From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Q & A With The Duffys: What Is Killing America With Jason Rantz

Episode Date: September 23, 2023

Sean and Rachel answer listener questions, from what their favorite viral video of the week was, their thoughts on Pope Francis, to weighing in on Attorney General Merrick Garland's testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee.   Later, they are joined by Seattle-based talk Show Host on KTTH Radio, Jason Rantz, as they ask him about his journey to becoming a conservative, and what the inspiration was behind his new book What's Killing America: Inside the Radical Left's Tragic Destruction of Our Cities. Follow Sean & Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RachelCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, everyone. 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, Rachel Campos Duffy. It's great to be back, Sean. And you know, everyone loves Q&A day. And that's what we're at today. And we have so many great questions. One of them I'm going to start off with because somebody asked, what's the best thing on the Internet? Which if you ask Dan Bongino, who commented on one of our posts that we did of Valentina, we did a little video of Valentina on her first day of school. And, you know, Dan

Bongino, not one to not exaggerate. It's the best thing ever on the Internet. But I do think I did find the best thing ever on the Internet. And it is I'm going to lay the table for you here because it's I have so much to say about this. It's such a real moment. it's so you've seen how these girls will like pop up their their their cell phones and record themselves either doing their skincare routine or putting on their makeup so there's this little latina american girl and uh she's i think going through her makeup routine and she gets she's she puts up her video what what ends up happening is because she's doing her makeup routine i got a pimple here i got a pimple here and she gets she's she puts up her video well what ends up happening is because she's doing her makeup routine i got a pimple here i got a pimple here and she's talking about it all of a

sudden in the middle of the recording her sister comes in and one of the sisters cut the other sister's hair and messed up and tomorrow's picture day but But they start, this whole drama ensues because they don't want their mom to find out. The older sister has to fix it. The younger sister, the little baby sister is going to tell on that. All of it ends up getting recorded by accident because she had her own phone going

trying to record herself doing makeup. Her camera was up there. But that all goes by the wayside and we end up getting a behind the scenes look at five sisters, you know, and this chaos around the kids in the morning.

Yeah, exactly. I'm going to play a small clip of it and then you guys, I'm going to post it on my social media so you can go back. There's like, you can slide through and see the entire drama unfold. the mom coming in okay picture picture day they're trying to hide the girl trying to hide what happened uh it's so and you see okay let me just play this and then we'll discuss because there's a

lot to unpack in this thing hey guys get on ready with me um after coming back from downtown. But yeah, it's been a really long day today. So we're just gonna take this off. I need a scissors. For what? Something, just something. Be careful. Okay, so what I'm gonna start off

is by taking off my mascara, because I just have mascara on. And I have this pimple, guys, and a pimple right here. And luckily I made my pimple patches that I got from the dollar. And then after that I'm gonna put just lotion on it. I don't know. I need to come right here.

Come here. Mom. I told you, I told you right here. Not right here. Why did it broke? I said up here. Is that why you have to be here? Tomorrow's picture day!

What? Tomorrow's picture day! Nothing, we're just, I'm trying to find a new hairstyle for you. You guys put your stuff ready because tomorrow's picture day is another other temprano. So that is just a piece of it. You have to go through it as I said. At one point she tries hiding her sister underneath. They are like, close the door. Mom's coming in. The mom peeps in.

She's like, you know, driving with cookies to be quiet. I mean, everything that you imagine about what it's like. I mean, first of all, when I saw this video, because our son was visiting for the week and he said he showed it to me and he said, what does this remind you of? You know, all the screaming, the fight. I'm like, this is our house. This is what it's like. We have all these kids living together and the kind of adventures and dramas that they find themselves in. And you see every sibling, Sean, just play out that role. The older sister trying to fix it, you know, yelling at the little ones, the little ones trying to tell them the other one, the middle child kind of

egging things on and making things worse. I mean, it all plays out. If you watch the whole clip, the little one comes in and goes, oh, you're going to be in trouble. That's so good. And then the Latina mom in the background, what's going on in there? Like, she's got a clue that something's going on in there. They're all trying

to hide it. And she's like, you know, tomorrow's picture day. You're going to have to get up. And so like, there's all this fanglish going on. It's very reminiscent of anybody who has come from a big family. And it got me thinking, Sean, because as you're watching it, Because as you're watching it, it's so fun. And that's what I think we don't talk enough about when we talk about families. And we sometimes talk about the numbers of people not getting married, the low numbers of people having children or waiting till it's too late and then they can't have a big family. And we don't talk enough about just how fun it is.

And you grew up with, you're the 10th of 11 kids. I mean, I have my own adventures of getting put in the dryer during hide and seek. My parents weren't there. My brother's turning it on and all the crazy stuff, but you have it in space. We do. And the stories that you tell, the memories you built when you were young are awesome when you all sit around because it's such a great experience to have all of these playmates and partners that you're able to do things with. And the different ages where everyone's at, you know, as you go through, you know, the elementary, middle, high school and the stories change. It was for us, it was so much fun. was for us it was so much fun and by the way i was at the bottom i was the 10th of 11 and the experience is for the older ones versus the younger ones because parents get a little smarter and maybe not as strict with the with the younger ones it is there's there is so much fun and even

for parents if you um if you're not so self-centered and you can actually engage in this it gets to be one of the most joyful things you can go through. And the stress that you see with this one sister cutting another sister's hair, by the way, cutting hair with like a school scissors, right? It's not like... So funny. It's so funny. And mom's probably gonna be mad, but the humor of it and the fun of it can't be lost. And so if you want a great, crazy family story that tells you why you should have a big family or a number of kids, this is it. Oh, yeah, you absolutely should. And

there's such universal moments happening like that. This is their own unique family. But there are these universal moments that we can all relate to, you know, what the middle sister does, what the older sister does, you know, the bribery, all this stuff that happens and ensues. If you come from a big family, if you're around a big family, you have actually experienced that. And I guess I would say to people, they focus, especially young, young women and men who are either getting married or have little kids. And they're always wondering, should I have another kid? And they think so much. They overthink, I think, about the finances and they overthink about a lot of things and they don't think enough about the fun, about the memories,

about the bonding, about the relationships. I mean, those girls going through that adventure, like the adventures that you went through with your siblings and the adventures I went through are these bonding moments. And those, you know, those people are your they're your tribe forever. I mean, you see that, you know, we had my dad's 80th birthday here at my house and my siblings came with all their kids and our kids have all grown up together. And, you know, it's just it's just hard to explain. And I think you really saw the tragedy of being an only child. There's some benefits. Listen, I remember being in my family and wishing I was an only child.

And every now and then being alone with my parents and going, wow, this must be amazing. But boy, during COVID, when only children really didn't have friends to play with because they were stuck in their homes. Our kids never got lonely because they all had each other. We were stuck at home together. But also, I think through the years, friends are friends, but there's something different about family, and there's a different kind of bonding. What's also interesting in this is the kind of people that they become because of the experiences and the drama and the conflama they have with

their siblings and the social intelligence that comes from navigating these different situations that come up in their lives make them better human beings make them better spouses make them better employees because a lot of the a lot of the problems that we get older in life you kind of had to deal with something like that in a big family in your younger life. And so it's really good for kids to have siblings and go through the craziness of a big family. By the way, today a big family is four kids. This is a family of five. But you have four kids, five kids.

You get this little slice of nuttiness in your house. And the kids are better for it and you're better for it. Listen, I recommend keep going because honestly, now that our kids are getting older, I can't imagine one less person. In fact, when we had this big event this weekend, one child, my daughter who's in college, couldn't come because she had a test the next day and she couldn't miss that test. And it just wasn't the same without her. And I just think even the skill sets that you talk about, Sean, like they're exponentially more with more kids. Right. I think Sean is less selfish and a better negotiator because he's one of 11, even more so than I was, because I was the first daughter. So

I kind of had that experience of, you know, it just was different. Like it just is different four versus six versus eight versus nine. I just think the fun is exponential and the social skills you learn grows as well. So I was talking to a friend yesterday who is going to be an empty nester. And we know a lot of our friends are in their early 50s. All of a sudden, their one, two, or three kids are out of the house. And all of a sudden, there's a lot of freedom to travel and do different things. And I said, wow, that's interesting. Like, I have one that's three, almost four.

Still with diapers. I have a seven-year-old, a nine-year-old, a 13-year-old, a 15. I've got a lot of tie with little kids in my house. I'm going to be honest. There was a few moments where I'm like, wow, that must be nice to be an empty nester and be able to have the freedom to just go off and do things together. I wouldn't trade being early 50s and having a three-year-old, a seven-year-old, a nine-year-old. I wouldn't trade being early 50s and having a three year old, a seven year old, a nine year old. I wouldn't trade that for the world for that freedom to be able to travel. I love that we are this age and have these little kids in our life.

It is it is awesome in this big family. And you do do it differently. So when when my sister was over at her house and there was a fight, not not unlike the fight that you saw on that tiktok video um that one daughter bought a pair of jeans that was and then it didn't fit her so the other daughter and we said you know what i because i hate returns i mean every mom i had that return all set up i know he actually does the returns and i still complain about the returns i'm like i'm never buying clothes online because you know i just hate to deal with the return. Because they'll never get returned. Like, yeah, I know. So this one, I got to return it. This is exactly what happened. I was like, you know what? Rather than deal with the return, I'm just going to give it to the other daughter and I'll buy the other one

a bigger size. And then, yeah, then they both have jeans and I'd have to deal with the return. And well, it didn't go well because the older one's like, I don't want her to have the same jeans I have. And this whole fight was ensuing and it was like crazy. And my sister's there and I'm I'm totally like like I'm 51 and I'm relaxed and I'm not even getting involved. And my sister's like looking at me like, aren't you going to stop this? And I'm like and I'm I'm doing the whole like, all right just you guys can work it out and then i looked at my sister and like i'm too old for this job i'm like which reminds me of like when you describe your parents because sean was at the end like you just get relaxed partially because you you know that getting involved is not going

to resolve anything but there's the other part of it that's just like, I'm told to deal with this. You guys work it out. What's great, though, in that situation, the fight was happening upstairs. And I didn't know what's going on. But I had done the return for the one pair of jeans. So the older one who was going to return the jeans, I'm downstairs drinking a cup of coffee, like doing whatever. And all of a sudden, the fight and the energy comes down to me.

And I'm like, I have no idea what's going on. I'm thinking about a return. I probably think go talk to dad or something. I'm thinking about a return. I'm like, but I set up the return. No, mom gave the jeans

to mud. And I'm like, oh my God, listen, why are we fighting? I took the jeans. You'll order another one. But it's interesting how these fights are happening

and then all of a sudden they'll pop out. There's different one. But it's interesting how these fights are happening. And then all of a sudden, they'll pop out. There's different layers. And there's different ways that I would have handled it at 30 with two kids than at 51 with nine kids. Our kids try to play us, which we get this. They'll figure out who is the best parent to go to to get the best result for me, mom or dad. Let me repeat the game, right? We're like, okay, we know what they're doing. We're too old for this. We've been to that rodeo before. Yeah, they kind of know better than to try and divide us because it's not going to work. That was a fun fight.

But they take it seriously. But those things, and listen, there's all kinds, like when we went, Sean and I went to, and here's the other brilliant part about when you have like nine kids, the older kids now can come home to take care of the younger kids if you and I do want to go on a trip. So over New Year's, I had to do New Year's in Nashville. And I said, I'm sick of doing these New Year's shows alone. I don't want to be alone. And so Sean and Evita came out for New Year's in Nashville. Was that that? No, no, the year before Evita came, and this year you came along. Okay.

And we left Evita and Jack in charge of all the other kids. Anyway, long story short, when I came home, I noticed that, you know, some of the alcohol bottles were a little less full. A little less full? I didn't know. They all denied it. And I'm like, we don't even drink cocktails.

Like, we have them there for, like, if guests come. So, like, we knew what had happened. like we don't even drink cocktails like we have them there for like if guests come so like we knew what had happened so i don't even know what happened older ones and the younger ones were trying to figure out what happened and no one knows anything yeah they're all in cahoots so but but essentially you know they have their own little world as well like you know we leave and they're there and they kind of do their thing. And it's kind of fun. So I would just say this. Feminism, the culture, is telling young people one thing of how to be happy. And the main message they're sending is focus on yourself. Focus on your career. Kids will drain you of your time and your money. And your youth.

And your youth. And actually, I think it's the opposite. If you want to have a full life, get married young, have lots of kids, have these fun moments, create a tribe of people who love each other, are bonded by all this craziness. It's not perfect. It's not, you know, it's not the Brady Bunch. It probably looks a lot more like that TikTok video, but it is a lot of fun. And so that's why I got this question. I instantly thought about that.

OK, so we're going to move into something else, Sean. OK, what is something? Where is it? Oh, yeah, here it is. What is something you would like to do that would surprise people? I like to do that. Oh, so this is a problem that we have in our house, right? So I have ideas that I think are great ideas that Rachel, and I kind of need her for my idea, right? So listen, I can't sing and I can't

dance. I'm not, I can't do either of those things. I got some talent. Those are not anywhere near talent. You have athletic talent. But I'm like, Rachel, let's take dancing lessons. I want to dance. I want to learn how to dance. And you and I should learn how to do this together. I'm a lumberjack that should be a dancing lumberjack. And I'd be like, what woman wouldn't say, of course, honey, I've been waiting for you to ask me to go to dance lessons.

I thought that's what every woman would say. And Rachel's like, hell no. I don't want to take dancing lessons with you. That was the other part. Wasn't that I was supposed to take dancing lessons? I didn't want to take dancing lessons with you. Because I know, well, because I think it would take a lot of time. We don't have a lot of time.

Maybe there's this other phase in life. I'm sorry. However, I will tell you this, what's interesting. I listened to a podcast the other day, and I'll try and post this one as well. It was with Dana Perino. It was another lady interviewing my friend, Dana Perino. And she talked about. One of the nicest people you'll ever meet.

Dana Perino is as nice as you see on TV. She is the nicest lady ever. nice as you see on tv she's the nicest lady ever and um she and her husband peter take uh they were they agreed to take like five uh what do they call it dancing what do they call it um dance lessons well it's dance lessons but it's like this certain i forget what kind of anyway um anyway they took dancing lesson they were to take five they're're now on, like, number 15. They love it. They met a whole circle of friends. See?

Look at them. I know. I know. They're having a lot of fun. I bet Dana didn't say, I want to take dance lessons, but not with Peter. I know. I love you, Sean, but it sounds like a lot of work. And also, I'm not a great dancer. Like, I'm a good, like, I can bake it kind of dance.

But I took flamenco in college, and I kind of sucked at that. Although I really wanted to learn. Okay, you know what? We'll speak in detail. If you will take flamenco, will you take flamenco? I just like to wear a tight suit. They were those tight little. You don't have to dress like a flamenco dancer.

I'm not doing that. I'm just trying to picture you in a flamenco outfit. Rachel's like in bike shorts, little tight bike shorts. So flamenco's off the charts for me as well. I don't know what kind of dance we should take, but we should take dance. Ballroom dancing was what I want to say. That's what she's taking. She's taking ballroom dancing.

Good for her. Which sounds fun. Good for Peter. Dana, and by the way, I'm going to post that podcast because it's a podcast on confidence and she talks about how she builds her confidence it's a really great podcast i'm gonna post that because it's really really good yeah um so okay let's move to the next what what do you want to do um some something something not what you don't want to do which is dance what do you want something i would like to do that would surprise people pickleball i played pickleball on Fox and Friends.

I did not expect to love it. It was only like for a few minutes while we were out there. I became addicted in just a few minutes. Sean got shoulder surgery. I've never played. Well, Sean got shoulder surgery just about a month ago. And so Pickleball is not in his bingo card right now. I can't do it.

But as soon as his shoulder is healed, I want to do Pickleball. Our neighbors want to do Pickleball is not in his bingo card right now. I can't do it. But as soon as his shoulder is healed, I want to do pickleball. Our neighbors want to do pickleballs. We're friends with them, the Tuppers. We're going to have to do pickleballs, Tuppers. And I've always told you that I've always been against golf, but I would just like to try it once just to see what it's about. Because it doesn't seem like something I'd like, but a lot of people I love like it. So I'm like one of these days I'd like to try that. So that's what I want to try. I can't dance with Rachel. The other thing I want to do is I've never kite surfed. It can be very dangerous. I know I would take a lot of lessons, but I want to kite surf.

Okay. I don't even know what that is. That's like you have the surfboard and you got a kite and people are rocking through the water and jumping up in the air. I've seen you do that other surfboard in the water thing. Yeah, but this, I want to cut it. What's that called? This is fast. The thing where you're. Oh, that's the surfboard with the little stick that comes down with it.

It's a hydro, hydro, hydro light, hydro something. Anyway, he was really good at it and got it up on the thing really, really, really easily. All right. There we go. Okay, so next question is, this is interesting. What do you think of the Pope? Okay, I've got some thoughts on the Pope. Pope Francis.

Bergoglio. Bergoglio. You go first. I went first on the other one. Well, I'm not a fan of the Pope and everybody knows that. We had a funny moment on Fox and Friends where there was a video because I guess that Sylvester Stallone, Rocky, went to go visit Bergoglio, Pope Francis. And they kind of had this like funny moment where, you know, Sylvester Stallone kind of does like a boxing thing with him. And then the Pope kind of lifts his fist up.

And then Pete and Will kind of joked and said, who do you really want to win that fight? And I was like, don't ask me because I'm going to root for Sylvester Stallone. I'm not a fan of Pope Francis. He's a Jesuit. So I already had a not great view of him. And if you're Catholic, you know exactly what I mean. I knew things weren't going to go great. I didn't know how bad they were. And I think this week, Sean, encapsulates what I mean about Pope Francis. And I think I tried to give him some grace in the beginning. And I used to say, well, maybe he's being misinterpreted by the press.

Maybe he's not. Recently, he tried to ban or is beginning to ban and has banned the traditional Latin mass. So that might be why you didn't see Pope Francis get up in arms when he found out that the FBI was infiltrating traditional Catholic churches that have, you know, the the the Latin, the Latin liturgy. the Latin, the Latin liturgy, you would have thought that the pope would have said, hey, said something at least to shame the Biden administration. The Bidens have come to visit him and and so forth. But that did not happen. Many people think that's because of the, you know, the NGOs, the Catholic NGOs are making a lot of money. But I also think it's because Pope Francis is a globalist. And this week you saw him get this headline. He's the opening speech at the Clinton Global Initiative.

Now, first of all, the Clinton Foundation should be already like off limits for anyone who wants any credibility. That is the most corrupt organization. Look at what they did in Haiti, everything else. But the Pope gave this opening speech for this corrupt pro-abortion radical. I was just I couldn't believe it. So Bill, Hillary and Chelsea raised money through the foundation and they've enriched themselves. Yes, they have. Taking money saying they're going to help others. You mentioned Haiti and really no money passes to the people that they say they're going to provide aid to. It is a scam. It's a sham. And this I want to talk about this very same thing. So he has this conversation with with Bill Clinton at the kickoff of this of the Clinton Global Initiative.

the kickoff of this of the clinton global initiative and so if you look at what are the four priorities the four pillars of the clinton foundation the four pillars and you go the the pope is going to actually speak at the clinton global initiative so number one gender equity wow so we're talking about wow we want about, the Pope wants gender to be fluid. He can say that God made, the Pope says God made a mistake and we want man to switch your gender and we want kids to have their gender switched surgically. Yeah, good one, Pope Francis.

He's come out and said he's against all this, but then he headlines. They're not a hundred pillars. There's four pillars. No, no. What I'm saying is he's come out and said, no, man is man, woman is woman. He has

said that, but you can't say that and then be the head of an opening speaker for a foundation in which that's number one. Let's not look at what you say. Let's look at what you do, Pope Francis. Thank you, Sean. Great. Second one,

abortion. The last time we checked Catholics, the dogma of the church was we are opposed to abortion. But Pope Francis, by the way, it's odd that he's actually speaking at any kind of group that's raising money to fund abortion, which the they do which the clinton foundation does all over all over the world so gender equity which that by the way that slang this is transitioning human beings from one sex to another surgically which you actually can't change their gender you can change their genitalia well i think she means gender equity like maybe this is part of their whole women's thing but but i think it is it's gender and also women's right right yeah so no i think actually maybe i miswrote that i wrote that i know so they're talking they're talking about

actually the the the um i think there was this was gender ideology and also gender equity like women's okay okay because we get that in a second so we have abortion obviously we know that that pope francis is about climate change because he, as you mentioned, is a globalist. I know. The climate change movement is about taking away individual personal freedom and consolidating it globally in an elite group of people. The Bill Gates's of the world, the Bloomberg's of the world consolidate power in them so they can rule the world as commies. And climate change is the way to do that. And Pope Francis probably sees himself, because he's a socialist himself, as one of these elite ruling members. Climate change. And then the third one is, or the fourth one is education for girls everywhere, which by the way,

I agree, we want boys and girls to be educated globally. Maybe it doesn't look at what's happening in the U.S. I don't know if I want the Bill Clinton Foundation involved in the education of anyone. Oh, especially with girls. Well, first of all, you know, first of all, you have Bill Clinton who has deep ties to the Epstein situation. That's embarrassing as it is. The Pope is, let's be clear, if the Pope headlines that, he is a socialist, he is a globalist. He is not advancing any of the tenets of the Catholic Church by headlining this. He should be there scolding these people as anything else.

So he has been nothing but a disappointment. And I tell you, as a Catholic, it pains me. And there was a time early, as I said, early in his pontificate where I was a little more, you know, muted about it because I believe in, you know, Catholic means universal and I don't like that division. But we have reached a point with Pope Francis with things like this. By the way, also taking meetings with the head of Pfizer, you know, during COVID. Chelsea Clinton has I mean, the biggest pro-abort in the world maybe is Chelsea Clinton. She headlined Vatican events. There have been so many other prominent elite, globalist elites who have population control as their main, you know, objective, have been headlining Vatican events since Pope Francis

has been the pope. This is a pontificate that is subverting Catholic teachings and doctrines and is doing everything it can to undermine, you know, this religion and the basic tenets of the church. And so short answer, what do we think of Pope Francis? Not much. I don't like him. And I can't wait until there's new leadership in the Catholic Church. I would agree with that. Enough said?

Enough said. Enough said on that one. Do you know where we're at on opinions of Pope Francis? Have we been clear? Have we been clear on Pope Francis? Okay. Just by the way, I look at the evangelicals. They're like, what is going on over there? And that's why Catholics get a bad name because of guys like this. Pope Francis, no question about it. It's really embarrassing. But make no mistake, there are good guys out there there are good bishops there are good priests and um all of

us are just waiting until we get a new chapter can can there's been bad posts before can i ask you a question but he's he's the worst in my life we'll have more of this conversation after this bad mgm is an official sports betting partner of the national hockey league and has your back all season long from puck drop to the final shot, you're always taken care of with a sportsbook born in Vegas. That's a feeling you can only get with BetMGM. And no matter your team, your favorite skater, or your style, there's something every NHL fan is going to love about BetMGM.

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Can I ask you a question? Yes. Okay, so last week on the podcast, we had a whole conversation about Midwestern Met. week on the podcast, we had a whole conversation about Midwestern men. And from there, Rachel did a whole segment on Fox and Friends. I think it's on Saturday or Saturday. And obviously, Pete is from Minnesota, a Midwestern man. Will is from Texas, not a Midwestern man. But Rachel laid the case out and it happened through multiple hours on Saturday. out and it happened through multiple hours on Saturday. What kind of response did you get from Fox viewers on your take on the premium man in America as a Midwestern man?

So okay, so it did not go well. It did not go well. The Midwestern men are too humbled to write me and tell me how much they appreciate... Even Pete Hgseth. Yes, even Pete Hegseth, who I thought, OK, I'm going to bring this up. This is going to be fun because Pete Hegseth is going to join with me and say, you know, that Midwest men are great, are underappreciated. And here's all the great qualities.

Oh, here's the problem. Pete Hegseth has moved to Tennessee and he's not loyal to other Midwest men. And so he didn't want to get confronted at the feed store or at Walmart by Southern men who were like, because Pete wants to kind of, Pete wants to, Pete's ready to be embraced Southern culture. He is embracing it full heartedly. As you all know, he had the mullet. He now has a chicken coop. He practically lives on a farm. At least he's trying to create one. And so he basically played Switzerland, which was really annoying because Will was visibly irritated, not just at my thesis that, you know, Midwest men are underappreciated and perhaps have the best qualities if you're looking for a husband. He wasn't just annoyed at that thesis.

He was annoyed that we were even discussing this on the show. And so he was upset. And then Joey Jones was texting in saying that, oh, the only reason that, you know, you think Midwest men are great is because they're bland enough to take on all the crap from Rachel or something like that. Midwest men are as bland as their food. So then

every Southern person who watches Fox and Friends broke me in, including their wives. A lot of the audience. Missy Robertson, a friend of mine. Missy Robertson did this bless your little heart kind of text to me like, I love you, Rachel, but you're wrong about this, this, this, this, this. I got all kinds of feedback on from from our Southern viewers who are quite quite a few of them. Right. A lot of them. Yes. So I reassessed it.

And I think had I had I presented it a little differently, I should have. Because here's the truth. Right. Let me let me just lay it out. The truth is red state men are the best men. And I'm not saying this because of all the feedback I got. I just I laid it out. I think in not a great way. I should have said what I really think, which is like if you're going to pick a man to marry and you should get married and you should try and work towards that. Look towards red state men. And the most underappreciated of the red state men are Midwestern men. And part of the reason they're underappreciated is they're so humble. You don't even want me to do this topic, even though I'm, I'm, you know, celebrating Midwest men. You didn't want to do it because Midwestern men are humble, which is one of the things I like about that. So it didn't go well.

And I was watching going, oh, this isn't going to go good. You were watching it unfold. You didn't even text me to have me. Well, I did text her on one thing. So Pete was, Will was coming after Rachel on the show. Yeah, he was. About Midwestern men and why Texas is so great. And I texted her and she didn't see my text.

I said, you should respond to Will by saying, we don't play water polo in the Midwest. That's only a... But I did get him on the not pumping his gas thing. I said, yeah. I said, I guess Southern men like you don't pump our gas. So then that really set him off.

So here's the thing with Rachel. And people saw it. People told me, they're like, he's seething next to you. Rachel's not afraid to be controversial. Rachel's not afraid

to say what she thinks. And she'll take the blowback and she'll be a happy warrior. She'll laugh it off. But she will take a stand. She will stick her flag in the earth to plant it and she'll fight off it, whether it's on Midwestern men, on communism, on Trump, everything. Well, how about this on Merrick Garland? Because this is another question that's actually directed for you, Sean. Oh, what do you think about Merrick Garland's testimony? So I'm going to play a clip right here to show you what he said. Let's play the clip. The idea that someone with my family background would discriminate against any religion is so outrageous, so absurd.

Mr. Attorney General, it was your FBI that did this. It was your FBI that was sending. And we have the memos. We have the emails. We're sending undercover agents into Catholic churches. That was Representative Van Drew from New Jersey. He's a former Republican. He's great. Yeah, he was awesome. So here's what really irks me. What's he asking him about? Let's lay that out.

So first off, Merrick Garland is not very exciting. And really bad people do really well when they're just kind of bland, right? They're not very excitable. And so he just kind of lies throughout the testimony. But Van Drew was, in essence, pulling Merrick Garland back to the story about the Virginia FBI wrote a memo about how radical extremism exists within traditional Catholic churches, which is the Latin mass churches in America. Well, it's just, this is the FBI. But to note the structure of the FBI,

the Department of Justice actually oversees the FBI. So Merrick Garland oversees Chris Wray and everybody under Chris Wray in the FBI, that's the way it works. So to ask the Department of Justice about the FBI is completely appropriate. And Christopher Wray came to Congress and said, here's the deal. That was one rogue office in Virginia. They did this memo. We didn't approve it. So don't be concerned, Congress. Well, then lo and behold, guess what we found out? There were actually more offices that participated in drafting this memo than we know of. LA and I think Portland were the two other offices that also participated in the memo. And also the approvals that were really high up in the FBI to see this memo go out and then have agents start to infiltrate churches.

to see this memo go out and then have agents start to infiltrate churches. I don't think we know the full story here, but they've classified traditional Catholics as radical extremists. And for Merrick Garland to testify, almost becoming teary-eyed, that he would prosecute or go after any religion, he would discriminate against religion, if you knew my family history, is total BS. Of course, that's what he's doing. He's going after people that might push back and disagree with his radical leftist ideas. And to come to Congress and cry about it, give me a break. Here's one of the problems in Congress, Rachel. Ready? So each

member only gets five minutes to ask questions. And it feels like a long time. And there's a lot of members on both sides of the aisle. They go Republican, then Democrat, Republican, Democrat. They switch back and forth between the parties. But five minutes, that's all you have. It allows the witness an opportunity to stonewall, to restate the question before they answer it. They want to eat up time.

They eat up the time of the member asking them questions, and then they never really answer the question. And then the next Republican that'll go will go in a whole completely different direction and never force witnesses like this on the record to truly answer the important questions that the American people deserve to have answers to. And so I don't know how they could change it. But this structure is not working because this was allowed. And Bandrew's time, you did, Bandrew did push back on it. Yeah, he did.

He said it's your memo, it's your FBI. But he didn't have enough time to actually pin Garland down and make him truly answer the question. Yeah. I mean, he tried to basically lean on, well, because my grandmother went through the Holocaust, how dare you ask me about this? It's total BS. It makes no sense. It's a way to stall. It's also a way to emotionalize it and sort of insulate himself because I'm I'm of Jewish background. You can't ask me why the FBI is infiltrating Catholic churches. Complete. And and and and we ought to call it for what it is. against anyone or any group that may present an opposition to the ideology, to the progressive, radical leftist ideology that Merrick Garland is part of. Now, remember, Merrick Garland, his son-in-law creates the curriculum on anti-racism and gender ideology. This is a man who is steeped in leftist, really radical ideas.

And he has been a protector of the Bidens on a level that I've never. It's hard to believe that he's not embarrassed of how all of this has gone with Hunter Biden. He's not. He gets it. He is there. I didn't think we could get somebody worse than Eric Holder in terms of bias and being there to protect his boss rather than represent the American people. This guy's worse. Merrick Garland is worse. in the Senate? Not at all. But I can tell you one good thing he did is that he didn't allow Merrick Garland to become a Supreme Court justice, a lifetime appointment. Good on Mitch McConnell. He gets a lot of credit for that. Also, Merrick Garland's part of this global Marxist movement where it's not just one country that's going to be Marxist. It's going to be Marxist control through the whole world that these elites have this power over the Bill Gates.

Yeah. It's this weird combination of, you know, you have like these these neo-Marxists together with these globalists and these elite power brokers and titans of the universe who come together and they and they need they want no opposition in order to achieve what they want to achieve, the kind of total control. And they look to China as their model, this idea that you can be prosperous, that you could have total control, total surveillance, control the economy, control the population. That's what they want. And they need to get rid of opposition to do it. And you and that is why Donald Trump is such a threat. That is why traditionalists, whether they're Catholic or whatever, are a threat. Anybody who, any group that puts their rights, their rights, their families at the center and at the center rather than the state and the progressive ideology that they're pushing. If you're prioritizing these other things, they're coming after you. So when the FBI had a memo going after infiltrating traditional Catholic churches,

we talked about this in the past. I've been there. These are the least radical people you'll ever find, right? They're very dedicated to their faith. Nonviolent. Extremists. So if I was the attorney general and the FBI came out with that memo under my tenure, I would have done a public speech. And I would have come out and said, this is absolutely unacceptable. We cannot tolerate this. We are going to call out everybody who participated in this memo. And fire them.

And they're going to be exposed. They're going to be fired. This has no place in the American government because this is an affront to our constitution, our beliefs, and our way of life. Never going to happen again. That's what I would have done. Absolutely. He didn't say crap about the memo. Nothing. Nothing. And then he comes in and says, because I'm, you know, of Jewish descent, I would never do this. Well, why didn't you say something at the beginning? Why didn't we know the full story that it wasn't just, you know, one agency? It was multiple that participated in this. That's why I don't believe him for a second and why he gets through his

testimony and then continues on his merry way persecuting those who disagree with him, Joe Biden and the radical Marxists. Sean, this leads to the next question, which is interesting, getting you fired up. What do you miss most about Congress? I mean, especially as you see these kinds of things unfold. I love Wisconsin. I loved doing the work of being a member of Congress. I love, listen, there's the rabbit holes you can go down.

I don't want to put you guys to sleep, but I did flood insurance. That is. And that'll put you guys to sleep, but I did flood insurance. That is. And I don't want to put you to sleep. But listen, the work of getting a bill done in Congress to actually to work it and talk to people and massage it and modify it and the politics inside to make it happen. I actually really enjoyed that. I love the team that I had working with me to serve my constituents. But I'm telling you what, I'm watching what's going on right now. Do I miss sleeping on a cot? No. Do I miss the fundraisers,

the dinners? I don't miss any of that. Do I miss being away from my family? I don't miss that either. And these guys, they work hard. They're trying hard. Can I tell you something that happened? So in Congress, there's 12 appropriation bills. The defense authorization was coming up for a vote and it failed at the rule. So what happens is you need a rule on how you're going to debate the bill, what kind of amendments are going to be allowed. And the rule votes are party line votes. Every Republican, if you're in the majority, votes for the rule. Every Democrat will vote against the rule. And a sacred understanding is you never vote against a rule. If you want to vote against the bill itself, that's fine. But every Republican in the majority

votes for the rule. Well, what happened is a small group of Republicans decided to cross that line and vote against the rules so the bill couldn't even come to the floor to be debated, to be amended. Listen, I'm all about conservatives fighting to make sure we cut our spending, at least the FBI and the DOJ, maybe the CIA and the IRS. But when you start taking down rules, they actually were opposed to adjourning. So you got to have a motion to adjourn the Congress and come back next week. These guys were voting against adjournment as well. Why?

Because they're trying to throw sand in the gears. They're angry. And I get their frustration. I get it. No, I'm totally with them. The liberals make the rules and then we have to live by their rules. It's just like with the spending stuff, Sean, where it's like you're cutting back, but there's a rule that says that you have to automatically fund this much. You know, so like you think you're cutting, but you're not because there's a rule that you have to fund this.

You know what? I am so down with blowing this system up in terms of how it operates. It's clearly not working. Something different has to be tried. So here's just so Republicans have a handful of seat majorities. It's clearly not working. Something different has to be tried. So here's just, so Republicans have a handful of seat majorities. It's very slim. And what you have to do if you say, listen,

I don't, so what happened is the conservatives, the Freedom Caucus negotiated with the two, the Main Street guys or the moderates, right? They came to an agreement, right? But Matt Gaetz and some others, Ken Buck, they said, we don't like that deal. We're not going to support it. So that's not Kevin McCarthy's fault, by the way. You got to get all your members on the same page. Then if you don't like it, sit down in the room and go, what can we all agree to? And if you push too hard, the moderate guys

that have seats in upstate New York or in Illinois or in some very moderate areas, they won't vote for it. You go too far, then they won't vote for it. But the bottom line is we're coming to a shutdown. You need a Republican bill that cuts spending that they can pass. And if we go to a shutdown, they can at least say we passed a bill to fund the government. To shut the government down and not have a bill pass the House floor and the government shuts down, whoa, is that not going to be pleasant. They are going to get skewered. And then in the long run, we lose the fight with the American people where they want us to cut spending. They want us to be more responsible. But then you guys

got to get your act together, cut spending and all get on the same page. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. It does. Listening to this makes me, so here's the question. What do you miss about Congress? Not that. I don't miss that. You know what? When I used to see you do parades, you love so much to be with your constituents, and you love doing town halls, and I guess I miss seeing that part of you because I've never seen you more happy and excited about a job than I saw when you were directly working with your constituents and engaging with them. And it's amazing as a mom. My kids got a front row seat to things that I think is life changing. The things they got to go to, you know, you know, they got to vote, take your voting card and vote on the on the House floor for you. I think one of them got to vote for

Nancy Pelosi. She was really she was, you know, she's a grandma. She saw them on the House floor. So we have one kid who voted Democrat. That's too bad. But, you know, there are things that they know that I never even knew happened, you know, in Washington, D.C., because I never went there until you were elected. And so I went there before I was like, you didn't either. Congress knowing how that sausage is made and then come out and go, what would we have done differently as a family and you as a member? And it's just it's fascinating. And we've thought about, you know, you know, maybe one day in your future, you might go back. I think you're going to if you do go back, I think you're going you're going to be better for having been there before and seeing the things that went well, the things that went bad.

That's one of the things that I kind of like about Donald Trump going back. And I mean, a lot of people are like, well, you know, are rightfully criticizing some of the things he didn't do. You didn't complete the wall. You left Fauci. I think there's a fair complaint from Ron DeSantis. You left Fauci in there. Why didn't you fire him? There are a lot of things in COVID that I think I wish Donald Trump had done differently. The COVID bill itself, I think, was way too big and there were way too many lobbyists and and and family members of his involvement. It was just a lot of craziness that I wish hadn't happened. And I think those those criticisms are totally fair. And the question is, do you believe that Donald Trump learned from that? And will he

be different? Does he know where the landmines are? Does he know how the deep state operates in a way that a newbie coming in wouldn't because he kind of went through it? I think you would be a better member of Congress if you went in again. I would be for sure a better member now than I was the first time around, because I think I see the world differently. I see the fight that we're in. I see we're at a tipping point. I don't know. I don't know that we can get it back, but you need people to go there and fight to make sure you can restore what's so great about this country. But also, as I mentioned, you recognize that you're not a dictator in the Congress. You've got to move as one and you've got to be able to negotiate with people, even on your side of the aisle, that might come from a different

mindset. But the key is, for Republicans, you have to find a deal, because if you don't, then the Congress will partner with Democrats, and you're going to get far less. And that's what I hate. I don't want that. And that happened a lot under John Boehner's reign and a little bit under Paul Ryan's reign, and you can't have that. So figure your stuff out, get together and you know what? Get as much as you can. And I want to see that you're fighting to get as much as you can. No less. But that's so I don't I don't miss that part of it at all, Rachel. You know, later in the show, we're going to be we have a special guest. We do have a special guest. We do have a special guest later in the show to talk a little bit more about what

is at the root of the problem of America. Now he's going to be part of Q&A. We're going to ask him some questions and I'm going to give you a little hint. I'm going to give you a hint. The hint is all of our viewers and listeners

probably know him. He's a cheerful guy. Happy. And he I'm just going to say one word as a hint. Eyebrows. Eyebrows. That's the hint. You guys can you guys can see if you can figure out who that is.

OK. Last question for us before we move to our special guest. What is the hardest part about parenting? Oh, I did the first lesson. Go. What is it? I think first of all, I think now that we've gone through so many like infant, toddler, elementary, middle school, high school, I don't think that's hard anymore. elementary, middle school, high school, I don't think that's hard anymore. And I say that it's not hard, I think, because I kind of know how to navigate that more. I think the hardest part about about parenting is once they once they fly the coop, I didn't realize how much they still would need me, which I love that they still need me. But the difference is on a daily basis, multiple times a day.

If you look at my phone and I, by the way, I see this as a sign of success. I'm not complaining about it. When I see this on my phone, I go, Rachel, that's the most proud of, you know, my phone text messages are all my kids. My phone call, you know, record is mostly my kids and her sister and my sister and my mom and my, you you know so i love that that sometimes me sometimes sean sean you're in there um but yeah my kids my kids still need me

and they still call me and they want advice and they want to run things by me or they want me to edit something or they want me to get their thoughts on something the hard part though is that you can give advice and because they're older they don't have to take it and you have to let and and and you're old enough now to i mean i'm old enough to see how this is going to go it's not going to go well and you have to let it happen and you can't really and you have to hold your tongue more and boy that's hard for me and you know me i like to tell tell what i think and i i don't hold it back like Like, I give the advice, but I try not to do the I told you so when it happens. And that can be hard.

I think that's the hardest part. I think that's the hardest part. So here's what I think is hard in parenting. There's a lot of pressure that comes in. I want a phone. I want to go here. I want to be on the computer. I want to be on TikTok and social media. Here's the problem that I have. Every, every child and every situation is different and they ask and want to do certain things or have access to

certain things. Privileges. Yeah. And it's, I think it's always a challenge to make sure you're giving them enough rope, giving them enough, you know, space to do things, but also not going too far where they're going to get in trouble or be hurt or there's, they're in a dangerous situation. And I always think that balance, even was, as we look to, you know, the younger ones, you've learned from the older ones, but I always get in the right balance of, should I say yes or should I say no? And sometimes we'll disagree on that. Well, like I'll be, that's sometimes a little easier on that. I'll be like, yes, you can go. You're like, what? You're going to let them go to wherever? And I do think that's striking that balance is something that you've, every parent has to do.

You don't want to say no to things you should say yes to, and you don't want to say yes to things that in hindsight you should have said no to, and we'll get it wrong on occasion. But I find that the most challenging. We want to go to the fair. I'm like, that's fine. Well, the eighth grader wants to go to the fair as well. And I'm like, well, I don't know. Is that age appropriate? So we got to navigate those things. Will they watch her? Will she? Yeah. There's those kinds of things for sure. I mean, we say this all the time. The benefit of having nine kids is you do get do-overs. And so some of the mistakes that we've made in the past, we've been able to correct. And one of them, of course, was with the phone and what age to start with the phone. But but I think that that you touch on another point, which is each child is

different. So, you know, what's appropriate for one kid because that kid's really responsible and, you know, they can handle it. And there are other kids that can't. And then they go, well, that's not fair. And you know what? Life isn't fair. I'm sorry. You haven't proven yourself responsible like that kid did. And you sometimes have to be the bad guy. And I remember, you know, if your kids like you all the time, you're probably not doing your job. You know, your job is not to be their friend. Your job is to be an example and guide them and help them and appreciate them as individuals. And that can be a wonderful, beautiful thing that they like that you do. And it can also be something they don't like about you.

And you have to be willing to accept that because just because I let your sister do this doesn't mean you can do it at the same age because you haven't proven yourself capable of proving you can handle that. So those are some of the things that we deal with on a daily basis. There was a lot of Q&A today. It was a lot of Q&A. It was really fun. And it's not over because now we're going to have our friend. Let's introduce, because he just wrote a book sean that is i think going to

be a handbook for a lot of people because people want to know what is not just what is happening in the country but why it's happening and that's why what's killing america is a book that you and i have really been enjoying reading we'll have more of this conversation after this. Jason Rance, welcome to the kitchen table. Thank you so much. There are 17 conservatives in all of Western Washington. So we're getting crowded. Yeah, let's talk about that.

A little bit, we want to talk about your book. But first, how is it being a conservative in radical leftist Seattle? Are you treated well? The People's Republic of Seattle. Yeah. Do you go to the grocery store and get hate and spit on? What is it like? So my favorite part is when I'm walking around and someone will come up to me and go like this. I'm a fan. It's remarkable because, you know, I don't know how much of this is really seen as conservative versus liberal on some of the local issues. You know, when we're talking about crime and drugs and homelessness, I think everyone sort of is on the same page.

But no, I'm not treated the best of ways from folks, certainly not in the media around here. Being conservative in Seattle is probably exactly what you think it is. And I won't lie. I kind of like it. It's number one. I kind of like it. It's number one, I kind of get to own the space. And I've always been this kind of person to push back against the status quo. So I actually kind of like it. You know, I remember we lived in rural Wisconsin before we moved to New Jersey when I got the job at Fox and Friends. And I seem to have known really early on that Donald Trump was going to win, Jason, because even in Wisconsin,

people were afraid to put up, you know, in rural Wisconsin, they were afraid to put up Trump signs because but but because they knew I was the Republican congressman's wife, they felt safe saying to me, I'm voting for Trump. And there were so many people telling me they were voting for Trump. I knew they were going to win. And I knew that district was really critical to Donald Trump. So I knew that was going to happen. But I have family that lives in Seattle. And what's happened to them in Seattle is that I feel like my, you know, my brother lives there. It's we come from a very sort of open talk about politics, everything you're not supposed to talk about it. They say you're not supposed to talk about the dinner table, talk about politics, everything you're not supposed to talk about at the dinner table,

religion, politics, all of it, we talk about it. But that brother, after years of living in Seattle, doesn't talk politics anymore. I feel like he's been beaten down and trained because you get nothing good out of it. So I can imagine that as a talk radio guy, it's like a quiet way of voicing your support for these issues as they just turn on Jason Rantz and go, yeah, yeah, yeah. And at least somebody gets me. Is that is that sort of the Jason Rantz appeal in Seattle? Yeah, I imagine so. I mean, we hear a lot from folks who basically say that they just don't feel comfortable speaking up about some of these issues because they're going to get bullied. They're going to get shamed.

I get a lot of that from parents in particular who don't like what's going on in their school districts. And the funny thing is, since I do a lot of local stories, obviously, but exclusive stories, it's because people are sending me information. It's like, you'll never believe

what happened in my kid's class this morning. This is outrageous. look at what the teacher's posting on facebook or particularly around crime i'll get a lot of folks reaching out saying you will not believe the arrest that was made last night check out the body cam footage and then i go back and i look it's like wow this is just so outrageous but no one else is really talking about it you're like the source you're like this they come to you through facebook through they dm you you're like the person. You're like this. They come to you through Facebook, through they DM you. You're like the person

they can feel safe sending. But Jason, what's also interesting is, you know, we all know the West Coast has become kind of crazy. And you bring these stories to the Fox News, Fox Business viewer that we're like, we haven't heard this before.

If they're doing what? And I think it's really important to have someone like yourself in these cities talking about the nut jobs and the philosophies that are helping ruin the city that we would actually never hear of. But for guys like you going, you know what, I'm going to bring what's happening in my community, which I talk about all the time on the radio, I'm going to bring it to a national audience so you can all hear what leftism, liberalism will bring you if you let it seep into your community.

You're the canary in the coal mine. Well, hopefully it works out for me at the end of that. You might not get out. Well, you're right. I do. I enjoy that. And it's been really fun, especially since I've started coming on Fox a few years ago. I don't only have to talk about Washington state. And so now I've expanded well past my own community, at least on the TV side to uncover some of what's going on, because again, same thing is happening for me at the national level, whereas I'll get an email from someone living in Philadelphia or in Wisconsin,

for example, telling me things that are actually happening. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and we need to hear it because, you know, it's not just in Seattle, as you say, it's been seeping out. But it is an interesting thing to look at Seattle because, you know, a lot of people that I know that live there are now have either left or making plans to leave. And is that the sense you're getting in that blue city? We're certainly seeing some people leave. We're seeing some, it's a little bit tricky to judge this because Amazon is located here and we are still bringing people in because they're working at Amazon. So people locally will sort of lean on that to pretend that all is well in Seattle. Look, we're getting people coming in. Yeah, but we're also seeing people leave and we're seeing people who have lived here for a very long

time either get out of Seattle, move outside of King County or just leave the state completely. And we're seeing that in pretty significant numbers, I would say. And we're certainly also seeing businesses just pack up and leave because they just can't handle it anymore. And it's just so frustrating because it's just an ebb and flow. We saw some progress within the last year, only just within the last few months, things are clearly splitting back. And that's just on homelessness.

Crime is just through the roof. And Jason, that brings us to the topic of your book, What's Killing America? It dropped this week. What's Killing America by Jason Renz. Great title, by the way. Tell us about the book and tell us about what is actually killing America and the view of Jason Ranz. Yeah. So the reason why I wrote What's Killing America is that I started to see that the problems that are happening in big Democrat run cities are very similar and

you can trace them back specifically to either an ideological position or legislation or a strategy. And I don't know how many people really understand the why behind what's going on. We kind of know what is happening. We know crime is out of control. Drugs are everywhere. Education is a mess. But why? When you watch local television, you get your news from a local newspaper, whatever it is, they tend not to connect the dots. And for me, I want to connect the dots all over the place to give people the tools that they need and the information that they need in order to push back. I can go right now outdoors, ask anyone to tell me what harm reduction is. You guys can do that where you are. No one is going to be able to tell you what harm reduction is. Well, guess what? That is the strategy right

now in place in every single Democrat-run city and county that is responsible for the drug crisis. But we don't know that. And so how are we to hold people accountable if we don't actually know some of these pieces of information? The way things are pitched to us sounds really great on paper. Housing First is a great example of that. Well, yeah, here's how we help homeless people. We put them in homes first, and then we treat their underlying condition. Well, guess what? That's not actually what Housing First does. That's not the model, and it doesn't work. It's failed miserably where it's been tried out, for example, in Salt Lake City. And so I wanted to compile all of this information across a lot of different topics,

not get too much into the weeds, but give you just enough where you're now better informed so you can push back. So help us understand the liberal mindset. So you're sort of there. You're surrounded by liberals in Seattle. You've been covering how liberals have been ruining all these different cities across the country. You're steeped in all the crazy stuff that's going on in our school system. What is killing America? What is it about this ideology? Because I look at it and I go, are they trying intentionally? Do they want to destroy our country? Because that's what their policies are doing. And it's not like we're at the beginning of the of the game here where, you know, so we can we could charitably say that, you know, they have good intentions. No, no, no. We now know

the results of it. And they're doubling down on on this, you know, thing that's killing America. So why are they doing it? Help me understand the psychology of of these people. And do you call them? Are they Marxists? What are they? So I call them the radical left because, number one, I don't know how many people can define Marxism the way that it is being utilized here in the country. I like to say the radical left because I also don't want to just go after Democrats.

I don't think that this is a Democrat problem, although the problem exists within the Democrat Party. And effectively, they hold an ideology where they are so blinded by it, they either don't actually see what's going on on the ground, that they've convinced themselves that there's nothing wrong because they believe that they're doing something heroic, that they're standing up for the marginalized communities, marginalized in their own minds, but they like to, most of the time we're talking about white people, and they love playing white savior on the left. They absolutely adore that because it makes them feel good. They get to throw on social media that they're fighting for people who are underprivileged

and they get to check their own privilege without actually checking their own privilege. But on the other hand, I think there's some folks, especially the ones where you know they recognize the chaos and destruction that they're creating. But I think after studying what they do and talking to them and being surrounded by them, they believe in short-term pain for long-term gain. They believe that there's going to be collateral damage for the next several years, even a decade. But they think that there's light at the end of the tunnel, that once you fully implement their agenda, when you get rid of all the opposition and just fully commit, that we'll

live in this like utopian society in which we don't have any problems with the criminal justice system or education. But have they never seen Venezuela, Cuba? I mean, that's kind of the same thing. But it's the arrogance. It is the ego that, well, they just didn't do it the right way. Anytime something fails, they always say, well, they didn't do it this way. They like the power that they hold. You know, Jason, we talked about kind of some of the things that have gone wrong with liberal policy. So they'll go, there's a drug problem. People are using drugs. I know how we help drug addicts.

Let's do an open air market. Let's give them needles. Let's help facilitate their addiction. And that's going to reduce drug use, which is idiotic from the start. But that's their philosophy. You talked about housing first, which, by the way, when I was in Congress, I chaired the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee. This was pushed really hard on us. Housing first. You can't fix your drug addiction or your mental health problems unless you have a roof over your head.

And we explored it, but it's never got to it. What's wrong with that policy? But I don't want to go there. I want to go into a couple of the things. That was good. We've defined the place. We have criminal justice reform. All things that we're going to help is you mentioned the marginalized communities. And in the end, it's wrecked the whole community, these policies. But what I find interesting is we're in a situation where a lot of liberals will accept these leftist, radical leftist policies, to use

your phrase, until they come for your kids. When they come for kids, all of a sudden, even liberals have said, whoa, whoa, we need to join together as parents and fight back against this radical leftism. Tell us how you've seen parents fight back to some success on the radical leftism that's taken over their communities. Yeah, a lot of focus has been placed on Loudoun County, but for What's Killing America, I take a step away from that because everyone else has already talked about it. I think you've seen some really significant movement within parental groups, particularly amongst Asian American communities, saying, I have way higher expectations for education with my kid. And we've seen success stories certainly out of San Francisco

where they went up against the school board. And even though I think some people have just a base level understanding of that story, when you get into their motivations as to specifically why they decided to push back and how they were treated by the radical left for actually speaking up, you get a better sense of what's actually bringing all of these parents together. We look into Virginia, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Right after the George Floyd death occurred, the principal sent out this email to everyone. And this is an area that a school that is primarily Asian, at the time, it was predominantly Asian by like, I think it was 7% or something. And basically saying, you guys have to check your privilege because of what happened. And everyone was looking at this

email. It was like, wait, what are you talking about? And then all of a sudden they moved away from a merit-based admission system to affirmative action. And the parents got together. They fought back. They didn't end up winning immediately. This is still an ongoing issue. But once you start going after these kids and you lower the bar, especially for parents who really put rightly a lot of stock in education, they're stepping back and saying, what are you doing? Why is it that you're focused on this nonsense? Why are you focused on anything other than merit? I'm working my kid really hard to make sure that he or she is actually doing the work and studying and learning so that they can be a better citizen once they graduate.

We're seeing the wokeness factor getting into schools as well that people are pushing back against. And there's this belief that it's only happening in these big cities, in the San Francisco's. That's not the case. And as I was looking into all of these stories for this chapter on education, you realize that it's spread. It's not Las Vegas. This stuff doesn't stay there. There was one that just popped to me, and Sean, you'll have to pronounce this for me. Oconomowoc, Wisconsin? I'm getting close. Oconomowoc?

Oconomowoc, thank you. I don't know how to say it. It starts with a no. Stone Vick Elementary School there, though, they were in one of those positions where all of a sudden, you know, small community, they're conservatives, and they're being told that their kids can't participate in a Thanksgiving play for first graders because Pilgrim and Native American history is not appropriate to put on display. And so I was like, what is going on? How did this all of a sudden pop up into my school? And that's an issue here. Once we start to recognize it, in a lot of ways, it's too late. So you then have to start to organize, then you have to push back. But you're right. When an individual family gets impacted, and I can say this about pretty much any topic,

when you are personally impacted, when your kids or someone you know and love are impacted, it changes your worldview. Okay, Wisconsin, same thing. We're small towns in Wisconsin. We've seen this stuff pop up in format. Yeah, it used to be things that we heard about just in Brooklyn or Oakland, California. And now it's come to rural America. Oakland, California, and now it's come to rural America. We saw it, you know, increasing through the Obama years all the way all the way to where we are now, where it's just it's just lunacy.

And none of us can really make much sense of it. So I want to know a little bit about who is Jason Ranz? How did you mean I mean, you're a conservative. Are you from Seattle? Tell us a little bit about your journey and how you didn't get, you know, sort of in any way changed by the environment you were living in. I remember when I started to change and go on that journey to becoming a conservative. I'm born in New York. I grew up in L.A. and I ended up going to Occidental College in Los Angeles where Barack Obama went for like a semester. I was just going to say Barack Obama. Yeah, I was I was there. He was only there for like a few months, but all of a sudden he was big along. And I took politics 101. I knew I was

interested in politics. I actually was going to become a lawyer. That was my goal. And I took Politics 101. I knew I was interested in politics. I actually was going to become a lawyer. That was my goal. And I was there and I was doing radio on the side. And so I was exposed to a lot of, you know, the craft of radio, I suppose, but also, of course, news stories and starting to develop my own worldview. And I remember going into Politics 101. I remember the professor because he's still there and he is an uber lefty Peter Dreyer. I remember the professor because he's still there and he is an uber lefty Peter Dreyer.

And every single piece of content that got in front of us, whether it was videos we were watching for courses, books, magazines, whatever it was, was far to the left. And I just naturally don't like to be told what I'm supposed to think. I just don't like it. And so I started to do my own research. I started to actually read and watch different news. I was always listening to Rush at the time. So I was getting exposed to all these ideas and it just clicked for me. And then I realized the reason why they didn't want to expose us to different viewpoints

is they're not all that confident in their own viewpoint. They know they can't really argue some of these points. And so they just try to keep us away from it. And the people who get kept away from it, they stay on that path. They continue to be leftists and maybe they go even farther to the left. And the rest of us, we say to ourselves, no, there's something more here. And I'm connecting with conservatism. And, you know, at the time, there was also a little mix of libertarianism until I just realized they're kind of crazy conservatives. And so I just went

down that path. And for me, it just it clicked. I just I don't like being told what I'm supposed to think. That's, you know, and you're an American. Yeah, exactly. And again, I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that the left is not confident in their ideas and therefore their ideas can't be debated. I mean, if you were confident in climate change and global warming, you would say, let's have a raucous debate. Let's let every side be heard. They've shut down debate. They shut down debate with the vaccines and with masks because really smart people who are really accomplished in these spaces were like, what the government is telling us we should do probably won't work. Well, they couldn't have someone object to their policies, so they silenced them on social media.

You know, Jason, as I look at kind of what happens across the country, we talked about some small towns in Wisconsin. But we know this radical leftism has taken over the country as a whole and many of our cities. And I wonder, I mean, are we going to get out of it? Are there some places that are so far gone in this radical leftism that they actually won't make it out? What's your philosophy and viewpoint on kind of where cities and states can go to actually save themselves and cancel some of them just lost and they're not going to be safe yeah the good news is i do think much of the chaos can be reversed and again that's why i wrote the book but i will say i i do not have that much faith in the city of san francisco i don't think they've hit rock bottom yet and i don't know if it's really something that

can be reversed I in a lot of ways I take a lot of inspiration from some folks in San Francisco because they did push back at some point they said look Chesa Blue Dean their DA who was a George Soros wannabe was too much he went too far to the left and they ended up recalling him they ended up recalling all of the school board directors who were eligible for recall. They said, enough is enough. We can't do this anymore. But they started too late. They saw the writing on the wall for a long time. And for them, the problem started way before COVID. But COVID made them come a lot quicker. And then they found themselves on the wrong side of many of

these issues. And they started to see their city deteriorate. I don't think it's forever and ever and ever going to be like this. But I don't think it's going to be able to reverse course within the next decade or so. I think Portland is getting close to that as well. It's so sad because, you know, you know, Jason, I was on The Real World, San Francisco. It truly is was one of the most beautiful. It was the most beautiful city in America. If you just look at cities, it was the most beautiful city in America. It was picturesque.

There was one tiny area that was terrible that you didn't want to go through at night called the Tenderloin. And now lots of parts of the city are like the Tenderloin. They're like no-go zones. It's dirty. It's dangerous. It's unaffordable. It's just it's it's so sad. And, you know, you have Pelosi who lives there, but the governor of the state is Gavin Newsom. And, you know, a lot of people are saying that Joe Biden isn't going to make it, you know, to the end here. And Gavin Newsom's name is definitely, you know, at the top of the list of people who might be considered an acceptable replacement. Do you think that the crazy policies of the left and the effects of it in California in particular, in cities like San Francisco, that he pretends is just fine? Do you think that would stick to him? Do you think that would that these the way California is right now, that that as an experiment and liberalism, if you will, and its negative effects? Do you think that will stick to him and that it will hurt him if he runs for president? Sadly, no, I don't think it's going to stick to him. And it's actually pretty simple why. No one's really talking about it. Fox News, Fox Business,

they're talking about it. We're talking about it. But CNN isn't, MSNBC isn't, New York Times, LA Times, The Chronicle in San Francisco. No one is being honest about what's going on there. And so he's going to benefit from that. I'm hypercritical in the book and just on my radio show about local media. They just do a really poor job explaining why things are happening and who's responsible. And a large reason behind that is the way local media works, especially when you're in these deeply blue areas, you have to have access to the politicians to be able to do your job. And if all of a sudden you start to get critical, they can cut you off immediately. And then you're

going to be as a reporter trying to explain to your editor, to your news director, why you're not getting any interviews, why you're not getting called on at press conferences. They have that power, these politicians, and they know it. And so they just cut everyone off. They're very thin. It's remarkable how thin-skinned they are. And thus, people, again, they kind of see what's going on. But when they're not being told the why, they end up coming to their own conclusions, or they are susceptible to the big perspective or worldview that is shared by the politicians and the media in their area. And they'll blame MAGA Republicans. How many times issues in Seattle have been blamed on Republicans when there are none here? We have one in citywide office at the city attorney's office.

It's your fault, Jason. That's it. Yeah, it's all me. I'm the one to blame. But people don't realize that. And I think Gavin Newsom, if he ends up being the guy, first of all, I hope he is, because the infighting between him and the Kamala side,

I cannot wait to see. But I don't think they're going to be honest about California. I think they're going to make it up. I think they're going to present it as a success story, but blame what they can on COVID. That's what they're going to do. They've been doing it this entire time. in droves. But I saw the interview he did with Sean Hannity. And he's good. Oh, man, he he leaned in and was arguing about how great it is. And he was lying about what was happening. And to your point, a lot of Americans, if you don't live in California, don't really understand what's happening. So it's not like you see it with your own eyes. You're listening to a debate about what's happening. And I think I agree. Gavin Newsom will be able to do people.

He'll be able to present what he's done in his state as really great and a model for the country when everyone's trying to get out of the state as a whole. So I think that's smart. Just quickly on the book, Jason, you talked about we see the consequences of these policies and we often have to talk about the consequences of the policies. We have more crime, we have more drugs, we have worse schools. But you go into what's driving them, what's the philosophy is behind the consequences of the idea, what's driving the philosophy itself, and unpack that. And if you do, does that make us

better citizens so we can fight it, address it, beat it? Yeah, the only way we're going to be able to beat this is to actually understand it, understand the language that they use, understand how they think, and understand also what works. I don't just complain in the book about if it's not working. I show you what actually does work when it comes to homelessness, housing, education, immigration, all these things. We know there are solutions there because we've done them before. We've never we've not been in this slump for ever, right, for the for the last decade or decade or decade after that, depending on how long you've lived in one of these individual cities. And certainly for those of you who realize that it's spread from the large city to everywhere

else, you know that there was a better way because we were living it. So you don't have to be all that innovative. You just have to be able to know how to argue the point at their level and then start convincing other people why those policies aren't working despite what they tell you, despite what Gavin is telling you, and why these policies actually do work. And if we're not able to truly understand the what and the why, we're not going to win this. So I found it interesting when you and Sean were discussing how when parents saw it affecting them, that maybe like in Virginia, a lot of the Asian parents were not traditional Republican voters. And yet when they woke up, they were like, you know, the Republicans are perfect, but they're the only ones on our side on this issue that's affecting my kid.

You're seeing some interesting coalitions happening. You're seeing Muslim Americans joining up with Christian parents because they share these common values and worried about what's going on and some of the gender ideology that's being pushed in the school. Talk to me about gay Americans. Are they also waking up in any way like we're seeing with Muslim communities and Asian communities? Are they also saying we're being sold stuff that maybe isn't in our best interest? I haven't seen any evidence to suggest there's going to be any large movement, certainly not the way that we're seeing within Latinos and with Asians. We're seeing some of it. I think, ironically, it's a lot of the issues around transgender and they don't hold the same views that are being ascribed to them by the radical left, that they don't think it's appropriate for some 11-year-old to go through some kind of surgical intervention. from their parents and go to a youth shelter. And by law, they can not only get gender assignment surgery or start the process without parental consent, the state bans the youth shelter facility from telling the parent where they're

located. That's the law on the books right now in Washington state. And it's pushing people away. But how was it sold? It was sold as, oh, we're just trying to protect these young kids who are being abused by their families. There's no clause for abuse as it relates to transgender health care. There was already a clause about abuse where you wouldn't have to report them back to the family. So they were just making that up. And the more people

learned about that, the more they frankly, they were revolted by it and they started to push back. And so I think those are the kinds of issues that are moving some people within the LGBT community over to the right. I don't look. There's a long history within the Republican Party of not necessarily being very friendly to the LGBT community. I don't think that that's going to be forgotten by a lot of folks anytime soon. that's going to be forgotten by a lot of folks anytime soon. But you might have the ability to get a younger generation, if they can get away from all the indoctrination about the party, to start making those shifts. I certainly hope so.

I think it is generational. It would be much easier to map them like Tinder. What we're seeing among our own friends who are gay is that there's a generational divide, that anyone who's 40 and older doesn't recognize the politics of the gay movement that's younger on that has seemed to embrace that whole trans, you know, victim thing that's going on. And many of them that we talk to, very close friends are very resentful that the T has been added to the LGB. But Jason, it's not only that, I think there's a lot,

has been added to the LGB. But Jason, it's not only that. I think there's a lot, you mentioned the 40-year-older. They're looking at, you know, these drag shows for kids. They're like, listen, I'm all about having equality,

but I'm all about protecting kids too. Why are we sexualizing, you know, kids in a drag show? I'm all about drag shows too. I love going to a drag, and I'm saying, I like going to a drag show or a Drake bar. But when you do this with kids, we've usually protected them. And I think that's been also a pushback from the community as well.

That's some of the things from some of the 40 and older community is saying we don't want to be tied to that. So it's very interesting. So what's your analysis then? Can we say what your title of your book is? What's killing America? Can america be saved are you optimistic after writing it or just a little bit like i don't know if we're going to get through this well i mean it's hard to be too optimistic after writing a book about what's actually killing her so i look at well fair enough fair enough i i certainly i feel like we have the ability to push back we just have to have the knowledge on how to push back. And that's what I try to accomplish in What's Killing America.

And I certainly hope that people will get that from the book. And Jason, What's Killing America, I think it's so important because if you're going to save America, to your point, you have to recognize what is killing America. And you can't expect that Jason Rance or Rachel Campos Duffy or Pete Hegseth or Sean Hannity, they're going to save America for you. It's every good American. They have to be educated on what's happening and be engaged in the fight. And to become educated, you have to read books like yours, What's Killing America, so you can participate and know the

science and the language that is used by the left to ruin your school and your community and your state and your country. Jason Rantz, thanks for writing the book. Thanks for coming on from the kitchen table. And I would encourage everyone to go out and get Jason's book. His book is as good as what he gives you on TV, maybe even better than what you get on TV from Jason Rantz. It's a must read. Jason, I really just want to thank you for coming on the show. What I've always loved about you is that you see some of the worst stuff that's going on and you always have a very sort of happy warrior attitude about it. I'm surprised you weren't originally a conservative because it's very Reagan-esque in the way that you cheerfully go through everything that's killing us and do it with good cheer. And we really appreciate that.

And it's been a real pleasure getting to know you over the years as you've come on Fox News. You've become a Fox favorite. Everyone loves you. And you do bring us the craziest things that are going on in America in the most delightful way. With a twinkle in your eye, Jason. Well, yeah. So thank you so much. You guys have both been incredibly supportive, which means a heck of a lot to me. So really, thank you guys.

Jason Ranz, thanks for joining us. What's killing America? Get it now. Get it now. All right. Thanks, Jason. If you want to support us, you can get it at Amazon if you want. Right, Jason?

Amazon is right. Is that in Seattle? Or any bookstore. Yes. All right, Jason. I've learned so much about bestseller lists. So I don't care where you get it as long as they report it. That's right.

Get it where it can get reported. Exactly. It's not in the number of sales. It's on equity. We want to elevate some books that may not sell as many as others. We should have listed this as LGBT author. I'm sure I would have gotten it. Yes! Darn it!

That would really kill America. That would really upset the LGBT. Jason Rantz is the top. Oh, Jason, you're so great. By the way, can I ask you one last question before you leave? So what is the reaction from gay America to Jason Rantz? Oh, not not not a good one for the most part. Really?

I am one of those people. I will so that anyone who doesn't know me locally, which is getting harder to find. I'll hold that back until a little bit later on yeah you have you have a very you have a very unique look about you so we can people can identify you're not going to get lost in the crowd yeah i don't know if you can tell very dramatic eyebrows which just pop everywhere your eyebrows have been the source of much online conversation jason just you know rachel was like gonna well okay i'm gonna leave that alone into this segment when you know on guess who guess who our special guest is hint eyebrows you might know about his eyebrows. Everyone will know.

It's the one thing when I was doing all the coverage during COVID of Antifa, because I was actually in the crowds. The only thing that benefited me was the fact that people wore masks and hats, which I had to pull over my eyebrows. I was putting on sunglasses, making it impossible to find me. But I can't go anymore without getting easily spotted.

Wow. I love your eyebrows. They're defining and they make you you. Don't change a thing. I will not. I couldn't if I wanted. And his eyebrows. And his book, What's Cut America.

Again, thanks for joining us. Thanks, Jason. Bye. Thank you. Appreciate it. Listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on the Amazon Music app. From the Fox News Podcast Network. I'm Janice Dean, Fox News Senior Meteorologist.

Be sure to subscribe to the Janice Dean Podcast at foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And don't forget to spread the sunshine.