JD Vance: Why I Had to Admit I Was Wrong — Hang Out with Sean Hannity

[0:01] I can't get over my grandmother and her story if she raised me because my mom struggled with [0:08] addiction for so much of my early life. And in a mammal, as I called her, she left school when [0:13] she was 13, pregnant, married my grandfather, who was at the time 16. You will have that front row [0:21] seat. What have you learned from him? He has the best instincts about human beings of anybody I've [0:26] ever met. There's an almost like spiritual dimension of where he understands whether [0:34] somebody's telling them the truth or not. To think that her grandson, the person that she sacrificed [0:40] for, has now had all these incredible opportunities to serve the country. She would appreciate more than [0:44] any person, both the president's comedy, but just the comedy of this life and how amazing it is that [0:52] I found my way here. The president, he's so unconventional. This operation that he had [0:58] the wherewithal to start completely decimated their nuclear program. And he will at the same time say, [1:05] you know what, if you guys want to do something different, let's do something different. We're [1:08] going to verify that. But that's what I love about the president is he's got two modes or usually more [1:14] than that. And he's always willing to think outside the box. This will be the most dressed up I ever am [1:26] for a podcast ever, ever, ever. We have the vice president of our country, JD Vance. We're going [1:32] to talk about news. We'll talk about Iran. We'll talk about President Trump, his experience. This [1:37] incredible book, without faith in my life, I say it all the time, I don't have a life. It's the most [1:45] important thing in my life. This book is deep. It goes very, very deep about his faith, finding my way [1:53] back to faith. It's called communion. I suggest you get it. Uh, Mr. Vice President, great to see [1:58] you. Thanks for hanging out with us. Good to see you, man. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I got [2:01] him to take the tie off. This is, and this is the most dressed I'll ever be for the podcast. Oh, [2:05] that's right. And I'm sure the president will, will watch the show and will say, why weren't you [2:09] wearing a tie to both of us? Well, it's not, it won't be as bad as Zelensky, that moment that he went [2:14] into the Oval Office. That was not a good moment for him. That was not a good moment for him. And it's [2:20] funny because things kind of worked out. I think, you know, we, we, we were able to repair [2:23] that relationship, but they're, they're just, the president has a certain sense that you [2:27] ought to respect the place. You ought to respect the institution, respect the office. And one [2:31] of the ways you do that is by dressing like a normal person. And I think that's, it's, it's, [2:37] it's, it's, it's a very old fashioned thing. But he doesn't dress like a normal person. [2:40] Well, I mean, he, he always has, it's always a Navy suit, right? It's almost always a solid [2:45] tie. It's always black shoes. Like he'll bust the chops of some of the cabinet [2:49] members. If they've got brown shoes on or like, you know, okay, so I'll never forget [2:54] this. So 9-11, 2024. So it's, it's during the campaign where at the 9-11 Memorial, I'd [3:00] never done this. It's unbelievable, right? I mean, you've probably done this many times, [3:04] but I'd never been there on 9-11. They're reading out the names, but there's at one point [3:08] the president turns around and looks at Don Jr. And Don has like a spread collar on. [3:14] And the president's like, oh, that's a pretty wide collar there, Don. And you can tell, [3:19] like, it just was, yeah, absolutely a dig. So I've always, I've always Navy suit, [3:24] black shoes, and a conventional collar. I'm going to get to this later. [3:28] This man lives rent-free, more people's heads. Absolutely. Um, I'll, I'll go to one instance [3:35] now because P you, people have read about it, but I've experienced it. And he's always like [3:41] in front of you and secretary of state Rubio. We'll go, oh, who do you like? You know, who, [3:49] who, who's, who's the next person in line in front of both of you in front of both of us. [3:53] And he does it and he has fun with it. And then he talks about a unity ticket, [3:57] but it's such quintessential Donald Trump. That's right. And it's for fun. It's, [4:02] there's nothing serious behind it. No, no. I mean, he, one of the ways I think he does relate to [4:07] people is by busting their chops a little bit. And if you've, you know, if you've ever played a sport, [4:11] if you've ever been a locker room, if you've ever been just around guys, one of the ways we relate [4:15] to each other, of course, is by busting chops. So I always like take it as a sign of, you know, [4:20] respect of affection. And I think that that's one of the things that just the media has never [4:26] understood about Donald Trump. They've never understood his humor. They've never understood [4:29] how to, how he relates to people. And so they always misinterpret or straight up lie about some of [4:36] the things that he says, you know, this better than most, he's actually like a very warm guy. [4:40] Like I did another podcast interview. Warm, funny, warm. I mean, super funny, [4:44] like off the charts, funny. Yeah. Unbelievable since comedic timing, but I did another podcast [4:49] earlier today. And somebody was asking, you know, come out in a few days. And somebody was asking me [4:54] like, what, what is the thing that people don't appreciate about him? What, what have you learned [4:58] about him that you didn't know when you just saw him as this political figure on TV? And I said, [5:03] extremely warm, extremely funny, and also like very loving to his kids and his grandkids. That's [5:09] like a side of him that people don't see, but yeah, man, it's, it's fun to serve in the cabinet. [5:13] He's definitely getting busted chops a little bit, sometimes deserved, sometimes not, but you just [5:18] got to roll with the bunches. You know, the thing, um, I've gotten to know you much better now, [5:23] but I didn't know you when I did the first interview after you got picked for vice president. [5:29] I remember well. And I'm like, I had long conversations with Don Jr., who was a big [5:34] advocate for you. Sure. And this is what stands out, not only in this book, and I really got a lot [5:41] out of this book. It's amazing. It's almost a confessional in a lot of ways. Yeah. You know, [5:45] you, you go there, you admit fault, you didn't like the person you were, you changed all that. [5:50] So there's a great redemption story. However, you are the most unlikely person when you look at your [5:57] background. Sure. Appalachia drugs. You talk about your first bloody nose at five years old, [6:03] black eye at six, um, a grandmother that loved you in poverty and then go to Ohio state, then go to [6:11] Yale law, then serve time, uh, in Iraq and all of this. And now you're the vice president. [6:18] Isn't it crazy? That's not, that, that is not central casting to quote Donald Trump. [6:25] No, man. It's, it's a crazy story arc, but it definitely is not the conventional pathway. [6:30] And I do, when I look back at my life, I get chills sometimes for, for a couple of reasons. I mean, [6:35] one is this is an only in America story, right? I think about gratitude is one of the most important [6:42] virtues I think that any person can have. And I just feel such immense gratitude to the country, [6:46] not because I'm the vice president United States as cool as it is and amazing as it is, [6:50] but because I was able to have a normal life because I was able to, you know, marry a girl [6:55] that I was in love with because I was able to provide my kids, the things that I didn't have, [6:58] like the American dream, I think means a million different things to a million different people. [7:03] But I think the fundamental essence of it is that you want to be able to give the people that you [7:07] love something that you didn't have when you were growing up. And for me, that was, that was [7:12] stability. That was, you know, just, just a straightforward family. That was my kids knowing [7:16] when they laid their head down at night, they were going to wake up. They were not going to move. [7:20] They were not going to have a different person revolving in and out of their life. They were [7:23] just going to be able to count on me. And that's the way in which the country has been, has been [7:27] the best to me. But it's also, you know, my, my grandmother, I mean, I, I can't get over my [7:32] grandmother and her story. You know, she raised me because my mom struggled with addiction for so much [7:38] of her early life or so much of my early life, I should say. And, you know, mammal, as I called [7:43] her, she left school when she was 13, pregnant, married my grandfather, who was at the time 16, [7:50] had a miscarriage, moved to Ohio, like built a life. These two kids, I mean, literally teenagers [7:57] and were able to make something. They were never wealthy. Uh, they were at best middle-class and at [8:05] worst and very deep property, right? They kind of oscillated like a lot of people do, [8:08] but man, to think that her grandson, the person that she sacrificed for has now had all these [8:16] incredible opportunities to serve the country. I just, you know, it's one of the good things about, [8:20] about being a Christian. I know, I don't, I don't think, I know that she knows what's going on [8:26] and she's laughing up there and having a good time about it because she would, she would appreciate [8:31] more than any person, both the president's comedy, but just the comedy of this life and how amazing [8:38] it is that I found my way here. It's, it's crazy, man. I don't know what else to say about it. [8:42] But we're, the country in some ways is in the middle of a debate I didn't think we'd ever have. [8:47] If you listen to the hard left today, they're saying they want to attack billionaires. [8:51] They didn't earn that. They didn't achieve anything and so on and so forth. Now, I do believe [8:58] that, for example, I always describe my life as an undeserved life. I've had opportunities that I [9:03] never expected. Of course. You know, the son of a prison guard and the son of a waiter and family [9:09] corporation officer. Of course. So I, I can relate to it, but not on your level because you're talking [9:16] about one of the most impoverished, difficult, challenging, tough, a mom addicted, abusive [9:25] environment. We're growing up. Sure. And then a grandmother, and this goes to the faith side of [9:30] your book. So devout. She read scripture every day, took notes, wrote down prayers and like very, [9:38] very deep in the faith. That's, that's absolutely right. I mean, again, she didn't go to high school. [9:42] So she left school when she was 13 years old, but was the smartest person maybe I've ever met. [9:49] And it just like this natural brilliance, quick way. I mean, it kind of reminds me of the president in [9:53] some ways, right. Just to sort of instinctive brilliance to her. And she, she, she really [9:59] tried to like, not just read the Bible, but understand it and engage with it. And she, [10:04] she certainly passed that on to me is one of the ways that she came to know God. I think all of us [10:09] have our different pathways to God, but one of the ways that she came to know God was to try to [10:13] understand them. Like, what is it? What is this all about? What does he want me to do? What does he [10:16] expect from me? And I think that was a very, very important part of, of my own faith journey. [10:21] But, you know, she just struggled her whole life. I mean, I think, I think back on this and I know [10:27] there are a lot of, you know, grandmas out there and single dads and just people who are struggling [10:31] every single day, some of whom will never get to see their kids ultimately flourish and become what [10:37] they want them to become. But that's what I just love about like the whole human tragedy and comedy [10:43] is that, you know, people bust their ass, excuse my language. They work very hard. [10:49] I think most people say bust your ass. I think most people are used to that. That's okay. [10:54] It's good. But, but, you know, they, they, all of the work that we engage in, it always bears fruit, [11:02] not on our time. It's always on God's time. We don't fully appreciate it. My grandmother could have [11:07] never guessed what would happen to me, but it always works out even if it's on God's time and not [11:13] ours. And that's one of the things, one of the important lessons I took both from my grandmother, [11:18] but from scripture, just from talking and thinking about these things is like a core lesson of the [11:23] Bible. And it's kind of an uncomfortable lesson. If you think about it is that things always work [11:29] out, but on God's time, and he, he's not always particularly concerned with whether we understand [11:34] it or not. Right. Like there's an element of submission. There's an element of you just kind [11:40] of kind of trust the plan. And I think that that's a very powerful part is of, of, of sort of Christian [11:47] teaching is it leads to a certain humility. None of us know exactly how this is going to work out, [11:52] but it also leads to certain patients. And I think it's very valuable to me in this, in this particular [11:56] job where you're dealing with so many crises and so many world historical things. Sometimes you just [12:02] got to have a little patience. And sometimes you got to do the best job that you can expect that it's [12:07] going to work out, but not assume that, you know, every little thing about every little issue [12:12] because nobody does it's in God's hands. I think that's all true too. All right. I want to be [12:18] honest. Hearing loss is something a lot of people just don't like to talk about. It can be frustrating, [12:24] embarrassing, you know, maybe you're turning up the TV too loud and people are, you know, saying, [12:30] why is it so loud? Or asking people to repeat themselves, or you're sitting in a restaurant, [12:34] nodding along in a conversation. You're not hearing what's being said. I've been in radio [12:40] since 1987. I know a thing or two about hearing loss. Everybody in radio, they lose their hearing [12:45] to some extent. Now, a lot of people felt like hearing aids would make them look old. Audion, [12:52] they've changed all, look at this, look at this. They've changed all of that, making hearing aids [12:57] modern, discreet, and you know what? Kind of cool again. If you have them, nobody will even know [13:02] you have them. They have a sleek design, actually multiple designs. They look more like headphones [13:07] than old style hearing aids, and they're making them very affordable. That's good for everybody. [13:14] Audion was founded by three grandsons who wanted to help their grandparents hear better. So instead [13:19] of costing thousands and thousands, Audion hearing aids, they start at 98 bucks. It comes in this [13:26] beautiful box, this beautiful case, and it's incredible. And by the way, 98 bucks, no prescription, [13:32] no huge markup. You order all of it online. It ships right to your home, and you can start [13:38] hearing better tomorrow when it arrives. Audion helps you be connected again. Hearing your family [13:44] clearly, not having to say, what? What? Who wants to hear that every day? Anyway, 1.5 million Americans [13:51] now use Audion, and they keep telling their friends that have hearing loss, you're going to want to [13:56] try it. Anyway, get your hearing back at audionhearing.com. That's A-U-D-I-E-N hearing.com [14:04] today. Now, I don't ask this as a got you question, but I remember the first interview, [14:11] and I talked to Don about this. I said, Don, he called him Hitler a number of years prior. [14:18] And this is an amazing thing, because one thing I know you know about President Trump, [14:23] he doesn't forget things. No. Especially if somebody attacks him, but it wasn't a big deal [14:30] to him. That's interesting. And here's the real question, because you've answered that question [14:35] a hundred times. Yeah, yeah. Probably a thousand. Is what changed? Where were you then? Because I know [14:44] you are totally supportive of the president. There's no ambiguity here. So that's why I mean, [14:49] it's not a trick question. It's not. No, no, not at all. But the process, because in that sense, [14:55] you're almost admitting the word repentance in Latin means to change your heart. Yeah. You had a [15:00] big change of heart as it related to President Trump. No, that's exactly right. And I think it's [15:04] very important. And I do a little bit of this in this book. You know, I talk about things that I [15:09] got wrong, and I think it's important to sort of acknowledge the things that you got wrong. [15:13] It's funny. It's very raw. Yeah, no, no. I mean, intentionally. So, you know, like politicians [15:18] write books. And I started this book back in 2017. And as I sort of edited it and got to the point [15:25] where we could publish it, one of the things I wanted to do was, like, I didn't want this to be [15:29] like a politician book. This isn't like, here's eight policies to solve eight issues. Like, I actually [15:35] wanted it to be raw and unfiltered, even though that was, you know, a little risky for somebody in [15:39] my position, because I'm sure people will use it in various ways. But you go back to the president, [15:44] I was thinking about, okay, I said this, or I wrote this back in 2016. I was talking about his [15:50] foreign policy. And I said, and I'm paraphrasing here. But I said that no military leader or no [15:58] military expert thinks that these plans have any legitimacy or thinks these plans are wise. And I [16:05] went back and I thought about this. And I thought, well, the fact that the military experts thought [16:12] that Donald Trump was wrong, was in fact, a big piece of evidence that he was right. [16:18] On which particular, you're talking about his first term? [16:20] It was like, this was before he was even elected. [16:23] Okay. [16:24] But I wrote something critical about him. And I realized that it goes back to a little bit, [16:29] some of the themes I write about in the book is that I became very arrogant. I became very arrogant [16:34] about what I knew. My grandmother, who again, was the smartest person I've ever met, devout Christian, [16:39] but not an educated woman by any means. I sort of thought of her as a simpleton, as a bumpkin, [16:43] right? I know, I called myself an atheist at the time. And I sort of had this arrogance about me that [16:50] I knew everything. And people like my grandmother didn't know things. And I think that that attitude [16:55] is unfortunately something that our elites, right, our very, our most prestigious educational [17:02] institutions, it actually encourages people to develop the sense that you're hyper-rational [17:07] and you know everything because you've thought everything. And it, it underweights experience [17:11] and it underweights experience, it underweights instinct. And I think that so many of the things [17:17] that people said about Donald Trump is it was experts who assumed they knew everything about [17:23] economics. It was military experts who assumed they knew everything about foreign policy. [17:27] And it was frankly, if you look back on it, it was a bunch of people who screwed up the country, [17:31] but didn't learn a single lesson from it. And by the way, I don't even get mad at them. [17:35] Like it's one thing to make a mistake. I've made mistakes. I've made mistakes as vice president [17:39] United States, but it's another thing to be so arrogant that you can't admit that you made a [17:45] mistake. And what I saw is that Donald Trump was sort of revealing all of these broken institutions [17:52] in our country, all of the elite universities, all of the, you know, the media institutions that form [17:57] opinion, he was revealing that they were frankly, not nearly as smart as they thought they were. [18:02] And that was, that was like a powerful revelation for me because that made me realize, you know what, [18:07] there's an arrogance to me, both to how I understand the president, how I understand some [18:12] of the things that he said, how I understand his whole policy worldview. And there are other things, [18:17] Sean, like, you know, you should be humble again when you're wrong. [18:21] Like, did I think that Donald Trump would have world historic foreign policy accomplishments? [18:26] No, but he did. So you got to admit you were wrong. Did I think that Donald Trump's economic policy [18:31] would lead to the best wage growth for working class people in the first term that we had ever [18:38] seen in my entire life in 40 years, I'm 41 years old, the highest wage growth for working people [18:43] in Donald Trump. Think about that. You're 41 years old. It's crazy. But again, I didn't think that [18:47] would happen. It did happen. And so if you're an honest person, you have to say to yourself, [18:52] huh, maybe I got something wrong. And that led me, of course, to reevaluate my entire perspective [18:58] on the president. Of course, knowing him, the last thing I gotta say is knowing him, that helps. [19:03] You know, I, of course, I, you know, I've, I've supported the president for a long time, [19:06] well before I knew him personally, but knowing him does really transform your understanding of [19:10] Donald Trump. [19:11] Let me follow up on that. I've known him for 30 years. [19:13] We've had a relationship when he was really getting serious about running. We had conversations [19:19] late into the night and I said, I'll never vote for you. If you're not a conservative, [19:23] this is why I'm a conservative. And then all of a sudden things started coming out that nobody ever [19:30] thought about. I had not thought about, he goes, well, why are we liberating Iraq? And why aren't [19:35] they paying us back with oil? Why don't they pay for their own liberation? Um, he knew is the depth [19:40] of knowledge and the need to be energy independent was deep and profound. This guy identified Osama [19:46] bin Laden as a threat a decade before 9-11. There, there are certain things. [19:51] He was talking about Carg Island in the 1980s. Yeah. Like crazy. I mean, you, you read some of [19:57] these old articles when, you know, Trump was like a real estate guy. He was, but he was, he was well [20:01] known. He was a famous guy. So people cared about what he said. And there was a lot of wisdom there. [20:06] The thing that I keep coming back to Sean is the trade stuff. What he was saying about Japan in the [20:13] 1980s is what people were saying about the PRC 20, 30 years later. Ripping us off. You can't allow [20:20] your country to be ripped off. You can't ship all of your manufacturing base to other countries and [20:25] expect to still be prosperous. There, again, there, there's a through line to his political thinking [20:30] that is very there 30, 40 years ago. If you just know where to look. You know, the one thing I would [20:36] say is I really believe, and maybe some people will say I'm biased. When I first supported him, pretty much [20:44] every prominent conservative went on the air for years and said, I'm not a real conservative. Yeah. And I [20:50] got the crappy anatomy, but I didn't mind at all because I was standing by my convictions. That's right. And I [20:56] think he will go down in history as transformational, consequential. He only takes on big things. So my [21:03] question is you, you will have that front row seat. Sure. You're watching it upfront and personal [21:10] every day. Yeah. How has he changed you? What have you learned from him? Well, a few things. I mean, [21:16] one is I try to be humble about what I don't know and recognize, I mean, this is a guy with a lot more [21:23] life experience, but profoundly, and I'm curious if you agree with this, but he has the best instincts [21:30] about human beings of anybody I've ever met. There's an almost like, you know, spiritual dimension [21:36] of where he understands whether somebody is telling them the truth or not. He understands whether [21:42] somebody is trying to pull one over on him or not. There's, there's just, it's fascinating to me [21:48] because you have corporate CEOs. He's the president United States, right? You have people who are [21:52] constantly coming into the white house and asking for things. And he has this unbelievable ability [21:57] to sniff out whether this person wants this thing because it's good for America or because he wants [22:02] it because it's good for him. And that is like a very powerful thing. So sometimes the thing that [22:08] the president is very good at is he said this to me a few months ago, we were talking to a foreign [22:14] leader and, you know, most of these calls, you'll sometimes he'll say, JD, what do you think about [22:20] this? But most of these calls, it's the president, the head of state, and you're just kind of, you're [22:23] watching and you're listening. And this guy was just going on and on and on and on. But then finally [22:29] the call ended up in an amazing spot where America got something, this country got something. And he [22:34] said to me, you know, sometimes JD, you just have to let people talk. And I thought, again, I was [22:40] kind of getting annoyed. I expected the president would jump in and say, shut the hell up. Like we're [22:45] America. This is how it goes. But he just let the guy go on. And he said, you know what, sometimes [22:50] you just got to let somebody talk. So there's, there's a, there is an instinctive grasp of human [22:56] nature there that makes him very good in all these different arenas. [23:01] There are times you're in a spot where you disagree with him. I will tell you the position I've taken [23:06] with him. Yeah. Is I don't want anything from him. I take a very hard line stand. Yep. And we have [23:14] maintained a friendship, but we have a professional relationship. Um, I just believe there are people [23:21] I fear that are unwilling to tell them what they really think. Absolutely. And the truth. Yes. [23:28] I'm not. Yeah. No, you're not. And, and by the way, by the way, you know, I think you've, I think [23:32] you've heard a couple of those calls. No. And like you and I have that relate. We don't know each other [23:36] as well as you and the president, but we, we have that relationship where I feel like you can just be [23:39] honest with me. And it's very valuable. I mean, man, look, we live in a bubble. The president and I live in an [23:43] unbelievable bubble. You know, your, your audience can't see this, but right outside are 50 guys with [23:48] machine guns. You know, I got red dots all over my head. That's right. Yeah. This is the safest [23:53] podcast studio in American history. But, but you live in such a bubble that it's really valuable to [23:59] have friends who can tell you what they actually think, who are telling you things that you're not [24:03] necessarily hearing from the outside world. The other thing about being president, vice president, [24:07] less true with vice president, but still true is people kiss, kiss your butt all the time. They tell [24:11] you what they think you want to hear. And that's sometimes very dangerous when you're making life [24:16] and death decisions. So, so the, the way that I've approached this with the president is one, [24:20] I do approach these things with a certain humility. Like this guy knows a lot more about most things [24:25] than I do. Uh, but, but I, I try to, I see it as my responsibility to tell the president what I think. [24:31] And it's funny because there is this perception in the media or somewhere else that, that the president [24:36] has like this grudge or he punishes people who give him honest advice. I've never once in my life [24:43] felt like the president punished me or held the grunge against me because, you know, I said what [24:49] I thought he might disagree with me. He might tell me he disagrees with me in very colorful language, [24:54] but it's never once colored our relationship in a negative way. So I just think, you know, [25:00] my attitude is I'm the vice president. I can't be fired. I'm the only person in the cabinet can't be [25:04] fired. You got to tell the president what you think. That's right. You got to tell the president [25:08] what you think. And fundamentally you have to accept that on the constitution. And this is the second [25:13] important part of it. Maybe this is why he and I have such a good relationship is when the president [25:17] makes a decision, you go and execute. And one thing that I do think is different about our, our [25:24] cabinet in the second administration versus the first administration, and maybe you, maybe you [25:29] disagree with this, but my understanding is that there were a lot of people around the president [25:33] who would say, aye, aye, sir, but then would immediately try to subvert what he had ordered [25:38] them to do. There was this sense of ego. That's dishonesty, isn't it? It's super dishonest. It's [25:43] also like fundamentally against the constitution, right? When you serve the president of the United [25:47] States, he is elected by the people, he makes decisions, and you try to make those decisions [25:52] as successful as possible. That's the way that I've tried to approach it. So we don't obviously [25:56] disagree a lot, but I certainly try to give them honest feedback when I think it's necessary. [26:00] Can you think of any instances where you said, sir, can I talk to you? Or maybe in a group setting [26:06] that you were a voice alone and different and apart, and you felt the need to speak up? [26:12] Absolutely. Absolutely. Now I'm not going to talk about it for the consumption of [26:16] millions of your listeners here, but yeah, I think it's, that's, that's the job, right? [26:21] Yeah. [26:21] Is, is you've got to be willing to say, Mr. President, this is how I think about an issue. [26:26] And the other thing, Sean, again, he has amazing instincts. Sometimes you think that you're on an [26:32] island and you'll express an opinion and the president will say, I agree with that. And he [26:38] just wanted to feel everybody out. So again, he's a fascinating figure, the way that he draws [26:45] information out of people, the way that he, he motivates people. And I started with, you know, [26:51] Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff in the context of this Iran deal, these negotiations, and obviously [26:56] you've got the conflict in the background and, you know, we're just trying to do everything that [27:00] we can to implement the president's agenda. And we have this phone call with the president where [27:05] afterwards, you know, Steve and Jared are like, I'm not totally sure what the president wants us to [27:11] do. And then he calls us back two hours later and he says, I just want to leave you guessing a [27:16] little bit. And again, he was like, he gave us a problem. He didn't tell us exactly how to solve [27:22] it. And he gave us a couple hours, you guys go figure it out. And then I'm going to call back and [27:27] figure out what's going on. All right. 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[29:22] I mean, this has been a historic week and we spent a lot of time on TV this week talking about it. [29:27] Sure. [29:27] Um, but you're in the middle of it. What frustrated me in the beginning of that deal is the Iranians [29:35] always do this and you, you address this. Yes. And that is, there's a deal, memorandum of [29:40] understanding, and they, they propagandize lies and a whole group of people start spinning out of [29:48] control, assuming that propaganda is real. Absolutely. That frustrates me. It frustrates me. [29:53] They do it. No, it, it frustrates me. It frustrates me that the Iranians do it. [29:57] Yeah. Um, I, I understand that the Iranians are going to engage in propaganda. That's what they do. [30:04] It still frustrates me. It frustrates me more when we have friends of the president or, or the [30:10] democratic media in the United States that literally repeat Iranian talking points without a shred of [30:17] evidence. And, you know, Sean, it's, it's interesting. I've heard so many things. I've heard [30:22] about $24 billion. The Iranians get $24 billion. That number. [30:26] $300 billion from the Qataris. Yeah. Yeah. The 20, 24 billion, by the way, [30:30] does not appear anywhere in the agreement. This $300 billion, which I've actually heard, [30:36] you're from the Qataris. I've heard that $300 billion is going to be paid for by the American [30:40] taxpayer. Heard that too. [30:42] Totally fake, totally made up. There is no obligation for us to provide a dime of American taxpayer money. [30:49] What we do say is that if the Iranians perform, we might let some of the Gulf Arab countries invest in [30:57] their country, but only if they do the things that are necessary as part of the deal. Now, again, [31:02] I get why the Iranians go to their domestic audience and say, here are all the things that [31:07] we get without talking at all about the things that they give. I just don't know why the Democrats [31:11] recirculate it. And frankly, some people, even on our side, recirculate literal talking points [31:17] from the IRGC. And when those talking points exist for the purpose of propaganda. [31:22] You know, I guess there, whenever you're dealing with, I call it a death cult. I believe it's a [31:30] death cult. Whenever you're dealing with a country like this, that has been that repressive 47 years, [31:36] look at how they've treated their own people and a theocracy, convert or die, you know, all of that [31:41] whole mindset. You seem to give a level of optimism that I'd never heard before and how the whole [31:50] dynamic of the relationship has changed in as much as for the first time, I did not know this in 47 [31:56] years, you had stated that we are now communicating directly with the people that are in charge. And [32:03] that means the hardliners and the political side. Correct. And all this has been scrambled up. You [32:08] know, the media attacks the president when he says, Sean, you know, he'll say, well, we took out the [32:13] first layer of leadership and the second layer of leadership or half of the second layer, half of the [32:17] third layer. There is a, I mean, one that's objectively true, but it's scrambled the internal [32:23] dynamics of the country. And so, you know, you talk about death cult, there are 100% people within [32:28] that country that are committed to the death cult. There are also people within that country [32:34] who just want to live and recognize that 94 million. Exactly. And I even mean within the [32:40] leadership of the country who recognize that there's there that they have made mistakes in [32:44] the way they've dealt with the United States over the past 47 years. And again, people underappreciate [32:50] the president's patience. Let's just take stock of what's been accomplished. The Iranian nuclear program [32:55] has been destroyed. And this, by the way, little segue here, I'm gonna weave as the president says, [33:00] when people compare this to Obama JCPOA, what's so absurd about that is the Obama deal. You had an [33:09] Iranian nuclear program that was advanced, that was stockpiling enrichment, and we were literally [33:15] bribing them with American money to stop the program that was already in progress. [33:21] Only for 10 years. [33:22] This deal, exactly. This deal comes from the perspective of their nuclear program is completely [33:28] destroyed, Sean. And we're talking about verifying their commitments that they're not going to rebuild [33:35] it. It's a totally different way of approaching it. And of course, we've shown a willingness to apply [33:39] leverage economically, militarily, and other ways too. But to go back to this, you know, there is this [33:47] very interesting thing that's happening within Iran, where you've got the members of the death cult, [33:52] absolutely. You've also got people who are saying, you know what, maybe Donald Trump gives us an [33:59] opportunity to fundamentally change how we've interacted with the United States of America. [34:03] And maybe we want to take that opportunity. And I don't know, Sean, I'll be honest with you. [34:07] I don't know which impulse is going to win out. But what this deal does is say, you know what, [34:12] their nuclear program is destroyed. The Straits of Hormuz are open. Oil has already come down [34:18] radically from the high of what it was a couple of months ago, it's going to keep on coming down. [34:23] So that's what we have achieved. Their conventional military is completely destroyed. [34:28] That's the background. Now we have an option. Option A is we cut off the Iranians financially forever [34:36] to the point where they never have the money to rebuild the nuclear program. Option B is if they [34:41] really do want to transform their relationship with the United States of America, of course, [34:45] we're going to verify that. There are all these ways we're going to try to enforce that. But then [34:49] the president's saying, absolutely. And that's what I love about his approach to diplomacy. He will turn [34:55] the screws, but he will also say, if there's an opportunity to change, let's take that opportunity. [35:01] But they've got to show it. Not a dime goes to them unless they show us that they're serious. [35:06] How important is the nuclear dust? We got into this the other night. [35:10] Yeah. Nuclear dust. And this is what my fear is. And my understanding is, and we'll have the [35:17] memorandum of understanding, but that then leads to the negotiation. But you're saying they're willing [35:22] to work with us on the ground to get possession of that out of their hands. Correct. So there won't [35:30] be any material for dirty bombs down the road. Correct. They make a commitment actually in the [35:33] MOU. And the MOU, to your point, is largely general. It's sort of setting out, it's like a term sheet [35:39] in a business deal. It's not the final contract. But the one thing that's actually quite specific [35:44] is they do commit to destroying this nuclear dust or what they would call the enriched stockpile. [35:48] And we witnessed it. And we would participate. We would witness it. And then there are some [35:52] international organizations that would also participate in that process. Now, here's the [35:56] thing. You ask how important it is. Well, one, if you get rid of that stockpile, then that just [36:02] further sets them apart from the point of getting a nuclear weapon, right? So every step you take [36:09] backwards for their nuclear program is a good step for us to take, because that means they're further [36:14] away from a bomb. But I will say, Sean, regardless, you know, I want that dust. The president wants that [36:21] dust. That is our objective. The amount of destruction of their nuclear program, the centrifuges, [36:27] their enrichment capacity, the know-how, just the facilities where you do this stuff have been [36:32] completely decimated. We've done a very, very good job at setting that nuclear program back. [36:38] What about fomenting terror? They've been the number one state sponsor of terror. And I'll tell [36:42] you the one thing we learned. I did not know this until this epic fury came up. Yeah. And that had [36:49] directly to do with their ballistic missile range. They can hit Paris. They can hit London. [36:56] Yeah. Crazy. Crazy. By the way, after telling us for years, they didn't have that capacity. They [37:00] then revealed that capacity after the shooting started. So what the thing that we have learned [37:09] is, and I learned, we've known this for a long time. They're the biggest state sponsor of terrorism. [37:17] They fund, you know, Hezbollah, they funded Hamas, they funded a lot of terrorist organizations. [37:22] And again, it goes back to the fundamental principle of the deal. Like we're not going to [37:25] unsanction their economy. We're not going to allow other people to invest in their economy. [37:31] I want to be clear. We're not investing at all, right? It's not American taxpayer dollars. It's [37:35] the possibility that if they behave, you know, when the Gulf Coast wants to invest in their country, [37:40] again, if they're behaving, sure. But what we're saying fundamentally is you have to behave in order [37:46] to get these benefits. Like if you're going to fund terrorism, that's not behaving. If you're trying [37:51] to rebuild your nuclear program, that's not behaving. The president, he's, he's so unconventional. [37:57] Like he, he will literally, you know, this operation that he had the wherewithal to start [38:05] completely decimated their nuclear program. And he will at the same time say, you know what, [38:10] if you guys want to do something different, let's do something different. We're going to verify that. [38:14] But that's what I love about the president is he's got two modes or usually more than that. [38:19] And he's always willing to think outside the box. And he always has the option to go back to [38:23] military. Correct. Why would you go on the view? We've got optionality. [38:27] What were you thinking when you said yes to the view? I don't know, man. Pray for me. I'm going [38:31] to need it. Uh, you know, oh man. I've been on years ago. I used to go on regularly. I was out of [38:36] my mind. So what I was told by the publisher is that they sell a lot of books and you know, [38:44] this, this is true of me. It's true of the president. And we sometimes get pushed back from our side [38:48] because I give ratings to others. Highly entertaining. I think you take the message [38:52] to anywhere that will listen and yeah, maybe they're going to be really tough on me, but I [38:57] guarantee for every 10 listeners who are never going to have an open mind about what I say. [39:02] We'll have the best viewership ever. That's right. So you have a new people. We're open to it. [39:05] That's my point. You have a new baby coming. Congratulations. Thank you. That's great news. [39:10] Um, and you said two things about your wife and then I know we have to wrap up. Sure. Um, [39:15] congrats on the baby. Thank you. And you said you hope that she may join you in your faith journey. [39:22] Sure. Um, you dedicate the book to your wife, which is great. Um, your life's going to change. [39:29] And then after the midterms, you will think about 28. Sure. And what goes into that decision? [39:37] You know, I, you and I have talked about this, Sean. I really, the way that my mind works is [39:44] it's very hard for me to focus on hypothetical problems in the future. I'm very focused on the [39:50] here and now. Yeah. That's always how my mind has worked. I'm very focused on, you know, making sure [39:55] she's healthy. You know, she sends me a text message. She's like, Oh, you know, does she have [39:59] a special craving food now? Um, no, I mean, she's at that stage where she just wants to be done with [40:04] pregnancy. Like she's, she's a tiny person. And so when you've got a, you know, a big baby inside, [40:08] it definitely makes her uncomfortable, but you know what? We've got that. We've got the midterm elections [40:13] coming up. We've got a lot of work to, to implement the president's agenda in both [40:18] domestic and foreign policy. My attitude is you focus on that. You worry about what comes in the [40:22] future, you know, further on down the road, but man, I just think it's such an incredible blessing [40:27] to have this job. I'm trying so hard to do a good job at this job. It'll be a family decision. [40:32] Yeah. I mean, it'll, it'll absolutely be, you know, any decision like that has to be a family decision. [40:37] Open to a unity ticket that the president floats every second or, well, you know, I love, [40:41] you know, I love Marco, but I don't want to say I'm open to a unity ticket because I'm not running [40:46] for president yet. I'm trying to be a good vice president, but I think Marco would do an amazing [40:50] job in whatever capacity he's going to serve our country. You said this week, I used to always say [40:55] on radio, crazy cat ladies. And you said childish cat ladies was a dumb thing to say. Why was it dumb? [41:02] I mean, it was dumb because it offended so many people that they didn't actually listen to the [41:07] point, right? The point that I was making is like when a politician, a political leader, [41:13] when a media figure speaks, you're trying to illuminate and trying to make people think [41:17] it pissed so many people off that it like turned off the thinking part of their brain. [41:21] My point is our country's actually become very hostile to families, especially families with [41:27] young kids. You see how people scoff at young moms on an airplane, or I've seen this in a number [41:33] of different ways. It's like hard at this point to take, you know, even with all of the benefits [41:39] that we have being vice president, it's kind of a pain to take three kids to a restaurant. [41:43] It's going to be a lot harder to take four kids to a restaurant. I just think that we become [41:48] completely immune to the, to the actual concerns of young families. Why Sean, I keep coming back to [41:55] this because I had a toddler at the time. Why did we keep on masking toddlers? Like I'm not saying [42:00] two months into it, a year and a half into the pandemic when we knew it was affecting their [42:05] developmental, uh, their learning, their language. Why did we do it? Because we didn't have the [42:10] perspective of young parents in our country's leadership. And that's a real problem. So the [42:15] cat ladies didn't illuminate that, but hopefully that comment. Communion, finding my way back to [42:21] faith. Please buy the book. Thank you guys. President. Thank you. Appreciate it. Absolutely, man. [42:25] Thank you guys so much for watching today's episode, hanging out with me, Sean Hannity. [42:28] If you enjoyed this conversation, be sure to like this video, subscribe to the channel. So [42:34] you never, ever, ever, ever miss an episode. Uh, we've got a lot more great. I mean, [42:38] really great content coming your way. 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