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March 20, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
31:31
Celebrating Elon - March 19th, Hour 3
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If you want to be a part of the program, as we told you, we've been discussing today, Kash Patel's FBI has launched a formal investigation into the Tesla takedown terrorists, the people that are responsible for firing bullets into Tesla dealerships and setting Tesla cars on fire, on top of putting charging stations on fire.
The Attorney General Pam Bondi has now vowed to impose severe consequences on those who are bankrolling the Tesla domestic terrorism that's going on around the country.
A doxing website has now emerged showing the personal details of Tesla owners.
It has a Molotov cocktail as a cursor.
I talked to Elon about this.
This on the heels of the SpaceX Dragon capsule splashing down successfully, rescuing two astronauts lost in space and abandoned for nine months.
And it's really unbelievable that this is all happening.
We now have Elon haters hitting facilities in Vegas, Kansas City, and arson.
They're just the latest.
And it just goes on and on and on.
What has he done?
He's rescued astronauts.
He's moving towards helping the blind to see and those with spinal cord injuries walk.
He's launched SpaceX.
He's got the most innovative car ever created, self-driving, which has incredible speed and horsepower, on top of helping out people that were out of communication capabilities after Hurricane Helene and after the wildfires in California.
And then, of course, he's cutting waste, fraud, and abuse.
And did I mention he makes the most American-made car in the entire country.
And by the way, we're giving one away.
If you go to Hannity.com, our word of the day is SpaceX.
You can register very easily.
Very simple.
Hannity.com for that.
All right, here's my interview with Elon.
As I said in my opening monologue earlier today, SpaceX successfully completed its rescue of two astronauts who spent nine months stranded in space.
They were only supposed to be there eight days.
SpaceX, founder, chief engineer, CEO, Elon Musk, he now joins us for an exclusive interview.
Elon, first of all, what a triumph to the human spirit, human ingenuity, engineering.
First of all, on behalf of I know many people in this audience, thank you for what you did for those astronauts today.
How were you feeling throughout the day?
I mean, I know I felt butterflies in my stomach and I rarely feel them.
Well, I'm actually usually a little nervous about these returns because there's always some risk that something would go wrong.
But thanks to the excellent work of the SpaceX team working with NASA, the astronauts are now safely home.
And so congratulations to the SpaceX and NASA teams on excellent work.
And a huge note of appreciation to President Trump for prioritizing and expediting their return.
You have been the chief engineer of SpaceX and remain the chief engineer of SpaceX.
It is the first private company to ever make it to orbit.
Walk us through the beginnings of that.
It is not, it's something that nobody else has been able to accomplish.
Well, it's quite a long story.
There are some books that have been written about it.
But in the beginning, we didn't actually know anything about rockets.
So our first three missions failed, actually, of our Falcon 1 rocket.
And we almost ran out of money and just barely made it with the fourth launch.
If the fourth launch of Falcon 1 had not succeeded, we would have failed as a company.
So we just barely made it.
So I have to say that I was not a very good chief engineer in the beginning, but I did learn over time.
And I think we've gotten at this point to where the vehicle is very reliable.
And we are going to be able to take astronauts to Mars.
In fact, we want to take anyone who goes to Mars and ultimately build a self-sustaining civilization on Mars.
That is the long-term goal of the company.
Make life healthy planetary.
I mean, that is a very bold vision.
How long do you think that might take SpaceX to be able to accomplish?
I think we could do it in 20 to 30 years.
So it's a lifetime.
I should say if God blesses me with a longer life than I deserve, right?
I could always hope.
I would love to be able to see that.
That would be amazing.
I happen to have a telescope and I love to look at the stars and the sky and the planets.
And I am amazed at the majesty of all of creation and the idea that we even look at the moon and we can go there and come back or a space station or you launching the hundreds of satellites you have.
I want to ask you this question, if I may.
And it's, you know, every aspect of this rescue had challenges and danger.
The launch, we start there.
Then the rocket landing, I mean, we showed, I couldn't believe you were able to land the rocket that fell off perfectly where you wanted it to land.
The docking video when they actually connected and gotten onto the space station.
Then the taking off earlier today was a 17-hour trip leading to the splashdown that all of America watched today.
Every single aspect of that has danger and complications.
Walk us through the dangers of each phase.
Well, on the ascent phase, there's always some chance that either the first or second stage will blow up.
In fact, I find it's actually remarkable when you see a rocket.
I mean, when I see the rocket, I see a list of all the things that are wrong, all of the ways that it could go wrong, potentially fail.
So you could have a first stage failure, a second stage failure, a stage separation failure.
The dragon could fail to separate from the rocket.
The trunk could fail to separate from dragon.
There could be an engine failure on the spacecraft itself.
When it's coming back, it's coming in so fast it's a blazing meteor.
And if anything happens to the heat shield, the whole craft is going to disintegrate.
So It's remarkable that humans can actually go all the way to orbit and come back from orbit given the immense amounts of energy that is required to get to orbit and the amount of energy that must be dissipated upon return.
And then the parachutes have to open, that all has to work.
Now, long term, we are going to be doing, not long term, this year, in fact, we are launching the Starship rocket, which I recommend maybe doing a piece on, because that is truly a revolutionary rocket.
Starship is the first rocket that has the potential to make life multi-planetary, to make us a multi-planet civilization for the first time in the history of Earth.
And that's truly profound.
What was amazing, and I studied a lot of this because of my need to cover it.
At one point, going 17,000 miles per hour, going through 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit, you have this thermal protection system.
Now, we do know that the Boeing Starliner, you know, we know that it had problems.
So these problems that you talk about, we can't take them for granted or get complacent.
Explain how you get up to 17,000 miles per hour.
How do you withstand 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit and the thermal protection system that protects that capsule?
And then the launch, obviously, the parachutes, which were critical to slow it down for its splashdown.
Yeah, perhaps we should do a longer segment because I'd be happy to explain it in detail.
I'll do the, I don't know, the two-minute version here.
The Falcon 9 rocket takes off with 1.7 million pounds of thrust.
So you can imagine something that has enough thrust to lift an office building off its foundations.
And it gets to orbit.
It gets to roughly 17,000 miles an hour in nine minutes.
So from zero to 17,000 miles an hour in nine minutes.
And then it's just, when it comes back, you've got that heat shield that's got to dissipate that energy.
Like I said, you're coming in like a blazing meteor.
And hardly anything can survive that heat.
And if the heat shield fails, you just get vaporized immediately.
So we're really testing the very edge of human ability here, the very edge of material science.
And it's kind of amazing that humans can do this at all.
But hopefully this gives, hopefully for people out there, this is a moment of optimism about the future, a moment of excitement about the future, and it portends great things for America and humanity in space.
I'm only going to ask you one political question just for clarification purposes only.
I don't think this should really be a political night.
I think this is a moment where the country should celebrate the fact that you were able to rescue them, that it happened successfully in spite of the difficulty, the challenges, and the danger.
But I just want to clarify on the issue of whether or not you had offered to send this rocket to space to rescue these astronauts sooner to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
I heard somebody earlier today say, in fact, that didn't happen when I believe it did.
No, we definitely offered to return the astronauts earlier.
There's no question about that.
The astronauts were only supposed to be there for eight days, and they've been there for almost 10 months.
So obviously, that doesn't make any sense.
SpaceX could have brought the astronauts back after a few months at most.
And we made that offer to the Biden administration.
It was rejected for political reasons.
And that's just a fact.
Yeah.
You know, I followed this from the very beginning.
Did America and the world make a mistake by slowing down going to the moon and to other planets?
Was that a mistake on our part?
I mean, don't we have so many scientific and innovative breakthroughs every time we go?
Well, I think we'll have tremendous breakthroughs if we establish a city or a base and then a city on Mars, because we'll have to overcome so many challenges that it'll drive, it'll serve as a forcing function for the development of new technologies that will have tremendous benefits to people on Earth.
Let's talk a little bit, if we can, about the health issues that the astronauts will face.
They only train for an eight-day mission, but there are certainly things involved with returning to gravity, adjusting to gravity, nauseousness, but then it gets a little bit more serious, a variety of other health problems.
Bones become about 1% less dense for every month that they are in space.
That could lead to issues like osteoporosis or bone fracture, etc.
Astronauts grow in space because the spinal column expands.
There was one astronaut, Scott Kelly, he became two inches taller.
And others, then, when it contracts, when you come back, then they have some back issues.
They have vision issues because fluids in the eye shift upward to the head.
You can explain baby feet if you want.
They will have some significant health issues that they're going to be facing, but they'll be okay.
Yeah, the normal amount of time that astronauts are supposed to be in zero-G is about three months, and then really, at the most, about six months.
That's sort of the normal rotation.
And they were up there for almost 10 months.
So that's really going beyond what is healthy or good.
So it's a good thing that thanks to the support of President Trump, we hope to bring them back because really, things get just a lot worse if they stay in zero-g for the past a year or more.
You know, what you were able to accomplish today really is pretty, it just fascinates me.
I'm interested in every aspect of it.
I think, you know, it was pretty public that I bought one of your Teslas.
I don't like the way that people, and by the way, it's like the greatest car ever invented.
It really is.
And I'm not just saying that.
It's self-driving.
It's got a thousand horsepower.
It goes from 0 to 60 in 0.2 seconds.
It's the most amount of two seconds.
Two seconds.
I'm sorry, not zero points.
It goes in 0 to 60 and 2.0 seconds.
I think it would kill you basically if it went that fast.
It was good.
That's better.
It's pretty fast, that's for sure.
It's faster than any Ferrari, for example.
Yeah.
No, I watched it beat my Z06.
I'm like, I thought that was the greatest muscle car.
No, it's not.
I watched the S-Plat beat it.
All right, more of my interview with Elon coming up straight ahead.
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And I'm Carol Markowitz.
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And I'm Ted Cruz.
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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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Let me play for you some of the just outright hatred, the vitriol, the venom that is coming from the anti-Elon Musk, anti-Doge, anti-SpaceX, anti-Tesla, anti-anything, you know, anti-cutting waste fraud and abuse, radical left, including Tim Walz.
Listen.
Saying on my phone, I know some of you know this on the iPhone.
They've got that little stock app.
I added Tesla to it to give me a little boost during the day.
225 and dropping.
So.
And if you own one, if you own one, we're not blaming you.
You can take dental floss and pull the Tesla thing off, you know, and take out just telling you.
Elon Musk, you didn't create U.S. aid.
The United States Congress did for the American people.
And just like Elon Musk did not create U.S. aid, he doesn't have the power to destroy it.
And who's going to stop him?
We are.
We're going to stop him.
We are witnessing a constitutional crisis.
We talked about Trump wanting to be a dictator on day one, and here we are.
This is what the beginning of dictatorship looks like.
When you gut the Constitution and you install yourself as the sole power, that is how dictators are made.
What Trump and Elon and all of their hooties are trying to do is take away the constitutional power of Congress.
Today, it's USAID.
Tomorrow, it's our health care.
It's Social Security.
It's our livelihoods.
It's our freedoms.
So stand up for USA Today, USAID today, so that we can stand up for all of our freedoms in the days ahead.
This is a constitutional crisis that we are in today.
Let's call it what it is.
The people get to decide how we defend the United States of America.
The people get to decide how their taxpayer money is spent.
Elon Musk does not get to decide.
We are here to save lives because that is what AID does.
And no one elected Elon Musk to dismantle it.
And Elon, if you want to run AID, get nominated by Trump and go to the Senate and good luck in getting confirmed.
Yes!
Elon Musk, where are you?
Bring your ass over here so you can see who's here.
This is like a bank robber trying to fire the cops and turn off the alarms just before he strolls into the lobby.
We are here to fight back.
That is what they are doing.
They are dismantling the federal government, which will deny the American people the services and the resources that allow them to help to raise their families, have a secure economy, and a secure future for themselves.
Every time you hear Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency, you just remember it is the Department of Government Evil.
Over.
While we're sitting here, Donald Trump and Elon Musk are recklessly and illegally dismantling the federal government, shuttering federal agencies, firing federal workers, withholding funds vital to the safety and well-being of our communities, and hacking our sensitive data systems.
Now, we should in no way be cooperating with House Republicans who want to shut down the Department of Education and destroy Medicare and Medicaid.
And we should not stand by as the richest man on the planet gives himself and his companies huge tax cuts while the American people get absolutely nothing.
Doge staff to carry out this agenda across all these agencies.
And in some cases, actually teenage staffers.
No accountability, no experience, and problematic records.
They're trying to rob you, and they're probably a minor.
I don't want anyone to believe that Democrats just come to work and don't plan to do work.
In fact, I'm trying to figure out exactly what it is that the Republicans believe our job is because right now they have relinquished their constitutional duties over to an unelected bureaucrat.
You know what Elon Musk doesn't seem to be looking into?
His own contracts.
The hate, the venom, it is real.
It is sad.
It is pathetic.
And where are the people on the left speaking out about it?
Their silence is deafening as usual.
You know, the big January 6th crowd, the ones that want to continue to talk about January 6th, 2020.
Anyway, more of my interview with Elon Musk.
We'll pick it up where we left off.
You're into robotics, AI.
You are working with Neuralink so the blind can see and people with spinal cord injuries may one day walk.
You help people in North Carolina.
You help people in California when they have no communications.
And I watch all of this and I have to ask, why?
Why do I see people like I woke up this morning and saw that Teslas were put ablaze in one of your dealerships in Vegas?
I've seen this happen all over the country.
Bullets are being fired.
Charging stations are put ablaze.
Teslas are being put ablaze.
You have experienced assassination, threats of assassination for you and your family.
What have you done that warrants this?
Because I see nothing that you have done except help our country.
Yeah, I mean, it's really come as quite a shock to me that there's this level of really hatred and violence from the left.
I thought the left, Democrats, was supposed to be the party of empathy, the party of caring, and yet they're burning down cars, they're firebombing dealerships, they're firing bullets into dealerships, they're just smashing up Teslas.
Tesla is a peaceful company.
We've never done anything awful.
I've never done anything awful.
I've only done productive things.
So I think we just have a deranged, there's some kind of mental illness thing going on here because this doesn't make any sense.
Yeah.
And I think there are larger forces at work as well.
I mean, I don't know who's funding it and who's coordinating it because this is crazy.
I've never seen anything like this.
You actually tweeted out, and I'll put it on the screen, the level of violence is insane.
It is deeply wrong.
Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.
You just rescued two astronauts that have been in space for 286 days.
They were only supposed to be there eight.
You helped the people in North Carolina, Tennessee, California.
You have, I think, the most creative and innovative car on the market.
You created Starlink for communications that's used by hundreds of countries.
You're working on helping the blind see and all of these other things.
Is it really come down to the basic you're aligned with President Donald Trump, who also is a friend of mine, and that you have identified well over $100 billion of waste, fraud, abuse that our federal government never should have been spending?
Is that what it comes down to?
Yeah, it turns out when you take away people's, you know, the money they're receiving, fortunately, they get very upset.
And they basically want to kill me because I'm stopping their fraud.
And they want to hurt Tesla because we're stopping this terrible waste and corruption in the government.
And, well, I guess they're bad people.
Bad people will do bad things.
Well, I know that overall, you know, financially, in the end, yes, they can hurt you, but the people that they'll end up hurting are the people that work in your dealerships that may risk losing their job.
The people that they may end up hurting are the people that work on the line and build the Teslas.
They're going to be the ones hurt.
And that, to me, is despicable on their part just because they might have a political difference or perceived political difference.
Let me ask you this, because I think this is pretty important.
You know, the average American makes $66,000 a year.
We're close to $40,000 in debt.
You said to me in our last interview, we won't have a country unless we fix it now.
Can you explain why this is so important that we identify all this waste?
Yes, the government waste and fraud is so high that it's causing a $2 trillion annual deficit.
So that's $2,000 billion of waste, waste and fraud that's happening.
And the cost of our debt has gotten so high that just the interest payments on the debt exceed the entire military budget.
And it was just growing out of control.
So the country was going bankrupt.
It's just, you know, a country is no different from a person.
If a country overspends and doesn't spend wisely, just like a person, a country will go bankrupt.
So the reason I'm here is because I'm very worried about America going bankrupt due to the corruption and waste.
And if we don't do something about it, the Chef of America is going to sink.
And we're all on that ship.
You know, and this may be a message to people out there who are wealthy, have a lot of means, or control companies.
It's like, just remember, we're all in Chef America here.
Your company is not going to exist if the Chef of America sinks.
And we should do everything we possibly can to ensure that America is strong for far into the future.
And for the best of all.
We're all sunk.
And for doing that, you should not have your company be a victim of domestic terrorism.
If I may, one last question.
You know, when I interviewed you and President Trump together, one of the questions I asked both of you was, are you aware that there are groups that want to separate you, groups that would like to divide you, groups that would like to see you not work together?
I feel it's stronger than it's ever been.
Do you get the same sense?
I think they're getting desperate because, I mean, the reason we're seeing this extreme amount of hatred and violence is because we're actually succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste.
If we were succeeding in getting rid of corruption and waste, they wouldn't care.
But we are succeeding.
Thanks.
Without President Trump, this would be impossible.
So I'd just like to say, you know, it's only possible with this president.
And we've got this narrow window of opportunity with a House, Senate, and a popular vote.
And really, we're just implementing the will of the people.
And we've got this window where we can finally take corrective action.
We can fix the government, fix the country, and create a great future.
And again, it's only possible because of President Trump.
I can't say no good things about him.
I'm kind of supportive, too.
I'm pretty well known for my support.
Well, for good reason.
And for all the reasons you're saying, I want to save our country.
We can rob from our kids and grandkids, and we can't put all that down on them.
And you're right.
None of us will have any business opportunities because there won't be any money.
There won't be any freedom.
There won't be an economy.
Thank you for what you did today.
I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that.
And on the other side of it, you know, your company being a victim of domestic terrorism, you know, I can't say that I'm sorry enough.
We need to get these people that are responsible for this, and you should not have to live through that.
Your workers should not have to live through that.
Your company and this country should not have to live through that.
And we get to the bottom of it.
Thank you.
And by the way, I'm excited about my S-Plat.
It's the best car I've ever driven.
By free car.
It's what I drive actually every day.
It's a great car.
That's right.
I mean, I kind of made the car that I wanted to drive.
So that's why I like it.
And yeah, that's mine on Hannity.com.
People can go take a look.
We appreciate you being with us.
Elon Musk, thank you, and congratulations, and thank you.
That's going to wrap things up for today.
Don't forget our word of the day is SpaceX.
When you go to Hannity.com and you have a chance to win a Tesla, and we will have a word of the day every day.
You can register once a day.
All the details on Hannity.com.
Anyway, word of the day, SpaceX.
Hannity tonight, Nine Eastern, Senator John Kennedy, our favorite senator.
Also, we'll check in with Kellyanne Conway, Ari Fleischer, Katie Pablich, Joe Concha, and Jimmy Fela.
Well, Why Your Kids Shouldn't Go to Spring Break?
Because he went on our behalf, and it is not pretty.
Nine Eastern, set you DBR.
Hannity on Fox News.
We'll see you tonight back here tomorrow.
Thank you for making this show possible.
You want smart political talk without the meltdowns?
We got you.
I'm Carol Markowitz, and I'm Mary Catherine Hamm.
We've been around the block in media, and we're doing things differently.
Normally is about real conversations.
Thoughtful, try to be funny, grounded, and no panic.
We'll keep you informed and entertained without ruining your day.
Join us every Tuesday and Thursday, normally, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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 down with Verdict with Ted Cruz Now, wherever you get your podcasts.
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