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Oct. 16, 2025 - Sean Hannity Show
30:21
Charlie Kirk Honored at White House: Legacy Inspires Faith Surge - October 15th, Hour 1
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All right, thank you, Scott Shannon.
Thanks to all of you for being with us.
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I was so honored to get the invitation to be at the White House yesterday for the ceremony honoring the late Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated, and his wife, Erica, receiving on his behalf the Medal of Freedom.
Honestly, it was, let me play a moment that really just got to me and got to everybody that was there, and I'm sure got to the entire country because the whole country was watching.
Where she shares, it was on what would have been his 32nd birthday.
It's pretty unbelievable to think of him not being here and him being so young and him just really in the prime of his life.
It's kind of like the age that I started Radio for Crying Out Loud.
I started a little bit earlier, but and how much he had to offer and how talented and gifted he was, certainly wisdom beyond his years.
I can say that.
And the same with Erica.
But this was heartbreaking.
Listen.
I asked our daughter what she would like to say to Daddy for his birthday.
Excuse me.
She said, happy birthday, Daddy.
I want to give you a stuffed animal.
I want you to eat a cupcake with ice cream.
And I want you to go have a birthday surprise.
I love you.
That's what she said.
I mean, the reality is that now she must raise these two beautiful children, precious children.
I will say this.
It does give me comfort knowing I had Charlie's chief of staff, the pastor that married him on last night.
He did surround himself with amazing people that had incredible values.
His faith is way more important to him, was more important to him.
And instilling that in young people was his passion in life.
And they worked very hard for him.
He would be so inquisitive.
He wanted answers to be able to give these kids when he do these open mic moments with them in these hostile environments on college campuses.
And I bet a lot of these kids never heard or many people speaking out, certainly not in the classroom, on issues involving their lives and what their life can be.
And rejecting hookup culture, for example.
I mean, it's so commonplace today.
You just kind of take it for granted and that's just the way things are.
But does it have to really be that way?
You know, I'll use my words, not his, but, you know, really going to frat parties and being the kid throwing up at the end of the night in the bushes outside.
Is that the life you want to live?
And, you know, how pervasive drug use is among young people today?
And hearing that maybe you should get back to church and believe in God and find a higher purpose and the purpose for which you were created.
And he was successful.
And even in the aftermath of his assassination, that message still resonates and is resonating around the country.
And I'm hearing it from people all over the place.
Linda, you'll find this interesting.
You know, I always kid around on the program how, you know, my daughter has never been particularly that interested in what her dad does for a living.
It was just a couple of years ago.
I said, well, what time is my radio show on?
And she didn't get the right time right.
She goes, oops.
I mean, you know, I mean, now she watched the entire thing yesterday and she said, why didn't you take me?
I didn't know she wanted to come.
I would have gladly taken her.
And then telling me that she was crying and how this had deeply impacted her.
And, you know, my son had only wanted to meet two people.
Of all the people I've interviewed over all these years, he wanted to meet President Trump and he wanted to meet Charlie Kirk.
And I was able to arrange both.
And so, and then this poll comes out today.
I thought this was pretty amazing.
It was actually on Fox News where I saw it.
Stunning data revealing a surge in Christianity in the United States.
Look at this.
41.6% In terms of an increase in Bible sales, maybe you would call it the Kirk effect.
I don't know.
Seems like it to me.
App downloads of the Bible up a whopping 79.5%.
Christian music streaming plus 50%.
I mean, I don't talk about it a lot, but, you know, I often at night will go to YouTube and I'll watch, I think some of the best music out there is my buddy Michael W. Smith.
His one concert of his that stands above all else to me, and I've told him this personally, is the Bridgestone Arena, Michael W. Smith, 2018.
And I probably C.C. Winens as part of it.
He's got a whole band accompanying him.
And you watch the crowd.
And I can't, I get something out of watching that every time that I see it.
I love C.C. Winen.
I think she's one of the most angelic, amazing voices of all time.
And I love other Christian singers, too many, too numerous to name at this point.
And I love, for example, Hill Song.
I know they had their controversy in New York, but that does not take away from the profound and deep message in their music.
And I love Christian contemporary music.
It's probably, I guess now it's really my number one format that I like and what I listen to more than any other genre of music.
I know, Linda, you're into it as well.
Anyone, who is your favorite?
You have a lot of people.
I'm a pretty big fan of Lauren Daigle.
I'm really into.
We saw Lauren Daigle in concert.
Oh, really?
I didn't tell you that.
I was able to go online and buy front row seats.
It just came available.
Yeah.
It was here in my free state of Florida, and I had three other people with me.
And I guess somebody on our team spotted me, and then I got to go backstage and meet her.
I have pictures with her and got to see her.
That's pretty amazing.
Talk to her.
She's incredible.
Very special.
Her voice is unbelievable.
Yeah.
That's pretty wild.
I'm a big fan of that song, Rescue.
And, you know, look, you know, people ask me all the time, how have you survived this long in this business and as competitive as it is?
And people come and people go and all this stuff.
And I really credit two things.
And one is certainly my parents and the work ethic that they instilled in me from a young kid.
And I know my kids roll their eyes if I start listing every job I've had in my life and that I started out without any money in my life.
Nobody wants to hear it anymore.
I got it.
I've heard you loud and clear.
I won't go over it, but it did.
It had a profound impact on me.
And the other thing that had a profound impact on me is all those years that my parents dragged me to church and 12 years of Catholic school got to me.
And I realized that I have a conscience and a soul.
And if I snap at Linda, you know, even, I'm using you as an example, you know, usually I'll say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that.
You know, just little things bother me.
My conscience is alive and well in me.
And what is a conscience?
A conscience is an awareness, something within you that lets you know you're being a jerk and you're wrong.
So if there's two things that have kind of protected me in my life, I would argue those are the two things.
And I would even then take it another step and say that, you know, if I was going to write two more books, one would be an undeserved life and the second one would be everything I wanted to tell you, but knew would get me fired.
Everyone likes the title of that.
And they're like, what did you want to say that you didn't say?
Why don't you just have the courage to say it?
But I would say, in my mind, that is the Charlie Kirk effect.
And, you know, to the extent we don't talk probably enough, we were so immersed in the day-to-day political comings and goings, because if you don't live in a free country, none of this is possible.
So that is a prerequisite in my mind.
Why my passion is politics.
But at the end of the day, all of us, I believe, we all have a unique fingerprint.
We all were created by the same God.
I believe that my entire life.
That's why I can't stand people that are racist, et cetera, et cetera.
I believe that the word education, the Latin that I studied in high school at a seminary, is so relative.
And I've used this term a lot because I think it's so impactful.
And the root word of education is educre, to bring forth from within.
That's predicated on a belief that God put in every human soul potential.
I believe in human potential.
I believe in the individual.
I believe the best system of governance that allows for that potential to rise to the top is liberty and freedom and capitalism.
That's what I believe the great story of success of America.
It's based on liberty and freedom.
And that liberty and freedom allows you to be the person that God created you to be.
Certainly our framers and our founders understood the Judeo-Christian principles as a foundational principle to make this country, allow this country to be great, as imperfect as they were.
They believe we were endowed by a creator, a God, and that this country that rights come from God, not from government.
These are not clichés.
These are not phrases.
These are deeply held beliefs and principles that should guide our country in the years and the decades to come, knowing that every generation, we're just one generation away.
Freedom is one generation away from extinction, as Ronald Reagan told us.
And, you know, my advice to people, and people ask me all the time about, well, what advice do you have for me?
Is find whatever you love and find a way to make money at it.
And it doesn't matter what you do, but the other thing you have to do is you have to understand that you're not here to be served.
I think that we are here to find our purpose and serve other people while you're also building your own life.
You know, people create goods and services that others want, need, and desire.
That's capitalism.
And while you're doing it, you're helping others and it benefits you.
It's a win-win, and it's the perfect system.
You give everybody everything.
Why is anybody ever going to try to reach their true potential?
They're not.
And that's the whole point.
That's why socialism, and I wrote a whole chapter in Live Free or Die in every form, manifestation, you know, fails.
That's why when people trust the government, I can't understand it for the life of me because the government doesn't do many things well at all.
How's your school system?
How's law and order?
You know, how's the government doing with their managing of your money, Social Security, Medicaid, all on the verge of bankruptcy, insolvency in spite of promises?
And then the left promises more and more government.
And how did Obamacare work out?
Didn't work out too well.
And so I want everyone to live in freedom.
And that gives you the window of opportunity.
And it doesn't matter what age you are.
We're now on the precipice.
And I say this to you, my audience, because you've been so good to me and gave me a life I never dreamed of.
And that is, I just say to all of you that I believe foundationally, we have now set this country up for what the president is calling a golden age.
You know, when Reagan cut taxes, it was the longest period of peacetime economic growth in history, dropped the top marginal rates from 70 to 28%.
Donald Trump just gave us the largest tax cuts in history.
That means that the economy is going to grow.
Interest rates are going to go down.
Sale of pre-existing homes will kick back in.
Home building will kick back in.
Never before in our history has any one president, I think in all the years Biden was in office and Obama was in office, maybe one, you know, maybe $100 billion in committed investments.
Donald Trump has, he claimed $18 trillion in invested money in the next four years for manufacturing, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals and all sorts of other things.
All of this is opportunity for you.
Energy dominance, freeing up our energy sector.
All of these are going to represent opportunities.
The only thing that might get in the way of you taking your life to the next level is any self-imposed limitation.
You know, for example, I know people that would be like, oh, I'm never leaving my hometown.
Well, okay, that means either the job comes to your hometown or you would miss out on an opportunity to quadruple your salary and start a new career, especially young people that might be listening to the show.
You know, dream big.
Don't dream small and take chances.
Look down.
You're on the high board.
It's scary.
Jump and do so with faith and confidence that you're designed to jump because God put you on that board for a reason and that things will come out of it that you never imagined or dreamed of.
When I first got behind a radio microphone and I loved it, I jumped and jumped and jumped and kept jumping and it got bigger than I ever imagined.
And I think that is the personification of finding your God-given whatever talent.
I'm not saying I'm talented.
I'm just saying that finding what you love and sharing it with others and serving others.
I'll go through this on the other side, but think of all the every person that serves you in a restaurant.
Okay.
They're all serving you.
We're not designed to sit back as kings in this life, in my view.
So we have a lot going on in terms of news today.
I'm watching all of it.
The Schumer shutdown continues.
The radicalism by Governor Pritzker.
You know, I look at this idiot.
I can't believe that this is the state of the Democratic Party.
You know, politically, I'd like to say it's great for the Republicans, and it is the radicalization of the Democratic Party.
And when I was in D.C. yesterday, I talked to a lot of people about this.
They'd never seen anything like it in their life.
And I actually, I think I'm able to pinpoint the canary in the coal mine on this.
And I believe it was Joe Lieberman.
And remember Joe Lieberman, vice presidential candidate, Democratic Party, ran for office.
What are you running with?
Al Gore in what year was that?
92?
Whatever.
No, I'm sorry, 2000?
Yeah, 2000.
So, and then he runs in Connecticut.
I mean, he was not liberal enough for Connecticut.
Now, on issues involving national security and defense and standing up against radical Islamists, he was phenomenal.
He was great.
He was steadfast.
He was strong.
He believed in America's strength.
He believed in America defense.
He believed America had a purpose.
And not that we want to fight wars.
It's just we need to understand there's a lot of evil in the world and we've got to protect ourselves and protect our freedoms and our liberties.
And I think that's why Donald Trump's greatest legacy will be the Golden Dome eventually one day.
And anyway, he gets primaried and loses the Democratic primary in the state of Connecticut.
Unbelievable.
And then he runs as an independent.
And he's running as an independent.
He's always been a friend of the show.
He used to come on the show.
He since passed away.
His wife, Hadassa, one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.
And he used to come on the show regularly.
And, you know, I used to kid around with him and we'd talk about what we agreed with and what we disagreed with.
You know, you could agree with him and not be so disagreeable.
He would be one of the Democrats that would be outspoken against this Nazi fascist, racist, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini comparison.
Crap.
He would be against it.
Anyway, so he's running as an independent, and I always liked him.
And I would say that on radio and TV.
Linda, you remember, you were with me back in the day.
I was.
And then you remember the story because I got a call from Joe Lieberman.
He said, in his very soft-spoken way, he was a kind of soft-spoken guy.
Very kind, very generous.
Could never raise his voice kind of guy.
And he goes, no, and he was even when he argued, he was gentle.
He's like, well, he always did that.
That was his thing.
Well, always.
Very kind with his time.
Right.
All right.
And his family is terrific.
So he calls me one day out of the blue or writes me and then I call him, whatever, however that worked out.
And I said, hey, Senator, how are you?
What's going on?
He goes, you keep talking about me on your radio and TV show, and you keep saying nice things about me.
And he said, every time you do, you're killing me in my race in Connecticut.
I said, really?
I said, well, I'm just telling the truth.
You're a nice guy and that we get along and that you are liberal on social issues.
By the way, nothing by today's liberal standards on social issues and woke and trans and DEI and all that, nothing compared to today.
And I said, well, do you want me to start trashing on radio and TV?
Would you like me to attack you?
Would that help you out more?
And it forever became a joke with us.
And then he ended up winning in the general election as an independent in Connecticut.
But that was the tip of the iceberg.
That was the tip of the spear.
That was the canary in the coal mine.
That was the moment the Democratic Party began this process of now going off the rails, culminating in where Chucky Schumer is with the Schumer shutdown, which is, you know, he has to give in to the radicals that run his party.
And he is giving in to them.
And, you know, I was having this discussion.
I explained, I was talking to a bunch of senators last night.
I had an opportunity to speak to them.
And I told them that story.
They loved that story.
And off the rails.
And I talked to even more, quote, moderate Republicans.
And they couldn't believe the story.
And they can't believe what they're dealing with in the U.S. Senate and how Chuck Schumer is just unavailable to even have a reasonable discussion with at this point when meanwhile, as we've played over and over again, he spent his entire career talking out against shutting down the government.
Pretty fascinating little detail that Axios picked up.
We had picked up on it as well, that Democrats in Congress say President Trump's methods for paying the military and funding food stamps for vulnerable communities are clearly illegal, but they're not going to fight it.
You know, because the president is planning to divert $8 billion in previously appropriated funds for military research and development to pay the troops as we now are at the point they're no longer going to be getting checks.
Now, they can't do a thing until this, what is this called, the King's No Kings rally that they're having around the country, all over the country on Saturday.
By the way, wherever you live, find out where these rallies are and stay and keep your family as far away as possible.
That is my tip of the week.
Don't go to those rallies.
Don't have anything to do with it.
Now, if you want to report on it, just know you're putting yourself into a hostile area.
And God only knows what some of these lunatics on the left are capable of.
What was the guy's name?
Nick Sorto, Nick Sorter.
And we had him on TV.
I really admire this guy.
And he's very popular on social media.
And he kept going back.
They had the 100 nights of protests in Portland.
And night after night, the one night that he had already been assaulted by these lunatics.
And he walks back in the next night.
This guy, God bless him, he's got an American flag with him.
God forbid you bring an American flag to one of these pro-Antifa anti-ICE protests.
God help you.
But he did it anyway.
Then he ended up getting arrested.
The charges obviously dropped.
He was a victim in this case, but I give a lot of, Oh, hang on.
The president is now speaking from the Oval Office, and the FBI director is there as well.
Let's listen in.
White House, and that's really what's happened, and we're getting tremendous reviews, and we appreciate it.
But we're here for a different reason.
It's called Operation Summer Heat, which is an appropriate term in light of what we're doing.
And early yesterday morning, I returned from the Middle East where we celebrated a historic agreement to end years of suffering and conflict.
Amazing.
Every country came together.
I mean, even the enemies came out and totally endorsed it.
Everybody, I've never seen anything like it.
Nobody's seen anything like it.
And just as we are forging peace and stability abroad, we're also restoring peace and safety and stability at home.
And you see that in Washington, D.C. maybe better than any place because we got there and within 12 days it was very good.
And within 30 days, it's been as safe as any city in the country.
It's been great.
Took out 1,700 people, got them out.
These are career criminals in many cases and people that shouldn't have been allowed in by the Biden administration.
Historically, the summer months have been a time when the violent crime soar, as you know, but not under President Trump.
Today we're announcing the results of a sweeping law enforcement effort known as Operation Summer Heat.
We were in many cities that people didn't know about.
We kept it a little quiet, and it had a big impact, and you'll hear that in a second.
But over the past few months, FBI offices in all 50 states made crushing violent crime a top enforcement priority.
That's what they did, rounding up and arresting thousands of the most violent and dangerous criminals.
And these are among the most dangerous and violent people in the world.
They were allowed in many cases, not in all cases, but in many cases, they were allowed in by a very foolish, actually stupid open border policy.
Just anybody could have come in.
They emptied out their jails, their prisons, their mental institutions.
They emptied them into our country.
And the people behind me have done an incredible job because if we didn't have that administration, it would have been so much easier.
They allowed millions of people in this country that shouldn't have been allowed, including over 11,000 murderers, half of whom murdered more than one person.
And many of them are gone now, or they're put in prison because we don't want to have them come back.
So we literally put them in our prison, which we don't want to do.
But we bring them back to their countries.
Working with state and local partners, the FBI arrested over 8,000 violent criminals during the course of this period.
In major cities like in New Orleans, Nashville, we saw a 250% increase in arrests.
And we really went after the bad ones.
These include 725 individuals wanted for violent crimes against children and murderers.
These arrests are in addition to the work of our historic federal task forces that make D.C. Safe Task Force has been unbelievable.
I mean, the job they've done, it's incredible.
And it's been so nice because so many people, they're going out to dinner and they're having dinners.
They didn't go out for four years.
And now they're going out three times a week.
The restaurants are opening.
Restaurants are full.
And usually that means a lot of good things.
But restaurants that were closed are now opening up and everybody's happy.
Nobody's ever seen anything like it, actually.
And everybody feels safe.
You can have a child walk right through the middle of Washington, D.C., and nothing's going to happen.
We were losing more than one person a week being killed on an average.
Now, if you look at the magnitude of this week, understand the president flew all the way to Israel, and then he flew to Egypt.
Then he flew home, arrived about 2.33 in the morning.
Then he had a full day with the president of Argentina, did a full cabinet meeting, did the Medal of Freedom award for Charlie Kirk, and here he is back at it today.
I've never seen anything like him.
I mean, think of the Biden years.
You'd never see your president.
When you did, he couldn't talk.
Pretty unbelievable.
Now, based on what he is saying, you know, listen to like the likes of J.B. Pritzker.
Now, remember, 4,000 dead people under his watch as governor.
4,000, five times the rate that New York City.
And he's suggesting, hey, you Trump officials that are trying to keep the people, the citizens of my state alive, you might get prosecuted when Democrats are back in charge.
Listen to this.
We're going to call for accountability.
And indeed, you know, the tables will turn someday.
These people should recognize that maybe they're not going to get prosecuted today, although we're looking at doing that.
But they may get prosecuted after the Trump administration for the things that they did because the statute of limitations won't have run.
How about maybe charging people that go out of their way through defund dismantle, no bail laws, reimagine the police, or simply like in the case of Chicago, turning a blind eye to weekly statistics of people shot and shot and killed.
And they're the ones that are supposed to be in charge and keep people safe and secure.
What is the first role of government?
Is it not to allow, you know, law and order, safety, security, again, a prerequisite to pursue happiness?
It is such a spectacular failure, my view.
But, you know, they just keep doing what they're doing.
They keep fuming away.
I noticed a story today.
New York Post, Letitia James, fugitive grand niece, lives in the house that she bought through that mortgage fraud allegation, has been arrested twice for assaulting cops.
Not once, according to the New York Post, but twice.
Oh, boy, can't make all this up.
I mean, the looney left is the loony left, and they're getting worse and worse by the day.
They're not getting better.
They're getting worse.
Another example, you know, I mean, we sat there for four years, watched Biden, Harris, Mayorkas lie to us, borders closed, borders secure.
Oh, okay.
ICE moved to detain a Biden illegal who raped an 11-year-old girl three times after Biden immigration officials labeled the child rapist a non-enforcement priority.
This is according to the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged an immigration detainer against a 35-year-old criminal illegal from El Salvador who was convicted of repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl in Virginia.
ICE lodged the detainer against this guy who was sentenced to 30 years in prison following his conviction.
His crimes are, as they said, unthinkable, monstrous, repeatedly raping an 11-year-old girl in her own home.
ICE lodged an arrest detainer to ensure after his prison sentence he is removed from our country, not able to prey on any more innocent American children.
Biden administration marked this heinous criminal as a non-enforcement priority, allowing this idiot to roam free and commit more crimes, they pointed out in their statement.
You know, these are the types of depraved individuals and criminals our brave ICE law enforcement officers are arresting and removing from our country every single day.
Ever notice the media?
They don't care.
And, you know, why would J.B. Pritzker take down the fences?
Why would Gavin want the masks off of ICE agents that are being doxxed and threatened the way they have been?
They don't have jurisdiction.
It's called the supremacy clause.
It's the federal government that enforces federal laws, not the states.
And they're trying to circumvent federal authority themselves and then lecturing us on what a threat to democracy actually looks like when they themselves are the real threat to democracy.
Anyway, 800-941-Sean.
Oh, and by the way, you remember big balls that worked for Doge?
Yeah, the guy that beat him up, the teens that beat him up.
Yeah, they get a slap on the wrist.
Ah, why bother punishing them?
Remember the guy, the pro-Palestinian firebombers?
Slapped with a 50-year jail sentence for trying to assassinate, thank goodness, Josh Shapiro.
Unbelievable.
His family was sleeping in that house.
And if you saw the pictures, it's scary as hell.
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