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Aug. 23, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
29:14
Newsom Rhetoric - August 22nd, Hour 3
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This is an iHeart podcast.
Coming up next, our final news roundup and information overload hour.
All right, news roundup and information overload hour.
Here's our toll-free telephone number.
If you want to be a part of the program, it's 800-941 Sean, if you want to join us.
I've been arguing that the left liberals, they have never regained their footing after Donald Trump's beatdown of them in the 2024 election.
In large part, there's not been any introspection.
There's been no course correction.
You know, in my life, if things go wrong, I usually try to stop, stand back, and say, okay, what did I do wrong?
What can I do to improve my life?
How can I change?
How can I be a better person?
That's not happened in terms of the Democratic Party.
And it's very interesting to watch the evolution, for example, of Gavin Newsom.
Gavin Newsom, from day one when Donald Trump was elected, he made the decision.
He wanted a legal fund so he could fight the Trump administration.
Then he seemed to moderate and he became a podcaster.
And then he's interviewing conservatives so we can now begin to have a dialogue as a country interviewing the likes of Steve Bannon and Charlie Kirk.
And then, of course, in the Charlie Kirk interview, he got caught saying, I don't know where this word Latinx came from.
And we found instance after instance where he was using the term Latinx.
And the same with gender affirming care issues and men playing women's sports.
But that's not Gavin's biggest problem.
And now he's getting very aggressive.
Now he's talking about punching people in the face.
And I'm willing to take the hit rather than go after some probably overweight politician that doesn't know how to defend themselves and Texas because he doesn't like what they're doing legally in Texas with redistricting.
Meanwhile, every blue state has been gerrymandered to death.
I'm offering to let him take a swing at me if he wants.
Just because I care about other people.
I know how to defend myself.
These guys probably don't know how to defend themselves.
So I'm letting Gavin, I'm offering to be, let Gavin take the punch at me.
Listen.
The Republican Party's, it doesn't even reflect itself.
I mean, look at these Republicans cowering to this guy.
Look at your Republican governor.
He used to claim to be a conservative.
What a farce.
Nothing conservative about this.
By definition, nothing conservative about this.
This is radical rigging of a midterm election.
Radical rigging of an election.
Destroying, vandalizing this democracy, the rule of law.
So I'm sorry.
I know some people's sensibilities.
I respect and appreciate that.
But right now, with all due respect, we're walking down a damn different path.
We're fighting fire with fire, and we're going to punch these sons of in the mouth.
I'm sure this is all going over very, very well with moderates and independents.
And I'm sure when he makes his run for the presidency, I'm sure America is going to choose to become California, even though it's the state with the number one mass migration, the highest poverty rate in the nation, the highest gas taxes in the nation, the highest state income taxes in the nation, the most regulation in the nation, record homelessness in the nation.
And the list goes on and on.
I'll get into more specificity as we go on in this half hour.
But first, we welcome back to the program, friend of the program, editor-in-chief of the new interactive video platform.
It's called Two-Way, host of the Next Up Podcast.
He's on Megan Kelly's network.
Our friend Mark Halperin is back with us.
How are you?
Good to have you back.
Sean, good to talk to you.
Now, I brought you on because I saw your comments that you opened up with a monologue on your show on why Gavin Newsom is misunderstood and what sets him apart for 2028.
And you said you challenge people to be prepared to put aside their preconceived notions of who this man is and what he is about.
And you've talked about then-former Senator Mark Pryor, who joined you on the Democrat structural challenges, et cetera, et cetera.
Look, I don't doubt that he could be the nominee in 2028 at all.
I don't doubt that one bit.
And I think that he's made a political calculation that trying to be a moderate and trying to get along with conservatives and have a conversation and understand them is not something he's willing to have.
Well, look, I appreciate your listening to what I said in a nuanced way because a lot of people are misunderstanding.
I'm not saying Gavin Newsom is going to be president.
I'm not a fan of Gavin Newsome.
That's not my job.
But this is a very weak field.
And Sean, you know, because you've spent time with him, this guy has some talent.
Is he a hugely successful governor?
You could talk for three hours about why he's not.
The point is, it's a weak field, and this guy contains multitudes.
He's a complicated person.
He has some positions that are liberal, some that are super liberal, but he's also got some ones that are more moderate in the context of the Democratic Party.
So when people want to say he's a disaster, he's so liberal, he's so failed, he can't possibly win the presidency.
I'm not talking about the general election.
Can he be the Democratic nominee in a weak field?
He can't.
My great-great-grandfather back in the old country was like 5'10 in Eastern Europe.
He was the tallest man in the village, Sean, at 5'10, because the rest of the people in the village were 5'8 ⁇ , and below.
This guy is a major, major political figure in his party.
And if you look at the other people running, they don't have anything like his experience.
So all I'm telling people on the right is, if you want to think about who the Democrats are going to nominate, this is the guy to focus on today.
Now, ironically, I'm the only one I know who doesn't think he'll run in the end.
I think he'll approach the finished starting line and then bail out.
But right now, he's in a class by himself because he's done what Barack Obama did, Bill Clinton did, George Bush did, and Donald Trump did.
He's simultaneously doing some things on the base side and some things in the center.
And for people to say that Newsom...
What is he doing on the center?
I take issue with that.
I mean, he tried for a brief period to be a little bit in the center.
I don't see any center policies of Gavin Newsom.
Okay, I'll tell you what they are.
And again, I'll say they're in the center in the context of the Democratic Party.
Are they in the center for the Republican?
Well, you're talking about a radical left party now that's about to elect a Marxist in New York City as mayor.
But, Sean, that's the state of the Democratic Party.
Someone who says what he says to Charlie Kirk, someone who espouses dealing with the homeless in a more aggressive way than the party, someone who will talk to Charlie Kirk.
These are in the context of this.
No, somebody who would have tried to talk to Charlie Kirk.
It didn't work with his polling and then shifted gears and like a chameleon politician, you know, decided to go this aggressive route talking about punching people in the mouth and fighting fire with fire when his state is one of the most gerrymandered in the country.
I agree, and that's what he's doing now.
And look, the whole Democratic Party crying crocodile tears over Texas when they then have to accept that Illinois and Massachusetts and Maryland and all these blue states have done it.
I'm not, again, I'm not here as a spokesman for Gavin Newsom.
I'm just telling you, if you look at it.
By the way, we're totally getting that message.
You've given enough caveats.
I get it.
You're just given political analysis, which is what you're great at.
I want your political analysis.
So what I'm telling you is to be the nominee in this day and age, you have to be an aircraft carrier.
You have to be able to hire great people, raise tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars.
You have to be able to go on toe-to-toe with Sean Hannity.
And right now, there's no other aircraft carrier in this field, in this forming field.
So if Republicans just want to denounce anyone who says Gavin Newsom is the frontrunner, feel free, but you're making a mistake because today you would be the nominee with all the variables out there, what states are going to vote first and who else is going to run.
No one else.
These other people who are talking about Bashir, Shapiro, Wes Moore, they are not in this guy's league in terms of what you look at to say who's an aircraft carrier.
And that's not to say he's been a great governor.
It's not to say he's not super liberal on some issues, but this is the Democratic nomination we're talking about.
All right, quick break.
We'll come back more with Mark Halperin.
He's the editor-in-chief of the new interactive video platform called Two-Way and host of the Next Up podcast.
More with Mark on the other side.
We'll get to your calls coming up as well this Friday.
All right, we continue.
Our friend Mark Halperin is with us, editor-in-chief, new interactive video platform Tu-Way, host of the Next Up podcast.
Okay, if we're only talking about the Democratic nomination, I can completely and totally and utterly agree with you.
But it's, you know, often people in a primary, you know this from your many, many decades of following politics, they will run hard to the left or to the right, and then they'll move to the center in a general election.
Gavin's got a big problem.
He's got a Michael Dukakis problem, and that is, you know, do you want America to be Massachusetts?
Do you want America to be California?
And, you know, I said this last night, and I'm going to stop and I'm going to backtrack and just tell you, I know Gavin.
I even texted him last night during my show, and I said, please don't stop doing what you're doing.
It's like it's manna from heaven for me to get this material from him every single day of him ranting like a lunatic.
And he's going for the hard left and he's passionate.
If you meet him in real life, he's charming.
He is slick.
He is nice.
He did have courage.
He did the debate.
No, first he did an interview with me one-on-one, and then he did the debate that I had with him and Ron DeSantis.
Correct.
He has since pulled back from me.
I tried to reach out to him once he came out when Donald Trump was reelected.
And I said, instead of funding a legal strategy against Donald Trump to Trump-proof your state, I said, why don't you go sit down with him?
I'll arrange the meeting.
I actually offered to do that.
I don't mind making that part public.
And he just dismissed my suggestion, and that's fine too.
But I think it would have been a lot better off for him and the people of California.
With all that said, after the Pacific Palisades, Donald Trump stepped up and he's helping, but they're still not giving permits for people to build homes out there.
It's unbelievable.
And that's his problem.
I mean, his record is so bad.
When America becomes aware of it, I'm just telling you, there's no way this guy could get elected, in my opinion, as of today.
Sean, you mean win the presidency?
And again, I share your view and that skepticism, and that's in part why I don't think he'll run.
There are other reasons.
We had a guy on Tuay last night, a dad, two young kids, now lives in Oregon, left the Bay Area, had to, said he couldn't afford to live there, couldn't deal with all the negative impacts that he largely attributes to Gavin Newsome.
If Gavin Newsom does run, and again, I don't think he will, there are going to be people who run against him from the left who will find thousands of Californians who say, Gavin Newsom failed us and we're on the left.
And you'll also find thousands, tens of thousands, millions maybe on the right, if he's the nominee, who will be Republican ad makers will not know who to cast in the ads because they will have sympathetic, real Californians, many of whom have left the state, who will say, if America thinks they're getting a deal with Gavin Newsome and getting California, you're wrong.
I believe in the end that'll be part of why he doesn't run.
But right now, the Democratic Party values one thing above all else.
Are you there around the clock punching Donald Trump in the face metaphorically?
And he's doing it.
That's what the party wants.
He's doing it now.
This is the latest iteration.
This is the latest evolution of him and him and his social media team.
I think for him, knowing him, it's inauthentic, and I find it embarrassing.
I'm kind of embarrassed for him.
I think he's looking stupid, but he can't run away from something.
He's very sensitive.
If Trump calls him Newscomb, he hates it.
He's very sensitive if you point out his failures surrounding the Pacific Palisades wildfires and they had hydrants that had no water in them and an empty reservoir.
You know, he's very, very sensitive on issues about being the highest taxed state in the country, and they still have a massive budget deficit.
He's very sensitive about all the illegal immigrants that have committed crimes, although they don't keep statistics out there.
He's very sensitive, you know, about the highest poverty rate, homelessness rate, highest gas taxes, income taxes.
To me, that's why he won't run, I think, in the end.
I think you're right.
He's going to get right up to that line, and then probably not.
I can see the announcement at the last minute.
Yeah, and his family is a big consideration as well.
And the scrutiny he'd get.
This guy has gotten, people always say, oh, he's been governor of California.
He's been scrutinized.
He has not.
There's tons of scrutiny that will come his way or anyone else who runs.
And I don't think he wants to deal with that and have his family deal with that.
But the reason I've been talking about this so much this week is because you can learn a lot about where's the Democratic Party right now and what does it mean to compete with Donald Trump for attention.
You can't deny that he's succeeded by that metric.
Everybody's talking about him.
And they're not talking about anymore.
And that is something.
You may say that he's inauthentic in how he's doing it.
You may say it's excessive or it's undignified, as our friend Dana Perino said.
But it is achieving two things that Democrats want.
They want.
He's placating a very, very small and dwindling base, and he's not expanding the base that he would need if he wanted to be a real, if he wanted to be a contender.
He's not doing that.
We do appreciate your insight.
Thank you, Mark Halperin.
We appreciate you as always.
And I think you're right.
I think he is the frontrunner for the nomination.
800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
All right, the Buckeye State, Ohio, Lisa, Sean Hannity Show.
How are you?
Hey, Sean, Sean, Sean, how you doing?
It's good to talk to you again.
It's good to talk to you again.
How are you?
When's the last time you called?
Oh, it's been several years, but it's good to hear your voice on the phone.
But I was calling about our friend Stephen A.
Yes, ma'am.
I love Stephen A.
I will never say a bad word about Stephen A. You know, I used to not like him until I read his book.
What an amazing man.
He's really overcome a lot of obstacles from his childhood.
He rose to become one of the most preeminent sportscasters around, and he just got a great perspective about people.
Now, I really appreciate and admire him now.
So that's, we need to keep trying to move him over to get him anarchized.
So I have a gift that I want to send to you to give to Stephen A.
I had a ball cap printed up that says Stephen A 2.0, so that needs to be given to him somehow.
It's so funny.
I will give it to him.
Linda will figure out how to get it to me.
And I absolutely will give it to him.
He goes, I'll never be hanitized.
He said to me after being on TV the other night, you know, it's funny the way the media covers our relationship.
Like when I go on his show, I dominate.
I just take over.
I'm a guest.
And he's like, man, I can't get a word in edge-wise on my own podcast.
When he's on my show, I tend to let him talk and let him shine because he's got a lot to say and he's my guest.
And almost every time, the left-wing legacy medium, Stephen A. Smith schools Sean Hannity.
I'm not schooling me.
I'm giving him a chance to speak.
Now, if I don't let a guest speak on my show, then I'm inundated with, you need to shut up and let people talk.
I can't win for losing sometimes, but I will tell you this about Stephen A. If you don't have Fox Nation, you may want to get Fox Nation or there actually is a new app that Fox has just launched this week, which I really strongly recommend that you get a hold of because you can watch Fox 24-7.
It doesn't matter where you are, anyplace, anywhere, and that includes Fox Nation.
And it is, you know, I think it's a great, great idea.
It's called Fox One.
And you could check it out.
And then you'll have streaming 24-7.
It includes, you know, NFL football.
It includes Fox News.
It includes Fox Business, I think.
It includes Fox Nation.
But, you know, when I did the interview with Stephen A. Smith, and you're right, I read his book and his life story.
I mean, when he was in third grade, he was held back, but he was able to make up the work in the summertime and he got promoted to fourth grade.
In fourth grade, he got held back again.
And he was really held back this time, which for any kid is very, very difficult to go through.
And then he heard his father tell his mother basically that he was stupid and to forget it and that he'd never be anything in life.
At that time, we didn't really understand something called dyslexia.
He happens to be a genius.
He's very, very smart.
What I admire the most about him is when he tries to go at me either on a text or in an interview or a discussion we're having, I'll say, do you know about this?
Do you know about this?
Do you know about this?
And he will do the research or he'll ask me to explain it to him and he has an open mind.
But the fact that he overcame all of that was pretty amazing.
By the way, it was the only time in his childhood that his mother ever took him to a movie because his mom knew that he had overheard the conversation with his dad.
You know, I've had some amazing interviews on the podcast on Fox Nation.
Sylvester Stallone, for example, got the crap beat out of him by his parents.
And, you know, basically both of his parents were pretty abusive to him.
You know, Jillian Michaels, at one point, she's kind of tiny.
She's like 5'2 ⁇ .
At one point in her life, it was like 170 pounds.
She tells that whole story and how painful it is.
Montel Williams tells the whole story about when he was diagnosed with MS and told he may never walk again.
So I kind of like doing those kind of interviews.
But we're going to put you on hold and we'll try and get him that hat.
I think it's very nice of you to do that.
Pam is in Florida, my free state.
What's up, Pam?
How are you?
Glad you called.
I am well, Sean.
I am really well.
It's good to talk to you first time caller.
I love your information.
I love what you talk about.
It's so good and informative.
I got lots of weeding done the last two days and yard work listening to your show and enjoying it.
But what you're talking about.
By the way, isn't weeding like one of the worst things in the world to do?
Oh, it's satisfying, though, because it takes a lot longer for them to come back than a dish to get dirty.
Oh, you mean I, for three years of my life, had a plot of land and I had my own garden.
And I used to have to weed that garden, which was the most painful, arduous, difficult, annoying thing to do because you get out there with the hoe and you have to get underneath so they don't pop back up again.
And I grew corn and cucumber.
Yep, yep.
Oh, man.
Hill them up and do all that nonsense and make sure you throw the weeds that will reroot all the way out of the garden or into a bucket.
So you got to know your weeds, to which weeds you can pull and which weeds you can leave where.
And then, yeah, that part is arduous.
I would say.
But you know what made me stop gardening?
Even though it was very cool, because I love corn.
I used to love to grow my own corn, but cucumbers and bell peppers and watermelons.
And, you know, we grew everything.
And, but here's the worst part of it: after three years of doing it and all the hard work, I realized I passed by a farmer's market on the way home from picking my corn, which I worked so hard to get.
And you can get like a dozen corn for a dollar or two dollars a dozen.
And I'm like, why am I working so hard when it's only two bucks for a dozen?
And I realized it was cheaper to do it that way.
Yeah, I didn't know Jersey was a farm state for a reason, but it really is.
It's a garden estate, excuse me.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
And I didn't grow up in New Jersey.
I grew up, and this was actually at a point when I lived in Rhode Island in my life.
But anyway, what's on your mind?
Okay, well, you've been talking about D.C. and how people aren't giving Trump a fair shake.
Our level, our president, a great guy, a fair shake and things.
But you pointed out, too, that it's all the white people that don't have the problems, but the people that are in the lower income neighborhoods and in the parks where their kids can't go out and play.
You know, it's just not fair to them to be able to not enjoy their life the way the people that are protesting enjoy their life.
And I used to do a lot of traveling.
I used to do a lot of traveling.
I went into New York City probably from 1978, 98, 99.
And once a year, I would go to New York City because I had some specialty shopping I needed to do.
And you could see the difference in that city because it was filthy and then it would get a little better, but I still loved it.
The smells were there.
The homeless you could deal with because there weren't so many.
And you could walk down to Little Italy or down just down the road to Chinatown.
You could go to Washington Square for a free show.
You can't do that anymore.
It used to be the big apple.
You could go to New York, you could be anybody, and you could make it.
Now it's the rotten apple.
I've had when I grew up, New York was an Adam Schiff Hall.
I mean, if you went to 42nd Street back in the day, you were confronted by nothing but drug dealers.
And I mean, they had triple X-rated movie theaters and peep shops and strippers and hookers.
I mean, I remember going in there, you know, when I was in my teens.
And, you know, it might have been fun for me and my friends, you know, just to get in the middle of, quote, the action, but it was probably pretty dangerous.
We shouldn't have been there.
But long story short, the person that cleaned it up was Rudy Giuliani.
Can it be cleaned up again?
Absolutely.
If Mom Donnie wins, is it going to get cleaned up?
Absolutely not.
It's going to become worse than it's ever been.
And it's bad now.
It's very bad.
What was that about the gift?
Anyway, I got back from Australia and I happened to be traveling the subway because we would do that too.
I fired up a cigarette.
I got so many dirty looks.
And I had realized the city had cleaned up, but I hadn't noticed that there was no smoking on the subway anymore.
That place, I'm not saying you could eat off the floor, but it was so nice.
Every other time I'd come to New York City, I'd either see a murder or hear gunfire.
And you would have to pay me a lot of money to go to New York City now.
And then I would be packing in spite of stuff.
The best part of your story is I lit up a cigarette.
I got dirty looks, but nobody dared speak up and say, put that cigarette out.
That is a typical New York City subway ride.
Nobody looks at each other or talks to each other.
I mean, because they're all afraid.
You never know what you're dealing with.
No, but back then they did.
They gave me dirty looks, and I loudly said, Excuse me, everybody.
I'm sorry.
I didn't realize there wasn't any smoking on the subway anymore.
I used to travel with the circus, so when you traveled, you weren't a tourist.
You were working there.
You were part of the working people.
And you got a totally different view of what the city was.
Were you with Ringling Brothers?
Ringling is pretty much, it's a big show, but they use all communist block acts because the communists train their children, just like the Chinese metal lady in Australia, that from the time she was four years old, she was taught how to be a contortionist.
And she said they came into the nursery school and they did all these tests and they told you which.
Oh, it's pretty cool.
I mean, you know, you can get a really good life experience.
Pam, I could talk to you all day.
I've got to run.
I've got to get to another call.
Appreciate you being with us.
God bless you.
Congratulations on your gardening.
And I hope you share some of those ears of corn with us.
We appreciate it.
All right, let's get to Rod in Kansas.
Rod, how are you?
Glad you called.
I'm good, Sean.
What an honor to speak to you.
I really appreciate all you do.
Thank you.
To my point.
So here's my deal.
Question issue is Putin.
Russia, why are we not putting sanctions on him now after he blew up that commerce factory there?
Oh, we are big time.
I mean, Donald Trump did it before the meeting in Alaska.
It was only a week ago.
Yeah.
But Donald Trump is putting on sanctions in this way.
Number one, the European Union and his trade deal are committing nearly a trillion in energy purchases that would have gone to Putin.
Now they're going to buy their energy from us.
Number one, a 50% tariff on India if they continue to buy Russian oil.
And Trump's about to unload on Putin big time.
His patience has run out.
It's over.
Now it's going to be, okay, negotiation 2.0, which is to break Russia financially.
Good, because I just feel so disrespected, and I feel like they're disrespecting him and the United States by just not putting the hammer down on this deal.
And, you know, it's a sad.
Well, give Trump credit.
I mean, he gave the Iranians 50 days.
He was patient.
He gave them time to negotiate a settlement.
They wouldn't do it.
Now they don't have any nuclear program.
They could have done it peacefully.
And with Russia, okay, it'll take a little bit longer.
But the sanctions bill has 85 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate.
And those sanctions, it'll cut off the funding for Putin's war machine.
And then we'll fund Ukraine and let them buy our sophisticated weaponry.
And now Putin's life just became even more miserable.
I hope so, Sean.
And I just hope there's accountability.
I love John Solomon.
All of that reporting is awesome over the top.
Thank you, buddy.
Listen, you have a great weekend.
Daniel in Texas, God bless Texas, Daniel.
We have the last minute and a half, and it's all yours.
I know, sir.
Yeah, I was just kind of curious about Bill Maher and what he was saying in an article that, you know, most Republicans want to actually go on his show and they're not afraid and Democrats are running scared.
And I know that you know him.
I don't know if you've ever actually interviewed with him.
I was kind of curious if you're ever going to either team up with him and kind of get a left and a right view and kind of do something like that or go on a show and kind of something similar to what you're doing.
He's been on my show a number of times, not any time recently.
He has invited me on his show many, many times, but to do a show, I got to fly out to L.A.
And flying out to L.A. 11 hours to do a one-hour TV show is not the best use of my time.
I mean, I've got 750-plus radio stations here, and I've got a show on Fox.
And with all due respect to Bill, my ratings are much higher.
And, you know, why do I want to go there and get made fun of by a funny guy?
He's a good comedian.
Now, if you really wanted to have a good discussion and really, you know, go deep in the paint and just consider doing it.
I think he's very smart.
I think he is funny.
But, you know, I'd have to know that he wanted a serious conversation and not waste my time.
That's kind of what I was getting at because it seems like he's turning around, even though he won't say it.
Like, I'm actually, I actually praise him for like, you know, he went to the White House with Trump.
He actually admitted when he was wrong.
It kind of like changed a lot of his point of views.
Now, I don't really, I don't believe in him.
He's not really changing his point of view.
He's a pretty liberal Democrat, but he sees that his party's gone radical left and it's not going to work.
Anyway, appreciate the call, my friend.
I'll take it under advisement.
Let's put it that way.
All right, that's going to wrap things up for today.
I forgot to tell you, the CBO now says Trump's tariffs could reduce the national debt by $4 trillion and that home sales rose in July, defying expectations once again, and U.S. manufacturing surged to a three-year high.
All right, we'll get to some of that good news on Monday.
Hope you have a great weekend.
We'll see you then.
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