The Dan Bongino Show - Interview Brian Kilmeade (Ep 1124)

Episode Date: December 3, 2019

In this episode, I interview Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade about his time in the media spotlight and about his new book “Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History“   Copyright Dan Bongino All Rights Reserved. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Get ready to hear the truth about America on a show that's not immune to the facts with your host, Dan Bongino. Welcome to Interview 3, my interview series for the Dan Bongino Show. I'm really excited about this one. Interview 1 was Donald Trump, the President of the United States. Our last interview was Don Trump Jr. Today's interview is with a good friend of mine, Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade. Ladies and gentlemen, this interview goes in a lot of different places. You're not going to want to miss it. We talk about Brian Kilmeade. He asked from Fox & Friends his relationship with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Yeah, I was shocked by that one, too. We talk about what it was like to be on the air live during 9-11 and his great new book about Sam Houston, The Alamo. It's just terrific. You're not going to want to miss it. All of the nuggets in this book are just incredible. The interview goes about 25, 30 minutes long. I think you're really going to like it.

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Go today. Without further ado, my interview with a good man and a good friend, Brian Kilmeade from Fox & Friends. Check it out. All right. I'm really excited to have our third interview, our guest here, a good friend of mine, Brian Kilmeade. You probably all know him.

I'm sure most of you do from Fox & Friends. Brian, thanks a lot for joining us. I really appreciate it. Yeah, Dan, you're one of the few guys who could take me in a fight at Fox News, so I had no choice but to submit to your request. Yeah, I'm not sure. I've heard you've got ninja-like stealth moves that you're keeping on the sideline after debate guys like me, and so I'm not buying it.

Right, so you think I need speed to evade your power. That's interesting. That's interesting. That's right, right. It's like that last Rocky movie when he gets in the ring versus Antonio Tarver. They tell him, listen, it's all about power now, Rock. You're too old. You're too old for this speech.

That's me. You know, I'm all power, no speed. Okay, good. You know what? Then we won't have to drop it. We won't have to drop the gloves and go at it. No, but I can't hit you with your book, which I'm playing.

I'm posting here on our YouTube, youtube.com slash Bongino. Brian Kilmeade's new book, an amazing book, as all his other books are. Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers, who we put in a graphic up on the screen throughout the interview. Brian, before we get to the book, I've got a ton of questions on that. You really tell the Alamo story in just an amazing way. I mean, this is one of the iconic American stories. A couple of things about you. My listeners know they see you on Fox and Friends every morning,

but interesting story, man. I'm grappling one day in one of my Brazilian jujitsu classes, and the instructor, this guy Harlan, really good guy, comes up to me and he says, you know, I love Brian Kilmeade. I said, yeah, he's great. He does a great job on Fox and Friends. He's a nice guy too. And he goes, interesting fact about Brian. He says, did you know he was one of the announcers for one of the original ultimate fighting championships? Brian, I swear to, I said, come on, Harlan, cut the crap. That's not even funny. He goes, I'm not kidding.

Go to YouTube. Is this true? Were you one of the originals in the UFC? Yeah, I did the first four. And I did play-by-play on the second or third one because the play-by-play guy froze, and he just couldn't do it. So they asked me to step in and kind of take over. I mean, I was in Los Angeles.

I was doing stand-up, believe it or not, for 10 years. And some of the people I met in stand-up in New York, well, I moved out to Los Angeles. This guy calls me up, and he said, Brian, you know, I work for a promotion firm full-time. You're the only guy I know who knows sports. When are you coming home? I said, Thanksgiving. He goes, all right, I guess I can wait. I go, why?

What's up? He goes, I got something that's really hard to describe. I go, what the hell? So the Friday after Thanksgiving, I go into Manhattan. I meet these guys, and they're music promoters. And it's Semaphore. And this guy says to me, watch this. And he goes, this is happening in Brazil right now.

You see the guy in the bottom? I go, yeah, he's actually winning. And watch. It goes on and on. And you see the reversal, the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. Then you see the fights on the beach. But I saw all Jiu-Jitsu, very few mixed martial arts. He goes, what we want to do is put Gracie Jiu-Jitsu against the rest of the world and prove it's

lethal. And the only way to lose is to get knocked out or choked out. I go, wow. As he goes, what do you think? I go, well, I go, it sounds crazy. He goes, we want to promote it as someone can die tonight. I go, are you crazy? You can't promote that.

Someone can die. So a few months later, I get a call and they say we're doing it we want you to be part of the broadcast and i go all right fine and they said i'll be around the octagon i go what is an octagon so they go we'll show you john melius designed it the apocalypse now pro producer so all right and do you have anybody to do play by the color and i said well my partner on radio is jim brown And he did the Zaire fight for him in Ali. He's done a bunch of fights. So he goes, can you ask him? So I go, Jim, would you do this? And Jim named his price. They matched it. They got a fly and we flew out to

Denver. Did you have any idea at the time it was going to turn into this multi-billion dollar enterprise? I mean, that night, Brian, you were part, I know you know this now, but to remind our audience, that changed martial arts forever. Prior to that, everybody thought you went to a karate school and you were instantly a great fighter.

And I'm not knocking karate. It certainly has its benefits. But after that night, people found out there were a whole lot of flaws in the martial arts game. People claimed to be the be all end all. It was fascinating because I like to study, but there was nothing to study. So I just watched these guys train separately.

And I'm thinking to myself, he looks stronger. I guess he'll win, but he's not as quick. And it became clear that 95% of fights are won on the ground. And if you can't grapple, you can't win. And if you can punch, you need to punch, but they got to be short punches. And we saw these guys come out. and you guys can watch the first few. The karate guys come out, and they're Gi, and they're trying to line up a kick, and they just get taken down.

Even though the guys can take a few blows, they get taken down, and they don't know what they're doing. On the ground, they don't have any idea what they're doing. Then wrestlers started to excel in it. And Gracie Giudice, I watched the guy, they fight four or five times a night. To win the championship, you had to win at least three, maybe four matches. So you watch a 180-pound guy fight 250-pound guys,

three of them, and win at the end. And by the end, Royce Gracie was kind of really beat up, and I forgot who it was. It was Kimo. Kimo, he grabbed his hair. Yeah, Kimo was UFC, I think, three. And he grabbed his hair and he eventually submitted him. But Kimo gave him a run for his money.

Kimo was a monster. Here's what my takeaway from this was. The tougher you are, the more docile and self-confident you are. You don't, even though these guys are lethal and they could win and they're so, they were the nicest guys. I go, wait a second. You know, the tough guys who can crush you, it becomes so obvious what they told you in grammar school. If you're really tough, you don't have to act it. And these guys walked around so humble.

They did it. Nobody was doing this for a living. They all did it because they just loved it and they wanted to test themselves. And the gentlemanship they showed, I mean, the deference to each other. I'm like, man, now I have a new definition of toughness. Yeah, I fell in love with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu that night and I never turned back. Quickly, before we get to the book, moving on here. You know, one of the more profound, deeply instilled memories kind of tattooed on my brain from

my short 44 years on this planet is obviously 9-11. You were on the air that day. I had this conversation with Steve Doocy as well. And I asked him over dinner one time, and I've been dying to answer. I told him I wanted to ask you this too. What was that like being in the studio on live television as this has happened? If you just walk us through what was going through your head, what's coming in your ear through the production thing? I mean, it's only the most consequential attack on American

soil in American history. And you're in front of a camera. What do you even say? Well, number one, we're watching a little bit in the break, the local Fox feed, and we see a plane at the building and we thought it was a small plane. And by the time we came back and you could see it on air, realize it was a big plane. And, and it was a very, a very clear day. And after we did it, we, we did it for 15 minutes. We're going back and forth, feeding our ear when the small studio that Bill O'Reilly used to use, smallest studio used to be a Sam Goody. So the tiny a tiny studio. The cameramen are right on top of us. Literally, they would be able to hand us papers on camera. You couldn't see it.

So we're able to, and it wasn't, everything wasn't online like it was. I mean, you're talking about 2000 and obviously 2001. So, you know, we're getting a lot of information through our years. So when one person's talking, the other two are getting information. And then when we get off, we watch, and the second plane hits. And then I convince the crew, because I was known mostly as a sports guy then, I convince the crew to go with me downtown. I go down and say, can you just give me a crew?

I want to go downtown. And we went as far as we could, and I finally get downtown. I look around, and it's like on the moon. There's nothing not white. It was like you're on another planet. All these papers were everywhere and everything is white. And as soon as I get to the truck where Rick Leventhal was, out comes David Lee Miller. And David Lee Miller goes, I lost my cameraman. I need your cameraman. And he was our breaking news guy. And I had to give him up. So my cameraman met me another hour, and we were able to do stand-ups around 9-11.

But as we're driving down, I do remember going down 6th Avenue. There was a guy in a short-sleeved jean shirt. I later found out from the Pentagon. And we'll listen to the 10-10 winds at the local all-news station. And then I see this guy. We pull over to shoot it right down 6th Avenue because it's the most unbelievable scene you could imagine. And this guy goes, starts cursing up a storm, and he said, I go, what's going on?

He goes, this hit the Pentagon. I go, no, they didn't. I was listening to the radio. He goes, I'm on the effing phone with the Pentagon. They just hit the Pentagon. And I'm going, oh, my God, what is going on here? So by the time we get down, we come back. By the time I'm done, we're all the way downtown. And I just sat there. They dropped the tape off.

We were literally using tapes back then. And I just walked 60 blocks back, 70 blocks back to Fox. And they said, you can't go home. And they found a hotel for us. And it was nonstop, you can't go home and they found a hotel for us and it was non-stop four hours no commercials you'd be have someone sit next to you on the set is a woman to your left she is look can't find her brother her brother worked at um at um uh lehman or whatever it was and then you turn to your left you talk and then they tell the other person okay the person on your right uh they were in the attack they got out of the building that's literally how we were doing broadcast for the next three weeks. You know, it was crazy. No, I can't even imagine.

I mean, me being a secret service agent at the time, we had you guys on on Fox all the time. I mean, we never deviated from the channel after that. And we were glued to the TV for just weeks after that. And, you know, I asked Steve the same question. I mean, being on the air when you just don't even have all the details. I mean, there were reports it was a bomb and then we saw the planes

and then remember all the reports coming in. They hit the White House, they hit the Capitol. I remember getting them in the Secret Service office and it was just such chaos. And to be on live TV and have watched, I mean, gosh, you must have, I don't even know what the eyeballs, 10 million watching you possibly more at the time and listening. Um, it just,

what a staggering responsibility. I'm sure that's a tattooed on your brain too. But I w but I was very cognizant too. I was in Los Angeles when they hit the world trade center the first time. Uh, I mean, I'm really into as as much as a civilian can, the war on terrorism and extremism. I was out in Los Angeles doing local television in the Inland Empire while doing all sports radio on the weekends. And I was just this bin Laden. I knew all about this guy. I read the book about this guy. I watched John Miller's interview with this guy.

I forgot the name of the Pakistani reporter that did the interview with this guy. And I couldn't believe that Bill Clinton never even visited the World Trade Center after. When he was in the Sudan, we never even went there. They hit the coal. We don't do anything. In 1998, they hit the embassy. And I'm doing mostly sports. And I'm saying to myself, what the hell is going on?

Why are we ignoring this? If you look back at the Gore-Bush debates, they don't even bring up al-Qaeda. So to me, in 1993, they said go up. And in 2001, they said go up again. And meanwhile, because they hit that down low, that was the exact, we needed the exact opposite advice this time. You know, Brian, one of the things I think people don't know about you that I know, having, you know, we've become friends over the years,

hear me doing Fox, is this is an area of interest to you that you are deeply impacted by. And one of the things I object to strongly being a contributor there, not a host like yourself, is sometimes I'll see people on Twitter. They'll say, you know, with Fox, ah, you guys are in the, it's just dumb because it's, and it's dumb specifically, it's even the conservatives or people I would say lean conservative. I'd never actually discussed with you your full political ideology. But you have disagreements with the president all the time. I've heard you on the morning news regarding Syria and other things. And I guess my question, because I get this from the audience, what is it like being on Fox & Friends, a show we all know the president glues his eyes to?

And, you know, on some issues, you have a disagreement. I've heard you vocally speak out, especially on Syria. All I'm going to say is I'm not arrogant more than the president. I'm not, all I'm going to say is I prepare. It's not a matter of me rooting for the giants or jets or, you know, said this, what I think I talked to, if I want to know security stuff, I talk about you. If someone, no one can unwind what happened leading up to this whole Mueller report better than you. So then I'll go talk to Papadopoulos. I will

talk to Carter Page. I'll try to find out the players involved. So what I did over the last years is I don't just interview these people. I get their cell numbers and I talk to them. So I know David McGee. I know Stanley McChrystal. I know Patrice. I'm not saying they're my friends. I don't even know if they like me. But they give me enough to the time of the day to unwind what this threat is and what's going on.

When the tactics are wrong prior to the surge working, I would talk to McCain on and offline. I talk to Lindsey Graham on and offline. I talk to people like McRaven who does not like the president. I talk to, like, General Keene, who does like the president, and when they coincide and they tell us the threat is real and we're doing the exact wrong thing, I am not going to hop on television and say, because the president's watching and he has so many enemies, I am going to not tell the truth. How could I possibly be in our interest to pull out of Syria and leave ISIS, worst of the worst, in prisons unguarded and and turn them over to the Turks, or leave the Kurds abandoned. If you want to get out, I get it, but there's a way to do it. You graduate out. You weave in the NATO soldiers.

You wait for the summit that's coming up next week. You inform our allies. His willingness to get out is great and it's pure. But how you do it has everything to do with the next attack on America. And listen, there was these guys getting knifed to death today in London. You know, there's going to be people attacked again. And what you got to do is you can't eliminate all the threat, but you have to put your thumb on these people. You turn around to the American people, explain what we're doing, explain where the money is, and let us know

with a thousand people how effective those thousand are. And they're not fighting every day, they're advising. And they are plotting and planning and arming. And the intelligence they get is keeping us safe here because we're unwinding plots there. I'm not telling you anything new. So if I hop on the air and I find out on Sunday a call with Erdogan, he's pulling out, and didn't even tell the Secretary of Defense, I can't pretend like that's a good move. On the other hand, what he's done with the economy, what he's done bolstering $770 billion for our military, reversing himself and not signing off on the Taliban in Afghanistan, all those are positives. But it doesn't mean I can back them on Syria. And to tell you the truth, putting 600 guys back in to protect the oil shows that I think that my theory

is correct, that leaving everything to Iran and Turkey and Russia for no good reason. Our guys, we had more guys die at Camp Pendleton in the last year than the last three years in Syria. guys died at Camp Pendleton in the last year than the last three years in Syria. So that's what I'm saying, Dan. It's like, one thing, I'm about the country first, as much as I'm pulling for the president. And I'm pulling for, I mean, there were things that Barack Obama was doing that were great. My brother's keeper was fantastic. His speech on race two or three times, especially after his reverend came out and said those ridiculous things, was extremely strong.

I appreciate his presentation and his charisma. I just don't like his domestic and foreign policy overall. But it doesn't mean I hate him and I'm not pulling for him. I'm pulling for the president every day, but I'm for our country first. Yeah, no, I understand. And I have some disagreements with you on that too, on the policy, but I get it. And I respect that it matters to you and it matters to you a lot. I watch Fox and Friends. I'm not just a guest on it. And I see your passion. And I think my audience respects that too. One final question before we get to the book. Again, we're talking to Brian Kilmeade, the author of this terrific book right here, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers. Go pick this up. This will open your eyes. We'll get to the book. And I said, just one final

kind of lighter note question. Whenever I do book signings, Pete, I get this question a lot about you. I've actually told you this in person, but my audience may want to know. Do you ever sleep? I mean, you do Fox and Friends. You're probably there at what? 4.30, 5 o'clock, probably earlier. Who knows? I'm up at 2.30. They're at 3.45. Figures. I mean, I feel it for you, so I'm never there when you're there. And then you go and do a radio show, and then you do your Fox Nation specials, and then you do book signings. I'm not kidding when I tell you this. I get this question.

If there's 100 people at a book signing, out of those 100 people, three or four or five will ask me, does Kilmeade ever sleep? Do you ever get tired, And do you take weekends off? Well, I've been off. This is a, well, I had a book tour and we're putting together a pretty impressive series of appearances in places that matter most. And that means outside New York, Washington and Los Angeles. So, but I don't sleep enough. No doubt about it.

That's my one weakness. I'd be, I mean, all honest. I think the question is, is a compliment because I know this then I've up until I got this job at Fox it took me 12 years to have this type of gradual success and I know it could go away tomorrow and this is for me not work I it's it to think I am so passionate about it I'd be the I'd be the most well-informed deli guy in the world or the most annoying waiter because this is what I'm passionate about. And for some reason, I've had a chance to do this for a living. And when they come up to you and say, we want you to do this series, What Made America Great, I say, of course I'll do it.

And I don't say how much or what. We work it out. And when they say, you know, this radio, Tony Snow went to the White House. Do you want to take over the show? You got an hour. Of course I want to do that. And then when they say, you know, when I had this George Washington secret six idea, and I show some people, it took me a couple of years and we finally get it sold. And that book does well. And they say, would you like to do another? And I'm thinking to myself, yeah. And would you like to do another? I go, okay. Give me two years. Yeah. And then now I'm on four history books.

And I show up at the Alamo, and I think, for what makes America great, I'm like, oh, my goodness, everyone in Texas knows this story so well. How do I make it different? And when these experts walked up to me and say, no one really tells the whole story of what led to it, and then what happened after the Alamo, why the Alamo matters, and then what about the remarkable victory? I said, okay, let me tell the Alamo story for Fox Nation, but what if the whole book is everything? What if it's the whole Texas

Revolution 60 years after our first? We're doing it again for the exact same reason. You know, it's interesting in the book. I know most Americans are obviously familiar with the contours of the Alamo story, many in very deep detail, most Texans are. But just quickly, if you could explain the odds here. Sometimes people don't understand what happened at the Alamo in the massacre

over this 12 days, as one of your chapters is at 12 days of indecision here. I mean, the odds stacked against these warriors at the Alamo fighting for independence there, the odds were just overwhelming. Santa Ana's army, this was one of the most powerful armies of the time, was it not? Yeah, and they're organized, and they have experience, and they got this experience for a total victory. They were under this theory that the way to win is to kill everybody, everybody, and do something horrific with their bodies, like you burn them, and you

say everybody from neighboring towns, spread the word, this is what happens to you if there's an uprising. And, you know, they would put up the black flag, and they'd go, no quarter, you're dead. And you fight to the death, victory or death. And essentially, when we cut a deal, just to give you a sense of what goes on, because people are going to push back on this and say we stole Texas. We never stole Texas. We had it in Louisiana Purchase. This horrible person named Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, both were convinced of it.

So we do this Otis Adams agreement. We say, we'll take Florida, you take Texas, Spain. And Jackson was beside himself. So was Jefferson. He goes, are you kidding me? We had Florida. They were going to leave anyway. They can't stop us. Why are you giving them Texas? Well, sure enough, they can't populate it. So it's by 1800, there's nobody there. It's full of Comanches and Apaches, and there's not enough people in what we now know as Mexico and Central America to populate it. So Moses Austin, the father of Stephen F. Austin, comes down. He's looking to remake himself.

Everyone was going bankrupt back then. I mean, it's unbelievable. You'd have everything and lose everything. No social safety net, obviously. So Moses Austin goes and cuts a deal. He says, listen, if I bring 300 families here, what kind of deal could you cut? And they go, yeah, you could bring them. No tax for 10 years. They got to be Catholic, and they got to adhere to our rules, and the rules are basically the Constitution that they're fine

with. So they bring in 300 families, and these families are clearing land. They're starting to form towns, and that's exactly what Spain wanted. Well, Spain loses their colony, and Mexico becomes its own country. So Moses, Stephen F. Austin takes over. His dad died. And he goes, guys, I just want to make sure we've still got that deal. And they go, no problem. Then in comes Santana and goes, yeah, we're throwing out that whole freedom and liberty thing. So you guys, we're going to send governors and mayors, and we're going to control you.

Well, how do you think Texans responded to that? They've got a thriving community. They're doing everything they're supposed to do. People are coming down for second chances, for new opportunities, running from the law. And they start going, excuse me, we're not giving up freedom and liberty. One of the quotes I have in the book is Santa Ana says, for a hundred, my people will not be ready for freedom and liberty for hundreds of years. Well, don't tell that to us. We just fought a war for it, and we're going to fight another one. After some early victories, Sam Houston comes in. He's perfectly qualified to do this. He says, guys, calm down. Let's form an army. We've got to back up, write a constitution,

declaration of independence. Well, our guys just go in, and they take the Alamo, and they take a standing army, generally coast, and they just force them right out. And they basically, instead of killing them, he said, just promise me you'll lay down your guns and not fight in this battle anymore. They give their word, but they go back on their word. And there is William Barrett Travis. There is some other great Americans there, and they're going to fortify the fort and keep it. Sam Mews goes, don't stay. We don't need to be caught up in one unit.

We don't need this area. Let's move out. So he goes, don't stay. We don't need to be caught up in one unit. We don't need this area. Let's move out. So he sends in Jim Bowie. He says, Jim, tell these guys to leave. They'll listen to you. And he goes back and cuts a deal with the Cherokee

and all these Indian tribes to stay out of the battle. And then he goes back to the Declaration of Independence. Well, when Bowie gets there, he sees this place thriving. He sees that sense of camaraderie. They had two early victories.

He goes, who's going to stop us? We're Texans. We're Americans. We're fighting for freedom. We've got the right thing on our side. Well, in comes Santa Ana. He wants to crush this thing right away. He brings in 3,000 guys, and they surround the place.

And William Barrett Travis is trying to get some reinforcements. No one's coming. So he writes these famous letters, listen, we need some help, but if not, we're going to fight to the death, victory or death. And these eloquent letters set up this mythical quality about this battle. They lasted 13 days. 180 guys killed over 1,000 Mexicans, some of their elite troops. And by the time they storm in and they breach the walls, they kill everybody, including Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Barrett, Travis, Shoddenhead.

They burn all the bodies. And instead of saying, I think this is his ultimate victory because he killed these famous Americans. Well, what do Americans do when pushed? They're not going to get intimidated. They fight. And he would shape the battlefield. And that's what I was shaped the battlefield the rest of the way. Yeah.

Matter of fact, I know one of the interesting portions of the book is the whole story behind these great Americans, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, who was only 49 when he perished there at the Alamo. And it's interesting. You say you would think it would have the opposite effect. I think Santa Ana overestimated this. This American hero, this frontiersman, Davy Crockett, the death of Davy Crockett, right? You'd think it would be a morale killer, but this eventually motivates the Texans to fight back and leads to what you describe further in the book, the eventual defeat of Santa Ana's army. And not only that, it's the Battle of San Jacinto. I find the exact tree, which is now known as the Witchway Tree. So you have to tell the toughest people on the planet who don't like discipline to retreat. Because he knows, Sam Houston knows, I got one fight. Win or lose, it's going to be one fight, and I got to win it. So we've got to retreat, train his guys, retreat, train his guys, gather more people,

keep their morale up at the same time, knowing he's basically the only one with military experience. None of these guys have even shot a man before. So they just, all they are is tough and motivated. And they have to move their families with them. It's called the runaway scrape. We find, and you see it in the special, and you could find it online. I put the, the witch way tree that Sam Houston stood in front of. And there's branches.

One points towards the American border. One points towards San Jacinto. And they go to San Jacinto. He says, we're going to fight. And they go. And they're still outnumbered basically two to one. And they look across, and there's Santa Ana and his army. And they think they're going to fight the next day.

But when they don't get up early and fight, everyone thinks, well, what's going on? Well, he gets up at 10, open up at 10. They have a war council meeting at 12. He goes, you know what? We're fighting today. We're fighting today. They usually need a whole day of daylight. You don't fight unless you can fight all day. There's no night vision glasses. So Santa Ana's people realized he doesn't think they're fighting. So these guys had marched all night to face Sam Houston. They were actually sleeping. So with a slight incline in tall grass, they charge in a formation that he had learned through his military training under Andrew Jackson.

And by the time the Mexican realized what's happening, they're defeated in 18 minutes. They're wiped out in two hours. The next day, they capture Santa Ana. And instead of killing him or hanging him from the highest tree, because they were in his camp, they open up his trunk. On his letterhead, I need you to tell the reinforcements to turn around. They do. The next thing he says is on this, sign over Texas. He goes, well, listen, I'm the deposed leader.

No one's going to listen to me. He goes, sign it over. Hands it over. So they go and they meet and they have a declaration of defense. They have a constitution. They hold out to Santa Ana for a few more months. And Texas becomes its own country for nine years. Not easy.

Always perilous. Mexicans want a revenge. The border was always chaos like it is today, but this time they were looking to penetrate and fight again. For a while, it looked like we were going to sign over with the British. The Texans were going to sign over with the British because Americans were waiting too long to annex. So all this happened in a matter of months from ultimate humiliation and annihilation to ultimate victory at San Jacinto. And we even have some reunion pictures of the battle. And it's kind of exciting for us because now I actually can use photos in the book.

And instead of a good sketch, you know what Sam Houston looked like. You know what William Barrett Travis looked like. You know what Davy Crockett looked like. So, I mean, to me, it's a whole thing I just find fascinating. Yeah, that's kind of hard, the's a, it's the whole thing I just find fascinating. Yeah. That's kind of hard. The pictures with George Washington and the secret sex. Yeah. It's hard to get the photos.

But we did the first, I think the first, um, Earl, I think the only picture we have is of Dolly Madison. And she must've been like 80 of the founding fathers and their spouses. I think that's the only one that exists. It's crazy to see Andrew Jackson. You know, he's in his last year, his life. It looks like he's lost all his teeth, but that's what he looked like. Folks, you can get this all in Brian's new book. Brian, one final question for you. Brian Kilmeade's new book, Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers for this incredible story. You can also pick up Andrew Jackson, The Miracle in New Orleans, which leads me to my final question. I know you got to run. You kind of addressed this in a book, the relationship between Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson, which wasacle in New Orleans, which leads me to my final question. I know you've got to run. You kind of addressed this in the book,

the relationship between Sam Houston and Andrew Jackson, which was a little bit complicated, was it not? Yeah, I mean, a couple of things. I think one of the paraphrases, if I can, from Andrew Jackson about Sam Houston, he goes, he never misses an opportunity to shoot himself in the foot. So he had unbelievable courage,

and he's a big guy, 6'4". Back then, it's like 6'8". And Andrew Jackson saw a lot of himself in him. And I opened up the book on purpose because my favorite movies of all time are the Rocky movies. I'm a very simple person. And I love when he always would flash back with the previous fight from Rocky I to Rocky II and II to III and IV to V and everything. So I'm able to flash back to 1814, Battle of Horseshoe Bend, where this officer fighting under Andrew Jackson has to go against these Creek Indians as tough as it gets, and they've got to finish him off in one night. So Sam Houston, leading the charge, gets shot three times.

They get an arrow into the thigh. So he gets shot, and with the arrow in his thigh, he's bleeding out. So they pull it out, they tourniquet, he's in sickbay, the night's falling, Jackson needs some help, he goes, who here can fight? And Houston gets up again, and gets shot again. He fights again, Jackson's like, who is

this madman? They don't even think he's going to survive the night. And when they show, they leave the lead in him. And the next day he survives, and the next day he survives, and they send him home. He lost 50 pounds. And then he'd get a commission and he'd see Washington burn to the ground. He learns two things. Courage has got to be calculated. And he learns how fragile our democracy and our country is. And for Jackson, he would take him under his wing for the rest of his life and lead him towards the governorship, the Congress and governorship of Tennessee. They would sit on his porch and James K. Polk and President Buchanan and Martin Van Buren, future presidents in Houston, used to try to

solve the world problems. And they always would come back to Texas. How the hell did we give up Texas without a fight? We got to get Texas. And it just lays the groundwork for what would be the Battle of 1836. And he's had so many ups and downs. And this thing, Dan, most people listening don't do things they regret. Most people listening grow as a person. And that's what you have in Houston. Drank too much, womanized, first marriage ruined, lived with the Indians, nothing wrong with that. He became the first American Indian advocate of high profile ever, and he lived with them on and off at Cherokees. It was his ability and trust within that community that allowed them to actually even fight in Texas and not have to fight on two fronts.

And the thing is, he drank too much, and, you know, he embarrassed himself a few times, but then he meets a woman, he stops drinking, he has nine kids, and he had the guts to say to the people of Texas, do not join the Confederacy. We have to keep this union together. And when they outvoted him, he quit. And when Lincoln contacted him in 1856, 1860, he should have run for president in 56, but he didn't. Lincoln said, if you want to fight and get Texas back, I'll give you people. And he said to the president, you know, I'm not that young anymore. He goes, if it was 20 years ago, I would have done it.

But I got to just lay this one out. And, you know, he was about the union first. That's what Jackson. And he made mistakes. He was mentored by a lot of great people. He was a young man. He was a bad farmer and a bad clerk. He was a bad student that just basically started being harassed, went and lived with the Cherokees,

and then signed up for the military, met Andrew Jackson, and changed his life. And I think people can relate to these type of stories. You know, maybe for some reason you don't resonate with your parents, but you meet a mentor, and it just changes the direction of your life. Oh, yeah. Redemption stories are evergreen. I mean, everybody loves them. And Brian, candidly, nobody tells these stories better than you. There's a reason your books

have all been mega bestsellers. This has been a huge hit. Ladies and gentlemen, we've been talking to Brian Kilmeade, again, the author of this just wonderful book. Can't recommend it highly enough in the Dan Bongino Show. Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers. Please go pick it up today. Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore, and support Brian also. His books are great. Keep them telling American history. We love Brian. Brian, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your local bookstore, and support Brian also. His books are great. Keep him telling American history. We love Brian.

Brian, thanks so much for taking the time. I know you were super busy today. And I'll see you on the air every Monday morning on Fox & Friends, buddy. Absolutely, Dan. Continued success. It was a privilege to be on this podcast that everybody's talking about. Oh, thanks, pal. I appreciate it. I love my audience, and they love us back.

So thank you so much, Brian. Have a great rest of the day. Take care. You too, Danny. Go get him. All right. Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that interview. Brian's a good guy. As you can tell, I was kind of surprised by when someone told me he was the first announcer for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I had no idea. So that backstory was fascinating. I wanted to ask him about that. Next week, we will have an interview with Greg Jarrett. Yes, Greg Jarrett. I think Greg and I, I'm pretty sure, wrote the two best-selling books on the Spygate, the Russia hoax debacle. I'll be interviewing Greg about his new book, Witch Hunt. I promise you, it's going to be an absolute manifesto on the Spygate, Russia hoax,

Mueller witch hunt disaster. You're not going to want to miss that. Thanks for tuning in. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, youtube.com slash Bongino. And I will see you all tomorrow. You just heard the Dan Bongino Show. You can also get Dan's podcasts on iTunes or SoundCloud and follow Dan on Twitter 24-7 at DBongino.