From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - Q & A With the Duffy's: Woke Media's Meltdown Over Barbie And Rachel & Sean's Relationship Advice

Episode Date: January 27, 2024

Critics are saying sexism is the reason why Barbie's Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie weren't "kenough" to receive Oscar nominations - but what about all the other female nominees? And why is Hillary Clinton getting involved? What are Sean and Rachel's favorite (and least favorite) things about one another? And how has their relationship stayed strong after years of stress and struggles every couple will inevitably face? The Duffys answer all these questions and more on today's Q&A! Follow Sean & Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The housing crisis in the GTA has reached a critical point, with more than two in three residents being affected. ...reporting that almost nine million Canadians are living in food-insecure households. Over one million people in the GTA now live below the poverty line. ...just out today. Mental health support is the number one reason people are calling 2-1-1 for a... At United Way, we wake up to a different alarm every day. Help us end poverty and build a better GTA any way we can. Donate today at unitedwaygt.org. 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.

Sean, it's Friday. It's Q&A. It is Friday. We've got some great questions, but one of the first ones is very pop-cultury material. It is. Okay, so everyone's talking about it. It's the Barbie movie. So Oscar nominations have come out. Ryan Gosling gets a nomination.

Who's Ken? Who plays Ken. He's Kenuff, obviously, to get an Oscar nomination. America Ferreira gets one. But Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig, the director. So Margot Robbie, the lead actress who plays Barbie, and Greta Gerwig, the director, a female director. And this movie paid, like, over a billion dollars. I mean, like, I'm not exaggerating.

It made over a billion dollars. But it didn't get the Oscar nod for best director or best actress. And now fans and even the other actors who did get nods are saying this is sexist. And it's kind of, you know, gone viral in a big way. And people are going, why did how could this happen? How could they get this stuff? And of course, you know, the defense of, you know, those who are saying it should it should have gotten one as well. Obviously, it's such a groundbreaking.

It's Barbie. It's that the message was so feminist and so woke and it was pushing boundaries and and there was a female director. And so somehow they think that it makes it Oscar worthy. And I guess the Oscar people are saying, no, not yet. So let's be clear. I did not see the movie, but I did. Our resources went to the movie because you and the girls and Evita. I helped. I did help make it a million dollars.

The boys did not go. So I didn't see it. So if you didn't see it, the first part was very good. It was very fun. It's not Casablanca. It not um you know the godfather it's not schindler's list it's not braveheart it's not gladiator all movies that you could say were you know amazing amazing uh but it it it was fun and then it took a dark turn and it turned into this woke mess and you know in the end barbie doesn't end up marrying Ken because, you know, she has to realize herself and that would be given into the patriarchy. And, and it, you know, it just took this weird turn and America gets this, you know, Oscar for giving this super annoying, like, you know, speech at the end of the movie about how hard it is to be a girl.

And, um, you know, whatever, they still got that one, but they're mad about the other stuff. Yeah. And I think what happens today is you have, um, victim culture, right? So if you didn't get an award, if you didn't get the job, if you didn't get the promotion, it has to come back to race or sex or sexuality instead of going, you know what? Maybe they were better actors. Maybe there are better actors. Maybe they were better movies. Maybe they were better directors. And what happens when these kind of complaints get so much attention is then the Academy themselves, and they're already all woke, but then they have to think about, now, who did the best job? Who was the most creative actor? Who had the best movie?

They have to think about other factors. Like what's the public going to say if we don't have, you know, a woman director win the award or at least be nominated for an award? Well, there is actually, this is what's so interesting, Sean. It impacts the decision making. There is a woman, I don't even know her name, but there is another woman who was nominated for best director. I don't even know the movie or the name, but she is. But if you look at the number of directors in, in the industry who are female, this is an over-representation just,

just based on statistics, right? Marco Robbie didn't get the, didn't get nominated for female actress, but all the other people in the category are women too. So it's not really sexist. She just didn't get nominated. The funniest part about all this has been that Hillary Clinton has weighed in.

And so she got on Instagram because, you know, she's so hip and social media savvy, right? I'm trying to pull it up right now to read it as well. So here's what she said. I'm trying to pull it up right now to read it as well. So here's what she said. She says, Greta and Margot, while it can sting to win the box office but not take home the gold, your millions of fans love you. You're both so much more than enough. Hashtag Hillary Barbie.

Hillary Barbie. So, you know, she claims she won the popular vote. So this is just the play on that. I won the popular vote, but I didn't win the electoral. She feels like she got robbed. Remember, Sean, she claimed that after she lost, she, you know, took long, she drank Chardonnay and took long walks in the woods, but it looks like she's still drowning in her Chardonnay. It looks like she's still taking, you know, long walks in the woods. She's still blaming deplorables. She's still a sore loser just based on this Instagram post. Let me just say that, uh, Barbie, is it the Academy? Is this the, this is the Oscars we're talking about? Of course. So I don't give a damn. I really,

I think they're so leftist. I don't care. I think a lot of conservatives don't really care anymore because they don't really make good movies anymore. So I just want to lodge that complaint. But with regard to Hillary Clinton, if you can't handle losing, don't get in the ring, right? If you're going to run for politics, if you're going to be involved in sports, the consequence of that is you will lose sometimes. And sometimes you, in pro football, you might go, or any kind of football, you might go, well, the refs weren't fair. The calls weren't right. That happens. And accept it and move on. But she is holding on to 2016 like iron gripped as the country has moved past her and her ideas and her politics.

You know, in Bill Clinton's visits to, you know, Peto Island, we've gone on and she's holding on so tight. And again, trying to make herself relevant by going me too. I was also, I was also, I'm Barbie too. Yes. The opposite. Like she's like the furthest thing from Barbie pantsuit.

Very, you know, androgynous Barbie. Okay. So I guess the bottom line, learn to lose gracefully. Don't, if you're Marco Robbie and Greta,

please don't take a page from how to lose from her. She does not know how to lose gracefully don't if you're margot robbie and gretta garrick please don't take a page from how to lose from her she does not know how to lose gracefully she's still bitter lose with grace that's okay that's really good advice lose with grace with grace and lose with grace and by the way kind of lame of you know ryan gosling and america ferrara to like kind of shame the oscars and and here's another thing about the oscars if you didn't shame the oscars then he would also be on the receiving end. Yeah, he knows. Oh, yeah, I know he knows. Ken knows. He's got to play

the Barbie game. Ken didn't just play in the movie. He watched the movie, and he's like, oh, yeah, no, I get it. He took in all the girl power feminist theory that came with the movie. The Oscars already, Sean, you can't win an Oscar. a movie has to

have a certain they already implemented i think it was a year or two ago they implemented you know you have to have a certain number of minorities and diversity things so the whole thing's already not about merit um so in some ways i don't listen i i'm done again did done can I bring up you know what you know what ruined the Oscars for me it wasn't all this stuff I really only loved the Oscars when Joan Rivers was doing the red carpet and she would make fun of she would like interview people and then as they leave she'd be like oh my god that dress is so ugly you know she was just so great she was such an equal opportunity you know comedian and offender exactly um i've it's never been the same for me since she left and i also loved her after the oscar she would

on e-television she had this like post show where they would break down all the looks and who did it right and who was awful and and who looked terrible and it was just so much fun and and you know what that show wouldn't go anymore because you're not allowed to make fun of people. If you make fun of somebody who's the wrong color, the wrong sex, just sort of like the trendy, whatever it of the, of the moment, she would have been canceled. She could not survive in this culture, but she was John Rivers. She may not have been canceled. Let's take a quick break and we'll come back with our next. We're going to talk about some relationship stuff because we've been getting a lot of relationship questions. So we'll take a break. We'll come right back right after this. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy,

host of the Trey Gowdy podcast. I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox News podcast dot com. All right. Welcome back to the other side. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. All right, welcome back to the kitchen table. We're going into relationships. Where are we going, Rachel, with relationships? What's our Q&A? I'm trying to find what? What? I was asking what's what's what is the relationship question? I have a lot of them. So I'm trying to figure out which one to do. OK, so here's one. What is the trait you like about me the most? And what is the trait you like about yourself the most? I love how I get the question first. What do I love? And I

get to have them think off the top of my head. What do I love the most about you? I am too. So Rachel is a very fun person normally. She's, she's up for anything. You see her laugh all the time, which is really fantastic. And that's a great personality to be around. But also, I love how focused, and we've had a debate on a family issue that you and I have gone through. And the focus on family and making the right decisions for a family I love about you. The thing that annoys me the most right now at this moment in my life about Rachel is that- I didn't ask that question, but go ahead. It was, what trait do you like the most about me? And what trait do you like about yourself? No, no. But now I want to hear what annoys you the most.

So Rachel will, if I get annoyed at something, she'll say, you're always crabby. You're always moody. And so I've had to point out the times that she gets crabby or annoyed. I'm like, you're so moody. You're so moody. You have a justifiable right to be annoyed about something. It doesn't mean that you're moody, but she keeps trying to classify me as moody. And that's not true.

I couldn't be more lovable. Um, is that your favorite trait? How lovable you are? Yes. So that's, I've answered both questions. You've answered both. How lovable. No, seriously. What is your favorite trait that you have by yourself? Um, I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I have so many good ones. I can't pick one. How do I do that? I don't know. Um, clearly not humility. Humility. Uh, I don't know. Okay. You go. All right. Um, the trait that I love the most about Sean is actually that he's really easygoing. Um, he's a pretty easygoing guy. I think he's, um, you grew up in a big family. Um, Sean is the 10th of 11 siblings. It's really an unusual amount of siblings. And when you have

that many siblings, there's obviously a lot of conflict and different people learn different skill sets from being in it. And I feel like Sean is a unifier. He's a peacemaker. And he generally tries to take the, you know, the high road and bringing people together. And I also think that that trait really helped you in Congress. political spouse and having the opportunity to occasionally go to Capitol Hill and sort of, I would kind of follow you around for the day and get to meet everybody. And, you know, it was just, it was so interesting to get out of our home life and see you in that life. And wherever we went, it didn't matter if it was the Capitol Police guys, Democrats on your committee, the interns who are working. Everyone really loved you and had a very good encounter with you and always felt like you were very friendly and kind. And you got along with everybody. I mean, you were friends with Maxine Waters.

You were friends with almost everybody on the Black Caucus who really diametrically was opposed to so many of your political ideas. And yet they would all say he's a great guy. And so I really love that about you. Can I say it was just always so wonderful. I talk about this. I've talked about this before. But when I would be back home and we'd be watching TV, you know, I'd be in the kitchen while I'm making breakfast for the kids and Sean was back home and Fox News would come in with the news and they'd always show a dome of the Capitol Dome, which, you know, I'm in love with the Capitol Dome.

I think it's one of the most beautiful buildings. And our kids would say, look, it's daddy's office. look, it's daddy's office. And you know that, you know, there are so many hard times when you were in Congress, but the honor and just how blessed we were that you were part of that. It's an amazing honor to serve. And by the way, it is family service. Even though all these candidates,

we can give a political opinion about them and their positions, but all of them, the amount of effort it takes, and it's a full family endeavor. It's real. And I commend all of them for actually raising their hand and running and being part of the system. Well, now that we're out of politics, it's easier to say this. When you were in, it almost felt like you weren't allowed to say how hard it was because obviously there were people in your district who had really tough jobs and maybe had three jobs and and everyone's struggling in all their different ways but when your husband is when especially when you have as many kids as we had

we kept having kids we had so many kids and sean was gone for so many days and he had to miss a lot of things and it was so hard and heartbreaking many times. And it was an honor, but it was hard. But I can say this now that we're out. It's tough. And people who serve make massive sacrifices that people don't see. There's a perception that there's something glamorous about it. And it is not a glamorous job. Now, you do get moments like, you know, you get to, you know, I've gone to the State of the Union address or, you know, I'm going to when you were being sworn in or, you know, just even getting our kids got to grow up walking the halls of Congress and learning things about our history in an up-close way that other kids maybe didn't. And that and, and that was wonderful and all blessings, but boy,

are there tough times when you run for office and you saw in your family, military service is also hard. Your father could be gone for a year. So my dad was gone for a year. Not that I'm comparing, you don't compare it to that because they're very different things, but it is challenging. And you're, you're on all the time. And especially in a hard, hard spotlight too. Like my mom had, I, I, I could relate when you were gone a lot. You know, I could remember how many times my dad was on TDY, including this time that he was gone for almost a year. And it was so hard on my mom. I only understood that, I think, really was able to grapple with it when I was older.

But my mom also wasn't under a media spotlight. But my mom also wasn't under a media spotlight. And, you know, we as kids, you know, weren't getting that extra scrutiny that political kids get. You know, so I'm not complaining. I'm just saying it's hard. It was a wonderful experience. So what's your favorite thing about yourself? I think my best trait is I don't hold a grudge.

Like I get real, I go, I get hot and I get mad and you'll know I'm mad. And I kind of like, and that's just kind of that Latin side. And then it just kind of goes and I don't hold onto a grudge. You, on the other hand, are Irish Americans and Irish are a little bit of brooders. Um, and they hold grudges. I was always really surprised when I came into your family of like, you know, people's grudges. I mean, we fight a lot more in my family, but then you let it go and you just kind of move on in your family. Not as many fights, but they go. The fights go on for longer and people maybe give each other the silent treatment for sometimes years. I just that was just so bizarre to me. I couldn't understand it. So it's just there's a I think some of it's cultural, um, as well as my own personality.

And also, I would also say another positive trait is you are very forgiving. So it goes hand in hand. Yeah. That's a, that's a whole thing. Forgiving. Don't hold grudges. I kind of, I kind of get, get over it. You burn hot and then you're like, okay, I'll offer a lot of forgiveness. I scream and I get it. But I think that's one of the nice things about being Latin, whether you're Italian or South American or Spanish or Cuban. It's like you vocalize. And I think that process of getting it out and just talking about it, I'm so mad about this, I can't believe it.

And then it's just gone. One other thing that I think I do well is I'm very simple. I'm not believe it. And then it's just gone. Can I, this, one of the things that I think I, I do well is I'm very simple. I'm not as, you're a man of simple pleasures. And I think maybe just men are more simple. Women are more complex, but like I could, I could eat the same thing every single day.

I have, I always say you would be a great prisoner. I have certain needs that I'm like, I put them on the table. This is, and then, you know, if you satisfy his needs, he's fine. I'm a basic, simple man. You're a little more complex. Um, and I have to, I have to be, I'm 50, I'm perimenopausal. Oh, you are not. I know he's in denial about this, but that, that I actually want to do a, I want to do a podcast

on, on coming into, I'm not menopausal yet, but I am perimenopausal by, by definition, I'm 52 years old. John's in denial, but like a lot, there are a lot of changes and you're right. Women are a lot more complex. There's a lot more hormonal changes. You're complex at 25 and 35 and 45. Do you think I'm more difficult and complex now than I was back then? I think women are more complex. I think that women, um, this, some weird things happen. And I think in, in that we are, so there's a women, a woman brain, a woman emotion, um, that there's a lot more, there's a lot more complexity to that. And I do think men are simpler beings emotionally. And again, you might go like, again, I watch football on Sunday.

That's what I do. And let me do that. And you have the whole rest of the day. Or again, women get a little more. The complexity also breeds difficulty. But you're worth it. Thank you. All in all But you're worth it. Thank you. All in all, you're worth it.

Okay, this is kind of related. How do you handle conflict in your relationship? So, you know what, frankly, you're better at this because you will address it head on and I will kind of stew a little bit and I'll maybe behave. That's the Irish stewing.

I'll maybe act out a little more. You'll know be Irish stewing. I'll, I'll be, I'll, I'll, I'll maybe act out a little more. You'll know, I'm angry about it, but I won't go. I'm, I won't go to you. Like I'm so ticked off about this. Um, but I was so, we got to talk, we got to talk. I am so mad. We may have a different opinion. I feel like I usually, I can be mad at something and you'll be like, no, you shouldn't be mad at that. And I didn't do this and you did that. And in the end I'd be like, okay, whatever. It's not worth continuing this fight. Even though I was just, when I was angry, hold on, let me finish. I was justified in my anger. At some point you'll fight me through it and I'll be like, whatever, fine. When you're angry, you're always justifiably angry.

Right. But there's sometimes and it probably happens about 8% of the time. I'm like, damn it. I'm going to stick this one out. And I'm not going to. There's just a couple hills he'll die on. And I'll die on the hill. And when he gets to those hills, I just go, I'm not going to win this.

You're not going to. Because usually I cave. I'm a caver in this marriage. It's true. And even when I'm justifiably angry, I'll be like, whatever. But then the few, I'm like, hell no. You're not right on this one. And then it takes you a little while.

You're like, okay, fine. We'll come around. You know one of the things I'm super grateful about you, Sean, is there are some, I know, but it just reminded me of this. There are some men I've met women, friends of mine, whose husbands have a lot of opinions about how the house should be. Like they literally have decorating opinions or they like have a deer head that they insist has to be up on the wall or they, there's just stuff like I have got to have, you know, this kind of,

but I don't know. I had to have a lazy boy. I mean, I would die if you were somebody who said, I have to have a lazy boy. I think it would be grounds for divorce. Like, I don't think I could live.

I mean, I would, maybe I would let you put one in the garage and you can go sit in your lazy boy out there, but let me finish. Let me just finish. I'm so grateful because I really care about my space. Like I'm super physically affected by how beautiful the space I live in. And even when we didn't have money, I worked really hard to make it as nice as I could. the space I live in. And even when we didn't have money, I worked really hard to make it as nice as I could. And as I've gotten more money, I've done more. And I, I just love that part of my life. I love waking up to something that looks beautiful in the morning. I love going to bed and turning

out the lights and looking at like how everything's in place and that it's actually beautiful. And I don't have some like really ugly thing that you insisted I had to have in the room. And so I just love that you've just given that space to me. And I appreciate that. And actually I think you like the way I decorate. I do like it. And I don't, I don't, I've never cared about what you put in. I've always cared about how much it costs that you put in. We had no money in or either way, anytime at the start of our marriage or not, I'm like, how much is this? Like, what's the damage of what you're doing is what I care about. Not the content of what you're doing. Um, and I do appreciate that. I mean, I can have a debate

about like, can we afford it or not? So I don't want to debate a lazy boy or something ugly that I'm going to come back to the lazy boy in a second because I have a question about that. But so Rachel, when she goes to bed, she wants to make sure the house sparkles. So we have to. Because I don't want to wake. I want to wake up happy. She doesn't go to bed dusting, but almost dusting. I don't know. I don't.

I just straighten it up. And you want it. Dishes all have to be done. The sink has to be clean. I hate dishes in the sink when I wake up. And so on the weekends, Rachel has to go to bed early. So she's not there when we go to bed. I'll do like a Sean pickup.

And rarely is a Sean pickup a Rachel pickup. And you wake up in the morning. And frankly, if it's not done before you go out the door at three in the morning, sometimes you'll do the dishes or you'll, because I can go to bed with some dishes in the sink. I've had to do that. I'm like, I can take care of those. I'm like, that's fine. It's fine. We'll do them in the morning. And you're like, no, I like them done right away. Can I ask you a question? Yes.

About lazy boys. It's now, it seems to me like Pete and Will are guys that would have lazy boys in their house. You've been in their houses. Do they have lazy boys in their house? No, no, they don't. Their wives have put the... No, their wives have put it together. I would say, though, what they do have that you don't have is they both have... And this is sort of a weather thing because they live in Dallas. It's something I think you would actually like to have. The outside space? They have outside spaces with huge television screens.

So they will go outside to watch their game, which I actually like that idea. I mean, you could just be outside watching a game and I could put on Bravo in the kitchen and do my thing. So we stopped by Pete's house in Nashville and what he did, that was the one thing, like he did a lot of- He has a beautiful pool area and he has an outside area.

I actually mentioned to him even after, I'm like, what he's done to the outside lawn furniture. Sean has been to Pete's house, but Pete wasn't home. We just stopped in and kind of checked out his house. Now, as he mentioned on Sunday, he's like, go to church. Well, he was at church. He was at church. He couldn't get out in time.

And we were there to do something else. And then we were going to see him. We were going to hit traffic going to the airport. And then I just said, you know what, Pete, can I just stop in just to see the house? And he was like, yeah, doors open, go on. Beautiful. But the outside of his house is. Yeah. Jen did, no, Jen did, his wife did a great job. Their house is beautiful, well-decorated. It's not super manly though. I mean, it's definitely, but that space, they have that sort of like their version of a den, of a guy's den. And Will has the same thing

in his outside. And we've got a little spot outside. I'm like, maybe we should redo this. You're like, no, you're fine. We're good. So this question, Sean, is interesting because I'm going to ask the question, but we actually were talking about this the other day. The question is, what was your favorite time of life?

And we talked about this the other day and we actually feel guilty saying it, but I would say one of the most magical times that we had was during COVID. There was a summer of COVID. It was the summer of 2020. Everything had shut down. It was kind of miserable everywhere. Fox basically didn't use us.

You were at CNN at the time. They weren't using you. I was a contributor at Fox. They didn't need me. They were basically,nn at the time they weren't using you i was a contributor at fox they didn't need me they were basically it was the riots were on so they were using experts in law enforcement and that sort of thing and covid was happening so my friend nicole sapphire was on all the time and dr siegel and so they didn't need me at all to the point where i actually at one point called and i said you're a a contributor. You were, I was a contributor. I wasn't a weekend host.

And I was like, is everything okay? They're like, yeah, you're fine. Enjoy your summer. We don't need you right now. We'll call you if we need you.

And I had a studio in my house, but also at my cabin. So since we were getting used, it was a beautiful summer. We didn't want to be in Wausau because if you had to go to the grocery stores, a lot of like, you know, face masks,

you and I hated face masks. We didn't want to be around. Anyway, we went to our cabin. We spent the entire summer there. We had all of our kids there. We invited my sister and her kids down. My brother from Dubai came and his kids came down. And it was the greatest summer.

And Sean's whole family lives in Hayward. So we just spent an entire summer on the lake not working because our employers didn't need us. Well, I had some conference calls. You had a few things, but not much. I'd be out on the lake pulling kids skiing. And then I'd be like, oh, I've got to go in. Get a phone call. I'd go in and do a phone call, you know, for 45 minutes 45 minutes or an hour and get back out on the lake.

And you prefaced it with it's somewhat difficult to say because I know people were suffering. COVID was hard for a lot of people. But there was a lot of people who had similar experiences. I know a lot of people who said, you know what? We had to get out of the city. We rented a place somewhere. And we went there and we just stayed there because, you know, my husband's office was shut down and he could work from home.

We have, we have, I mean, our place is small, small. I can't explain how small it is, but we had just built a garage. Think of like those tiny home series that you see. It's a, it's like a tiny home. It's 20 by 20. It's 20 by 20, but it goes up. It's two and a half stories. Right. But it's small. We got, we got a tiny home. It's 20 by 20. It's 20 by 20, but it goes up. It's two and a half stories. Right. But it's small.

We've got a big family. And then we have a garage, and we built a little bunkhouse over the garage. It's truly a bunkhouse. There's no kitchen. There's no... It's bunk beds and a stove up there. And then downstairs where the garage is, there's a bathroom. There's a bathroom down there.

And there's a bathroom in the little tiny house as well. So there's only two bathrooms. There's an outdoor shower. bathroom in the little tiny house as well. So there's only two bathrooms. There's an outdoor shower. I think we had 22 people that came at one time. And I think I spent more money on gas and the boat, but they, those kids had more fun. We had more fun. We had more family time. It's so much fun. And the summer was beautiful. That was really, that was a really enjoyable. That was a really enjoyable time. Because it was like, was not you realize when everything stops like just to be able to just spend time with each other and and be out in nature and there was no i mean we were

just so free and we had so much time with each other i i to me that was a magical summer i could just see you know my sister and i just sitting up on the balcony of the tiny house of our little cabin and just sitting there and talking and watching the kids out on the boat or jet skiing and just nothing to do. But I think it says something about, again, it was a reminder for a lot of families. And by the way, for a lot of families, it was wonderful. a reminder for a lot of families. And by the way, for a lot of families, it was wonderful. And for some families, it ended in a breakup of the family because they were together because they could be separated. When they were all forced together, it was very challenging. Yeah, there was high divorce rate. But I do think it says something about America and it's good and bad. We work really hard.

Americans work hard and our time gets driven into all these different things. And when you were forced to stop and you're forced to spend time together, I think it was a reminder of, for most people, how great my family is and how much I enjoy spending time with them. And I mean, again, I think it's not great for the American economy always, but there's some people who go like, I want to be able to work from home. And that can be bad. And, you know, we've talked about this, like, you know, 27 year old, you know, adult women and men in their apartments all day long,

you know, working and then, you know, watching Netflix and not doing anything with their lives. But for other people who have a family that are able to actually go, I can work from home and I can. Well, there were a lot of women who came home and said, you know what, I'm done. I'm not going back.

I'll take less money. We'll manage to live on one salary, but I want to be with my kids. And I think it forced people to live in a different way. And I think living in a different way made some people go, you know what? I can't wait to get back to the office. And it made a lot of other people go, I don't want to go back to the office. And I think the idea of everyone just sort of having that universal moment of rethinking our lives and what was going on.

And so many things were shifting. The summer of love was going on and cities were burning. And again, I am not undermining what small businesses went through at that time. They suffered so much. And we saw this giant transfer of wealth from small businesses to giant businesses. I look at myself, Sean, prior to the summer of 2020, I never really used Amazon. I never used Amazon. Even though I lived in rural America, you would think that would be a place where you would, you know, you don't have a lot of, as many stores and as many options. I still went to the stores that

were there and I, you know, I heard a few things here and there, but I never used Amazon. I'm like addicted to Amazon and the COVID period got me addicted to Amazon. And because I use Amazon, I don't like to go to the stores anymore. Um, there are small business owners that suffer from that, you know, and, and they've felt the effects of that. So anyway, I thought that was, it was an interesting question because we had actually talked about how magical that summer was for us, how guilty we feel about it. I don't know. So just to, but I'm going to finish off this with two exciting times in my life when for three, so I went on the 90 foot professional speed climb, which was a great moment for me of hard work. And I went, but when I was selected to do the real world and then the process of going into the house and being part of that whole experience was really exciting, wasn't it?

I mean, I was. It was. And I thought. You're right. That was a really awesome. I thought I would never get that like that feeling and that excitement back ever again because it was so unique. That experience and that feeling that I had about the excitement of going in the house. Being selected out of thousands and thousands of people.

And then actually going into the house and living in a cool place and having your life filmed and meeting your new roommates. And it was a really... Yeah, it was exciting. I had that same feeling though, when I was elected to Congress. I didn't think, I wasn't sure if I was going to win or not. I thought I had a good shot at winning, but on election night winning, and the next day or two days later, I went on a Tuesday. I think on Thursday I got a certified package that says we want you to come to D.C. on Monday, like four days later, to do this orientation.

And the time was exciting. We never really spent much time in D.C. I had never been in the Capitol until I was a U.S. congressman elect. Never took a class trip. My parents never took me. So that part of it was really exciting. Yeah, that was exciting. That was fun as well.

So COVID, Congress, and real world are my tops. Yeah, I think those are all. All four different reasons. Those are all, yeah. We'll have more of this conversation after this. So, okay. So let's, let's, let's go in a different direction. What advice would you give your younger self? So I was, so I w I had a nervous energy about my, I wanted to, I wanted to make sure I was going to college and I'm like, after college, like I'm going to go to law school.

And is that like, like a man energy? Like I've got to make. And I'm like, after college, like, I'm going to go to law school. And is that like, like a man energy? Like, I've got to make something of myself. Maybe, maybe it is. And I, and I, and I was, so I always had this nervousness about being able to make it and trying to do things. Being able to make it professionally, being able to make it like make money. Professionally and financially. Can I make it? And money professionally and financially can i make it um and i think it again it's a and we all have different you know visions of of what is making it but i i was i was nervous about it and trying to push myself sometimes beyond my own limits um and i would say you know what chill out man you know work hard but it's going to be okay. Um, when it was, again, I would tell myself to like, again, we had no money. We were, we were pretty,

we, we, we qualified for public assistance when we got married and didn't take it, but we qualified, but that was stressful. It was really stressful. Um, and I wish I could go back and go, you know what? It's going to be, you're going to be okay. You're going to, this is the starting point. It's not the ending point. You're you know what? You're going to be okay. This is the starting point. It's not the ending point. You're going to grow. You're going to do different things. You can let some of that stress go because, you know, usually in America,

hardworking and pushing yourself and taking risk, being afraid by the risk you take, you're going to be okay and be able to buy a but maybe that, that energy is what propelled you. Maybe that's okay. You know, there's a, uh, you know, I, I think, I don't know if it was Camille Paglia who said that, and it's sort of biological, like women just are, you know, we kind of understand what our purpose is in life. Just when we have our period, you know what I mean? And you understand what you're made for. And I think it's probably, I think this assessment is, is, is really interesting. Women just are, they understand why they're on earth and what their, their highest purpose is. That doesn't mean we don't do other things and we, but that's our highest purpose,

but men have to become. And so I think that that nervous energy is that whatever it is in you, that you know that ultimately you have to become something to be able to protect your family, to provide for your family. And that's a big responsibility on you. And I think it's something I've always underappreciated. You talked earlier about how we would have these discussions about money. I mean, when we didn't have money, we would fight about money sometimes. And I think...

Until very recently, Rachel always said that I was cheap. Right? Until... I wasn't cheap. Yeah, he's not. He was just concerned about, like, how are we going to make it? I'm not cheap. And I didn't have as much of a...

We don't have any money. I'm not cheap. And I didn't have as much of that. We don't have any money. Well, what was great was I felt like, you know, I didn't carry that burden around as much because. You didn't look at it. It was your job. It's your job to provide. Hence, I was stressed out about it.

You're stressed out. But I want to hear what yours is too. But that stress, I do think. It's real. But I think, but I think there's, I want to hear what yours is too, but, but that stress, I do think we did a, we just did a podcast on a little, and we get a little, I didn't want to go too overboard on the, on the prepper stuff, but a little bit of knowing how to do things and being prepared for things also comes. I think what this is like, I'm my role as the father is to make sure I can provide for my, my, my little clan here. And it's my job to think through and plan. And if something goes wrong, and I hope all of this is for not, I don't, hopefully nothing ever happens.

But if it does, I've thought through some things that I can hopefully take care of my family. And yeah, it comes, maybe, maybe this is male energy stuff, but that's, no, I mean, I think, I think biology is real. I think that, you know, you have things that are built in you that, you know, you have to provide and you married someone who expects you to do that. So what do you, what do you, what would you change? Um, what advice would you give? The advice that I would give. So I, I've had some pretty dramatic experiences in my life. I was in a, in a, um, experiences in my life. I was in a car accident that was fatal for everyone involved except myself. I've had some real disappointments in my life. I was up for the view two different times and made it to the very end, thought I was going to get the job and didn't get it. I was up for Fox and France against, you know, Jedediah and I didn't get it.

And then it can, and so those, those professional setbacks, because I was so close to getting them were really painful for me. And the advice, that was hard for me. And there are other things that have happened in my life that it wasn't for many years later that there were even interpersonal things that happened, you know, in my family, with your family, et cetera. Things that I, you know, at the time really consumed me and made me so stressed and, or sad or wondering what the future would be like. And it's so interesting. You know, one of them, I mean, I kind of really liked being in my, I thought I was, the thought that I'm in my fifties now is, is so, it's so crazy to me. Like I never thought I would be, but really what's crazy about it is how much I'm enjoying it.

And I think one of the awesome parts about being 50 and 52, in my case, is I have so much more perspective. And I look back on those things and I see that I see God's plan working. God's plan working, but I had to like kind of zoom out, you know, to this age to see why it was all meant to be and that there was this master plan. And I think kind of in a sort of similar to what you say, like, chill out. You know, I think I would tell myself, my younger self that there's a plan and there's a reason and why you didn't get that job, why you did get that job, why, you know, this tragic accident happened to me, why, you know, there's just a myriad of things that now I can see had they not gone that way, my story today would be totally different. And I'm totally at peace with where I'm at and what we're doing and who I am and who you are and who our family is.

And so it's just kind of interesting. And things that were really painful and I thought would break me just made me stronger. I know that sounds super cliche and probably like a Kelly Clarkson song or something, but it really is true. So I think part of what you mentioned on failure, and I've in little moments and big moments, again, failing is hard. I mean, physically and mentally, it's really, really hard. Yeah. But what I found is failure made me work harder. Failure made me reassess and I get pissed off. I get angry at failing. I don't like to lose.

I get sad. You did, but you know what? I did. I cried. You did. But we handled it different ways. But you didn't give up. Listen, you come back stronger.

You work harder. What's a little motto you have hanging in our house? If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough. It's true. And I think failing is being afraid to fail, not taking a risk because you're afraid to fail at it. That is sinful in your life. I think you should be able to fail. You should fail because if you don't fail, you're not taking risks that can propel you into you don't know where. And I think so often we're, when everyone gets a trophy, I'm sorry, you failed.

You didn't win. And that's okay. Losing is a really great moment in life. This is the Hillary Clinton lesson. We're going full circle here, Sean. We're back to Hillary Clinton. We're back to Hillary Clinton. She did learn the goddamn lesson. She did.

Can I tell you something that happened to me when I didn't get the Fox & Friends job the first time and it went to somebody else? And I was sad. Sean and I were actually celebrating, I think, our 20th anniversary. I had a speech somewhere in Texas. And so I'm like, well, let's just celebrate. We actually had a trip planned to my favorite resort in Arizona. And then I got this speech. and I said, you know what?

I'm going to take the speech so we can make the money. And then I'm going to, I'm going to, you just come with me and we'll do a little side trip. And we did, we went to Waco. But anyway, when I landed, when we landed, I got the news. It kind of just set the, like, here we are on our anniversary trip. And I just got told I didn't get the job. And I was so sad and I cried in the rental car. But then, you know, it was so interesting.

The next morning, I woke up, and I got a call from Ainsley Earhart. She just said, you know, Rachel, and she didn't have to call me. We were friends. We weren't as close of friends as we are now. But I think it resonated with her. She, she had had career setbacks as well. Um, until she finally landed where she was supposed to land. And she just said, you know, Rachel, just want to call you cause I know it's hard. And I just want you to, you just keep working. Your time's going to come.

And I was so touched by that. She's such a nice person and she didn't have to make that call. And it did make me feel better. And I pulled it together and we ended up having a nice trip. That was a cloud over that little trip we took. Make no mistake. I'll just never forget. We had our luggage. I rented a car and we're walking out of the airport with our luggage to go get our car. And you got the phone call and I had no idea what was going on. But even in that case, it was meant to be, you know what, at that moment, it would have been so stressful. I would have taken the job. I would have never turned it down

because it was such a great opportunity, but it would have been pretty stressful on our life at that moment. And I'm so glad it didn't happen that way it happened the way it was meant to be so I guess that's the lesson that's what I would tell myself that's what I would tell Hillary Clinton um it's not that's good that's good advice that's what I tell everybody um anyway can I make one just now anyway yeah go ahead you know you mentioned your car accident, which I didn't know you then. I heard about it when I went from because a lot of the people on our show were friends with the people that you were with. And I never had known you or who you're with in the car, but you didn't have your seatbelt on and you were thrown from the car. And that probably saved your life is not having a seatbelt.

Yeah, I was ejected from the car. car and it probably saved your life. It's not having a seatbelt. Yeah. It was ejected from the car and that's what saved my life. Although a lot of people who are ejected from a car land in the middle of the road and it was at night and they get run over. And luckily I landed on the side of the road until someone found me. And it's interesting now when I, this is not, I'm not making a joke of this, but sometimes I'm making sure the kids have their seatbelts on and they'll say, well, they'll use this goal. Mom, she never seatbelt on. I'm like, well, listen,

that is a rarity. It's super rare. No, I could, the hand of God was in that, in that whole thing. I was supposed to meet you. We were supposed to listen. That is a, that is definitely one of the moments in my life that I know. Uh, I mean, we all have a purpose, but sometimes God sends a really strong message that you have a purpose and that I survived that when sadly so many others didn't. But it was a terrible, terrible situation. I wish we could end. You know what? I'm going to give one more question just so we don't end on a negative note. Yeah, thanks.

That's good. Okay, here's a fun one. What's a leisurely activity that you enjoy that you wish you did more of? What do I think about doing all the time? Going to the cabin. Going to the cabin. I love my summers going to the cabin. And frankly, I've built a life around being able to go to the cabin in the summer. I love Hayward. I love being at the cabin. It's a really happy place for me. I grew up on this lake.

I broke my leg when I was in eighth grade, and I had a big old cast in my outboard 20-horse motor. I've spent my life on that lake. I love it. He knows every inch of that lake because he had a broken leg when he was in eighth grade. And all he could do was to get around, was just get on this little tiny boat he had. Open bow boat with a 20-horse motor. By the way, I'm surprised my parents, if I fell out of the boat.

You would drive, drown. I'm surprised they were so reckless with your life as well. I didn't have a life jacket on. Like I just, but I toured that lake. I went through more gas than that little boat. But I really enjoy it because, and I don't know that I would enjoy it as much if it wasn't for the kids. Like, I love having the kids there. I love having you there.

And we're outside and we're doing stuff together on the water. And so I built life. In Congress, I was able to, we had base camp out of there. And I'd go do events out of the cabin and fly back and forth from D.C. out of the cabin. And then, you know, before I came, you know, to actually at Fox too, I could still go there in the summer and you'd go back, you could go back and forth. Uh, but you know, last summer was the first time in probably eight years, I really haven't been able to go back because I have the show on Fox business. And so I went for like, uh, uh, I got an 11 day stint at the cabin this last year.

And that sounds like a lot. But for me, it's like... You just want to be there. You got spoiled in COVID is what happened. I really did. So I enjoy that. That's a really wonderful place that I... And by the way, the kids, like our oldest daughter was like,

if you ever sell the cabin, you have to sell it to me. I'm like, whatever. Our kids would absolutely murder us if we sold that cabin. They have so many family memories there. I brought it up. I'm like, I couldn't get there. Do we sell this cabin. You have to sell it to me. I'm like, whatever. Our kids would absolutely murder us if we sold that cabin. They have so many family memories. I brought it up. I'm like, I couldn't get there. Do we sell this cabin? And you're like, if you want to be lynched by your kids, yeah, you could. Oh no, there would be mutiny. I mean, I brought it up once. I'm like, here's a little kid there as much as we want. They were not happy. So many family memories. I would never do it. I would never do it. Okay. So leisurely activities. There's two. family memories. I would never do it. I would never do it. Okay. So leisurely activities.

There's two. One, I love to read. I don't get enough time to read. I love to read books. And so that's one. The other is on Fox and Friends, we had a pickleball day where they set up a whole pickleball court outside. They gave us our own pickleball paddle and i tried it and i flipping loved it and the problem was i loved it and it was around the time that you got your shoulder surgery so i you know it was just and it was coming into fall and i said okay you got to get your shoulder right i want us to go play pickleball and i know i that i that sounds like it does that sound like an old person thing to do i don't care steve ducey yeah well are you saying steve's oh no if you if you keep saying that i am gonna make steve ducey my pickleball partner he does like pickleball i do too um i think we should do it this spring this summer let's go play i've never played pickleball my neighbor gina said she's gonna join me um and doing it so we we're going to, she's a big, she does tennis.

So anyway, that's my thing. I want to do that. This is something I want to get into. Okay, pick a ball and I want to read a book. Rachel is really getting old. I'm ready for Naples. I am ready for Naples. Just retire me now.

I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready. Listen, everyone, thank you for joining us on Q&A from the Kitchen Table. We always appreciate you being with us. If you like our podcast, you can rate, review, subscribe. Wherever you get your podcasts, you can always find us at foxnewspodcast.com. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, we drop. Please subscribe. We love that.

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