In a heated week, Sean Hannity spotlights the fallout from looming government shutdowns, critiquing Democrats for double standards on issues like pay and healthcare funding for illegal immigrants. Sean frames the situation around broken promises, with special focus on Congress rejecting pay cuts while the military and essential workers risk missing paychecks. Guest Congresswoman Julia Letlow (Louisiana's 5th District) stands out by pledging to withhold her own salary making her a rare example of solidarity with ordinary Americans affected by the standoff. Their conversation exposes deep partisan divides, the political backfire facing Democrats, and why public trust is at stake as government spending and transparency are scrutinized.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
All right, news roundup and information overload hour.
Here's our toll-free telephone number this Friday.
It's 800-941.
Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, we'd love to hear from you wherever you are in the country.
Anyway, we'll get to your calls coming up.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this is Democrats, go back to Obamacare when Democrats used reconciliation to shove Obamacare down our throats.
Remember, Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts to be the vote against Obamacare, but they pushed it through anyway.
And we were promised a lot of things about Obamacare.
Keep your doctor, keep your plan.
Average family saves over $2,500 a year.
I talk about it all the time.
And like so many other government promises and pledges about your security and about all the great things they're going to do for you, they are unfulfilled promises because the end result has been millions of Americans losing their plans, millions losing their doctors, average family paying over 300% more.
40 plus percent of the country has one Obamacare exchange option.
That's it.
Hope you like it.
And it's not the best health care at all by any way, shape, matter, form, or definition.
You know, just like Social Security was supposed to be put in a lockbox.
Well, they raided the lockbox.
They squandered the money.
And Social Security, Medicaid, and in states, Medicare, all headed towards insolvency.
You have a bunch of bureaucrats in Washington that can't balance their budget.
But when they passed Obamacare, remember they exempted themselves in Congress because it was not good enough for them.
But so they're going to force this on you.
And of course, they, you know, we can eat cake.
You know, we get stuck into funneled into what I said in the beginning was going to be universal health care.
I was not wrong.
The big lie of the week, as we've been chronicling all day, has been that the monies they're fighting for is for taxpayer-funded health care for illegals.
They've been called out on the lie, and that's why it's failing spectacularly for them.
But there's been two people on the Democratic side that I've seen that have been asked the question: what about foregoing your own pay considering starting in mid-October, our military won't be paid.
Our Department of Homeland Security, our ICE agents, they're not going to be paid.
Government employees aren't going to be paid.
And then they ask the minority leader, really leader in name only.
He's not the leader.
The radicals run the Democratic Party in the House and Senate.
Hakeem Jeffries, if he's willing to give up his pay.
Listen.
There's been several members of Congress and have asked for pay to be withheld if this shutdown extends.
Do you advise Democratic members to do that or is it left to them?
Yeah, that's a question that every individual member is going to have to make on their own, as has always been the case in the past.
Will you withhold yours?
First of all, that question is not even a ripe one because we're anticipating that this shutdown issue will be resolved well in advance of our next paycheck.
Oh, don't want to commit to that one.
I want my money.
Give me my money.
Show me the money, right?
Jerry Maguire.
Then one of our favorite congresswomen, part of the radical left, is Jasmine Crockett.
She was at least a little bit more honest.
So as I've been telling people, your payment is only a way.
That's basically what that is.
Now, that is for those people that are deemed essential.
You have a number of people in the federal government that are not deemed essential.
So if someone's not deemed essential, then they're sitting at home waiting to get callbacks to work.
And even if they're sitting at home, they are not allowed to go out and get another job.
Yeah.
They make you be broke until they get their stuff together.
And to be clear, members of Congress, we still get paid.
I just wanted to put that out there because I like to be fully transparent.
Well, got to give her credit for once.
She now one of the leading voices of the Democratic Party.
However, there is a Congresswoman, Louisiana's 5th District, Julia Letlow is her name.
And she is giving up her paycheck to stand with the American people.
And as far as I could tell, she is now the only one, at least officially, and I'm sure there will be others.
I hope there will be others.
I hope every Republican takes this seriously, that she's requested her pay be withheld during this government shutdown.
And she joins us now.
Congresswoman, how are you?
I'm doing well, Sean.
Thank you for having me on.
Well, thank you for being a real leader.
I mean, thank you for taking a stand.
I have no idea what your financial status is.
I mean, some members of Congress are pretty wealthy.
They don't need the check.
But regardless, you know, you decided to take the right stand, do the right thing, apply what's happening to other people to yourself.
And I think that's appropriate considering you're public servants.
Absolutely.
I think members of Congress should not take a paycheck while our troops could potentially miss theirs.
Every member of Congress should ask for their pay to be withheld.
I know many of my colleagues have done so as well.
This was not our shutdown.
This wasn't on the backs of Republicans, but it's the right thing to do when especially our military are not receiving those paychecks.
And, you know, Sean, I'm a single mom.
You know, I have to watch every penny that comes in and goes out, but this was just the right thing to do.
Well, I'm glad you're doing it.
You said, do you know about how many Republicans have joined with you and pledged to do this?
You know, I've seen a lot of my friends on social media have posted their letters as well.
I couldn't give you an accurate number right now, but we can get that back to you.
What's going on behind the scenes in the halls of Congress?
This is backfiring spectacularly on the Democrats.
I don't even think they understand the magnitude of all of this right now.
But when you speak with, I assume you speak to some of your Democratic colleagues, what are they saying to you privately?
Well, they're a bit worried because this has turned into an absolute fiasco for them.
They're losing on the messaging.
When we talk about what this means, what they were actually asking for, the Democrats, they shut the government down because they want $1.5 trillion in new spending and because they simply hate President Trump.
So this shutdown is absolutely driven by politics.
It's nonsensical, and it's not what's best for the American people.
And my colleagues across the aisle, most of the physical ones, know that to be true.
How do you analyze the reason I call it the Schumer shutdown is, and I won't play it again today because we've been playing it all week.
We've been playing Chuck Schumer and every prominent Democratic leader from AOC to Pocahontas to straight on down the line.
We've been playing them all, talking about the horrors of government shutdowns and how reckless and irresponsible and wrong and evil that they are.
And now Schumer has gone against every stated position he's ever had on the issue of shutdowns.
I believe it's because he knows that he's hanging by a thread.
He has a 17% approval rating, if you can believe it.
He knows that if AOC primaries him in New York, she wins by far.
I can tell you as a former New Yorker, that would happen.
So what do you make of that dramatic shift in position of him?
Well, it's absolutely hypocritical.
And this is a perfect example of someone desperately trying to hang on to power instead of what's doing the right thing for the American people and standing up.
So, wow.
I mean, that is absolutely transparent to the American people.
They can see exactly why he's not doing the right thing here and what he's consistently done in the past.
And so, wow, just a blatant power grab, if you will.
Well, I'm glad that the Republicans are doing this.
Let me ask you what you think because President Trump and even the Washington Post acknowledged what I said.
I said from day one, if this happens, just before it happened, this does have the potential to evolve into Doge 2.0.
And the Washington Post said that, well, it looks like the Democrats might have fallen prey right into Donald Trump's trap.
And what they were referring to is Donald Trump now may be eliminating these jobs permanently.
And this gives him an opportunity to do so.
Mike Johnson, the speaker, said Chuck Schumer is afraid that his radical base will challenge him in New York.
But then he went on to say, we think the federal government is too big, does too many things.
It does almost nothing well.
Democrats don't agree with that because they love big government.
And also they have been exposed as just flat out lying about the monies they're requesting.
They want $1.5 trillion for seven weeks to keep the government open.
And yes, they're fighting for monies for health care for illegal immigrants.
So I think this thing is just collapsing.
And they don't even know how to deal with their own position.
Right.
And they've absolutely shot themselves in the foot because this does give the administration the power to eliminate those positions.
And rightly so, Sean.
For far too long, the federal government has been bloated.
Way too many federal employees who are sitting around and not even coming into the office, coming into work.
This is something that needs to happen.
So, hey, if they are going to give the administration a shot at doing that, then more power to them.
Now, you represent the Baton Rouge area.
You know, you got to love the Garthbrook song.
Sending my love on down to Baton Rouge.
It's a great song, one of his best of all time.
Operator, put me on through, got to send my love down to Baton Rouge.
Hurry up, put me on the line.
Got to talk to my girl one more time.
I'm sure you're aware of the song.
But Governor Landry was on with me earlier this week on TV requesting the National Guard support.
You requested this a month ago.
You're a close ally of Governor Landry.
Would it be for New Orleans only or for New Orleans and Baton Rouge?
It's my understanding the request was for New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreport.
All three areas are really suffering from violent crime.
You know, Governor Landry and President Trump are committed to making these cities safe again.
And as a mother of two young kids, John, that means the absolute world to me.
You know, I want to tell you just yesterday, a New Orleans Sioux chef was brutally killed by a carjacker while on the way to pick up his child from daycare.
Crime is totally out of control, and we desperately need a National Guard presence here in Louisiana.
And the best part is we know it works.
President Trump's actions in Washington reduced violent crime by 25%.
We know the National Guard can help deter crime in Louisiana across the nation.
I know I feel safe when I'm walking to and from my home near the Capitol now in D.C. So I am so excited that the governor made that request and to be continued.
Hopefully we'll have the National Guard in Louisiana as well.
All right, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, 5th District of Louisiana.
We appreciate it, Congresswoman.
Good for you taking a stand, and you're welcome back on the show anytime.
We appreciate your time.
Thank you for having me.
Always a pleasure.
All right, let's get to our busy phones.
We'll say hi to Patrick.
He is in Minnesota this Friday.
Patrick, hi, how are you?
Glad you called, sir.
Great, Sean.
Yeah, I'm a furloughed U.S. Census worker.
I'm a field rep. I work on the National Crime Victimization Survey.
So when they hire me back, I'm not going to get back pay.
But what I think is going on in the Democratic Party is that the grifter, economic...
Wait, you're not getting back pay because you're a contractor?
Right.
It's a temp position.
You have to work for them like four years consecutively to get, you know, full benefits.
So it's just a side gig, you know?
Well, but you'd be in a position where you can, you know, hopefully get some other work temporarily, I hope.
Right.
I got other, you know, irons in the fire that I can do, you know, diversification, right?
That's the key to success in life, right?
No, I totally agree with you.
But anyways, I believe like the people that are calling the shots of the Democratic Party are the Grifter economic class.
And I, you know, if you look at Doge, they looked at all those weird fundings for sex changes in Guatemala or whatever.
And it's just, they're just laundering money to roll back into their political apparatus.
And I think they're so terrified of Trump because Trump was bringing the sunlight and sunlight's the best disinfectant.
And I think they know that he's going to be cleaning their party up also.
And I think they're, you know, they're terrified of it and they're willing to do anything now to stop him.
And they don't give a squat about regular working Americans.
I mean, it's proven the way they threw the working class under the bus.
So I think it's just since Obama started spending all that money, you know, the national debt's gone up like $31 trillion since he became president that the grifter economic class has so much power now that they're calling.
Listen, here's the sad reality is that I really do, as a person with working class, working roots background for decades of my life, I have so much sympathy for people that are going to struggle as a result of this.
But I also have sympathy for our children and our grandchildren and future generations.
And if there's any moment we're going to cut back a bloated bureaucracy and have an opportunity to transition people to private sector, high-paying career jobs, it's going to be now.
It's going to be $17 trillion in new investments in manufacturing that the president's been able to secure.
It's going to be energy dominance and it's going to be fracking in coal and rare earths and oil.
And it's going to be the largest tax cuts in history.
Reagan created 21 million new jobs doing it.
So it is the perfect time to do both simultaneously and with the least amount of disruption in people's lives as possible because government's supposed to serve people but not rob us blind and not rob from our future generations.
Patrick, appreciate you.
Wish you all the best and hope you get through this thing as quickly and painlessly as possible.
We'll take a quick break.
We'll come back right back to our phones as we continue this Friday, 800-941-Sean, our number.
All right, 25 now till the top of the hour.
Happy Friday.
You know, you can't say happy Monday, right, Linda?
There's no such thing as a happy Monday.
It's like, ah, I got to get back to work.
Not that I mean to dislike work, but I mean.
When you work at the Hannity show, every day is a happy day, Sean.
All right.
Every day I get up, I'm like, Hallelujah.
Here we go.
Rogers neighborhood.
It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
Listen, I love Mr. Rogers.
I love that show.
I can't take it.
And I got blessed, Saul.
And I know.
I love his outside sweater, the inside sweater, you know, the inside shoes.
It's not real.
It's like you teach you.
Yeah, you know what?
I'll take an escape from reality these days all day, every day.
All right.
It's a little rough out there.
I'm not doubting.
Maybe we do need a break from the madness.
There's no doubt about it.
All right.
Listen, are you going to love the technology?
All right.
Speaking of when we were kids, you had Walkie Talkies as kids, right?
I did.
Didn't you love Walkie Talkies?
I'd loved Walkie Talkies.
I still have them.
We still use them.
Well, do you use Rapid Radios, the real Walkie Talkies, or do you use Toy Walkie?
Okay, because Rapid Radios, and you're right, because everybody, you know, I have nieces and nephews that have had, you know, kids.
And boy, when they get a hold of my rapid radio, God help us.
And I think you may be on one of the lines.
You may be hearing the whole thing.
I don't even know.
But it's hilarious.
They're like running all over the house, running outside, running down, down the block, whatever they're doing.
And anyway, it's a great way.
Job sites get loud, deadlines get tighter.
Your team needs a line of communication that's not going to quit.
You don't need to want to worry about cell tower service, et cetera.
Rapid Radios, for example, keeps our crew here on the Hannity Show connected, whether we have good sell service or not.
And it works for construction zones, warehouses, college campuses, no delays, crisp, reliable talk with the push of a button, one-touch connection, group chats, private calls, battery life that goes on for days and days.
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You never ever pay any monthly fee, no subscription fee ever, whether it's a foreman to security, field staff, rapid radios helps you get the job done.
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Check it out.
Go to rapidradios.com today.
Rapidradios.com today.
So I got a call from Stephen A. Smith this week.
And it was after the TV show.
And I played Jasmine Crockett.
And every time I played Jasmine or AOC or Kami Marxism, Donnie or any of these lunatic fringe Democrats, and we get into this debate, I said, well, they are the leaders of your party.
They're not my party.
I said, it is so your party.
You vote Democrat.
You're a Democrat.
And so we start doing our thing.
I mean, whether we're on air or off-air, it's still the same rapport, which is what I love about him.
He's the most likable guy you will ever meet.
I mean, he is a dear friend.
We love him.
You love him.
You knew him before I did.
Love him to death.
And he goes, I know what you're doing.
And he starts going after me.
I said, what am I doing?
He goes, I know your tricks.
I study you.
You're the most unrelenting human being on the face of this earth.
I see what you're doing.
I said, what am I doing?
He goes, you purposely play all of the crazy people in the Democratic Party on purpose.
I said, no, I played the leadership of the Democratic Party, your party.
He hates it.
I say it's his party.
And we're going back and forth.
Anyway, here's Stephen A. He's so sick of me playing Jasmine Crockett and constantly slamming Trump.
He sees he went after on his show.
How Jasmine Crockett chooses to express herself.
I'm like, is that going to help your district of Texas?
Aren't you there to find a way to get stuff done as opposed to just being an impediment to what Trump wants?
How much work goes into that?
I'm just going to go off about Trump, cuss him out every chance I get, say the most derogatory, incendiary things imaginable, and that's my day's work.
That ain't work.
Work is saying that's the man in power.
I know what his agenda is.
I'm not exactly in a position to stop him since the Republicans have the Senate and the House.
But maybe if I'm willing to work with this man, I might get something out of it for my constituency.
Because like Joe Manchin said, he's there to represent or was there for 15 years to represent the people of West Virginia.
She's supposed to be there to represent the people of Texas.
Now, I'll give you a little insight without revealing too much.
You know, for a while, I had a, let's say, respectful relationship with Gavin Newsome.
He doesn't like me anymore.
And he has attacked me now numerous times.
I'm not going to take attacks from anybody.
Period.
End of sentence.
And, you know, I don't, there's some people I ignore because they're just not worth my time.
But the fact that he's so ambitious and wants to be president, I will absolutely, you know, go after him, especially if he's going to attack me.
And I actually enjoy it, which I don't know what that means.
But, you know, with Gavin Newsom, I actually said to him what Stephen A was saying.
I said, if you would like, I can facilitate a better relationship, a working relationship with you and Donald Trump.
And there was one occasion where I was able to help facilitate that for the good of the country, Linda.
I didn't do it for personal gain or reasons.
And I'll tell you exactly when it was.
You want to know when it was?
When?
You remember after the wildfires when Gavin met him on the tarmac?
Yes.
Okay.
He didn't tell President Trump he was showing up there.
And I tried to get everybody in the right place to say, okay, this is, you know, let's make this work.
Let's look, let's think about the people that are devastated.
And I just played a little bit of a role because I could.
And it's just sad that this is the approach that he's taking.
Jasmine Crockett's taken that the rest of the Democrats have taken.
It's unbelievable.
By the way, we have a problem.
I've been doing this too long, I guess.
I don't know.
I really don't.
Because listen to this exchange with Josh Hawley.
And maybe you can interpret what a two-spirit safe space is.
I have this guy that works on the TV show.
And I found out that he's, I call him Phil the commie who loves Marxist Mondami.
He didn't tell me when he first started working for me.
Do you know Phil is a Mamdani supporter?
Oh, Phil's a big liberal.
I know all about it.
Oh, no, no.
He's a Mamdani guy.
Couldn't believe it.
He hid it from me on purpose.
Not that I care.
I don't have a litmus test of your politics that work for me.
He does a good job and fine.
Anyway, so we were discussing this, and I asked him to explain what the two-spirit safe space is, and he had a hard time.
He couldn't explain it.
Maybe you can.
Listen.
Here's what you say we ought to invest in.
Instead of funding the police, here's what we ought to invest in.
We need to invest in programs that acknowledge the need for safe space initiatives led by lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit, trans and gender non-conforming people.
What's two-spirit?
Well, look, I don't know exactly.
You guys are pulling some interesting quotes.
This is from your report.
You say, don't fund the police, but do fund programs that create safe spaces for two-spirit people.
What is it?
I just want to know.
I don't know what that is.
I have no idea what that is.
Well, honestly, I'm not completely aware of the language of the first print.
But what I'm telling you is that what we're doing.
What is a two-spirit individual?
I mean, really, this is your policymaker's playbook.
You are the witness called by the Democrats on this committee.
So I assume you reflect their views.
Well, you don't want to fund the police.
You want to fund safe spaces for two-spirit individuals.
What is a two-spirit person?
I feel like I'm looking at a two-faced individual because you talk about reducing the story.
Oh, no, sir.
You're looking at somebody who's reading you your own words.
I'd like to hear an answer.
Do you know what a two-spirit is or a two-spirit safe space is?
Do you have any clue?
So do you want the serious answer or my snarky answer?
I mean, there is a choice.
It's Friday funding, you know.
Okay.
Did you know what it was before this exchange?
Yes or no?
So what I will tell you is I saw this exchange when it happened the moment it happened and the team can validate for me because I was like, oh my God, you got to see this.
And I looked up this guy and I, on my ex account, I posted this and I said that I was frightened that his name is Gregory Jackson Jr., by the way, the guy he's speaking to, the Senator Hawley is speaking to.
And I said, I cannot believe that this person has ever held any sort of job, let alone something to do with our government, where he is called to testify before a Senate committee.
I mean, anybody who talks about two-spirited anything does not belong in a position of power, let alone.
You don't answer my question.
I'm not trying to be difficult, but what is a two-spirit safe space?
It's made up BS for liberals.
That's what it is.
It's absolute nonsense.
You know that when it comes to people's personal lives for adults, I'm pretty libertarian.
I don't care.
I'm like, do your thing.
I'm not getting involved.
I don't care.
I have a problem when you try to indoctrinate children into a belief system or you want gender affirming care without parental consent and the idea that government thinks they're better able to raise your children.
No, it's your job to teach reading, writing, math, science, history, computers.
It's parents' job to instill values in their children.
And yeah, the one thing you can insist on is that they behave and the golden rule kind of covers everything, right?
So I would gently push back on that.
I agree with most of that.
The only thing I would say is that I'm against all of it.
I actually don't want to hear about it at all.
If you want to live in your two-spirited, amazing, that world, that's fine.
But I don't have to subscribe to your line of crazy.
You do you, I'll do me.
But once you start to bring it into other places of your life, whether it be our government, our classroom, you know, the subway, and you're in my space, I got a problem.
Please go be crazy somewhere else.
It's fine.
You can be crazy.
It's fine.
Just don't take these puppies.
That's all.
All right.
But if somebody wants to dress or somebody is on.
Yeah, it's fine.
But if you come up to me and you got a full beard and eyeshadow and high heels, I don't have to call you ma'am.
That's my question.
No, you don't have to say anything to them.
Right.
But if they come up to me and they're like, come on, all of a sudden you're not.
Out of nowhere, the word furry came up.
You know, I'm like, this is what I mean while I'm having a hard time keeping up with all this madness.
And fine, you're an adult.
Go be a furry.
But, you know, I had to ask people to explain it to me.
And I'm not being sarcastic.
I'm not going to.
But what have you gathered thus far in your research?
I don't even ask.
I don't even.
I just, it's stretched too far for me.
Well, just so you know, that furries have forsonas.
Oh, boy.
Well, you know a lot about furries.
I know enough, you know, because I live in a world with children and I need to protect them from people who want to dress up like a wolf and give the wolf a septum ring and nail polish and a personality, which they don't call a persona.
They call it a fursona.
So there's that.
All right.
Apparently there's a bunch of other stuff that's going on online, according to Phil, that I am just totally, completely ignorant of.
And I actually find, in this case, ignorance to be bliss.
You're absolutely right.
Completely agree.
I know, but then, you know, one day I'm going to come on the air and I'm going to say the wrong thing.
Oh, he's got to be thrown off the air.
No, no.
You're going to say the right thing because you didn't have to think about it.
When you have to think very hard and give things new names that actually don't exist in Websters, that's when you know it's a load of crap.
You know, like man, woman, dog, cat, people, you know, animals.
Like these are simple concepts.
When it gets beyond that, that's when you know they're full of it.
Let us go to Jason in my free state of Florida.
Happy Friday, Jason.
Happy Friday, Sean.
Thank you for my therapy session.
I appreciate you greatly.
I hope that helped.
Did that clarify things for you?
Do you feel like you know what a two-spirit safe space is?
I'll tell you, when I call in with a topic on my mind, by the time we're done and get around to my call, there's 50 other things I'm ready to go off on.
Yeah, it did clarify a couple of things.
I love the changes of language and the softness of how these things are presented by these lunatics.
It just frightens me every single day a little bit more and more.
I appreciate you taking the call.
You know, my father told me a long time ago that if you're going to be a liar, you better have the best memory in the world.
And my question, Sean, is how come, or at least what I would do, is I would open up the government.
I wouldn't let anybody in except a giant screen TV.
And I would loop over and over and over again, Chuck Schumer and the Clinton duo and all these other lunatics who are actually feeding the hypocrisy of their own statements on video and just loop it all day long for the American people to watch.
I don't understand the blatant hypocrisy.
Is it A, they think we're that stupid?
B, they just don't care?
Or C, is the left side, far left, gotten such control of the Democratic Party that there's no means for common discussion anymore.
It's C, if you want the closest correct answer.
They're taken over by the lunatics in their party.
They really are.
It's unbelievable.
All right, my friend.
Listen, you have a great, sunny, fun Florida weekend.
The free state of Florida.
Man, these weeks fly by.
That's going to wrap things up for today.
However, Hannity tonight, 9 Eastern on the Fox News channel, the rapid decline deterioration of the Democratic Party.
Senator Eric Schmidt, Ari Fleischer, Guy Benson, Kaylee McGee White, Tricia McLaughlin will join us.
Whoa, we have one congressman that was targeted by our government for daring to be a conservative under the Biden administration.
