Will Cain Country - Codie Sanchez: Main Street Millionaires. Plus, The Winners & Losers Of 2024

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

Story #1: Winners and Losers of 2024.  Story #2: How to make some money back after Christmas after the holiday spending spree. Revisiting a conversation with the author of the new book Mainstreet Millionaire, Codie Sanchez  Story #3: The best moments of 2024 on The Will Cain Show.   Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Subscribe to The Will Cain Show on YouTube here: Watch The Will Cain Show!   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One, winners and losers from 2024, your five best winners, your five worst losers. Two, the day after Christmas, you might want to consider how to start making some money back, how to become a Main Street millionaire. We revisit our conversation with best-selling author and influencer. Cody Sanchez. three, the best moments of 2024, right here on the Will Cain show. It is the Will Cain Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page.

Terrestrial radio across this great country from coast to coast, but always on demand by subscribing at Apple or on Spotify. And always set a reminder to join us at 12 o'clock, time right here at fox news youtube merry christmas i hope you had a wonderful christmas it's probably the day that you look around and it's time to start picking up right like maybe there's some wrapping paper maybe there's some drinks and cups and plates scattered around because you don't want to pick up on christmas day you just want to lean in you want to enjoy but 26 that's a day you got to start getting your act together you got a little more time off but you got to get your act together and

you probably even start debating when does the Christmas, when do the Christmas decorations come down, right? I think the answer is January 2nd. I think the Christmas decorations come down January 2nd. I think that's right. I think that's fair. But the Christmas decorations come down when we turn the calendar to 2025. I can tell you, I think it's going to be a huge, awesome.

But before we get there, let's talk about the biggest winners and losers and the best moments of 2024 right here on the Wilcane show with story number one. Five winners, five losers from 2024. Let's start with winners. Number one, digital media podcasts, X, YouTube, Joe Rogan, Will Kane Show. This is the already being called the podcast election. The fact that Donald Trump decided to go on to Theo Vaughn, Andrew Schultz, the Nelk boys, Joe Rogan, changed in many people's estimation, the outcome of this election. And as such, you're going to see that over the next four years,

there will be a doubling and tripling down on digital media. traditional media companies investing in digital media, advertising dollars flowing to digital media. And I use that word digital media. I don't use the word podcast, but podcasts suggest you're simply an audio offering on, you know, Apple or Spotify, whatever it may be. But that's just one way you distribute a show.

A digital show, which almost all now, include video or should. And I've heard, for example, that Spotify all of a sudden is telling its podcast, they pay you got to start incorporating video uh so look for that places like the ringer but it's distributed everywhere it's it's it's youtube it's rumble it's x it's everywhere and those shows are becoming not just increasingly profitable but increasingly important um you know i mean when i was it at the army navy game earlier this month with um everyone i don't know biggest power brokers in the world.

I mean, one of the guys that people were excited to meet with Sean Ryan. Sean Ryan has a podcast, digital show, it's got video. It's huge. And I think it's fair to say

that even one year ago, Joe Rogan, maybe Alex Cooper, maybe Barstall, pardon my take, or Dave Portnoy, were the ones that people, were the digital shows

that people stood up and take notice of. Now, there are dozens. There are dozens, including this show. And it's going to make, like, watch CNN, watch Fox. Watch them all invest and double down and try to find their own products while the existing ones get even bigger.

On the flip side, your number one biggest loser is mainstream media. Specifically, it is CNN, MSNBC, CBS. Now, we're looking at, they're in a complete low point right now. The ratings have absolutely been destroyed. been destroyed but i think more importantly is their credibility you could argue the audience will come back in time they're sitting it out like a postgame analysis and they will come back the problem is they've lost credibility with their own audience and it continues like after the election we still saw cnn making up stories about freeing prisoners who were actually torturers in syria we saw a bc pay a 15 million

dollar settlement to donald trump for defamation they'll come back but not i think ever ever ever again to the level that we once saw it's it's over it's over in terms of influence and reach and honestly profitability you're going to see salaries go down in tv you're already seeing stories about that robin robert's michael strahan um hold a copy all taking big pay cuts i mean granted they're making 20 million dollars a year but that's the future of their business and i do think it's like it's like a glacier that melts slowly but it's starting to feel like it's cracking like big chunks of the ice are coming off. Winner number two, college football's present.

This is great. Right now, the moment we're in, 12-team playoff, we started with 12-team playoff, big brands, the opportunity for upset, a dozen fan bases invested. It could be better with 16 teams, but this year is the year that college football, to me, overtook for me,

and not for the market, I know, but overtook professional football. This is a golden age this year, right now, for college football. It's incredible. Loser, number two, college football's future. It feels like it is 1.30. Everyone's having a great time at the bar. It's as wonderful. We're all talking about this is the best ever, but closing time is in 30 minutes.

and you can feel the hangover coming. Something's about to happen to college football. NIL transfer portal, guys leaving in and out within a year. Coaches not being able to keep up with this grind. The loss of Olympic sports because the loss of subsidized revenue coming from college football because now you've got to pay the players. The loss of the idea that it's amateur athletics and tied to the student body and university, it's not a semi-pro league or a minor league for the NFL, it's all coming.

You can feel it, and it's coming fast. If the present is a winner, it feels like there's going to be a huge hangover very soon. It's almost closing time at the bar. I think a loser is college football's future. Number three, winner. Sanity. Masculinity. I was having breakfast a few weeks ago with a buddy of mine.

I really think so much of what's happening in America is about to return to masculinity. I think he's right. for years decades honestly we have seen masculinity all its traits all its hobbies and all its characteristics denigrated and and vilified and called toxic and ultimately not represented i mean this year in 2024 we saw the rise of television that in many ways highlights masculinity all the taylor sheridan shows landman yellowstone all that we saw we saw the rise of masculine Pat, Cam Haynes,

Joe Rogan, hunting as a hobby. Frat culture taken off, Nelk boys. Everywhere you look, the return of masculinity. And I mean, I don't think they're disconnected, the return of sanity.

I mean, rewind the clock from 2015, and this was building, I think, for a long time, but from 2015 to 2020, to roughly that is like the peak of insanity the feminization of america making masculinity toxic and are in pure and utter insanity with woke garbage and so forth we went from me too through george floyd through everything but this year we returned to actually what is normal for society. See, that's the thing.

This is not a flash in the pan. It's not a fad. This is the normal state of the human condition. So that means there's a loser, and the loser is the fringe insanity. You know, I gave a speech in early December in Alabama at the Alabama Farmers Federation, and I said, for the first time of my life,

conservative is cool. It's really first time of my life. And it's because it's all. always been the mainstream. Your pop culture, your Hollywood offering has been made to make you think that you're insane or you're in the fringe. But what we've seen this year is all that other stuff, that's crazy. It's been revealed. That's fringe. You're the mainstream. You're cool. So one of the losers, number three, are the people that used to sell themselves off as mainstream on X. And by the way, Elon Musk's takeover as X is one of the biggest things to happen.

biggest things to happen the last several decades because it's helped highlight exactly what is normal what is mainstream winner number four all of my teams the Texas Rangers

who won in 20203 the Dallas Mavericks who made the finals in 2024 the Dallas Stars who made the semifinals in 2024 the Texas Longhorns who made the semifinals

last year's playoffs 2024 all of my teams I'm riding high what a year what a year it's been that's also takes me to one of my losers number four the dallas cowboys obviously notable there who i left off they faded into irrelevance they i don't i'm not even mad why because i got all this other stuff i got the horns and the mabs and the stars i got it i got

the range i don't i don't need the cowboys absolute loser of 2024 and then finally your fifth loser of 2024. Democrats. It's true. And it's not even about Kamala Harris. It's not, it's almost sad for Kamala Harris, right? She's the Lee Harvey Oswald of this whole thing.

She's the Patsy. She was the one that was run out there. But after investing in the fringe, being supported by marginal players who don't matter and lost their ratings in places like CNN or MSNBC, defined by the extreme elements of their party, Democrats didn't just lose

election they lost an identity they truly did they don't know who they are moving forward i'm not i'm not suggesting that's a permanent condition i don't think it ever is but right now they're absolutely lost in the woods no idea how to address forget republicans forget don't trump no idea how to address regular americans and that takes you to the biggest winner of 2024 for Donald Trump, there is no doubt about it. Comeback story, domination, disruptor, team of avengers around him, happy, joyful, cool, a fighter,

two assassination attempts, and an absolute, undeniable winner, Donald Trump. It's December 26th, you've spent, spent some money, you've got to figure out to start making it back. Well, influencer Cody Sanchez has a new book out called Main Street Millionaire. We spoke to Cody about what it takes to become a millionaire while investing in your hometown and brick-and-mortar businesses in your community. That's coming up.

Cody Sanchez on The Will Kane Show. Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. somebody knows real cases real people listen and follow now at fox truecrime dot com how to invest in your community how not to follow trends and fads maybe buy a laundromat maybe take some advice from influencer a new author cote sanchez it's the will kane show normally streaming live every monday through thursday at 12 o'clock eastern time foxnews dot com fox news youtube fox news facebook book. Always on demand. Subscribe on Apple or Spotify. Cody Sanchez has a new book called Main Street

Millionaire. I find her advice fast. I follow Cody on Instagram. I'm fascinated by what she has to say. I think it's a real contrarian take, almost in a Warren Buffett value investor style, put for personal finance. Like, how can you be an entrepreneur in the real world? How can you be a Main Street Millionaire? We sat down with Cody recently. Here's what she had to say. All right, I'm with Cody Sanchez, the author of a brand new book, Main Street Millionaire. Cody is familiar to me. I don't know if she's unfamiliar to you, but you have hit my algorithm

and you've probably hit everyone listening's algorithm. If not on IG, then on YouTube. And the way that you hit my attention, Cody, is by talking about stuff like this. You were talking about small businesses, business advice, not sort of hitting the esoteric home run of creating the next big app, but buying the laundromat,

starting the brick and mortar business. Yeah, well, the idea kind of came from just being in private equity for a long time, you know, which we thought was super fancy when you think about private equity or Wall Street. I think you think here, you know, New York, big huge skyscrapers. But actually, what do people do in private equity? They buy really old, longstanding, stable businesses that cash flow. And at some point, after like working for a boss I didn't like for a long time, I realized, wait a second, why couldn't I do the same thing that they do but at the smaller level, like an everyday human level? And so I started looking for businesses that didn't

take a rocket scientist to run. One of them was a laundromat. And then I found out about things like the SBA and how you can get third party loans to buy businesses. And so it started like for me personally. And then I started seeing this like weird creep. I mean, we call it kind of the corporate mist of these big companies coming in and buying everything. And the rest of us either have to buy from them or work for them. And that's when I was like, you know, we probably shouldn't get rich quietly. We should try to get rich together. We should tell more people about how to buy these main street businesses otherwise they go away there's two sides to what i hear you talking about that appealed to me one is sort of the self-interest of what you get out of being involved in these

small brick-and-mortar businesses but the other is what you give back i actually want to start with what you give back because i'm from a small town 30 000 people one hour north of dallas people have written books about this for like a decade the small town brain drain that so many so much of the talent from towns across America, from Nebraska to Texas, wherever it may be, move off to the big city. And what you're talking about is not just building something that gives back to you potentially financially, which I want to get into, but helps rebuild Main Street, helps rebuild these communities in these small towns. Yeah, well, I think we're waking up to the point that it's not that fun working in a cubicle for eight hours a day, skipping the sun all day. It's bizarre

actually when you think about it. Like, where else are their padded walls except a psych ward? Like, Why did we decide that this would be the life that we wanted to live and that this would make us happy? Vitamin D deficient, clacking away on keyboards, you know, sort of neck scrunching, back hurting, in roly chairs with a bunch of people that we don't actually want to hang out with and bosses that we don't want to look like eventually. And so, you know, when you feel that, I actually heard Tucker Carlson say, truth is like a tuning fork when you hear it, you feel it. And I remember the first time I started feeling that myself, I was working at Goldman. and thinking, like, I hate this. You know, I hate what I'm doing in this moment. And so, yeah, there is that self-interest of going and doing the next thing.

But I think there's also this rising realization that we were sold a bit of a lie, that us going to work for a corporate person for our whole lives, maybe is not as intriguing as we thought. So I think there's an opportunity for the first time ever for youth to stay in their hometowns. We did a study, actually. Studies is a loose term. We pulled about 30,000 people across Instagram and our X account and saw how many people had become successful. And what I mean by successful, it's like a millionaire, right, without counting your house, successful that had never left their hometown even for college. And we found one person.

Really? Yeah. Let's take a quick break. I've got many more questions about how we can all. And maybe how we can help our children get rich by staying plugged into our communities, buying small businesses, and becoming a main source. and becoming a Main Street millionaire. Next on the Will Cain Show. I'm Janice Dean.

Join me every Sunday as I focus on stories of hope and people who are truly rays of sunshine in their community and across the world. Listen and follow now at foxnewspodcast.com. Welcome back to the Will Cain Show. We're still talking to the author. of a brand new book, Main Street Millionaire, Cody Sanchez.

So I want to ask you another couple questions about Clint. But first, here's a parenthetical, but it fits in. You have this part of your book, which are really fun, fascinating. You talk about, we need to talk about money again. Let's do it. You said, like, one in four people didn't grow up talking about money, or do? What is it? Like, people are embarrassed to talk about money.

Yeah, most of us do not talk about money. That's not how I grew up. You talked about money going on? Yeah, absolutely. Like who, your mom or dad? Yeah, absolutely. Do they talk about making it or something? saving it. I knew what my dad made. I knew when he had a big year. My dad was an attorney and he

talked. But I actually really appreciated it in retrospect because I wasn't ignorant about money. Like what is a lot of money? What's not a lot of money? What's a good year? What's a bad year? My wife, on the other hand, her family was very traditional and conservative about money. They didn't talk about it. And I think that leaves a lot of people in the dark. You know, like I know it's uncouth or impolite to talk about money. But I think it leads to a lot of ignorance. Oh, I think you're right. You know, I kind of go back to, I remember I was talking to one of my friends who was schooling me on something. You know how we all grew up and we said money is the root of all people? Right? Like, I don't know how we got programmed that, but we all sort of

know it. And then if you go back and look in the Bible, it's actually the love of money or the desire for money, depending on the translation, is the root of all evil. So it's not the money that is the issue. It is, is that all you want? Is that the thing that is the driving force for you? Then that is evil. But I think we were sold sort of this bag of goods about money for a myriad of reasons, but because we're a lot easier to control and we don't have it. You know, the ultimate form of freedom is financial freedom because it allows you to push your will onto the world as opposed to be pushed upon. And I knew that firsthand because I spent a lot of time along the U.S. Mexico border. And I saw what happened to young women with a last name like Sanchez,

who were brutalized and murdered along the U.S. Mexico border and nobody cared. I mean, I'm talking, 2,000 people a year died in Juarez last year, the town that I was in, were murdered. Excuse me, didn't die. 2000 were murdered. And why? It wasn't that they were Mexican and I was American. It was really that they didn't have socioeconomic power. They were poor.

And so nobody really cared. They had no recourse. So I think we have to talk about money. And it's really good that your dad did that because I think we think it's unsophisticated or it's scammie or it's low brow. Right. And it's not. it's putting the hand down as opposed to, you know, kind of saying we're above it. Yeah.

And so in that spirit, I think going back to Clint in the landscaping business, one of the problems for attracting people to stay back in their hometown or invest in Main Street in businesses is that while it might be good for the community, they have to be sold on how it's good for them individually. I asked you about the size of the landscaping business. Because when you're in a small town, what you worry about is scale. Like, okay, I can buy into this business and I can perhaps improve it with technology and hustle, but how big can I actually make it in this small community? Can I actually become a millionaire doing this, whatever it may be, plumbing, roofing, in this small town community? Do I have scale?

Yeah, well, I think that part that's, there's two sides to the equation of making millions, right, or becoming a millionaire. One is revenue or profit or making money. The other side is expense and spend, right? And so I have another one of our group and a friend of mine whose name is Nick, and he lives in Georgia. And Nick is a great example. He went to, God, he went to, he either went to Yale or he went to Cornell. And that's a very nice school.

And instead of going to consulting or Goldman Sachs afterwards like I did, he actually started a self-storage company. And the self-storage was basically him and some friends grabbing a bunch of people's stuff during the summer and putting it in a storage unit that they suburb. blooded out, right? That self-storage business ended up leading him to buy a small self-storage property. But obviously he couldn't do that by Cornell. The property was really expensive. He had to go back to his hometown. Well, here's the good part about it. I think his first property was like 100 or 200K. And yet, his first house that he bought there was like 200K, and it's a beautiful house with his kids. So the guy now also does really well, but it's because it's so much cheaper to start there and you can become an owner. Let's take a quick break. I've got many more

questions about how we can all and maybe how we can help our children get rich by staying plugged into our communities, buying small businesses, and becoming a Main Street millionaire. Next on the Wilcane Show. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason and the House podcast. Join me every Monday to dive deeper into the latest political headlines and chat with remarkable guests. Listen and follow now at Fox News Podcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. Welcome back to the Will Kane Show. We're still talking to the author of a brand new book, Main Street Millionaire, Cody Sanchez.

I worry about all of these, whatever they are, landscaping businesses or veterinarian offices that are no longer owned local, but they're being rolled up in some massive national private equity buyout of whatever you're given industry. Yeah, and you know what it does? As touch you feel as it sounds, it takes the soul right out of the company. Yes.

I mean, we all know. My team jokes about it a lot, but at our companies, you're allowed to go, and if you want to buy coffees or food or whatever while you're working, you're allowed to do that as long as it's for a small business.

You're not allowed to go to Starbucks. And the reason is because the last time you went to Starbucks, what did you get? I mean, probably the best Starbucks are in, like, New York, because, you know, just volume. But when you go to a Starbucks

and almost any other town, it's like it's dirty it's definitely not the third place anymore they don't write your name correctly on the thing they barely wish you were there right there's no communicating with them the owner of the company has never been in that building and it feels the same anywhere you go there is no soul and so to me why we like you know special main street communities is because they were localized and now we're kind of like slowly pulling the soul out of out of communities but for the first time ever I think we have a way to push back, which is that we can have more of a soul, and we can also keep more money in our local economies by buying these businesses. Shop local didn't work because Amazon's so

easy and amazing. Like, of course I'm going to use that instead of shop local. But experience local, experience a local coffee shop versus a Starbucks. Yeah, that might work. And so I think that this is our opportunity with these small businesses. So I would ask my two sons to read this. when the time is right. One's 16, one's 13. But they're getting there because they're going to start thinking about what they is

what they want to do. And I guess as a father, I want them to do real things. And it's hard because of what I do for a living. And what I do for a living often it looks like,

hey, go become famous or a star. That's not what I'm... I think everybody kind of now has this idea that's a great career. That's not what I want for my sons. I would love to look up

one day and you own a very successful drywall business. Like I would be really excited about that because it's real. You can see your thumbprint on something. But I also like that you talk about specifics. So I know there's some that you like and some that you don't like as far as when it comes to businesses that make you a mainstream millionaire. Yeah. Let's talk about some businesses I hate and people can yell at us on the internet for that. So a couple of businesses

that I think are masquerading as a business, but really something else. My least favorite business? Hotels. Super hard. Do you know most hotels make negative market? So the only way they actually make money is through tax benefits. So hotels are like a 24-7 problem that are really hard to run over time. So it's amazing that people run them. Thank God. People do it. I love staying in them.

But for a first-time entrepreneur, don't do a hotel. It's a super hard business. Second, restaurants. Everybody thinks that they should open a restaurant if they like to cook. Let me tell you what. Go eat there and don't profit off of it. And if you don't believe me, like read Anthony Bourdain's book, too. He's like, all I have seen is a graveyard of enthusiasts in the restaurant space.

You have to be a sort of crazy obsessed savant, I think, to long-term succeed in restaurants. It's really hard. Now, if you are obsessed with just about any business, you could probably win. But restaurants have really small margins, and they're complex. So I don't play that game. And then the third business that I don't love, and then I think a lot of people think about these days, I'll just encapsulate them overall in, like, fast internet businesses. So I don't love Amazon drop shipping.

You have no moat. I don't love e-commerce flipping. You don't have ability to have a real product and brand to talk to people about. So those are three businesses that I'm like, maybe not for your first go. No, you're really good. I don't want to call you a modern-day Warren Buffett, but you're talking about real value, real Main Street businesses and how people can get rich and also give back to their communities, which is singing my tune. So I was really excited to meet you.

And we're both Texans. I love that. You're Texan now, right? You're Texan now? Yeah, yeah. Little Arizonan. Very similar, actually. Yeah, I can see that.

I can see that. So thank you, Cody. This has been great. I hope we can stay in touch. Absolutely. Thanks for having me. All right, Main Street Millionaire. There you go.

I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Cody Sanchez. Make sure you pick up Main Street Millionaire. What were the best moments of 2024? Right here, a big year on the Will Cain Show. I want to walk you through my five biggest moments here on the Wilcane show. I want to bring in the Willisia, the guys back in New York. First of all, you heard me earlier in the show bring up my biggest winners and losers of 24. Did I leave any out in your estimations?

Biggest winner, loser? Anybody think I forgot something? No, I mean, I would put the Yankees as big losers this year, but that's just me. Yeah, I agree. Juan Soto, big winner. Got himself a dollar and a huge winner. No, he's a loser to me, so thank you very much.

I appreciate that. We're trying to show him some cross-town grace. But no, you pretty much nailed it. Tinfoil, did I forget? Did I forget anything, tinfoil, Pat? I think Florida State football is probably the biggest loser of the year. massive downgrade terrible

we can't let this we can't let this year go by without at least acknowledging the grave that is Florida State what was I just talking about I want to be careful about flashing the pan how about how you were riding high

for like a three week period in the NFL about the resurgence of James Winston and boy the air got let out of that balloon I'm still on that train I'm not talking about ride or die buddy right or die all right

biggest moments of the will cane show this year speaking of ride or die it is the appointment of my friend and former co-host Pete Hegseth

as secretary of defense confirmation hearings coming up here soon I mean listen I know for a fact people turn to us

to listen to the latest on Pete you know to tell them the truth to hear um And I appreciate that. It's easy. It's, you know, people say,

that's great what you're doing for Pete. He'll never forget. You know what, man? It's easy. When you combine truth and passion, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. This story was one, it was easy for me to go all in on because it's just true. And I feel passionate about this truth. So I think that was one of the biggest moments when Pete, who by the way, was a, I mean, not just Fox and Friends.

He was off the rails here on the Will Kane show every other week. you know so i think that's one of the biggest miss talking about every week obviously yeah yeah i know we love we just loved them irreplaceable right or die all right so number two speaking of pete he was with me the trump interview from this last summer pete rachel and i sat down for an hour and a half with then candidate for president donald trump here's why that was a big moment for us because as we've seen with 60 minutes and so other media enterprises the editing and deceptive editing that goes on and maybe even just editorial judgment. I was proud that we could display that in full where, you know,

Fox and Friends, because of time constraints and traditional television, you have to cut it up. I was really proud that this show was the outlet where somebody could go truly get the full 90 minutes with Donald Trump. And so that was a big moment for us, not just because it was Donald Trump, But that's the vision of this show that I want it to be. Like, hey, you need more depth, you need less manipulation. And I don't mean that all negatively, because sometimes TV has to be edited for time. But we are the unmanipulated truth. That's what I want to be.

And that's why I thought that was a big moment for us here on the Will Kane show. All right, how about this one? He asked for us for this. So this miss is really big. I mean, this might be number one or two. It's not number one. But it's the rock. The rock wanted a long-form sit-down with us.

us and we went to lincoln financial field and had an awesome long-form conversation with dwayne johnson who i am a big fan of now and drank tequila and not only that two days what made this huge amount of the show then i got invited to wrestlemania like on the fourth row yeah like if you were making me rank coolest things like just to be by the way the trump box at army navy is up there. I went to Mavs, Celtics, finals. MSG, James, I know you were there. He started to throw that in there.

Really? Oh, no. He wanted to be part of a big moment. So that must make everything else so much bigger if that was like peanuts to you. Wow. That's wow. It is.

That's true. No, really. Yeah. Would you say that? And I know we got behind the scenes, I know we were behind the scenes in MSG and you got to meet, you know, a lot of guys, Vivek and Rudy. and so forth behind the scenes.

But, no, I mean, the box at Army Navy. I particularly liked floor seats at Mavs Celtics this past year. All right, that's three. Here's number four. And this is sort of a combo platter. It's a culmination. So election week here on the Will Kane show. We did our biggest numbers ever.

The truth is that we probably put us over the hump and a lot of things. We retained a lot of that. It's changed the trajectory of the show. but it's not just that selfishly. I mean, we had a ton of great guests. You guys all did an incredible job. And I can't even rattle off Clay Travis, Stephen A. Smith, Dave Portnoy. I can't remember everybody because there was like 20 guests that week.

It's crazy. Buck, sexton, on and on and on. Again, huge numbers. But the thing about Election Week is it's tied to everything else, like the assassination stories, like the post-debat show. that we did, like after Joe Biden's debate, after Joe Biden drops out of the race, you know? It's like that's all one continuous story

that culminates that week on election week, some of which we did live on location in North Carolina on Election Day. That whole week is huge. And the thing about it is even, I'm not, this isn't like pat me and us and the Will Can Show on the back because I honestly think we're an illustration,

we're a symbol. Like I think a lot of people feel that way about that week and the moments that have followed and the moments that led up to that. Like, you can feel it in America. And I think it changed a trajectory for us. And I think it changed a trajectory for America. Spiritual.

Speaking of spiritual. So this is number one for me. Okay, all these other things. This is number one. Now, this is something that happened in 2023. But, you know, like Pete getting nominated, there's a level of purpose and investment in a story that's a little bit different

than my intellectual or even my spiritual involvement where my blood, sweat, and tears are in the story, right? In 2023, when Lahaina burned down, I went all in. And it's one of the biggest stories I've ever had to be a part of and went all in on. Many people listening know this, and you guys know this. In the wake of that, we managed to do a lot of cool things through this vehicle, through the vehicle of Fox News.

In 23, we got the Las Vegas Sands to donate a 747. We got corporate America to donate over a million. goods, we flew it over to Maui. That's all 23. We also raised over $2.6 million for people in Maui that through GoFundMe, who was a great partner. And this took a lot of my life. And I'm not patented myself. I called every single recipient. I got to know their stories. I let them know what was going on. I vetted that they're real. I ran references. This was my time and I loved it. it basically got implemented in 24. 24 is when we were able to distribute almost all of that money.

$12,000 grants started in 23, but went through 24 that basically wound up, you know, in March or April of last, of 24, we made our last donation, and it remains probably the most fulfilling, purpose-driven thing I've ever done in my career to make those calls, to talk to those people, to offer up something. And I'm just a conduit. It's the American people and many generous families that help donate that money.

But for me, what an honor to be that conduit. It is the highlight, not just of my year in 2024. It really honestly is the highlight of my career. And I'm telling you, like, this Trump stuff and, you know, that's really cool. It is. So, like, that's how high the bar is, that this is higher in my book. And that's the top for me in 2024. And we'll have to find ways to continue doing great things.

things and helping people because 2025 is going to require its own thing, you know? It can't just be, I got to go to a cool Mavericks game. It's got to be we figured out how to help Americans. So that's it. Those are the highlights, the top five highlights of the Will Cain show

in 2024. All right, that's going to do it for us today here on the Will Cain show. We appreciate you being here. I hope you'll subscribe. I'm telling you, big year coming up, big year, Spotify, Apple, YouTube. We'll see you next time. Listen to ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcast, and Amazon Prime members, you can listen to this show, ad-free on the Amazon music app.

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