From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Q & A With The Duffys: Above All Else We’re A Family

Episode Date: June 3, 2023

Did Sean & Rachel always want to have a big family? The Duffys answer questions on how they balance their busy work schedules while raising nine children. Rachel reminisces on how in awe she was of Sean’s unwavering decision to leave Congress to be present with their family. Then, Sean emphasizes that he and Rachel have always unconditionally supported one another as they’ve pursued various dream jobs and opportunities. Plus, they share their advice on how to best approach family members with differing political views than you. Follow Sean and Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Hey, everybody. Welcome to From the Kitchen Table. I'm Sean Duffy along with my co-host for the podcast, my partner in life, and my wife, the great Rachel Campos Duffy. Wow, that's a great intro. Thanks.

Listen, this is our favorite time of the week, our podcast that we take your listener, viewer questions, and we answer them. And so we got some really good ones this week. Let's get right into it. and we answer them. And so we got some really good ones this week. Let's get right into it. They want to know, did you always know that you wanted to have a large family or is that something you grew into? Let's start with you, Sean.

No, I did not always want to have a large family. I'm the 10th of 11 children. Did you love that experience? I was at the end. I was the 10th. So my parents were a little older. They were a little less hostile probably as parents. You calm down a little bit with age.

A little more lenient. And so my experience was probably different than my older brothers and sisters. I loved a big family. I loved when everyone came home for the holidays. And I loved to see everyone in the summer. And when people are home, it's like chaos in the kitchen and chaos at the table and conversations. And this roar happens in your house. I actually, I loved that.

And even now, I'm older, but people come home and the stories that they share and the lives that they have and the relationships that are built. It's really wonderful. But when we got married, I didn't anticipate that we would have a big family. I was open to children. I'm Catholic, as are you. And I was open to having as many kids as God offered us. And for me, it has been a wonderful experience. Listen, I love having kids.

And again, I'm not going to minimize. It can be chaotic. It's a lot of work. But the joy that comes from the work and the chaos is real. And I've talked about this before. There's so many, like my life would not be the same without my kids. If I, I mean, I like to go on vacation with you if I can, but I like to do things with the kids. So again, we're in New Jersey. We're going back to Wisconsin for the summer. I don't want to go back to Wisconsin without my kids. I want them all there. I love to be with them on the lake.

I love to go skiing with them and paddle board and swim and all those things. I love all my kids to be around and share those experiences with them. I like a campfire with all of them. And, yes, it's crazy. You don't want a campfire by yourself? No, I don't. Sometimes a campfire is nice with you, but a campfire is fun with kids. Yeah, for sure.

And they're doing s'mores and they're dropping, you know, marshmallows on their shirt and they're getting burned and they're like. And the older kids are playing great music that we never, you know, not our music, their own music. It's chaotic and it's awesome. So I didn't plan on it, but I love it. Yeah. Well, it's so funny. I thought I came from a big family until I met the Duffy. So I'm the third of four kids. I have two older brothers.

And then I have a sister who's younger than me, but we're super close in age. We're only 14 months apart. And so we kind of were raised like twins. And I thought I was in a big family. I grew up watching the Brady Bunch. It was my favorite show. And that was six kids. And I think it sort of like had this listen culture matters right and I think it sort of had this impact on me where I thought that seemed really fun and I wish my family was just a little bigger you know um like the Brady Bunch and I'm sure that had something to do with it of course I married into your family and you know that when we first, you know, started dating and early years of marriage,

I was so fascinated by the dynamics in your family. I thought it was beautiful. I love the way your parents lived in this town. And so many of the other siblings live there. And they met up every day and at least on a weekly basis, you know, at church or after church. They'd meet for coffee several times a week at the coffee shop. And they really, you know, sort of integrated their lives together. And I thought it was beautiful.

Did I plan on having that many kids? You know, look, I remember we had this discussion about kids with Dan Bongino once. And I told him, I'm not on birth control. And he said, that's a Fox News alert. So I'm not on birth control. And, you know, we just opened our hearts and our home to whatever God would send us. And I have no regrets about that decision. I wouldn't send one of them back.

them back. And we ended up at the very end here with little Valentina, who has Down syndrome, but is like the joy of this house, like everyone's favorite family member is Valentina. And, you know, when Fox surprised me on Mother's Day by bringing out my mom, I am absolutely convinced that my mom did not, who's afraid of flying, by the way, and doesn't like to fly. And I beg her to come all the time. And the fear of flying prevents her from coming often. I feel like I know for a fact she came because she wanted to. Not me.

But anyway, I love that we have a big family. I think it's been the best decision we ever made was not making a decision about how many kids to have. And it's really, I think, enriched our lives and made us just sort of more open and flexible. And it's helpful. Listen, you had relatively easy births. You have your great pregnant, your great kids, and you look great after nine kids. So, like, the process of childbirth and having kids, I mean, you're beautiful in that stage. Yeah.

I do. I love, I didn't, I didn't hate pregnancy. But, you know, look, the last few months of pregnancy are hard. It's hard to sleep. And then that first year with the baby, with nursing, with, you know, all the adjustments you have to make, it's really hard. But boy, the best advice I ever got, Sean, was a woman, and I still don't know who it was, but somebody told me once, don't, because, you know, if you have a baby, if you have, like, three babies, and you think about adding, or, you know, three little kids, and you think about adding another, it can feel exhausting just the thought of that, because that first year is so hard with a newborn. with a newborn. But this person said, don't think about the number of kids you want right now. Think about how many you want around the Thanksgiving table 20 years from now.

And that is like the best advice ever, right? Because if you allow yourself to not get bogged down in the hard stuff, that will end. That phase will end. You will stop nursing at one point. Then, you know, or they will stop getting up in the middle of the night. And you think about that. I mean, we had that moment this Christmas where we had all of our kids home. We had, you know, my sister's kids, my brother's kids. We had, I think, like, was it 18 kids here? Yeah. And then the adults.

It was like the craziest Christmas experience. And it was the most beautiful. So for me, even when we don't have your siblings and their kids over, and let's say we have six of the kids and not all nine of the kids, it feels kind of empty. I'm like, where is everybody? And you'd be like, six kids, that's packed. But it feels odd.

I think it's a wonderful thing. Just by the way, ever since Rachel and I have been married, we've had children in diapers. And Valentina, she's three, and they take a little longer to potty train when they have downs. And so she's still in diapers. We have not been out of diapers in our 25 years of marriage. Maybe one day we'll get out of the diapers. Yeah, but this year, because Valentina, she's three, but because she has special needs, she actually goes to school where she gets her therapy there

and she's integrated into a class. They kind of start them early, so they kind of get used to school because they need that extra time. And so anyway, this is the first year that we've ever been alone during the day, which is why we're doing this podcast. Sometimes we have Valentina here. If she's under the weather or she has the day off, then she's here and she's interrupting our podcast. But generally, I mean, we've been married almost 25 years. This is the first time that we've ever had days free.

Everyone at school. Yeah, everyone at school and no kids yeah it's and it's actually kind of been somewhat nice but can i also i mean i just and i don't want to we'll go on the next question in a second um if i was to think about how much more money would i have if i didn't have these kids because kids drain resources, right? I never think like that. I'm actually delighted to go. I would pay any amount of money to make sure I have them all. And there's other people who I know our age that will fly off to here, go on vacation there.

They do a lot of – their lives are different than ours. You wouldn't trade it. But I think ours are very full with all these kids. Can I say this too? So when... By the way, you will too. I mean, I think you'll... It's hard.

And sometimes in it, like you said, you can be like, what the hell am I doing? I know. Sometimes it's crazy. But if you make the decision of a big family, I think your kids are better. I think you're better. I think your life is better and more full. So I would highly recommend it. It's a really great thing.

I will too. I want to say two things. First of all, to your point, absolutely. I think our kids are better for having lots of siblings. I've had teachers tell me that they can tell that children like ours come from a big family because they are just more helpful. They're kind of used to not being the center of attention and think that the whole universe revolves around them. Because when you're one of nine or one of 11, you realize that you're not the center of the universe and you have to help out because if not, your mom will want to kill herself. So, you know, you're part of a family, you're part of a team, you have to help, you have to share. And I think those are all really good, good things that good characteristics good virtues that come

out of being in a big family that's not to say that as a mom it hasn't been been hard and I remember you know multiple pregnancies going oh my god I'm pregnant and what I love about you Shawn is that every single time I was pregnant or found out I was pregnant and was feeling exhausted just at the thought that I was going to be pregnant again, you were excited about it. And that excitement allowed me to not dwell on the hard part and think about the good parts. And that was never more, I'm going to try not to cry here. That was never more apparent to me than our last pregnancy when I got the call, not just that I was pregnant because I knew that part, but also that I got a call that she was going to have heart

problems, that she had heart problems and that she had Down syndrome. And it was sort of a shock. I wasn't expecting that. I immediately called you and I got off the phone with the doctor. And your reaction was so priceless. I remember I'm like, Sean, are you sitting down? Yeah. Why? Did something happen? No, I thought it was good news.

I'm like, what? Well, I was like, sit down. And then I told you that, you know, the doctor called me and told me this. And you were so excited. You're like, well, Rachel, we know Cole, who was Congresswoman Kathy McMorris Rogers' son, who we did know was like a 12-year-old with Downs. And we knew other families with children with Downs. And you're like, everybody we know says it's the best thing that ever happened to their family.

They like them. And the fear just left me, you know, the sort of questions that I had, everything just left me, and you kind of... There's an unknown there. There's an unknown. I'd had nine kids, but I'd not had one with Down. The experience with others, right? What others have said, this is a pretty good experience. It's not

horrible. It's going to be pretty good. You're going to enjoy your kid with Down syndrome. Yeah. OK, well, and we sure are. And we sure are. And that and so and and then you you really took the you took the fear out and then you sort of picked up everything and said, OK, we're going to have to change our lifestyle. And that pregnancy became the impetus for you to making, I think, a really life-changing decision to leave Congress and sort of go, okay, now it's time to really focus in on our kids this one. We don't know how much time we're going to need with her, but we're not going to shortchange her. And Rachel was, by the way, not happy that I was like, I got to change.

I didn't want any more change in my life. I was like, I'm like, and again, Rachel makes a lot of decisions in our family, if you can't tell from this podcast, or from our lives. And this was the one that I was like, actually, no, I'm leaving. And she was like, no, you're not. And I'm like, listen to me. I'm leaving. Our family can't do this. There are certain moments in our life where you go, you know what?

I'm making this decision. And you did. And in hindsight, you're like, you know what? That was the right decision. That was absolutely a lesson for me as a spouse on going boy you were so wise in that and I was being I was being ruled by my emotions in that situation because I was you know just I just the unknown of you getting out after having been in Congress for 10 years and even though that was a hard life I I knew how to do that life. Right. And this was a new thing. And anyway, it's always great.

And you were awesome. Yeah. Lots of kids. Lots of kids. Let me get to our next question, Sean. Listen, sometimes just don't plan it. As you were going to ask the question, you don't have to plan your life out. Yeah.

Right? Some of the best. You don't have to have it all charted. Let your life just kind of develop in front of you. Yeah. And how many kids you're going to have. Unplanned pregnancies can lead to unplanned joy. Yes, well said.

We'll be back with much more after this. It's winter and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats. But meatballs, mozzarella balls, and arancini balls? Yes, we deliver those. Moose? No. But moose head? Yes.

Because that's alcohol, and we deliver that too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, groceries, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Do you have any favorite shows you are watching? Do you want to go ahead? Well, I want to talk about like shows that you and I have jointly been like, wow,

this is an awesome show. We loved This Is Us. We did love This Is Us. We had some issues with some of the things in there, but for the most part were riveted we loved it we thought it was awesome to have a story that was all about family and we loved that we loved yellowstone for the first couple seasons and then we kind of went like kind of got wokey and kind of annoyed me um and we both like succession we do yeah um but which by the way i finished rachel has not i fell asleep on the last night I end up snoring and falling asleep sometimes which I really enjoy

you enjoy me snoring as you watch succession I enjoy watching shows I'm pulling up so I do Fox Business oh and I love The Crown can I just say that

but Sean won't watch it with me I don't watch it but when I drive home after my show on Fox Business the bottom line it's from 6 to 7 p.m. so if you don't check it with me. I don't watch it. But when I drive home after my show on Fox Business, the bottom line is from 6 to 7 p.m., so if you don't check it out, you should.

On Fox Business? But I'm kind of fried in the car. It's a long day. And so instead of reading, sometimes I'll pull up shows. And I really enjoyed watching Criminal Minds. It must have been on for like seven seasons. I'm going through all these seasons. Well, you've always liked these crime related.

He's a former prosecutor, so that doesn't surprise me. So, yeah, I enjoy that. Well, that's interesting, Sean. Ted Lasso. I like Ted Lasso. You do. And I want to wait for all the seasons to come out before I watch a couple of them. But I've enjoyed Ted Lasso.

I'm not so sure about this season yet. So I'll randomly watch some shows without you just in the right home those are the seasons I I one of my you know guiltiest pleasures is when no one's around and I'm and I'm cooking and I can't have it on when the kids are around um I don't like to but I love to watch the Real Housewives um and so for me a really guilty pleasure it's because it is that mindless thing that you talk about. I just I can just it's just a guilty, horrible, awful pleasure. But I love it. This kind of relates a little bit to what you just talked about, Sean. The question is for you.

And it is, how has your career in law impacted your worldview? We know it's impacted some of your viewing on TV. Yeah, so I was I was a prosecutor for 10 years as the D.A some of your viewing on TV. Yeah, so I was a prosecutor for 10 years as the DA of a northern Wisconsin county. I haven't actually practiced law since then, but I do believe in law and order. And having been the, if you will, top cop in my county, I love the power that's given to prosecutors. When you have good people who can use that discretion that prosecutors are given to look at the full person, look at the crime, look at their history, look at their background, look at some of the problems in their lives, and make good decisions for your community. Because some people are bad and have a bad record and are doing bad things, and they need to go to prison for a long time. And there's some people who make mistakes. And need a second chance. They need a second chance and

they're gonna be some punishment for the crime but they they they deserve some some some more leniency and I thoroughly enjoyed the job and I see today that with many prosecutors the discretion that so I think prosecutors should have has been abused. So now these prosecutors are just not enforcing the law. And what's going to happen is we're going to roll that discretion back and it's almost going to be check the box prosecution, which again, takes a lot of factors that good people should consider in these very powerful positions. So I get frustrated at these prosecutors in these big cities who are liberal and are undermining legislators who pass laws with criminal statutes and they don't

enforce them. And they have the right to not enforce them, but they should enforce them. But also when I was a prosecutor, and I've said this before, I was really bad when I started. I couldn't try a case to save my life. Everyone's bad when they start. I got to be really good at it. But it taught me how to argue facts and speak in front of a jury. And that was that that was very good in Congress when you're we all watch the congressional hearings now. But when you have your five minutes to ask questions, I was not just reading off a script. I was actually able to ask questions and listen to the answer and then jump back in and actually get the answers, get the questions answered or push witnesses harder and further. So it was helpful as a member of Congress to do that. And I think to ask questions at Fox, you do a lot of that when you're a lawyer. So that's kind of my take on it. I also think, like, you did so many town halls, but a lot of that connecting with people.

You also had to connect with the jury. And so you learned how to connect with people that way, which I think was really beneficial. It was great. It was interesting to me when you became a prosecutor. I never understood how great of training that was to become a lawmaker, a congressman. But it really is. You understand the law. You understand how to make arguments. You understand how to communicate those ideas to your constituents. So it was good. I learned a lot through you being a lawyer. A couple things.

You know, not long after you left your job as a prosecutor, the whole idea of pot legalization came into the culture. And there were a lot of people, you know, using arguments about veterans need, you know, to use pot for, you know, whatever reasons. And there were just a lot of push. There was a lot of lobbying for pot. And you had dealt with a lot of people having drug issues and having to go to drug courts through your – and you met a lot of people in the rehabilitation, the drug rehabilitation sphere. And those drug rehabilitators all told you that pot was a gateway drug and that no matter what people say, if you could control the legalization of pot – they literally went to, because at that point people were still debating it, and they would say, you know, we can't legalize pot. This is going to make the drug use spike.

And boy, we've really seen that, haven't we? And by the way, again, with discretion, if someone came in with a pound of marijuana to sell in our community, we would try to throw the book at them. They're dealers. But if someone was caught with an eighth ounce bag of marijuana, I wouldn't prosecute those. I'd go, give them a city citation.

Right? It's going to be on their record, but it's not criminal. Discretion. And you're hearing people like they had a small bag of marijuana and they're going to prison. Listen, I have a hard time. Yeah, of course. But even that, because good prosecutors are making, I think, good decisions.

By the way, when I was in Congress, I did a town hall and I had a big district, a lot of counties. And I would do a town hall at least once a year in every county. And then I did coffees with your congressmen. And oftentimes, Democrats would come and try to stump me, be mean to me. And I always thought it was my job to let people who agree, but also disagree with me, come and challenge me and tell me their disagreement and have them hear from me why I'm doing what I'm doing, why I'm voting the way I'm voting or change my mind. And so often you see, especially Democrats, but they run away from the conflict of people who disagree with them. But that is the job. That is the job to let everybody voice their opinion to their elected representative. Now, I don't want to have staged protests and yell downs. I want

to be respectful, but also give people that opportunity. And I think being in a courtroom helped me better navigate those town halls than I would have had I not been in the courtroom. Well, I will say that my favorite politician to vote for that I felt the best was you. And it wasn't just because you're my husband. I felt like you were truly that responsive congressman. One thing people could never say about Sean Duffy, by the way, your district was a Democrat district. It voted for Sean Duffy in 2010 and has become super red. And I think it was because of those town halls that you were able to explain your policies. You were able to communicate with people. You were at every parade and town hall.

People loved you. Daily breakfast, fair. But you were very accessible. And I think you were really good. Yeah. It wasn't just because you were my husband. I actually think you did a great job. I would have problems if you didn't vote for me.

The next question is for me. If you could run for office, what office would it be and why? I've often said that I want to be. Listen, I did a segment for Fox and Friends that I lobbied to do for months. I said to my producers, I want to talk to all the grandmas in Congress, especially on the Republican side, because I know some of them, many of them. And I'm so fascinated by this third act that now because women are healthier and just the way the world is that, you know, women can, you know, get married, have their kids, have grandkids and then go, you know what, instead of going to play tennis and golf, I'm going to go run for Congress. And boy, we have some of the best. I mean, this I ended up doing it. I interviewed

all these grandmas in Congress, and they blew me away. I knew they were great. They totally blew me away. The wisdom, the life experience that they brought to, they bring to their jobs every day and to the conversation, the national conversation, and also the authority. So one of our favorite people in Congress is Virginia Fox. Boy, that woman, if you don't know who Virginia Fox is, you got to look her up. She's from North Carolina. She is a fire spitting brand of a. And yet she's a sweet, sweet grandma. But she has this authority about

her. And one time she told me the story that she was in a room, in a conference, and she saw a member of Congress, one of her colleagues, speak unkindly to a staffer, to somebody who worked for him. And she did not like it. She went and she scolded him. And then he tried to, you know, and she scolded him. And then he tried to, you know, like most kids, tried to kind of say that wasn't what he mean. And then she got even more mad because, you know, it's the lie that actually she scolded him on that. And then he sheepishly apologized to her and then to the staffer. And that's the kind of thing that I love about her and all the other grandmothers. I don't know how my life will unfold, but I could see myself once all my kids are out of the house. I did love what you did. I think one of the greatest things that I'm most proud of is

supporting you and being part of that process so that you could, you know, serving by taking care of our kids so you could go and serve our country. But maybe when all my kids are gone, I would like to maybe do that and maybe run for Congress, maybe run for Senate, something like that. It would be fun. It's interesting because we've had a unique balance in our lives where Rachel has supported me, I've supported her. She's supported me. But it's not always at the same time.

Sometimes you've been going on a track and I've been very supportive. Other times I've been going on a track and you've been really supportive. And I think if you look at a single moment in time, it may not seem fair, but over the course of a marriage, I think there's a lot of equality

in how we have supported each other. And I think that's important in marriages to support one another as they pursue these dreams. You'd be a great member of Congress. So will you be like a golfer while I go off to Congress in our retirement age? I don't golf because Rachel says I can't golf. Early in our marriage, Sean had a buddy who said, let's go golfing. And I had a little baby.

I was probably pregnant with another one because we kept having them. And I was like, listen, you can do anything you want, but golf is not a family sport. I am not going to be spending Saturdays alone while you go golf and have cocktails. No, thank you. He said, I can't fly and I can't get my private pilot's license. Right, because I didn't want to be a widow with nine kids. And I can't have a motorcycle I can't get my private pilot's license. Right, because I didn't want to be a widow with nine kids. And I can't have a motorcycle. Yeah.

Well, he did. He bought a motorcycle behind my back and had it for a few months. And I was terrified that he was going to die on it. And I made him sell it. Because I want you to be alive. A few restrictions. And I worked with those. So I'm not going to be golfing.

But listen, I'll be. Listen, I. But you can golf when you're retired. I won't have kids. And I'll be in Congress. I'll be very helpful. I know. You'll have to help me out if I do that.

But yeah, that's something I've thought about. I wouldn't, I mean, I don't know what will happen, but definitely doing grandmas in Congress. If you haven't seen that, that's on my Facebook page. It is, it's a fun interview. And boy, those women are amazing, amazing. We're so lucky to have them. We'll be right back with much more after this.

Some things require a lot of work to grow, like plants, hair, babies, or your savings. But when you run a business, you already have enough on your plate. Scotiabank's Right Size Savings for Business account can help you grow your savings with ease. For a limited time, open a new account and earn up to 4.65% interest for the first six months. Before you know it, your savings will grow without you even noticing. Ooh, which reminds me, I need a haircut. Here's our last question.

How do you handle disagreements with families or relatives that you have differing points of views with. So, I mean, that's something you could deal with, Sean, because your parents are very liberal. Your mom is a Bernie Sanders supporter. So that question is for me because just as background, everyone in Rachel's family is, for the most part, very conservative. But we still had disagreements over. Remember in the Trump years, everyone was conservative. But but there were I had three of my siblings were not into voting for Trump. And I was like, I was totally in the Trump camp. And then slowly they came over. Eventually, once he was elected, they were like, yeah, he's doing a pretty good job. There was a little bit of it. But there was some there was some disagreements, but not as stark as the ones in your family.

So my so my mom and dad, they both used to be Republicans. They're Catholics. They have 11 kids. They were fairly conservative in their early years. As they've gotten older, they've become more liberal, which is, by the way, the exact opposite, which is what I think happens to adults when they get older. They become more conservative. Those two, my parents, have become more liberal. And, you know, it's been challenging for me because sometimes they will criticize me

for things that I say on TV or things that I did in Congress. And, you know, listen, I don't, sometimes I don't think they have the full story. Yeah. But also because they watch MSNBC and CNN and NPR. I'm like, listen, I don't need you to be my critic. I need you to be my mom or my dad. I mean, enough of the criticism. So we had a little bit of that. But I've gotten to the point now where they were so anti-Trump and they're so Joe Biden.

And I could play the Donald Trump game they played with me with Joe Biden with them. But I kind of choose just to disengage. I mean, I love them. And I think there's a way to just go, I'm not going to talk about politics because we're never going to agree. I'm not going to change their minds. They're not going to change my minds. And at some point, we have to set those differences aside and just be a family. But by the way, for the most part, for the most part, that is actually how it's happened. In fact, one of the things that really upset you and I the most was when we saw, I think the guy was from Arizona. I can't remember, but there was a guy running for Congress towards the end of your, I think just before your last cycle in Congress. How many cycles did you have?

Six, five, five cycles. Five, five cycles. So just before your fifth cycle, there was a guy running for Congress and his siblings cut an ad against him. And you and I were just, we just thought this was like crossing the line. Because in your family, there's lots of different points of view. By the way, it's not just that his parents, you know, his mom voted for Bernie and his dad did. It wasn't just that. There's all kinds. There's independents. There's people who voted for Barack Obama and then voted for Trump. People who voted, you know, for Bush, but then voted for, you know, Bill Clinton. I

mean, there's all kinds of mixes. I mean, that's what you get when you get 11, you know, 11 kids and two parents. It was a real mix. And I would say your family has been really amazingly united as a family, despite those political differences, which have become more and more stark as the years have gone on. And we were mortified and horrified. And I actually remember doing a and there was a guy in Wisconsin that was running whose parents donated to opponent, and that became public as well. And so there were these cases, and I think it was that Trump era where people just kind of lost their minds and turned on their own family, which, of course, I think is super communistic. I'm totally against that. Nothing is more important than family.

Politics isn't more important than family. And so you actually, one of my favorite ads that you did, because we had a conversation about that. And we ended up thinking about it, and it turned out that we turned it into an ad. And the tagline, and we had all of his family there. Most all my brothers and sisters came for the ad. Came for the ad, and they said, I voted for Bernie, and I voted for Trump, and I voted for trump and

i voted for this person and i don't vote at all and one guy said you know his brother who's a fishing guide said um i'd rather cast a line than cast a vote right that was his line and at the end sean said because i'm not fighting with my family i'm fighting for yours and it was a great ad and it really captured the moment the second term of uh donald trump or no it was that it was a great ad and it really captured the one was the second term of Donald Trump but it was that it was right before the election was an 18 so he was in office for two years he'd been in office for two years so the country was really getting divided there was all that Russia hoax BS and everything that was going on and you know you did this ad where you know showing how your family worked it out and your family really has you know

worked it out you know and you had to have those conversations but your parents love you and cover the way just on that ad I had a brilliant writer on it Rachel with that tagline it was it was and I got some wonderful responses from people who are like you know what everybody was facing that in their families, weren't they? That's what this is about. And so I would, kind of to round this out, I do think, to your point, family is so important. And sometimes small fights or political fights can get in the way of the relationships that you have with your brothers and sisters and your parents. And I think you got to see the long game here. And the relationship with them is far

more important than the fight. And the relationship is so much more meaningful than being right. And at some point, you got to know where the landmines are and just try to avoid them. And that's not and that's not being a winky. It's about being just going, hey, listen, I love you. We're never going to agree on on Joe Biden. I think he's I think he's a commie and you think he's a great American. OK, let's not talk about it. Let's talk about, you know, something else. Something else we agree on. Yeah, Joe Biden is not worth your family.

And so, yeah, so you just kind of learned of what, and that doesn't mean that I'm like this wallflower. If I'm asked what I think, I mean, it's, you know, I think you know that I'm going to say what I think. And if that comes up in the middle of a family reunion and somebody asks me, yeah, but I try to, you know, at least in the family setting, if I know there's a landmine there, I try not to bring it up. Now, my family is a little different because it's a Latino family. And, you know, I think they're kind of used to more being more feisty and we can handle that kind of disagreement. And you're wrong and blah, blah, blah. And then the next second we're like okay what do you want in your tacos um that's

just kind of how it goes right uh so but if you know your family is going to hold a grudge or it's going to cause a simmering thing it's not worth it family is what life is about and politics is about serving family it's not the other way around. The most important thing is family, and politics is about how can we help preserve and make our families better and more prosperous. I would just say, but one thing that's, and usually there's like-minded people that come from families, right? Most of my brothers and sisters are fairly conservative.

Not all of them, but most of them. Not all of them. And my parents used to be, and now they've kind of fallen off. Fauci has made some of your siblings more conservative. The liberals who hate big pharma and all that stuff have become more liberal. I mean, more conservative. If you raise your kids one way and then you send them off to be indoctrinated in communist camp, don't be surprised if they come home and are a little communist, which is why, again, it's so important if you care about that family and care about the country, you make sure you get them to a place that's going to educate

them and not indoctrinate them. That is the most important thing. And that will bring a lot of happiness, right? I mean, it goes to your point, too. Marry someone that you actually have a lot in common with, that you agree with. Sometimes they talk about opposites attracting and you and I completely disagree with that.

There's enough, we see the world pretty similarly and there's enough disagreement. There's enough to fight about in marriage to not add politics. Do you imagine if one of us was liberal, like how much, I mean, it would just, no, it wouldn't work.

It wouldn't work. So find someone kind of like you. Because the bottom line is like marriage is so intimate and politics is a reflection of your values and how you vote is a reflection of what you value. And so I think that becomes, you know, really, really important. And also, Sean Sean I want to say that you know there was a time you know maybe back in the 70s and 80s maybe even the early part of the 90s where you could send your kids off to you know a state college or an elite private college and you know they had their Marxist professors and they'd come home at Thanksgiving and argue with you about Marxism and you know be be super liberal and think you're fuddy-duddy. And then eventually they'd have kids and a paycheck and taxes and they become, you know, conservative.

You know, they turn back and become conservative. That's not happening. The indoctrination has been perfected. And it's been ingrained not starting in their freshman year of college. It's starting in preschool, which is what Ron DeSantis is fighting right now in Florida and across the country. And so I think what you're seeing is that they don't come back around anymore. They end up becoming that woke, annoying employee at the next place they work at. Yeah, they become activists. They're believers. They're brainwashed. And so you're right, Sean. Whatever you can do to take your kids out of these government run indoctrination machines that Sean calls commie camp.

Our friend Pete Hegseth calls it Democrat camp. But it's the same thing. And, you know, you've got to take your kids out of that system. If you're a grandparent and you're listening and you're worried about your grandkids and your own kids can't afford to take their kids to a private school, screw the inheritance. Invest now. Get those kids out of those government-run schools. Get them into a good classical Christian or Catholic academy. Don't send them.

Don't be impressed by the name brand Harvard, Yale, University of Chicago, or even any of these fancy state schools that, you know, have good reputation. Don't be impressed by that. Figure out, you know, Hillsdale, University of Dallas, you know, the school that Ron DeSantis is opening up in Florida now that's going to become, you know, sort of the Hillsdale of Florida. Look into other choices.

Liberty University. What's the one in Missouri? Something of the Ozarks. Yeah, School of the Ozarks, yes. So there are other options for universities. Sean and I figured out that, you know, we're just not going to fund our kids to go to. We did it in the beginning. We made some mistakes.

And now we have a list of schools that share our values. If you want us to pay for your college or help you pay for your college, then you have this list to pick from. If you want to do it on your own and go to Yale, go. You know, it's on you. But I'm not going to give my hard-earned money to a bunch of communists who want to indoctrinate you and your classmates. So that's how we view it. But it's a great point you brought up, Sean. Family cohesion, education is really important and making sure that your family values and traditions are passed on. Don't send them to a place that undermines that.

That's 100 percent right. And we're going to beat that drum. I know we sound like broken records, but we really have thought really hard about this for our own family and for the country. We really believe it's the way to save America. I'm going to say this one more time because I thought a lot about how do you save America? How do we right this ship? And I served in Congress. I was a prosecutor and I had good power in Congress. More power than most.

And I realized that if I want to help save my country, I can't do it in Congress, but I can do it in this home. I can do it with these kids. I can do it with you, and that is the most power that all of us have is to raise good kids that have faith, that love their family, that have a good, solid education, and by the way, I don't, we get to send ours to a classical Catholic school, which we love. Frankly, I would send mine to, I don't, I love that we have this because we're Catholic, but I just want a classical education. I don't care if there's anything else with the classical, but the classical is what matters. Yeah, there are great Christian classical schools.

And there are great charter schools that are sort of not really religious, but just teaching in that classical model. I love that ours is Catholic. But don't just get a Catholic school because not all Catholic schools are made the same. There are some really bad Catholic schools. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, our kids, that's part of our journey. Our kids went to a really wokey kind of mediocre Catholic school.

So don't be fooled by the religion. You've got to look for a classical. Can I give one little story before we go? Just an example of something that happened the other day. Our kids were taking a bath. This is just an example of what happens when you send your kid to a classical academy. And we're going to do an episode all on classical education. So stay tuned for that.

I'm just going to give this little story that happened. They were in the bathtub. It was three of them. It was Valentina was three, Patrick, who at the time was six. He just turned seven. And Margarita, the oldest one, who was eight at the time. And they were in the bath. I'm sorry, she's nine now.

That's what happens when you have a lot of kids. You forget their ages. So anyway, they're all in the bath, and they're hanging out. And I step outside to go grab a towel, and I come back inside, and it's like they're fighting in the bath. And I'm like, hey, what's going on in here? And Margarita says, oh, we're playing French Revolution, and Patrick is Louis XVI.

And they're just like, this is the stuff they are. They understand that they my little first and third grader not only know about the French Revolution and the American Revolution, but they actually know the difference between the French Revolution and the American Revolution, which is a really important concept that most people, even in college, haven't figured out. I have not ceased to be amazed at the kind of information and history that they have, the knowledge that they have. The expectation that the schools have of these little kids. I'm amazed every day.

We're going to do a whole episode on that because I know a lot of people have a lot of questions about it. But great questions from all of you today. Yeah, thank you for that. And thanks for joining us on our Friday edition. Please download it at foxnewspodcasts.com. That's an S at the end of podcast. But you can get it anywhere, Spotify, Apple. Just download, subscribe, and then you'll get an alert every time a new episode comes out.

And you can decide whether it's one you want to listen to or not. Rate, review, subscribe, wherever you get your podcasts. We would appreciate it. And we know you want to subscribe. So hit that subscribe button. We really appreciate that. Thanks a lot, everybody. See you next week. Listen ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription, an Apple podcast, and Amazon Prime. Members can listen to the show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.