From the Kitchen Table: The Duffys - The Duffy's Celebrate 25 Years of Marriage!
Episode Date: April 11, 2024It's a very special day at the kitchen table, as Sean and Rachel celebrate 25 years of marriage! Today they discuss why it's important to lift the joys of marriage, the highs and lows they've endured ...over the past quarter-century, and how Rachel surprised Sean with bagpipes to celebrate! They also discuss their thoughts on former President Trump making his stance known on abortion, and how they believe Republicans should move forward, discussing the issue after many have largely avoided it. Follow Sean & Rachel on Twitter: @SeanDuffyWI & @RCamposDuffy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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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.
Hey Rachel.
Sean, it's great to be back.
It's a big day for us today.
It is a big day for us.
So on this podcast, we are going to talk about Donald Trump's latest statement on abortion
and actually how conservatives should be talking about the issue.
But before we do that, this is a very special day for the kitchen table and for the Duffys
because today is our 25th wedding anniversary.
We've been together more than 25 years. We've been married 25. because today is our 25th wedding anniversary.
We've been together.
We've been together more than 25 years.
We've been married 25 years.
What was interesting is it doesn't seem like 25 years.
We were talking about some of the great times of the last 25 years and all the fun kind of things we've done,
the hard things we've gone through and the fun things we've done.
And I'm like, it doesn't seem like it's been 25 years that we've been together.
Time just kind of flies.
Yeah, I mean, we've been kind of for the last few days leading up to today talking about
it's been a quarter century and we've been reminiscing.
We've been talking about things that have happened and different sort of critical junctures
in our relationship and our marriage and where things, you know, wound up and how we didn't expect to end up here or there or how this happened,
how that happened.
But the one conclusion we had is we can't believe it's been 25 years.
And I think that's actually a good sign.
I think it's a good sign too.
And I think, I mean, it's interesting.
We talk about a lot of issues on our podcast and we,
we kind of came back to this point uh that was early in our marriage when i was the da and it was kind of a glorious um wonderful time in our marriage where i came
home for lunch we had little kids um you would take you would take the kids to school i would
take us then you work down the street so then you would just come home and i would have lunch ready
for you i wasn't at home on for 14 years before I ended up starting to work part-time.
I'd pick them up after school, bring them home, and then go back to the DA's office.
It was a really wonderful time.
And during those years, we—
It was like family-building time.
It was a great formation great great foundation
for us good for us it was good for us good for us as a marriage and good for us as a i think as
parents to kind of that was sort of like our our our north star if you will like and we did that
not in a we say like move to a constructive place we were like in one of the most liberal places in
wisconsin and we had a lot of time for
our family and it was a really beautiful wonderful time we talked about some some neat little trips
we did together um the two of us and some that we did with little kids that seemed raucous and wild
but some of the fondest memories um of these little trips that we'd go on road trips we'd
take as a family so um i just like to say it you never know what you're going to get in marriage, I think,
as Forrest Gump would say, it's like a box of chocolates.
And it's been really wonderful to have 25 years with you, being married and sharing
this journey of life and family and careers and coffee has been really great. I've been blessed
wonderfully by the good Lord to have helped me pick. Well, you know, usually when people get
married, the woman's a little bit unsure. In our marriage, Sean was a little unsure. And so we
always joke and laugh that I, you know, he's really glad that i forced him to marry him i didn't know
we were going to go there but that's true i was like so this morning so by the way 25 is a big
year it's a quarter century it's a big it's a big number you know it's not like 17 or 22 it's like
25 it's like a it's like a big year and so i had to to think, what will I do for Sean Duffy?
And when we got married, I surprised Sean during the wedding.
I had all these Irish Duffy family, huge, massive family.
Sean has 10 brothers and sisters.
And the Duffys descended on Arizona.
And I knew we were going to have mariachis because we're Mexican-American. So we were going to have mariachis at the wedding reception.
I thought, what could we do?
Me and my mom were like, what can we do for the Duffies to feel welcome?
And my mom came up with the idea of we should have bagpipe players.
And so we kept the secret, just me and my mom.
And at the end of the wedding ceremony i had no idea no idea they said kiss the bride
and we kissed and all of a sudden
the bagpipes go off and the bagpipe player walked up the side of the aisle and all the duffies were
like what's going on and then the bagpipe player led us down the aisle you know it went the bagpipe player then us then the priest or i don't know which way it went but the bagpipe player led us down the aisle. You know, it went the bagpipe player, then us, then the priest, or I don't know which way it went.
But the bagpipe player was the first.
And so I thought, you know what, I'm going to bring back that moment.
And I had remembered, I know you're not a big fan of all our royal conversations.
But if you had watched The Crown, Sean.
Which I have not.
You would know.
I still have my man card, everybody.
I know.
The Crown is so good.
But if you had watched The Crown.
I actually watched like five episodes once because you were watching.
I'm like, actually, it was pretty good.
You started to get into it a little bit.
Then you were like, this is affecting my manlyhood.
It is.
And you checked out.
But if you had kept watching, you would know that when Queen Elizabeth goes to Balmoral Castle,
which is her favorite place to go, and it's the castle that she has in Scotland.
It's where she feels the most. She is very sentimental about Balmoral Castle, which is her favorite place to go. And it's the castle that she has in Scotland. It's where she feels the most.
She is very sentimental about Balmoral.
When she goes to Balmoral, she is awakened every morning by bagpipes.
She has a royal bagpipe player.
And so I decided that you're the king of this house, Sean.
Yes, yes. Even I can't say that without laughing. decided that you're you're the king of this house sean and and yes
even i can't say that without laughing okay you are the king of this house you're the king of my
heart too and so i decided that queen elizabeth's husband was prince uh prince uh uh he wasn't
it was her husband why can't i remember but he was nothing right it was't I remember? But he was nothing, right? He was royal family.
He's blue blood.
I'm kind of like, I live with the queen, is what it is.
Oh, no.
This was for the king.
This was for the king.
And so I hired a bagpipe player, and I got all the kids in on the secret.
So hold on a second.
Sean was sleeping.
Go ahead.
Okay, go ahead.
So last night, so I...
I decided you should wake up like the queen to bagpipes like a wedding
the night before um i for some reason i woke up at 1 30 in the morning i couldn't go back to sleep
i had to go to work early i did outnumbered and i couldn't like i was exhausted so i came home
last night and i'm like okay i'm gonna i'm gonna go i'll just go to bed early and you'm like, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to go, I'll let you sleep, go to bed early. And you're like, yes, you go to bed. If you sleep in, that's my gift to you. And I'm like,
cause usually we get up at around six, six 15 for school. And I said, go ahead. You can sleep in.
That's my gift. That's my, that's my anniversary gift to you. That's how unassuming I am. So
first he came home. He said, he scared the heck out of me because I hired the backpack player to come at 630 in the morning so I was gonna let him
sleep in a little bit and I had the background at 630 and then he came home
and he's like oh they called me from Fox and friends they want me to do them
tomorrow morning at around 630 and I was like oh no this whole thing is gonna be
ruined and he said but then we started
talking and we're making the studio i'm like i can't and he said no it's my anniversary yeah
and so we rescheduled for another day and i said oh thank god so anyway so you go to bed i go to
bed well you woke me up so that i didn't sleep that well last night either so that i fall back
asleep and i'm like fried i'm like, Rachel's off getting the kids to school.
And I know this in the back of my sleepy mind.
And I got up early because I made a special little breakfast for everybody so that when it was done, we would.
So I got up nice and early.
And then the kids were up early because they knew they were going to help me with filming it.
Can we just show a little?
Well, just you can.
If you're listening, you can at least hear it.
So we're going to show you the video of so I'm sleeping for this, by the way.
And Rachel thought that I would actually wake up to it.
There's a bagpipe player under his window and I opened the window and he's playing so loud.
And Sean, he doesn't wake up to anything.
Rachel had to hit me to wake me up.
Finally, I had to go, get up!
So here So here is
Rachel and the bagpipe
player she brought in
for our wedding anniversary this morning.
I'm sorry, it makes me laugh.
It makes me smile.
It was so wonderful.
Well, usually bagpipes make you cry, Sean.
So I came to the window like Rapunzel, I guess,
and I couldn't see the bagpipe player.
I heard the bagpipe, but it's hidden behind a tree, right?
We have this tree that's now in full bloom. So he couldn't see the bagpipe, but it's hidden behind a tree, right? We have this tree that's now in full bloom.
So he couldn't see the bagpipe behind all the flowers.
Is he playing a recording of a bagpipe?
What's going on?
And then it's like, oh, okay, there's an actual bagpipe player there, which was wonderful.
Sean was in his underwear, so he had to go get his jeans on.
Put a shirt on.
And then I came downstairs, and the bagpipe player came in the house. We took a with him he played more inside the house yeah he was a nice guy that was that was a
wonderful surprise and really thoughtful you would have never guessed i was going to do that would you
have not only did i never guess that you would have done it at a wedding never would have i
guessed that you would have repeated it today 25 years later 25 years later
she still surprises me which is kind of i was so worried because i only told one child like two
days ago and i said i'm going to tell you a secret because i do need you to get up early on that day
it's a good lesson with kids yeah she immediately told her brother and then that brother was talking
about it and another one over her.
Anyway, the secret was out.
And so the only one who didn't know was the littlest one.
And so last night before you got home, I said, okay, here's the deal.
This is what's happening.
And then I said, now when dad comes home, everyone act normal.
And then the little one goes, well, if we don't talk, he's going to know it's not normal.
It's so funny.
They did well.
I didn't know when it was going to happen. And we even had a contingency plan in case you came down and you kind of woke up before the bagpipe started playing.
I said, no, I'll get up early.
You should get up for the kids.
I'll get up too.
And I said, oh, no, you just sleep in.
Anyway, we did it.
And you have to say, I thought it was really fun.
And the kids were in on it.
And we let them go to school a little late so they could enjoy it.
And we had a nice little breakfast with them after.
And anyway, happy anniversary, honey.
Happy anniversary.
And just for everyone listening, you're like, well, what did you do for Rachel for her anniversary?
She doesn't have her gift yet.
And it's not going to come on our anniversary.
It's going to take on our anniversary it's going
to take a little extra time but it's and it's taken some time to to percolate and figure out
what this is we'll have to announce that when that happens yes um but happy anniversary but
she will like it the reason i'm i'm i want to talk about this sean i wanted to make sure we
talked about our anniversary um a because we're so really excited we've been we've been sort of
i guess talking about it for the last few just seems like this number just snuck up on us,
but, you know, we live in a culture where marriage, you know, marriage rates have plummeted.
Um, young women are being told that this, you know, is, is retro and patriarchal and all this
kind of stuff. And, um, and, and, and in conjunction with sort of those cultural messages,
you have social media that is sort of separating the sexes, um, on so many levels, you know,
alienating them from one another. So they're just having this like really inauthentic conversations
online and people aren't getting married for a myriad of reasons. And I just wanted to kind of
take today to celebrate marriage. You know, it's, we don't talk enough about how great it is.
And I know that there's a lot of times it fails.
And, you know, I have people who are close to me
and it has failed for them.
And I get it that, you know, it's an imperfect world
and sometimes it doesn't work out.
But if you find somebody who is your friend
and if you find somebody that you're willing to work through this, and you're willing to take this journey with, it is the most amazing experience.
I would not want to be alone, Sean.
Every time something happens, good or bad, the earthquake happened the other day, and I said, I wouldn't want to go through an earthquake without anyone other than Sean.
Something wonderful happens, I'm like, I'm really glad go through an earthquake without anyone other than Sean. Something wonderful happens.
I'm like, I'm really glad that I got to share that experience with Sean.
Or if I experienced something, it feels like it didn't happen until I tell Sean that it happened.
And so I just, I really want to lift up marriage and talk about how wonderful it is to go through life with somebody else that you love, that you care about, that you respect, that you are best friends with,
because life is tough. And I just feel like we can get through anything together. And I just don't
want to pay my electric bills by myself, Sean. The worst part of life. I don't want to pay bills by
myself. I don't want to go through happy times by myself. I don't want to travel by myself. I don't even want to go to the movies by myself.
I want to do it with you.
And I want to do it with you.
For me, you mentioned,
I was like, okay, we're going to get married.
And it has been a journey for me.
And I can't imagine my life
any other way.
I can't imagine that I'd be as happy
having not married you
than had I make other choices.
And just so grateful, I think, the hand of God is in my life that he's led me down this path.
You always mention, too, like every marriage is a mystery, right?
And how they function, how they work is this unique entity onto the marriage itself.
Like, so don't judge other people's marriages.
Cause you just don't know.
So like for us, we got kids and I work,
I don't get home till after, after eight o'clock at night.
So our plan was on Saturday, Sunday, actually,
I had to go to the grocery store and we're going to do hamburgers on,
on, on Sunday. And so I just like, Hey,
Sean makes excellent smash burgers. I'm just saying they're like, they're better than five
guys. They're killer. They're amazing. But I went and got a steak that she likes and a steak that
I like. And so tonight we're going to, I'm going to make my man a steak dinner and we're going to
do it. We're not going to go to restaurants. It just doesn't make any sense. But for us, that works for us.
We're like, that's great.
And I think we'll go on Friday.
We'll go up there when you're in the city for.
Yeah, I'm hosting Laura Ingraham on Friday night.
So anyway, I do.
It's important to celebrate marriage.
And again, the beauty of it and the happiness that comes from it
and building a family, building a legacy,
and building a life with someone else,
sharing your life with someone else,
brings far more joy than that of singlehood and self-absorption.
So that's my take on marriage.
It's a wonderful take.
You know, one of the things that I noticed this morning, Sean,
and it was really interesting,
you know, the kids were in on the secret.
And I think they were, you know, kids.
By the way, Rachel was going to let me go to the window, which I did go to the window.
Only my underwear.
And there was a bagpipe.
I was like, I don't know what's going on.
I'm like, I'm sitting in the window in my underwear looking out.
And I was like, I better put some pants on.
I'm sure Kevin, the bagpipe player, has seen people around here before.
But anyway, you know, the kids ran on the secret, and that was exciting for them.
But I also think that they really loved seeing, like, this moment.
Do you know what I mean?
That they were part of the moment.
Because this is their legacy, too.
And they get to see, you know, two people, you know,
by the way, we are, we, we, we fight, we, we make up, our kids have seen us fight. Our kids have
seen this makeup. We've been married a long time. We know each other well, we know each other's
moods. We get into moods. I mean, this is an up and down thing. Our kids have witnessed it,
but I think our kids have also seen us,
you know, they've seen a moment like this. And I think it was interesting. I think they were
basking in it too, in their own way. Maybe the littlest ones aren't able to absorb it,
but I think the older ones are understanding what this means. And in some ways, taking this in and
hopefully it's
building that legacy that you talk about
that we're having as a family that it will
let them know that
it is possible to get married, to
find happiness, to be happy
and to have it last. And that is
the greatest gift I think we're giving our kids
is faith and trust in marriage
as a sacrament. It could have been they just wanted
to have a little party and go to school.
And they did go to school.
They did like that party.
And it felt like a little party.
But I can see it.
They were loving it.
Yeah, they did.
And so I think.
Just like when we kiss and they go, oh, that's great.
But I think secretly they kind of like that their parents like each other.
Well, I think when they were going off to school,
didn't one of them say, this is for you,
and basically why are we celebrating this?
Like, why are they a part like why are they part of it
did one of them say that i didn't hear that yeah and then i thought then you were like this is
well if we were married oh yeah that's right if we didn't celebrate this anniversary
you wouldn't be here so yes this is about you as well this marriage actually brought you into the
world so but it's more than that it's that this these 25 years are a testament to them
that they can do it for 25 years that it is possible even in this culture that has a 50
marriage um divorce rate i should say um that it is possible to have a long loving wonderful
we have oh no almost we've almost known each other longer than we haven't known each other yeah
so uh listen happy anniversary thank you honey thanks for the big pipes those were awesome um
so thoughtful wait right there we'll have more of this conversation next from the fox news podcasts
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OK, so this week was also a big week for Donald Trump.
So he's locked up the the nomination.
You know, it should have been locked up earlier than it was. But now the donors,
even those who hate Donald Trump, have resigned themselves to the fact that the nominee is Donald
Trump, that the base loves Donald Trump, that nobody believes that even if those who don't
love Donald Trump know he's the only one that can take on this Democrat machine. And all you know,
we used to talk about the Obama Clinton machine, Sean, as like this political powerhouse.
But now we know that the Democrats also use, you know, agencies that were used to capture terrorists in our in our government.
They use these agencies that use legal in the legal system, use the FBI, they use the CIA against their enemies.
They use the CIA against their enemies. And that with these kinds of evil forces up against any Republican candidate, that Donald Trump seems to be the only one that has the strength to stand up to it. Can I just make one point on this, too, though? So Joe Biden was in New York two weeks ago and he had two very popular former presidents with him, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. And it was like they
shut down New York. And he had Lizzo and he had Stephen Colbert and celebrities galore. Celebrity
galore. And raised $25 million. And by the way, we were like, that is a crap load of money. $25
million. Donald Trump with no celebrities other than Donald Trump. Yeah, he's the only
celebrity in the Republican Party. Not in New York, but down in Florida, raised $50 million.
So to your point, he's had an interesting but really good week. And people who are like,
I can't support Trump. I'm not going to give to Trump. I'm waiting for Ron DeSantis or Nikki
Haley, but anybody but Trump. Now they realize it's actually Joe Biden or to Trump. I'm waiting for Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley, but anybody but Trump.
Now they realize it's actually Joe Biden or Donald Trump. And they've been confronted with this reality. And now they're opening up their checkbooks and they're giving it to Trump because
they can't stand the thought. They might not love Trump, but they can't stand the thought of four
or more years of Joe Biden. That's right. And so one of the biggest hurdles for Donald, because
everything else that he has been, you know, campaigning on and talking about, whether it's the border, inflation in China,
our military, you know, you name the issue, Donald Trump has been prescient and correct on.
The one thing that the Democrats, basically the only quiver in the Democrats,
what do you call it? the bag that you put your
quivers in for your arrows i don't know the name of that because i'm not if we knew a bow hunter
we'd be able to ask them but in any case the last quiver they have the only quiver they have is
abortion it's an arrow in your quivers that is your quiver yeah oh yes the only arrow in their
quiver thank you honey this is why I married you.
This is the kind of man card I was like, what is he has a man card and he just pulled it and he just used it and he just corrected me.
So I want you to look at its abortion. And the reason is because as much as you and I would love for America to be pro-life and as much as pro-lifers have worked in the field to try and change people's
views on abortion, the culture is powerful. And Americans, while they want some restrictions,
are still not ready to restrict abortion. Now, what Donald Trump did that was so remarkable
was he was elected. He made a promise to the pro-lifers that they weren't sure he could keep.
was he was elected, he made a promise to the pro-lifers that they weren't sure he could keep.
And he said, I promise you, if you elect me, I will reverse Roe versus Wade.
And he got... No, he said, I'm going to put pro-life justices on the court.
Yes, on the Supreme Court.
And he got three justices on the court.
Which is a remarkable hand of luck.
Did I say that right?
Yeah.
Stroke of luck? Stroke of luck is that did i say that right yeah i didn't stroke of luck stroke of luck um he got a
remarkable stroke of luck which made made the democrats want to literally tear their teeth
and their hair out he got three justices he took the advice of um what's the group that that
recommend your uh leo um leonard leo and they think they're called the Federalist Society.
They recommended different justices.
He put those justices on, and those justices were critical and pivotal in the overturning of Roe v. Wade two summers ago in June.
And so now Roe v. Wade has been overturneded and the pro-life dream has happened.
And that is that this decision has now been turned back to the states.
However, the Democrats have been very effective in saying, you know, this is going to be a return to, you know, hangers and women dying and all those scare tactics that they have.
And they have been effective in ginning up concern about abortion.
and they have been effective in ginning up concern about abortion.
And Donald Trump has decided that he is going to be practical about the issue of abortion and not let, basically thwart the Democrats so they can't run on this issue.
And he put out a statement that people have been awaiting, have been anticipating,
and it came out this week.
And here is a portion of what he said. Roe v. Wade. They wanted it ended. It must be remembered that the Democrats
are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond
the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth and that's
exactly what it is the baby is born the baby is executed after birth is unacceptable and almost
everyone agrees with that so his strategy is to say i'm going to take a a restrictive restriction
on abortion which is where most people are they want it legal but
they want it restricted to a certain date by the way sean and i do not agree with this position
this is not our preferred preference for position we believe that life begins at conception
but donald trump has decided to land where most americans are with some sort of abortion being um
first of all he threw it back to the state so he he's like, I'm out of this. But also
saying he was not going to do a federal mandate banning it, which a lot of pro-lifers are opposed
to. And focusing instead on how radical the Democrats are, that they are for abortion up
to the nine month, which is what you heard in that clip. Right. And so we have some polling
that says, that'll show us that if... This is a gallop poll, by the way, the point of Americans, 34 percent of Americans want abortion legal at any point up to the, not where the Democrats are at the late term stage.
And 13 percent of Americans want abortion banned.
So this isn't this. So we're in the 13 percent.
And we have to admit, we're only 13 percent who want it absolutely bad.
And so I'm a pro-life Catholic. I voted that way. I ran that way.
Catholic. I voted that way. I ran that way. And so it's a unique time. And again, Donald Trump is taking some arrows from some people in the pro-life movement that he's not going to fight
for a federal ban of abortion. Can I tell you who those people are? Lila Rose. We love Lila Rose.
But Lila Rose, by the way, also had supported Ron DeSantis. I don't know how much of that has to do with it.
I think she's a pretty straight shooter as far as the life issue.
She, of course, believes, like we do, she's part of that 13% that wants it illegal in all cases.
Marjorie Danforth, she's the head of the...
The March?
No, not the March.
Sean, the ones who run Susan B. Anthony List. And then oddly,
Lindsey Graham, who has taken a position further to the right of Donald Trump. And Donald Trump
actually took in this week has taken shots and arrows back at Lindsey Graham and told him he's
responsible for a lot more death in the wars that he supports, which is a fair point as well.
So let's break this down, though.
So as pro-lifers, and again, this is about if you're not pro-life, Donald Trump's position
is for you as well.
Because, again, what pro-lifers wanted was to overturn Roe v. Wade.
And if you overturn Roe v. Wade, we knew what was going to happen is it was going to go back to states. And then you have some fairness in that you can actually fight
to actually limit or restrict abortions. With Roe v. Wade, it was impossible. The Supreme Court
had a law that basically prohibited the American people from voicing their opinion at the ballot box on what they wanted. And so that you get to
fight this in the States is a place that pro-lifers can make their case. And then the American people
get a vote and they get to decide what they want for abortion in their community. And again,
I'm a bit distraught that more Americans aren't in our 13 percent.
But that's the reality.
And Democrats, they did really well in 2020.
They did really, really well in 2022 on the issue of abortion, scaring the crap out of people, trying to get women to go.
This is my freedom's at stake and I need to vote Democrat to protect my freedom.
Well, Donald Trump did. I, and you might disagree with me, I think he did it really well in two points.
The first is, not my issue, everybody.
I'm not going to pass a federal ban.
This is in the state.
So you've got an issue with this, go talk to your governor.
Go talk to your legislature.
Maybe you want to have a ballot initiative where you're going to decide what you want for your abortion law in your state. But we're not doing it federally. It's a state issue.
And the second thing that Republicans never do, Rachel, is he flips it and talks about how extreme
they are, that he wants to, that they want to kill babies, sometimes even after birth which is true and if you don't and he ended up sean
sending out on truth social the video of um the former governor of the former governor of virginia
let's play that right now all right the infant would be delivered uh the infant would be kept
comfortable uh the infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired.
And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.
That was the former governor of Virginia.
And everyone knew this, but he made the mistake of saying the quiet part out loud.
He's a doctor, by the way.
So he knows exactly, he knows the facts.
He knows that this is happening.
So he knows exactly, he knows the facts.
He knows that this is happening.
And so this is Donald Trump doing an excellent job of exposing who are the real radicals on this issue. So think about a fight between two men.
And one man stands there with his hands at his side.
And the other man just punches him in the face.
Who's going to win that fight?
That's like Republicans and Democrats.
The Republicans stand there, arms to the side,
and the Democrats just punch them in the face nonstop.
What Donald Trump has done is said,
no, I'm going to pick my fists up and I'm going to start punching back
by talking about how radical they are.
So smart.
And how crazy their position is.
And that's the way you either win on the issue
or you fight to a draw
on the issue. And then you move to other issues. Because, Sean, what has been happening and the
reason why we lost in those last two elections, they didn't fight. Right. What Republicans wanted
to do was say, well, we don't want to talk about abortion. We're going to stick our head in the
sand. We're only going to talk about inflation and the border. Well, guess what? They're going
to talk about abortion and they're going to paint you as a radical,
and if you don't defend yourself and point it right back at them, that's what should happen.
What every single member of Congress who gets asked in a debate, by the media,
anybody who's running right now, the minute they get asked the abortion question,
they should stop the conversation and say, excuse me, sir or ma'am,
explain to me what is the age that say, excuse me, sir or ma'am, explain to me,
what is the age that you, what is your limit on abortion? We'll start there. Tell me, show me yours, I'll show you mine. Show me your limit. And then we can talk about what my position is.
But every Republican should put every Democrat on their heels. Now, I want to start off by going,
you know what? I'll tell you what my position is not, which is what my opponent's position is. Thank you. Which is they support late-term
partial birth abortion. And in some cases, they're okay with the baby being born and making a
decision on life or death after birth. So I am not there at all. So let's be clear on that. That's
where my opponent's at. Let me tell you where I'm at. And that's how you start. Now, I'm not going
to say that I think his statement was perfect.
If Donald Trump had come to me, I would have added a few things to this.
Now, first of all, he started the statement out talking about IVF.
The consultants, Donald Trump, they've all been very nervous about IVF because that brings up a lot of moral and ethical issues around what to do with the fetuses that have been created.
And those have souls as well.
And so that is a whole thing.
He also said, I don't want to talk about that.
I'm just pro-baby.
So he took that off the table.
I have some quibbles with that as well.
But also I thought if he was going to take that position,
I thought he should have talked about what's at the heart of this, which is why do we have so much infertility to begin with?
Sean, we have an infertility epidemic.
It's a crisis.
It's an epidemic.
You're right.
That's the right word.
And it's not just with women.
It's with men.
We clearly have something going on in our food, in our environment that has caused infertility to plummet.
And I get it that women are starting later than they should to try and have babies.
And we should, by the way, be a lot more honest with women about the truth about their own fertility and how much more fertile they are in their 20s and their 30s and their 40s.
That's one end of it.
But there is something going on in our food and our environment.
And I think Donald Trump missed a real opportunity to go instead of all of us, depending on big
pharma and IVF, which by the way, is very harmful to women's bodies.
The hormones that they ingest into women, um, are, are many people believe are cancer
causing.
Um, it's, it's, it's, it's definitely not the preferable way to have a baby. And so let's
talk about infertility and let's get to the bottom of it and get big pharma out of the way
so we can talk honestly in the way that Robert Kennedy Jr. has been talking about the toxins,
about the GMOs, about the ultra processed food and all the things that are contributing to infertility. The other thing I think he missed, Sean, was this statement should have come with another
statement about the millions of dollars that he would divert from wasteful crap that our
government's doing.
And our government is wasting money on everything from, you know, shrimp, studying shrimp on
treadmills to LGBTQ programs in Palestine and Africa and God knows where,
that he was going to take every wasteful, stupid program that our government is wasting
and take that money and redirect it to the states to care for unwed mothers.
I want every woman in America who finds themselves in that position of being pregnant and feeling hopeless and not knowing what I would not have done this had I had support from my partner or my family.
But that should include our government because we have a responsibility to unwed mothers.
And what has happened, Sean, to the homes for mothers?
What has happened to the kind of support?
And we can get into it later in the show.
But there are three states who have modeled this in an incredible way.
But this is something the federal government should be involved in.
And if Donald Trump is listening, you should be talking about the federal money that you're going to direct to the states to help.
The three states are Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania has been the leader in this.
Now, sadly, there's a Democrat governor in Pennsylvania who has removed the funding that was given by Governor Casey.
He was one of the last pro-life Democrats in the country.
That's a dinosaur that's dying off.
Not his son. It's in the Senate. Son's a horrible that's dying off. Not his son.
It's in the Senate.
Son's a horrible.
The dad who is the governor.
The choicer, yeah.
Now you can't really survive, Sean.
I think you actually knew the last pro-life Democrat ever.
He was from Illinois, wasn't he?
Yeah.
I can't remember his name, yeah.
But there are no more pro-life Democrats.
They're a dead breed.
They're dinosaurs.
They're gone.
So it started in Pennsylvania. There's a program called Real Alternatives run by an amazing guy
named Kevin. And while they've lost some funding because of this Democrat governor, they are
basically the model. They have homes. I mean, remember back in the 50s, there were homes where
unwed women could go to
and get support if they weren't supported by their boyfriends often it's the boyfriends sean
who are forcing and abandoning abandoning women and forcing them to have abortions against their
will so this is a safe place where they can live have their baby get their get on their feet again
and figure out their lives without having to kill
their children, which they don't want to do. The other state is Indiana and Texas. Indiana,
when they, after Roe versus Wade became the, you know, was overturned, Indiana passed a restriction,
I believe a 15-week ban on abortion. At the very same time they passed that ban,
a simultaneous companion bill dedicated $74 million
to helping pregnant women, and especially those who are unwed.
So that was an amazing thing.
They don't even pay taxes on diapers anymore in Indiana
because of this bill.
It's a pro-woman, pro-baby, pro-family way of dealing
with it. And so that is a model for the country. That is a model for Donald Trump. I hope that
this is not the end of his stance on abortion. I hope he moves forward on something else.
But just the political potency of this issue. So Donald Trump makes a statement. Again,
this is a state issue. States can, you know, and we have
democracy now. You can have a say in what kind of abortion or life policies you have in your state.
And he said, Democrats are radical. So it's interesting then, what does Joe Biden say?
He's not like, oh, really good. Donald Trump and I agree that voters should have a say in abortion and it should be a
state issue.
No, he understood.
Joe Biden understood the power of what Donald Trump was saying.
And he came out and said, you're a liar.
You're lying.
You don't really want in the states.
You want a federal ban.
And Joe Biden's doing that because he knows, in truth, Joe Biden, Donald Trump doesn't want a federal ban.
He wants to send it to the states. He already did it. But Joe Biden needs to present to the
American people the false and fake story that Donald Trump does want a federal ban because
that's the only issue he can run on. He can't run on abortion, I mean, on the border. He can't run
on the economy, can't run on inflation, can't run on crime, can't, on the border. He can't run on the economy, can't run on inflation,
can't run on crime, can't run on foreign policy. There are no issues that Joe Biden can run on.
So the only thing he has is abortion. And Donald Trump said, it's not an issue because it's a state
issue. And he was like, no, no, no, no, no, you can't take that issue away from me. I need that
issue. That's the only shot I have of, you know, getting a second term in the presidency.
So I'm not going to let you take that away from me, Donald Trump.
I'm going to lie about your position and say you want the federal ban.
Fascinating. It underscores how potent this issue is for Democrats.
We'll have more of this conversation after this.
And why Republicans and their consultants are such
bedwetters. I'm so sick of the consultant class that is running away from this issue. I want to
ask you something, Sean, if we can take our emotions out of it, because Sean and I are
very pro-life. We believe that, again, that life starts at conception and every life is worthy and has dignity.
And we're horrified by the eugenics culture that we've established that now, you know,
80 to 90 percent of all children who are born with Down syndrome or some other mental or
physical handicap are exterminated.
This is something we should be talking about more.
But if we could take the morality and the ethics out of it and the faith reasons and
the science reasons that you and I both share on the abortion issue and just look at what
he did politically, the raw politics of this.
Are you saying to me, Sean Duffy, that that statement that Donald Trump did
this week that he delivered on Truth Social, is that checkmate?
This is the most effective message that he could have. Again, do I think that Donald Trump is
pro-abortion or pro-life? Well, what he did in his first term is pretty indicative of where his heart is at.
He's shown and led by example on the issue. And so now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned,
he's a realist. You're never going to pass a ban on abortion at the federal level. You're not,
right? And so it's smart to go, yes, it is not. It's not a federal issue. It is a state issue. Really, really smart. Take take the issue out of the congressional races, the Senate races more, but I have to be a realist as well.
In the politics of this issue, Donald Trump did it really, really well. And by the way,
every other candidate should look at what Donald Trump said and they should replicate it. Now,
if you're running for governor, I'm sorry, you're going to have to fight on this issue.
State assembly or the Senate, you're going to have to talk about this issue. State Assembly or the Senate, you're going to have to talk about this
because it's a state issue.
That's squarely in your lap
and an issue that you're going to run on
in this next campaign.
But Donald Trump, U.S. Senate,
in the U.S. House,
it's a state issue.
Send it away.
And take it away from Democrats.
And by the way, if they do attack you,
fight back.
Don't stand there and let
them punch you in the face because you're going to lose. You got to fight them. Yeah. I think most
as we saw with this polling, most Americans don't want to have abortion at the point of birth or
killing babies after they're born. They don't want that. And that's where Democrats are. So you have
ground to fight on. Don't run away. And I think where Democrats are. So you have ground to fight on.
Don't run away. And I think as a pro-lifer, and it's hard because like I said, Sean and I
feel strongly in another direction. We're definitely part of that 13% that wants a ban.
I don't believe that the majority, I believe the rights of those babies are rights from God. And so I hate that anyone, whether it's a state or the federal government,
can impose a law that would limit the rights of a child that has a right from God to live.
So I definitely feel that way. But on the other hand, I am a realist. And I have to say two
things. One, more babies will be saved because of Donald Trump being in office than if Joe Biden is able to win.
And this is a fact. He's worse than Obama.
And it's shameful because he's a Catholic, supposedly a Catholic.
This is the most radically pro-abortion administration in the history of this country.
And that is saying something coming after
Joe Biden. But here's the second part I want to say, Sean. The second part is not just that the
politicians at the state level, you know, the governors, the assemblymen and women and the
state senators will have to fight on this. But we pro-lifers have to get better at making the case for life.
And a lot of money has gone towards many of these pro-life organizations.
And they're feeling the heat now because this is no longer a – this is a cultural battle that needs to be fought.
This is a battle for the soul of our country. And whoever makes the case for the humanity of an unborn child makes the case that they should legally be allowed to be part of the human family, which clearly they should be.
And I think that part of it is, Sean and I have been out there in the battle, to make the case for life is also to make the case for motherhood we're living in a world that tells mothers that they are birthing persons that wants to erase women that wants to erase the the notion
of gender that wants to uh we now have a we're living in an ai tech world that wants to replace
the whole human gestation period we are now five less than five years away from, we did a whole episode on this,
which we encourage people to go back to. We are five years away from artificial wombs,
where children will be grown in pods instead of in human wombs. This is the moment to make the
case for life, for motherhood, for the importance of that spiritual bond between the mother and the child, that the abortion movement, that the secularists, that the progressives,
and that the tech people who think they're gods want to remove.
That primal bond between the mother and child is what is severed in abortion.
But they are finding all kinds of different ways to sever that bond
by not letting me be called a mother, by creating artificial wombs and by creating, you know,
by basically diminishing my purpose in life, which I know my purpose in life is to give life,
to work with you and God to give life. And so this is a very existential, very spiritual,
very philosophical argument. And it's not just going to be one on scientific levels or emotional levels. It's deep. And this is a very tough cause for the, this is a tough
road for the pro-life community to have to take, but they have to start to figure this out. Donald
Trump has done his part. He took it back to the States. And by the way, he's mad at those pro-lifers,
Sean, because they're turning on him. And he's saying, wait a minute, when you helped me get elected, you told me you wanted Roe
versus Wade to be overturned.
You told America that for the last 50 years.
And I did it.
And here we are.
You're going to come at me after I did that?
And now you're going to get mad at me?
I did what you wanted.
Now it's time for us pro-lifers to make the case for life.
And it is a very dynamic case.
It is not going to be one.
So to that point, emotionally, it's going to be one on a lot of levels.
But it's not Donald Trump's fault that 39, 13% of Americans, 13% of Americans. So 13% of Americans are pro-life at all costs. That's not Donald Trump's fault that number is so low. And it's not his
fault that 34% believe that there should be abortion at any stage of a baby's life. That's
not his fault. That's the life movement's fault for not making the case. It's our culture's fault.
For not winning the argument, right? And so Donald Trump is responding with these numbers,
even putting pro-life justices that overturned Roe v. Wade.
He's responded, giving opportunity to the life movement, to the culture makers to support life.
And so good on him.
But change these numbers, change the culture, and we can change the laws on this issue.
And the pro-life movement, Sean, made a good bet. Good on you. And I'm not
trying to diss the pro-life movement. I know many of the people who are running these movies. These
are the kindest. These are the champions of the greatest human rights issue of our time. I am
not knocking the pro-life movement. They are up against a demonic force, frankly. They are up
against demonic forces. But they made a good call. They took a chance
on a New York businessman who used to be a Democrat, who had a lot of hyperbole and a lot
of bluster and was rough spoken. And they took a chance on him and he delivered for them. So they
put all their eggs into the legal part. But the hard part is the cultural part.
They put the hard work into the legal and the political part. And they won that. They won.
You won with Donald Trump. But now you have to do the very difficult work of the culture work.
And and that is spiritual. That is cultural. That is philosophical. And it is deep, deep stuff.
And by the way, you're up against demonic forces. No question about it.
But that's the work in front of us. And that is as you so aptly said, Sean, that is the opportunity that Donald Trump opened up for us to now be able to make the cultural case because the legal and political case we've already won.
So let's not fight Donald Trump. Let's fight the demons. Thank you. Let's fight the demons.
Let's fight the people who are
promoting
abortion, which is a
really, really grave human rights
offense to the world.
Happy anniversary to you. Thank you, Sean.
I appreciate my anniversary.
Sit down and
have a lovely chat with a
fighter.
This is not the podcast.
This is us having coffee in the morning.
She throws fire.
It's a little Latin.
This is how it goes.
This is like my, this is, can I tell you Sean before we go?
This is my passion issue.
Yeah.
And I've had a lot of time.
I've had 50 years to think about why this is my passion issue.
Can I tell you why it is?
I think I know what you're going to say, but go ahead.
Tell me what you think I'm going to say.
No, go ahead.
No, no, no, go ahead.
I think this issue is there will be a time
that will be called to question on how we lived our life
and did we defend the most defenseless among us.
And when I sit before St. Peter, or you do,
do I want to say I did nothing?
Or that I fought to make sure these innocent lives were sacrificed?
Or I want to go, no, I did all I could.
I fought as hard as I could to make sure I saved as many babies as possible.
Because this is, this is,
Democrats can sanitize this as much as they want.
This is, this is the furthest thing from anything that should be sanitized.
It is, it is demonic.
It's brutal.
It's gruesome.
It's hateful.
And it's attacking innocence.
It's killing innocence.
And I think out of all the things that happen in culture, this one is the most important one that I think the question will be asked.
What did you do?
You know, that's not what I was going to say.
It's not, but it's beautiful what you just said.
And it reminded me of what Henry Hyde said.
Henry Hyde said that when all of us die, and those of us in the pro-life movement, he believes that when we make it to heaven, we're so lucky that we will be greeted by a heavenly chorus of little angels.
And those angels will say, thank you to all of us for having defended them here on earth.
And I believe that's true.
So, yes, I agree with you. We will all be called to stand before God
and asked, what did we do for the least among us?
And there's no one more vulnerable, more voiceless,
more defenseless than the unborn
who are being ripped apart by the womb.
And it's brutal and it's gruesome.
And those are butcher shops but the reason why i care about this issue so much sean is that the history of the world
turned on one woman an unwed mother the virgin m, saying yes to life.
And I believe that that moment, that yes by the Virgin Mary,
is the message for all of us.
It's our call to help other women say yes to life, too.
The whole history of the world, the whole history of the world
turned on Mary saying yes to the birth of Christ.
I wouldn't have got that one. Well, it's true, isn't it true? It's a true statement. whole history of the world turned on Mary saying yes to the birth of Christ. And she did.
I wouldn't have got that one.
Well, it's true.
Isn't it true?
It's true.
It's a true statement.
100%.
And so that's my call.
I love it.
And thank you so much for joining us today.
It's a very interesting conversation.
And if you're pro-life, don't fight Donald Trump.
Fight the Democrats.
And the demons.
And the demons.
All right.
Listen, thank you all for joining us on
this special edition of The Kitchen Table. It's our anniversary. Thanks for spending with us. If
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