Shawn Ryan Show - #251 Secretary Sean Duffy - NASA is Going Back to the Moon for the First Time in 54 Years

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

Sean Duffy is the 20th U.S. Secretary of Transportation, confirmed by the Senate in January 2025 and sworn in on January 28, 2025. A former Republican Congressman representing Wisconsin's 7th District from 2011 to 2019, Duffy served on the House Financial Services Committee and chaired its Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Before politics, he was a district attorney in Ashland County with a 90% conviction rate, a champion lumberjack winning titles like the 1994 Lumberjack World Championship in speed climbing, and a reality TV star on MTV's The Real World: Boston(1997) and Road Rules: All Stars (1998). Post-Congress, Duffy worked as a lobbyist at BGR Group, co-hosted Fox Business's The Bottom Line, and contributed to CNN before his Cabinet appointment. As Secretary, he has prioritized safety reforms following incidents like a 2025 mid-air collision, opposed congestion pricing in New York by threatening federal fund cuts over subway crime, and advocated for reverting fuel economy standards while restricting funds to non-compliant local governments on immigration policies. Since July 9, 2025, he also serves as acting NASA administrator. A graduate of St. Mary's College of Maryland (marketing) and William Mitchell College of Law, Duffy co-authored All American Christmas (2021) with his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy. Father of nine, he champions family values, conservative policies, and infrastructure innovation. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: https://shawnlikesgold.com Secretary Sean Duffy Links: X - https://x.com/SeanDuffyWI IG - https://www.instagram.com/secduffy Department of Transportation - https://www.transportation.gov/office-of-secretary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Secretary Sean Duffy, welcome to the show. It's good to be here. Thanks for having me. It's good to have you. It's good to have you. It's good to be had. So, yeah, so we were actually supposed to do this, what, about a month ago? A month ago, yeah. And then, you know, the Charlie Kirk assassination happened, and so we had to push it. And, you know, I just wanted to say that I thought that spoke a lot about your character. I know you guys were friends, and it sounds like he was closer with your wife than you,

but, you know, a lot of people in politics would have loved to have come on the show and made it all about them with that going on. And so to see, you know, to get that message that you just wanted to go and be with the family and be supportive, I mean, that's what this fucking country is all about. It's nice to see that. Well, we were, it happened, and then the next day I was supposed to be with you, I was supposed to leave moments after the shooting. And you were generous to say, we'll push it, we're good,

which I'm grateful for that, and we made this happen. So I appreciate you having me back, that you took that very well. So thank you. My pleasure, my pleasure. But so acting secretary of Department of Transportation and active secretary of NASA, correct? Yeah, so I'm the secretary of transportation

and the acting administrator of NASA. So I get this short window of time until the president appoints someone into the full-time role. And, yeah, it's been great. It's been busy. And a husband and a father of nine. How the hell do you manage all this? Sean, I'm grayer than you are. It's been a great.

It's been a, to serve this president has been really awesome. And then to also be a father and to navigate that back and forth. Again, I think our first role as men is to be good fathers, you know, and again, I had this in Congress. It's, you get to run, you get to serve your country, you do it every two years, you get a pass legislation, you're part of the conversation in a different way. I get a huge influence on how America works at DOT. I'm able to set a mission at NASA, all really important stuff. But I was thinking about it at the end of life as you sit on your deathbed. what do you think about? Do you think about the bill you passed? Do you think about the road you built?

Do you think about the mission that, you know, you helped send, you know, our second effort to get to the moon? Do you think about those things on your deathbed? I doubt it. I doubt it. You think about your family. And what kind of relationship did I have? How did I raise my kids? Those are the people that you have around you. And so as I do all of this, which I'm so grateful that the president has given me this great honor to serve. And I think this is the most historic administration in American history, if I had not least since the middle of the 1800s in the Civil War. To be part of this is an amazing honor. And the fact that we're going to do so much so quickly with this president has been very cool. But I don't lose focus on the fact that the most important thing is my family and the most meaningful thing to my life and to what I do on this earth is.

is to raise good kids, to hopefully raise them well, not to go to Harvard. I was thinking about what is the mission of kids, not Harvard, but to heaven. That's what we want to do with our kids. Man, I love hearing that. I love hearing that. Thank you for saying that. And we'll get into, so I want to do a life story on you, start from childhood, kind of, you know, talk about where you came from, your road to being secretary and administrator, and in that, you know, some fatherhood device. so but everybody starts off with an introduction here so got uh did i prove the introduction

did i get you've got you've got quite the arc here secretary sean duffy 20th united states secretary of transportation overseeing critical infrastructure aviation and automotive policies also the interim administrator of nassas stepping into the role in july of 2025 to guide America's space exploration. Competed in the Lumberjack World Championships, a reality TV pioneer having starred in MTV's The Real World Boston in 1997 and Road Rules, All Stars, in 1998, where you met your future wife. A former prosecutor serving as district attorney for Ashland County, Wisconsin, a former U.S.

Congressman representing Wisconsin's 7th District from 2011 to 2019. a media personality and commentator having worked as a CNN contributor and co-host of the bottom line on Fox business, husband to Rachel, and father of nine children, and most importantly, you're a Christian. Catholic, yeah. Catholic, yeah. And, yeah, we had talked about, you know, how we rescheduled this interview, you know, after the Charlie Kirk assassination. Man, just lots of stuff going on in the news right now. The government shut down. I mean, if we're seeing flights delayed, we always see flights delayed. We do.

But it's going to get better. We've had problems, but it can't fix it overnight, but we are going to fix that as we come into the next two, three, four years. It's going to be great. Perfect. Perfect. You know, I think something that is kind of on everybody's mind right now is the three-eye Atlas object that supposedly might be extraterrestrial? You got any thoughts on this? I mean,

Polymarkets says there's a 4% chance that the interstellar object is confirmed aliens. If it walks like a comet and quacks like a comment, it's probably a comet, I would say, right? So polymarkets might be a little bit off. But we have some great pictures of it. And And we're going to release those pictures, but the government shutdown has, there's a whole bunch of rules that come into play with the shutdown on what we can and can't do. And so when we open back up, we're going to send pictures out of the comment. And I think everybody will love it, enjoy it. But, yeah, no, we feel pretty good that it's not extraterrestrial. Is the government going to open back up?

I think so. Well, that's at some point. Well, maybe before Christmas. Maybe before Christmas. I think it, and we're coming up to some real pain points of SNAP benefits and health care benefits, subsidies that come in that Democrats truly care about. And when those, when those benefits don't go out on top of air traffic slowing down throughout the country because controllers are, this listen to me to talk about this more, but controllers, it's oftentimes paycheck to paycheck, and especially the young ones, they're looking and taking other jobs. And so there's a number of pain points that I think Democrats are going to have to give up

their push to have illegals get health care benefits and open the government up and have a conversation and negotiate. Yeah, yeah. With this object, going back to that real quick, the three-eye Atlas object, what is the fear? What's the spend going on about this?

I think social media can take off and you can have people come out with credibility and make claims. But what the claims are and what we have seen at NASA don't match up, right? And so I think humans love conspiracy theories, right? By the way, conspiracy theories these days oftentimes come to be true when we're talking about Democrats, right?

But this is one that is actually a conspiracy theory. So yeah, I don't know, I think people, I mean, I think people get fascinated with extraterrestrial life and, you know, what's out there. And this is one of those issues that people have been able to lean into and let their imaginations expand and think it could be something that what we're seeing, it is not. It's just a comment. It's a comment. It's going to pass by, no big deal.

A flag to fly by. Just like all the other ones. But it will have been an exciting time thinking about what it could have been. But it's not, Sean. Right on. Right on. Well, so I got a couple of gifts here for you. Okay.

So, first off, everybody gets, everybody gets these. The famous gummies. Vigilantly, gummy bearers made in the, actually made in Michigan. Right. Yeah, we just had a long talk about Michigan. So, yeah, made in Michigan. Still legal in all 50 states. I love it.

Thank you. RFK made an exception for us, I guess. And then I got something else for you, too. So, okay. This is a little more sentimental. So when I was giving you the studio tour earlier, you had asked about, you know, who gave me that rosary that's up there. And I told you that's from my friend, Dom Razzo. He's a former SEAL Team 6 guy. And so I told you he makes these rosaries and they call him the Warriors rosaries for protection. So I thought you might like that. That is beautiful. Thank you. You're welcome.

Those who aren't Catholic, by the way, the power of the rosary, remarkable. Great protector. Can I give you a gift? Absolutely. So let me give you a little history. So I'm from northern Wisconsin, and at the turn of the last century, end of the 1800s, America is moving westward, right? Major expansion throughout the country, and they needed wood to build the country. And all the wood came from northern Michigan, and as they moved,

it was northern Wisconsin, where these massive white pine stands of timber. And these lumberjacks would come through first with axes, and then they had revolutions to saws that made them be able to cut faster. And so what they would do is they would cut all winter long, and they cut in the winter because one, it's pretty rough to cut in the summer and mosquitoes, but they would cut all winter long, and they didn't have tractors and trucks. They would have to use ice roads to haul all these logs to the river's edge. They would stockpile all logs on the river's edge all winter long.

The spring would come and they would dam up the river and they would dump all the logs in the river and they would float them because they didn't have roads. They'd float them down to a sawmill town and they would saw them up and then distribute it out across the country so we could build America, right? And so in northern Wisconsin,

we had the, in my small town where I was born and raised, we had a couple of years where we produce the most bored feet of lumber in the whole country. So our whole, our communities up there were built around logging and these people that would come in and, and log and cut all, all winter long. And so from that, we've developed these modern day lumberjack sports. And so you might see this on ESPN 7 at 4 o'clock in the morning lumberjack sports. So it's log rolling, a log in the water where two guys are on it competing against each other to get the other one off. Only rule is you can't cross the center line. And as the match goes on, the log gets

smaller in diameter, which means it floats lower in the water and spins that much faster. It's law growing. Then we have speed climbing. It's a race up and down. It's for 60, 90, sometimes in the West Coast it would be 100 feet high. But it's a race up. And so it'll take, you know, 16 seconds to get up the tree. And you have just these spurs on your feet and a steel core hemp rope. And so you're running vertical up the tree, stepping and throwing, and then you'll hit a lion or a cowbell. And then, in essence, you keep your rope on the tree and you kick your feet out and you'll feel free fall. If you're not great, you can free fall 10 feet, but if you're good, you can free fall 20, 25 feet at a time. So you'll hit the tree with a spur, you know, three, maybe four times coming down, which is a kind of this is the bull riding of the rodeo.

And then we have chopping and sewing in these modern-day sports. You might think of a lumberjack as a big, fat, burly, suspender-wearing guy. The guys that compete now, like, they're the most amazing athletes. No kidding. They're just... I've seen these. Rock, solid, awesome. So I could give you a pair of log-rolling cleats.

I could give you a steel core hemp rope. I could give you a saw. But I thought to give Sean Ryan the great gift of lumberjack sports, which, by the way, the lumberjack World Championships were in this small. town in northern Wisconsin every summer. People, and so world championships, it's U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. So I didn't, I'm not going to play you a song because I don't have any music talent. So we came, we're coming to Nashville, and I had my buddy bring us one of our axes from Northern Wisconsin. I thought no better way to carry it then in a in a guitar

case. So this is a like a six, six and a half pound razor sharp Australian speed ass. and you can shave with them and this is what the guys use to just hammer through these pieces of wood and the accuracy at which they they hit the wood and blow through it is remarkable and these things are so sharp so listen be careful don't cut yourself wow look at that and so that's what we use today to compete in lumberjack sports so you now have your own competitive speed axe I'm sure it's going to find a place of prominence somewhere so be in here yeah this is awesome thank you the little difference is it's Americana this is part of American history very cool that is um that I think is very cool you want to side a little bit so it's down there

yeah thank you you're welcome this is awesome i love it you can go up back if you use it it'll it'll dull up you have to stone it so there you go thank you that's awesome so maybe we'll bring the show you can come to northern wisconsin we'll take you out in the lake maybe come see a limberjack world championships hell yes i would love that yeah good guys so is that what you competed in so i grew up competing in these sports. So I grew up in small town America. Again, this is 19, late 70s through the 80s, where it was a different era.

So all summer long, I would ride my bike from my house to what's called Lumberjack Bowl, where you might take diving lessons or what lessons people might go play soccer. We would go log roll all summer long. And so I'd ride my bike to Lumberjack Bowl, and I'd have a couple lessons, you know, on a Thursday and a Tuesday and a Thursday or a Monday and a Wednesday, but I would spend four days there.

We'd get there night in the morning, we'd stay until 2 in the afternoon, and we'd just hang out with their friends, and we'd log roll all day long. So that was my summer. And from there, there was these exhibitions that would travel around the country, and sometimes the world, but I would, when I was young, I would do these exhibitions for Lumberjack Sports. And it was usually in Wisconsin, in Illinois and Iowa, I would stay close to home when I was 16 years old,

but we would travel around and show these skills of the old-time lumberjack. And, yeah, so I did that. Then I competed. I put myself through undergrad and law school by doing these sports. So it's a pretty cool part of America. Yeah, I'll say.

Man, that's, I don't know any lumberjacks. You do now? I do now. But it's, I was, so I was doing. So is this like what all the kids up there want to do? A lot of them do, yeah. It's awesome. Not all of them.

But we have little pockets around the country. So you'll see in Idaho there's a pocket. In Nova Scotia, Canada, there's a pocket of log rollers. In speed climbers, we get a lot of them from the West Coast because now the bigger trees are on the West Coast and, you know, the spotted owl affected their ability to log in the West Coast. but we still have a lot of guys who learned, you know, how to climb and the chop and so, yeah, but so I,

so I grew up doing this. Was this ever a career for you? Or is this not a career? Sports. It was sport and I also could make money at it. So I'd do the competitions, but then I'd also do these exhibitions where I'd travel and get paid

to be on the road. Driving these, we'd drive these big trucks that had these, we'd take, probably 45 foot trees with us on these extended trailers and we'd get there and they would have the pole company come and put the trees in so we'd climb we'd build a tank and log roll and then the flat-bed trailer would be the stage for the chopping and the sawing and so we'd and it's like a 45-minute road show that we would do and we do three shows a day which by the way you get in really good shape I mean you're cranking it when you're on the road so I was I was

young and buff and tough and I loved it and I saw a lot of a lot of the country by doing the shows but I went back recently I had my wife works for Fox and Friends and so Fox and Friends was gonna do a segment out of the Lumberjack World Championships for the for the weekend show so I brought in these young you know speed climbers you know they come in there and I'm had just turned 50 and I'm like yeah bring them in and um I'm gonna be bring them in I'm gonna be part of the and, you know, all three of us are going to climb for the show. And I'm like, yeah, I'm a little older and fatter than I used to be. They're going to beat me up, but I still have my down.

Like I came down fast. And I, to which we climb up and, yeah, they beat me and I'd do a bail and try to come down fast like I did when I was, you know, 28 years old. And when you come down, you're, I mean, so you have your hands, your hands are around the tree. And by the way, your hands get so hot. you have to get heat-resistant material on the back of your glove other you'll burn the back of your hands

because your hands are around the rope but your hands are on the tree coming down so I'm swinging to the side my hands are my arms up in the air I hit the pad which I've done a million times this time I'm like I hit the ground like oh my god son of my man I can barely talk I flip and broke my shoulder damn so that lesson of the story is don't

welcome to 50 don't don't do what you did in your 28 Son of a gun. Yeah, so anyway, but this is, so I grew up, I grew up doing this. When I applied for the real world, I did a, I did lumberjack videos. I was, I was doing lumberjack sports. I'd flown to California, and I was, so back in the day, like, I would turn the camera on. Like, there's no editing. I'd turn the camera on, and I'm like, all right, I'm in Minneapolis, leaving law school,

and I'm going to, you know, L.A., and then I'm like, I'm in L.A., I'm, you know, this is a dirty shit, city, and then I went up to the competition that we had. It still is, by the way. It still is. It's probably dirtier and more violent than it was back then. And then I did this, you know, I showed them speed climbing and log rolling, and I sent it in, and that was, so this was my pathway into reality TV, was Lumberjack Sports. Wow.

My pathway to law school, my pathway to see the country. So it's like, I love it. It's, again, it's this part of America, this America history that I think is so cool. And again, the sports are, the speed at which people can go through a piece of wood, or they can climb up and down a tree, or I think the most, the coolest is truly log rolling. I mean, the log is flush with the water, and two big guys are standing on it, and they're going to town. I think most people are like, how in the hell can you stand on the log, you know, if no one was on it, let alone with someone else on it? And the skill is immense.

A lot of people start when they're young, and the hand-eye coordination, the balance. So anyway, that's, yeah. I mean, so were your parents into this? Were your siblings into this? So my older siblings were started and they would bring us down. But my older brother was very much into it. So we'd go down together. We'd ride our bikes down together.

And so he's three years older than I am. And he focused on log rolling. He was a four time, five time. He won the title that many times in log rolling. He's very good. And I couldn't log roll, I never got in the top three, but then I focused on speed climbing. So I liked the speed climbing. Again, it says it's a little bit of the bull riding of the rodeo.

It's the most exciting sport, I think, in Lumberjack Sports. And so I focused on that, and I won the 90-foot race a couple times and the 60-foot three times. So, yeah, it was a great part of my life. I still go back and watch the competitions now. It's a really cool part of my life, but also of, I think, American history. You wouldn't wait to buy fire insurance when your house is already on fire, right? So why wait to help protect your money? I'm sure you're aware, but things are looking pretty dicey out there.

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and you could qualify for up to 10% in free bonus silver. It's seriously the best offer out there, hands down. visit shon likesgold.com one more time that's shon likesgold.com performance may vary you should always consult with your financial and tax professionals now do any of your kids are they involved in any of those? The older ones did. You have nine kids? Nine kids. Nine kids. The older ones log rolled a little bit but once I moved out of Hayward where again we have we have the facility I tried to get them in but the further I moved away the harder it was to do. So the little ones do not. You mean there's not a lot of lumberjack schools in

D.C.? There's not, no. But can I tell you what happens? So this is, it's, so I stand corrected. So what's, we had this, this innovative couple that developed, instead of a log, like we're using Western Red Cedar for these log rolling logs, and they're very buoyant. They'll float high. So you can get two people on them. This doesn't sink to the bottom of the, of the pond or the river. They developed a, not Kevlar, but a composite material to make a fake log that behaves like a log. And it's light, but you fill it up with water. And so now a lot of YMCAs around the country have log rolling schools because they have these fake logs that they can easily move around when they don't have water, but then you put water in them and they behave like

a real log. So, yeah, so we have YMCA's throughout the country that actually are doing this, which is pretty neat. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Right on right on. So what else were you into growing up other than being, actually, what age did you start lumberjacking? So I started a log rolling when I was probably six years old. I started speed climbing when I was 14, I started to learn how to do when I was 14, 15, you know, 16. Yeah, so that was like the, the middle teen years. But at least I grew up in small town America. I had 10 brothers and sisters. I was the 10th of 11.

We have a big hockey family, so I grew up playing hockey. All my older brothers played hockey. My uncle was in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He was on the 1952 or 1954 Olympic hockey team. So hockey was a big part of our lives. So, yeah, I played hockey. And, you know, we, yeah, that was hockey in Lomwich. sports was about it. I played little league baseball. We didn't have soccer back then in small

town America. It's not what it is today. We had, you know, and we've, so, yeah, we didn't play football. We didn't start football until your freshman year in high school. I know they start much younger now, but I'd broke my leg before my freshman year. So that put me out for my freshman year, and I just didn't pick it up my sophomore year. You were the 10th out of 11 kids? Yeah. I mean, how was it being the 10th out of 11 kids? It was great.

It was awesome. Was it? Yeah. But do they have any time for you at all? So, no, it's what's interesting. And I see this in my own life. So your parents, when you're new parents, I think you make mistakes, right? You've never done it before.

You don't know how to do it. There was a time when we had these extended families, and your parents would help you figure out how to raise your kids. And it was, we were kind of clannish as people. And now, because we all live in different parts of the country, we're figuring out how to parent on our own, right? We just, we're new to it. And so I think my parents probably made,

they were stricter, probably made more mistakes with the older kids. By the time they got to me, they were pretty chill, right? They're pretty great. I did shit that I think my older siblings hadn't done, they would have been like in big trouble. But so I had, I had better parents. They had more money. And now they were, again, I think they were a little bit tiring of parenthood too.

So maybe they're a little more relaxed as well. But I think they were better parents for me when I came through versus when the first ones came through. They were older, more mature, more just, yeah, they're more chill parents. Makes sense. I think as you, as you, and I see this with my own kids, we. we get better. We make mistakes and we improve.

We get do-overs with every child that you have. You get to do it differently. So I was pretty intense with the first ones. And I'm a lot more chill with the ones that are in the house right now. But it's interesting. This happened with my older siblings and it'll happen with my own kids. My kids will come home like, what the hell? You got to take charge.

They can't do that. You can't let them do that. And I'd be like, yeah, it's fine. But they notice the difference in the way we parent today versus the way we parented them. And my older siblings would see the same thing with us. They'd be like, you guys let them get away with murder. But I do think it's nice to come at the end of the lineup

with big families. Right on. So here's a question for it. I mean, having nine kids, I mean, how do you, how do you, but you said that the ages are 26 to 6. 26 to 6, yeah. So about a two-year spread in between? Yeah.

How do you, I mean, how do you divvy up time for nine kids and a wife? That's a great question. I think even from being in my own family, time is precious, and it's hard to give time to everybody. And time can be an issue. And many times, instead of individual time, you're having some more. some more group time. And I think all kids yearn for more time from their parents.

And so you could argue that's a drawback to a big family. But I think kids learn a lot from being in a big family. You have to help. Two parents can't do everything. And the older kids become far more mature and responsible because they have to participate in helping with the younger ones. My older ones now, my older siblings now will talk about how they had change my diaper and wipe my rear end and they give me a bunch of shit now about that.

But yeah, I think it's, for me now, it's, it's, I have to be thoughtful about how do I spend my time and how do I make sure I get back and pick up where I left off with them. And if I'm honest, my wife has to pick up a big portion of what happens in the house. So when I have the benefit of serving and I do it's like the greatest honor to serve the country but also serve with as president my wife has to then pick up the the the mother and father job when I'm not there and I think that can be really hard because there is a role for a husband there is a role for a wife there's a role for a man there's a role for a woman and we do different things and we behave differently We discipline different.

And that is one of the challenges. And so when I come home, I try to lean into my job as a dad and try to give individual time with all of them. And right now I have five at home right now. So I have two in college, two are out and are married. They got married young. They have one grandchild. So when you only have...

Hold your grandchild. Six months, eight months, no 10 months, six months. She's out in California, adorable little girl. And that's one of the problems too. We'd love to see her more, our grandchild. But again, when we all live in these different places, I think it's harder to do that, which for me, as I was like, you know what, I want to have a farm.

I like to have all my kids around me. I do think families living together is really great. I don't know if they'll go for that or not, that or not, but I would like to have, I like, I like my kids. I like my wife. I want to spend more time with them. And if they were with us in the same area, would be fantastic. So like in Wisconsin, I'm in a small town. So I don't live there. So there's, there's three or four of us that don't live in this small town. Okay. But everyone else lives in this small town, like 2,000 people. It's a lake community. So a lot of people come in in the summer. A lot of people will come in to,

to cross-country ski and bike, it's a beautiful area. But most of my siblings live there. And I think there's something very special when, you know, they all have their own relationships and their spouses will have relationships and they have relationships with my parents. But so I lost my mom a little over a year ago. She passed away.

Sorry to hear that. Yeah, by the way, when you lose a parent, unless you do it, it's not, it's very hard and especially I think your mom. But what was cool with, she, she was in church and she fell and she broke her hip in late December. And she went up to Duluth and she was in the hospital up there for a number of months. And then she came home for a number of months. And then she went to extended care for a number of months.

But if she was 89 and when you break your hip or your upper thigh, at that age, it's, I mean, it's really hard. harder to recover from that. But with a big family and everyone living in this area, my dad spent, my dad's 91, he's going to be 92, active, he runs, he bikes, he like, he is the most active 95, 91-year-old, sharp, awesome, you know, specimen. I get good, hopefully I get his genes. But everybody would rotate time with my dad, with my mom. So there was someone with her. every single day and not just my father but one of the kids was coming up and if you look at end of end of life and what she had when she passed away she had all of these people around her through all of the the time she spent in the hospital which was about you know six seven months

my father and kids were coming through and working together to care for their mother giving back to her what she had given to them. And it was a really, it was beautiful, it was hard, but it was a beautiful thing that, you know, because a lot of people will, they don't have anyone with them. They're by themselves. There's no one there. And she didn't work.

She was a stay-at-home mom, and my dad was a lawyer and did some small-town real estate development, but she gave us her life. Like we were her, we were her works product. And again, like any family, we're all dysfunctional and there's fights here and there's fights there. But in the end, if you look at what really matters, that she had all of her kids come and be with her and share time so my dad wasn't alone with her. And again, it wasn't easy because they were an hour and a half away when they're up in Duluth from our small town. Or at her house, people would do schedules and who's going to take what shift versus another shift.

and then in extended care. It was, I think if you look at the meaning of life and what families mean, that was, I think, for me, it all came full circle of, what are we doing? Like, what's the purpose? And for me, I saw a lot of purpose in what she had because of what she had built.

And there's a conversation now about have kids, have a family, don't delay it, find love. And she did that. and had all these kids, and it's not always easy, but in the end, she had the most beautiful experience as she passed with not being alone, having people all around her all the time. Man, that is really cool to hear. Thank you for sharing that. And again, I'm sorry to hear about your mom. Wow. What a way to go. Yeah. You don't hear that very often. You don't, and you know, and I know a number of doctors.

who deal with people at end of life. And I know a lot of people who give hospice care for end of life. It makes you think about the purpose of life, but if you have faith and you have a family around you, they will talk about the peace that, as someone's going through the dying process,

the peace of the person with faith and the person with family, as opposed to the person who's missing one of those components. Usually faith is, faith is very calming, but also then family will add to it. And there's a distinct difference because you know where you're going

and you know what you've built as you leave this earth, and that gives people peace. And I think listening to what people say who deal with death a lot should inform us on how we should live our lives, what is the true meaning? And I do think it, again, it's faith and families.

And I think the message today, Sean, is so interesting that we're telling young girls, get a job, advance your career. Your career is the most important thing that you have in your life. And I think it's a false promise, man. I think it's a false promise. I don't think it doesn't give you happiness. It doesn't give you, it'll give you money, right? It'll give you colleagues. It might give you personal gratification, but who do you have a cup of coffee with on a Saturday morning. Who do you get to watch a sunset with? You know, who do you get to share a day in the lake with? Or a rainy day where you sit in your house. Who do you share that with? You don't

share it with your colleagues. You know, it might be fun when you're 34 years old and, like, you don't have to deal with four kids crying at home and change your diapers and, you know, taking someone to soccer practice. That might seem fun. But in the end, those colleagues, that corporation, they're not going to be with you at the end. They're not going to go on vacation with you. They're not going to have a cup of coffee with you on Sunday morning. It is the people that you put around you, which is your family. I think that is the most important. And I think starting young is important. Have kids. And again, it's not easy, right? It's hard. But hard, and you know this, and you know this more than anybody. I started way late. But hard things give you, hard things bring you

joy, right? Joy doesn't come from the easy layup, doing hard shit. makes you, the joy that comes from that, I think, is remarkable. So I'm a firm believer in find love, pursue love, get married, have kids, you're going to be more productive, you'll make more money, you'll be happier. And I just, I think a lot of young men now, I mean, the guys that watch your show, this has been this revolution of what's happened with young man, the manosphere has been really fascinating to see them leaning into what is it, what does it mean to be a, a strong male, and that these young men are going back to church at a higher rate than

girls now. It is wild, isn't it? Really cool. Oh, I mean, shit, we almost lost it. Yeah. We legitimately almost lost what the fuck it means to be a man. It comes like this close. And it came back in full force because of guys like, you think of go, I'm going to talk about

what does it mean to be a man in this group of great men that will talk about what it means to be a man. And it is, you know, the chivalry. It's respecting women. By the way, these are very Catholic ideas. We started these ideas in Western civilization. And protecting your family, protecting your kids. And faith is such a big part of it.

Where do you think the resurgence came from? I think it was the attack on masculinity. You know, calling us toxic. Yeah, but how long did that go on for? Too long. Was it? It was a slow burn, I think. It was a slow burn that came to a crescendo.

of these attacks on these boys. And when they had an outlet that would actually celebrate them, would talk about how great they are and how great masculinity actually is, they gravitated towards it. And they rejected, right, you're toxic, and they would gravitate to the celebration. And that's where they leaned into, you know,

so many people that will talk about it like you do and others. You know, I never really, I don't really, I never made it a, how do I say this? I just lead by example. I'm not telling people how to be a man. I'm not telling people what it means to be a man. I'm not doing any of that. Which is more effective than preaching.

I am just leading by example and that's it. But no, there's a lot of people out there that's talking about that stuff, but I don't do it. But I think it's all part of an ecosystem of, who are what does it mean to be a man and again you can you can preach it which that's fine that's powerful or you can you can you can show up by example you live it but either way i think young men gravitate towards it and they should because we should celebrate young men i think one of the problems today is again how does a great young man find a decent girl to marry right that's I think that it's harder to find a good girl.

I'm going to get in trouble for saying that, but again, I think these young girls have been sold a different story. They haven't come back to what these young men have. And yeah, I hope they, again, how do you find someone? I think that becomes far more challenging, but I will say, and you probably can attest to this, the greatest decision you'll ever make in your life,

the most important decision you'll make. Outside of, am I going to choose to, you know, be a person of faith or not, the number one decision you'll ever make that'll have the greatest impact is not where you go to school, not what job I pick, not where I live in the country. It's who do I marry. Who you marry is the greatest decision. And by the way, it's oftentimes a crapshoot, right? We all put our best foot forward as we're dating and we're trying to, you know, go through that process. But the most important decision is who you marry, what kind of person are they? Are they going to say, again, because marriage is, if anyone who's been married knows,

it's always not sunshine and roses. Marriage is amazing. But it's hard, like anything. It's hard. It can be hard, but it's beautiful. And do I have someone who's going to stick with me? Do we share values? On life's road, who am I going to journey it with?

That decision is the number one most important decision any young man will make or a young woman. Man, I'm with you on that one. I think a lot of people get that, I mean, it's very obvious, a lot of people get that decision wrong. Why do you, why do you think they get it wrong? I don't know that they get it, I think, I think when things can get hard, there's, there's a perception that it's always against sunshine and roses, and it's actually not. It can be, I mean, you, you've got to disagree.

You're going to fight. You're going to, you're going to have issues that you have to work through, and do I have Am I someone who can actually be committed to the marriage and work through those issues? Do I have a partner who's willing to work through those issues as well? And if you do, you can make it work. But if you, you know, hit the release valve and get out, you're probably going to find the same situation in the next marriage that you have. Are you willing to stick it out?

Because, again, it's the most, like I couldn't, my life doesn't exist without my wife. I wouldn't be here without her. I wouldn't have all the greatest things in my life without her. But, you know, do we have disagreement? Yeah, we have disagreement. But in the end, there's, there's, and we'll, and we fight. But in the end, we're not leaving each other. We made a commitment to each other. We are sticking together. In no matter what fight we have, there's never a conversation about the release valve. Like this is, like, we've got to work through it. But we are in this together. And I think if people think about it maybe differently, again, we take away the roses

and talk about the beauty of marriage and the disagreement and the agreement and the joy and the fights and make it more realistic and that you have to fight for your marriage, I think we might have better results. I think maybe it's the, you can take, you can too easily take the easy path. Yeah. And by the way, you might have abuse to, there's also situations where you've probably got to get out of, but many of them are not that yeah yeah that's a damn good point i think a lot of people enter into relationships for strictly superficial reasons also which you know that never winds up turning out good

but but but so how did you meet your wife i know how you guys met yeah so uh so i did i did a um i did i did i did i did reality tv as you mentioned yeah that was right at the that That was like the beginning of reality TV, right? Yeah, so I was the sixth season of the real world. So this is on MTV. Some people might know this, some people might not, because MTV has gone down the drain. But they'd pick seven people from all different walks of life,

all different few points, all different experiences, and they'd put them in a house and make them live together. And they would just film them for, you know, every moment of every day for about six months. And then they'd edit that down to about 22 half-hour episodes. And it was wildly popular. And I was on the sixth season of that. My wife was on the third season.

And what's interesting is, if you think about it, we actually gravitate towards and build relationships with people that are very much like us. Similar backgrounds, similar beliefs. And that's who we become friends. with, that's who we maybe want to live by, that's who we, you know, we'll go have a drink at the bar, we throw a cup of coffee with, people like us. We don't, we don't naturally go out and go, like, I'm going to go be friends with someone who is from a way different walk of life and way different,

you know, viewpoints than I have. Like, we just, human nature is not built that way. But this show made you live with people who are very different from you. And what was actually pretty cool, one of the coolest experiences and learning lessons from me doing the show was, wildly different people than me. Like I'm a lumberjack from Northern Wisconsin who hadn't done a lot of travel. How old were you? I was 24, 25 when I did it.

So I was in the middle of law school. I took a year off of law school when I did it. So I was older than most when I did the show. But what I found was that these very different people at First Blush today, it was like, nothing in common. When you live with someone for six months, you realize you have way more in common than you would think of at first blush. And it's been pretty instructive for me

even in politics. You can find common ground with people. You really can't. Even at the first blush, you'll be like, we can't work together because you're crazy, man. You're like, you're like, but the truth is, you actually can. And you share a lot more in common than you might think. I mean, I worked with Maxine Waters on the, she's a Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. She's pretty far left. We found a way to work together on a number of different pieces of legislation. I always treated her with respect. We would argue on her ideas, and she would argue on my ideas, but I never attacked her personally.

I don't think this has to be personal. But we found, by the way, I needed Democrats to help me if I was going to pass a bill in the House to get a asked in the Senate to have a Democrat president sign it. Like, it can't just be, like, we're Republicans to control the House. I got a Democrat president, and I think this bill is going to become law. If I actually believe in the law, I needed Democrats to partake with me, which means they had to have a say in it, and we had to work on it together. And again, that was the way you could get something done.

That, for me, comes back to this real-world experience. And so, to your question, my wife did the third season, I did the seventh season, and she had a famous season. Hers was with one of the first guys on TV. He had AIDS. His name was Pedro. He ended up eventually dying of AIDS. A very sad story.

There was a guy named Puck on their show. You know, bike messenger, snot rocket, you know, funny, witty, a little crazy guy on their show. So they had a really unique show that she did. Again, I came a couple years after that. I took a year off of a... It took a semester off of law school to go do this show. And then at the end of the show, they were like, hey, we're going to do this special where real world, which is the seven people who live in the house, are going to do a special

on what we call road rules, which was five people. They started off by putting them in an RV and they would do different missions around the country and they do different missions around the world and say, hey, we're going to have one from each of these casts come and do road rules. and they picked me from my cast they picked Rachel from her cast and yeah I met her at a train station

everyone was coming in I was the fifth one of the cast she was on the train with other cast members they came off actually I went on and basically Rachel handed me her bag I've been carrying it ever since with her so I met her

so I have my meeting with my wife on TV and then I was I was I was trying to pursue her on the show. And she had a boyfriend at the time. She was a little bit successful, but not really. And we hung out a little bit after. It was a three-week show. We hung out a little bit after. And then she was like, not going to have any of it. Right. She was not. She was not in, she was like, she was living in L.A. She was like living in this L.A. life. She had a really horrific car crash before we met. Everyone died but her. So she had had had this.

unique experience that she was coming into and she's like this is not you're not at this age you're kind of like does this someone that's right for me or not right for me i guess i fell into the not right for me category and so i spent a little time in l.a and i had to go back to minnesota for law school and um she had a speech in Milwaukee and that's when uh northwest was flying and their hub was Minneapolis so she flew to did the speech on and Milwaukee, and she was flying through Minneapolis where I was going to law school, and she had a layover. She's like, well, let's just, let's be friends. We want to come, come pick me up. Let's go. Let's go hang out. So I went and picked her up, and I brought her to this famous little dirty

diner in St. Paul, Minnesota, called the Uptowner, not far from where I live. We had breakfast. We drank coffee. We were hanging out for like two and a half hours. And at the end of the conversation, shit you not I'm in the conversation this girl I had met on the show for three weeks we hung out a little bit after she ditched me

she comes to see me in Minnesota and I'm back in school and I'm like whatever but yeah we'll go up two and a half hours in drinking coffee after breakfast she looks at me and says

I love you no way what? I'm gonna marry you I'm like I shit you not and I'm like as a guy

you're like whoa Oh, so she's going to marry me. So we started dating. Hold on. What did you say to that? I was like, you're flipping crazy town. Like, what the fuck? What are you talking about?

Right? And for her, it's interesting to ask, you know, now that we were married for like 25 years, she's like, I just thought this is what lovers do. Lovers can sit and have a cup of coffee, like, for two and a half hours and, like, have this really easy conversation. And I think you have good values. You know, she was important. I was Catholic.

She's like, you're Catholic. you're nice you're handsome I'm gonna marry you and so yeah dude is that was that was wild it took me yeah it took me a little while to wrap my head around that but that's how bold she had that she was very bold and what a like a year and a half later we were married right on yeah right on wow so um I'd like to take credit for that but that was she was by the way and obviously I'd been pursuing her but I got, I got dissed in the process. But, yeah, sorry. Damn.

So that's, so that's, we, so, I was telling you before the show, but so we are, we're the first reality TV couple, and we are the most fertile of any reality TV couple with nine kids. But can't see what's interesting, too, Sean, is we have, it's, we're literally the first reality couple to marry? Yeah. Wow. No shit.

Well, because we're at the start of reality TV, right? Yeah, yeah. We're the first ones to get married and the first ones to, like, again, the only ones to have all these kids. Do you guys watch reality TV together now? She does more than I do. What are you guys watching?

She loves the housewives. She'll watch the housewives. So I got stuck watching the housewives for a while because she has it on all the time. You guys aren't watching Love is blind, are you? I think this sounds familiar. She might watch that too. Oh, shit.

Here we go. Yeah. What's, what, do you? Have you not heard of this shit? You know, yes, but don't. My wife's obsessed. Yeah. He's obsessed with this.

So they put, they bring out, they pick all these people, right? I don't know. Ten guys, ten girls, something like this. And they do like this blind dating where they both, they go in these rooms. So it would be like if we put a curtain across this room, females over here, males over here, they talk to each other through the curtain, but they don't, you know what I mean? You can't see them. And then you have to, so you go through and you date all these people and then you, and then, and then. And then you have to get engaged without seeing the person.

Would you have done this? Hell no. Hell no. That's not my jam. I want to see them. Well, then they get engaged. And then after they get engaged, then they meet. They get to see them.

And then, oh, it's fucking awesome. No. This is like a to, it's a train wreck. This is what I love about reality. Come on. I'm ashamed to say it. Yes, I've seen. almost all of them.

I mean, I can't watch mainstream media anymore. But, so, yeah, so we watch Love is Blight. So then they dump all these, you know, then there's the pool party where everybody, they dump everybody into the fucking pool party. Of course, there's plenty of booze. And then they all meet the people, you know what I mean? And they, oh, I remember talking to you. Oh, then they start getting jealous.

and, you know, the affairs start to have, it's fucking amazing. Do they, do people get married out of this? Oh, yeah. They will. Yeah. I don't know how many of them have actually lasted, but they'll get married. So then, yeah, so. They marry on the show?

Yeah, so you get engaged. Then you, then they dump everybody in and they all live together. Then they, then the person that you get engaged with, you go to their house and meet their family and you live together an apartment, and then at the end, they get married. So I watched a few of the, what's the one with the Rose Ceremonies? What is it? The Rose Ceremonies, the, God, come on, the, whatever that loved one was. The Bachelor, the Bachelor, the Bachelor.

So old school, I'd watch, I'd watch those with her. But it's interesting, but it is interesting in what's happened. You'd spend all this money on the scripts and the writing and actors, and the reality TV side of things is very appealing, whether it's the social media influence, versus, you know, people that are doing reality TV, there's the real component of TV and how people behave and the decisions that they make is really, it's great television.

It is. And we were the start of that on real world. So good for you. Like, you sit down and you watch, love is gone with your wife. My wife watches, I fall asleep. I think that's bullshit. Your wife is like, that's bullshit.

Tron loves the show, I got it, I got it. I got into it for. Down with him. Maybe like three seasons or so. And I was just like, man, this is like so addicting watching this fucking train. I get rid of half and over and over and over. Who would do this?

But if we're going to celebrate relationships, celebrate love, if we're going to do it through love is blind, so be it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. Well, no shit. So two-time, two-time reality TV star. So three, then I did a special as well where they had, they did these competitions. They had, they picked real-world teams and road-world teams. They had to compete against each other.

And we had to vote people off of our shows. So it became contentious. And I had a partner from my show, Elka. We ended up winning. And at the time, I was like, I had no money. I was like, I won two cars. I won like $150,000. It was, yeah, it was pretty, it was great.

Nice. So I did that one as well. But they've come back and asked us to do more shows. Um, they just, so now what they've done is... Recently? Yeah, yeah. So Paramount is doing, um, like, they're bringing castes back to spend like two or three weeks together to then film them today.

Now they're all older and grayer and fatter and they're going to film them to kind of relive what happened in the past and catch up with where they are right now. But the deal is everyone on your show has to say yes to it. And I asked our cast to do it. And I was the only one who said no. And the reason, and the reason. I mean, I wanted, and they were going to pay fairly well, and for a lot of people, they needed the money, and I was, I felt, I think, I couldn't do it because I don't trust, I don't, I don't trust liberal producers, liberal editors. I'm a target, right? They don't agree with my politics. This is in the midst of Trump. They hate Trump. Like, why would I put myself in that environment? And I don't need your money. So I didn't do it. And I think my cast was frustrated at me. And we have a comment getting ready to slam into earth.

Yeah, exactly. I have bigger problems. No shit. So they wanted you to do this. Yeah. Some have asked for us to do our, you know, do it kind of have the family do part of it as well. And we just, we haven't said yes to it. And again, we're so busy right now.

I'm like, I'm overwhelmed busy. My wife does the weekend show on Fox. She does a Spanish show as well. And so, yeah, we don't have time to do it. Maybe at one point, I don't know. Maybe we would do it, but right now we're not entrusted. You know, that's an interesting point with nine kids. I mean, have you talked about that with your kids?

So the conversation goes like this. They want us to do a reality of TV show. Someone's going to be like, are you interested in the conversation? And Rachel, my wife, says, no. And I say, how much? and we don't get beyond her no but I think the kids would be interested in it I think they would think it's it would be fun

by the way the problem is you get older kids and they go back and watch the episodes and they'll oh man if you do this stuff just know that it'll come back to haunt you your kids will watch what you did when you were their age and they'll tell me Maya season was boring, Rachel's was great,

and they'll bring back different scenes and things she said and throw them at her, which will really piss her off. I'll bet. But, yeah, so I don't know that they're, I don't know that they're really into doing it, but they thought it was neat that we kind of went through this process

and, you know, it seemed that the country has moved. By the way, it was very innocent back then, too. Like, it's gotten really debauchous, the great of the debauchery today, the grade of the radiance, it was pretty innocent back then. And you're having conversations that, you know, someone in the 90s was having about their careers and, you know, their love life. And, you know, it was far more natural.

And it's kind of grown into something different that I think is, I think it would be harder to do as a young adult and I think more... It's like controlled chaos now. It's controlled, yeah. Yes. We have an idea of which direction is going to go. 100%. 100%.

So, yeah. So I don't know that I'd recommend that they do it. Yeah. So, but that has come up with the kids. And the older ones, like, I have one son who's like, hell no, you should not know. And I got another one that's like, well, it'd be kind of fun and we could do it and be great. And we're a big family and we're, you know, we have a lot of fun together. So, but, you know, the boss says we're not going to do it.

We're not going to do it, so we're not going to do it. But I think it's, when we talk about our kids, I, so we talked about getting, getting it right, making mistakes and then figuring out how you do things differently. So my first one went to the University of Chicago. I raised a great little Catholic smart girl, went to you Chicago, a great school. And it was right at the start of COVID.

And she had made a comment about, Communism has killed more people than COVID will. Or she had some made some analogy because we're dealing with some of the leftist stuff in the country. And people lost their minds. Like she had death threats. And the school, instead of reaching out to her, they had gone to the people who feel threatened by her comments and had a conversation with them. But she turned out to be a great little conservative. My son went to University of Madison, turned out to be a great,

Catholic young man. He went during COVID, and he's like, did a year, and he's like, I'm out of here. I'm going to go try to make movies in California, which he's done, and he's been successful. But from that, we've kind of said, you know what? We, and you know this, you have two little kids. Like, you put your heart and your soul and your kids, and you try to raise them really well and make them upstanding little people. And you try to give them the faith and give them the value. And then you send them to college and you see these these kids that come from these great families and they come back from college and it's like what the hell happened to that kid they're like they're woke

and radicalized and like they're saying all this crazy shit um and so as we've seen that we're like you know what we're not going to do that like i'm not going to invest you know in all the work and effort I put into my my child I'm not going to send them to potentially be radicalized in in these institutions that are professionalized radicalizing young kids young minds and so now we do is I say, okay, here's the deal. You're 18. You're applying for college. You can go wherever you want. Like, that's your choice. Like, you're going to be an adult. You can pick. If you want me and your mom to help, pay, these are the 10 schools you can pick from. Ten schools that we know that when you come back, you'll have a great education and they support the values that we taught them. But why would I

risk giving my child over to these radicals? What are those 10 schools? So we have a list But it's, Hillsdale's on there. The one that our kids go to is the university. Hillsdale's awesome. Awesome. Fantastic. Liberty is one of them. But ours go to the University of Dallas.

It's a Catholic school, like a great books. It's a 1950s education where they actually expand the minds and horizons of your kids. And it's truly Catholic. I know when I send my young adult there, they're going to come back. even better than when I sent them out. And so I have two there right now. One's a senior, one's a freshman. You know, maybe to a lesser extent, Notre Dame,

but Notre Dame has some problems. But we put a list together for them and we let them pick. But to go to the University of Wisconsin, say Madison, I'm like, I'm not going to do that. And again, it's fun. Like, these kids want to go. It's a club med. It's, you know, they've got beautiful gyms and swimming pools.

And, you know, the football games are amazing. it's a really great experience. But what the hell am I sending them to the college for? Like, that's not the purpose is to have a great time and the great sorority or fraternity is to get an education and to support the values that we've instilled in them. And so we've just been like,

we're not going to do it anymore. And I think more parents have to make better decisions about who they're willing to turn their young, the young mind that they help me. Again, you know this. Put a lot of love and effort into it. Not going to risk it anymore. with the crazy...

Did you guys home school at all? No. No. We just thought it's pretty wild. Nine kids was hard. But I know a lot of people with big families do it. We did not. But we've sent ours to Catholic schools.

And by the way, sometimes Catholic schools are just public school light. We moved to New Jersey three years ago because Rachel does the show in New York City. We found the most amazing Catholic school in New Jersey, in Boot, New Jersey. It is awesome. And so when I got this job, I was going to move the family to D.C. And Rachel could go back and forth on the weekends, and we'd all be there together. We didn't do that because I don't think I could match the school that the kids are in in New Jersey. And so because of the school, they stayed, and that's a decision that Rachel and I made.

And then I'm the one that goes back and forth, as opposed to just her on the weekend. But it was an evolving conversation. but, again, making sure that we have kids that go even in the K through 12 school where they get the value that we teach them at home. I think a lot of parents at the dinner table, which, by the way, dinner is, I think, important we have dinner as much as possible. They love to sit down for dinner and have a conversation and put phones away. But you don't have to rewire them.

They don't come home at dinner and tell you the crazy shit they learned at school, and you have to rewire them and reprogram them. No, it's like they had instruction that fits with what we teach them. That makes sense. It makes perfect sense. A lot of parents are out one of them are thinking about these things, you know. We've, at least for now, we've chosen the homeschool round. I mean, we're preschool, though, you know, so we figure, better figure it out before.

I think homeschool is great. And the curriculums for homeschools are awesome. But if you go to your school and the gay pride flag is bigger than the American flag, you got a freaking problem, right? Or if you tell me that you're going to raise a global citizen, you got a problem. And that's the shit we deal with in the school system. Whatever it happened to math and science and English and like that's what the public school was made for those things, not this cultural revolution.

And the cultural revolution is alive and well in most of these schools. And I'm like, you should have none of it. No, that's why I hope that we're successful in this administration. We should have the dollars that attach to the kid, not the dollars attached to the school. And if we do that, I think competition and parents, I think parents would make way different choices with where they send their kids. Because, again, the pathway to success is a great education and they have been great values as a human being. And the public school in many places doesn't offer that. Yeah, yeah.

So are we going to homeschool when they get to kindergarten first grade? I mean, never know. This is our first year trying it, but I mean, that seems to be the direction we're heading. That's what I'm hoping for. Yeah. I love it. Yeah, you know, I just, I've seen a lot of, so this area of Tennessee is like homeschool mecca. And I see a difference.

I can definitely see a difference between kids that are homeschooled and kids that are in the system. And in a homeschool, do you see that the homeschool parents will then get together with the kids? So the kids have social interaction. There's a whole structure around it, right? You'll homeschool, but then you'll do things with other homeschool families. Yeah, there's plenty.

I think the whole myth about homeschool kids being, you know, socially awkward and weird, or I think that has just been decimated. But, I mean, when I see the homeschool crowd, those kids just have, they seem to have a lot more confidence. They ask better questions. They're better in conversation way beyond their peers, you know, at the same age. And I think, you know, I think that's the kind of stuff that just really builds a great character. So my son-in-law just announced today that he's running for Congress in my old congressional seat. It's an open seat. And he was homeschooled, I think, until eighth grade. And then he went

to high school in Wausau, Wisconsin, met my daughter. They dated a little bit in high school, and then dated in college, and they got married young. One of the most well-adjusted, nice young men you'll ever meet. Confident. And that's how to be, being a nice human being, they is well-adjusted and can talk to people. And I think it probably comes from his homeschooling up until eighth grade. That's cool to hear. That's cool to hear. Well, let's get back to you. How did you get into politics? So I was, so I went to college, it's in law school, did reality TV, I was, you know, you'd said you kind of had left the faith a little bit. I was probably not the best Catholic that was out there at that phase of my life.

We come back to it, and it's important that we come back to it. But I, so I came back, and I always knew I wanted to come back to my small town in Hayward, Wisconsin, and I came back, and I worked with my dad and his local practice for about a year. Then an opportunity existed 60 miles north of my hometown where there was, woman who was going to take a leave, and I was able to get a job as a special prosecutor to fill her spot where she was going to have a baby. And so I learned how to be a prosecutor. And the guy that was the DA, a small office, two people, he ended up taking another job. We had a Republican governor at the time. He appointed me into this job as the DA of Ashland

County. And very liberal area, right? But I was a very liberal. I was, like, I was kind of a crunchy con. I was, I was on the, the health food, you know, uh, co-op board, um, but I was like, listen, I'm a conservative, I'm a Republican. No one never ran against me. So I did a, uh, almost 10 years as the DA, but that was public service, but I never had to go out in campaign. I never had to go, you know, shake and bake.

And just no one ran against me and I was able to keep the job. So that was my first experience with public life, but it didn't, it didn't really have to run anything. And when in 2008, so going back a number of years, but Barack Obama wins, Democrats control the House, the Senate, and in Wisconsin, they had the governorship and they had the assembly in the Senate. So Democrats control everything in my life. And it felt really shitty. It was not good. Like the country's going in the wrong direction. My state's going the wrong direction. And, you know, Democrats are riding high. It's, you know, it's not a great time to be a Republican. But I thought a couple things. One, history of politics will tell you that if that is

the environment today, the next election is going to be really good for the minority party. There was that. And the guy that I was going to, that was my congressman that I was going to run against, he was the chairman of appropriations. So at that time, appropriations incredibly powerful. he had been there for 42 years. So he was elected in 1969. So before man landed on the moon and before Woodstock, he was a member of Congress. And Republicans had run against him,

but they had never been successful. So I'm like, you know what? And by the way, back then they passed a stimulus bill because that was after the 08 crisis. And so the stimulus bill was $800 billion, which, by the way, it's just like, I wish the size of some of the bills the Democrats passed for that small again.

So I would decide I'm going to run, right? I may not win, but I'm going to flip and hold him accountable. I'm going to hold him accountable for these shitty votes, and no one ever holds him accountable. When Obamacare passed, he was in the speaker's chair with the gavel, and I'm like, you know what? I'm going to run. And I got in the race.

And so what's hard is when you run in a seat like this where you have a 42-year incumbent, no one believes you can win. Nobody believed. Everyone actually said, you're dumb. This is foolish. Like, my friends were telling me, this is foolish you can't do. You're a lamb to slaughter. My wife was like, hell no, we can do this.

And so I had a friend who was involved in politics who told me don't run, but if you do run, I'll help you out. And so literally, it was me and Rachel. I think I had five kids at the time. I got noticed that she told me, like, a month into the campaign that she was pregnant with her sixth baby. And I worked my ass off. So I was the DA during the day.

I'd get my car. Like, there's no team. Like, I'm like, we're the team. I drive myself and I have a big district. I have about a third of the state of Wisconsin. I'm driving three hours, do an event, drive three hours home, get home late, sleep, go to the office in the morning,

do DA work, and again, the same thing the next day. And I'm trying to raise money. People don't want to give money to a race. don't think you can win. But, so half my battle was selling people on the fact that we can win this race. We're going to win. This is why we can win. These are the numbers.

And by sheer force, I, you know, I raised, you know, for me, I think I raised $139,000 in my first quarter, which was at the time really good. Still is actually a decent number. Then I raised like $159,000 in the second quarter. So I was raising money and people were buying in. But this is all like local, local money, small towns, people given, businessmen that are like, this young kid's crazy, but I think he can actually, maybe he can do it. And so that was the story of our campaign. I started to hire people about eight months into the campaign after driving myself.

And we got, I got Sarah Palin to, like we did Sarah Palin's endorsement. I had, you know, Red State right about me. We're trying to get all of these people to try to build. some energy around the campaign. And then as we got into 2010, which is the race I was actually running in, that's when it was like, oh, shit, this is going to be a good year. This is a good year for Republicans. We saw the tide turning.

And this guy who was running against ended up, he saw the right on the wall. I was going to beat him. He retired. And so then the seat was open. A state senator, Democrat got in the race. It was the most targeted race in the country that year. They spent a ton of money against me. Like my kids would watch the ads.

They would give me feedback on the ads. They would take some of the line. Does dad really hate old people? Does dad really, why does they want to take jobs away from Wisconsin? Like that's the, you know, you know the ads. But in the end, through sheer hard work and a great cycle, I'm. I flipped a seat that was 42 years Democrat. Wow.

And the next two races were really hard as well. So I worked my, so I would shake so many hands that I would get a callous in the, in between my thumb and my pointer finger. As a lumberjack? No. So those, those calluses are in my hand. I had the back of my hand from people grabbing my hand from shaking hands. Wow. I would get a callous.

And I went everywhere. When the primary, I ran against a farmer who is a, he's a strawberry farmer. And he's kind of a Mennonite guy. And he's a little bit crazy, but he knew how to work. And so I had to match his work ethic. So I was like, I had to match him and how hard he worked. So I just, like, that's what you do. Like, that's all you do is campaign.

You're everywhere all the time. We do dairy breakfast in Wisconsin. And I would sit at the line where people have to pay for breakfast and I'd just shake hands. And then someone might want to stop and talk to me. And I'd walk with them and talk. And then I'd shake hands. And someone wants to talk.

I'd walk and talk. And, you know, what's interesting is if you shake someone's hand, it takes a second. But people get an instant read on you. I like him. I don't like him. They're nice. They're not nice.

They're honest. They're not honest. And so just by shaking hands, people are like, I met him. I think he's kind of nice. I liked him. So I had this big race, and I won, and had the honor of a lifetime to go to Washington. Dick Cheney met our – so we had this massive class.

We had this, like, 87 new members of Congress, which is just a mammoth. And Dick Cheney, who I'm not a big fan of right now, but Dick Cheney, who was the former vice president, a former house member came and talked to us, and he said, obviously, I've done a lot of things. I've been the Secretary of Defense. I've, you know, the vice president, but the greatest win you'll ever have, the greatest political moment you'll ever have in your life is the one you have right now. To win a seat in the house was the coolest experience I've had in my political career. But it was really, I walked into the house chamber with my wife.

By the way, I'd never been in the Capitol in my life. I never got to, like my class in Hayward, Wisconsin, didn't take it to do into the Capitol. So the first time I went into the U.S. Capitol was as a congressman elect. We had a dinner in statutory hall for all the new members. And then the speaker, or John Boehner, who was going to be the speaker, was like, do you guys want to go see the house chamber? I'm like, where in the hell is the house chamber? It was like right down the hall.

Like, I have no idea. We walked into the house chamber, and I started to cry. I worked so hard to get there. And to be in, again, maybe we think less of it today, but I cried and I got it. I cried when I got in there. It was so much work, so much effort. And then to represent people that they put the faith in you, it's a really cool honor. That's cool to hear. Yeah.

A lot of dark stuff going on in the world right now, and it's to the point where I don't even believe my own eyes anymore, because I cannot verify what people are saying about all the political violence, the division. I partner with this production company called Ironclad, and we're doing an eight-part audio series on SIOPs, on why foreign countries, governments, maybe even our own government, would conduct a SIOP on its own people. And I just think that this series is going to be extremely important

because it's going to open the eyes of people on why these things happen. You can head over to sciopshow.com, order it today. I think you're going to get a lot out of this. Who's pulling the strings? Who's pulling them? I'd like to invite you to gain access to an exclusive experience on Vigilance Elite Patreon. Our patrons are the driving force behind the success of this show,

and their support allows us to keep doing what we do. Depending on the tier you choose, you'll get access to benefits like behind-the-scenes footage before each interview, early access to episodes, end-of-the-month live Zoom calls with me, exclusive merch, and more. Join us and become a patron starting at just $5 a month by visiting patreon.com slash vigilance elite. That's patreon.com slash vigilance elite. How did you wind up, Secretary of Transportation? So I did, I did, so I served for nine and a half years and we were going to have our ninth baby. And when we, again, I slept in my office, right?

So you sleep in a cot or blow up mattress in your office, you go to the house gym, you shower, you come back, you have your suits there. You know, you spend four days, three nights, four days. you know, living on a mattress, shower, and in the gym, that does, it's an honor, but that does get a little bit old. Right now, they've switched the model. They give Congressmen a stipend to stay in a hotel. So we, we, um, but we were going to have, we've found out Rachel's pregnant, baby number nine. And then, uh, she called me after she had done some testing, they're like, listen, there's a pretty good chance your baby's going to have Down syndrome. like okay

and by the way it's the greatest gift in our life but at that time it's like you don't know what it is you know

what does this mean for us right um by the way some try to talk to us about having an abortion like get the fuck out of here

like no we're not we're having this baby and then as we went in further they're like this baby has a heart problem there's a heart defect as well and so as I got in to the summers

the baby was born her name is Valentina at the end of September, but in the summer, I'm like, I can't do this. Like, this is too much because Rachel has all the kids at home. All the kids are at home. We're a baby number nine. And I'm in Congress. I'm going back and forth, flying to Wisconsin.

And I'm like, I've got to get out. She's like, no, we can do this. You can stay. We can make it happen. I can, she's a scrapper and a fighter. And it was one of the few moments where I'm like, no. We're getting out. And she didn't, she did not want us to get out.

And we, it created some tension in our marriage for a little while because she was like, no, you should stay. And at some point, I think as men were like, I know what we can and can't do. I know what, what's pulling at our family. And so I announced I'm getting out. The baby came early and I, at that point, I took a job with CNN. And I signed a two-year deal with CNN, which, by the way, I had done a lot of CNN.

I'd supported the president in 2016, one of the few members that would go on and support President Trump, defended him, pushed for him. Not many people would do it in 2016. They didn't think about him then as they'd think about him today, but I was one of the only guys

that would go do that. So CNN offered me a job. They were not very nice to me at CNN. They didn't treat Republicans very well. Okay, I worked at Fox, too. Fox treats Democrats very well. That's not the way I was treated at CNN, so I did a year at CNN, and I asked to get out of the contract. They agreed. I didn't do the full two years. I signed with Fox, just as a contributor.

I did that for a couple of years, and then got a show on Fox business, called The Bottom Line. I did that for two years with Dagan McDowell, who I loved to death. She's wonderful. And then as the president was going through his selection process, you know, I wanted to, I thought, this was going to be historic, but it is historic. I wanted to serve with him. And so I made the pitch, and, you know, he went through the analysis, and I was blessed that he picked me to be the Secretary of Transportation. And by the way, Sean, if you said, where do you want to serve? Before I was inside and sitting on the outside, there's a number of things I would have thought about of where I want to go. I got the best department. I got, if you asked me to switch with anybody

right now. Switch with any other secretary. Whose job would you like but yours? When I got the, I have the, President Trump gave me the best job in all the cabinet. Really? 100%. Why do you say that? Because, um, we build shit. We make people's lives better. Um, I'm able to, so everybody loves infrastructure. Everybody, even Democrats like roads and bridges. Democrats like new airports. Democrats like air traffic controllers. There's a wide agreement on what we do, and if we do it well, if I can take 20 minutes off your commute because I've helped deal with congestion, I gave you 20 minutes back with your kids, either for dinner or for lunch or I got you back home in time, you know, to have a couple coffee with your wife. If your flight isn't delayed or your flight isn't canceled, I'm giving people time back. to be with the people that they love.

And so that for me is exciting. And that's what I get to do. And there's, I don't think the last administration showed up and did much. Maybe that's a really good thing. But yeah, we're moving fast, making it a true difference in the way the department operates. And I got to, so there's a, there's a deep state. I believe that. you have bureaucrats that fight the duly elected president and his cabinet.

In my department, I have people that are like in roads or in motor carriers. They're there because, like, they love it. Like, they would, I don't have a lot of people fighting me. I do have some, but they actually buy into the mission. And if I can figure out a way of how can we build more roads and bridges? How can we build them safer? How can we build them faster? Like, they buy into, like, they love.

love that because that's what they want to do. So I don't have the problems that other departments have, and I have, I think, a great way to make their life better. What are some of the problems you're facing? Right now at TOT, so just, so we're trying to rebuild the air traffic control system, right? So we, I get there, we have the DCA air crash on my first full day on the job. That was your first day on the job? First full day.

I was sworn in by Clarence Thomas. The night before, like at 5.30 at night, I went and toured the department. I hadn't been there yet. Did a tour of the department. You got to stay out until you're in. Got sworn in. Went home. We're staying in hotels in D.C.

The next day I did a ceremonial shrine in with J.D. Vance. and go to the department in there, you know, setting up my office, getting things organized. I go home, go to bed, and as I'm laying in bed, I get the notice that the crash happened, so it was my first full day. And, yeah, that's, by the way, we had, we had DCA, that was on a Wednesday. On Friday, the business jet crashed in the downtown Philadelphia, then the no-tam system, which is the notice to airmen, which will give, you can't fly without this system up and running.

That crashed. The Motley Crew plane crashed in Arizona. We had the crash in Alaska, then a crash in Toronto, in Canada. Like all these things happened. I'm like, holy shit, like what? And the people are like, what have you broke? I'm like, I just got here.

I didn't change anything. But I think all of the mis- management from the last four years all of a sudden came to fruition in our first days there. And it made me think I'm going to, I'm going to fix it. And I didn't, like, no one sat down and said, there's a huge problem. All this shit's really old. Like, you got to, we don't have enough controllers. Like, there wasn't a playbook.

Like, no one laid a playbook out for me. It was me actually polling to get information to then go. So, like, all of it's old? Like, everything is crappy. We've got to do the whole thing. And no one has a plan to bring in more air traffic controllers. So that's been the most challenging to actually think through how do we do it? Because it's complicated.

How do we do it? And then I had to sell the Congress on, give me the money to do it. Make a big investment in me and the FAA. And, by the way, they've given money in the past and they've squandered the money. Like, they've made promises, but they'd never deliver. And so I'm asking them to take a leap of faith on me. I'm like, this is the number one, two, three, and four job of what I'm doing. Trust me, please.

I'm going to do it. By the way, you don't have a choice not to trust me because if you don't do it now, it's only going to get worse. And they did. And so now we're starting that process of, you know, taking the years it's going to take to rebuild the infrastructure of American air traffic control. It should be state of the art. we're going to build a state of the art system you know we had uh we got a lot of stuff to talk about in a short amount of time but you know what one of the things that that uh i found interesting that wasn't in the it's not even in my outline but i think it's i think it's important

for everybody to hear is when we were talking about updating the infrastructure in the in the in the air traffic controller towers i mean can you just go like this is how fucking bad this shit is. So, I was telling... This is like our power grid. This is like the power grid. That's right. I mean, it's just...

The problem with it is Americans think their government is competent and their government's going to take care of the grid. They're going to take care of air traffic control. Like, I don't have to think about it because I know, like, of course, that's what they do. They take care of this shit.

And the truth is they don't. They don't take care of it. So you think back to 1980s in our copper phone lines. The phone lines that we would I'm, you're too old for this, but the rotary phone and the dial-up phone, like landline phones, those copper wires that we used in the 80s to call people is the infrastructure we use for our communication system in air traffic control. Now, the whole world has migrated from copper to new fiber-fast wires.

Everybody has done that years ago, and we're still on this old shit. and so that's job number one right but but but connecting connect taking out the copper and putting in the fiber i still on both ends of the fiber have really old equipment and so we can lay the fiber but in the interim we have to slow down the fiber ratchet it down to make the equipment think that it's still running on copper right you've got to slow it until we can upgrade the equipment on either end in the software on either end of the fiber. So, again, we have companies that know how to do this, right? That's great.

We need new radios, new voice switches. We have... They do everything. We need new... Everything. Everything. And so my question is rather than... I mean, I already asked this at breakfast, but I would think anybody listening

would have the same question. If you can't... I mean, what is the point of redoing copper wire to fiber and then doing all the computer equipment that's inside the tower? I mean, why not just build a new tower and just do this all at once? So in Nashville, they're going to build a new tower, right? They have a new location for a tower.

But in many of these airports, there's one place for a tower. and to rebuild a tower becomes really challenging, right? Couldn't they just build it right next to where the old one is? Then it affects the line of sight and they've got to be able to see around the airport and by the way, really expensive.

These towers are not cheap. So I have asked for $31.5 billion. About 12 billion of that roughly is for the bricks and mortars for we have so you have you have the tower at the airport then you go to ring and you have a trachon that controls the airspace outside of the the airport and then from there you have in-root centers that control the airspace across the country all of these are really old so if you tell me to go rebuild every every center tracon and tower shit we're talking a ton

of money i can barely get them to give me the 31 billion so i have to go with the oldest towers oldest tracons and the oldest centers and build those right i don't have the money to to redo every tower in the country i mean and we're talking you know thousands of towers so so then the problem is i've got a tower it's operational it's controlling the airspace and it's got all by the way it's just it's a piecemeal together right and i have to then develop a plan to how do i come in and rip the old shit out, put the new equipment in, all the while keeping the airspace operational and keeping it safe, right? Which, I mean, it becomes very complicated very quickly, which is why no one's done it. And I'm like, we're not going to let hard problems stop us from doing what's necessary to keep

American safe. And so, we're going to do that. And it's, and again, the safety component is real. You've got to make sure that, again, these systems can't go down because I have plans in the air that rely on that system. And so, yeah, the software we use is, you know, but what else is like,

what else is fucked up? I mean, I've been talking about the power grid for years. I mean, the Department of Transportation is just not something that's ever really popped up on my radar. And then you talk about this this morning. And I'm like,

fuck, man. What else is out there? Yeah, that's, I mean, and that's just, that's not even all transportation. That's just air traffic controllers. We got,

just one small sand yeah space everything and then all the other all the other administrators out there that are new that are coming in that are like oh i mean i can i can't even imagine what right is thinking yeah you know walking into that job i mean that's people at least know about how fucked up the the power grid is yeah it's what else is there what else is that i mean we talk about I mean, I just spent a lot of time with Secretary of the Army, Driscoll. He's trying to unfuck all of that. And it's just... It's decades.

It's everywhere you look. It's decades of shit. Decades of mismanagement. Decades of a lack of focus on the right things. And what's great about President Trump is, I think literally, I'm like, this is broken. This is how I want to fix it. And he's his gut. is amazing. He'll, he'll, he'll, he'll, he might go like, I'm like, okay, I'll, I'm going to run this

through the process. But a lot of times he'll say, do it, do it. You're good. I'm like, shit, yeah. And he, he, he backs us up. He's, he's trying to move at a way different speed. Actually, he's not trying, he is moving at a way different speed. And that gives us car blanche to move at a way different speed. We have now a little over three years to get all of this shit done and to move really fast and really safe. And that's what we're doing. But again, passing the buck because you want to just be a secretary, you want to be a leader, but you don't want to lead, I think that's a lot of what's happened.

And so I think we've been wildly successful in the policies we've instituted. But it's because we show up every day and we try. We try really hard, but just try to do what's right by way of the American people. And even don't layer in the – a lot of this – there's a lot of political fights that we need to have, and politics is there. But a lot of this stuff is just do what's right by the American people. Make it better for the people. Politics don't have to keep the politics out. Like air traffic control, no politics.

Let's build roads and bridges. Keep the politics out. Let's build them as fast as we can. I need the Congress to help – so roads and bridges. are so expensive. They take so long. You look at what China does. Remarkable, how fast they build projects. But we have so many regulations around how we build, so much permitting around how we build, even if we're going to build over a, we have a road, we're going to redo it. We've got to go to new permitting. So if we could, if the Congress would help us restructure

that, we can spend money so much more effectively and build so much more with the same amount money. But again, you look at our airports. You travel anywhere in the world. Beautiful airports. Our airports are shit because we haven't reinvested in our airports and it becomes so much more expensive in America and it doesn't have to be. And it takes forever. And I think there might have been a point where... Was there ever for a plan? I mean, was there ever of a plan to rein? I mean, I noticed this shit everywhere I go. It's like, I mean, driving down the road, I mean, you've done a lot of traveling because of the podcast now, we're going to a lot of different countries. And, I mean, I think we're pretty close to the same age you grow up.

And it's like, this is the best country in the world. This is the best country in the world. Well, I'll tell you what, you drive down the fucking highway in just about any state here, you see all the trash and shit all over the road. Then you go to some of these other countries, and you're like, I don't know, man. Some of the infrastructure over here looks a little bit nicer. The roads are a little better. You've got a tight cap on this water, Sean. Oh, but, you know, I mean, so what I'm asking is, I mean,

isn't there some kind of budget or schedule on how much money should be reinvested in airports, public transportation, trains? So we, so, um, we, we, our budget's over a hundred billion dollars. Um, we ever, when you get a gallon of gas, you pay a gas tax that comes to the federal government. We redistribute a lot of that back to the states. We keep some of it to then give out and grant money for big projects that need to be done.

And so, but then you have EVs that don't pay taxes, right? The EVs don't pay a gas tax. The money we bring into the trust fund isn't enough to cover the infrastructure needs that the country has. And I think part of the solution is you need more money, but part of the solution is, You can do these projects for way less money.

You could do them way faster. Let's fix, truly, the permitting process that takes forever just drives up the cost of these projects. Number one and number two, if you put all these requirements on me that I have to have all these environmental, you know, climate change studies and shit on the project, and then you add out of that that I have to have DEI,

I got a contract based on someone's, race or there's sex. All of these things are driving up the cost of a project. And if we could say, listen, we're not going to consider, again, if you're a disadvantaged business, that's great, and we want to have small business be able to compete for big projects. I'm all in favor of that. But enough of the racial, sexual stuff, enough of the climate stuff. And if we can fix the permitting, if we build, we can build faster and with about the same amount of money and we can fix the country. But we've shackled ourselves because we've become immobile. We can't build shit in this country anymore. And that becomes the problem. And so we're talking about, you know,

the consequence of the bad policy. So let's not deal with, you know, about the cost and the projects. Let's go back to the, as Kamala Harris would say, the root cost, which is the structure on which we're forced to build, which is, which is, it just doesn't work. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. What about, what about safety and public transportation? I mean, it wasn't long ago.

I mean, I don't, maybe there's even still there. I mean, National Guard. I think it was National Guard that was, you know, kind of activated in the New York City subway system. I mean, we just saw that poor Ukrainian girl get stabbed in the neck several times. Nobody helped her. She bleeds out. I mean, does that fall under you?

Does public transportation safety fall under? So the Daniel Penny. Daniel Penny. In New York. So just if you take a step back, you're a liberal, right? And you're a liberal who doesn't like cars. Cars emit carbon. Carbon is climate change, right?

So, like, I want everybody on public transportation. Like, that's what they want. I think it's more about control as well. but they want everyone or more people on public transportation. And so if you're a liberal and you had any common sense, you'd say, well, if I want more people to ride on public transportation, I should make it really safe. I should make it really clean.

I should make it beautiful. It should be the greatest experience. So Sean Ryan and his family, if they have public transportation, they actually want to take it because they're going to get to where they're going much faster. It's going to be much quicker. They're not going to get stuck in traffic. So they want to take public transportation. Or Sean would say, I feel really comfortable actually sending my wife and my two kids on a train into the city because I know they're going to be safe.

I know that their lives are not in danger. I feel comfortable sending them. But that's not the story of American public transit. New York, I mean, what these cities have done is they've allowed the criminal element to converge down into the subways and on public transportation. And so you get repeat offenders. you get violent, mentally ill, people who are on this system riding with the very good people who paid for it, and it's not safe. And so people don't want to ride it.

And I'm fighting with liberal cities trying to tell them, listen, if you don't make your system safe, we're not going to fund you. If you don't clean it up, we're not going to fund you. And I get resistance over that. That's actually really good politics. Good politics is make your trains clean and safe, and everyone's going to want to ride them. Everyone's going to love you as a politician. Why in the hell am I sitting in D.C. telling you to make your train system safe?

One of the biggest complaints I get is from riders on, whether it's in Chicago or in New York or in Boston, complaining about, I want safe the system is. And there's fair jumpers. And, you know, it's riddled with criminals. That should not be the American story. you. And so we are working, again, the way I spend my money under from Joe Biden and the requirements make it a little more challenging, but I can pull money. But I don't run them. The local communities run them. But with the new money that's going to go out under this administration, there's going to be requirements, stricter requirements on how they need to

provide safety to their citizens and their riders. But this is the, we have to have this conversation is idiotic. We have trains in Philadelphia, they're starting on fire. Buses, they start on fire. We have to look at, do we take them out of service? Do we shut down the whole system? Do I put 15,000 more people on the road because they can't figure out how to run a safe system? It's a failure of liberal policies and liberal cities that we see in just one microcosm of public transportation. And I think these mayors would be heroes if they would just pay some attention to making these systems safer and better. So how does it work then?

I mean, if you're funding them, can you just break down the funding how it works? I mean, if you're funding them, couldn't you also just fund security for them as well? Or did they, how does it work? So on the federal system, on Amtrak, we have federal office. that work for us on Amtrak. Mm-hmm. But these systems, like New York's subway system, bus system is the MTA.

They provide their own security, the city does, to the system, right? So they have to hire the law enforcement to put them on the trains. They're the ones that have to collect the tolls. They're the ones that have to develop, you know, do we want to do an expansion when do we need new cars?

And so they'll come to us and say, well, we want this much money to do this project. Or, you know, we want our share, by the way, of the towards the gas tax, a portion of the gas tax actually goes to public transportation. The trust fund for roads and bridges of the gas tax, which the money should go to, we don't have enough money. The question becomes, why are we sending this to public transit? that maybe we should put this all on roads, as opposed to carving off 20% to go to public transit. That's a different conversation. So I look at the money that we do give them,

and I'm willing to have conversations to drive public safety, and if not, I threaten them with withholding the cash. And they've improved, but they have to get better. But it's also local money, city money, it's state money, and it's our money. But our money is a big part of it. but they're in charge of running their system. We'll do oversight, right? We do safety inspections, and we also help fund.

And that's how, that's the leverage point that we can use. Does that make sense? What is the pushback from, what do they even say? Hey, somebody just got stabbed to death on your public transit system. Could you make it a little safer? I mean, the entire world just saw this young, blonde Ukrainian girl. Would it stab in the neck? Could you clean it up a little bit?

I mean, how the fuck do you, how do they push back against that? That response has been different, right? They've actually just because they had no cash bail. They've changed their, they've changed the law to now be able to keep some of these violent offenders behind bars when they have pending crimes instead of letting them out. So this is directly tied into the criminal justice. system and the liberal idea that, you know, we don't want to incarcerate people. We want to let everybody out, no bail, and they're back on the streets, back in the subways, recommitting crimes.

You've seen with President Trump in D.C. by bringing in the National Guard, there's just a small cohort of people that create all the problems. You take them off the street. You take their guns off the street, and lo and behold, the city becomes a much safer place. So law enforcement actually works, but it's been this liberal idea of no-cash-bail, soft. on crime prosecutors that have driven more of the problems in the subway system. And again, the subway system is not meant for the mentally ill. That's not their home. That's not their shelter. The cities have to figure out something else to do with the mentally ill. How do I treat them? How do I house them? But the subway system is not a place for the homeless or for the mentally ill.

And liberals have a hard time wrapping their head around that. So they complain. They'll tell me they're safe. If they tell me that, you know, I'm crazy. But again, there's story after story of violent crimes on these systems. And the answer is really easy. Again, prosecute criminals. Put criminals behind bars. Stop the fare jumping. Kick out the homeless.

I mean, it's not, these are not, we don't need, the solution is not complicated. It's very, very easy. It's just that their liberal ideology won't let them do it. And then that becomes, that becomes the problem. Man. Man, let's talk about, I mean, you know, we're seeing more and more EVs and autonomous vehicles and, and, you know, I mean, the, is it the Robo Taxi? Yeah. Is that the, is that Tesla's new, you know, taxi?

And so we're seeing these self-driving cars and just all this autonomous vehicles is, they're massive right now. And so what is the, what is the, what is the, what is transfer? What is just public road systems? I mean, what do they look like in five to ten years as we continue to move down the autonomous vehicle? So we're on the cusp of the most transformative time period in American travel. It's the thing's going to change faster in the tenure I have at DOT

than any time, I think, in recent history. And so to talk about that. So again, autonomous technology has been remarkable. It's advancing at incredible speed. So we lose about 40,000 lives a year on the road. Way too many. I do think that this technology can help. People pick up their phones.

I'm grabbing my phone and I'm driving and a text comes in or I'm texting someone like, this is the shit that kills people, right? Or people drink and drive. So I do think the autonomous technology is going to, radically improve safety on the roadway. I want people to choose what they want, but you might find a time when you don't buy a car, which, that's not me.

I always have a car. Like, I like the freedom of having my own car and I want to drive my own car. Like, maybe that's generational, but that's freedom. But there would be a time where you don't need one and just you're going to have an autonomous vehicle come by and pick you up and, you know, drop you off.

And when you're going to go to a grocery shop and you're going to call one back and you're going to get in and you're going to go home. or you might lease your car out into the marketplace that someone can rent it from you and it's autonomous. So I think the Uber model with autonomous model is going to change the way people use vehicles. Do you think that it's going to be a lot more people, a lot of people, how do I say, a lot more people without a car? It could be. Or it could drive for those who are on the cusp, it'll make that, it'll make it, it'll make it,

less expensive and more user-friendly potentially. We do have the potential with technology if you look. So you think that a lot more people are going to be gravitating towards public transportation than owning their own vehicles? No. So I'm saying that you'd have an Uber model, but Ubers don't have drivers. Ubers are using autonomous vehicles. And their fleet could be, I'm just using Uber as an example.

Uber could have their own fleet, but you could lease your vehicle into the Uber fleet, and they're all running autonomously. I mean, that's considered public transportation, isn't it? Yeah, well, I don't know if I call Uber public, I mean, I think public transportation is when the public provides transportation with buses and trains. This is a private company providing public, private transit. I mean, with these, with the stuff that we're seeing, you know, Elon come up with robo taxis, all these things.

I mean, are we going to start seeing those as public transit? Transportation. No bus drivers. School buses. 100%. And it would be some of the modeling that I've seen, it would be cheaper. Move people. You're not driving this big bus around in hopes that someone might want to get on it. And then you're picking up and dropping people off the route. That's not actually where they want to go. You might more cost-effectively be able to use this autonomous technology to take people from where they are to where they actually want to go and do it cheaper than, you know, using the bus system to do it. So yeah, that we could have a public transportation component as well. But also on the congestion side, again, there's a whole conversation that we have to have about how this information is used and the security of the information in individual liberty, which I am very concerned about. But if we set that aside, which I would never set it aside, but just for the conversation's sake, you could have vehicles, you know, when we look at the congestion on our on our streets and our roads, you can have this technology bring vehicles much closer together

and move more vehicles on the same roadway because of the technology on those vehicles. So we could reduce congestion remarkably with this technology. So that would be interesting as this is all developed. And my job is to, as the technology evolves, I'm kind of the Goldilocks, right? I can't let regulation go too far where if bad things happen, people get hurt, then it's going to set us back, you know, five or ten years. And I can't be too slow because the innovators will then go somewhere else. This innovation will happen in a different country. I have to be just right, right?

And it's an art, not a science, of making sure I'm changing our rules and regulations as the technology evolves and making sure it's safe for people. But again, I want that innovation to happen here. I want autonomous vehicle technology to be deployed from the U.S. around the world. I don't want Chinese autonomous technology to be deployed in the U.S. That's the national security risk and threat for us. We do not want that. But what else is what's going to change? And by the way, so you already have it.

I think it's in Austin. Tesla's already doing this with the Robotaxi, and we're going to see this, you know, how does it go there, and you'll see more deployment around the country. But drone deliveries. Drones are going to radically change the way your products move. We're going to take vehicles off the street. And right now they're about three and a half pound deliveries to five pound deliveries. But drones are going to deliver a ton of stuff to people.

Whether you want to get a hot cup of coffee in the morning, whether you need medicine from the drugstore, whether you went shopping and, you know, you forgot to grab something at the store. store, drone delivery is going to radically change the way products move. And I want that technology to be American technology, which means I have to get the regulation right. Then you've seen these evitals, these Ubers in the air, the electric, this electric helicopter. You haven't seen these? I think I think I've seen these. Okay, you've got to check it out. So this is the next tranche of air mobility. Is this actually happening right now?

Yeah, like this, yes, 100%. Where? So we're testing them around the country, but, you know, there's a, there's a big test facility down in, down in Texas. So what'll happen is, again, Jobi, Beta, we've got a number of, I mean, big investments have gone into these evitals. And you will, there's different ranges on these, right? They can go 30 miles, some 100 miles.

But if you think of D.C., you'll be able to go from downtown D.C. If they let you fly in downtown D.C. Or I could even say from Reagan airport out to Dulles. It's the cost of an Uber black. And they are, listen, you can put five people on them. They're all different models. Whoop. And come right down.

And so you need a pilot in them now. Eventually, those will be autonomous as well. You need a pilot in them now? Right now. We have not certified them. They're going through the certification process now. We'll start off with pilots. I think they'll be autonomous at one point.

You'll be able to call one of these Uber human drones that come down. We'll pick you up and take you 40 miles, 30 miles, and do it quick. Wow. And so when I talked about the airspace and modernization, we have more planes in the airspace right now. This is going to make it just that much more complicated. There's going to be more users of the airspace. And then you throw drones in as well. It's very, very complicated. And by the way, the U.S. has the most complicated airspace in the world. We have more planes than any way. Like, no one has what we have. More complicated, more complex, more airplanes.

We're going to add into that, which is why we need to make sure we need to make sure we have this system brand new, and we need state-of-the-art technology running it so we can get more efficient, not deploy more assets into the airspace, and then have more delays. Yeah, you know, I was going to be, I was going to ask that. I mean, the autonomous stuff, I mean, that's, we're now making fighter jets that are outperforming world-class fighter pilots autonomously. And so, you know, when I hear that, I mean, I just had, um, brand sang on from shield AI who just did the you know big unveiling of the expat and I mean when you see stuff like that come out it's it's like oh man like commercial pilots done done we have something that's going to outperform an F-22 but we're not autonomously doing commercial airlines yet that's I mean it's done right it's done And then when you're talking about all these drones and all the, I mean, I'm just thinking, all right, what is the sky going to look like when nobody's going to Walgreens, nobody's going to Walmart, nobody's going to the grocery store, nobody, and everything is being delivered by drones.

I mean, you already see all the Amazon delivery vehicles and UPS and FedEx. They're everywhere. And so what's the sky look like when deliveries become fully autonomous? And then you're going to have to have to de-conflict all the commercial and private airlines from all those drones. And so if you don't make those autonomous, then we're going to have a lot of human error, a lot more human error than we have right now because the skies are going to be more crowded. So I would think it's just a matter of time before all commercial, anything that leaves the ground is autonomous. So I think as you have more acceptance for autonomous vehicles, which probably make people feel that's one threshold, the autonomous, evitals, these Uber's in the air, I don't know that people

are going to want to get on a jetliner and have it autonomous. I just said that maybe one day, I think that's the last tranche. I think people want to have a pilot on their airplane. Do you think so? I do. I know I do I want a pilot I would

the I the Eval yeah I'd probably do that with autonomous but on the jet I want a pilot now it's all becoming far more automated and there's far more technology

you know you can I don't know man then we had all that DAI shit we got all these people that are being pilots that should never have been a fucking pilot I know I might lean towards the autonomy

you're autonomous version, to be honest with you, but... Yeah, but you mentioned the fighter jet stuff? I mean, it was, like, I read an article about how the autonomous fighter jet versus the ace American pilots, they'll take risks that the pilot won't, right? They'll do shit that no pilot would do,

taking risk that no pilot would take, which makes them that much better in the airspace, which truly is wild. And again, if this is your space, but you think about the future of war fighting and how is, I mean, the revolution that's going to happen on how battles are fought is everything is going to change. And even I even mentioned drones.

So drones have amazing commercial benefits to America. But on the flip side, there's a substantial national security risk to drones, right? And so how do you marry those two things together? How do we let the commercial side evolve, but also share the concern for these are actually very dangerous tools that can be used to harm the country. And we're working through that right now. And there's good debates that happen. And we have to have the technology here, but we have to be smart

about how we do it. And you have government all working together to figure out what that balance is. Let's talk about shipbuilding a little bit. I mean, I didn't realize that shipbuilding fell under DOT as well. I mean, that's a topic that we talked, talk about quite a bit here. So we have, by the way, so I have, I have roads, bridges, semis, pipelines, ports. Pipelines, too, huh? Airports, airplanes. Yeah, we regulate all the equipment on cars on the safety side.

I don't know else I'm leaving we have trains public transportation so yeah it's a huge it's a huge department but I think

if you look at what's happened in global shipbuilding you know you had the you know we've lost the industry here and I think it comes back to those number of factors

one of it was regulation other labor factors came into play but it went overseas right we're in South Korea a huge producer. But then China one day says, we want to build ships. And shit in, you know, less than 10 years, they're a global powerhouse in shipbuilding. Yeah, I think U.S. is less than 1% of global ship building capacity. China is over 50%. That's right. And so then the question

becomes, is that a problem? I'd say that's a big problem. The big freaking problem, right? So what's interesting is like Trump saw that. It's like, hell no, we're like, we're going to build ships in America again. Or even steel. You need to produce steel in your country or you're screwed, right? So we're navigating, you know, the president's priorities are on shipbuilding, which are ours as well. But we forgot how to do it. Like, we don't know how to do it well. And it's more expensive to do it here right now. And so what we have to do is then we need investments from government to bring in industries, U.S. companies with foreign partners that know how to do this and set up shop to start building here. And I think there's a number of ways we can bring in the

revenue to pay for it where we can take it, we can take it off the shipping industry itself, even the foreign carriers or the foreign ships to pay for it. But that, we're working with commerce on that and with OMB to figure out how we're going to accomplish the president's goals to make sure we build in America again because this is a huge risk. There was a time that we owned the seas, man, like we were the best. We built all the ships. We sailed the ships with the best sailors like this. It was critically important for our national defense and we just kind of gave it up. We just kind of stopped doing it. And again, we had dumb people in government that didn't see the risks of letting these industries go.

And now we deal with the consequence of now, how do we build it back? How do we reinvigorate these industries? And it's going to take us time. It's going to take us money. But it's important for long-term viability. You know what's interesting? I don't know if you have any insight to this. But I mean, when we talk about, you know, the allocation of taxes and, you know, how bad

the energy grid is in the country and in a lot of the challenges that you're facing the Secretary of Transportation, I mean, where has all the fucking money gone that has been allotted to all these different organizations and institutions for years and years and years? I mean, we haven't seen any, I mean, I don't, I'm unaware of any, you know, major improvements in our power structure, I'm familiar in any major improvement. and our roads or our bridges and our shipbuilding and any of the stuff that we've talked about

and we just talked about the air traffic controlling towers where did all the fucking money go there's been zero improvements at least that I've seen and I love that you talk about the grid because I mean it's a fucking trocious and what happens the grid goes down like a lot of people die

a lot of people die and again, there hasn't been someone to say, hey, I'm going to grab that, I'm going to fix it. So I'll give you, I don't. Not only that, not only that, there's been money allocated, you know, for these institutions. Where did it go? So, okay, so I can only tell you our experience. So air traffic control. I'm just going to give you this one.

20 years ago, they said, we need a new brand new air traffic control system. We're going to call it next gen. generation of, I think the Congress spent $20 billion on this. They didn't do shit. Like, they spent the money. They had ideas. They did white papers. They talked about it. It took so freaking long that the technology they were looking at deploying. It took so long to study it, so long to even think about developing it and get the regulation right for it. by the time they might be ready to deploy the technology, it was already freaking old.

Like, it was already old shit. So, I mean, again, you have to be thoughtful on having the best technology, but you have to be able to build off the technology that you deploy. And $20 billion wasted, and now I sit here and go, okay, but we have to do it. That's what we have to do it fast and do it right. So I bet the same thing happened with the grid. People piss away the money.

They're not smart. they're not thoughtful, they're not strategic. And so we sit here with, but again, who knows, if you don't watch your show, who knows that the grid is shit? Like I think most people think, oh, no, the government, they won't let that happen. The grid's got to be great. She's.

They're amazing, like, of course they look up for us. They do the right stuff. And lo and behold, you're like, yeah, no, it's pretty actually vulnerable. It's a problem. So I think that's, so back to shipbuilding, it's it's the president setting it as a priority and when he says it I think most people go like yeah actually that probably is really important we probably should build ships in America let's figure out how to do it I have the Merchant Marine Academy so this is this is a national academy

they need a commission from a member of Congress or a senator to go to the academy it's the schools for free and we have we want these excellent U.S. mariners in our fleet that if the military needs assistance, we can pull these great mariners from the academy, pull them into the government, into the Navy. And yeah, and they also provide the support for the support mission for the military as well, providing a lot of the equipment and assets that you need as you're deploying around the world. So really important young people. I found out that in the last administration, the kids at the academy went four months without hot water.

I'm like, well, how can they not have hot water? Well, the last administration wanted to have electric boilers, and electric boilers don't work. You need to have the oil or the natural gas boilers that actually provide heat. So they couldn't figure out the electric boilers for this massive campus, and the kids went without hot water. And by the way, they were like, we're tough and we're strong. Like, we're the Merchant Marine.

We don't have hot water. Their dishwasher broke. And so they were eating on paper plates and paper forks. At a U.S. Service Academy, this is the way these young men and women have been treated. And they're the most amazing young men and women. I'm like, holy shit. I have faith in America when I see those young people at that academy and how hard they work. It's a great school.

But it's just neglect. We've neglected our country. We've neglected the infrastructure of our country. And we spent a ton of money with $37 trillion in debt. And you're like, what the hell have we gotten for all this money? Where are the roads and bridges? They spent a trillion, $800 billion in that infrastructure package. I told you that my former congressman who I ran against, he championed.

It was all supposed to go to roads and bridges. And then we had the build business. the build-back better, you know, inflation reduction act that, I mean, we sent a ton of money to roads and bridges. So outside of the normal funding, we put $2 trillion into road and bridge funding. I'm like, where in the frick of the roads and bridges? Like, what the hell did you do with the money? Because I don't see beautiful infrastructure in this country.

You're spending the money, but I think Americans have to demand we get something back for it. I want a new grid. I want new airports. I want new roads. I want this shit to work but to do that you have to elect smart people who are not focused on DEI and climate they're actually focused on

on providing for the American people delivering for the American people and I just don't I don't think that's been the model and President Trump has absolutely flipped it on its head it's like no we are we give deliverables what so excuse me what can what can Americans expect

improvement-wise from Department of Transportation in the next three years. So you're going to see us build faster, right? We're going to build infrastructure faster. We are going to push safety on our transit systems. You know, we're not going to fund transit systems that aren't going to make their systems safer for their ridership. We're going to, I'll like to see high-speed rail in America. I really would.

It's possible There's a project now Bright Line West that goes from Las Vegas to L.A. It's somewhat over budget, but there's a real opportunity to have high-speed rail here. I think we should have it, but it should be

at a, we should be able to build it at a reasonable cost. We shouldn't, you mentioned I cut the California high-speed rail. It was going to be a $100 billion project. They spent $16 billion and hadn't laid one track. I mean, just pissed away the money.

I think you're going to see air traffic control way better. It's going to take me time. Like, I can't fix this stuff overnight, but you're going to see massive improvements in air travel. And you're going to see the way people and products move in this country radically change. The autonomous vehicles, the evitals, and the drones will substantially change as we implement these new rules. We talked about road safety. I don't know if you follow this, but we have all of these truck drivers that don't speak English, number one.

And number two, the Democrats do a great job of contortian laws. So we have truck drivers that are getting what's called a non-domiciled CDL. Foreigners can get a non-domiciled CDL commercial driver's license and drive truck in America. And it was really made for if you come from Tennessee and go to Wisconsin, your non-domicized. domiciled in Wisconsin because you're from Tennessee, you can get a non-domiciled CDL in Wisconsin. It was for American citizens going from one state to the next. They've contorted it to let all these 10, 15 million people that have come into the country actually get a commercial driver's license, and they can drive a tanker, they can drive

a school bus, and we're seeing these crashes around the country of people who are foreigners that the licenses were issued unlawfully in places like that. California. A lot of them can't speak English, which is a requirement under the law. And so we're pushing to make sure that we actually have states follow the law and we keep our roads safer because we don't have people who can't, they can't understand the language, and they have a CDL that has been issued to them that's unlawful. And they actually don't have the skill sets to be driving a big rig in America. That's the stuff that I think will change. And it's safety driven, it's speed-driven, and again, I think it's going to be, it's going to be a revolutionary

time in the next, you know, three and a half years. So we'll see those, we'll, we will definitely see these improvements before this administration's time now. 100%. I think you'll see in your airport. You'll see these evital pads. You'll see a pad there. And maybe as you'll have people take trains and cars into the city, you might say by the end of this three years, you have a service that will go from the airport to a port and down-down. Oh, is this, that's not just D.C. Oh, no. So these will be deployed everywhere. You'll, you'll take a five-minute ride from the airport, and you'll be in the city in Nashville. And there you said, you're good to go. Yeah, it's going to, it's going to be, they'll be everywhere. So what do they call these ebathals?

Yeah. So what is there going to be like a station full of a bunch of these things that all go to and from the airport? Yeah. It's a huge parking lot. They'll be running back and forth off to get charged up, yeah. But it'll be like, will people park around them? Yep. You know what I mean?

Like an airport, park your car, get on the plane? Or better, I'll park somewhere in the city and I'll take one out to the airport, get off and go. and go on to the jetway and get on my flight. Or I got off my flight and I'll go get in one and I'll go into the city. If you're in New York, you'll go from Manhattan and you'll fly out to Long Island. And the choppers are loud.

These are, you barely hear them. They're pretty fast. You're up and you're over and you're out. Cheaper, faster, moving people. That's cool. Yeah. That's cool. let's move into some NASA stuff.

Sure. Man, you got a lot going on. Nine kids, husband, Secretary of Transportation, and NASA administrator. So what are your plans with NASA? So the president put me in as the interim NASA administrator until he picks the actual administrator.

So here's the problem has had been in, Without someone in the role, the organization languishes. And so he said, go in, give a direction, and let's start to move, which is exactly what I've done. And again, a couple of the big things that we have to do is we have to get to the moon, and we have to have a replacement for the International Space Station, right? Those are the two big top priorities that we have right now. Number one is that we've got to get the moon right, then we're going to have to figure out what we do for our second space. space station. And so that's exactly what I've done. We, so we had a, we had a situation

where, um, why haven't we been to the fucking moon? Well, we have been. Why haven't we been back to the moon? How long? It'll be 54 years. Fifty-four years. We just went, we're like, oh, we don't need to explore that anymore. I think that there was, there was, it was in there, box checked. Yeah, it was expensive. It was expensive to go to the moon. And then it was also, We'd done it, and there was more focus on lower Earth orbit, right? We wanted to evolve that technology. And so, again, the Chinese want to go to the moon. So at the south pole of the moon, there's ice.

And ice means oxygen, ice means water, ice means life, right? So you have, I mean, that's the key component. And the Chinese are trying to get there. We want to beat them back to the moon. to the moon. And again, we're not going to go with our 1970s landers. It's going to be a lot bigger, bolder missions. But what's important is what we learn in the mission to the moon and how we do it on the moon and how we have sustained human life on the moon, how we have a base on the moon, what we learn there is going to help us get to Mars and beyond. That is the way

station, the stepping stone to go out and explore other places in the universe. And so I think we were just, the organization wasn't focused. The last administration hadn't, they were trying to pivot NASA into, from human space exploration, which is, by the way, NASA is the only one that does human space exploration. No other agency does that, right? They were trying to turn it into a climate change, DEI organization. I just, actually, I brought you a book. Oh boy. So this is, this is what, there's got a couple million dollars on a number of different comic books. So this is one that is the first woman in space, but no problem with the first woman in space, but it's a, it's a, it's a book that is full of DEI engender crap as opposed to

saying, I don't care what your color is. I don't care what your gender is. I want the best astronauts on these missions. That's what I want. And millions of dollars, was spent on books like this at NASA. Millions of dollars. As opposed to thinking of millions of dollars to invest in science and technology that's going to get us to the moon before the Chinese. And so what we've had is, again,

so think about this, so 10 years ago, I don't think anyone would have envisioned that we would have a space economy like we have right now. And SpaceX and Elon Musk, revolutionized kind of how we think about commercial space. I don't know how much it used to cost to get a satellite into space, but it was really expensive. What SpaceX has done has brought the cost down.

I mean, for a small satellite, I think it's going to cost you $300,000. For a little bigger one, it's going to cost you a million dollars. But companies can get satellites in the space way cheaper than ever before. But no one would have thought about the space economy But for this evolution in rocket, rocket technology, Elon's ability to reuse rockets, all fantastic, right? And so right now it's a $600 billion business.

We'll be at a trillion dollars in short order. It's the fastest growing part of the U.S. economy, actually, is this part of it. And it's really important for our national security side of the aisle. We're civil, but there's a national security component to it as well. But on the flip side, there's, there's, so I told you, we're going back to the moon in early February, first time in 54 years, it's called early February's in a couple of months, yeah, four months. Four months. Do you, do you know what the mission's called? No. Exactly. Do you know what Apollo is, what Apollo was, the Apollo missions?

What do you mean? So NASA's Apollo mission. It brought us, that was our, that was our mission to the moon, right? Everyone around the world knew what it was. Everyone knew NASA. Everyone knew what we were about at NASA and the Apollo missions to the moon. Everyone knew the space shuttles, right? The shuttle missions.

Everyone knew what we did. And we are about to send, first time in 54 years, Artemis II back to the moon, and I bet you 97% of Americans have no idea that we're doing it and no idea what it is. It's a huge problem.

So NASA lives off the fumes of what they did in the past. They're not living off what we're doing in the future. What's the vision for the future of NASA? What are the future missions? Where are we going? Wait, so we're going back to the moon in four months in February. We're not going to land. We're going out and around the moon and coming back.

Why are we doing that? What's that? What are we going to learn from that? So we're testing the technology, right? You want to take things in steps, right? You just don't want to do everything in one step. You want to go through a stepping stone process. And this is we're going to go back, right?

Out and around, come back. Well, we did take a step 54 years ago. We did. But there's a reason to, there is a reason to go back. No, I'm with you. Yeah. Shouldn't the next step be a little bit bigger than the first? Oh, it will.

So we're going to stay this time, right? That is the key component. And so we're going to, we gave a directive for, surface vision technology, right, so we can have power on the surface of the moon. We think we can get that done by 2030, and you can have sustained human life. Missions, bringing products, equipment to the moon surface, those don't have to be manned. But, yeah, it's going to be cool. There's helium-3 on the moon, an amazing power source if you bring some of that back to

Earth. So that's 100% true. There's helium. Helium we've had conflicting reports on that. We've heard that China is mining helium three off the moon, actually right now. I don't know about that, but I think we want access to this remarkable power source, right? So again, that's just one component of what you might get from the moon. You don't know this better than I do.

There was a time that, I don't know who said this, but. He who controls the seas controls the world. There was a time that that was, I think he who control space controls the world. And I think part of that is the moon component and making sure that we're the ones that are there. And we do things differently, right? We have all of these international partners that are working with us that believe in transparency and openness about what we're doing and how we're doing it. Chinese have a very different model. There's no separation between the civil and military.

military sides of their space. And again, do we want to cede, I don't know if in your military experience, should we cede the moon to the Chinese and are there any national security risks to that? Do I want to find out? I don't really want to find that out. But the point is we're late, we're delayed in our mission to the moon. And so what I've said is we're going to open this up and let different companies compete to see who can get us there first, right?

want to get there before the Chinese number one, and I want to get there before President Trump leaves office. That's what President Trump wants as well. He's given that directive. And so when you have companies compete, America wins. I got two really rich guys that have space companies that want to compete against each other. And when they do, there's going to be great evolution in technology and a great race, not just against China, but against American companies to see who's going to get the honor of doing it first of putting American astronauts back on the moon at this time. It's going to be almost 60 years since the last time we were there.

Man. Which is pretty cool. So in February, we're going around the moon. Have we ever done that before? Yeah, we did that. Well, we did that back in the 70s, right? We were there. But this is, we're going to go, I mean, we're going with way bigger equipment, way more sophisticated

equipment this time, which means it's more complicated. The complication of what we're trying to do today is different than what we did in the 70s, just because of the evolution of the technology. And so it's good to, by the way, the technology that SpaceX is working on with their vision on how we get to the lunar surface with their landers is what we're going to actually need to get to Mars. What we're doing with vision technology on the lunar surface and their work we're doing on nuclear propulsion is also how you're going to get us to Mars and back again.

So a lot is happening, but you had this agency that was adrift that wasn't really focused. And I've tried, and the short tenure I'm going to have there is to give it focus, give it a direction, and inspire it. And part of my job, too, is I've got to sell the missions. If America, you're like, we're going back to the moon? In February, we're like, what? Like, holy shit. It's like dumb and dumber.

We landed on the moon. We were like, holy shit. It's amazing. And I think that's the mission. I think there's opportunities, too, to partner with one of the greatest brand in the world is NASA. Global national brand, NASA is premium. I think we can partner, we can't take partnership money at NASA, but we can partner with companies. And in the partnership, we get them to advertise their product but also our mission because

Americans need to know what we're doing, why we're doing it. And when Americans know about it and they care about it, then the Congress cares about it and the Congress funds it. And again, I think that's a really important part of what the role is. What I've done and the next administrator will have to do as well is you've got to sell the mission, you got to sell, you got to sell the vision, you got to step living off the past. inspire people for the future. I want the eight-year-old kid, you know, in somewhere in Missouri to not be like, we did this in 1970. That was great. No, like, I want them to go, this is what we're doing

right now. Like, in my time, the cool shit that NASA is doing, I want to do that too. Like, I want to be part of that. I want to give my life to this, you know, to this organization, this mission. I want to be an astronaut myself. But that takes us talking about it and talking about it passionately and effectively to let America know what it is and what we're doing. Can you talk a little bit? I mean, so you have, if I heard this correctly, you have Blue Origin and SpaceX put it against each other to land somebody on the moon.

Did I hear that right? You did. How did you incentivize them for that? So, again, SpaceX, remarkable. Like, they've re-envisioned how, I hate to use it, were re-envisioned, because I feel like I'm a Democrat, re-envision, but space launches, and made it an incredibly profitable company.

So, SpaceX had the contract to get us to the moon. They were supposed to get us there in 24. They then pushed the contract back to 27. And about five weeks ago, they came back and said, well, no, it's not 27. It's going to be the end of 28. Well, if this keeps getting pushed back, shit, are we going to beat the Chinese or, but we're not going to get there in President Trump's term. that's a problem. So I asked, I said SpaceX, listen, if you guys need us to modify your contract

how to help you accelerate your mission to the moon for us, let us know what you need. And I told them as well, I'm going to talk to others about can they do it faster? So I talked to Blue Origin. Hey, because they, by the, they have a later, so I'm talking about Artemis 3 when we land on the moon. SpaceX has Artemis 4 landing on the moon. Blue Origin has Artemis 5 landing on the moons. They're working on a lander. So I said, hey, is there any way you could pull up your lander to get us to the moon faster? And then I asked some others as well. And Blue came back and said, we think we can do this by the summer of 28. Wow. And you have to modify our current contract. I'm like, yeah, we'll do that. And I'm going to modify X's contract. So I announced,

we're going to open it up and we're going to let these companies compete, whoever can do it first and fastest and the best we're going to take. And so we did. And what's great now is you have SpaceX really focused on this mission to the moon. You have Blue really focused on their mission to the moon. And you have two really rich guys that own these companies that are very competitive, that are going to compete. And America's going to win in this. We win because of this competition. And we're going to put out a request for information for others to see if they They have better, bold, big ideas that could also get there faster, and we'll see what they come back with. I haven't done that yet because Blue and SpaceX have current contracts with us to land on the moon.

So I was able to modify those contracts and do it right now, as opposed to engaging others that might have great ideas. I can only do that after the shutdown ends. Wow. So it's an exciting time. Good thinking. Was that your idea? Yeah. Nice thinking.

Well, this end with the team. me go like, can we do this? Should we do this? Is these, you know, how can we help SpaceX? How can, you know, how can we engage blue? But again, I'm the one who said, I'm going to call the ball and we're going to do this. And the president loves competition. The president's, you know, wants America to win. And so the race is on, right? And they're both passionate about it. So, yeah, it's a good thing. It doesn't come without me taking some heat. I don't know why it took me to get to this point.

When the first contracts were set up, it should have been a competition to begin with. We should have not picked one. We should have had a couple companies compete for us. That happened at the start of the Biden administration. But, yeah, it's going to be great. I'm excited. I'm excited. I want to see what February is all about.

But it'll be, man, I had no idea if we were doing that. So the Artemis, two astronauts I've got to know them. That's the ones that are going. Amazing. You should have them on the show. You should go to Houston and sit down with them. You're going to love them. Some of the smart, it makes your country proud.

So three Americans, one Canadian that are on this mission, smart, great people, the training they go through. By the way, during the shutdown, we made sure it's like, listen, you can't, we're not going to shut down our mission to the moon. You can't stop that and start it. The safety of the mission is critical. So that whole, all the science and all the movement around this Artemis II mission is fully funded and fully functional right now, not being affected by the shutdown. But we have the rocket, right? We've just put the capsule on top of the rocket.

In December, we're going to roll the rocket out to the launch pad, go so. through all this testing. And it was supposed to go in April. We think it's going to go in February. And, yeah, it's a roughly 10-day mission out to the moon and back. By the way, the capsule is so small. If you go down there, we'll put you in the capsule

to see where they live for all these days. Wow. Not big. They have to know each other. I love it. So where do you use the restroom? Like, what the hell? Like, how does this work?

And yeah, to see how it's constructed and the size of it. And they'd love to sit on a talk to you. We'll set that up. I would love to do it. Yeah. Thank you. And then if you can read some more literature on, you know, the woke coloring books and comic books from NASA.

I will. I will. Any other aspirations or anything you want to talk about with NASA? After that, we're going to, we've got to focus on what we do on lower Earth orbit, you know, and the replacement to the space station. Do we have corporate partners that, you know, we have to be an anchor at NASA, but we need to see if we can get more private capital in, right? We want to have sustained, you know, Americans in lower Earth orbit. So that's in the works now. It's been paused a little bit during the shutdown, but we have to get those contracts and that competition out there.

That's important. We have a restructure that's going to come. Again, I think I want the right leaders. I want the right leaders, with the right teams to accomplish the missions. Sometimes you can get bloat. And if you have a conference call with 250 people, people on the conference call, there's a problem. No decision is going to be made with 250 people on a conference call. That's some of the shit that happens.

Wow. So we are going to, we're going to restructure the leadership. We're going to restructure the organization with people who are mission-driven. in, that are accountable, and I think that part of it will be really important to make sure that this is more successful than it's been in the past. You mentioned, like, so I don't, I've told, I don't want to be the administrator. I can't be the administrative of NASA. I'm not asked, I never asked to be the administrator of NASA.

I have said, though, and I've asked people to think about it, I think that if NASA was under DOT, I've suggested, that's a good thing. Some people have been like, that's a good idea. Some people were like, I hate that idea, but it was my job to put it out there. Here's the problem. People are trying to preserve NASA. NASA is broken. It has been, like, what has NASA done that you're proud of in the last 15 years, and the last 20 years?

Can't think of anything. 25 years ago was a space station. That's pretty cool. It's an elegant, beautiful machine. Like, that's pretty great. Like, what is, what are we doing? And so they're preserving a model. I do think you have to, I can, don't.

send it to DOT, send it to commerce. You want a secretary that's going to fight for it, that's going to advocate for it, has presidential engagement on it. It sits out there with an administrator, and it can be pushed and shoved and cajoled in ways that I think hasn't benefited it. And so to have someone, again, don't, by the way, it would never happen under my term anyway, But I think under a future DOT secretary or a future commerce secretary, I can't go under war, that's a problem for us. But you need to have different leadership, different engagement. The model that we're using right now hasn't given us results.

We spend a lot of money, but what the hell have you gotten for it? Again, we have some cool science missions. We actually, we do. But big things that inspire people, we're not doing it. We are going to now. So that's been, but, you know, the president's in the process, he'll pick someone to lead the organization and I'll be 100% supportive and we'll move, you know, we'll move seamlessly forward. But the moments that I have at NASA, I'm not going to, I'm not going to waste a day. Haven't wasted today.

I think we've done more in 10 weeks than has happened in the last 10 years to get the organization aligned behind what's critical, which is this mission to the moon. And I think even with this competition, it's going to bear fruit in the coming years. Good, that's awesome here. Do you think Jared Isaacsman has a chance to get that slot? Yeah, I think the president, you know, that I know the president's talked to him. I've talked to him. So, yeah, of course. I think the president, this is not the top of mind for the president, is he's over there driving seven or eight-piece deals.

I had a text from him. He's like, I'm bringing trillions of money back to the U.S., like the amount he fights to get investment here, money here, peace deals there. But he does, he'll pick someone, and I think I pick, you know, someone that's great that'll lead it forward and, you know, we'll be successful as a country. It's good to hear. With NASA.

Well, Secretary, I know you have a flight to catch her pretty soon, so we're going to have to end this. I'll tell you what, just one let. Can I give you a warning? yeah don't like you go out then you start swing that axe you'll chop your leg off okay so just be careful all right just be I don't want to hear like Sean Ryan lost the leg or like chopped a a toe off or something if that happens I'll send it back to you

the toe I'm saying to me send you a toe that you chop off but thanks for having you man I appreciate it's been a blast oh man it was an honor to have me here so thank you for making it awesome thank you very awesome Thank you.