The Daily Signal - Sean Spicer, Diamond and Silk Discuss the Trump Presidency

Episode Date: April 24, 2020

Two special guests are featured on today's Daily Signal Podcast. Sean Spicer, former White House press secretary for the Trump administration and Diamond and Silk, who host a live-stream video blog, join the podcast in two pre-recorded interviews. We also cover these stories: An additional 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week bringing the total number of unemployment claims to over 26 million since March. The House passed a $484 billion bill Thursday to alleviate the economic fallout small businesses have experienced due to the coronavirus pandemic.  Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren’s oldest brother, Don Reed, passed away in Oklahoma on Tuesday night from coronavirus. He was 86 years old.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, April 24th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Dahl Judis. Today we bring you two interviews with special guests, Sean Spicer, former White House Press Secretary for the Trump administration, and Diamond and Silk, who host a live stream video blog. These interviews took place in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference and before coronavirus had become so serious and shut down the country.

Don't forget. If you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review. or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now, onto our top news. The Department of Labor released its weekly unemployment claims report on Thursday. An additional 4.4 million people filed for unemployment last week, bringing the total number of unemployment claims to over 26 million since March. This past week's numbers are a decrease from the 5.2 million claims filed during the previous

week. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia said in a statement on Thursday, today's unemployment report shows continued, elevated unemployment claims caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Labor is continuing to provide guidance and support to the states as they implement the enhanced unemployment benefits under the CARES Act, with 44 states now paying the $600 additional weekly benefit provided by the Act. The House passed a $484 billion bill Thursday to alleviate the economic fallout small businesses have experienced due to the coronavirus pandemic. The bill, which was passed by the Senate Tuesday unanimously, allocates $310 billion in new funds for the Paycheck Protection Program that provide small firms loans that can be covered if they use them on wages, benefits,

rent, and utilities. It also includes $25 billion to ramp up coronavirus testing, $60 billion for small business administration disaster assistance loans and grants, and $75 billion for hospitals swamped by coronavirus patients per CNBC. President Trump is expected to sign the legislation. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother, Don Reed, passed away in Oklahoma on Tuesday night from coronavirus. He was 86 years old. In a series of tweets, Warren said her brother, joined the Air Force at 19 in 2015. spent his career in the military, including five and a half years off and on in combat in Vietnam. He was charming and funny, a natural leader.

She also said, I'm grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it's hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say I love you one more time, and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close. I'll miss you dearly, my brother. Wow, so tragic. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with Senator Warren and with all of those who have lost loved ones during this coronavirus pandemic. According to data from New York State, 13.9% of people in the state, which translates to about 2.7 million people have had coronavirus. In New York City, a whopping 21% of people had antibodies for coronavirus compared to 3.6% in upstate New York, 16.7% in Long Island, and 11% 7.7% in the Winchester Rockland area, per the Hill.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is not pleased with a statement made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday. McConnell told radio host Hugh Hewitt that I would certainly be in favor of allowing states to use the bankruptcy route. It saves some cities. And there's no good reason for it to not be available. My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations.

to send it down to them now, so they don't have to do that. That's not something I'm going to be in favor of. During his press briefing on Thursday, Cuomo said McConnell's idea was, quote, one of the really dumb ideas of all time, and he didn't stop there. And then to suggest we're concerned about the economy, states should declare bankruptcy. That's how you're going to bring this national economy back by states declaring bankruptcy. You want to see that market fall through the seller. Let New York State declare bankruptcy.

Let Michigan declare bankruptcy. Let Illinois declare bankruptcy. Let California declare bankruptcy. You will see a collapse of this national economy. Next up, stay tuned for our interviews with Sean Spicer and Diamond and Silk. We need standard bears in Washington, D.C. I'm so proud to work at the Heritage Foundation, where our mission is to have sensible solutions to every issue that arises in this nation. The coronavirus is no exception.

That's why the Heritage Foundation started the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission. The commission's goal is to save lives, but also the livelihood of millions of Americans impacted by this virus. To do this, the Commission has run. released several recommendations to help our nation's leaders navigate us through this crisis and move toward a recovery. Log on to www.com.com to track the commission's recommendations and to see what our recovery plan looks like. Again, that's www.com.com. We are joined today on the Daily Signal podcast by Sean Spicer.

He served as the 28th White House Press Secretary and White House Communications Director under President Trump. Sean, thank you for being with us today. Thanks for having me. Well, to start off, can you take us back to what it was like to be the 28th White House Press Secretary? What was that like? There was a lot of things. The first thing is I always tell people it's an unbelievable honor. I grew up a working class kid that never thought, you know, I'd get a tour of the White House, never mind working it.

And to have that privilege is something that I still pinched myself once in a while. So that part was there. There was an intensity, though, to the job that I didn't ever fathom. It's an awesome responsibility because you're almost on call seven days a week, 24 hours a day, because you don't know when something's going to happen that you're going to have to be ready to respond to. And so after six years at the R&C and two presidential campaigns, jumping into that, you know, in some ways I was ready for it, but it adds a layer of intensity that I had never expected. And then I would say the other thing is into the Trump administration,

and there's a level of scrutiny that I just had never anticipated as well. Let's talk about that, too. What was it like working with mainstream media? And what was the kind of scrutiny that you experienced well there? So I've been doing in and out of PR work in media relations for campaigns, R&C for six years in the military. I mean, a lot of these people I've known for decades. The difference was I think that they viewed this is a totally different deal. And there was an attempt to make it much more personal and petty than it's.

had ever been. And that was what was so different and kind of took me off guard, if you will, because there were folks that I thought, okay, like, we can go back and forth, but it became a much more personal relationship and attack than I had ever seen before. Did you ever see your experience, were there times where the media would attack you personally versus, you know, there's policy discussions, and there's personal attacks? Absolutely. I mean, and they would jump to conclusions all the time. Politico did a whole thing about how I tweeted out something and never taken the time to look at the handle and realizing that it wasn't me or the press secretary.

It was someone put my face on a Twitter profile and tweeted some stuff out. But the attempts to jump the gun and constantly make it personal were always there. So speaking of that, what was the hardest part about that role for you? And in general, speaking to what is the hardest part for press secretaries in general? Well, as far as me, and I talk about this, I wrote a book that detailed my time in the White House. And the hardest part for me was realizing that when you're under attack and you're the press secretary, it can never be about you. You're supposed to be speaking for somebody else. And the second that it's about you, you're in trouble.

And I realized that it was increasingly tough to do my job because the press had tried to focus on me. And there were a couple of mistakes that I made, admittedly, that they amplify to make sure that it was a very, very intense and awkward. situation. What about the rule did you enjoy the most? I think the thing that I enjoyed the most was the opportunity is to see, to be part of history in so many ways. You're not like, you know, I'd served in the Bush White House. I'd seen things, but never that close. I mean, you're in the room when the president's saying, doing things or deciding things. You're on the plane with him as we're headed to summits. And to literally, in every way, shape, and form having a front row seat to so many historic things was amazing. That's incredible.

Are there any one experience that stands out during your time there, whether it was in the White House or maybe you were traveling for something, where it was a story that really just stood out to you? Yeah, I mean, I don't know that everyone's going to love my story, but I'm a diehard New England Patriots fan, and I'd gone to one game growing up. That wasn't really in our budget. And so when they had won, they were coming to the White House.

And the Patriots were all gathered in my office at one point, all the starters. And my family had been able to come with my children, my brother, his family, children, my mom, my sister. And it was just a moment where I stopped and I realized how crazy and amazing is this opportunity that I've been given, that I'm sitting here in the White House, 25 feet from the Oval Office, with the starting lineup of the New England Patriots in my office. It was, it was like a, but the best part about it is that it wasn't about me. I mean, it was kind of about me. But the idea that I had had my family there, it wasn't like I called them afterward and said, hey, guys, really cool thing happened. I was able to share that moment,

and that was the coolest part about it. That's so incredible. So looking at President Trump's time in office and working as his press secretary, what would you say are some of the, what you think to be the biggest accomplishment so far? I think hands down, it's judicial appointments. Those will last well beyond the Trump administration and shape the judiciary for at least a generation.

That's key. And then I think, you know, just the overall conservative agenda that he's enacted, whether you're talking about social issues and standing up for life or the economic stuff, cutting taxes, cutting regulations, and moving the economy forward. I mean, the president has done exactly what he said he did to do as a candidate, and then we're getting the results of that. The economy is moving forward. People are going back to work.

Veterans are getting the care that they need. The military is getting plused up. We're taking on our trade deals and reforming them in a way that's positive to manufacturer, service providers. Looking at your work as a press secretary and then thinking back to when you were growing up in school and how media coverage was at that. point and then what it is now. What kind of the change have you seen? A massive sea change. I think the thing that people forget when they talk about this is that the media had a monopoly back in those days when I was growing up because ABC, NBC, CBS. You actually did get up and turn a dial.

There were no remotes. There was no cable. And you got an evening or a morning newspaper that told you everything you need to know. There was no internet. They dominated what you saw, read and heard and the narrative that was dictated to you. Now there's the Daily Signal podcast. There's Fox News. There's News. There's News Max. There's One American News. There's Bright Bar. There's a daily caller. All of these organizations have been able to come out and say, hey, we're going to cover things that aren't being covered. We're going to talk about issues and the people that aren't being ignored by the mainstream media. And they've added an element of competition, which is so great. Well, a little bit of a later note, too. You had an experience on Dancing with the Stars. What was

that like? It was nervous, a nervousness that I'd never felt going into it, but I ended up absolutely loving my experience and the people that were involved in it. Did you face any kind of backlash from people from different points of view? What was that like? How did you handle it? The only backlash I felt was from the media. And what they hated, and the New York Times wrote a story about this was that they didn't like the fact that it was actually all working, that I was getting along, that I was succeeding, and that people were enjoying hanging out together. They wanted this to be difficult. And the media couldn't stand the fact that it was actually turning out to be a fun and enjoyable experience, not just for me, but for everyone involved. So you have a new show coming now.

Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Starts Tuesday. It's going to be a weeknight show on Newsmax television. If you go to my website, Sean Spicer.com, you can get a sign up for updates on the show. But every night, 6 o'clock on Newsmax, you can set your DVR or watch it live. I don't really care. We're going to actually have a conversation like you and I are having as opposed to a newscast.

It's a show. We're going to talk about the issues, what's not being covered, what is being covered, what it really means. And so often the media likes to make everything very black and white and simplify all these issues, which frankly are very complicated or have an impact on your life or maybe don't, but they're blowing it up and magnifying it. And I think we want to bring guests in and have an enjoyable and formative conversation. Speaking of what is being covered, what's not being covered, what do you think is an issue today that really isn't being covered as it should be? I think the deficit's not being covered adequately.

I think the threat that, like the president's been out there talking about Huawei, there are existential national security threats that our country faces that I think we've gotten complacent as a country. And we think, okay, we're the superpower of the world. China is knocking on that doorstep and threatening our way of life. And if we don't wake up one day, this idea of socialism going through the, society and being an acceptable way of life is just something I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. Working with media, working in the news a lot, you see how reporters act, you see how the American public produces and reads news, all of that. What would you say to the American public about how

they receive their news and where to get good news? Well, obviously, I've got a show on Newsmax, so they should go there. But they should look at a lot of things. I don't think you should just focus on one thing. That's the beauty of it now is that you can finally able to recognize that there's a lot of perspectives and that you should go, you know, kind of the same way that you have, you know, your diet is fruits, vegetables, meat, you know, you try to vary it to be a healthy person, vary your media diet, watch different programs, look at different sources, follow different people on Twitter, but also don't be myopic in this. And I think this is where the country is right now is that you just get what you want to hear versus looking at the other side. I dip in once in a while

to the left-wing media, just so that I see how they're presenting issues and how they're covering things. Well, Sean, thank you so much for joining us on a daily journal podcast. You appreciate it. Have a great C-PAC. Good to have you. Thank you. Conservative women. Conservative feminist. It's true.

We do exist. I'm Virginia Allen, and every Thursday morning on problematic women, Lauren Evans and I sort through the news to bring you stories and interviews that are particular interest to conservative leaning or problematic women. That is women whose views and opinions are often excluded or mocked by those on the so-called feminist left. We talk about everything from pop culture to policy and politics. Search for problematic women wherever you get your podcast. Hey, everybody, we are at CPAC, and I don't even have to introduce my ladies right here today. Everybody knows Diamond and Silk. Ladies, how has CPAC loved you? Oh, my God, so much.

phenomenal. We feel the love. I mean, I thought I wanted to get married. Why? I have so much love from all of these people hugging and kissing the loving on us. Thank you all to our fans and followers. That's right. Why do you think people, why is there such affection? I mean, I was out watching you all on the stage. You were talking about why socialism is a huge problem, and the audience was just eating it up. Well, you know what? I think we resonate with people because we're not robotic talking heads. We're truth tellers. That's right. And when you can tell the truth in such a way and make it a little comical, but you're still giving them some truth with it, people love that. Yeah. And they just love it.

Another thing, we're not new to this. We're true to this. So we believe in telling the naked, nass, that low-down, dirty, gutting, written truth about whatever issue we need to tell it about. You all have been on the scene since 2016. 15. 15. Excuse me. This is five years you've been at it.

Yes. What's been the biggest surprise for you, the biggest. moments for you in this whole journey? You know what? One of the biggest moments was what happened yesterday. Yesterday. You know, CPAC was great. We did the speech that was phenomenal. They whisked us offstage. We took a few photos and they put us in the SUV and took us directly to the White House. To the White House. And we were able to be right there. We had a seat at the table with the president of the United States. I thought that was so phenomenal. You know, we didn't have to burn down our communities. They gave us a seat

at the table. We didn't have to get in the street and start marching, talking about no justice, no peace, equality for all. It was President Trump that allowed two black women, a seat at the table. So that is one of the highlights of this weekend along with being here at CPAC. I'm just, I'm overjoyed.

My heart is just, oh. Well, it's Black History Month. It's February, and there was a big event at the White House, that's what you are. But the President's talked a lot about how much his administration has done for black Americans. Absolutely. You know it better than anybody. Tell it. First Step Act, Opportunities on, low unemployment, giving people a second chance, more money to HBCUs than any other president in history.

Permanent money. The list go on and on and on. He's truly a champion for all Americans, especially black America. Finally, black people did not get left behind. You know, we had the so-called black president, President Obama, who ran on hope and change. We was hoping things was going to change, but we all got short change. And he didn't. made out with a lot of change. That's right. See, he went in poor and now he's filthy rich. You see what I'm saying?

So when I look at Donald J. Trump, the businessman, he's not a career politician. He's a billionaire businessman wanting to give people opportunities, wanting you to have a job where you can thrive, wanting you to be prosperous. That's who we need. He is a champion for the people. He's a champion because he's winning for the people. And he gets a thrill out of seeing us win. He loves it.

He always want to make sure, are you okay? You're doing good. And he sits back and he watch it grows. It's like he plants the sea, watch it grows and sit back and just reap the benefits by just being happy about it. Everybody was happy when you all were talking yesterday about why socialism is so bad for not just a country, for individuals. I loved your lines. You said, like, America is the land of the free, but it is not the land of free stuff. It's not the land of free stuff.

You've got to watch your speech because that was just one line. That was one line. It's not because, listen, free stuff does not equate to freedom. Either you want free stuff or you want freedom. That's right. And it's time for us to start creating our people to be free thinkers. Think outside of the box instead of wanting to be a freeloader. That's right.

Teaching kids or children or young people that we're going to give you stuff away for free. You're going to create a generation of freeloaders. That's right. They can just sit down and get it for free. Well, who's going to pay for this free stuff? Okay. You all talk all over the country. Do people get it?

They get it. I think they get it. Absolutely. Listen, I don't want a country where we have open board. and the influx of people coming in, they don't know, we don't know who they are. That's right. I want a country where jobs are here where people can work. They can pull themselves up by their bootstrap.

And if you don't have no straps, create your own straps. That's right. And pull yourself out. We have to attain the American dream. Listen, people from these socialist countries are not flocking here to get most socialism. They flock here to obtain the American dream. By golly, it's time for every America to strive, to be better, to do better, to have better, to be prosperous and successful in this country.

The left, they're trying to push these socialistic ideas where you don't have a job where somebody is giving you a handout. Do you want that or do you want a hand up? Do you want somebody to keep feeding you fish or do you want somebody to show you how to fish and you can catch your own fish? That's right. Do you want somebody just giving you a crumbs for you to make you a crumb cake? Or do you want somebody to give you the ingredients where you can make your own cake?

That's right. and I can eat a whole cake. And I just have the prongs. I just have to think about, you better think about your livelihood. Listen, listen, look at these other socialistic countries. Venezuela ain't doing good. These people, they took away their guns and now they're throwing rocks.

That's right. Took away their food, now they're eating zoo animals. You want to be, you want that to be us? Heck, no. We can't have nothing like that. That's right. This is the United States of America. Listen, we are the greatest country on earth.

That's right. And baby, by golly, we got to stand up for our country. We can't let that slip into the crevice of what's going on around here. Because if we do, if we look the other way and act like we don't see none of this, before you know it, we're going to be slaves again, all of us, even you. Oh, oh, and everybody out there. We are going to be saying. It's going to be just about black folks.

It's going to be a slave. Let's not go there. Yeah, so we don't want to go there. We don't want to go there. We don't want to go there. We don't want to go. That's what socialism is. It's another form of slavery.

That's what people have to understand. That's right. We don't want to create free thinkers. Come on, wait a minute. What are you all pushing here? Wait, wait, wait, wait. Just think about it. And then think about the economics.

Who's going to pay for this stuff? Free college. That's right. What about free college? Who are going to pay for? But when you give me free college, now you're telling me you're trying to control what I learned. Right. That's what the slave masters did back in the day to our ancestors.

It's another form of slavery. Why is it in this country we only have 1%? and rich and everybody else is just barely getting by. It should be the other way around. If you teach people about capitalism, pulling yourself up, it's okay to obtain the American dream instead of vilifying the rich and demonizing

everybody that want to get ahead, then we will have that would twist and that would turn. As you said yesterday, it's about opportunity. It's about opportunity. It's not about giving out stuff. It's about giving people opportunity to get themselves. Absolutely. And that's what we have to teach our young people. Not be sitting around waiting

for somebody to give you something. You know they brought in warfare. They brought in stuff to end up to de-industrialize. The community.

That's right. They put liquor stores on every corner. Every other corner abortion clinics all for black people to destroy themselves. Another form of

slavery as far in the mind. Because they have these things for you to destroy yourself. I don't want there's time for that to change. I want to see

every American thrive. And let me tell you something. We're not immigrants. We were born on this soil I didn't come over here on no boat I didn't cross no border

My mama and my father My mama had me right here in the United States So we deserve the American dream Have you seen two ladies who love America More than these two? I mean right to these I mean you love America Oh yes

How much do we love them? Thank you all Okay I want to give a shout They got a book coming Oh yes Can you tell us anything about it? It's a top secret Well, no, the name of the book is called Uprising. Uprising.

Who in the hell said you can ditch and switch the awakening of diamond and silk? That's right. And buy it when? Listen, let's do our August 2020, but you can pre-order the book at diamond and silkbook.com. That's right. Ladies, we love you. We love you more. Thank you.

Thank you for what you're doing for America. I mean, you're just, you're blessing it. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Thank you, everybody. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you for listening to The Daily Signal Podcast. We do appreciate your patience as we record remotely during these weeks.

Please be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or Spotify. And please leave us a review or a rating on Apple Podcasts and give us your feedback. Stay healthy and we'll be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Shrinco and Rachel Del Judas. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Fulia Rampersad, Mark Geine, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailysignal.com.