BRIAN KILMEADE SHOW - Voters Head to Polls in NJ, NY, CA & VA

So let's get to the big three. Number three. An invitation from the Heritage Foundation obviously is always very special, only more so when it provides an opportunity to talk about Ronald Reagan's visionary strategic defense initiative. I'm sure Ed Fulner thought, well, if we're going to talk about Star Wars, we might as well invite Darth Vader. That is Vice President Dick Cheney with a wry sense of humor. Sadly, passed away at the age of 84. We're going to talk to Carl about working with the Vice President. Number two. The shutdown is politically motivated. I believe that if they wanted to, they could find common ground. They choose not to. And that is to hurt the Republican brand, the Republican reputation. Their numbers are down, but the numbers that are falling the worst, to my surprise, are the Democrats. It is hurting the Republicans, but it seems to be hurting the Democrats even more. We'll take a look and ask Carl Rove that about the shutdown, where an all time record frustration and pain is everywhere from snap to travel. Republicans aren't budging, but I think the Dems are beginning to talk about a deal under the leadership sometime this week. Number one. One of the interesting things to watch both in Virginia and New Jersey and even in New York City is going to be to dissect the returns and see how many people went from Hispanic voters and from young voters, because those are the two voting groups where Donald Trump has lost the most support. That's we'll see if that is in fact true. One, this is a off your election. Yes, is on everyone's mind. The Dems expected to win. This is they're fighting this on blue turf. They're supposed to win in New Jersey. They're supposed to win in Virginia. They obviously will win in New York City. But by how much and what will deliver the victory? And is New Jersey really primed for an upset? That's will begin. I want to start and I think, no, actually, the polite thing would be and the right thing would be to talk about Dick Cheney in the middle of Fox and Friends. Actually, in the first hour, we hear he passed away at the age of 84. At 37, he had his first heart attack. He's had five of them his entire life, got a heart transplant. He's always been battling it. It didn't seem to slow him down. But the career he had to put in perspective, huge impact on America. Yeah. I mean, think about this. He's a first of all, he's got a very interesting background born in, I think, Lincoln, Nebraska, grew up in Casper, Wyoming. Modest upbringing. Dad was a federal bureaucrat with the Conservation Service of the Ag Department. Gets a full ride to Yale because he's so bright. And then gets kicked out not once but twice for spending too much time and vibing. Drinking. Drinking. And goes back to Casper. Goes to work as a lineman for the telephone company, which, you know, even on a pleasant day in Wyoming, it's not an easy job. And marries his high school sweetheart and goes to the University of Wisconsin because he's incredibly bright, incredibly smart. Becomes a congressional fellow, which is a very highly sought after opportunity. Goes to work for a congressman from Wisconsin named Bill Steiger and never goes back. Never graduated from college. Did you know that? No. Never graduated from college. No, never got his BA. And goes to work for Bill Steiger. Bill Steiger's a bright force in the Republican Party at that time in the House. And he has a great friend who's another bright young face, a congressman from the north shore of Chicago, Don Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld goes into the Nixon administration, brings along Dick Cheney, who's, I think, maybe 30 at the time. Works in the Nixon administration. Nixon leaves. Rummy is close to Gerald Ford. Goes into the White House. And at the age of 34, Dick Cheney becomes the youngest White House chief of staff in history. White House chief of staff. He then, after Carter defeats Ford, he goes back to Wyoming. Gets elected to the U.S. House from Wyoming. Won congressional seat from the state. Gets elected and is made a member of the Republican House leadership in his first term. His first term. He is that bright, that able. Serves for 10 years. Becomes the Republican leader in the House. Then is brought into the Bush 41's administration as Secretary of Defense. Presides over the first Gulf War. After the defeat in 92, goes to work in the private sector, running the world's largest oil field service company, Halliburton. And it's from there that he becomes George W. Bush's vice president. This guy has spent, this man spent his life in service to his country. And I knew him well. We became close friends. And he was an astonishing person to be around and to work with. So smart. So able. Knew what his role was. Knew that he was there in order to give the president his candid advice with the bark off. And so much has been missaid about him. One of the nicest people on the face of the planet. And a really good colleague and friend. The way I understand it, and he said this, and my personal belief is this is true. The criticism didn't bother him. The Darth Vader side comment. He loved that. I mean, I wouldn't say he loved it, but he made light of it. Was it tough balancing the fact that this young Republican governor from Texas, without any known foreign policy experience, hires a lot of experienced people like Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld, the second time he's secretary of defense and then Dick Cheney. How did you, as an advisor to the president, make sure that Dick Cheney, it was the perception wasn't that Dick Cheney's running the White House? Well, look, that was that the press was going to run with that. You knew her. We knew it. In fact, it's in in 19 and 2000, Bush is thinking about who is running Maydaughter B. And we were looking at nine people. And we had these big, thick notebooks. The guy in charge of the process was Dick Cheney, assisted by his brilliant young lawyer daughter, Liz Cheney. And they compiled these thousands of pages of material and boiled it down to big, nine big, thick notebooks. And the more Bush went through this process, the more he liked the cast of Cheney's mind and became convinced Cheney ought to be his running mate. And I was against the idea and he knew it. So Bush is out on the campaign trail. He calls me up. He says, I'm going to be back tonight late, as you know, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. I want you to come to the governor's mansion and I want you to make the case why I should not go with Dick Cheney. I want to know why you don't want me to go with Cheney. So come prepared. 10 o'clock the next morning, I show up at the governor's mansion, sitting in the Austin library named after Stephen F. Austin. It's about half the size of this. It's not much. It's smaller than this room that we're in here today, your studio. And I'm sitting on one side of the room. Bush is on the other says, OK, why should I go with Cheney? I have a list. Eight reasons. I still have the piece of paper. Number one, don't worry about Wyoming. Number two, the guy had his first heart attack at 37, been working on perfecting it ever since, had four more. Number three, very conservative congressman 18 years ago from a very conservative state and cast some really stupid votes, like being one of three members of the House of Representatives to call to vote against the resolution calling on the South African apartheid regime to release Nelson Mandela from the island prison where he didn't have health care and move into the mainland prison where he would get a doctor. And Cheney's one of three who votes no. You know, we've worked really hard to develop an image of you as your own guy, not mini me to your dad. OK, great. Let's pick the guy who was the secretary of defense for your dad in a time of war. Everybody's going to be saying he's running the West Wing. People are worried about you being an oilman. What the hell? Let's get the guy who runs the world's largest oil field service equipment. That issue is going to go away in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic. And anyway, the Bush, as you know, President Bush is not a monologue guy. So this is like World Wrestling Federation. I mean, we're going at it. And I want you to come that hard, right? Yeah, he went. He wanted to. That's the way he operated. And and I literally at the end of the conversation at about 30, 35 minutes, I realized I couldn't unbutton my coat because I had sweat through my shirt. It was so high intense. And final reason was the 12th Amendment, blah, blah, blah. So Bush says got anything else? I said, no, that's it, sir. He said, good, really, really good. Turns the guy sitting next to him and says, Dick, got any questions for Carl Cheney been sitting there while I kicked his ass around for half an hour. Wow. And as we walked out, Cheney said, I agree with some of what you had to say. And we became he he never held it against me. We became close. You know, did he want it? He he wanted to do what the president wanted to do. No, he didn't really want to do it. And but the president said, I need you. I want somebody as my as my assistant, you know, as my deputy, as my vice president, who's going to walk into the Oval Office and give me their considered opinion and I'll make the call and you'll accept it. And, you know, that Bush knew from having seen the Reagan White House and his father's White House, how powerful that office is and how easy it is for a president to get isolated. And he wanted somebody who would give it to him straight each and every time. And and he gave Cheney some specific responsibilities. I served on a committee that was not public where we vetted and kept a running list of prospective Supreme Court nominees. And Cheney and I, I think we're the only two people who weren't lawyers. And now that I realize we were also the only two members of the committee who never graduated from college. But, you know, and we became friends. We went hunting almost every year after about 2003 or four and hunting together. And he loved to fish. He loved to bird hunt. And he was a really kind person and smart, smart and unbelievably smart. And the kind of person who would read something and immediately grasp the important elements of it and have the best questions. I mean, that was one of the great things about him is that he didn't know it all, but he wanted to know as much as he could. So I want you to hear Dick Cheney in 2018 talking about the criticism that he was that he got from 41 cut nine. First of all, I was more, I guess, of an iron ass when I was vice president. The thing that had intervened between my time at defense for 41 and my time as vice president was 9-11. We'd had 3000 of our people killed on 9-11. More people than we lost at Pearl Harbor. And we moved, I think, legitimately into a wartime setting rather than simple law enforcement. I think it was important to do that. Now, after he made those comments, he sent me a note. One of the notes are great to have. This one said, Dear Dick, I did it. And then he went on at great length to tell me what a great American I was. But he also, that year, we went to the annual Alfalfa Club. He enjoyed those dinners. And he invited me to sit at the head table with him at the dinner. And that sort of dampened down any notion that there was a fundamental break between Bush and Cheney. Because you want to give some context to that, that I guess 41 had called him an iron ass. Yeah. And it's changed a lot since he was my secretary of defense. Yeah. Yeah. But look, both men were right. He had become more. He had been, I don't want to use the word radicalized, but his attitude had changed as it did for a lot of people after 9-11. We had the first attack on the World Trade Center. We turned it over to the Southern District in New York and the FBI and blindly went forward. And the realization by the commander in chief and the vice president after 9-11 was that we had to fight them over there so we didn't have to fight them over here again. Well, an up and coming conservative who I think has done a fantastic job is the governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, now battling to make sure his lieutenant governor is the next governor. And he joins us from Virginia and he's worked extremely hard to get her elected. Governor Glenn Youngkin, welcome back to the Brian Kilmeade Show. Hey, Brian, thank you for having me. It's election day. And so I am asking, calling for all conservatives to get out and vote. And we had a great teller rally last night with President Trump. The organizers told us that there are over 500,000 people involved. And that's just a huge call to get out and vote. President wrapped it up perfectly. He said, vote Republican up and down the ticket and we can continue to prosper. And if we don't, then we're gonna see Virginia go backwards. And I just so appreciate him stepping up. He's done two of these for us in the last week. And we gotta get out and vote today if we wanna keep Virginia moving in the right direction. So it's really personal to you. You spent your last four years being, you rocked the boat and you shocked everybody by being Tara McCall four years ago. What did you get done? And what are you concerned that's gonna, what are you most concerned will be undone if Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears loses? Well, when we came into office four years ago, Virginia was a failing state. We were bottom third in the nation in job growth. We led the nation in learning loss and fourth grade reading and math. And we had a 20 year high in murder rate and we saw parents being shoved out of their kids' lives. And we just went to work. And so we have had record commitments from businesses to expand and grow in Virginia. $140 billion, Brian, that's more than the last five administrations combined. We've seen 277,000 more Virginians go to work. And that 140 billion underpins another 85,000 jobs and 40,000 construction jobs. All of that has underpinned our ability to run surplus after surplus, $10 billion in surpluses. We've had $9 billion of tax relief where even in a divided government where I have Democrats in control of our legislators, we've gotten $9 billion back to Virginians. We've worked so, so tirelessly with the Trump administration in order to make sure that we are arresting violent illegal criminals and sending them back to where they came from over 5,000 now. Well. And finally, we have stood strong for law enforcement and I'm worried all of those things get undone. They're gonna undo our business success. They're gonna undo our public safety success. They're gonna undo our education success and they're gonna undo standing for parents. This is what's on the ballot and that's why I'm encouraging everybody get out and vote. And Governor, you have been passionate and if things don't go the Lieutenant Governor's way, they cannot blame you. No one's worked harder. President Obama came out. It shows that he's definitely, the Democrats have to be concerned about this election. And this is what he said, the exact opposite of what you said you accomplished. Either he missed it or won't give you credit for it. Listen to this, cut 26. Virginia, here's the good news. If you can't visit a doctor, don't worry, he will save you a dance. And if you don't get an invitation to the next White House shindig, you can always watch the festivities and all the beautiful people on True Social. The point is, there is absolutely no evidence. Republican policies have made life better for you, the people of Virginia. Well, he doesn't want to debate you, but I'm sure you have a counter to that. Yeah, well, he's so disconnected from what's been happening in Virginia over the last four years. It was in fact, the Democrat policies in a Democrat controlled state, because they had the governor's office, the lieutenant governors, the attorney generals, and they controlled both houses that had dragged Virginia to a place we've never seen. Literally, Virginia had no job growth. Virginia had no business growth. In fact, we had 25,000 small businesses shut in 2021. And as I said, we had a 20 year high in murder rate as they had a criminal first victim's last approach. They demeaned and demoralized law enforcement. And finally, they were leaving our kids literally, literally our kids out to dry. They had dumbed down all expectations. We led the nation in learning loss, and they were telling parents that you have no say in what should be taught in our schools. And we have turned everything around where Virginia is leading today. So listen, President Obama is incredibly disconnected from what's happening in Virginia. He was just carrying whatever talking points they handed him. And at the end of the day, Virginians like what we've been doing. They like what we've been doing. They did not like what the previous Democrat controlled Virginia was doing, and that's what's on the ballot. Do we wanna go back to what they were doing, which was dragging Virginia a place we couldn't recognize her? Do we wanna continue great policies that are leading to great outcomes for the state? And I just look at this as four more years for Winsome Sears and Jason Meares and John Reed, our lieutenant governor coming into the team. We're going back to what we had. And I guess finally, Brian, this is a moment for us to have some real clarity on decency. And what Jay Jones, who's the Democrat candidate for attorney general, tweeted or texted and then came back and said is that he wanted to put two bullets in the head of his political rival. He wanted to see his political rival's children die in his mother's arms. And then he wanted to see a few cops die as well. And this is disqualifying from anybody serving in any position. And this has changed everything. Even the Washington Post came out last night and said that the human decency is on the ballot and Virginians need to stand for human decency and elect a ticket that can stand for this. Now, think about this. The Washington Post said this. And so I think Virginians, particularly Virginians in the middle, who were trying to decide which kind of Virginia do you want, one that stands for decency and progress and opportunity, or one that literally is backing a guy who wants to put bullets in his political rival's head and see his children die. I think it's that clear. That's why everybody's got to get out and vote. Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, your partner, who's done so well for the last four years, trailing by about about five or six votes in the real clear average of points in the real clear average. She's a Jamaican descent, became a naturalized American citizen and a U.S. Marine. And I'm just wondering if this if this statement still holds up for Barack Obama, because here's what he said about voting for Kamala Harris in 2024. So if you don't mind, just for a second, I'm going to speak to you all directly and say that when you have a choice that is this clear, when on the one hand you have somebody who grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences. And so now you're thinking about sitting out. I've got a problem with that. He's saying basically to black men, you have to vote for a black woman. Why doesn't he still believe that? Yeah, it's just it's just a shocking demonstration of the hypocrisy that we see over and over and over again out of the Democrat Party. And that hypocrisy presents itself not only in President Obama's comments, but the fact that they will show disdain to political violence unless it inconveniences them. The crazy thing is even Abigail Spanberger came out last week in an interview and said that she's frustrated she has to talk about the Jay Jones issue over and over again. And she's frustrated that she has to talk about an issue where a guy wants to literally see children die and see cops die and kill somebody. That's not being frustrated. That's standing for something. And this is, again, the hypocrisy of the party. All they want is power. All they want to do is win. And Brian, that's what's on the ballot. I mean, even this past week, Democrat leaders like Abigail Spanberger had come out last summer and said that she could never support redistricting. And then the National Democrat Redistricting Committee dropped $300,000 in their campaign accounts. And then the next day, they started a process to pass legislation, which, by the way, is unconstitutional in my mind, in order to redistrict Virginia. Listen, this is a question about what do we believe as Virginians. And I think we're so much better than all of this. And it is that hypocrisy that once again reinforces the fact that we've got to keep doing what we're doing because we have stood strong for the things we believe in. And Virginia has benefited as a result. Governor, does it hurt the Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears that President Trump has not endorsed her? Well, he has come out so strongly for her, and particularly over the course of the last month. He said she's an excellent candidate and that Abigail Spanberger is an awful candidate. And he has come out now in two teller rallies with literally numbers that seem to be somewhere near 500,000 for each one of the teller rallies and supported voting for her, voting for all the Republicans up and down the ticket. Because he knows that Virginia has made so much progress. He said it last night. Virginia is just absolutely winning. And if we don't win, Virginia will fall behind again. And it's just that clear. I tell you, one of the other topics that I think the President raised last night, which is clearly on the ballot, is the cost of electricity. And Brian, this is, again, another result of way left policies, these green new deals. Virginia passed it in the previous administration when they had full control. We've been battling it ever since. And the bottom line is wind and solar don't work. And the bottom line is Virginia power bills are gonna go up like crazy if they keep progressing these things. Winsome Sears is gonna fight against it. That's why we gotta win our House of Delegates back so that we can turn back some of these crazy all green mandates. We've done a good job of chipping away at it. We have an all American, all the above energy policy. We are pushing gas. We're pushing nuclear. But at the end of the day, power bills reflect bad policy. And the bad policy of all green is driving up bills in every blue state. And that's why we can't let this happen today. Governor, as you know, we are in the middle of a government shutdown. There is one word that there's some talk going on that could end this week. How is the government shutdown made this more challenging for you guys in Virginia so close to Washington and so many people live in Washington in northern Virginia, work in Washington and live in Virginia? Well, of course, the Schumer shutdown has impacted every every federal employee. And I just want to be really clear that Democrat senators have voted now 14 times to keep government closed when they voted 13 times to open it with a clean CR in the Biden administration. This is driven by Democrats. We have 330,000 federal workers, and that's excluding our great military that live in Virginia. And these folks are going without a paycheck right now. Those folks are working hard air traffic controllers. I mean, listen, this is crazy. And I do believe that there are many, many folks who are without a paycheck. And I remind I remind your listeners that Tim Kaine came out two years ago. The Democrat senator from Virginia came out two years ago, and he said anyone who thinks there's any good that comes out of a government shutdown come to Virginia and see Virginians who are missing paychecks, who therefore are going to miss rent payments and mortgage payments. We should never play games with Virginians lives. And then he comes out and he votes no and opening up the government. This is, again, the hypocrisy of the of the Democrats, particularly the leadership in our Senate right now, but also in our house. The bottom line is that now they're holding Virginians and Americans who need food assistance hostage. And you've heard him say it, Brian, over and over again that we have leverage. People are not leverage. And if you try to use them as leverage, that means you're holding them hostage. And it is just so despicable. And in Virginia, two weeks ago, I declared a state of emergency. And we stood up a parallel food assistance program to pay out the equivalent of SNAP benefits to Virginians, 850,000, because I'm just not going to allow Senate Democrats to use Virginians as leverage. And I'll tell you, no other state's been able to do this. We worked like crazy to get it stood up. And we're just not going to allow Virginians, the least of these to be taken advantage of. Let me just tell you, from someone who doesn't live in Virginia, but I'm lucky enough to have some great stations in Virginia like WNIS and WRBA. I'm just wondering if people fully understand how different things will be because they keep on saying Congresswoman Spanberger is a moderate. But is when you did your research about the opponent that Lieutenant Governor Winsom should be facing, what did you discover? She is no moderate. She voted 100% with Nancy Pelosi. She's right there with AOC. She's already stated her policy positions. She fundamentally is going to back tax increases, which the Democrats want to do. She's going to turn Virginia into a sanctuary state. She's going to undo my executive order that mandates that we cooperate with federal authorities to go arrest violent, illegal immigrants and send them home. She's already said that she's gonna undo my executive order that forbids men to be in girls' bathrooms. I mean, this is where she stands. And finally, she's gonna promote, and she's been backing this her entire career, the mandatory joining of a union. Virginia is a right-to-work state. That means you cannot be forced to join a union. And she led the federal effort to pass the PRO Act, which would eviscerate the right-to-work laws everywhere in the country. She is no moderate, and anybody who thinks she's moderate is misunderstanding where she stands. And this is why we gotta get out and win today. Because Winsom Sears is gonna lead like a Marine. She's gonna fight for Virginians, and she's gonna make sure that we have economic prosperity, low taxes, safe neighborhoods by back in the blue, and standing up for parents and education, just like we've done the last four years. And Abigail Spanberger doesn't believe in any of that. Lieutenant Governor, the position is really heated too. John, your chances, do you think John Reed has? Yeah, so that race, again, is tight. And he has campaigned like crazy across the state. And so John Reed's gotta, just like Winsom, we get turnout today, and he can win. And then Jason Mears, I believe, is the best attorney general in America. I really do. One of the reasons is I get sued a lot, and he wins. But he has stood strong, strong, for defending Virginians. And let's look back at his record. It's extraordinary. Last year, he won a case at the Supreme Court to keep illegal immigrants off of the voting law. And can you imagine? He had to go to the Supreme Court to win that, and he won it. I know, and we just had him on Fox & Friends too. Governor, you have a lot of energy, and I know you're gonna run through the tape. Thanks so much for spending some time with us. Governor Glenn Youngkin, thank you. Thank you. Brian, God bless you. Thank you so much. Back in a moment, you listen to the Brian Kilmeade Show. So glad you're here on Election Day. Oh, let's go over to Virginia now, and this will please a lot of our Virginia listeners. He's running for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket in Virginia, John Reed. John was on WRVA for years, morning show host, but he's got great political background. John, it's too close to call right now. What's going through your mind today? Oh, well, listen, I'll go into Election Day with polls showing it's tied. That means that I'll, I guarantee you I'm going to outwork everybody, including my opponent. And I've already been to three precincts this morning, done a whole row of media, and I've got nine more precincts to go before I get back to my home county of Henrico. So it is a full-on sprint towards the finish, and I think when people actually hear me talk and get an opportunity to meet me, when they look at my opponent, who's pretty radical, I call her like my Donnie in a skirt, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. I think they're going with the Republicans, and Winsome's splitting up a fight. Jason is too. I think we're in good shape. So I want you to hear what Glenn Youngkin told us last hour on the Brian Kilmeade radio show about you. Yeah, so that race again is tight, and he has campaigned like crazy across the state. And so John Reid's got to, just like Winsome, we get turnout today, and he can win. And then Mears, Jason Mears, I believe, is the best attorney general in America. I really do. One of the reasons is I get sued a lot, and he wins. He has stood strong, strong for defending Virginians. And I just look back at his record, it's extraordinary. So that was him a short time ago. So he's optimistic about you. Yeah, I think there's every reason to be optimistic. It's a question of what Virginians want. Will Republicans turn out? Are they going to coast after the Trump win last year? Are they going to show up and say, we're reclaiming Virginia, holding on to Virginia? And then here's the big thing for independents. If you are not a Republican, or you're a Democrat, you got to look and say, what kind of culture of leadership do you want? Do you want someone like me who has been decrying the violence saying, stop it? We're not all going to agree. It's okay not to agree, but we cannot harm each other. We can't set each other's cars on fire. We can't burn down buildings. We can't attack each other physically. Or you go with the Democrats who, you know, now that these text messages are out from the guy who wants to be the top cop in Virginia saying it's okay to kill somebody and their family to try to cause them pain in order to win politically. Which vision of Virginia, which type of leadership do you want? And this is really important. This is more than just politics. This is the culture of what's going to exist in the state going forward. And of course, your opponent couldn't be more inverse to you. I mean, it's not where you say, well, I'm running against a moderate. Nobody thinks that. So it's going to be a really radical change if you don't win, John. And what you're referring to is the Jay Jones writing in a text message from 2022, three people, two bullets, Gilbert, he's a Republican, Hitler and Paul Pott. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head, put Gilbert on the crew with two worst people, you know, and he receives both bullets every time. So, and it gets worse when he says he would also like to take out his kids. And he knows the kids. I don't think it was just a, it wasn't a late night joke, which would be a bad joke. It was no way to justify this. It's revealing of the mindset of the leadership of the modern Democrat party. And unfortunately, I don't think it's just Virginia. And Virginia has an opportunity to say, no, we're not going to tolerate this behavior. And you know, the woman that I'm running against, she's just counting on the money from the radicals carrying her over the finish line. She hasn't done public appearances. She doesn't do press interviews. I mean, I stood out in front of a building yesterday for 35 minutes and just took random questions from every reporter. There were no rules. I stayed longer. My guy's like, you got to go, you got to go. I'm like, no, I'm going to stand here and answer questions. She won't even do a debate. That's why I had to do that artificial intelligence debate, the first one in the world, because these people are hiding how radical they are, but the money tells the story. The same people funding Mamdani are funding Ghazala Hashmi in Virginia. And I hope people will shut that down. So, John, tell everyone, we know your radio background. Tell everyone your political background. Yeah, well, you know, my dad was a big politician in Virginia, which is one reason I left the state, went to Baylor University in Maco, Texas. You know, you don't want to be a preacher's kid or a politician's kid. So I solved that problem. But then I moved to Los Angeles and worked as President Reagan's last press assistant after he left the White House, before, you know, the Alzheimer's really got him, traveled all around with him, helped draft his remarks and editorials. It was a wonderful job, didn't pay anything, but it was the best job I ever had. He and Mrs. Reagan were so, so great to me. And then I was a TV news anchor, investigative reporter for a long time, communications director in the United States Senate, president of the Press Secretaries Association in Washington. And then I moved overseas and was head of the International Division for a global public affairs firm during the Arab Spring. And it was some dangerous stuff. And that's why I want to stop the conflicts that have happened overseas from ever hitting our shores. We've got to keep this culture of civility and this Western civilization mindset alive here. And we're in danger of losing that. And lastly, how's the shutdown? If they blame Trump for the shutdown, you worry it's going to hurt your chances. Oh, you know, I think people are mad about it, but I think Republicans have correctly pushed back to say, like in our case in Virginia, we got two Democrat senators and every day they go out and talk about how bad the shutdown is. It's hurting the Virginia economy, which is true. But then they walk across the street to the Senate chamber and vote to keep the government closed. Well, I mean, you can't have it both ways. I know these political tricks. I've seen them from the Democrats for years, and we're calling it out. And that's one reason that I think I can just, you know, have cocktails at night. I'm going to take it to these people and hold them accountable. And I'll do it to our party, too, when they start messing up. I'm winning the independent voters because they want somebody who is open minded, who's liberated, who's tough and strong. And that's the kind of leadership I want to bring, not just play more petty partisan games. Got it. OK, here you go. That's the last interview you do here before we find out until you Lieutenant Governor John Reed or to Lieutenant Governor-elect John Reed. John, best of luck in the sprint to the finish. You're awesome, Brian. Thank you for having me on always. You got it. Hey, we're back. Brett Baier back in studio. I used to think, wow, he really loves the show. He's back in studio again. I must be really good at hosting. And then I realized it's Election Day and he's here anyway. So all you have to do is take the elevator. I don't feel quite as special, but he is. His book is number two on The New York Times. Number two. It's called To Rescue the American Spirit, Teddy Roosevelt and the Birth of a Superpower. The special is really good, too. It's on Fox Nation right now. Yeah, same name. And I do think it's really a good encapsulation to download it and watch it. It's a good appetizer for the book. So in two weeks, I'm going to be seeing the building of the Teddy Roosevelt Library in North Dakota. One of our great affiliates has invited me and Jimmy Fala, who a lot of people think is extremely funny and talented. You don't. Well, you know, there are days there are days. Of course, you're a big supporter. We're going to go up there. They carry our show. And I went up there to do interview Doug Burgum. Have you ever been in North Dakota? Yeah, I have. Is it an amazing place? It's beautiful. And I think, you know, he is really the reason that library is there. He was a big advocate as governor and a huge TR supporter. But do you realize what happened simultaneously? Those idiots took Teddy Roosevelt statue out of the front of Museum of Natural History, which his family created because they said an Indian and a black man walking behind me was was insulting. No, it wasn't by him. He that's part of his legacy. Right. That was never meant to be an insult. Nobody the designer never thought that no one ever thought that. And I actually the fevers broke. The fever broke. And I would think if my dummy loss, we might be able to bring it back. But I don't think North Dakota is going to give it up because they have it now. Yeah, they have it. And they have a lot of great stuff. And when that library opens July 3rd, I think it is it is going to be one of the premier libraries because they've put in high tech stuff. It's a beautiful site. I've seen the the renderings. It's really, really going to be spectacular. They see I know this is a crazy analogy, but they see what Mount Rushmore is done for South Dakota. Right. Right. And they say, why are we not a tourist? This is the beginning of make putting North Dakota on the map. And Roosevelt would be thrilled with that because he loved being in the badlands of Dakota Territory. And did he ever predict? Do you think that a socialist would one day be the contender to be a mayor of New York City? No. And I don't think he would predict that his statue was torn down inside the museum either. But I think that that is going to be the biggest story of tonight, that if it holds and if the betting markets are right, which they are kind of going heavy, heavy, heavy, you know, the turnout's great. Yeah, I saw that. And and I saw the interview with Cuomo on Fox and Friends with you guys. You know, he's he's become a better candidate in the latter days. I think he was such a poor candidate at the beginning. Did he try? I don't know. I mean, maybe he thought it was like a layup, but he lost the primary. So he shouldn't have thought it was a layup. So here's the thing. Even leading up to the primary, I never saw I never saw a poll that had him within double digits. And then Mondami had that meltdown with Tom Holman up in Albany. Right. And they go, you know, that guy is running for mayor. I go, OK, he just eliminated himself. Nobody would ever vote for somebody that unhinged because Tom Holman showed up in Albany. So he gets it. But does it show you at all, Brett, and you look at the numbers much more than I do, that if they were that wrong about the primary up until the last week, could they be that wrong about the overall election when instead of 400000, you get million showing up? Yeah, I mean, listen, could the polls be collectively wrong? Could the betting markets be collectively wrong? Yes. Heading into Election Day. And if Cuomo has this massive turnout and if there's anything that's going to motivate voters, it's being scared of what's going to happen. I mean, that's the biggest driver for voters. A lot of times it's, you know, not necessarily support for X, Y, Z policy. It's I'm worried about the other guy. And so if the other guy is Mondani, Mondani and you're a real estate agent worried about the price of of what you're selling or that you're going to lose a ton of people, exodus from New York, I think it's real. Media Research Company did a study and they say 93 percent of the late night talk show hosts had negative things to say about Mondani's opponents, not him. You saw the easy time he got with Jon Stewart is as bright as anybody who does this. And, you know, he could be direct if he wanted, but let him glide. And I'm not asking. And the thing that surprised me is it's not Sliwa against Mondani, set five points, separating Cuomo, right? Everyone Democrats like Cuomo for a long time. So you just gave Cuomo no time and you gave a glide path to Mondani. What is the attraction to something so different than anything we've experienced that is counter to America's free market system? I don't know. I really don't know. Other than they're they're betting on the business of the power on the left, that that's going to be the direction of the Democratic Party and that's where they're betting. But I mean, I saw an interview with Ari Melber, who's on, I think it's six o'clock opposite me, but he he had Mondani on and he asked him questions like, what's your favorite bodega? What's your favorite subway train to take? And what's like, he gave him like six multiple choice. And it was just kind of a fun, fun interview. And I don't know. I think that if you have somebody that has policies that are so different than what we've seen, maybe you want to dig in a little bit. Right. As I was asking Zelensky, now that you're in New York, what's your favorite place to visit? Oh, okay. Oh, and by the way, and we have some time, Russia, win, here's Mondani talking about his programs. He says they're indeed possible, isn't content. This clearly has precedent. We saw the previous administration did this three times. And we are living in a time of politics where politicians try to convince the public that there's nothing they can do. And so to even have the idea that we could actually help people, it's seen as a departure from what so many are being told in this moment and freezing the rent. But this is about two and a half million New Yorkers in a city of eight and a half million. The mayor has the power to freeze their rent. I am saying I'm going to do that for four years. Well, Cuomo said to us directly two hours ago, they can't. Mayors can't freeze the rent. Obviously, the former governor would know that. He goes, it's another board independently picked to decide to freeze the rent. And plus, that's not the way it works. You freeze the rent. Someone's going to pay the price for that. These guys will decide, hey, and whoever owns this place, it's better off leaving this empty than rented at the rate I have to have it. That's why we have so many empty apartments in the city that needs places to live. It's kind of market economy. And the fact that New York is structured the way it is, the governor has a lot more power when it comes to some things than the mayor does. Can the mayor do a lot? Yes, especially when it comes to police, especially when it comes to how things operate. I'm not sure that the grocery stores and the buses even can get through as far as how he envisions it. I think it might be tough. We have this brilliant idea to charge people for crossing through the city, congestion pricing, because they said the MTA is out of money. Well, an interesting way to attack that deficit is to give it away. So you're charging me to drive over the bridge, go from the Midtown Tunnel to the Lincoln Tunnel, but you're going to charge people nothing to hop on the bus. And then you're going to tell me that you're going to need more money because he's got to raise taxes. It seems like a math problem. Also, figure this in. 39% of the people surveyed in New York City say that they don't believe he has the experience to do the job. I mean, what about a counter narrative like that? They're going to give him the job? Yeah. And some of the people out interviewed that say they are supporting him say they just want to see something different. This is going to be something different. Absolutely. So it's hard to see a governor's race, even though it's an underdog situation, with more momentum than Jack Ciattarelli has generated on board. And even if he loses, no one doubts his competence. This is the type of people you want running for office. Yeah. And he's closed really well. I think run a much better race than he did last time. And last time he was short by three points. 84,000 votes. And then you look at Donald Trump down six points in New Jersey the last election. I think there is a chance if there's a bright spot on this map for Republicans, that's probably it. You want to see certain things. Republicans are looking for certain things. They're fighting on blue turf. Everybody knows it. But can they hold their Hispanic vote that they had in 2024? Can they keep the working class that they had those days? Are they going to be able to factor in unions representatives in New Jersey and New York City? Are they going to be able to get in? New York City is going to be almost impossible to gauge. But did they make inroads because it's Trump? Or did they make inroads because their party is more appealing to those sectors for the first time? I think it's the latter. I think that the Democrats with a split party that, again, the power is on the left. I do think that the New York mayor's race factors into New Jersey. I mean, they pay attention to what happens in New York and maybe it has a factor in this election. I have a soundbite that's uniquely Donald Trump. He was doing a teleconference yesterday, a tele-rally yesterday about New Jersey. Cut 19. Jack is running against a horrible, fake, corrupt, radical left Democrat opponent named Mikey Sherrill. The only thing she's got going is it's a very unusual name. I've never heard the name Mikey for a woman, but maybe this will be the last. I don't think too many people will be naming their child after Mikey. Her energy policies would send your prices soaring and make New Jersey even more expensive than it already is, which, as I said, is one of the highest in the entire country, combined with her high tax or high crime agenda. It's almost like the SNL skit. So I don't really like her name. Not a good name. People are not going to name their kids Mikey, especially with taxes like that. Right. So we'll see what happens. I mean, she has done her best. With Jack Chitorelli, I think, being strong, Mikey Sherrill losing all the momentum that she had coming out of the primary. I don't think either one of them really line up with the whole moderate vision. And the thing is, too, they're not clear on what they're doing on the transgenders in locker rooms. They can't answer that question in Virginia. They can't answer that question in New Jersey. And there were just some easy, low-hanging fruit questions that she could have answered when she was in that debate. I think I referenced it last time. She was asked about sales tax. She didn't have an answer. She said, I'm not going to answer right now. So we're bumping in with Lynyrd Skynyrd for a great reason. Joining us now is Johnny Van Zandt, one of the founding members of the band, and Taylor Van Zandt. They have a great message. They have a big fundraiser tonight, Rockin' for a Cure, something that Taylor found out that she had. And Johnny Van Zandt, a great friend of the show. And of course, everybody in WOKV, one of our great affiliates, knows about him because he does personify what Jacksonville is. And Johnny and Taylor, welcome to the Brian Kilmeade Show. Hey, thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you, buddy. How are you? It's good to see you two together. So glad we're able to Zoom. So if you're watching at home, hop on the stream. So first off, Johnny, always great to see you. Tell everyone or Taylor, if you want to tell everyone what happened to you and why you're battling back so hard. Thank you. So I was diagnosed last year with a rare disease called CCM or a cerebral cavernous malformation of my brain. It's a mass in the brain that affects the capillaries. So last year at the age of 22, I had two brain hemorrhages. Wow. And when did you realize, like, obviously the doctors were there, they helped you through it. When did you realize this is a this wasn't just a one off? This is this a problem that you had? Yeah. So, I mean, I've always struggled with my health a little bit, but every time I'd go to the doctors or get any blood tests, they'd reassure me that I was OK. And then one morning I just woke up and the right side of my body was completely numb. So I rushed to the emergency room. They did an MRI and they found the mass in my brain. John, what was that like? Yeah, it's been a difficult time. You know what? But we're a very blessed. She hasn't had any more bleeds and so many people with this. Brian, the reason why we're doing this is that we're trying to bring awareness to this because when this first happened, they thought it was the C word, not cavernoma, but the other C word. And they wanted to do biopsies on it. And we were like, no, no, no, we're going to get a second opinions. Luckily, here in Jacksonville, we have the Mayo Clinic and they came in, did some work up on our MRIs and stuff. And actually, everybody had other doctors consulting with doctors and came up with this. There's very little research, really no research right now as it stands and nothing for people to take. When you're bleeding, they can give you steroids to help it calm down. But there's people that are born with multiple ones. Taylor has one, but there's people that are born with multiple ones. And you know what? We're just here trying to raise money for research and bring awareness to this awful, awful disease because a lot of people have them. What is it, one out of five? No. So we would think that it's one in 500 people that have it, but we don't really know because there are many people who have it and they never become symptomatic. So they can go their whole lives with it and never have any complications. So how are you feeling now? I feel good. I really just want to make this my mission to bring awareness and help fund a cure. Understood. And now you'd be treated regularly, the Mayo Clinic's helping you or are they in a situation where they're maintaining your health? So really the only thing they can do is either brain surgery or monitor you with MRIs. Yeah. And a lot of this is with gut health too, Brian. We're finding out the gut feeds the brain. Yeah. There's a lot of correlation between your gut health and your brain health. So there is like a strict diet you can go on, but really the only thing you can do is get brain surgery and that's not an option for everybody. My mass is very, very deep in my brain and it's pushing on my corticospinal tract, which controls my voluntary movements. Wow. So, yeah. Brain surgery is key for me. And also, if- And Brian, by the way, the event is tomorrow night at the Porsche dealership on Atlantic Boulevard. It goes live, a live stream tomorrow night. It's up already on, people can bid on. So many great artists have given so much stuff. Thank you for getting us all them books and hooking us up with all those guys. The what? From all the Fox anchors. Oh, there you go. Yeah. All the Fox anchors, man. I mean, those books are wonderful. I'm going to bid on them myself. Yeah. That would be counterproductive, Johnny, but I guess you're already giving a lot. So you also have Doug Flutie is going to be down there as well. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got your band is going to be there. Brett Myers is going to be there. So it's going to be a big event and it's going to be happening in a local area, but you don't have to necessarily attend to be a part of it. You can take it in and there's ways to contribute, right? Yes. Yes. So if you go to Rockin, R-O-C-K-I-N, for the number for Acure.com, you don't it doesn't cost anything to just look at the items, but you can also just donate there if you don't want to bid on anything. Yeah. If you don't have the money to bid, hey, go give one dollar to the Cavanoma Alliance or to go a long ways. So, Johnny, how is it? Lynyrd Skynyrd doing? What kind of touring schedule you on? We're doing good, man. We just with this year, man, we were over in Europe. We're up in Canada and of course, all over our great country here. And next year we're out with Foreigner doing all the amphitheaters and onward and upward. Brian, you got to come to a show. Hold that flag again with me, man. We were in West Virginia. We were doing the show the next day, but we were done and we said, wait a second, Lynyrd Skynyrd's next door. We got in and then you spotted us and you had me come up on the stage and hold that flag. You're the only guy I've ever ran out into the audience and got. I know. I was totally honored. I couldn't believe it. I thought you were running to somebody behind me. I had no idea. But I was just there in my hoodie hanging out. So yeah, then you told me about this. I think it's really important to get the word out. And the thing is, the more you can bring some attention to it, then the more research goes into it. The more research goes into it is because money gets into it and money gets doctor's attention because they can't do it without the support. Brian, we were so surprised. Nobody knew about these. I mean, we were like, there was multiple doctors. She's with a great neurosurgeon at Baptist now here in Jacksonville, Dr. Hanel. And he goes around and does lectures on these things because there's very, very little information out there about them. Yeah, absolutely. So we thank you for letting us be on your show. It's spread the word. Yeah. And hopefully people can get down there. I just know the flights right now with traveling is not easy, but if people are planning to go, give yourself some time if you're running over to the airport. But let me ask you just about a couple of things about Southern Rock. Do you believe Southern Rock was the precursor to this new country we're seeing today? Yeah. I mean, if you go ask a lot of these newer country artists who were their influences would be, it would probably be the Allman Brothers, Leonard Skinner, the Southern thing. And it amazes me. But then again, you can go into the heavy metal category too. The guys from Metallica love Skinner. So it's like the music of Skinner has been really across all genres. I mean, it really has. We played with heavy metal bands and we played with Tim McGraw and Lady Annabelle. So it's pretty crazy. It is. And Taylor, for you, what has it been like growing up with a famous dad? She don't like it. That's not true. I'm very blessed and very grateful. But to me, it's normal. He's just my dad. So my friends would come over and we'd have sleepovers and he'd embarrass me and drop me off at school and embarrass me like a normal dad. I'm still embarrassing her, Brian. And helping her. Taylor, congratulations to you to look at a disease like this. Instead of it getting you down, it spurred you to action. How tough was that decision? You know, after my first bleed, I felt really grateful and blessed. And I thank God every day for just the chance to be alive and to walk and talk and breathe and see and, you know, things that we tend to take for granted. But after my second bleed, it kind of hit me and I realized the severity of my situation and that it's not really in my control. And so all I can do is, you know, try not to worry over things that aren't in my control and do what I can to be productive and, you know, do things that are in my control, which is spread awareness. And I'm so proud of it. Yeah. And this is the first fundraiser, right? Yes, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know what? We didn't know. We're going through St. Michael Soldiers is a great organization down here, Kathy and Jim Signorelli. And when we were, to be very honest, we listened to one of our forums that they have where people from all over the world kind of talk about this and they kind of help each other get through the times. And they had just lost the pharmaceutical research. We did have a clinical trial going, but unfortunately, we were like two years into it and it stopped. It stopped. And I just heard all these people, me and my wife, Lisa heard all, all these people, you know, you could just feel their faith and their hope kind of going away with that clinical trial. And we were like, we got to do something, you know? So the first thing I did was personally donate to the Kavanaugh Alliance. And then we were like, okay, well, let's go even farther. Let's, let's try to spread the word. Let's get it out there and do some good. And you're doing that November 5th, tomorrow, rockinforcure.com. Johnny and Taylor Van Zandt. Thanks so much for joining us today. Best of luck tomorrow night. I know it's going to go great. Thank you. Thank you, Brian. God bless you, buddy. You got it.