morning and says, How can I work against America's interests? | |
| And here's another example of it. | |
| You go to a foreign dictator, uh the of Venezuela, who is an ally of who? | |
| Of Russia, of China, of Iran, uh, who is suppressing his people, and then you're asking him, please uh give us more oil and we will try to list some of these sanctions that we've had in place for the last four years. | |
| Oh, by the way, all you gotta do is promise that you're gonna talk to the opposition, and the opposition happens to be the government that we we recognize. | |
| I mean, it's it's foolish, it's ridiculous, and uh it makes absolutely no sense, Sean. | |
| Oh, I mean, it it makes no sense. | |
| Explain to me this is the one question no liberal can answer. | |
| How is it any different if you drill for a barrel of oil in Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, any of the OPEC plus countries, Russia, Iran, how is it any different in terms of the impact on Mother Earth than if we produce that barrel of oil here in America? | |
| Because I would argue that we do it, we do it cleaner, we do it faster, we do it cheaper, and it's best it's in our best uh foreign policy interest to do so. | |
| It's it creates high-paying career jobs. | |
| It would go a long way to reducing the price of oil at the pump and heating our homes this winter, it would be good for inflation. | |
| Why don't we do it here? | |
| Well, that's a great question. | |
| Actually, it is better for us to use it uh to get American oil because we produce it cleaner than anybody else in the world, probably 20 to 30 percent cleaner. | |
| So we're even for the environment, it's good for have American oil, and also for our foreign policy and and look, it it incre it it helps our economy, it'll reduce the price of oil, it'll reduce the it the inflation, it will also give us leverage on the world market uh to use energy as we should as a weapon, just like the Russians are using energy as a weapon now we can help our allies and hurt our adversaries, and so it's a lot of people. | |
| By the way, could you imagine if if we were still energy independent and we ratcheted up production and we sold it to our Western European allies, how much money we would we would make as a country, how rich we we would become as a country. | |
| We would we would definitely help America, but also we'd helping our allies because then they they could then you know say uh say to Putin, you're gonna eat your oil, we're gonna buy American oil, and we can uh we'll have energy independence from you. | |
| That's why we need to produce more energy here in the United States. | |
| Go ahead and drill for oil, more natural gas, all those things that are good for America are also good for our allies, yet this administration is doing everything in its power to destroy the oil and gas industry here in the United States. | |
| It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. | |
| There's nothing that they can say to me that's going to explain to me why this makes sense. | |
| Why are you going to Venezuela for God's sakes? | |
| You know, look what they're doing to their people, no free elections. | |
| They're allies of Russia and China and Iran are our major enemies, and you want them to produce the oil? | |
| Are you out of your mind? | |
| Yeah, yeah, he is. | |
| He's absolutely out of his mind. | |
| What do people tell you I know you have the highest uh Venezuelan population or constituency in the U.S.? | |
| What are they saying, those people, refugees from Venezuela, to you about life in Venezuela today, because they they could be one of the richest countries on earth themselves, but because of all the political corruption and this murdering thug dictator in charge, uh the people are suffering mightily there. | |
| Yeah, well, Venezuela is actually, you know, the probably could be the richest country in South America. | |
| It's uh they're full of natural resources. | |
| Uh they used to pump uh about two two uh two million gallons of oil a day, and because of the corruption and the incompetence, they can only do about 700,000 now. | |
| Uh and so even that's hurting their economy. | |
| And so the people of Venezuela are flocking to, you know, the are flocking to the United States. | |
| A lot of them end up in in Miami. | |
| They're good, hardworking people. | |
| They wish they could go back to their country, but they can't, uh, because of this uh the corrupt uh regime that they have, this oppressive regime that they have, uh lack of basic rights. | |
| Um and so, you know, again, that the Biden administration would even be talking to these people is, you know, is is beyond the realm of I mean of of why you would do that, I don't know. | |
| And then my constituents in uh in South Florida are looking at it very closely. | |
| That's why in the last election it swung so far to the right, swung in our direction. | |
| Uh they know. | |
| What part of uh Florida are you representing? | |
| I represent uh what's uh Southwest Miami Dade and all of Monroe County, and uh and so you know I've got a good about 70 percent of my constituents are Hispanic. | |
| Uh many of them came from either Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, you know, those uh countries that have been oppressed, and they they they understand what socialism is about, and they want no part of it, and they understand what this administration is doing, and they're doing nothing to to help the uh for you know the cause of freedom in in Central and South America and in the Caribbean, and they're doing everything and this administration apparently is doing everything in its power to prop up those uh those regimes that are oppressing their people. | |
| So many of the counties in in deep South Florida that had historically voted blue, they went red this time. | |
| What happened? | |
| What happened is uh we've got again uh we've got an influx of uh of people that come from these countries that understand exactly what socialism is about. | |
| They understand what censorship is all about, uh the lack of basic freedoms, and they understand that what uh the Biden administration is doing is not helping our cause for freedom in any way, shape, or form. | |
| They've seen this movie before, and they don't want to repeat it again. | |
| That's why they've gone uh to the Republican side. | |
| That's why we had such uh a sweeping win in in Florida. | |
| Look in my my own district. | |
| My district uh voted sixteen percent for Hillary Clinton in 2016. | |
| In 2020, they voted about four percent for President Trump, and in this uh this election, I won that election by twenty-eight points, Sean. | |
| So that you can see how it swung to the right. | |
| You're really underperforming, and I think you should be really ashamed by those numbers. | |
| That's awful. | |
| Yeah. | |
| And then look, what happened what happened with uh with the governor, right? | |
| I mean, uh Miami Dade County uh voted for Biden in in 2020 by seven points, and we voted if we voted, you know, again for we voted for DeSantis this time, so you can see the shift is not only in my district in Miami Dade County, but all of Miami Dade County is now turned red. | |
| Uh, and that's all due to these policies. | |
| It's all due to the the fact that we Republicans have a better solution that we we ri really represent the working men and women and we represent the values that the citizens of Miami Dade County and State of Florida really want. | |
| So I'm talking a lot about what I'm calling accelerated migration and that it's a combination of baby boomers hitting retirement age and also people that are fed up with high taxes, uh incredible burdensome bureaucracy, uh people fed up with with COVID shutdowns. | |
| They want their kids to have in person learning, et cetera. | |
| But the leaving states like Pennsylvania and states like Wisconsin and states like Michigan, uh and those states, the people that are leaving and going to Florida or the Carolinas or Texas or Tennessee. | |
| Well most of them are going to Florida. | |
| You're taking in about 800 new residents a day. | |
| How is Florida dealing with this mass migration? | |
| I think we're deal dealing with it fine, right? | |
| Most of those people are hard working people are coming down the state of Florida to find opportunity and they do find opportunity. | |
| You know Florida is uh is growing it's a it's a pro business state. | |
| We have no state income tax uh we have a great governor legislature is controlled by the Republican Party so it's very very much pro business and and also uh we kind of adhere to to the values of the people that are coming down to South Florida. | |
| Look one of the things I was afraid of is that yeah we had all these people coming from New York and all those other blue states and were they bringing their politics with them. | |
| Well apparently they are but they happen to be Republicans uh for the most part uh so uh I think they're the ones likely to get out of there because they've had it and they want to get in they want to live in a free state like Florida. | |
| I don't blame them. | |
| Yeah absolutely yeah so you know I was afraid that it was you know that some of the some of the folks that are more more liberal leanings were coming down to Florida to escape and then bring their politics down but I don't think it's happening. | |
| I think they're actually we for the first time uh have more Republicans registered in the state of Florida than Democrats. | |
| That's never happened in uh in Florida history. | |
| It was a turnaround of about five hundred thousand uh from the the the election in two thousand eighteen so from two thousand eighteen to two two thousand twenty two we had about three hundred thousand more Democrats than Republicans and now we you know that's flipped over so I think we're uh it's about uh two hundred thousand or three hundred thousand more Republicans than Democrats that's not good news for the Democrats. | |
| Well, we appreciate you and what you're doing. | |
| Congressman Carlos Jimenez, thank you so much. | |
| Florida's 26th District, thank you. | |
| My pleasure, Sean. | |
| Have a good one. | |
| 800-941-SEAN. | |
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| 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. | |
| most dangerous man in America. | |
| This is the Sean Hannity Show. | |
| Alright as we get to our busy phones, Russ Nebraska, you're next on the Sean Hannity Show. | |
| Hi. | |
| Hey Sean Hannity how are you doing this afternoon? | |
| I'm good my friend what's going on? | |
| Well I got I I want to talk to you a little bit about what's going on with the uh rail unions and what's going on in Washington DC and stuff with the boats and everything because you know I've kind of been with them for a major railroad here in the United States for about almost 24 years. | |
| But first off I got to give a shout out to my dad because he he told us one time he says man if I could you just turn an eighty he says man if I could have another kid at the Christmas table it sure would be Sean Hannity. | |
| Oh man what a compliment that is well if your dad's listening tell your dad I said thank you and hi dad how are you and you may well be careful what you wish for. | |
| I was a pretty incorrigible kid growing up. | |
| Oh yeah well you know he's ex-Navy vet and you know he survived pancreatic cancer and you know so he's a fighter and he's a good guy and he just really surviving pancreatic cancer is no easy feat my my dad died from that. | |
| Yeah well he had a he had a doctor that was young and ambitious and said he could go in and get it and he got it and he's doing great. | |
| Oh that's great news. | |
| Well tell your dad I said hi. | |
| I will I will uh Sean just wanted to let you know a little bit about what's you know the union and and things of that nature. | |
| We've I've been working for the railroad for almost 24 years and seen a lot of changes coming you know down the pike over the years and you know we've had different union agreements anywhere from five percent race to eight percent race to nine percent raise and this is the first time in a long time I've seen anything you know this huge come down the pike as far as a 24% raise. | |
| Twenty-four percent raise average worker will get and I'm sure that includes you eleven thousand dollars in a bonus check. | |
| Sounds like a pretty good offer to me. | |
| Doesn't sound like an unfair offer. | |
| No I don't think it's unfair at all. | |
| So, you know, it'll be interesting to see what the vote comes down to as far as like what they do in Washington. | |
| But I think what a lot of your, you know, people don't understand is that, you know, even though we're a union shop, I don't think people quite understand that a lot of the guys that I work with, we're more conservative and independent than we are Democrats anymore, because we kind of feel like we've been left behind as far as, you know, workers and unions and things like that, just for the simple fact that, you know, with guys like Biden and Obama and people like that, we feel like we've been left behind. | |
| And, you know, they always say we're the... | |
| we're the party for the worker we do this and that and honestly I just honestly believe that that is dead and buried. | |
| I I don't think that's even an issue anymore. | |
| They don't you know they they're not for the worker anymore. | |
| Um I look at the Democratic Party as the party of coastal elites and Republican uh the Republican Party needs to be the party for working men and women in this country the people that really do make America great. | |
| I'll I'll put it to you this way too Sean you know as a railway company our job is to ship fossil fuels all over the country potentially to be shipped all over the world. | |
| We have the cleanest coal that has ever been burned we have enough in the Powder River basin for anywhere from 150 to 200 years of consistent use for us to be able to use to send our coal fire power plants we ship it to China we ship it all over the world. | |
| So what what our what our members are wondering is why would we consistently vote for people that want to get rid of all fossil fuels so that we don't haul oil out of the Balkans anymore out of North Dakota. | |
| We don't bring any more coal out of the Powder River Basin, and that's what we do for a living, and that's what our jobs are. | |
| And that's where they're kind of losing us, if you know what I mean. | |
| Does that make any sense? | |
| That's where the rank and file are out of touch with and not in agreement with union leadership. | |
| You raise a great point, and I'll tell you, this is why if Herschel Walker can win this race, and it's not going to be easy in Georgia, and I know there's a heavy turnout, there is a chance, I believe, to make a run at Joe Manchin. | |
| Because Joe Manchin has been screwed over by his own party, and if Joe Biden and the Democrats have their way, they will destroy... | |
| the economy of West Virginia I got a run say hi to all our our fellow railroad workers I hope it works out for everybody everybody I want you to get your raise if in fact this strike goes on we're all gonna feel it badly that's how important the job is that all of you do every day so thank you for what you do my pillow finally has their original MySlippers back in stock. | |
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| Just go to my pillow.com click on the Sean Hannity Square, save 90 bucks on the original MySlippers that's only 4998 a pair. | |
| And while you're there check out other products with deep discounts as well from pillows to sheets to slippers they have it all just go to my pillow.com enter the promo code Hannity or call 8009196090 for this incredible offer. | |
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