The Tucker Carlson Show - Willie Robertson: The Unlikely Origin of Duck Dynasty, Willie’s New Show, & Why Trump Won

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

The great Willie Robertson. (02:30) Willie’s Family and Spiritual Journey (13:58) How the Robertson’s Shared Their Faith Through Duck Dynasty (27:00) The Unlikely Origins of Duck Dynasty (39:29) Tucker and Willie's Bird Hunting Trip (52:27) The Booming Duck Call Business (1:10:00) Willie’s Story of Meeting Donald Trump Paid partnerships with: Alp Pouch Shop now at https://AlpPouch.com ExpressVPN Get 3 months free at https://ExpressVPN.com/Tucker Hillsdale College https://TuckerforHillsdale.com Take a free online course today Jase Medical https://Jasemedical.com Promo code “Tucker” for extra discount  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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has concerns about gambling, visit connectsontario.ca. Yeah, I was on the five. I remember. No, I was on over, what do they call it? What's the one with the women? Oh, Outnumbered.

And I was up there. They used to bring me up there all the time because Duck Nights was so popular. With our viewers, it was popular. Yeah, and the girls on that show, they were laughing. They said, oh, this guy, Donald Trump, says he's running for president and all that. And they're laughing, and they're kind of making it like it's a joke. They came and they said, what say you, Willie?

And I said, tell you what, I think he's resonating with a lot of people. And you could just see him like, oh. Like they thought I was going to laugh and be joking. I said, don't underestimate the power of celebrity. Because I was like, I'm just new to it. But man, when everybody knows who you are, it's a big advantage. Because the thing about Kamala Harris, she was a vice president for three and a half years. No one knew how to say her name. Including her., she was the vice president for three and a half years. No one knew how to say her name.

Including her. And she was the vice president. Welcome to the Tucker Carlson Show. We bring you stories that have not been showcased anywhere else. And they're not censored, of course, because we're not gatekeepers. We are honest brokers here to tell you what we think you need to know and do it honestly. Check out all of our content at TuckerCarlson.com. Here's the episode.

When they got elected or whatever it was in 2020, I totally by accident, I pronounced I called her Kamala.ala yeah which is what i thought her name was and the white house press secretary attacked me as racist which okay fine but it really was i would admit it was totally accidental right and so this kid on our staff found tape of her calling herself kamala and then Kamala. And I just thought, who can't pronounce her own first name? If you were like, I'm Willie Robertson, I'm Will A. Robertson. You know what I mean? It'd be kind of weird, right? Hello, I'm Wiley Robertson.

No, I mean, I think it's fair to settle on a pronunciation of your own first name. So one of the things I've never hunted with you before, you've become famous for bird hunting. You're an excellent shot. I just want to confirm that for people watching. It's not fake. I've got to make my dad and brothers watch this. It's true. So that they know that.

No, it's true. You are. But you're not. You've become famous from television. I just want to get right to it. You've written this book, Gosspeller, which is not about hunting. It's kind of. What's it about? Hunting for people. Hunting for people.

Fishing for people, perhaps. Turning darkness into light one conversation at a time. Yeah, that's kind of this book this year. And this was kind of the one I wanted to write. It was like, before I die, I want to write this book. And it's really about my faith, the faith that was passed down, the first chapters, my mom and dad's story about how they got their faith. We put out a movie last year called The Blind, which was their journey in faith, shot in the late 60s, 70s. And that was a bad, he was a bad guy. And in what way?

Oh, he's just, well, he called himself a heathen. He was just a bad dude, you know, just into everything he shouldn't have been into. He's married. He's got this young family. He's drunk all the time. He loses his job. He ends up running a bar.

And all hope literally was over. He had kicked us out of the home. He's a bad dad. He's a bad husband. What do you mean, kicked you out of the home? He kicked Mom and us out of the house he's or out of the trailer really yeah and um yeah and so um and the one person who didn't give up on him was my aunt jan his younger sister and she she'd go up to this bar he was running dad has like a master's degree

he was a could have went professional, quarterback. He played ahead of Bradshaw in college at Louisiana Tech. Gifted athlete, had everything ahead of him and just pretty much throws it all away. And so my aunt would go up there and pass out little Bible tracts. She was a very charismatic Christian, and he hated it. He was like, stay out of here. And she begged this preacher to go preach the gospel to her brother. And I write in the book, I can just imagine this conversation, because the preacher's in Louisiana.

The bar's in Arkansas. And I'm sure it was like, can you share the gospel with my brother? He's wayward. And he probably was like, yeah, tell him gospel with my brother? He's wayward. And he probably was like, yeah, tell him to come to church. We'll meet after. He's not coming to church. And you'll have to go see him.

What does he do? He runs a bar. In Arkansas. Yeah, which one in town? It's not even in the state, you know? And this guy gets in his car and drives to a bar, walks in. Where was the bar? With his Bible.

It was in Junction City, Arkansas. And it was rough. It was a bar, walks in. Where was the bar? With his Bible. It was in Junction City, Arkansas. And it was rough. It was a rough, rough spot. It goes that side. And it was adversarial. The guy goes in. Phil does not want to hear. He's not even invited in there.

And I knew the preacher up until he passed away. And he says, your dad's sitting there. He said, he's got a pistol in his belt and a giant Budweiser. And he's about half lit. And the dad looks at him and says, what you selling, preacher man? And so the guy sits down. And nothing happens. Phil doesn't.

There's no conversion. There's no just as I am bar baptism. Phil just said, I'll keep that in mind. And so he leaves, and Phil's life even goes more in the tank. He ends up, the state police showed up to arrest him. He goes and lives in the woods for six months, I think. He was that guy. What were they arresting him for?

He had put two people in ICU, beat them up over a a bar dispute he just takes off lives in the woods says come on and out there is when he he um he got really sick and nobody you know everybody was trying to figure out where he was and but he was got a wife and kids at this point well then they let mom end up moving to they moved to louisiana and we're pretty much like hope he doesn't die you know but it's over you know he's already kicked us out and um and then he comes dragging back up into that town and he pulls up to where my mom was working she has a new job and trying to move on with her life and and she's like call the the police. Like, oh, no, he's, you know, he's a beard. He's living in the woods. And he pulls up, and he's crying.

He said, where's that preacher? I need to talk to him. And that's when Phil became a believer right there. So that's the first chapter in the book. So how long did it take your mom to take him back? She took him right back. It was amazing. You know, I always said if it weren't for dad

changing his life but also if it wasn't for mom forgiving him and yeah it's easier to change your life than to forgive someone who's abandoned especially when you're just saying it yeah and who knows you know i'm sure there probably wasn't the counseling that we had you know they just yeah no yeah she but she needed help i mean she's got three young boys and at the time three, and, um, I was the youngest at the time. So in the movie I'm portrayed, I was very particular on who played me in the movie at two years old. I mean, you gotta get that part, right? Oh yeah. That's gotta be a handsome toddler. Was it? It was, uh, my grandson played me. My grandson played me about his great grandfather. It was awesome. That's fine.

It's fun to watch that movie. It's a hard movie to watch. And dad didn't even want to do it. It was tough for him to go back and relive that, just pull all those. But we said, dad and mom, too, both, we just said, I think this can help a lot of people, a lot of people who are in similar situations. So, yeah, they stayed together. And so the first chapter of the book is that. And so if you think about it like this, like 50 years ago that happened. If that doesn't happen, this family does not stay together. If the family doesn't stay together, there's no Duck Commander.

There's no Duck Commander. There's no Duck Dynasty. There's no podcast. I don no duck commander there's no duck dynasty there's no podcast i don't know where i would be my whole life would look completely different and so part of the reason for us being still so excited about our faith is because we feel like we owe everything we have to our had it not been for faith it would have been over you know marriage was over you know who knows so do you i mean do you remember a time before your father was a christian to your brothers they do they do i don't really everything i remember was was great and and he went from you know darkness to light i mean he literally

it's kind of like saw and paul in the. It was like this old person, and then he just turned and just went, I mean, just full blaze. And he just wanted to share the gospel with everybody he knew. Because I guess he had lived, and he said, I live so bad, and I've got to go help these people. And so he became known. He became a known gospel-er, just known for preaching the gospel to everybody. A gospel-er is someone who preaches the gospel. It is. It's a the gospel. It is. It's a real word.

It's an old word. Have you ever heard of it? No, never. I've never heard of it either. So I'm writing this book. It's 2020, you know, COVID. I was like, I want to write this book. And so it was about sharing your faith.

And my wife, who's way smarter than I am, she comes in because I couldn't figure out what to call it. And she goes, Willie, I found this word. It's called gospeler. And it used to be very commonplace. And it was not necessarily pastoral. It was just like common folk who were just known for sharing the gospel. And it simply means somebody who shares the gospel with people, either publicly or personally. And it didn't fall short of me that the word is literally a dinosaur.

No one's ever heard of it. But at one point in America, in Europe, this was a common word. And they were called known gospelers. I found a law. I want to say it was up in the Northeast where it was like, nobody can stop a priest or a known gospeler from preaching on the town square. It was actually in a law. Like that word was in a law. Amazing.

Isn't that cool? Yeah. So she found the word. So how did you grow up? Like did you grow up in a world where Christianity was at the center of everything? Oh, yeah, for sure. Number one. Number one, no doubt about it.

So it wasn't like, oh, we should try to go to church. It wasn't. It was, you know, every, and we had so many Bible studies that it just really went all week. Like, because what happened, we would, once you're kind of known for that, so people would bring people down to the house for Phil to talk to. And there was the most wayward people. It was like murderers. It was the craziest people ever. And Dad would just go. No matter who they were, he would just sit there on the couch.

And he'd feed them supper. And then he would jump into the Bible and just. I mean, it was Fridays, Tuesdays. Really? All the time. Yeah, all the time. And then Dad started teaching Bible classes. So he would teach his Bible class on Sunday mornings.

But he would just study like crazy, like just a crazy person. And my father's never owned a computer. He's never owned a cell phone. He doesn't have a cell phone? Mm-mm. How do you text him? You don't. Just like saying that.

You go find him. So I call, and I'm like, there's a dude. There's a dude down there near. So you call him, but you. You go find him. So I call, and I'm like, there's a dude. There's a dude down there near. So you call him, but you've got to go find him. He's like in the woods. If you want to track him down, you've got to go find him. Does he still hunt? Oh, yeah.

But yeah, then Dad would just read and study. He was just thirsting for knowledge. He loved the knowledge knowledge but then he loved trying to to share that and that's kind of the point of the book is just turning darkness into like one conversation at a time and that that the tagline comes from it's funny how my business mixed with my faith so we have some new products uh for deer and it's this this feature where you can you click a button so right at that time where it's real dark. And it's this feature where you click a button. So right at that time where it's real dark, you know, it's getting a little dim, still legal, shooting hours.

And it just, boom, it just goes, turns it into, it's daylight. It's crazy. How? What is it? It's pulling light. Whatever ambient light is, it's pulling in. Right. It's amazing.

So we had this new product. So I'm looking at all the marketing material and they had on there, turn dark into light. And when I saw that, I went, that's the tagline for my book, Turning Darkness into Light, one conversation at a time. So through a conversation, meaning had the guy not gone and shared with that, you know, he was the one that actually planted the seed or shared with that. And boom, that's where it started, just that conversation. And then I watched hundreds and hundreds of other people just through a conversation lead to a life change. And so what I wanted to do was go through the book and go through kind of how to do that. Because a lot of people, they're so intimidated.

They don't know what to say. And they like the idea of it. And they're like, well, I hope somebody tells somebody about their faith or about jesus but it ain't me and i don't know how to do that i don't it's like i don't know where to start i don't know the bible enough and so we kind of disqualify ourselves from a lot of those uh for a lot of those reasons and um so i just tried to go through and tell stories and i'll pull stories from the new testament just conversations like especially conversations, especially in the book of Acts. That's where you're really seeing kind of the church meet with the world.

And just pull the conversations like, this is what they said, and this is how you could share with others. So your family, despite living in a very rural area, you've got a duck call business, and you're seriously Christian, you wind up in television. Yeah. Which is like the opposite of all of that. Yeah. So how do you have the, so the crew comes in from wherever, you're meeting with the studio executives from wherever, but not from West Monroe, Louisiana. No. How do you begin a conversation about your faith with someone like that?

Well, it was obvious. I mean, I think the faith just comes through in every—it was going to be hard to separate that, separate the faith. But I understood television enough to know that it can't just be a sermon. You know, it's got to— Right. And we live our lives. We're not seeing the people who run television, I have noticed from spending a lifetime there, not super receptive to the message.

They weren't as, you know, a lot of people ask me that, like, we ended every show with a prayer. And I almost get this, like, weekly, it's like, I bet they didn't want that prayer. But that wasn't the case. They were like, oh, that's cool. You know, like. Good for them. Yeah, it wasn't a battle at all.

It was just a good way to end the show. They knew faith was important to us. And that's how we ended every show, was with that prayer. But there wasn't a lot of resistance at all from that. But I think people, they thought that was the case. No, I love hearing that it's not. Yeah, and it really wasn't. It was like, and then once it works and once it's the biggest show ever in reality TV,

they're just like, oh, we love that prayer. That was our idea. No, it worked. And so once we talked about how to do it. And my father, he was so funny with the show so when i went down to tell him i said dad we you know get this idea doing this television show and he hated it he's like i don't want to do it you know and um uh i said well the idea come from i said it's a way to get the gospel out to more people and literally that's what i told him

and he sits in the chair he goes hmm i've never thought about that he goes you think it can i said i don't see why not he gives a thumbs up and he's hmm, I never thought about that. He goes, you think it can? I said, I don't see why not. He gives a thumbs up, and he's like, all right, we'll do the TV show. If it can get the gospel out to more people. So you do a show like that, what are the mechanics of it? Because it seems like it would take over your life completely. It does. So how does it work?

It's a lot of, well, we didn't know when we started. We had no idea. I get an email. So we had done another television show on the Outdoor Channel. And in the same way, like, it was my wife's idea. Corey watched reality television. Is she from West Monroe? She's from West Monroe as well.

She's from the city. I'm from the state. So she says she's watching westman as well she's from the city i'm from the state so um so she says uh she's watching all this reality television and she said uh willie i think i think your family needs to have a reality tv show and i'm like that's not a compliment well when your wife says your family needs a reality tv show that's well that's what i said i said it's usually an attack that's what i didn't realize it and said, Corey, we're just normal people. And she goes, Willie, y'all ain't normal.

And then, so what? She was like, you guys are like, she goes, I've been with you for a long time. And where'd you meet her by the way? Summer camp, fifth grade. Camp Chioka. Camp Chioka. Yeah. Her, yeah.

I saw her sitting on the swing. So her grandfather and father were business guys, very successful business guys. And part of their charity work, they had built this summer camp. And so now that we're new believers, my parents are, that was a new thing. Like, now we're going to church summer camp, you know. And we'd never been to church. And we couldn't even afford it. So when we would pull up to summer camp, you know. And we'd never been to church summer camp. And we couldn't even afford it.

So when we would pull up to the camp, my mother had no money. And so we would have our bags packed, like we're ready. And she was like, all right, here's the deal. Y'all stay here. Let me go see if I can trade working in the kitchen for you guys to come. If they say yes, you're in. If they say no, we're going back to the house. And we're just like, please say yes.

What's funny is it was my wife's parents who were making the decision. As it turns out in life, I later married their daughter who ran the camp. It was the same camp I was hoping to get into. That's amazing. So every time they said yes, and so we would go. And I see this girl. She's on a swing, so I can see her to this day. And she's got this big giant 1980s hammer.

Who is that girl? And I said, oh, it's Corey Howard. Her dad and them, they're the ones who run the camp. And so I went over and talked to her. I invited her on the Moonlight Hike. And she said yes, and we went on the Moonlight Hike hike in fifth grade and we didn't keep dating we didn't and we didn't get married uh that year but um we waited when you got married 1918 you were 19 she was 18 correct i proposed to her when she was 17 i was 18 what her dad say

he didn't like it i bet he didn't he didn't like he didn't like it. I bet he didn't. He didn't like the idea of that. He wasn't a fan. They were very well off. They lived in the neighborhoods. And I pull up in this neighborhood, and I'm looking around. It's like mowed grass. They mowed their grass? Sprinkler systems. I'm just like, whoa, man, this is crazy.

I'm looking around, and there's not one visible burn pile anywhere. And I'm going like, what do these people do with their garbage? I didn't know there was another way. So we're going to have to talk, right? So he's like, and I know that. We went to church together, so I knew her family. But he just was like, oh, y'all need to wait, and you're too young, and we're just dead set.

We're like, no, we're getting married. So when we have a meeting, and he's a smart business guy, and he's got all these papers. He's got statistics and papers and files. I'm just sitting there, white t-shirt. He's blowing me away. He's making me so mad because I'm pitching vision, man. What was your vision? Christianity.

We're brothers. Come on, man. This is going to be great. He's like, you haven't thought about all these things in life. Finally, he just goes, he's getting so mad. He's like, I thought he was going to hit me. He's like, lean up on me.

He said, where exactly do you plan on living with my daughter? I said, I reckon I'll pull a trailer up in the back of Phil's house and we'll just live there for free. That was your vision? Not the answer the dude wanted to hear. And we'll burn our garbage in the yard like normal people do.

But it worked out. So last fall, I was out in Las Vegas, and I ran into Theo Vaughn, who's hilarious, and I wind up doing a podcast with Theo Vaughn, and I have a tin of Zin on the set with me, and he says, what's that? And I start joking about the product, nicotine pouches, and I say, in effect, this is a cure for erectile dysfunction. Totally joking, of course. Not serious.

Not a doctor. Never even think about making medical claims. I have no idea if that's true. I'm totally kidding. It's what we call a joke in the business. It's a joke. It's not serious. So I get home and there is a letter from the general counsel of Zinn written in the most supercilious, nasty, to whom it may concern, Mr.

Carlson or representative thereof. It has come to our attention that on a broadcast with a nationally known comedian you made an inaccurate health claim about our product. I'm like, what is this? What did I do? You should know that there's no medical study that suggests

that our product is an effective ED cure. And I i'm like are you kidding i made a boner joke and you're sending me a nasty lawyer letter it was the dumbest most humorless thing i've ever seen and it was instantly recognizable to me as someone who has worked at big companies most of my life it was the product of hr lawyer culture only like a pronoun company could issue a letter like this and it it was like, somewhere on this planet, somebody is laughing. We must make them stop. Call the general counsel, issue a nasty letter. And I thought to myself, I cannot believe I'm buying their product. I have nothing in common with these people. They can take a joke. They're stupid and they hate me

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Get groceries delivered to your door from No Frills with PC Express. Shop online and get $15 in PC Optimum points on your first five orders. Shop now at nofrills.ca. Wait, so how long did it take? 32 years later, we're still married. That's amazing. And we're great. I mean, so her parents' house and my house, literally, it's like a, I know you don't play golf, it's a pigeon wedge away from me.

And we were just right beside each other. Now? Mm-hmm. Yeah, I see them every day. Yeah. And I learned, most of what i learned in business i learned from him how many grandkids did you give him eight eight so far you have eight i have eight so he is oh how many eight grand great-grandchildren how many kids did you have with his daughter

how many kids oh how many kids do you have? Oh, how many kids do I have? Six. Six, okay. He's got to be pretty psyched. It's just the way you ask him. Sorry. I asked you backwards. Let me just start again. I have six children and eight grandchildren, so yeah. Amazing. But yeah, they're great.

And so we live, they're on the, and we all live right there. We're just all connected and live beside each other. So how long did it take you to win a yes from your father-in-law? I mean, it was after that night. He wanted me to come over to their house. And so Corey was, she was in college. So she wasn't even there when all this happened. She was in college.

I wasn't going to college. I was going to seminary. I was going to be a preacher. And so Corey calls and says, Dad wants you to come over. And I said, no, he's going to come pick you up and take you over to their house. I said, no. She said, why not? And I said, I'll have to walk home.

She goes, what do you mean? I said, oh, it's going to go bad. And I don't have a ride. I'm going to have to walk all the way back to walk home. She goes, what do you mean? I said, oh, it's going to go bad. And I don't have a ride. I'm going to have to walk all the way back to my house. It's like seven miles. I said, no, I'm not. Time to come over here. So he comes over to where I was staying.

And I was living with my brother at the time. And it was he and his mom and me. We were on the couch together. And my mother-in-law, she was in between us. But I did. I thought, man, I think he may punch me. And I was ready. I mean, I have three brothers and so I was like,

we just got to fight. Let's just fight. I was like, let's go, you know. But then it was after that night, they said, okay. And then I think just six months later, we got married. And we were driving to the wedding and and he said, you know what? I said what I said, and that's the way I felt. But now we're good.

And I literally never heard another word about it. Really? Yeah, he was great. So it was your wife that came up with the idea for Duck Dynasty. Yep. Then I had to go tell Phil. Because originally, it was on the Outdoor Channel. Yeah.

And I was approached by Benelli Shotguns at SHOT Show. Have you been to SHOT Show? Yeah. Yeah. So I was approached by them right after she said that. And they were like, hey, are you guys interested in doing like a reality TV show with the shotguns? And I was like, Corey just said we should do a reality TV show. And he goes, well, let's have a meeting.

And so we sat down, and they said, hey, we'll pay for production. You guys will be on the show. Thankfully, they had two guys that came in that they had just hired who were, they came out of reality television. So he'd hired them for their in-house, all their commercials and stuff that they do. And we love Benelli. I mean, we love the shotguns. So it was like, yeah.

And so we're going through the deals. And so right at the end, Corey says, she's such a smart business person. And I'm excited. I'm like, hey, our business is going to go up. So I go to Phil. I'm like, Phil. He's like, oh, it's a terrible idea. And I'm like, Dad, we'll sell more duck calls.

We'll be on the Outdoor Channel. Plus free shotguns. Plus free shotguns. I was like, plus free other stuff. I was like, this is the smoking deal. And so Corey says, so we're going to go up to Maryland. I think that's where they're at, Maryland. And we're going to have this meeting.

And Corey, she'd been reading these books. And she goes, well, I think they should pay off a talent fee. I'd never heard that word. I said, what is talent fee? She goes, like, they should pay y'all to be on the show. I said, Corrie, Corrie, Corrie, don't get greedy. Like, this is a gift. They're paying for production.

For shotguns. Yeah. And she's like, well, it won't hurt to ask. And I said, what? Okay. But I said, here's the deal. When you ask, if you get any weird sense, abort the mission, get out of it. Do not screw this deal.

So I was like, this is our big chance. You're going to ruin it by asking for too much. So we go in the meeting. Guy's going through. He said, okay, we'll start production chance. You're going to ruin it by asking for too much. So we go in the meeting. The guy's going through. He said, okay, we'll start production here. We'll do this and that. And he goes, I think we're about ready to go. And Corey's like, I have one more thing.

And I'm like, oh, golly. I'm like sitting there. And she's like, we're thinking you should pay the guys a talent fee. And he was like, oh, what were you thinking? And she said, we were thinking $30,000 a piece was going to be for the whole season. And I'm making $28,000 a year. That's my salary. What were you doing?

That was my job. I made $28,000 at Duck Community. But what was your job? Oh, at the Duck Call Company. That was my whole yearly job. I made $28,000. She just asked for $30,000 to do this thing, which would essentially double my pay. And when she said $30,000, I'm like, oh, my gosh, that's way too much.

And the guy literally just goes, yeah, okay, no problem. And I'm like, crap, we should have said $50,000. We should have said $50,000. She said $30,000. So then, and here's what kind of CEO I am. So we were excited. So we go back to the house. I go back down to dad's house.

Jason's there. We're all in the house and they're waiting to hear what happened with the TV show. And I walk in, I'm like, well, boys, we were fixing to do us a television show on the outdoor channel. And guess what else I got us? $30,000 a piece. I act like it was my idea. And everybody's just like, we were like, we did it.

It's over. We finally figured it out. We got free shotguns. We doubled our pay. We have to do a TV show. We have no idea what we're doing. And we launched into that show. What year was that?

This would have been probably 08. Yeah. Somewhere in 08. So we launched into the show and we were able to cut our teeth.

So we'd been making DVDs and hunting videos. Now we go on this TV with these boys from Reality TV were there. So we really learned how to do television.

You know, how to do you know, what was going to become ultimately Duck Dynasty. It was a different show. Half of it was just like hardcore guns and all that good. They were showing their products. But the other half was just like silly reality stuff that we just came up. And I kind of focused on that.

My brother and dad and then they did the hardcore hunting and then I was over there doing the hey we could show this and we're getting this wild crazy stuff we were doing and uh and the show was super popular like in in that world everybody loved it and uh we won awards and uh our sales went up more people were buying duck calls and our t-shirts so it was like hey we did it man and uh i had to sell them part of the deal was i had to sell half the advertisers so because then that that when you get your commercial then you have to go sell them so uh banali would say i have and i sold half of them and it was so funny like it was hard selling but ultimately it's going to be duck it was you know it's hard selling an ad for this thing. I ended up selling all mine.

I would sell my ads, and that was part of the deal I had to do. So then we get an email. I get a generic email, information at Duck Commander. And there's no telling how many of these just never even get looked at. Of course. It's a dude. He said, I'm a producer in Los Angeles. I've watched the show on Outdoor Channel.

He saw that show. I think you guys have a really big show. Give me a call. Left his number. Secretary comes in and says, I got this email. Somebody's sitting there from Los Angeles. She said, do you want me to throw it away or do you want me to respond? And I looked at it and I said, I'll respond.

So I respond and say, hey, this is Willie. What are you thinking? And I get on the call with him and, man, he's a fast talker. He's L.A. He's like, Willie, I'm telling you, this is going to be the biggest show. I'm telling you, I've got something this big. You have a really big show. We got to take this thing bigger.

This is on cable. And I'm thinking, this guy's full of crap. I said, you think so? And he said, Willie, you will not be able to walk down the street without everybody recognizing who you are. And I thought, this guy, he's laying it on thick. And so I said, so what do we need to do if we were to do that? He said, well, make a sizzle reel. Now, fortunately, we had just done, like, three seasons of this show.

So we took three minutes. And then he started pitching around the networks. And there was a lot of interest. You got to remember, this is the time Louisiana, the tax credits were big. Like, before Georgia had it. Louisiana was kind of the hotbed. And there was tons of shows. I mean, our state is like, there's so much culture and just fun people in our state anyway.

And so you had Billy the Exterminator, Swamp People, Sons of Guns. All these are Louisiana shows. Bayou Billionaires. There was tons of shows being shot there. So if you had anything in Louisiana, because they knew they could go, say, 40% in this state. And he saw it. And we were on the Outdoor Channel.

He saw it. And then I know where it comes A&E. I didn't really know anything about A&E. I didn't watch, didn't even know what it was. And he said, A&E is interested in two pilots. And I'm like, what does that mean? And he says, well, if they pick it up, that's where we want to be. It's a good mixed audience.

Like, men and women watch A&E. Big company, you know, combined with History Channel, ABC, Disney, all this. And ESPN. And so he said, the problem is if they pass on his dad, like, because then everybody would just say, oh, they passed on him. Yeah. And so we shot two pilots for A&E. Had no idea what we were doing.

And then the film crew got giant. You know, they sent down this huge crew. And we had no idea. And we just kind of went into it and didn't really know what we were doing. So what's it? And didn't know if it was good went into it and didn't really know what we were doing. And didn't know if it was good or not. I didn't know. And so what was interesting was they didn't know what exactly they were getting. So if you kind of just looked at a picture of us, you'd be like, I think they thought we grunted and like, all right, whatever.

And couldn't speak English. So they didn't like, you know, and couldn't speak English. So they didn't, they thought it was going to be like danger, like alligators are coming out of the water, you know. So they come down and so, so we shot the bios, we sent it off. And so they come, we're like, well, we have good news and bad news. The bad news is this is not the show we were ordering, like at all. We were all shocked. And we're like, uh-oh. They said, the good news is it's way better than what we thought we were getting.

And they were like, this is a family show. Because nobody had put us in any category of family show, even though we were a family. But it was like, they just didn't. I think they thought kind of like, we're going to laugh at these. But, you know, these are. And they just totally didn't. It was a honey boo boo thing. Right.

They didn't realize, right, that, because some of their ideas initially, some of them, it was like the women folk are out, you know, getting the possums, you know, and skinning them out. And my wife's like, these women folk do not, we don't even go in the woods. But they saw, and then there was this comedy, this real, because the first show we did on Outdoor Channel wasn't really funny. And once we saw this kind of comedic thing come out, that's what, I mean, that was what really, I think, set it apart was, it's funny. It's a funny, you know, something you can laugh, you know, it's a funny show. What's the, can laugh. It's a funny show. What's the process of filming it? Well. You said your house got descended on by a swarm of producers.

It was, yeah. So we shot in all our houses, especially mine. Especially my house was kind of the... Because the show was kind of... We didn't know any of this going in because we didn't know what we were doing. But it was kind of shot through my eyes. And so you would have like Willie's dad, Willie's wife. So you're watching, as a viewer, you're watching it through my eyes. So I was supposed to be the normal guy. I'm the normal person.

And then everybody else is crazy. You know, chaos is happening. And to some extent, they are crazy. And so, yeah, some people, they're just kind of like themselves. Like my father, Dad never understood what exactly we were doing. Like he never understood the show. He never liked it. He never understood it.

He told me early on, he was like, well well tell him we need more preaching on this show i said dad there's another robertson family with a show like that it's the 700 we're not that show like this is this is not that are you related to them by the way he was like uh i'm not no i'm not not that uh they haven't asked me for money so i guess i'm not everybody related to me it's asked me for money, so I guess I'm not. Everybody related to me has asked me for money. You're like an NBA player. So, yeah, he never quite understood the show. So my dad got so mad one time.

He thought it was so goofy and we were just being stupid. So we sit down. This is my favorite thing that ever happened to Doug Gnosty never got shown so we had this dinner scene every time you know yeah and so we're on like episode 80 you know and you know the part of tv is you know you got these kids they come in from la they're 25 years old and they're telling you what to do you know go you don't look right yeah it's just it's kind of weird when you become the CEO of your company and do all this. Now you're listening to people you don't know, and they're telling you what to do. And so I think my dad had gotten a little past the point of that at this point.

I bet pretty quickly. So we're setting all the table up, and we're just sitting there. We've done this a thousand times. And Jib's on the table. And I'm like, okay. Everybody, right? And so the little young producer's like, okay. And Mr. Phil, you'll pray action. So we bow our heads.

And Phil said, Father, I pray for these bunch of heathens from Los Angeles, California, with their latte coffees and their filthy language. I pray you don't burn them all in hell for their sinfulness. Amen. Amen. We were laughing so hard because none of us knew that was coming. None of us realized. And so we all look up and we're just like, look around and go, what was that?

And this young producer, he never missed a beat. He was like, thank you, Mr. Phil. Now can we do another prayer that we could actually put on television? That never aired. Never aired, never aired. It was so funny. So, yeah, Dad didn't quite understand the way they were doing it. But, I mean, these cameras are in your house for, what, Dad didn't quite understand the way they're doing it.

But, I mean, these cameras are in your house for, what, months at a time? They are, but you know, well, it was like walking into here. Yeah. We're filming in here. Oh, that's a good point. Obviously, you know. And we're in a pheasant camp in South Dakota. We are in a pheasant camp. I was a little worried, too, about that.

I thought we did a bad idea. So we stayed up too late last night. That's true. We were telling stories. It was so fun. It's true. And I'm glad we did. So we get up this morning.

We go shoot tons of birds. Quite a few birds. Walked around. And then we go. I think I ate two pounds of meatloaf. At least. Yeah. You're saying at least I ate that?

No, I did. Okay, you did as well. I didn't look at your plate a lot and i thought that's not a good recipe for doing a long podcast i was like not at four in the afternoon after hunting in a big man but that was part of my demands though because i've heard recently about people in their podcasts and demands. Yeah, contract writers, yeah. And I said, I demand we have to fly to another state, shoot birds that morning. Yes. This should be every podcast.

And it was literally in the contract that you signed with us where you demanded lemon squares after. And I thought, that's a little much. Yeah. No, I said, let's just go. We have to go find somewhere to. Actually, this was your idea. And so thank you. It was my idea.

I was going to go to Maine. Yeah, but we don't have any pheasants in Maine. No, this was a better... Just grouse. Trust me. This was a way better idea. If you could... I don't know how many birds we shot this morning, but if you could shoot two grouse a day in Maine,

you're the best grouse hunter in Maine. Really? You're a good shot, too. I'm telling your audience. I would, too. I'm telling your audience. I would hope so. I'm telling your audience you're a good shot. I'm not half as good. I wasn't surprised.

I mean, I knew you hunted a lot. I'm not half as good as I should be after all the practice I've had, I'll tell you that. But no, it's actually, I missed a bird. The bird got too aggressive with me, and it intimidated me. And I always think, you know, when you're bird hunting, you're the pursuer, you're the aggressor, you're the predator. And when the bird turns it around and tries to fly up your nose, I just, I freeze and miss the bird.

Wow. And you had the gun. Because it's unnatural. I was here a month ago doing this pheasant hunting. I didn't grow up pheasant hunting, so we were poor. I have a pheasant come. He literally is coming at my face. And I didn't know what to do.

And I took the shotgun and I went back like I was going to hit it like a baseball bat. And if I had a little more cojones, I would have. Because the guide said, you should have done it. Oh, it was that close? It was that close. I think he'd been hitjones, I wouldn't. Because the guide said, you should have done it. Oh, it was that close? It was that close. I think he'd been hit. So he's coming down, and I'm like, he was just so close. And there's a picture, and you see me kind of like this.

And he just goes, shoom. And then I thought, why didn't I? Can you imagine? If you just grab him. The presence of mind. That's what separates the most out of that one. The just grab that sucker out of the air. That's an Aaron Rodgers move.

And I blew it. And one day, now I'm going to schedule months of pheasant hunting so I can get that same scenario to happen again. I watched my father get hit right in the chest on a driven peg shoot for pheasant when I was a kid, and it knocked him right down. He was turning, talking to someone, and the Pheasant just came in and hit him right, and just bam, and he's a big man. Did you grow up Pheasant London?

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Visit bmo.com slash VI Porter to learn more. We were poor. We were poor, too. Yeah, we were really poor. Oh, yeah, yeah. We were super poor. You were middle class, too. Oh, yeah. How did you get off of McDonald's to go work at New Year's?

I don't know. I've come a long way. Just bootstrapping it. So, what was it like to go from being maybe locally famous to nationally famous? Yeah, night and day. But it was, man, I'm so appreciative so we it was like we did just enough to get

comfortable enough to figure out what it is that you're doing and I love the you know the progression you know I think

zero to you know just like nothing to something but it was just enough like we knew just enough TV and then we had done some

you know stuff to where if we went in Bass Pro Shop, it was like, ah, there's documentary guys. But just enough. But then once we hit the really national spotlight, especially to the level our show was, it was crazy. It was just crazy.

It's not good for you. No. It wasn't good. No. In many ways. Business, it's not. Because wasn't good. No. In many ways. Business, it's not. Because business went crazy. And trying to do everything.

Because you're still trying. You have a business. You're trying to run your business. And then ours was really unique. Because the nature of the show looked like we were goofing off. Or everybody in the. Well, then I'm getting 50 you know, 50,000 orders. Well, we can't fill them.

And then I got people emailing me, I just saw you. I were goofing off. I just watched the show. It was like, that's really what we are. Go build some more duck calls. So then, yeah, I had to go, like, do a video going, hey, guys, look, Willie from Duck Nostia, we really are working. It's not everything you see on the TV show.

So what exactly happened that day? You know, exactly that day. So it was crazy. It was the first holidays we crashed our computer, I think, three times. It was so bad because they ordered their product. So we got their money. And then it crashed. But we didn't know what they ordered.

So we have your money. We don't know what you do. What'd you do? Just tried to put out saying, hey, call us. So they'd call and be like, I didn't get my order. And we're like, why don't you tell us what you ordered? Well, just generalize, whatever you think. Just spitball it.

We'll get as close as we can. We're just trying to ship stuff out. People are like, those are good problems to have. And I'm like, no, they're think. Just spitball it. We'll get as close as we can. We're just trying to ship stuff out. People are like, those are good problems to have. And I'm like, no, they're not. They're terrible problems to have. Just really overwhelmed. Just wasn't ready. And to think that when we did this show, we had this meeting, and my wife, Corey, says,

do you think we should order more duck calls? And I said, no, nobody's going to order a duck call. Even if you like the show, why would you need a duck call? I mean, if you're not a duck hunter, what are you? Was I wrong? Really? People were buying decorative duck calls? People were just buying any duck call.

Like, they just wanted that. What did they do with, I mean, unless you had a duck. Put it on a shelf. Well, it was just, they wanted a piece of the show, and that was the piece they wanted. How many duck calls did you sell? Oh, man, like a million and a half or something crazy. Duck calls? Yeah.

And the year before, we'd done 50,000. 50,000 to 1.5 million. That's crazy. It's insane. It's insane. We were working 24 hours a day. I had crews. I had everybody who could possibly.

How much child labor? Not much child labor, except for ours. We made ours work. What did your kids think of the whole thing? That's what I was. I mean, I think that's your big fear. I mean, your fear is how is it going to play with them? Yeah. I always say this. You know, in life, I've it going to play with them? Yeah.

I always say this. You know, in life, I've been able to do a lot of things. And most of the things my kids are going to do or have done, I've already done. You know, go to college, have children, get married, move. I mean, the only thing I had zero experience with was being famous at a young age. I understood it at 40, because I was 40 when the show came out. But being 16, I had no idea. And also, you've got the beginning of social media, too.

And so that's new as well. And so, yeah, I probably struggled you know with some of it and struggling certainly some aspects of it uh understood the good of it and you know figure out a way how to use it you know use what it was for for the good and then ditch the stuff that was so they're not mad about it now no they're not how many are are married? Four. Five. Five. How do you get your kids to get married so young? Yeah. I don't know. I didn't encourage it.

You didn't? Well, that was the day I told you about Corey's parents. You know, her dad's mad. All right, you're too young. This is what made him mad. I said, how old were y'all? 1918. Same age. I was like, you're the same age we were

when we got married. It was interesting because he couldn't say, oh, we waited. But no, they wanted to get, you know, they got around the same age and they got married as well. But it's not like I said, here's how we do it around these parts. Not at all.

They just, I don't know, you find the right one and then make a commitment and go. It's pretty great. Yeah. It really is great. Well, it's great because then you're young. I got eight grandkids. I'm a young grandparent. I mean, it's fine when you're younger.

You know? You're not. So how long did the show go? Five years, 130 episodes. Wow. Why'd they end it? There were a lot of reasons. I think, one, it gets more expensive.

It just keeps getting more expensive. Yeah. You know, everything goes up. You know, it's like. Your fees go up. Everything goes up. Well, not just ours, everybody, you know, production. Of course.

Everybody's going, hey, this keeps, you know, generating income. And so, you know, I'm assuming, assuming i mean i think it's probably like a baseball player like you're paying a guy 10 million dollars at first base he hits 25 home runs we could pay a guy five or a thousand maybe he'll hit maybe we hit 12 home runs and good enough we'll save them yeah and so i'm sure they're like we could make other shows um and some of it just played out i mean it like you just kind of run out of that like what's what are we doing that you know it's like you have you've got more kids and stuff it's like you've done so many i mean 130 episodes with two storylines is 260

story that's a lot of stories you know yeah certainly ready. I mean, we were ready for a break. It was a lot of work, man. I mean, the first year, man, we filmed 10 months that year. Yeah, this is not some couple-month deal. You know, this is not like that. How many days a week? The first year, we did six days a week. And we did even some Sundays, Sunday afternoons. Just getting it, man. We were just that's great for 10 months six days a week it was hard it was hard there's a lot but we were just

you know at that point we're like figured out and then they were just it became so popular they must have gotten close they wanted more evidence like we need more we need more we need more and so it's like keep making them keep making them, keep making them. And so finally, we're like, time out, renegotiate. And so part of that, we went to Monday through Thursday schedules. It gives us a day off, at least a day to go to the hospital, I mean, to go to the doctor, to go to stuff you need to do. Because it's not like you worked every day, but you're on the schedule for that long. So some days you may not be on that afternoon, but you won't know until it comes out on the schedule kind of where you're at. Did you ever feel misrepresented by the show?

No, because I kind of played a part. I had a part that I played on the show, and it was kind of consistent. It just kept me. It was authentic. I mean, it was like of consistent of it just kept me it was authentic I mean it was like I'm the CEO I'm the head guy and so I think in order to make some of it work you know you kind of had to have a bad guy you know somebody's like and I mean it's kind of the sort of comedy comes from you know it's like you think about like the stories you think about in school or in church growing up you know one of the funniest things it's like, you think about, like, the stories you think about in school or in church growing up, you know, one of the funniest things, it's when you're going to get in

trouble, right? Of course. It's like, oh, it's so funny, like, you can't stop laughing. So some of that was kind of like that, you know, let them do stuff, and then I'd be like, this is so stupid, you know, and like, because it was stupid, but, so I just kind of, you know, so for my role in it and and then i was also the guy that narrated you through the show so i had to keep you i had to keep you up on what was going on because because people get confused they get and if you get confused and if you don't if you can't

figure a show out you'll just change the channel of course because it makes you feel dumb yeah and you're like oh i can't watch this you know because i can't figure it out did you watch the shows we did i did i don't i never liked watching really myself not like watching speeches or other stuff but we watched that one together because half of the show i never knew what happened because it wasn't the parts i was in right to be like meanwhile down at the. And so I didn't see that stuff. And it was hilarious. I'd been watching it going, this is so funny.

Because I didn't know what it was. I was watching it with everybody else in the world. And so it was so funny. I would get so tickled at some of the stuff

they would do. So we would watch it together. We, like my family, would all get together. And the kids were younger, so it was cool for them to be able to see themselves on TV. How were they treated at school because of it? Different.

I mean, everybody's treated different. But they were... It was probably good and bad you know they didn't go to school as much as like they were out of school a lot so we had a teacher there on set just because it was a lot of days

so they weren't they just had to do a lot of the school Sadie did a ton of school from the house just because that's what she had to do but they were in a Christian school and they were pretty lenient. I mean, not on the grades. They were so lenient on they let them play sports,

and they could still participate and stuff like that, even though they were kind of doing school from afar. What year did it end, the show? 12 to 17, maybe. It would have to end at 17. I mean, at some point, you're going to run into the political problem, right? A show like that. Yeah.

When you say political problem. Well, I mean, I don't know. You know, you live in Louisiana. You run a hunting-related company, and you're Christian. So you're probably going to reach a different political conclusion. You're probably going to be pro-Trump, I mean, just judging by all that. That is true, yeah. There was Trump.

Yeah, most of the show was President Obama. Yeah. He was the president. And, yeah, Trump was right there. Did you dress it on the show? I don't remember that, Trump. No. No, we didn't.

We didn't. Because it kind of wasn't that kind of, it wasn't like really reality like that. It wasn't like you didn't see stuff from. Right. Like I remember we would be filming at a grocery store. We'd have to turn the magazines around because we would be on the cover of the magazine. But we're filming the show around. They'd be like, hey.

It's too fourth wall. Yeah, it was a little, it was a little. But yeah, Trump was, no, it was a little, but yeah, Trump was, no, that was right when Trump, yeah, I kind of, I stick my toe in the water a little bit on that one. On the air you did?

No, just in life. Yeah, just with Trump. Well, yeah. I mean, it's a different world now though, right? I mean. Well, in my mind, I was a little naive. I just thought,

well, this is cool. You know, I like Trump. I was a little naive. I just thought, well, this is cool. You know? I like Trump. I like when I first heard about it, I thought, oh, that's what we need. We need a business guy. We need, we got to get away with these politicians. We need a bit. That's exactly who we need.

And he had a reality TV show. So I was like, hey, he's like a. So, yeah. And so I meet him. You probably never heard the story. So first I met him. I was in Oklahoma City. My son was speaking at something.

I went to hear him speak. We had been elk hunting. Not my son, but me and a buddy were elk hunting. And the dude has a plane. I said, hey, can we stop in here? My son's giving us food. Yeah, cool. So we go in there and see him.

We're at lunch, and this guy said, hey, guess who's in town? I said, who? He said, Trump. He's doing one of his rallies. This is back 15. And he's doing these rallies. He was at the Oklahoma State Fair state fair and i was like oh we gotta go we gotta go this is awesome you know and i had just met don jr who's a hunter and

that's how i certainly is that's how we we met each other we just met and talked and uh uh so i i emailed him or text him and just say, hey, your dad's doing this rally. I was going to go check it out. And he's like, cool, I'll set it up. And I remember I got a police officer because I was like, there's no way I can go to this Oklahoma State. Like, I'm going to get mobbed at this place, you know. And I may be more recognizable than Donald Trump in Oklahoma City in 2015. And so I show up.

I have this cop with me. There's an RV in the back. So it's like an outdoor thing. There's an RV. So I get on this RV, me and my buddies and my cop friend. And there's these other people in there. There's a cater person. There's like cater person. There's a few people.

And this is a funny story. There's a dude on there. And he comes up to me. He's got an earpiece. But he's like got beach shorts. You know, who is this guy? I said, what do you? He said, can I get a picture with you?

I said, yeah. I said, what do you do? Because I get a picture I said yeah I said what do you do cause I didn't know who worked for Trump Trump's not there yet you know and he goes oh I do all kind of stuff

you know he said do you want to see my gun now I've been around you've been around enough has any security person ever asked you do you want to see my gun

no that's not a no it's not a thing. And I'm looking at this cat going, what in the world? So I take a picture, and Corey Lewandowski gets on the bus. He goes, if you ain't with Willie, get off the bus. And so these people started getting off the bus, right? And so here comes the whole entourage, you know, and Trump gets up.

First time I met him. He's like, Willie, Willie, did you say the crowd is huge? He goes, even for you, it's huge, right? I mean, this is a huge crowd for somebody like you, you know. And so I'm kind of laughing. My buddies are just like, this is the funniest thing ever. I look back on the, you guys can record this story. I look back. That dude

who said he had a gun is talking to Trump. He didn't get off the bus. And he's got like his book or something. And I could see like Trump does, he just looks. And that's back when he had those like giant security guards, you know, this is, he wasn't the president.

He used to have those like six foot nine guys. So Trump just gives us a look. There's a look here. They come to me and go, is that dude with you? I said, no, he's not with me. I said, and he said he had a gun. And when I said that, oh, they grabbed this guy like by the back and just threw him off the bus. And Trump said, these spies are everywhere. And so I was like, and they're all looking.

I could tell, man. And I looked up, and I said, what kind of operation are y'all running here? Well, then that really made it bad, because then I'm making fun of their security. But it was a true story. Like, this dude. Who was he? Thankfully, I had the cop. It was a detective from Oklahoma City. So later, a week later, he calls me, says, Willie, he said, I found out about you, about that guy.

He brought the porta potties in to the fair. And he tells the fair director, anything else I can help you with, I'll do. Well, they start putting him to work. He has an earpiece because they're telling him his whole thing was he wanted to get Trump signed his book. He did the whole thing. He goes, he didn't even know you were going to be there. You were a bonus. He was excited he got the picture of me.

Isn't that wild? That's amazing. So I'm on the bus. So Trump's fixing to go speak. When I went to this deal, my wife, I said, look, Trump's speaking. We're going to go over and check it out. She says, Willie,

do not get on that stage. I said, don't worry. I'm out of this. I'm not getting involved. Bobby Jindal was running. He was a friend of mine i was like no no no i ain't doing any of that stuff and so before he gets off the bed he goes willie did you want to get up and say anything to the crowd and i said no no no it's trump i'm good man i'm good i'm i'm you go ahead you know but i thought uh you know i thought these politicians

you know but i thought well he's not a politician so probably maybe he won't do it so i go out there tucker i'm like he gets on the stage and i thought if he's gonna do he's gonna do it right off the bat and so there's a stairwell and so i'm kind of hiding in this because i don't want to i don't really want to be seen at this point you know i'm like somebody be like there's willie robertson i'm like no no i look like him you know and i'm kind of like leaning the stairwell. And I'm thinking, right off the bat, he's going to go like, hey, guess who's here? You know, nothing.

Trump just goes into a speech. He's China. He's 30 minutes deep. By this time, we're laughing. We're like, this is the funnest thing ever. You know, I never dreamed he'd be the president. I was like, this is cool to see, you know. And Trump, 30 minutes deep, he just stops.

He looks around and goes, where's Willie? And my heart stopped. I went, oh, my gosh, please tell me he knows another guy named Willie at the Oklahoma State Fair. And he just starts walking down the street. He goes, where the hell's Willie at? Where's he at? And nobody knows who he's talking about. Everybody's going, who's Willie?

And my buddy's going, Willie, you got to go up there. And I said, I can't. I can't go up there. I'm not prepared to go up on the stage. And he's like, he's calling for you on the stage. So I pop up on the stage. Everybody goes crazy. It was like, oh, my gosh.

And so I walk over and I was like, yeah, I'm waving to the crowd. And so I leaned, I shook his hand. I said, hey, good job, Mr. Trump. Kill it, man. It's awesome. And I go to pull away. He doesn't let go of my hand. He just holds it.

And I'm like. You're in the Trump trap. And I'm going, uh-oh. And he's holding it. He goes, hey, hey, hey. He goes, hey, I got something. He said, do y'all know who this is? And everybody goes, he goes, this is the biggest television star in America.

Everybody's going crazy, you know. He said, this is Willie Robert Duck. He said, I got one question for Willie. And I'm like, yeah. And I'm like, oh, please oh please he goes do you love trump and just hands me the microphone do you ever feel like you can't trust the things you hear or read like every news source is hollow distorted or clearly just propaganda lying to you well you're not imagining it if the last few years have proven anything, it's that legacy media exists to distort the truth

and to control you, to gatekeep information from the public instead of letting you know what's actually going on. They don't want you to know. But there is, however, a publication that fights this that is not propaganda, one that we read every month and have for many years. It's called Imprimis. It's from Hillsdale College in Michigan. Imprimis is a free speech digest that features some of the

best minds in the country addressing the questions that actually matter, the ones that are not addressed in the Washington Post or NBC News. The best part of it, it is free, no cost whatsoever, no strings attached. They just send it to you. Hillsdale will send Imprimis right to your house, no charge. All you got to do is ask. Go to tuckerforhillsdale.com and subscribe for free today. That's tuckerforhillsdale.com. The only way this stays a democracy is if the citizenry is informed. You can't fight tyranny if you don't know what's going on. Imprimis helps. It's free. Don't wait. Sign up now. At Desjardins Insurance, we know that when you're a building contractor, your company's foundation needs to be strong.

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Sign up now at DAZN.com slash FIFA. That's DAZN.com slash FIFA. That's D-A-Z-N.com slash FIFA. That's the trumpiest question ever. Tucker, my brain is going so fast. I'm like, because here's the Trumpiest question ever. Tucker, my brain is going so fast. I'm like, because here's the situation. We've got 10,000 people here. They're all there to see him.

They're there to see me. And now he's asked me this super awkward question. I'm like, I've already endorsed Bobby Jindal. I'm like, what am I supposed to do? And so I lean up to the mic and I go, yeah. Yeah, I do like me some Trump. And everybody cheers, you know. And I said, and Trump's behind me with his hands on my shoulder.

He's ready to like me. If I say the wrong things, he'll throw me away. And I said, here's the deal. Me and Mr. Trump have three things in common. We both had successful television shows. We both were successful at business. And we both married people that look way better than we do. Thank you, Oklahoma City.

I'm out of here. And so I walk off to the deal. And I'm still just like literally kind of shaking from the whole experience. And I get in the stairwell and my buddy's going, oh, my gosh, I can't believe that just happened. And my phone just immediately starts going crazy, just buzzing, buzzing. And so I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh, no, you know, what have I started now? And so my buddy's going, oh, my gosh, we just saw you on TV. Oh, my gosh, you're on TV.

And when I'm sitting there, I'm like, no, why would you say that? She was like, do not get on stage. And there I am on the stage. And the next day, I got in an Uber car in Oklahoma City to go to the airport. I'm sitting right beside this driver, little old guy. He looks at me and goes, what did you fellas do last night? And I said, we went to the Oklahoma state fair. He goes, so did I.

He goes, I went to see Donald Trump. I said, did you? He goes, he's going to be the next president of the United States. I said, you think so?

He said, oh yeah. Oh yeah. We believe in him. He's going to be the president. I said, do you see that dude that got up in the middle of the speech? I'm this far from his face.

He goes, you know who that was? Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty. He flew in just to endorse Donald Trump for president. And I said, really? He goes, oh yeah, he's a huge fan of Mr. Trump. Yeah, he's a big television guy. And I said,

sir, do you know who I am? He looks at me and goes, no idea. I said, sir, do you know who I am? He looks at me and goes, no idea. I said, I'm that dude. I was on the stage. And I thought he was going to freak out. And he goes, you had a different bandana on. I said, I did have a different bandana on. He goes, yeah, yeah, I didn't recognize you with that other bandana on.

That's how I met Trump. Have you ever met him again? I have, yeah. I saw't recognize you with that other bandana on. That's how I met Trump. Have you ever met him again? I have, yeah. I saw him a couple more times. He did, when Don Jr. came to the house and hunted, that one we set up, we set up Phil. Well, Phil made me so mad, my dad. So, Dad, I go, so Don Jr. is going to come duck out with us. He goes, I'm coming down.

Let's duck out. It's perfect. We set it up. Well, I'm going to Mexico for my anniversary. Four days. Four days I'm in Mexico. So I go to Mexico. Yeah, and your phones are all jacked up down there.

You know, it's like numbers come in. So I'm leaving the Mexico airport, coming to America. I get this call. I don't, but it doesn't say who it is. I answer it. This dude is talking so fast. I'm like, he is nowhere within a thousand miles of where I live in the South. It was a Northern accent.

He is, and I'm like, now, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down. Who is this? He goes, it's Don Jr. I said, all right, what's up? I said, how are we on, huh, Don? He goes, I's Don Jr. I said, all right, what's up? I said, we on, huh, Don? He goes, I don't know if I can come. I don't know. We've got to figure out. I said, oh, what happened? He was like, because of what your dad did. I'm like, I've been gone for four days. I'm like, four days. Who has he offended? What has he done? And I can't understand this about my dad. He lives on the end of a dead-end street, does not have a cell phone, does not have a computer.

But somehow he can get messages out all over the world, like instantaneously. It's amazing how he can do this. I'm like, what did he do? He said, he endorsed Ted Cruz. I said, no. I was like, where did that come from? He goes, there's commercials. I said, there's commercials?

In four days, he has met Ted Cruz, and he has endorsed Ted Cruz. And there's commercials. He goes, yes, they're playing right now. So I pull up the commercial. Phil's in the duck blind. And they've all got a face mask on. Ted Cruz has got this face mask. But he doesn't look like he's in play.

He's like, he looks scared to death. Everyone's got shoes in their back, spits come out of their mouth. And then there's Ted Cruz. Like a dude with a face mask. And so Phil in the corner, he goes, we're voting for Ted Cruz. I can do this. And so Phil goes, we're voting for Ted Cruz. He's a brother in Christ. We're all voting for him. And it insinuates, like, we're all.

Like, the whole Duck Dynasty crew is voting for him. I'm not there. Obviously, I'm in Mexico. I went, oh my gosh. So I call the house. Mom answers the phone. I said, Mom, my gosh. So I call the house. Mom answers the phone. I said, Mom, where's Phil? He's in the woods.

I said, well, crap, I got to talk to him. She goes, well, hey, you can go try to find him. I said, she goes, what's wrong with you? I said, he just made a commercial with Ted Cruz. Nobody, these are things you have to tell me. Like, you know what I'm saying? You have to let me in on. And she goes, oh, no, he knew he was going to be mad over that.

He knew you liked Trump. But, you know, Ted Cruz showed up with a bunch of TV cameras. And I don't know, the next thing I know. And I said, well, mom, he said we're all voting for him. We're not all voting. And she goes, no, no, no. He didn't mean all you boys. He meant all the Christians.

I said, Mom, I'm a Christian. Well, you know what I mean. So, okay. So we set up. So Don Jr. finally, he's like, all right. Because he was like, I'm not coming down there if you're endorsing. You know, it was awkward. So I said, oh, we're going to set up dad good.

So we're going to burn him on this one. Don Jujan comes down, Doug Conn's. And, you know, he lights out. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I knew it. So, you know, his hoogs are on now. So dad's blown away. You know, it's good.

By what a good shot Don is. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And so I reached out to Hannity. I said, Hannity. I said, put me and Phil on the show. I'm backing Trump. He's backing Cruz, apparently.

And I said, I'm going to set that sucker up. So we get on the show. Dad and I are going after it. And I said, hang on. I said, I got one question to ask Phil since we're on the show. Dad and I are going after it. And I said, hang on. I said, I got one question to ask Phil since we're on this show. I said, Phil recently went duck hunting with Ted Cruz. And he also went hunting with Trump. I just said Trump.

I didn't say Doug. I just said Trump. I said, Dad, who exactly is the better hunter? Phil said, ain't a doubt about it. That cat from New York can shoot, son. So I got him saying that Cruz wasn't a doubt about it. That cat from New York can shoot, son. So I got him saying that Cruz wasn't a good ducker. Because I asked dad. He said, oh, yeah, he couldn't hit the broadside of a barn.

And finally, Cruz dropped out, thank goodness. And so then Phil came on board. He did. Has he been on board ever since? He has been. He has been. I mean, is there anyone in the world that, I mean, I think things have changed since? He has been. He has been. I mean, is there anyone in the world that, I mean, I think things have changed since then, of course. But like the world that you live in is probably pretty much 100% Trump at this point.

Yeah, I mean, down there, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, well, now it is for sure. Like, did you have a lot of friends voting Kamala Harris? Yeah. I mean, just because I know a lot of people outside of Louisiana. No, I mean in Louisiana.

Production. Yeah, all my TV friends. I mean, yeah, I've done tons of TV. I mean, so, yeah, I've got friends all over who were, and we had great debates. But it's the way it should be. Like, we debate. We love each other. We're friends.

And I can certainly look at Trump and call them like, that doesn't make sense, or that's not how I feel, or that's not what I would say, or that's ugly, or that's unkind, or whatever it is. And this year, I was staying out of it. I really was, because of the book. Because when I wrote this book and I said, I don't want to get pulled in. I want this message to come out. I want the message of the gospel. And I don't want it to get gummed up. And I understand.

Because I was the first speaker in the 2016 convention. I was the first. You were? You don't remember? No. That powerful message that I gave? Golly, Tucker, where were you? I think I was just in a You were? You don't remember? No. That powerful message that I gave? Golly, Tucker, where were you? I think I was just in a cloud of euphoria.

I was the first speaker. And now, you got to remember, 16. When I went out there, they were like, all right, look, we don't know how this is going to go. Remember? Because they were fighting. They didn't know whether they were going to walk off. Oh, yeah. So they were like, good luck, Willie.

Because I was the first guy out. I was the first guy on the stage. And Don Jr. called me out. He said, hey, my father wants you to speak at the convention. And I was gathering my breath to say no. Because I was just going to be like, because in my mind, I thought it was like 45 minutes. I was like, I don't have 45 minutes in me on politics. And I'm going, and I't have 45 minutes in me on politics, you know.

And I'm going. And I said, let me check my schedule. That's what I said. Let me check my schedule. And he goes, okay, well, check your schedule and they'll get back with you. So like the next day, someone calls, some lady calls and says, hey, so we've got you scheduled. You're the first speaker. And I'm fixing to tell her like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I didn't say yes, you know?

And she goes, you're the first one up. You go for three minutes. And I went, three minutes? That's a commercial, bro. Yeah, of course I'll do three minutes, you know? And so I was, yeah, I was the first speaker in the 16th. What'd you say? I can't even remember.

I mean, it was nothing. It was like, I really don't. Did you think he was going to win that year? I't. Did you think he was going to win that year? I did. Did you think he was going to win this year? I did. Why? Well, I thought he had a really good, I mean, I was a little, I called it at 8.33 central time that night.

When I saw Virginia and North Carolina, I said, it's over. Virginia was close. I was like, it's over. Yeah. I mean, I wasn't sure and North Carolina, I said, it's over. Virginia was close. I was like, it's over. I mean, I wasn't sure about North Carolina. That was the only state that confuses me sometimes. But Virginia, I mean, I think he was winning. Like, early on, I was like, oh. And I told my family.

I texted my friends. I said, Trump wins. It's over. But yeah, I had a good sense about it um it just it felt like it did in 16 it felt like i was just kind of looking at the culture and looking at what people were saying i was like he's got a lot of people that are you know because it wasn't as it wasn't as weird as it was before like that was kind of cool it was like you weren't ostracized as much i mean 16 i mean there was it was people did not like him in 20 oh my gosh but you had that covid i mean the whole covid

and i said that year probably earlier that year somebody asked me who i thought was going to i said trump's got this there's no way he can lose the economy's strong we're safe we're not in a war i said said, that's it. That's game over. I said, unless something really weird happens. I said that. Like they manufacture a virus in China. And then the weird thing happened.

And there you go. And, but I went to bed last time thinking, I went to bed in 20 thinking, yeah, I was like, oh, it's over. Oh, so you fell asleep before they shut down the polling places., I was like, oh, it's over. Oh, so you fell asleep before they shut down the polling places. Yeah, I was like, uh-oh. So here's a question you shouldn't have to think about, but probably do. What would you do if your family needed life-saving medication and you couldn't get any? You hate to think you're going to face that. We depend on our supply chains all the way from Asia to here, thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean. But let's be honest, that chain is fragile. Just one weather event, one container

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Look, you did your best. You tried. The thing is, it's not about winning. It's about taking part. Next year you might do better. But I did win, Mom. You did? When it's sunny, make sure you can still see. At Specsavers, get two pairs of glasses from $149.

And one can be prescription sunglasses. Hey, the sun won't wait. Visit Specsavers.ca for details. Conditions apply. Hey, we know you probably hit play to escape your business banking, not think about it. But what if we told you there was a way to skip over the pressures of banking? By matching with a TD small business account manager, you can get the proactive business banking advice and support your business needs. Ready to press play? Get up to $2,700 when you open select small business banking products. Yep, that's $2,700 to turn up your business. Visit td.com slash small business match to learn more. Conditions apply. Did anyone that you know in Louisiana have questions about that election? 2020.

All of them. It's kind of what I thought. We've all got questions but i don't understand what it is like i was like i've listened to people over time there's tons of people who question that stuff always they quit you know like you know they question like was it done right was it you know i mean i didn't realize it was a crime to question just to make sure. Hey, did everything, did y'all do that right? Because it seems strange, you know. Maybe it wasn't, but it was strange.

Yeah. Yeah. I think the people in Louisiana are all like, hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It was pretty obvious. And a few cities were waiting, oh, we'll let you know tomorrow. How it was pretty obvious. Got a few cities we're waiting on. We'll let you know tomorrow.

How much are we behind? Yeah, they had to tally the number of votes they needed. So what's the new show? Yeah, we are getting back into production. It's kind of like the next generation of Duck Dynasty. So my kids are older. Well, so since 2017, 2024, yeah, a lot's happened.

The cast has grown up. And then everybody else is still around. And so, yeah, so back with A&E, we met and they said, hey, you guys interested in kind of redoing a show?

And felt like the time was right. Maybe the family prayed about it and was like, I think so. The kids were excited and said, yeah, let's show. Realize, Tucker, what we talk about is a long show, and it's hard work, whatever. I mean, it's a lot. But, man, when you talk to people and they tell you how much that meant to them and how much, I can't tell you how many people just, like, it was what my dad and I watched together. When my mom passed away, it was the only thing that we could laugh at together. And we watched as a family.

And I have like 25-year-olds, even here. I mean, these kids are like, you know, when I was 18, I watched every show y'all had. And it was just, you know, watching the prayer at the end, just watching our family be positive with our, you know, the roles were correct. And it wasn't a lot of, you know, just darkness and stuff that people watch. And it wasn't just a train wreck. And so it's really inspiring. You're like, oh, man, you know, it's good to make something, especially when it came out originally. It was pretty much a little bright light amongst a lot of some dark stuff out there, some dark TV.

So I think when you can do that and you can provide that for people. There's no pressure at all from your corporate masters to change anything or make it different? No, I mean, actually, I mean, to be honest with you, I feel stronger now than I would then because they know who we are, you know? Yeah. I mean, they know what we're all about. It's not like, I mean, back then they didn't know. They were like, I think they're religious.

I think, you know, like. But now, obviously, over the past, well, crap, since 2000, you know, the last 12 years, you know where we stand. You know what our morals are. You know what's important to us. And we have a lot of followers. You know what I'm saying? We have social media.

Sadie has millions of people. My kids have followers. So a lot of people are interested in that. They're interested in, I think, they want to be entertained, but they also, you know, I think they learn stuff. I think they can watch and learn, you know. A lot of people that watch our show are like, we never prayed. Like, we never prayed before a meal. We didn't even know, you know.

And we started trying that. You know, probably more often than not, even the prayer, they rarely ever sat down and even ate together anymore. That's a gone. That's the saddest thing. They were like, we never even have dinner. Everybody's just grabbing it and going, meet you there, meet you at the deal, go to the ballpark. And so this whole idea of just sitting down and just spending time with each other at dinner was becoming a foreign concept.

And so I think people can learn and they can be like, oh, that's, you know, maybe they can't, they don't have the family we do. Maybe they don't have, maybe everybody doesn't live there like that, but they can kind of live through that and kind of, you know, start their own, you know, traditions or doing something more as a family

and realizing, you know, the importance of it. And then also just taking a break and not, you know, what I love about the agnostic was we didn't take ourselves too seriously. We had fun. We laughed. And, oh, God, I mean, do we need that? I mean, we need some time. You know, everybody's so serious.

I think if you had written this book 10 years ago, it would have seemed pretty weird. You know, why is a reality tv show writing a book about spreading the gospel right does not seem weird now do you think the country's changed um i think it's changing yeah i think it's i think it's certainly changing i think people are looking for answers that's why i wrote the book i think um because i think we get so lethargic, and some of this was even in churches. They just get lethargic, and they get off. You got to know what your goal is and kind of what you're here for and what's your mission in life.

Well, I take my mission from Matthew 28, which is labeled as the Great Commission. And Jesus says, go out and make disciples of all nations, baptize people, teach people. Three things, three specific ideas. Make disciples, baptize people, teach people. So those are the last things he said before he left, like make sure you do this. So when that's your mission,

you just think about what you've got to do to accomplish those three things. You're probably going to have to have conversations with people. Yeah. If you're going to make a disciple out of them, if you're going to baptize them, if you're going to teach them, you're going to have to have some sort of conversation. And so what I find is people, if your mission in life is, as a Christian, if you're like, well, I try to go to church as often as I can.

I try to be a good person. Nothing in and of itself wrong with that. That's not a mission. And what happens is the mission becomes a little self. I go to church so I can listen, so I can learn, so I can try to get through my week. And everything becomes inward. Those three things Jesus said were outward. It's out, out, out.

Other people, other people, other people. Not just you. It's other people. And again, back to Other people, other people, other people. Not just you, it's other people. And again, back to my father who was sitting at a bar. The guy drives up there. Why? Why? He's not going to be a member of his church.

He doesn't have any money. He's a reprobate, you know, who's got a terrible reputation. What drove him to drive up there, that hour drive, walk into that bar? What drove him to do that? It was just for him, just for that guy. And I thought, wow, I don't know if I would, would I drive up there? But he did that. It literally changed my life.

It changed my whole family's life. And if that would have been it, I'm not a big prosperity guy. And look what God has done. Look at what he gave us. It paid off. It didn't matter. If it just changed our life and kept our family together,

worth it. Nobody knows if we aren't worth it. I got to see my dad and grow up with two parents, worth it. And you look over time as then dad took that and then never went about this for money or fame or anything in fact really pushed that away more than

embraced it even when i told you the show and he's like no you know um and then that was that was a little different too with us like we didn't go an email was sent to us a company came to us the network came to us we weren't trying to go become famous right and so you see a lot today you know people are like i'll do whatever it takes to get famous you know and so there's no authenticity there it's like we want you to do this fine i'll do it will i be famous yes then i'll do it you know why would you want to be famous why would who anyone oh i don't know it seems like a lot of people i mean from yeah people do yeah people want to be famous what do you think of being you are famous what do you think of it uh it has its good parts about it what are those The people I've been able to meet. Yeah.

I wouldn't know you if I wasn't. Yeah. You wouldn't have invited me on this podcast had I not had a TV show. I don't know. I ran into you in an elevator in Nashville. That's true. But you thought I was a homeless guy. I did.

Yeah. You put money in my coffee cup. Which was filled with dip spit. I did. I spit in my cup and you said, you looked at me and you said, did you spit in your cup? First word you said to me,

you said, did you spit in that cup? Anyone who dips in an elevator is a potential friend of mine. That's how I feel about it. And you started doing your little maniacal laugh and you started laughing so hard. And it was so funny because of all the people I was expecting to see, it wasn't you. I didn't expect to catch Willie Robertson dipping in an elevator, but that was it.

I was headed to my room. I had been promoting this book, and you happened to be there as well, which is how this all ended up. And I think God, you know, I don't know. I think God works like that. I think he puts people together. It just seems too weird to me not. So I think there's those opportunities that people have, and they meet. Some you take advantage of.

Some you don't. Some you miss. Some you're like, oh, crap. But I just don't know. I mean, well, he did that in the Bible. There was things moving around. So it could be for that person. It could be for someone else. It could be for something completely different, some situation that maybe needs to get out.

But it was interesting that I had written this book. I had decided this year I'm not jumping in this place, even though it was so tempting. Everybody tried to get me to let's know, let's go, you know. And I'd really just said, no, I'm not. And I'm just going to promote this book. And then I meet you. And then you said, hey, you should come on the podcast. And it was scheduled for a few months ago.

And I went, I'm going to get pulled into the politics. I was like, I said, I'm going to get pulled into the politics. I was like, I said, I'm going to get pulled into this thing. And then as it turned around and spun around, we still did podcasts after the election. And that was kind of the commitment I made, just don't get so involved. Because I didn't want the mess. I don't care what. I really don't care.

If it's the gospel or some political agenda i'm going with the gospel every time because this is the power this is you know if we can change people's you know i just saw it it may change me but it like somebody like my father can change people's lives and turn them into completely different people and so that's what i want to get to people you know politics turns people into completely different people too, but rarely for the better. Right. I mean, it has its place. And I'm not casting aspersions on people to, everything's got to be, like you have to have Christians in every position.

I mean, no, that's okay. I mean, we can work together and figure that out. Let the gospel do what it does and let politics do what it does and let government, you know. So almost like Renner under Caesar, what is Caesar's? Exactly. Exactly. Where do you get that? Yeah. does and let government you know so almost like render under caesar what is caesar's and exactly exactly where do you get that yeah because and that's the thing had back to mission so i'm into that mission make disciples baptize people teach people not to you know i think if jesus wanted us to just make sure your government is he he would have talked about it, right? When I said, let's lay out a plan and all that.

Because it was under these governmental things that he was going to end up being crucified anyway. And those things, they're of the world. I mean, they're here and they come and they die and they go away and they change and stuff happens. And I was like, if that's where we end up, and I do think there's a lot of darkness for sure. But they need the gospel. They don't need a better program from D.C., you know. And that's what will change it. Oh, look, now families are staying together.

And, you know, it's not going to be that way. And it's going to be when the church wakes up and decides to go out and have that kind of mission, you know, is to go after. But we can't hate each other. That's the problem. We can't hate each other. Because that's the deal, man. I can't. And I saw that so much in this one.

God, I got roasted. I mean, people would get in my face. And if I said the wrong, like if I said, oh, I'm not, I'm writing this book and I'm not doing as much with. And people would just be like, what? This country, we're not going to have a country tomorrow. But what I don't like about the thing, it's like my fault. It's like they're telling me it's my fault. I'm like, how is it my fault? And that's where we got to.

And then it was just bullying everybody. Everybody's just bullying everybody. I mean, you certainly saw that with the Democrats being bullied. You better vote this way. We're telling you what to do. And I'm just not good at people telling me what to do. I'm like, don't tell me what to do. Don't vote for me. But now it's like, no, you've got to do. I'm like, don't tell me what to do. Don't tell, you know, vote for, but now it's like, no, you got to do more.

We, you know, you've got to go out and, you know, and do all this. I understand their, their passion and all that, but we've got to let people. And some of that's the, it's their job is to win the vote. You know what I'm saying? It doesn't answer the deepest questions. Like what happens when you die? Right. It doesn't address that.

When you die, yeah. Yeah, when you die. When you die. So my last question is, I do think a lot of people are all of a sudden wondering, is there something beyond what we can see, hear, feel, and taste? I mean, is there a spiritual realm? Is there a God? And people all around me are asking those questions.

What would you recommend to them? Like how to pursue that? Something stirs in you and you think, wow, maybe I should learn more. Right. I mean, I found those answers in the Bible and particularly in the New Testament. That's where I found those answers. It comes down to the faith. Like, you've got to have this faith, and you're going to have to jump and believe something that you can't see.

It's interesting how people can't do that. I remember I was talking to a guy one time. I was having one of these conversations. I don't know if this story's in the book, but there's a lot in there. We're having this story, and he's like, I don't believe in faith. If I don't see it, I don't believe it, you know? And he just got married, and we're at a hunting camp. And I said, where's your wife right now? And he's like, she's at home, and she's, I said, I bet she's with another guy.

And he said, no, she's not. I love how you proselytize. Yeah. And he said, no, she's not. I love how you proselytize. Yeah. And he said, no, she's not. And he gets, I can tell he's mad. Well, yeah. He's been married like six months. I said, oh, no, for sure.

She's with another guy, like no doubt. And he goes, no, she's not. What are you doing? I said, how do you know she's not? He goes, because I trust her. what are you doing? I said, how do you know she's not? He goes, because I trust her. And I said, so you do have faith in something that you can't see. And he went, I've never thought about it that way. He was an atheist.

He said, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any of this stuff. So it was just a small move, though. We moved him off of that position. Now we have moved him to, there are some things that even though I can't see it, I have faith. Why do more preachers not start with that? I bet your wife's sleeping with somebody else. That works. Maybe they don't go to enough hunting camps. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for me, though, what else?

I mean, like, he's an atheist. What else to say? Okay, good luck with that. Let me know how that works for you. I mean, I'm trying to think of, Paul says in the New Testament, Paul knew the gospel better than anybody who's a writer. And he says, pray for me that the mystery of the gospel can come out of my mouth more clearly. He's praying that it can come out more clearly. And my question is, why? Why is he?

He knows this stuff. He wrote it. He's writing because some weren't obeying it. Some weren't getting it. He's going, hmm. So you have to keep coming at, like, keep asking more questions. Maybe I'm not asking the right questions. There's a story in the book, a beautiful story of a guy that I just kept trying to, he had problems with his brain.

Like he had lesions on his, I thought he was going to die. And I was like, he's going to die. And I don't think he's a Christian. I don't think he's a believer. And so I'm just like, hey, man, have you thought about heaven? He would say the same thing every time to me. Well, he who had not sinned cast the first stone. That's what he would say.

He was quoting a scripture. And I knew what that meant. That's redneck for I don't want to hear what you got to say. I'm not interested. And I was like, hmm. So I could have thought, well, I tried. You know, I get to heaven. I tried.

Remember I told you four times. And every time he would just divert, divert, divert. Well, so finally we're in a car. We're in New York City working on a business deal. We're talking about money. He's a super rich guy. We're talking about money. He's over there smoking.

He's like, we're going to make so much money. He was so excited about it. You know, I look at him and I asked, I said, how, I said, how old are you? And he said, I'm 58 years old. And I said, I bet you're going to be dead in 14 years. He just looks back. I was the sicker. He goes, what?

I said, I bet you're going to be dead in 14 years. He goes, why would you say that? And I said, the way you live. You know, I said, but you're I mean, I'm just guessing. But I said, have you ever thought about that? Like, what's going to happen then? What happens then? I said, we just did an investment.

Are you investing anything beyond here or is it just here? He goes, I've never thought about that before. You know what he didn't say? He who had not sinned cast the first stone. We got past that. We finally got past that.

I was like, if we get past that. We get to the, we get to the hotel where the man at, and then he goes, can you come up and tell me more about that? I'll say, yeah. So I'll go to my room, I'll get my Bible, I'll go to his room. And I sit down and that's the verse, I got like seven verses. It's not a lot. And I just start reading them to him. He just stands up in the hotel room, I forget it. And he yells at his wife, she's in to him. He just stands up in the middle of the hotel room. I forget it. And he yells at his wife.

She's in a bed. He goes, I'm getting baptized. And I was like, man, it's midnight. We're in Central Park. I don't know where I got to go find some water here, which I was ready. I was like, we'll go find some. And I said, well, let's go, I guess, we're in a hotel in New York City. I said, we'll go find some water. He said, no, no, I got to guess, we're in a hotel in New York City. I said, we'll go find somebody.

He said, no, no, I got to tell everybody. I got to tell everybody I know that what's fixing to happen. This is the same guy I've been working on for years. And he's like, you know, and now he's saying, and he emailed everybody he knows, everybody. So finally, like a month later, I show up to his house, the big house. There's people everywhere. People from New York, people from L.A., Florida. People have shown up because he said, I'm getting baptized.

Come watch this. And so I get there, and I walk up, and everybody gathers around. He goes, Willie, tell them what you told me in that hotel room that night. And I said, yeah, no problem. So I go through that. So his wife gets baptized. Daughter gets baptized. He gets baptized.

Is there anybody else? And they just start screaming in their blue jeans, taking their boots off, just over and over and over, just like what's happened in the Bible. You see that in the book of Acts. It's like 25 people that night over that conversation. But I didn't stop that conversation. When you don't hear it, you just keep on.

And plus, I'm still there. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes. Sometimes it takes two hours. Sometimes it takes 20 years because I don't two hours. Sometimes it takes 20 years. Because I don't give up on anybody. Because they didn't give up on dad. I would have given up on Phil a long time ago. I would have said, forget that sucker.

He needs to go to jail. But that dude didn't give up. His sister didn't give up on him. That guy went up there and talked to him. And it changed my whole life. And so I never give up on anybody. You never know. You never know when that time is. And they're like, him, and it changed my whole life. And so I never give up on anybody. You never know. You never know when that time is, and they're like, oh, no, and they're ready.

And they're like, so we're just really planting the seeds. I'm just planting the seeds because I'm ready. I want to make disciples. I want to baptize people. I want to teach people. That's what I'm doing. So everything I look at in life, where does it fall in that category? This book does.

The TV show does. The stuff that my kids do the family style you know all of it can fall through there and that's where i want it's way more than going to church and you know having some look and being a christian way more than that that's like an hour a week that's not that's nothing like i'm like you take how about this you take your hour don't go to church i want you for the other six days and we'll go change the world you know but people got a missing they got a miss they got a bad idea on that they're thinking isn't it just like you show up an hour i mean try that in your marriage try that with your kid try

to see him an hour you know and see if that gets you enough to get through and so it's just a bigger idea and it's a bigger concept and then when you're're in that moment, when you're there with people and you watch their lives change, and then you watch the fruit of that come out of it, it's like a high. I mean, you're just like, that's what it's all about. That's the kind of stuff to where you're then going, there is hope. And so I live my life based on there's hope in something beyond. If it's not, it's not. And I've hopefully lived a great life.

I have great friends. I have, you know, my faith and the principles of the Bible has probably kept me out of a lot of misery and hell and, you know, bad stuff. But I'm thinking that there is. And I see evidence everywhere. I see evidence everywhere, I see evidence everywhere. Like what? I mean, I can see it in people's lives.

If Jesus lives in us, the Holy Spirit lives in us, I can see it in their lives. I can see people doing this. I'm like, why would you do that? There's no advantage. It's not financial advantage. I'm seeing them share and do things and sacrifice and i see that for each other yeah for each other for other people and for you know i can see it i can i can feel it like i can at times i feel stuff too i feel you know like it just seems like i'm like wow that's a lot of, I can't help but think something was going on with Trump.

Like, there was a lot of weird, turn your head the right way, doing this. We were shooting birds today. Yeah. How close is that? Too close. I mean, to who knows what would happen. Who knows what today would look like. You know what I'm saying?

Who knows? So, I'm just saying, it looked like God was doing something there. I don't know. I don't know what it is. I don't know. But that's the faith part. I think sometimes, Tucker, I think we think our goal

is to try to figure it out. Yeah. Like we're like, we have to know. We got to read the signs and everybody was wanting to know like what's going to happen. Even with our country,

like where will we be in 20 years? It's like we want to know, but there's too many factors like you have to have faith. It's impossible. It's impossible. You can't figure that out. You got to live.

I can always look back and it makes sense. I'm like, oh, wow, that made sense. But looking forward, that's the message that I'm going to. But somebody's been sharing this message for 2,000 years. We're halfway around the globe from where it happened and still talking about it. True. They had no money. They had no money. They had no fame.

They weren't soldiers. They weren't, you know, they didn't even speak the same language. We're speaking a different language. We are sitting here today, halfway across the globe, and we're still talking about it. I'm still writing books about it, living our lives on it and professing it. It just, that's a big deal. Like I haven't seen that with anything else. Most everything else 2000 years ago,

we don't even know what it is. They're gone, you know, it's just gone. So we don't know their names. Yeah, not at all. Willie Robertson, thank you very much. Awesome. Thanks for listening to Tucker Carlson show. If you enjoyed it, you can go to TuckerCarlson.com

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