NEWS: JD Vance Speaks About Trump Admin.-Pope Differences At TPUSA Event

[0:17] Thank you all. What a welcome. [0:21] Hello, Athens. I think that that's their thing. [0:32] I like it. That is definitely their thing. [0:34] So I've been to two SEC schools with Turning Point USA, [0:37] and my Ohio State brethren are ashamed of me [0:40] because I've given you guys way more love than my own alma mater, [0:44] but it's pretty good to be in SEC country, I have to say. [0:46] It's great to be here. We can help fix that. [0:51] We can work on that. [0:53] So for those of you wondering why I don't have really flowing long blonde hair right now, [0:59] so I'm going to address it right at the front. [1:03] Mr. Vice President, I'm on stage here instead of our friend Erica Kirk. [1:07] That's right. [1:08] Because unfortunately she has received some very serious threats in her direction, [1:14] which is terrible. [1:17] It's a terrible reflection on the state of reality and the state of the country, [1:20] but it underscores a larger point that she has received a lot of attacks [1:27] from surprising places, perhaps. [1:32] Tell us what you think about that, [1:35] some of the people that have made part-time jobs out of attacking Erica, [1:39] and this is the net result. [1:40] Sure. [1:41] Well, first of all, I love Erica, and I know that she did get some threats. [1:45] And about two hours ago, as you know, Andrew, [1:47] I was a little worried that we were going to have to cancel the event [1:50] because Erica was not going to come, and she was very worried about it. [1:54] And I talked to the Secret Service, and obviously these guys do a very good job, [1:57] and I said, you know what, let's let Erica do what she needs to do for herself and her family. [2:03] I'm sure Andrew will fill in, and let's go and make this an amazing event [2:06] with the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia. [2:09] So absolutely we're going to do this thing. [2:13] But look, I mean, in so many ways, you know, when did Charlie die? [2:20] It was mid-September, I believe. [2:22] September 10th. [2:22] And in the past, that's right, it was the day right before September 11th. [2:27] And in so many ways, the past six or so months have been two separate living hills for Erica Kirk. [2:32] And the first is, of course, that she lost her husband. [2:35] She lost the father of her children. [2:38] And I'll never forget this because, I mean, frankly, I think a lot about it [2:42] because my wife is now pregnant with our fourth baby, [2:45] is when we went and picked up, thank you, [2:50] but when we went and picked up Charlie's body in Utah, [2:52] and, of course, you were there with us, and I met Erica, and I met the family. [2:58] I mean, I met Charlie's parents and his little sister. [3:01] And I just think about that moment and where she was so broken. [3:07] And any of you know who anybody who's agreed before is, [3:10] is you kind of go from just crestfallen and sad, [3:15] and then you want to remember the person that you just lost, [3:18] and there's just this constant flood of emotions, right? [3:21] At one moment, you're laughing about something they said two years ago, [3:24] and at another moment, you're sobbing because they're not there anymore. [3:28] And I thought about that moment a lot because Erica told me, [3:30] and that was the first time she'd ever, you know, first time she'd ever told me this, [3:34] and I guess I've thought about it a lot in the context of our own, of our own, you know, my wife's pregnancy. [3:40] She said, I really wish that we had had more babies together. [3:43] And that kind of hit me like, it's just it. [3:47] He's gone. [3:48] That was sort of one of the moments where I realized Charlie's not coming back here. [3:53] And you have this mom who's really sad about the fact that her two little kids may never have memories. [3:59] I mean, you think about, like, as a father. [4:01] I know most of you out there are too young to have kids, [4:04] but one of the things that you think about as a father is I want my kids to remember this moment, right? [4:10] I want my six-year-old to remember when I took them to the zoo or, you know, [4:14] my six-year-old son was just baptized on Easter Sunday, and I want him to remember that moment with me. [4:19] And that's, thank you. [4:23] But so Erica's struggling with this, and of course that's terrible, unspeakable. [4:29] Most of us cannot even put ourselves in her shoes. [4:31] While at the same time, you know, she's trying to make sure that Charlie's legacy doesn't die. [4:37] And in that context, everybody is attacking her over everything, and they're lying about her. [4:42] And it's one of the most disgraceful things that I've ever seen in public life. [4:46] And I've seen a lot of crazy stuff in my life as a political leader. [4:51] And I will tell you that the people who tell you I was there with her, I was holding her hand, [4:56] and my wife was hugging her while we loaded Charlie's body onto Air Force Two [5:01] and said the Lord's Prayer, the people telling you that Erica wasn't grieving her husband [5:07] are full of shit. [5:09] And we need to be honest about that fact. [5:14] Excuse my language. [5:16] My wife says I've got to work on my language. [5:18] She's been telling me that for 12 years, and it still hasn't taken. [5:21] But the thing is, look, when you become a public figure, the natural thing, [5:27] and I've talked to Erica about this privately, is a ton of crazy people say a ton of things about you [5:32] that simply aren't true. [5:34] But the thing that makes it so egregious with Erica is that she's a grieving person [5:40] who's trying to carry on her husband's legacy. [5:43] And look, we all do things that are wrong. [5:45] If you want to, you know, criticize Turning Point USA for not taking this position [5:50] or having this political disagreement or maybe it should do this or that, that's all above board. [5:54] But to say that Erica Kirk wasn't grieving her husband on that day, [6:00] to say that Erica Kirk was somehow complicit in it, is so preposterous and so disgusting. [6:06] And it's one of the things that has broken, I think, the American public conversation [6:10] over the last six months. [6:11] I mean, you know, Andrew, we could talk about this for a long time. [6:16] Charlie's absence, I felt it so many times in so many different ways. [6:19] There have been so many times where I wanted to call Charlie and say, [6:22] man, you've got to call this person or man, you've got to put this event together [6:26] so we can help this candidate or just to bounce ideas off of as a friend. [6:31] There have been so many ways in which I felt that void. [6:33] But one of the ways in which I felt that void is that it's like the response to Charlie Kirk dying. [6:42] The response to Charlie Kirk getting assassinated by a left-wing furry lover [6:48] is the response should have been, let's go after left-wing violence and terrorism. [6:53] Let's defund the networks of left-wing violence and terrorism. [6:56] That's what we've been doing in Washington, D.C. [6:58] And that's what we've been fighting for every single day. [7:01] Savannah Hernandez, of course, was assaulted in Minnesota a couple days ago. [7:05] I talked to Cash Patel on the way down here and I said, [7:08] I assume that we're doing something here. [7:09] And he said, yes, we've had multiple agents on the ground. [7:12] We've already talked to Savannah. [7:13] Savannah, we're going to use the video to try to go after the people who assaulted her [7:17] and then try to defund the networks that fund those radicals [7:20] who are going around assaulting activists. [7:22] That's what we should be doing. [7:24] And I know that politics is hard and I know that it's challenging [7:33] and I know that things aren't always easy [7:35] and we're going to have disagreements even within our coalition. [7:38] But if you're going after Erica Kirk [7:40] and not the people who are trying to destroy the United States of America, [7:45] you're part of the problem, not part of the solution. [7:47] Yeah, amen. You know, I think that's really well said, Mr. Vice President. [7:55] And I always try and remember that Erica has to live with this constant reality [8:00] that her kids are one parent away from being orphans. [8:04] And so we take that extremely seriously. [8:06] And as you mentioned what happened with Savannah, [8:09] and I think it's just important that we remember that we're dealing with humans. [8:13] These are human beings. [8:15] Yeah, you know, exactly. [8:18] And I've heard some people say, well, you know, Erica was smiling two days after Charlie Kirk died [8:24] or something like that. [8:25] And it's like most of us in this room have grieved somebody that we loved. [8:31] You know, maybe, hopefully not a spouse who dies in the prime of their life, [8:35] but when you deal with somebody who's grieving, [8:37] it's always this weird combination of emotions. [8:40] It's intense sadness, intense affection. [8:44] It's, you know, you sort of love that person in that moment maybe more than you ever have [8:49] because you feel their absence. [8:51] You think about all the happy moments that you had, and you can't help but smile. [8:54] And then you remember they're not there, and you can't help but sob. [8:58] That's what grief is like. [9:00] And so, again, if your instinct is to go after not the left-wing radicals who are assaulting Savannah [9:06] or not the people who shot Charlie Kirk, but if your instinct is to go after a young mother [9:12] because she's grieving in a way that you find wrong, [9:17] well, why don't you stay in your lane and mind your own business? [9:20] Yeah, amen. [9:20] Grief is complicated. [9:23] And I just, you know, so there's another angle of this, Andrew, which is just so absurd, [9:30] which is that, you know, people will say that, you know, Erica, you know, she's been doing this [9:38] or she's been doing that, and I would be doing something different. [9:40] And it's like, first of all, that's fine. [9:43] Like, if you want to criticize somebody because you have a disagreement, [9:46] disagree with my politics. [9:47] Disagree with something that Erica or Andrew say on the Turning Point podcast, [9:52] but this desire to go after her for the way she's grieving her husband, [9:57] that's the most preposterous thing I've seen in a very long time, [10:01] and I've seen a lot of crazy stuff in politics. [10:04] Amen. [10:04] Thank you for saying that, Mr. Vice President. [10:08] So I think this segues very well into our next question here. [10:12] You are a practicing Catholic. [10:15] Despite your language, you're attempting to be a faithful Catholic. [10:19] That's right. [10:19] That's right. [10:20] I think it was well-placed, if I may say. [10:23] Thank you. [10:23] I appreciate it. [10:25] I'm sure you've seen that the Vatican and the Pope and the President have been in the news lately. [10:32] So as a Catholic, what does it feel like to be, you know, in the middle of that? [10:37] I thought it was going to be an easy question. [10:38] This is kind of a tough question here. [10:40] Nope. [10:40] No easy ones. [10:41] So here's the thing about this. [10:43] So first of all, you will sometimes hear people say, [10:46] well, you know, the Vatican, the church, whether it's the Protestant church, the Catholic church, [10:52] like, you know, they should preach the gospel. [10:55] They should ignore public policy. [10:57] I actually don't agree with that. [10:58] I actually think that it's a good thing when Christian leaders, whether they're Catholic [11:02] or Protestant, part of preaching the gospel is talking about how the gospel applies to [11:08] the issues of the day. [11:08] So I've never been one of these people who say that you should never have, you know, [11:13] Christian leadership not talking about politics or, frankly, political leaders not talking [11:18] about their Christian faith. [11:19] But I do think that we have to remember that, you know, each of us has our own role. [11:25] I'm the vice president of the United States. [11:27] The fundamental way I understand my role is that I'm trying to take the lessons, the moral [11:33] truths that are rooted in Christianity, and I'm trying to apply them to a whole host of [11:38] complicated real-world scenarios. [11:40] You know, the—thank you. [11:42] So my job is to apply moral truth to try to do the best thing for the American people. [11:51] That's my job. [11:52] And that's the president of the United States' job. [11:53] And, of course, he's the person who leads our administration. [11:56] The pope's job is to preach the gospel, okay? [11:59] And, again, I think that sometimes in the context, like, it doesn't bother me, even when [12:04] I disagree with him. [12:05] And I have a lot of respect for the pope. [12:06] I like him. [12:07] I admire him. [12:08] I've gotten to know him a little bit. [12:10] I—it doesn't bother me when he speaks on issues of the day. [12:14] Frankly, even when I disagree with how he's applying a particular principle. [12:18] So the most obvious example is it has frustrated me that some of the Catholic clergy have attacked [12:25] mercilessly the Trump administration on immigration. [12:30] It is a constant idea that somehow everything that the Trump administration does when it comes [12:35] to securing our borders is inhumane. [12:37] And my constant response to that is, how is it humane to allow drug traffickers and sex [12:44] traffickers to bring little kids across the southern border? [12:47] Amen. [12:47] How is that humane? [12:54] But, again, I'd almost rather have the conversation. [12:57] So I kind of like, even when there's disagreement, I like it when the pope comments on questions [13:02] of immigration. [13:03] I like it when the pope talks about abortion. [13:05] I like it when the pope talks about matters of war and peace. [13:09] Because I think that, at the very least, it invites a conversation. [13:12] So I think some people, you know, their reaction to this is to say, well, you know, he shouldn't [13:17] have said that. [13:18] And look, there are certainly things that the pope has said in the last few months that [13:21] I disagree with. [13:22] Let me just take, like, one very concrete example, you know, related to this conflict [13:27] in Iran. [13:28] So the pope said something where he said, and I'm going to try to remember the exact quote, [13:34] but he said that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword. [13:39] God is never on the side of those who wield the sword. [13:41] I'm pretty sure that he said that exact statement. [13:44] Now, on the one hand, again, I like that the pope is an advocate for peace. [13:49] I think that's certainly one of his roles. [13:52] On the other hand, how can you say that God is never on the side of those who wield the [13:57] sword? [13:57] Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated France from the Nazis? [14:02] Was God on the side of the Americans who liberated Holocaust camps and liberated those innocent [14:08] people from, you know, those who had survived the Holocaust? [14:12] I certainly think the answer is yes. [14:17] And I agree. [14:17] Jesus Christ does not, I agree. [14:19] Jesus Christ certainly does not support genocide, whoever yelled that out from the dark. [14:23] He certainly does not. [14:25] I think that's pretty easy. [14:27] I think that's a pretty easy principle. [14:32] Okay, so here's a guy, let me just say this. [14:34] This is a guy. [14:36] No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. [14:39] First of all, first of all, random dude who's shouting. [14:41] Can I finish my point and then I'll respond to what you just shouted? [14:44] Is that okay? [14:46] Okay, Greg. [14:46] Greg, can we give him one second to answer this? [14:49] So let me just finish this question on the pope and then I want to respond to what this [14:52] guy said. [14:53] So number one, when the pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the [15:00] sword, there is a thousand year, more than a thousand year tradition of just war theory. [15:06] Okay? [15:07] Now we can, of course, have disagreements about whether this or that conflict is just, but [15:11] I think that it's important. [15:12] In the same way that it's important for the vice president of the United States to be careful [15:16] when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it's very, very important for the [15:20] pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology. [15:24] And I think that one of these issues here is that there has been, is again, hey, random [15:30] dude screaming, I told you I'd respond to your point. [15:32] I just want to respond to this question first. [15:35] But I think one of the issues here is that if you're going to opine on matters of theology, [15:40] you've got to be careful, you've got to make sure it's anchored in the truth. [15:43] And that's one of the things that I try to do, and it's certainly something I would [15:47] expect from the clergy, whether they're Catholic or Protestant. [15:49] Now, to respond to this guy here, he said, I believe he said the administration supports [15:56] a genocide in Gaza. [15:58] And here's my response to that. [16:00] When we came in, the humanitarian situation in Gaza was an absolute catastrophe. [16:07] You know who's the person who got a peace agreement in Gaza? [16:10] Donald J. Trump. [16:11] So if you want to complain about what happened in Gaza, so if you want, sir, to complain about [16:22] what happened in Gaza, why don't you complain about Joe Biden in the last administration? [16:27] We're the administration that solved that problem. [16:33] And by the way, not only was our administration like the administration that solved the problem, [16:40] but the president, excuse me, sir, right now, right now, you see more humanitarian aid coming [16:53] into Gaza than it has any time in the past five years, because we have taken that situation [16:58] seriously. [16:59] And that's one of the things that I'm proud of about our administration, is whether it's [17:04] there or Thailand and Cambodia, we have consistently tried as much as we can to solve these problems, [17:12] not just complain about them like the guy who just ran away angry. [17:23] You know, J.D., I'll never forget your speech at Charlie's memorial, and you talked about how [17:28] your faith in the wake of Charlie's assassination has become so central to you. [17:34] You talk about it more. [17:36] And now you're even writing a book about it. [17:39] Sure. [17:39] Tell us about it. [17:41] And what's it called? [17:42] It's called The Way. [17:43] Well, it's called Communion. [17:45] And, you know, I think the subtitle is Finding My Way Back to Faith. [17:51] Yes. [17:51] And, you know, here's why I wanted to write this book, Andrew, because, you know, I think [17:58] that like a lot of you, I was, I was, there was a point in my life, I mean, you're probably [18:04] much more, this is probably a much more Christian audience than maybe I was when I was a 22-year-old [18:10] college student. [18:11] I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps, and I realized that I was sort of winning [18:17] this game of life in one sense, and I was losing it in the way that mattered. [18:21] And, you know, I was raised in a Christian household. [18:24] I was raised in a very sort of Pentecostal family. [18:28] You know, our church had really good music and amazing people. [18:31] And one of the things I love about evangelical culture in the United States of America is [18:35] just how welcoming it is of everybody, right? [18:37] And you know that. [18:37] You're an evangelical Christian. [18:38] And so the thing is, I hadn't been properly formed in my faith. [18:44] And so I got to the Marine Corps, and by the time I left the Marine Corps and was starting [18:48] college, I called myself an atheist. [18:51] And I kind of went through this period of being an angry atheist, and then I realized [18:55] when I got to a point where I thought to myself, what actually matters in life? [19:02] It's not getting any of law school, which I had done. [19:05] And it's not making a lot of money, it's not credentials, it's not good jobs, it's being [19:10] a good person. [19:11] It's, you know, I'd fallen in love with this, thank you. [19:16] I'd fallen in love, I'd fallen in love with a girl, and that girl eventually became my [19:21] wife, and the mother to our now four children. [19:24] And I remember thinking to myself, like, she doesn't care whether I make a certain amount [19:29] of money. [19:30] She wants me to be a good husband, she wants me to be a good father, she wants me to be [19:34] a virtuous person. [19:35] And I started to realize... [19:36] She wants a date night. [19:37] Yes, she does want that, which is hard when you're Vice President of the United States. [19:41] But what I realized is that the philosophy of secular liberalism, it was achieve, achieve, [19:48] achieve. [19:49] Get as many credentials, make as much money as possible, and that left me feeling empty. [19:53] And meanwhile, it was this faith that I had discarded as a kid, which actually provided [19:59] a real sense of meaning and purpose. [20:01] And then I talked to a priest, and this priest was like, you know what, if you think that [20:04] the Christian faith is right about all these moral questions, maybe it's right because [20:09] there's a witness element to it. [20:12] Like, maybe the fact that it's right about morality, and about virtue, and about sin, maybe [20:18] that means it's also right about the fact that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. [20:21] Maybe it's also right that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead on the third day. [20:28] Like, maybe these things that appeal to you about the Christian faith come from the deeper [20:39] truth of the Christian faith. [20:41] And that kind of got me down a pathway of where eventually I was baptized and became a very [20:47] devout Christian. [20:48] And at this point, amen. [20:51] Thank you. [20:52] Amen. [20:55] But, you know, I thought, first of all, a lot of people have asked me about that journey. [20:59] And I thought, what better way than to sit down and actually force myself to write it [21:04] out? [21:04] I actually started writing the book back in 2017, right after Usha had our first baby, [21:12] my son, Ewan, who's now eight years old. [21:14] And so I've been kind of writing it off and on since then. [21:17] And, you know, a little bit Charlie's death, a little bit just being in the public eye, [21:22] but mostly just I've been at this thing for 10 years, and I was like, it's finally time [21:27] to get it out there. [21:28] And so I put the finishing touches on it, submitted to the publisher a couple of months [21:32] ago, and it's coming out in June. [21:33] So buy the book, Communion. [21:36] I love that. [21:38] Not that that wasn't also really riveting, but we're getting to the part of the interview [21:41] that I'm really excited about. [21:44] You are working on fraud. [21:46] You're the fraud czar. [21:47] Yes. [21:48] How many bad guys? [21:50] Yes, we can. [21:51] How many bad guys are we going to get? [21:53] I mean, that's the way I, there's a really nice framing of this question that I worked [21:57] on. [21:58] No, no. [21:58] I want to know. [21:59] This is important. [21:59] What's the progress? [22:01] Tell us about it. [22:01] Well, we've already gotten a lot of bad guys, and this is, you know, one of the things I'm [22:05] very proud about is that, you know, people don't just want talk. [22:08] They want action. [22:09] They want us to actually go and arrest the people who committed fraud. [22:11] And that's happening. [22:12] We're starting to do that. [22:13] And that's a good thing. [22:14] And a lot more is going to be happening in the future. [22:18] But actually, you know who's been amazing on this is Dr. Oz. [22:21] Memon Oz, who runs the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, because so much of the [22:26] fraud in our system is people who are defrauding Medicare and Medicaid. [22:29] Let me just give you a couple of examples. [22:31] So we have in South Florida, we have entire companies that sell medical devices. [22:40] They sell prosthetic knees and they sell prosthetic hips. [22:43] And you know that they've received hundreds of millions, some of them billions of dollars [22:48] in government funds, and they've never shipped a single product. [22:51] They're just set up by fraudsters. [22:53] And there are so many of them, and many of them haven't, there are like over 100 of [22:57] these companies that haven't shipped a single product. [23:00] Okay? [23:01] I'll give you another example of fraud. [23:02] So this ridiculous situation with Somali fraudsters in Minneapolis, in the Minneapolis area. [23:10] So you have a program that exists to help autistic children get the resources they need to help [23:15] their parents, you know, find them a ride to school. [23:18] Or if they need after-school support to make sure their parents have what they need. [23:22] And that program has been defrauded by Somali fraudsters who will go in, who will say that [23:29] we have three kids. [23:30] Every single one of them is autistic. [23:31] There's no verification from the state of Minnesota. [23:34] So that family will receive tens of thousands of dollars from the taxpayer. [23:39] And then the autistic children in Minneapolis who actually do need those services, the money's [23:43] not there anymore because it's been taken away by fraudsters. [23:46] We've completely stopped the funding to that program. [23:50] And we basically told the state of Minnesota, you don't get any more of our money unless [23:54] you verify that you're taking fraud seriously. [23:55] So we just turned it off. [24:00] But, you know, but what Dr. Oz working with some of the, you know, the people in our Department [24:05] of Justice found is that in Southern California, you had all these people who were engaged in [24:11] massive fraud against the Medicare system. [24:13] You had just tons and tons of people getting rich off fraud. [24:16] And so we had our sort of our weekly fraud check-in call two weeks ago. [24:22] And Dr. Oz called in, but he's like, hey, I got to go because I'm about to hop on the [24:27] bus and we're going to go arrest a bunch of fraudsters in Los Angeles. [24:30] And I was like, that's exactly what I want you to do. [24:32] By all means, get off the phone. [24:34] So we're doing a lot of that stuff. [24:36] And I think one of the biggest things, the most important things we're doing on this, [24:40] Andrew, is that there was sort of in the Biden administration, probably intentionally, [24:44] but regardless, this attitude of if you were committing fraud of under a million dollars, [24:49] you're committing fraud of under a million and a half dollars, we're just going to look [24:52] the other way. [24:53] And the approach that we've taken in the last couple of months is no amount of fraud is [24:58] too big or too small. [25:00] If you're defrauding the taxpayer, you ought to go to prison. [25:02] And anybody who's helping you ought to go to prison too. [25:04] That's great. [25:08] I mean, I think this is one of the absolute slam dunk issues. [25:11] How many of you guys out in this audience care about American taxpayers getting ripped [25:14] off, right? [25:17] This is like a 90, 10, 99, one issue. [25:21] The guy who was shouting at us earlier, he doesn't care at all about people getting ripped [25:25] off by fraud. [25:26] But, you know, I think it underscores a bigger problem, right? [25:29] Because there's a lot of young people in this room, okay? [25:32] A lot of you had some very formative years ripped off as well during COVID. [25:37] You didn't get to do prom. [25:38] You didn't get graduation. [25:39] There were so many things taken from you, and, you know, you entered into the college [25:45] years maybe with a really anemic workforce environment, inflation, historic, life's expensive. [25:53] What do you tell young people right now? [25:56] That even right now, they're wondering, what's the future that I can get? [25:58] What's the career I can get? [26:00] Can I afford to have a family, kids, buy a home? [26:03] What's your message to them right now that have big questions ahead of their future? [26:06] I think my message to young people who are wondering whether they can afford a family, [26:10] whether they can afford a home, whether they can afford, you know, kids and the American [26:14] dream is you guys have every right to demand more of your elected leadership, and my job [26:20] is to make it as possible for the answer to that question to be yes. [26:24] And fundamentally, the question you should ask your politicians is exactly that. [26:29] Are you pursuing policies that make it easier for me to afford a house, easier for me to get [26:34] a good job, easier for me to get a good education, and easier for me to raise my family in safety [26:41] and security and comfort? [26:43] That is the fundamental issue. [26:45] And the thing that bothered me so much about the last administration, you know, there are [26:50] all these, like, unique policies that I could sort of point to that were disastrous, and [26:54] a lot of them were absolutely terrible. [26:55] But so much of it goes back to housing and immigration and the connection between the two. [27:02] Under the four years that Joe Biden was president, housing literally doubled in value, meaning if [27:10] you're a young person trying to buy a house, it costs twice as much as it did before. [27:13] And you layer on top of that higher interest rates. [27:16] That's just in four years. [27:18] Nobody can afford that kind of inflation in the housing market. [27:21] And one of the biggest drivers of it is the fact that we let in tens of millions of illegal [27:26] aliens, people who shouldn't have been here, who are taking homes that alt-by-right go to [27:31] you and your generation. [27:32] And so what have we done in the Trump administration? [27:34] We've shut the border. [27:36] We've kicked a lot of those people who have come into the United States. [27:38] We've kicked them out of our country. [27:40] And importantly, we have actually instituted a ban on institutional investors buying up American [27:46] homes. [27:46] Because I don't want private equity firms, many of them backed by foreign money, to buy [27:58] American homes. [27:59] I want you guys to be able to buy American homes. [28:01] And I will say, and I say this not to brag because I think you guys should be impatient. [28:09] When a politician comes to you and tells you, I've done all these things, you should be asking, [28:13] good, now go and do more. [28:14] That's how I think of my job. [28:16] I don't wake up and say, oh, we did something really good last week. [28:19] I think to myself, we did something good last week. [28:21] Now let's go do more of it. [28:22] Or let's go do something different because maybe the statistic that I'm proudest of in [28:27] the entire Trump administration is that over the last eight months, rents and home prices [28:33] have come down, not stayed the same. [28:36] They have come down. [28:37] And what I think of as our ultimate ambition is that after another few years of this administration [28:42] of stopping private equity barons from buying up homes, from kicking out more illegal immigrants, [28:47] from securing the border, what we're going to see is housing that is much more affordable [28:52] and then we're going to keep on building on it year after year after year because the [28:56] American dream should not be sold to the highest foreign bidder. [28:59] It belongs to you. [29:01] Yeah. [29:01] That's so well said. [29:05] And a lot of the people in this audience will know that this is one of the issues near [29:09] and dear to Charlie's heart as well, to make sure that you guys could afford the American [29:13] dream, that we thought about you first as a country. [29:15] And so thank you for saying it so well. [29:20] Naturally, we have to ask about what's going on in Iran. [29:23] Sure. [29:24] So, but I just want everybody, I want to give the vice president his due here because you [29:28] have been to Europe in the last week and you flew back to the United States only to fly [29:33] back across the globe to negotiate in Pakistan to come back and somehow we called him, we're [29:40] like, are you really going to come to Georgia? [29:42] And he's like, I'll be there. [29:44] So I want to give him a big round of applause. [29:46] Thank you. [29:49] I mean, may I just say that's almost Trumpian level endurance. [29:55] So do you know what time zone you are and how many hours of sleep did you get? [29:59] I have no idea what the hell time it is right now. [30:01] And it's kind of good actually because you just run on coffee and then you sleep when [30:05] you can, you wake up when you have to, and you just drink a whole lot of coffee. [30:09] And, you know, look, it's the job that I asked for. [30:12] But yes, I will say, look, I think that, let me just say, you ask young people, and I want [30:17] to make some observation because it made me think of something, which is that young people [30:23] in the United States, but particularly young Americans in the conservative movement, I think [30:29] that we have a tendency to get too blackpilled. [30:32] And here's what I say by this. [30:34] We have a tendency to get too cynical, too pessimistic. [30:37] Like, I'm sure that I've said mostly things that you agree with. [30:40] And I'm sure that I've said some things you may not agree with. [30:43] And you may not agree with everything that I say about the Iran negotiation, which I will [30:46] get to answer your question. [30:48] But here's fundamentally the issue. [30:50] When you see a politician or you see a political movement or you see an administration [30:54] that isn't doing what you want to do, I think you have two choices. [30:56] You can say, ah, to hell with those people and check out of the process. [31:01] Or you can say, you know what, I'm going to get more involved. [31:04] I'm going to make my voice heard even more. [31:06] I'm going to pressure that administration to do exactly what I want them to do because [31:10] they got my vote. [31:12] They earned my vote, but they can't take it for granted. [31:14] And I've seen some of this, you know, on various issues. [31:17] Like, for example, I recognize that a lot of young voters don't love the policy that we [31:25] have in the Middle East. [31:26] Okay, I understand that. [31:28] I also know that we've secured the border. [31:30] We've lowered housing prices now for eight months in a row, and there's going to be more [31:33] to come beyond that. [31:35] We've made America energy dominant, which has lowered electricity costs and things like [31:39] that. [31:39] We've made it so that we have the lowest murder rate in 127 years. [31:43] I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue. [31:46] I'm not saying you have to agree with me on every issue. [31:50] What I'm saying is don't get disengaged because you disagree with the administration on one [31:56] topic, get more involved. [31:59] Make your voice heard even more. [32:00] That's how we ultimately take the country back. [32:03] It's not by you. [32:04] You know, if you get five things you want and one thing you don't want, I see way too many [32:09] people, especially in sort of the online conservative, you know, Twitter sphere, who say, ah, you [32:14] know, there's no point. [32:16] No, no, no, no. [32:17] Because, or let me give you another example, the SAVE Act. [32:20] OK, a lot of people want the SAVE Act. [32:23] I want the SAVE Act. [32:24] I've been fighting for the SAVE Act literally since day one of the administration. [32:28] And I've seen a lot of people saying, what the hell's the point of voting for these guys [32:32] if, you know, you've got three Republicans joining with the Democrats to prevent the SAVE [32:38] Act from passing, or I guess four Republicans. [32:40] And here's my response to that. [32:42] Yes, it is annoying to me that there are only 45 or 46 Republicans who will fight politically [32:49] to get the SAVE Act passed. [32:50] But you know what? [32:51] Ten years ago, that number was 35. [32:54] So the answer to frustration is engagement. [32:58] Don't give up on this process. [32:59] Get more involved in this process and demand more from people like me. [33:04] That's how we take our country back. [33:05] I just think it's important to say that. [33:08] That's such a good point. [33:09] How the Senate is such an example, as frustrating as it is, but you were part of that new wave [33:15] of new thinking, of new energy, a new generation. [33:18] Yes. [33:18] And there's so many new voices that are bringing real change to the Senate. [33:22] I mean, we're one, two elections away from maybe having it all the way around. [33:25] A hundred percent. [33:26] And I understand people get frustrated at it. [33:27] I get frustrated at it. [33:29] But it's a lot better than it was 10 years ago. [33:31] And frankly, 10 years ago, it was a lot better than it was 10 years before that. [33:34] But here's where we are on, fundamentally, the president said a policy, Iran cannot have [33:41] a nuclear weapon. [33:42] And right now, we are negotiating to make sure that very thing happens. [33:45] And here's, you know, what's interesting about this is, what's interesting about this [33:55] is that we have this ceasefire that's in place. [33:57] I think it's six or seven days old. [33:58] Right now, the ceasefire is holding. [34:00] Iran, and what you're seeing is, the president wants to make, he doesn't want to make like [34:06] a small deal. [34:07] He wants to make the grand bargain. [34:09] And what he's basically offering to Iran is very simple. [34:12] And frankly, it's something that no president has, I think, has had the ability to offer. [34:17] He said that if you're willing to act like a normal country, we are willing to treat you [34:22] economically like a normal country. [34:24] He doesn't want a small deal. [34:25] And that's one of the reasons why, one, I'd say in Pakistan, we made a ton of progress. [34:31] But the reason why the deal is not yet done is because the president, he really wants a [34:36] deal where Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon, Iran is not state-sponsoring terrorism, but [34:41] also the people of Iran can thrive and prosper and join the world economy. [34:47] And that's the trade that he's offering. [34:49] He's saying, if you guys, he said, if you guys commit to not having a nuclear weapon, we [34:58] are going to make Iran thrive, we're going to make it economically prosperous, and we're [35:02] going to invite the Iranian people into the world economy in a way they haven't been in [35:07] my entire life. [35:08] And that's the kind of Trumpian grand bargain that the president has put on the table. [35:12] Man, we're going to keep on negotiating and try to make it happen because it would be great [35:15] for the world. [35:16] It'd be great for our country. [35:18] It'd be great for everybody. [35:19] So I'm going to keep on fighting to make it happen. [35:21] Yeah. [35:22] Just a few more and then we've got a few questions here. [35:29] So my one question is, when you looked across from these Iranian negotiators, what did you [35:35] make of them? [35:36] Did you get the sense that they really were the right people? [35:39] I mean, I'm assuming you guys know this type of thing, but. [35:41] Yeah. [35:41] I mean, look, you never know. [35:43] We had never, the United States had never had meetings at that level with the Iranian [35:49] government in 49 years. [35:52] Like it's a meeting that had never before happened. [35:54] Not Democrat, not Republican, we had never had a meeting like that where you have, you [35:58] know, the person who's effectively running the country in Iran sitting across from the [36:02] vice president of the United States. [36:03] That had never happened. [36:05] And what I, my, my, look, honestly, after 49 years, there's a lot of, of course, mistrust [36:12] between Iran and the United States of America. [36:14] You're not going to solve that problem overnight. [36:16] But yeah, I think the people we're sitting across from wanted to make a deal. [36:19] And I know the president of the United States told us to go out there and, and negotiating [36:24] good faith. [36:25] That's what we did. [36:26] That's what we're going to keep on doing. [36:27] So you never know though. [36:29] Yeah. [36:29] Right. [36:30] I mean, I, I've, I've sat across from United States senators that I thought I agreed with [36:34] and, you know, you, you don't know what those people, right? [36:37] I won't say who you can guess, but I feel very good about where we are. [36:43] Right. [36:44] All right. [36:44] So this is the last one from me. [36:46] Now, a lot of people make a big deal about illegal immigration and we should, it's terrible, [36:50] right? [36:51] And this administration has made historic progress on that issue. [36:55] I think it's, you don't get enough credit for it. [36:57] And the problem with immigration, illegal immigration is once it's not a problem anymore, our memories [37:01] are about six days long and we move on to the next thing. [37:04] But what about legal immigration? [37:07] Sure. [37:08] And reforming it, correcting it, addressing abuses? [37:11] Because I look around here and I see a bunch of American students that want jobs, [37:15] that want homes, that want a space in this country. [37:18] And I think reforming legal is so, so critical. [37:22] Maybe talk about some of the reforms that this administration has done specifically on [37:25] the legal front. [37:26] So this is exactly right. [37:27] And this is 100 percent, you know, I think one of the first pieces of legislation I sponsored [37:32] in the United States Senate was effectively to get rid of the H-1B visa because I cared [37:37] so much about this when I was in the Senate. [37:39] And yes, it is the case that Congress has not exactly come along. [37:47] There, again, to my point about the United States Senate, there are far more people who [37:51] are sponsoring that legislation today than there were 10 years ago, but it's not nearly [37:54] enough to get it through. [37:55] But just through administrative action, I don't think people realize this, the number of new [37:59] H-1B visas is down about 90 percent in the United States of America. [38:03] Like that's something that we accomplish purely through, that's something we accomplish [38:08] purely through administrative action. [38:10] And again, it's something I cared a lot about. [38:12] It's something the president cared a lot about. [38:14] So, you know, there are other things too. [38:16] There are ways in which, you know, our visa system is taken completely advantage of. [38:21] One of the biggest loopholes in American immigration, legal immigration policy. [38:25] And I'll never forget my debate against Tim Walz where the moderator tried to fact check [38:31] me because I said this person is an illegal immigrant. [38:34] It's like, no, actually, they came in as an asylum claimant. [38:37] And it's like, if you came in on a fraudulent asylum claim, you are an illegal immigrant, [38:42] whatever the hell somebody from CBS says that you are. [38:45] And the asylum process was, I mean, there were, guys, there were literally millions of people [38:52] coming into the United States every single year on false asylum claims. [38:57] We have those claims down something like north of 95 percent. [39:01] So there are all of these things that you can do, all these things that you can do purely [39:06] through administrative action. [39:08] But for us to really make this stick, I mean, look, as much as I don't want this to happen, [39:13] eventually, hopefully 20 years from now, you're going to have a Democratic president who tries [39:17] to undo everything that we've done on immigration. [39:19] That's why we need Congress to codify this stuff. [39:23] But right now, I'm very proud of what we've done in the Trump administration. [39:26] Massive reductions in fraudulent visas. [39:29] Massive reductions in fraudulent number of asylum claims. [39:32] Massive reduction in H-1B visas granted. [39:34] We're making a lot of progress. [39:36] As I said to you, we want to make more. [39:38] We're certainly going to make more over the remaining three years. [39:41] But what that means fundamentally is you guys deserve to have good jobs. [39:46] And I don't want, you know, when you graduate from this amazing university, and it hurts [39:51] me to say that as an Ohio State fan, but this is an amazing university. [39:55] When you graduate, I think the guy who was screaming earlier, he's clearly a Michigan [40:02] guy. [40:03] Just put it on the table. [40:06] Oh, no. [40:07] We have another Michigan guy over here. [40:08] But they did win the natty. [40:12] Yes, that's right. [40:13] That's right. [40:13] But when you guys graduate from this university, I don't want you competing against a low-wage [40:19] foreigner for your first job. [40:21] I want a company to have to pay you a fair wage for a fair day's work. [40:24] It's like common sense. [40:30] But to do that, you really have to do reform of the H-1B and other. [40:35] It's not just the H-1B. [40:36] A number of the other visa systems. [40:38] We've made a lot of progress, but man, I would love a Congress. [40:41] And you guys advocated. [40:42] Ask yourself. [40:42] I mean, you have a Senate primary going on right now. [40:45] This is what I say about getting more involved. [40:47] Every single one of you should ask those Senate candidates, what do you think about the H-1B [40:52] visa? [40:53] Would you co-sponsor the vice president, former senators legislation to eliminate that program [40:58] because it's basically just something that big tech companies take advantage of? [41:02] These are the things that you guys have to do because I can't keep these politicians [41:06] honest by myself. [41:07] I need your help. [41:08] It's a very big job. [41:10] Great stuff. [41:11] So thank you, Mr. Vice President. [41:16] We have some questions. [41:17] I believe we're ready for some questions for the vice president. [41:20] Yeah, let's do some questions for the audience. [41:21] Oh, right here. [41:23] Okay, there we are. [41:24] Hello. [41:24] Hi, my name is Hope. [41:26] I have a serious question and then a fun question. [41:29] Okay. [41:29] So your serious question is, when you were growing up, who was your voice slash influencer that [41:36] help you see your conservative views? [41:38] And then for now, who couldn't we look at as an influencer or like a voice? [41:46] Okay, so that's very interesting. [41:48] So, you know, when I was a kid and I was kind of developing my politics, there was actually [41:54] a radio host, a guy who founded this organization called Focus on the Family, James Dobson, who [42:01] was really influential to me. [42:02] And he was just, you know, he was a good Christian guy. [42:06] He talked about the family. [42:07] He talked about things I cared a lot about. [42:09] And I came from a broken home. [42:11] So when he talked about the ways in which a broken home had a negative effect on kids, [42:16] it made sense to me because I was seeing it in my own life. [42:19] And then here was a guy who was actually talking about it. [42:21] And what I liked about him is that he didn't talk about it in this judgmental way, right? [42:25] He wasn't attacking a kid like me who didn't have everything handed to him. [42:28] He was just explaining in a very real world with a fundamentally Christian underpinning, [42:34] here's what happens when things are broken. [42:37] And, you know, when you ask who are some of the conservative influencers or the political [42:42] influencers today, there are a few people that I look to who I think have very, very [42:46] smart and wise spiritual wisdom. [42:49] I mean, like, I think Andrew and Blake and the podcast that they have at TPUSA is amazing. [42:54] I listen to it all the time. [42:55] I think it's great. [42:56] You know, I think if you want a good laugh, I love Theo Vaughn. [42:59] Like, he's one of my favorites. [43:00] He's just incredible. [43:01] And he's got one of these senses of humor where, like, 30% of the time it goes completely [43:06] over my head. [43:07] And 70% of the time he's the funniest person imaginable. [43:10] But I think Theo has a good heart. [43:12] And that's one of the reasons why I really like listening to his show. [43:15] And then just in terms of, like, you know, pure politics, of course you should be listening [43:20] to the vice president of these United States. [43:23] Thank you. [43:23] And then my fun question is if you could have a free day with zero responsibilities, what [43:31] would your day look like? [43:33] Oh, that's a good question. [43:35] And honestly, I would add not just zero responsibilities, but total anonymity. [43:40] Because the thing that I really, I love this job. [43:44] It's very cool. [43:44] I'm very honored to have it. [43:45] But I would really, what I really want to do, honestly, is take Usha and the three kids [43:52] and just walk to a local cafe, eat a ton of pancakes, and then take the kids to the zoo [43:59] without anybody knowing who the hell I am. [44:01] That's what I would do if I had a day. [44:03] Thank you. [44:03] Thank you. [44:05] It was very nice. [44:08] All right. [44:08] Hi, J.D. [44:09] My name is Jacob. [44:10] And I'm also from Cincinnati. [44:11] So I get you. [44:12] I'm with you there on the zoo. [44:13] That's pretty awesome. [44:14] Yeah. [44:15] Appreciate that. [44:15] Thank you. [44:16] Anyway, my question is that there's a lot of division within our country right now from [44:21] right to left and everybody in between. [44:24] And leading up to the 2024 election and Charlie's death, I found that Charlie was definitely [44:30] the glue that held at least the conservative movement together. [44:33] Right. [44:34] And since he has passed, there has been a lot of division within our conservative movement, [44:39] and especially with the 2026 midterms and the 2028 election coming up. [44:44] How do you think the conservative movement can be united? [44:47] And if there is a who, who do you think that could be? [44:51] Well, that's a very good question. [44:52] And look, man, I agree with you. [44:54] I think part of the division is Charlie's death because Charlie, as Andrew knows well, [44:59] and a lot of this was behind the scenes, Charlie was the guy who was talking to different [45:04] segments of the movement, right? [45:06] So, I mean, just this, this Iran thing, Charlie would be the guy who was talking to the people [45:11] who really wanted to go to war with Iran and the people who really didn't want to go [45:14] to war with Iran. [45:15] And he would try to find ways for those guys to work together, even if they disagreed over [45:19] one issue, right? [45:20] And so Charlie's absence is a huge thing. [45:24] And my answer to your question is, who replaces Charlie Kirk? [45:27] I think it's going to be a combination of people. [45:29] I think Andrew's got a role. [45:31] I've got a role. [45:31] You guys have got a role. [45:33] And I think the most important thing to remember about how Charlie thought about this is he always [45:38] recognized what was the goal and who was the real problem. [45:42] The real problem is not a person who disagrees with you about this or that foreign policy [45:47] or domestic policy issue. [45:49] The real problem is the person who killed our friend and anybody who defended the people [45:55] who killed our friend. [45:56] And we've got to keep our eye on the ball and recognize that those who want to kill conservatives [46:02] because they have the wrong viewpoints, we need to defeat those people. [46:05] We need to unite with each other and actually fight together to defeat the real enemy that's [46:10] out there. [46:10] That's the most important message. [46:13] And I'll also give you, you know, one of the reasons why I'm optimistic about this is [46:19] even when Charlie was alive, you saw some of these divisions starting to bubble to the [46:24] surface, okay? [46:26] And I remember, I mean, Charlie died in September of 2025. [46:30] I hadn't been vice president. [46:31] I mean, I'd been vice president for all of eight months when Charlie lost his life to [46:35] an assassin's gun. [46:37] You know, one thing that makes people in politics sort of divide against each other is just being [46:43] in power, right? [46:45] When you have control of the House, the Senate, the White House, and there's not an election [46:51] around the horizon, it's very easy to forget what your goal is. [46:55] Well, starting in a few months, we're going to have primaries that are over, we're going [46:59] to have candidates on the ballot, and we're all going to need to get out there and work [47:02] hard because the people who want to kill Donald Trump, the people who want to throw Donald [47:07] Trump in prison, the people who murdered our friend, and then the people who celebrated [47:11] it afterwards, those people are trying to achieve political power. [47:15] We cannot let them, and we have to unite to make sure that doesn't happen. [47:19] Amen. [47:19] Thank you, J.D. [47:20] Good evening, Mr. Vice President. [47:25] Thank you for taking the time to come out here. [47:27] My name is Dane Hoff. [47:28] I'm originally from the great state of Arizona and proudly voted for you in Donald J. Trump [47:33] in November 2024. [47:34] There we go. [47:35] And my question is that many people believe the midterms are already gone for us. [47:40] I disagree. [47:41] So what is the game plan to win the midterms, and what's the strategy to maintain the coalitions [47:48] Trump won in 2024? [47:50] So number one is, I totally agree with you. [47:53] The idea that the midterms are gone is preposterous. [47:55] And if you go back to 2018, and you look at the polling picture in 2018, that was Trump's [48:00] first term. [48:01] And what it showed is that Republicans were getting crushed in the generic ballot by 10, [48:07] 11, 12 points. [48:08] The worst polls right now, the worst polls, not all of them, the worst polls have us down [48:14] by five or six points. [48:15] And what happened in 2018 is that as we got closer to the election, and again, the right [48:22] kind of unified in the face of an election campaign, what happened is those margins narrowed, and [48:28] the Republican Party did much better than expected in 2018. [48:31] It wasn't a great election by any means. [48:34] But the idea that this is done now, it's ridiculous. [48:36] And frankly, it's cynical, pessimistic garbage pushed by people who want us to completely [48:43] give up. [48:44] Don't give up. [48:45] We've got to keep on fighting. [48:46] That's the fundamental and most important thing, is the people telling you to give up [48:50] on the midterms are the people who want us to lose the midterms. [48:53] Don't listen to them. [48:54] But what's the game plan? [48:55] You ask what the game plan is. [48:56] So I'll give you a little good news and a little bad news on that, because the bad news [49:01] and the good news about the modern Congress is, whether you agree with this or not, the [49:06] districts are so gerrymandered, there aren't that many battleground congressional districts [49:10] left. [49:11] Like, if you go back to 2014, where I think Republicans won like 80 seats in the House, [49:17] that's not going to happen. [49:18] Elections like that don't happen anymore. [49:20] So what we've got to fight is 20 or 30 districts where there's actually some real competition [49:28] in those districts. [49:29] We've got to put a lot of resources. [49:31] We've got to knock on a lot of doors. [49:32] We've got to get out the marginal Trump voter, because one of the things we saw in 2024 is [49:37] a lot of our voters, they're dedicated, they love the president, they don't show up in [49:41] midterm elections. [49:42] So we've got to knock on as many doors and make sure those people get out and vote. [49:45] We have a game plan, but the House is going to be determined by 20 or 30 seats. [49:50] We've just got to win as many of those as possible, and yes, we can win the midterms [49:54] in 2026. [49:55] Thank you. [49:56] And we should say, what's happening in Virginia? [50:00] Exactly. [50:00] Exactly. [50:01] And this is the thing. [50:02] Democrats always overreact. [50:03] They always overreach. [50:05] They always do crazy things. [50:07] And look, there are districts where MSNBC will say, well, this district, Donald Trump won [50:14] it by 20 points, and then this guy only won it by 12 points. [50:17] That means everything's terrible. [50:18] You look in Virginia, you look at some of these other places where Kamala Harris won [50:23] it by four points, and now Republicans are winning by a few points. [50:26] There's a lot of reason to think that we have a good chance here. [50:29] We've just got to keep on working at it. [50:31] Sorry. [50:31] Next question. [50:31] And the redistricting. [50:32] Make sure if you're watching in Virginia. [50:34] Yes. [50:34] Yeah, sorry. [50:35] Virginia, vote against the Obama-Spangberger redistricting plan. [50:40] Yep. [50:40] Vote against it. [50:41] And frankly, the polls are moving in our direction a little bit. [50:43] We've just got to get out there and defeat that ballot measure. [50:45] Hi, Mr. Vice President. [50:49] Thank you so much for being here. [50:50] It's truly incredible that you can come all across the world and then just be in Athens. [50:55] So my question, not to sound pessimistic, but my question revolves around Congress. [51:03] Sure. [51:03] And, you know, many Americans feel discouraged, even somewhat dissatisfied. [51:08] You know, the executive sets out a plan. [51:11] We want to do something. [51:13] But Congress sometimes is just unable to deliver and with, you know, the inability to keep the [51:19] government open during shutdowns and all of that stuff. [51:22] What are your thoughts? [51:24] I know leaders such as Governor DeSantis have called on term limits for Congress members, [51:28] balanced budget amendments, and banning stock trading. [51:31] But what do you think are just some practical measures that we can take to ensure Congress [51:37] is delivering results to the American people? [51:39] Yeah. [51:39] So great question. [51:40] And I remember during the State of the Union address when the president talked about banning [51:46] members of Congress from trading stocks, I looked over at Nancy Pelosi and she was sitting [51:50] in her chair like. [51:54] And if you if you watch the State of the Union, I start laughing hysterically. [51:58] It's because I looked over and saw the look on Nancy Pelosi's face. [52:02] Look, I think people don't have any idea how bad the corruption is in Washington, D.C. [52:06] So, yeah, I love the idea of term limits for Congress. [52:09] You know what I love more? [52:10] I love the idea of term limits for bureaucrats. [52:17] Nobody in Washington, D.C. should be able to sit in a chair for 30 years, do your public [52:22] service and go back home and do something productive. [52:28] But but but look, so much of what's broken about about Congress really does go down to [52:34] corruption. [52:35] So, you know, there are so many examples, let's say, of a congressman who got a classified [52:41] briefing on COVID. [52:42] And it's like, oh, there's this crazy Wuhan flu that's floating around Wuhan, China. [52:47] And and, you know, again, at that point, like everybody called it the Wuhan flu. [52:51] And then you come out of that classified briefing and you buy a bunch of biotech stocks or you [52:56] buy a bunch of pharmaceutical stocks or maybe, you know, you sell airline stocks because you [53:02] know that the airlines aren't going to work that well if everybody's sort of sheltering [53:05] in place and governments are shutting down the economy. [53:08] That stuff should be illegal and you should go to prison for it. [53:11] And if you just cut out the basic corruption, you'd solve a lot of the problems. [53:15] Thank you so much. [53:19] This will be the last question. [53:21] OK, can we take two more? [53:23] Because I like it. [53:25] I like answering questions. [53:26] We'll take a couple more. [53:28] Hi, Mr. Vice President. [53:30] Before I get to my question, I just want to number one, thank you for your service to the [53:33] United States military. [53:34] And number two, welcome you to the greatest university in this country. [53:39] Thank you. [53:44] My question is, as somebody whose parents adopted three children from the foster care [53:48] system and coming from a broken household yourself, we have seen different sides of a [53:53] somewhat similar narrative. [53:55] How would you how would you respond to somebody who says that the only way to succeed in this [54:00] country is to come from a generationally wealthy family? [54:04] That's a good question. [54:05] Wow. [54:06] I didn't expect that one. [54:07] Well, first of all, it's just not true. [54:11] And I think that one of the things that a very powerful thing that somebody told me is [54:17] that, you know, disadvantage and unfairness, it's just it is true. [54:22] You know, not not everybody started at the exact same place. [54:25] Some people were dealt a much worse hand than others. [54:27] But what somebody again, this person gave me a very good piece of advice and said, no matter [54:33] what hand you were dealt, you have the responsibility to play it as well as you can. [54:37] And I think that for me, at least, there was something empowering for me about recognizing [54:45] that, yeah, my life wasn't as easy as most other kids. [54:48] Like I wasn't born with money. [54:50] I wasn't born with parents who had connections. [54:52] But I still had a responsibility to God. [54:55] I had a responsibility to myself to play that hand as well as I possibly could. [54:59] And that was very that was very empowering to me. [55:01] So I think first the message is, look at the stories. [55:04] Look at Clarence Thomas. [55:05] Look at all the people in the United States who have come from very humble beginnings and [55:10] achieved great things. [55:12] You can believe, as I do, that we have to do a lot better job by the young people of this [55:16] country. [55:17] Well, at the same time, knowing that you are the master of your own destiny. [55:21] Never give up on yourself and never believe that you're a victim of circumstances, because [55:25] when you believe that, you will be a victim of circumstances. [55:29] Thank you so much. [55:31] And go Dawgs. [55:33] She's trolling you with that. [55:35] I know. [55:35] I know. [55:36] Hi, Mr. Vice President. [55:38] Hello. [55:38] My name is Esther. [55:40] This is so cool. [55:41] So I know like the whole H-1B thing you talked about, but I am also a daughter of a legal immigrant [55:51] who came here on an H-1B visa. [55:53] So my mom and my dad, we've been here for over 10 years. [55:58] I was born here, well, more than over 10 years, so I'm 20 years old. [56:02] Sorry. [56:03] Sorry, I'm a little nervous. [56:05] That's okay. [56:06] Take your time. [56:07] But like for people who have been here on H-1B visas, it's been really hard, like getting [56:14] the green card based on everything with quotas and everything. [56:18] Like my family, we're from India. [56:19] The quotas are so bad, and they're still open, and they're taking the money. [56:24] How do we fix the immigration system for people who have been waiting for the green [56:29] cards for so long, and they're not getting it in time? [56:33] Because during the, a lot of people don't know it, during the Biden administration, to [56:38] get a green card, it would have taken my family 150 years to get a green card. [56:44] So how is the Trump administration like trying to fix that for people who have been here [56:49] are paying taxes and doing a lot of stuff that citizens do, but they can't do a lot [56:56] of things that citizens do? [56:57] Like we're also looking for the American dream. [57:00] Like my parents, they send me to private Catholic school, even though sometimes we used to live [57:06] paycheck to paycheck. [57:07] So how is the Trump administration going to fix that for like people like that? [57:11] Sure, sure. [57:12] So let me just offer a couple observations there. [57:15] So one, I appreciate the question. [57:17] And two, what I would say is, you know, you heard me talk about H-1B fraud, because I think [57:23] there is a lot of fraud in the H-1B system. [57:26] And I think you can believe on the one hand that there's a lot of fraud in the H-1B system, [57:30] while also believing that there are people who have come to the United States in the past [57:34] who have enriched this country. [57:35] And look, I'm married to the daughter of immigrants from India, and, you know, I love my in-laws. [57:41] And they're great people, and they've been great contributors to the United States of [57:44] America. [57:45] But I also think that when you become an American citizen, whether your family has nine generations [57:50] of lineage in the United States, or whether your family has zero generations of lineage [57:54] in the United States, one of the responsibilities that we must expect of citizens, and I, of course, [58:00] you know, it's always hard to talk in specifics about your situation, because I don't know about [58:04] it, but one of the obligations of citizens is that you have to think about the best interest [58:09] of the country, and not the country you came from beforehand, and not of any sort of, any [58:15] group that you came from, you've got to think of yourself as an American. [58:19] The system only works if everybody thinks of themselves as an American. [58:23] I remember having this conversation with my father-in-law, who's an amazing guy, and, [58:28] you know, it was actually during a Senate event that I had done, where I had somebody who [58:34] came up to me, and I'm sure a great person, like a wonderful person, it was a Ukrainian [58:39] American in Cleveland, Ohio. [58:41] You know, I was campaigning for the Senate, there are a lot of Ukrainian Americans in [58:43] Cleveland, Ohio. [58:45] And this person got really agitated at me, because I was saying, we should stop funding [58:49] the Ukraine war, okay? [58:50] And I still believe that, obviously, and it's one of the things I'm proudest that we've done [58:53] in his administration, is we've told Europe that if you want to buy weapons, you can, [58:57] but the United States is not buying weapons and sending them to Ukraine anymore. [59:00] We're just out of that business. [59:01] It's a very good thing. [59:02] But these Ukrainian American, again, a kind person, they probably didn't vote for me after [59:08] this conversation, but he was kind of sticking his finger in my face saying, you need to support [59:14] my country. [59:15] You need to support my country. [59:17] And I said, sir, with all due respect, if you're an American, your country is the United [59:21] States of America, not a place that you immigrated from. [59:24] Whenever that was. [59:28] And it occurred to me, and I know this is the last question, I'll try to be quicker, [59:32] but it occurred to me that my father-in-law, who came from India, who moved to the United [59:36] States, who got an education and became an American citizen, that never once, never once [59:43] in my life has he ever said, you have to do this or you should do this because it's in [59:49] the best interest of the country that I came from. [59:51] And I think that attitude, to the extent that attitude dominates among the new generation [59:56] of Americans, that makes Americans feel welcoming towards people because everybody, again, whether [1:00:03] your family's been here for 300 years or one second, to be an American means to look out [1:00:07] for Americans first. [1:00:08] And that's the perspective we have to take to our immigration policy. [1:00:11] Thank you. [1:00:12] Thank you. [1:00:13] Okay. [1:00:15] Yeah. [1:00:16] We'll do one more. [1:00:17] Sorry. [1:00:18] Real quick. [1:00:19] I love this, but I got to go. [1:00:20] Thank you so much, Mr. Vice President, and coming to UGA and allowing us to express our freedom [1:00:29] of speech. [1:00:30] So thank you so much. [1:00:31] The first lady said Epstein was not acting alone and had to be held accountable. [1:00:37] She said and called for a congressional hearing, but President Trump multiple times called the [1:00:43] files a hoax. [1:00:44] The acting attorney general said Epstein shouldn't be a part of anything at the DOJ. [1:00:50] If there are compromised government officials in those files, how can the public trust that [1:00:56] this administration will hold anyone accountable when its own Justice Department is actively [1:01:02] blocking the investigation? [1:01:05] Given that, can you clearly articulate your stance on whether federal entities should have [1:01:12] a formal investigation? [1:01:14] Thank you. [1:01:15] Yeah. [1:01:20] So, first of all, you said the associate attorney general or something. [1:01:23] I haven't seen that quote, but here's my view on the Epstein matter. [1:01:28] Number one, the guy was clearly a scumbag, okay? [1:01:32] Number two, he clearly had extraordinary connections both with intelligence services, both inside the [1:01:37] United States and outside the United States, and also with a lot of very wealthy and powerful [1:01:42] people, okay? [1:01:43] Number three, I have been a firm advocate, and will continue to be a firm advocate of [1:01:48] where we have something, and you know, like, I'm probably more obsessed with this than most [1:01:54] officials, okay? [1:01:55] Probably more obsessed with this than most people even in this room, is when you see somebody [1:02:00] who says something in an email that suggests, you know, there's one email I read, and it's [1:02:05] been a little while ago, but it was talking about, you know, one person sent an email to [1:02:09] Jeffrey Epstein saying, oh, there were some really nice, like, pizzas and grape sodas or [1:02:14] something like that. [1:02:16] And I remember it sounded like the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, but here it was in like [1:02:19] an email from a guy, and my reaction to that was, we should absolutely investigate that [1:02:24] person, okay? [1:02:26] And you know, you remind me, I'm going to follow up on that to see whether we've investigated [1:02:30] that person, because we should. [1:02:32] We absolutely should. [1:02:33] When you see evidence of sexual assault, sexual misconduct, regardless of whether you're powerful [1:02:37] or not, in fact, you should probably investigate it more if you're a powerful person, right? [1:02:42] I don't want powerful people, you know, being involved in this disgusting behavior. [1:02:47] But I have to defend the president on this, because when he said that it was a hoax, what [1:02:53] he was talking about was this democratic idea that he's connected to Epstein. [1:02:58] If you look at those emails, it's like, you know, they were in the same, you know, everybody [1:03:03] in Palm Beach knew everybody, okay? [1:03:05] Like the president has said he knew Jeffrey Epstein and he was a scumbag. [1:03:08] But what you see in those emails is that Jeffrey Epstein hated Donald Trump, and Donald Trump [1:03:14] hated Jeffrey Epstein. [1:03:15] In fact, one of the emails is about Donald Trump narking on Jeffrey Epstein to the local [1:03:20] sheriff saying, this guy's a scumbag. [1:03:22] You should go and pick him up. [1:03:24] So when Donald Trump says, when the president says, this is a hoax, he's not saying it's a [1:03:28] hoax that Epstein was the scumbag. [1:03:30] He's not saying that it's a hoax that Epstein was connected to powerful people. [1:03:34] He's saying this democratic idea that somehow he was Epstein's best friend, that is a hoax. [1:03:40] And if you look at the emails, it's obvious that Jeffrey Epstein hated Donald J. Trump. [1:03:44] And by the way, one of the best signs for whether you're a good person or not, for whether you're [1:03:50] a decent human being, is if the worst people in the world hate your guts. [1:03:54] The fact that Jeffrey Epstein hates Donald J. Trump is a pretty good thing for Donald [1:03:58] J. Trump. [1:04:00] Yeah. [1:04:01] Well, and there's, I will say, by the way, just so you know, the DOJ, just before we got [1:04:04] on stage, I guess, I saw the news, has unredacted fully the six million documents, made it available [1:04:12] to your congressmen and women. [1:04:14] So put pressure on them to go give you a report of what they find. [1:04:17] Mr. Vice President, thank you so much. [1:04:19] Thanks, Mitch. [1:04:20] Appreciate you. [1:04:21] Thank you.