Will Cain Country - Debating Affirmative Action with Stephen A. Smith

Episode Date: July 7, 2023

It may have been a little dirty, but Will shares his experience prepping in the Hudson River before the big upcoming New York City SEAL swim.   He also shares a healthy conversation that he had with old friend Stephen A. Smith on Fox News Tonight this week. The two debated the Supreme Court’s ruling on Affirmative Action, and Stephen A. later weighs in on who would win an Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg fight.   Plus, an inspirational chat with former Navy SEALs Bill Brown and Jason Redman who share with us their backgrounds and motivations leading into the New York City SEAL swim on August 19th.    You can help support the Navy SEAL Foundation by donating at impact.navysealfoundation.org     Tell Will what you thought about this podcast by emailing [e-mail]   Follow Will on Twitter: @WillCain   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For a limited time at McDonald's, enjoy the tasty breakfast trio. Your choice of chicken or sausage McMuffin or McGrittles with a hash brown and a small iced coffee for five bucks plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. Swimming across the Hudson with Navy Seals. Debating Affirmative Action with Stephen A. Smith. It's the Will Cain podcast on Fox News Podcast. What's up and welcome to the weekend.

Welcome to Friday. As always, I hope you will download, rate, and review this podcast wherever you get your audio entertainment. At Apple, Spotify, or at Fox News podcast. You can watch the Will Cain podcast on Rumble or on YouTube. Coming up on today's episode of the Will Cain podcast, we're going to hang out with our old friend from ESPN. We're going to hang out with Stephen A. Smith. Stephen A. appeared with me this week on the 8 p.m. show Fox News Tonight on the Fox News channel. We spent a good eight to ten minutes together talking about affirmative action and

who would win a fight, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. But before we get to that conversation with Stephen A, let's talk about swimming across the Hudson with Navy Seals. You know I've signed up for the New York City Seal Swim benefiting the Navy SEAL Foundation. Pete Heggseth and I, hopefully live on Fox and Friends, will be swimming from Liberty State Park in New Jersey to the Statue of Liberty, to Ellis Island, to Manhattan. After our conversation with Stephen A. Smith, you're going to hear me talk with the founder of the New York City Seal Swim, former Navy SEAL, and former Navy SEAL, Jason Redmond, who has an inspirational story to tell about the severe injuries he suffered while serving as a seal. Both Jason and Bill will be swimming with me in August.

But as we were taping this interview, which you will hear, again, right after the conversation with Stephen A. Smith, Bill said to me, hey, Will, I'm going to go ahead and do a trial run, dial in the tides on. Wednesday morning. Want to go? And I thought to myself, well, I brought my speedo. I need to train. I've been training for the August 19th swim. Should I go ahead and just run a trial run through the Hudson? Should I get up early at 5.30 a.m. on Wednesday morning while hosting the 8 p.m. hour all that week on the Fox News Channel and go swim across the Hudson. Yes, of course. I should swim. And so I did across the Hudson on Monday. I met Bill and one other friend, an individual who would be swimming in August, early Wednesday morning, roughly 6 a.m. We met the New Jersey State Troopers in Liberty State Park, two boats who were going to escort us throughout the course.

I was nervous. I wasn't nervous about my speedo. I was nervous about being in that water, both the water quality and the condition, the choppiness, and to some extent, the length of the race. It's a three-mile swim in total, and each one of those stops at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and then finally at the 9-11 Memorial in Manhattan, you do 100 push-ups and 22 pull-ups to honor those who lost their lives on 9-11, those who lost their lives, the seals who lost their life, in extortion 17, and in honor of first responders and vets. And let me tell you something. Bill takes all that, as he should, very seriously.

On our way out, on the state trooper's boat out of a harbor in New Jersey, he asked them, hey, can we stop as we leave the harbor? In 2017, there was a seal, or rather a Navy diver, parachute jumper. and he fell, they all jumped, I believe it was on the 4th of July, and his shoot did not open, his reserve shoot did not work. This sailor aimed for water, so he wouldn't hit a crowd or wouldn't hit land, and successfully crash landed, I say successfully in not causing any other harm other than to himself into the Hudson, where he died. Bill wanted to stop on the way out and do 100, push-ups on the boat in honor of that sailor.

I take this very seriously, and that's a type of reverence and honor that can really be infectious. It's actually really revelatory. It makes you understand the sacrifice of many give, and for you to stop being so cynical in life or so selfish and all of a sudden think about and do hard things for others. We get out there, and Bill gives me a little swim buoy. it's like an inflatable, just, I don't know, football-sized, orange, almost like a marker, but I guess if I were drowning, I could grab it for some type of buoyancy, but so that I think as much as anything you can see us while we're in the water.

A set of fins, and he doesn't mess around. Once we were out there, a little bit outside of the harbor, it's time to go. And boom, Bill's in the water, and we're off and swimming. So the understanding that I had been told was that the first stretch to the statue of Liberty is one of the hardest stretches because the chop and the current is in your face. But I felt pretty good. I jumped in the water and I was feeling, honestly, I was feeling strong. You know, I mean, I grew up since the age of six competitively swimming, played water polo in college. And it comes back to you. I was saying to a buddy of mine, it might be my best physical skill.

And I was off and away. And I felt good. And we made the corner, the first leg, I think, was three quarters of a mile where the boat stopped and we got back on where we cranked out 100 push-ups and 22 pull-ups on the edge of the boat. That was hard. It's hard. Pull-ups are hard and it's not like there was a pull-up bar where it's just this overhang on the boat and the boat's rocking. But I actually think the hardest part is the push-ups. And I'm not going to tell you my form is good, but 100 push-ups is no joke. You're burning pretty good. And then, you know, you got to get back in the water and go again, which we did. And again, Bill's like, back in the water. And now is a beautiful stretch, man. You swim and you're literally swimming

under the Statue of Liberty. Like what a view. And again, Bill's sense of reverence for everything, the symbolism, the those that have lost their lives in defending this country, and simply the amazing place you find in your life when you're in the water underneath the Statue of Liberty. it's incredible you swim past the Statue of Liberty the three of us kind of took in the moment high five each other at time you roll over at times you roll over do like an otter swim on your back use your flippers and it's it's pretty easy and then and then we're off to ellis island you swim all the way to ellis island which they go to in honor of america's diversity it's really cool because my grandfather stephen williams came through ellis island from england in wales he was a baby

but he came through Ellis Island and his name's there on the ledger and once we get there you climb back on the boat crank out another 100 push-ups and 22 pull-ups and then comes the hardest stretch and that's the mile and a half stretch

from Ellis Island all the way back to Manhattan and it's hard for several reasons because open water swimming is about guiding and pointing and keeping your direction and it's hard and we had to discuss it several times

hey aim for that church you see that one church and there's another building that's shaped like an Aztec temple He said, somewhere between those is where we're going to end up. If you're up at the Aztec temple, you're too far, and the current will take you upstream, actually, at that point. It'll take you uptown, and you have to get a ride back. That's not good.

If you go too far to the right, to the other side of that church, you're going to end up actually in the East River, because you're pretty close to the bottom of Manhattan. So make sure several times. And as I'm talking to you right now, my neck is super sore, and I'm trying to figure out why. I think it's because of all the water polo stroking, you know, head up, freestyle. so I'm continuing to mark my bearings. And also out there, it's a washing machine. Now the Hudson River's coming through. It's hitting the bay.

There's boat traffic. The New Jersey State troopers are on both sides bracketing us and helping it so we don't get run over, which is actually kind of, I mean, I would 10 strokes. I took 10 strokes and looked, because I'm always where he's a boat coming at me or whatever. But despite it being like the scariest part, it was a mile and a half stretch back to Manhattan.

Interestingly, the worst was, yet to come. The worst part was absolutely when we hit Manhattan because now all the chop is coming off these like concrete barriers, these concrete boardwalks and bouncing right back at you. And now, I mean, I'm literally like, it is a watchman. I'm up, I'm down. I'm almost like I'm lifting up out of the water and slapping back down. Impossible to get a good stroke and make it aerobic. It's pretty anaerobic. And then the worst part, the trash is accumulating. I remember is at one point seeing those things that people

used to floss their teeth, not floss I'm old school, I use floss, but those like picks with the floss stretched and pulled tot I remember seeing one of those and it was in a floating you know collection of trash

I breastroaked and just kind of did that number where I parted the red sea of trash and you got to dodge like logs and wood and just bottle caps and plastic and bags and I thank God didn't see condoms which you'll hear referenced in this conversation

with Bill and Jason after our conversation with Stephen A. But that was absolutely the worst part. You get to appear at the South Cove of Manhattan. You grab up on some wood, lift yourself up over the railing, and there you are underneath the buildings of Manhattan and you've made it.

And all these, I don't know if that's a strongly, I don't know if that's like a big Chinese area of Manhattan. It's not Chinatown. There's all these Chinese people there and they were taking pictures of us like we were celebrities which I guess it's weird to see like monsters from the deep come swimming out. And there I am

in my speedo. The other dudes just wore one wore board shorts and one and Bill the seal wore little seal shorts and the speedo didn't bother me any stretch of the way. I've been wearing a spito since I was six years old until you're standing in downtown Manhattan wearing a spito. And wait

for the New Jersey Strait troopers to give you your bag back. And now you're like, I wish I wasn't standing here in a speedo. Long and short of it is, it's one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went and took a good, strong shower, of course, quickly. I was exhausted. I ate steak for breakfast. It was absolutely amazing. And from what I've been told, it's nothing compared to what we will do on August 19th.

I don't mean physically. Although we will run two miles at the front end and we'll run from that, landing point up to the 9-11 Memorial, carrying American flags, where we'll finish it off with 100 push-ups and 22 pull-ups at the base of the 9-11 Memorial. National Anthem playing, spectators, August 19th is supposed to be amazing. You can watch it, hopefully, on Fox and Friends. You can also give back, and you'll hear in this conversation, go to the Navy SEAL Foundation. You can donate. It's on my Instagram right now as well. You can find it. You can donate. If you have time and you are a swimmer, you can reach out to Bill.

Go to my Instagram, see Will Kane. Bill's Instagram is there. Message him. He'll tell you how to confirm you have passed a swim test. You can jump in. You can jump into the swim. You might have to raise a little bit of money or pay a little bit of money that goes to charity. But you too can participate.

And I'm thinking about this next year, one year from now. Let's go all in as the Will Kane podcast. We'll go all in on this event together. You'll learn more in just a moment in a conversation with Navy SEALs, Bill Brown and Jason Redmond. We'll be right back with more of the Will Cain podcast. From the Fox News Podcasts Network. Hey there, it's me, Kennedy.

Make sure to check out my podcast. Kennedy saves the world. It is five days a week, every week. Download and listen at Fox Newspodcast.com or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions and less than five minutes. minutes. We ask people on the streets of New York City to play along. Let's see how you do. Take the quiz every day at the quiz.box. Then come back here to see how you did.

Thank you for taking the quiz. But now, a healthy conversation, I think I humbly submit to you on affirmative action with my old friend from ESPN, Stephen A. Smith. Well, the Supreme Court has now ruled that it's illegal to consider race in college admissions. Now, most Americans agree with last week's decision. A recent CBS News poll found that 70% of Americans opposed race being used in a factor in admissions, and even 60% of Democrats oppose race as a factor, according to a New York Times poll. But there was a backlash to the ruling.

My old friend Stephen A. Smith had a lot to say about the decision. Here's where I get ticked off. I get ticked off that white America gets to sit back and act like. They're innocent in all of the things that have been transpiring to the point where it ignited their furor to such a degree that they felt the need to oppose such things. The iniquities that have taken place in this country against minority communities, who exacted that, who displayed that, who exercised those actions? Who were the instigators and perpetrators of all of that? Who was that exactly? Wasn't that white America?

I think it was. Stephen A. Smith, the host of the Stephen A. Smith show. And first take on ESPN joins us now. Stephen A. Great to see you, man. What's going on, buddy? How you doing, man? You want me just go right at that clip? Is that how we should do this? We just start right there. Feel free. Okay. There's no such thing. Let's go. Let's go. I'm here. I know you are. The problem is, Stephen A, in truth, when it comes to justice, there is no such thing as black America and white America. There are only individuals. Okay. And so when you assign culpability to individuals of the past, to individuals of today, there's simply nothing to hold anyone accountable for. Why do I pay the price for the sins of the past, and you reap the benefits in the case of affirmative action?

I'm not saying you had affirmative action, but you as a black man would reap the benefits of affirmative action for the sins committed on someone of the past. We are only in the end, Stephen A, individuals. Well, first of all, I get where you're coming from, and I can understand how you would look at it that way. You have to respect the fact that I have a different cultural background, a different experience than you, and I might feel a bit differently about it. What I would tell you is this. There's so many people and the people that have been supportive of the Supreme Court's latest ruling are of the mindset that blacks were getting an unfair advantage.

What black people would contend to you is that it wasn't an unfair advantage. Remember, race was a consideration, one of many considerations that would be taken into the equation when you talk about college admissions. And I think ultimately, diversity, equity, and inclusion is next personally when you think about some of the things that have been taking place in corporate America. But it wasn't that. It was an effort to sort of make an effort to even the playing scales to some degree because of the iniquities exacted against the African American community in this country. It wasn't about giving them an advantage. It was about highlighting the fact that they were discriminated, meaning we were discriminated against at that particular moment in time. And that's why the policy was instituted to begin with.

So when folks are walking around, acting as if there is a reason to celebrate, and I'm looking at folks that are feeling like somehow, some way, they've been shortchanged. My mentality is, wait a minute, the policies were implemented to begin with because the African American community was being shortchanged. And they were being denied the same privileges or the same opportunities that were accorded to white folks in America. So what I would say to that is you do not solve past discrimination by present or future discrimination. And there was certainly injustices under the banner of. of affirmative action inflicted upon individuals whether or not they'd be white or Asian American. In Harvard, in the situation in Harvard,

an African-American student in the top 50% of his academic class, Stephen A, had just as good a chance as an Asian student or a white student in the top 10% of their class. Does that just, is that just discrimination? No, and by the way, if you, you know, and I'm sure you did listen to my podcast and I appreciate you doing so,

If you recall, I did not say, you know what, I did not say that it wasn't discrimination. I acknowledged the fact you didn't see me, you didn't hear me speak against, you know, anyone from the Asian community that have brought that case to the justices. I understood where they were coming from. My argument was against folks in white America that was saying even, you know, presidential candidate Donald Trump talking about now we get back to a merit, you know, a society based on merit, ignoring what brought affirmative action policies into play to begin with. We have people in white America acting as if they don't know how it came about.

So if somebody from the Asian community or the Latino community, they had an issue and they felt that they denied an opportunity. That's a different argument than white America coming up and saying, we don't feel that we've been treated fairly in all of this. When the unfairness was exacted by white folks in America. Well, that's where you and I go full circle and get a little. little bit stuck in the mud because I will refer to talking about individuals. Individuals, whether or not they be white or Asian, can be the victims of injustice and discrimination. But I do want to ask you a sincere question. In the 1970s, in the 1970s, when the program of affirmative action was implemented, Stephen A. At that time, the Supreme Court of the United

States said there would be a day when it would no longer be required. When they re-upped it in 2003, they anticipated another 25 years of affirmative action. Well, we came just short of that. It's been 22, what it's been 20, 21 years since that decision was made at the Supreme Court. The question is, even if you're making up for past sin, Stephen A, when does it come to an end? When do we stop discriminating on the basis of race? When people in positions of power have proven that they're exercising fairness come hell of high water. It's really, really that simple. I'm so glad that you asked that question.

But that's impossible to define. Well, again, but again, when you're looking at numbers, for example, why? Why do we say, why did Yale in the 70s sit up there and say, we want 10% of our student populace to be made up of minorities? You know why? Because they knew without those rules, those laws in place. They didn't anticipate that that would be allowed. In today's corporate America, you still have folks.

You have black folks being paid less than white folks. You have black women being paid, paid less than white women. You have white women obviously deserving a lot of opportunities that they obviously richly deserve. They're getting paid less than white men. Everywhere you turn, there's a level of unfairness that's being exercised. But you're as because of that, the only thing that changes that is the law as opposed to somebody's conscience. But you're ascribing all those differences to race when there's so many different contributing to factors into why corporate America may look a certain way. You and I both love sports.

We both debated in sports. I could play, turn about as fair play and go, why aren't they're more white NBA players? That must be discrimination. But we both know the answer is because merit has dictated who's in the NBA. And whatever's happening in society, and I would never see even a, I would never say it and say, every decision made is purely based upon merit. But we aspire to that. We aspire to that. And I think that the Supreme Court's decision has been a big leap forward in getting to where we judge things based upon merit.

Well, you would say that, and I would say to you that the power structure in the United States of America is still predominantly white. And so as a result, what white America is asking you to do is ultimately the trust that your whole, heart is going to be in the right place. And there are a plethora of people throughout minority communities in this country who would challenge that and would say no. We don't necessarily believe that to be the case, which is why we need the laws to help us. When you bring up sports and you and I have argued back and forth as friends and brothers talking about the world of sports and some of the iniquities that have taken place, you can bring up the NBA, for example. I can point to something called the meritocracy because I see their performance on the court just as much

as you do. There isn't some curtain. There isn't some proverbial glass ceiling. We're We're literally witnessing it. But when we look at the NFL, for example, the Rooney Rule was still in existence. This is the number one professional sports league in this country. Why is the Rooney Rules still in existence? Because we've seen one opportunity after another, after another, where capable, qualified black individuals were bypassed

because of the system that was in place, primarily run by white individuals who asked us to trust them, but then prove they weren't worthy of the trust that they requested. And so those are the kind of challenges we have to deal with as a country. And there's just no way around that. The only way we can make it better is people like yourself and myself talking about it honestly and openly. I agree. And I will say that I think that the mistake that we often make and where you and I find our debate is whether or not we ascribe all those differences to the big factor being race.

Listen, next time we're together, I want to have a conversation with you about Clarence Thomas. He's one of the most amazing black men in the history of the United States of America. I do not feel like you're giving him sufficient credit to anyone. But we'll get there. We don't have to do it right now. Before we go, let's stay to many people in America. Before we go, before we go, let's stay on the note of sports. Who wins in the fight? You have analyzed fights, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg?

Man, that's a tough one. Elon Musk just looks like a weird individual. He's just different. He's a big dude, though. He's considerably bigger than Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg is a small guy, but they say he's been studying Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. And in the case of Elon Musk, all he said is that I'm just going to be a big body. I'm going to lay on him and maneuver to move called the war, where I just lay on him and do nothing.

If I got a bet on one or the other, I would bet on the jihitsu artist, but Elon Musk is a big dude. And if he falls on Mark Zuckerberg, I mean, who knows? I don't know. I'll go with Zuckerberg. I'll go with the underdog. I'll go with Zuckerberg. We have the tail of the tape on the screen when you're talking. And I'll be real as well.

Elon Musk at 6.1 doesn't look like 187. He looks like he's about a 210, which would be a significant advantage. Yeah. But I'm going to go with the guy who is trained. I'm going to go with Zuckerberg as well. That's what I'm doing. This is not boxing. If it was boxing, I would pick Musk.

If it's Zuckerberg, I mean, again, you're a martial artist. You got a chance. Always love it, man. Even and because we disagree. agree. Thank you, Stephen A. Smith. That's right. My pleasure, bro. We'll be right back with more of the Will Cain podcast. This is Jason Chaffetz from the Jason in 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 foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you download podcasts. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that

conversation with Stephen A. Smith. Again, humbly, I would like to suggest, no one needed to win that conversation. No knockout punches needed to be thrown. America and we just needed to talk. Now, this will be a fun conversation as well. It's going to be three guys bust each other's balls. You're going to find inspiration when you hear these men's story about why they became seals, how they became seals and what they've suffered in some instances after becoming seals and how it all comes together at this New York City seal swim. I know you will enjoy this. If you've hung in, here's the treat. Bill Brown, former Navy SEALs. Bill Brown and Jason Redmond. Bill Brown, Jason Redmond. So great to see both

of you guys. The last time I saw you in person was one year ago, Bill, and you guys were just getting ready for the 2022 New York City Navy SEAL swim, the Hudson River swim from the Statue of Liberty to Manhattan. And here we are. Eleven months almost have passed. And I can honestly say I have been training. I promised you a year ago. I did this with you guys. And And I'm all set. I've been in the water. We're going to find out. Let's talk about to swim for a minute.

I want to ask both of you guys. So let's just, let's live out loud for a minute. I'm nervous. Now, I'm nervous too. You're not for me or for you? For you. Damn, we're not helping it out. Okay, well, let me lay down a little bit of runway.

I grew up a swimmer. I grew up competitively swimming from the age of probably six or seven. At 18, I decided chasing a black line was not fun, and so I walked on to the water polo team at Pepperdine. So I played water polo, a scrub for four years. So at the age, starting at the age of 22, I basically did not get in the water much except for fits and spurts. One of which included an open water swim from Lanai to Maui in Hawaii. But it was a relay race. It's nine miles, six guys.

So what I'm telling you here is I have some swim competition. I have done an open water swim, but three miles solo with and without currents at times, I'm nervous. It's the nervousness of the unknown. Well, you know, hearing your background and knowing guys you've done water polo, I'm not that nervous anymore. Now you're not? I think you should be still.

Because when I got in the pool, Jason, like, for the first time, I'm going to admit to you guys, like, three weeks ago, And we're recording this in early July. The first couple workouts, man, I was like, I feel like, obviously you know how to swim. I know how to swim. But I felt like somebody had emptied my tank to E 100% after the workout. Well, here's a bonus about this swim. If you can hit the beginning well, you know, we time it to the currents.

By the time you're on the backside, it literally is a little bit downhill. So as long as you come out of the gate strong, you get out to the Statue of Liberty, you're able to navigate the walking machine that's by Ellis Island. After that, man, you're really cooking with gas. You got the current that's coming behind you. So as long as you're comfortable with that and you can crank out the pull-ups and the push-ups, it's all downhill. And here's the good news. I know that, you know, most of us have been through life-saving training. So if anything goes wrong, we got you.

Let's do this. Bill, give me the course. It's three miles, but as Jason just said, there's pull-ups and push-ups along the way. So tell me about the New York City seal swim across the Hudson. There's a lot to it. The first thing we start off, we start off at Liberty State Park, Empty Sky Memorial. And the Empty Sky Memorial is in Jersey City, and it's a silhouette of how the Twin Towers look from the Jersey side. Inside the memorial, they have the names of the fallen grave.

So we start off there, holding American flags really high. we have a few great Americans say a few words to kind of motivate us kind of bring us back to what this is really about you know sending a strong message of patriotism and unity for our country to see and thank you to you and fox for helping us share that message for our country then what we do is we do a flag run now in buds basic under water dead mentalists in seal training we never walk so we it called a bud shuffle whenever you move in for mason as a class It's kind of like a slow-for-Mason jog. So that's how we start. We go right along the bulkway. You'll see we're traveling south down Liberty State Park. You'll see Ellis Island to your left. We keep cruising.

You'll see Statue of Liberty right there to your left. At the southernmost side of Liberty State Park, you have empty sky memorial. There we're going to change out. You're going to hand off your flags. You're going to have your bags out. You're going to get your fins on. You're going to get your guys. struggles. To monitor everybody, I have to have a safety swimmer buoy for everybody. This way

it's just easier for us to track. I have to have electronic ankle bracelets. There, I'll get a final head count. Make sure my manual count matches up with my electronic count. Then the next thing you do a swimmer's inspection. Make sure everybody's got there's gear. I'm coordinating with the Jersey State Police. And I'm doing a full dial-in swim if you want to do it this Wednesday with them across the Hudson because it's it's it's it's it's it's it's per amount that we get these tides geared in and so we're going to launch right now it looks like about eight o'clock it just got pushed back a little bit we're going to find out exactly when it is 8 a.m. launch everybody in the water and exactly you know exactly

what jay was saying is that first stretch is the hardest stretch it's the shortest and length but the statute of liberty to uh liberty state park is a straight shot And the way I time it is I have the current just starts to come in. And I do that specifically so the next two legs is working for us. So I get to swim with the current on the second and third leg. But on that first one, is it at my head? Is it coming across my body? What is the current doing?

Great question. So it's going to come across your body. You're going to want to push you uptown. It's coming upstream. And so left to right, which way is it hitting? Right side of my body or left side? going to hit the right side of your body pushing your left that's good for me jason so i told bill this over social media so on the uh bill bill gave me a note he goes hey will don't just chase that black

line in a pool he said you got to figure out how to target you you got to probably do a water polo stroke lift your head and look where you're you're headed right a water polo stroke exactly yeah so you know head up arm still freestyling but here's what i learned about myself um jason despite whatever it was like 15 years of my life chasing a black line you'd never know this the minute i did that um open water swim in hawaii and we had a boat you every team has to have a boat that shadows you and we got a huge catamaran which was awesome um but i learned because i swam away from the cataran that i pull hard right um i veer right i told bill i guess it's lined up with my politics I tend to pull hard right, man.

So if I've got water coming from the last side of my body, maybe I'll go straight. It's kind of like playing. Yeah, it's kind of like playing a slice or a draw. So, you know, it's nice. Yeah. That's my biggest concern, to be honest. It is, it is, my biggest concern is swimming straight.

I think, I think you're going to do fine. You're going to be so fired up. I know I am. You got beautiful. men like Jason, so many great Americans out there. When you look at the roster, the individuals that do this swim, I mean, men who've served the majority of their lives in the SEAL teams, multiple deployments, police officers, firefighters, every branch of the service you can think of.

It's just really inspiring. You got guys out there that I swam with a guy two days ago who lost his brother in 9-11. Matt Carl and Matt Smith. honoring his brother, Carl Smith. And so you think about the serious backgrounds and the individuals you're swimming with. And it's just, you'll be so fired up. You're going to be a great, all aspiring kind of moment.

You know, Jason, you give a lot of speeches. I've seen, I follow you on social media. I noticed that you just started following me on social media. So I appreciate that after you have known each other. It's okay. It's fine. Hey, I detest your convictions. I detest your convictions.

After a year, I think you're where you say you are, well. So, yeah, I gave you the follow back. No, man, you tell your story, which I'd love for you to share with us today a little bit of it. But you have, you know, you share your story, which in and of itself is inspirational. The SEAL community has an ethos of doing hard things as remembrance of those who have inspired you, who've inspired all of us. That ethos has bled over, by the way, outside of the military community. I, for a long time, did CrossFit, and in CrossFit, you do the MRF on Memorial Day. So this thing that we're going to do together, the three of us and Hegg Seth and so many other guys, my question for you, Jason, is why?

In a world where you, as an individual man, are surrounded by inspiration, why is this event important and inspiring? First off, I mean, Bill's done an amazing job putting the swim together. So, number one, you have a shield who wanted to honor his brothers, honor the loss of 9-11. and he brought this event together. And I didn't, last year was the first year I was able to do it. My schedule line, but I had no clue what I was getting myself into. And I have to say unequivocally, it is the most patriotic event I have ever been a part of. To be there at the beginning with Seal Brothers and amazing patriots,

what I like to call the protector community, community of military, special operations, law enforcement, fire, individuals who are willing to protect others, usually for almost no money or very little money knowing that they may be injured, lose their life, rushing into a building, you know, trying to save people on the streets are obviously going to fight the enemy overseas. And then putting us together to do things that are hard. A lot of guys like to call this adventure therapy. But then on top of that, to do it at the start of the New Jersey 9-11 Memorial and to swim out,

we honor all our brothers, our field brothers, because this is a. seal focused events. So to call out their names, so many guys that we personally knew, man, since 9-11, I've attended over 50 memorials. So every name we call out for most of us, man, it hits us in the heart because you remember that guy. You might have been on the mission with that guy. You might have been with that guy when they passed. And then when you jump into that water and when we swam under the Statue of Liberty, that was one of the most moving things I've ever done to look up like this icon of freedom and opportunity which you know there's a lot of negative energy that people are pushing out there about America this this BS idea that America's this

flawed state but America was built on this idea of a freedom opportunity and sacrifice and this swim brings all of that back it was this swim was born out of the sacrifice that occurred on 9-11 when you swim under the Statue of Liberty it made me think about how many people people were so honored and excited to come to this country when they saw that and they thought about the freedom and opportunity they had. So many of them later, I guarantee, raised their hand to say, I'm willing to fight for this country, to go to Ellis Island next, and then to go to Manhattan, the heart of our financial district with further repotence, freedom and opportunity, and to finish at the 9-11 Memorial, where for most of us who are on this swim, where combat

brought it back to almost every one of us in this day and age who do this. swim are tied to 9-11. So it is absolutely amazing. I am honored to do it because, one, it's hard. I like doing hard things with my brothers. Two, it honors the guys who are no longer here. Bill, how many guys will be there? I mean, this has been several years you've had, you've been doing this now, and I've seen the images. We've broadcast it on TV. Everybody's in red shorts, and, you know, it's a site shirtless carrying American flags. But how many guys and how many seals? And as you mentioned, there's other people who have served America as well involved. So we got 45 confirmed seals right now.

Our head count right now is 177 confirmed. But I have a swim test for the nine seal swimmers that haven't already qualified on July 22nd. And that'll probably push our numbers over 200. That'll take the numbers up, not take them down. It's not guys that will fail the test, but pass it and show you they can make the swim. There will be a couple guys that fail, and I always give them the greatest deal. respect for coming out and it's a little for going to be a part of it, but it's a serious swim, so I've got to make sure everybody's good to go. But yeah, it's always a big turnout. That'll be

my second test swim. So we'll have over, we'll have over 200 people in water this year. So I have to do push-ups. I have to be lifting because shirtless on Fox and Friends for several hours. Like, honestly, whether or not I drowned is not the most embarrassing thing I can imagine happening that day on television. That's my spirit, too, though. Is it eating right for a month at a time? So many guys come so ripped and shred it up. And I don't want to be the one guy with the dad bod. And I got to get serious about it.

I'm doing the same. I've been hitting it hard, man, because I'm like, man, I keep telling my wife, I'm like, babe, I've got to be on national TV. I got to look good. So I'd rather drown. You guys are worried about this. Yeah, I'd rather drown, Will, than somebody would be like, look that fat skinny guy. If I'm ranking my fears, it is, number one, I don't want to be towed like Hegseth was his first year.

Wow. Straight off the time, bro. Number two, I don't want a bunch of tweets about how terrible shape I am in physically. And number three, drowning. When I did that Hawaii swim, I will tell you this, though, on that note, joking around, when I did that Hawaii swim, all my buddies and I, all we joked about, all we texted about was getting bitten by a shark. That's all we talked about. I could see why. And we were looking at these like ankle bracelets you could put on that drag an electrical charge.

Oh, yeah. So maybe that will. Here's what, but the truth of the matter, the minute you jumped in the water, that fear was gone. Like, it's all over. Now you're swimming. You're fighting tides and currents and chop. And you realize quickly, hey, if a shark wants me, he can come get me. There's nothing I can do.

So on this swim, I'm not going to, maybe I should think about sharks. There are sharks in the Hudson. I do know that. I'm more worried about the rubber jellyfish. What is it? The rubber jellyfish. Have you had that happen in any of these races? Any things?

Yeah, they're dangerous, man. Oh, the rubber jellyfish. Oh, I got it. It took me a second. How nasty is the water? I got three nipples now. Oh, man. Okay, I'd love to talk about both of you guys for a minute, your personal stories.

I'm actually, I want to start with you, Bill. You're the founder of the swim. I was reading about you. Uh-oh. Yeah. Yeah, I have some questions. No, I was reading about you. One of the most fascinating things that jumped out to me is how many times you went through everything to eventually be a seal?

Like, I don't know if the facts I read were accurate, but three times before you even got to the stage of buds and then going through buds twice. So there was a lot of resiliency to your story in making it to be a seal. Yeah, I think it's a common denominator. I think what we have is we definitely have a pass and in strong will, and I think there's a calling to it. Now, as far as I took the screening test the first three times, because I failed the swim portion. I had an instructor named instructor Zent, who actually was the fourth time I went to take it. He said, hey, you're not taking the test today. And like my heart kind of dropped, and then he said, hey, I'm going to teach you how to swim a little bit.

So he spent a couple hours to teach me how to do a modified breaststroke, and I was able to passed a fourth time. I went through buds twice. Now, the first time I got dropped two weeks before graduation, weapons practical, they don't even drop guys for that anymore. Basically, it's just you're putting three different weapons together. They give a malfunction. You clear it, put it back together. You do a safety function check. But the truth was, in my opinion, I think they've rigged it so I couldn't pass because it's the last test where they can basically they can stop you from graduating. But the issue that I had is I grew up really rough and tumble

and I had misplaced perspectives on education. And it came across, I failed first phase finals and dive phase pretty bad. I got a 16% out of 100. So I highlighted myself in a way you don't want to be highlighted over there. Then I had things that a lot of guys have problems with. I did like Hellweek, Pool Comp, not really. a problem.

Dive physics. Like I had smoke coming out of my ears. When I passed that, I thought there's nothing that's going to stop me from being a team guy. So, yeah, that's what kicking a dick. Those guys taught me very harsh lessons. But actually, the truth was, they kind of saved my life because I needed, I was so strong will and my compass was so off that I needed that adjustment.

And it was honestly, I think there's a few places. country for a guy at my disposition at that time and age and my willpower that could have corrected that. And I mean, it was, it was harsh, but I love those guys for it. When you say you grew up rough and tumble, and if I'm hearing you right, the harder part of buds and even pre-screening for you, except that was a swim test failure for the pre-screening, the harder part for you, it sounds like, tell me if I'm hearing you correctly, was the intellectual side of it. Was it was the, was the mental test. And I see you nodding along for those listening to this on podcast. What's fascinating about that that I want everybody to know at home about you, Bill,

is that you're an attorney. So it either is a real indictment of our legal education system or it is a real reflection of your, of again, your resiliency and willingness to accomplish whatever it is you set your mind to. Thank you so much, Will. I, you know, I think, I believe in the law of forensics, right? So when you, two properties meet, they inadvertently leap properties upon each other. I think one of the best things about being in a seal teams and going through buds and actually going through law school is that you're around a lot of committed and dedicated people. And that inadvertently kind of raises your horizons for yourself. And I think that I'm a reflection of those experiences. Why did you want to be,

why so badly did you want to be a Navy SEAL? A couple things. One was my father was a veteran. Both of my grandfathers was a veteran. My one was a veteran during a Korean War, but he played baseball, so he was athletic. The other one was a World War II veteran, and he was in a Navy in a Pacific theater. My dad was in the Vietnam era, but he didn't deploy to Vietnam. So I had a strong family of service to our country. So I knew that was, I always wanted to serve it. I just felt that it was the right thing for me to do. To be a seal, I honestly didn't want to be a seal in the beginning. What happened was I just wanted to get a, be an electrician, learn a trade, and then maybe get some money for college.

But I was in boot camp, never heard. It wasn't like the outfit it is now. It was really low profile. I've never heard of the SEAL teams before. I'm in boot camp. A couple guys come in. They tell us about it. And I got a couple instructors that were kind of riding me pretty hard.

I was pretty athletic. So in the morning, I would get up and take the test. I was like, took me, I think the process, it took like two hours, maybe two and a half hours. That was like two and a half hours. I'm away from everybody in my boot camp. And I'm like purging because I'm getting a great workout in. And then it's like the couple. couple got, once I passed, then once I got the buds, and I made it so far.

And when you go through buds, you get stressed and you get pressed, and you're, everybody with you kind of, you kind of know each other. And I knew that the guys who graduated, they weren't any better than me. And I knew, and then it's like, I didn't know what it was. It's like when you kiss a pretty girl and you really like her, it's like, well, I want more of that. Okay. That's it.

that's it. I really wanted it. And I imagine what we've learned is if you really want something, you're going to find a way to make it happen. Jason, I would love for you to share with the audience. I know a little bit. I can't pretend that I know your entire story. I have watched you tell your story from time to time. You know, I'd love for you to tell us what you're up for telling us today about your story. Yeah, absolutely. I think my path was a little different than bills. I came from a pretty good family. I came from a military family that my parents had separated. I grew up, a pretty strong swimmer. I'd lived in the Virgin Islands for a while. And from about the age of 14, I was like, I want to be a seal. I did pretty well, excelled in Buds and came to the teams.

In 1996, I got there. I finished Buds in 1995, went off and did counter drug operations in Central and South America. And I started to get my career off course because ego, my arrogance got in the way. I started to think a little too highly of myself. Right about that time, I got a commission, made some mistakes as a young officer, and almost got myself kicked out of the SEAL teams, which started a whole new journey for me. And that journey was a journey of humbling myself, coming to really understand what it is to lead amazing warriors in a very chaotic, hard of combat environment. And so that was kind of a rebirth or a redemption for me.

Thankfully, I had some great leaders who believed in me and gave me that second chance. Got my career back on track after a few years. And right about time, everything was good after a very hardcore deployment in Iraq in 2007, I found myself on the receiving end of an al-Qaeda machine gun on a pretty intense capture-kill mission to go after the number one leader for the Anbar province there. in Iraq at that time. And myself and several team members got all shot up. It was an incredibly intense firefight. As a teammate of mine that was in that firefight once said,

who went on to serve at the highest level, our tier one levels, saw a lot of combat. He said it was the most intense firefight he had ever been in. And we ended up calling fire from a gunship directly on our position. I was hit eight times between my body and body armor. Almost had my arm shot off, took around directly in the face. and that began a whole new journey, a new journey of getting put back together and also learning that you can lead from any position, including a hospital bed. Oftentimes we misunderstand leadership. Oftentimes people think that leadership is being able to tell others what to do.

Sometimes leadership is just merely your attitude in the face of adversity. So that really kind of became my journey. Got a big name for myself when I was in the hospital because it was a bright orange sign. I put on my hospital door that basically said, hey, no pity in here. Motivated me? Yeah, well, thank you. And it's continued to motivate. So the sign set attention to all who enter here.

If you're coming to this room with sadness or sorrow, don't bother. The wounds I received, I got in a job that I love, doing it for people that I love, defending the freedom of a country that I deeply love. I'll make full recovery for what is full. That's the absolute utmost physically I have the ability to recover. And I'm going to push that about 20% further through sheer mental tenacity. And this room you're about to enter is a room of fun, optimism, intense rapid regrowth. If you're not prepared for that, go elsewhere. And we signed at the management and a teammate tactist Trident into the bottom of the door in that picture and ended up going viral.

It was all over the news back then. And today, there have been documentaries about it. Obviously, it's featured in my book. There have been multiple very high-level individuals. President Bush invited me to the White House and signed it. The sign itself is now dedicated. and hangs at the Wounded Ward at Walter Reed. But I think it became a symbol for wounded warriors.

It became a symbol for the SEAL teams. And it's even more of the reason why I want to be at the swim with Bill and with all these other guys. Because there's a lot of people, we're living in the day and age of the victim mindset. And a lot of people want to talk about the pandemic. It has nothing to do with COVID. It has to do with this victim mindset that's pervading our country. And this idea that, oh, if something bad happened to you,

you should just lay there and feel sorry for yourself and somebody else will come along and save you. And that's the absolute opposite of everything that I teach. It's an absolute opposite of everything that SEAL teams teach. We are a team unit, but at the end of the day, the individual has to make it through buds. The individual has to drive forward through that adversity. And this swim is kind of a great example of that. And I easily could have sat back and felt sorry for myself after my injuries and said, wow, I almost got my arm shot off.

You know, I can't bend my arm so much. It's not able to do everything that other people can do. So what? Everybody's got an excuse. Everybody's got problems. You know what? The difference between people who are successful and people who are on is the people who are successful figure out how to work around their problems and work through their adversity.

And that really is the heart and soul of my story and what enabled me to make it through buds. And I'll be honest, that's really how every guy made it through buds and how people in the SEAL teams and special operations and in life are successful. There's so much to take away from that story. What I noticed at the beginning of your story was something that stuck out to me, though, Jason, and it was part of your story as well, Bill.

So last summer, I do this podcast, you know, three times a week. I share a lot with this audience about my own personal life, probably more than as healthy at times. But I needed to bank some podcasts up while I took a vacation with my family. So I said, let's do a series on Warriors. I want to talk to America's Elite World. Warriors. Quick side note on this for you too, just as a, honestly, you guys were like superheroes to me growing up. And I'm, I'm either your age or a little older. Might be a little older than

you, Bill. I don't know how old you are, Jason. But we're all in the same age range. But I won't. Yeah, me too. And I wanted to be a seal. And that was because I grew up a swimmer. And it was like, you know, when I looked at superheroes at first, like, well, I want to be Aquaman because I can swim, right? But I wanted to be you guys. I wanted to be a, seal. Now, what I, and I still, you guys are still, honestly, if you're not, you're obviously on Mount Rushmore, you're probably still at the top of the mountain for me on, you know, America's heroes. But in the course of doing this series, I talk to Delta, I talk to Green Berets, I talk to Marine Raiders. And the thing that I, I just gravitate to in the conversations

is, why are you who you are? You know, and there's only one thread. And it's, it's like, I listen to both of you right now talking about the way your upbringing, and it sounds very different. And we've only had a short conversation of three of us together, but your two story sounds very different. And so did everyone else I talk to. There were kids that grew up rich and kids that grew up, right? There were kids that grew up, you know, where school came easier, where school came hard. The one commonality was this, I don't take no resiliency. I don't take failure resiliency. And that was common to all of those warriors, not just seals, all of those warriors. Um, but then the other part that I latched on to your story, Jason, that, that I heard was this other thing that I can't say I heard it with 100% repetition, but a lot. And that is at some point in my career, I had to grapple with my own ego. And I kind of heard it from you as well, Bill. Like, you know, at some point, and this is often after you become a seal, I guess, you kind of got to reconcile yourself to, I don't know. I don't know if humility is the word, but learning how to be a success.

and being a badass in your own mind isn't always the ultimate path to success. Is that fair? Yeah, the way – go ahead, Bill. The way – I – there's a couple things, right? One is like the golden rule. I think, hey, at work, my motto is like, be cool. And one of the things I learned when I was a young CEO, and we have, you know, different support personnel, comms, you know, the air ops and everything.

everything like that. If you're cool with them, a lot of times, you know, the reciprocal approach, they're going to be cool with you. And I think a lot of times, you know, when you're kind of like it's to have confidence in yourself like you think, look, look, I went through buds. You know, you know, I started with like over a hundred people. We were down in like, you know, 33. Like, okay, those numbers signify something. I got through law school. like that signifies something. But at the same time, it's like, I think the best way to operate is just be cool and, you know, to be, to shoot straight.

And what I mean by that is state what your objective is, state what your reasons are for your objective and then try to build a team around you to help that happen. So that's how I roll. Be cool. Jason? Yeah, I just think the most successful people, out there. There is a level, and we've all met them. I was one of them at one point. And oftentimes, arrogance is driven by some levels of insecurity. We feel like we have to

prove, even though we might have achieved a high level, maybe you're a professional athlete, maybe you're a millionaire, maybe you're whatever, special operations. It's like we have to continue to remind people almost sometimes kind of beating them over the head with, man, this is who I am. But what I've come to find as I got older is the most successful people don't need to knew that. I mean, arrogance translates to confidence. And they don't need to prove anything to anybody anymore. They're confident in themselves because they know their abilities. Their experience tells them, hey, whatever goal I'm going to go after, I know the formula to go after it or figure out a new path forward. And that was it for me. I think that is a common thread in

the SEAL teams. I mean, you look at Bill, a guy who, which is another shining example of the American dream, in my opinion, who took the freedom and opportunity he had. He became a seal. And from there as a seal, he became an attorney. And then he created this amazing swim, making an impact. And we have so many guys like that from all walks of life. I mean, you look at Johnny, Johnny Kim. Johnny Kim's a seal, although we all laugh at Johnny Kim because he's at the top of the pyramid as seals go. Because, you know, combat medic and then, you know, earn the silver star in combat.

And then gets out of the SEAL teams, goes to medical school, becomes a, I believe, he's a heart surgeon or a brain surgeon from Harvard? And now Johnny Kim is an astronaut. So he is a shining example of an individual who basically set his own path and didn't allow arrogance to get in the way. It's just confidence. He said, I believe in myself. I have the power to drive forward and deal with hardship and adversity because those are the foundational things. And that's what leads to success. That's what we're missing in America to day. We are convincing people that your comfort is paramount, and there is not a single successful person out there that ever achieved success through being comfortable. And this swim is a great

opportunity for that. Go ahead. I was going to say this swim is a great opportunity for people to get off. I don't know if you know, I'm in on the swim. I don't know. If anybody has time to sign up and pass Bill's swim test, they can join us as well. But we have some other ways that they can actually participate in the swim and give back. We'll hit here at the end of our conversation. And I'm painting with a broad brush here, Jason and Bill, and I'm aware of that. But I guess what I noticed with you guys, and I, and what, here's where the broad brush fails. I may be in the middle of some self-selecting mechanism, meaning I'm talking to seals who have

used the lessons they learned from being seals and applied them to being successes in life. Most of the guys I come into contact with by virtue of this job are guys who are introspective and are thinking about their ego and thinking about the things they learned from SEALs. I worked for five years at ESPN. I know a lot of professional athletes, some of the best in the world at what they do.

And I'll be honest, and this is a broad brush too. There's a lot of really smart and introspective guys, but I didn't see quite this level of what can I take from what I learned in playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and make it be a success in what I'm doing after playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That's a complete hypothetical, by the way.

Synergy. So I'm curious, maybe it's because they all got some level of wealth from what they did, where you guys did it more from service and sacrifice. Or maybe I'm just wrong, and I'm painting with too broad a brush. But I do find this is an interesting level of introspection and desire to apply this moment in your life to the rest of your life that I don't see when I look at other high achieving individuals. And you guys, I would love it to tell me, no, Will, there's a bunch of seals who are complete debags who still. think that they should have every round bot form at the bar and want to win every competition for push-ups they've ever encountered. I don't know. That wasn't a very good example of what a do back yet. But you guys may tell me there's a lot of guys who don't live up to the broad brush I've just painted of high-level warriors. You know, I think I can only judge, you know, by myself and different things I've seen. I think one of the common denominators, I imagine and I've met some professional athletes, too. I think one of the common denominators we have is a lot of discipline, a lot of strong drive.

They shut everything off and a high-level focus. For me, it's kind of funny. I get these goals, you know, it's like passings. It's almost like I'm on the hunt. And when I'm on the hunt, I'm just, that's when I'm engaged in. And I really don't, when I'm trying to build something, I don't really have a lot of time to, like, showboat or do. this or that. And to tell you the truth, I find that I'm happier when I'm chasing something down. You know, when I, you know, like now I'm training up for the swim and I got a bunch of

friends I swim with. Like, you know, I'm happy, you know. And the other thing is I'm trying to maintain, you know, I'm trying to stay in shape. I'm trying to keep that brotherhood that I had in a team. I'm trying to build my professional network as well. But at the same time with your help, I think it's so important for our country to have a, like, a patriotic, positive message of everybody coming together and just having a fun event, showing what this country's about, you know, Statue, Liberty, Ellis Island, 9-11 Memorial, like, I think it brings a lot of, you know, great, like, fundamentals that our countries, like, life, liberty, pursue, a happiness, service, you know, sacrifice, and love for a country, and a positive way, like,

Like, no one can say, look, no one can say that what we're doing is wrong. You got a bunch of seals, veterans, police officers, firefighters coming together to help other veterans. We got 16 gold stars jumping on other family members. It's all really beautiful stuff. So I try to, like in the military, front site focus, it's your front site. You focus on that. And that's kind of how I move. And to be honest with you, Will, when.

When I'm not engaged and I'm not chasing down something, I'm just not as happy, you know. So that's kind of what I'm about. Jason, is there a bunch of former seals? Am I wrong? Is there a bunch of losers out there? They're former seals. You all seem like introspective winners. You know, first off, I have a cardinal rule that I will never talk bad about any brother of mine.

And I'm not aware of that, man. I tell you what, you know, I'm going to protect my community. I love my community. You know, what I've seen, because, you know, being out there and speaking and coaching at times, what I see frequently, the thing that stalls other people from being successful, and I think that truly separates, especially individuals in the special operations community, is Bill talked about it. He talked about, and I call that goal setting.

We need a goal to go after, you know, in training it became, you've got to get really good at urban warfare. You've got to get really good at close quarters combat. You've got to be a really good shot. So there's always a goal that you train for. And it was combinations of physical and mental and managing your emotions. And I think in the civilian world, it's the same way. We all need to set goals. I personally feel that physical leadership is a part of that goal, taking care of your body.

But there are a lot of people out there that I meet that talk a lot about those things. I want to be in better shape. I want to have a better relationship. I want to make more money. I want to all these different things. But where the difference is is it comes down to action. And this was something I talked about in my coaching group

at the end of last year because I had a whole bunch of people in the group who were talking a lot, but there was no action. At one point I got super frustrated and I was like, listen, it's about action, mother, mm-mm. And I got a shirt now that's about this because it is true. That is the difference.

Will, you took action. There are plenty of people that will talk about the swim, but then it's too intimidating. They're afraid, and they'll say, well, I'm not going to do it. You took action. You're going to join us for this swim. And that's what makes the difference. It's still talk at this point. We'll see if the action happens.

I'm locking you in, baby. It's about action, mother. We're going to hit this. But that is the common thread with special operations guys. they see a goal they go after the goal and they consistently take action bill had this idea about this swim it wasn't just an idea he didn't just talk about it he has built it into this amazing thing that's raising money for the navy seal foundation and the seal future foundation or or um yeah so i mean these are amazing on common grip so it's incredible and that comes back i'm about you got it

jason i'm ready to run through a wall um well hey you know what does Jay, Will, that swim came together because a lot of great guys like you, you know, I got a good idea. I put it out there and all of a sudden the Brotherhood gets behind me. Pete got behind me. Fox got behind me. And that's why for five years now, we've sent a positive patriotic message for our entire country and represented the CO community with honor. And it's a beautiful thing we do. A lot of respect to my buddy, Pete Hagseth.

He's the one that made this show up on my race. Radisbury, put it to stratosphere. He did and he had to be towed for it, but he did. And then he made the swim his second time and he's told me he's, he swims in his backyard pool. I'm like, now give him this credit. He doesn't, he says he's doing like water polo turns. He's not touching the wall. So that's good. I don't know how you do it in a backyard pool. You got to get some, some yards and meters behind you. Let's go back to the swim. So Liberty Island to Ellis Island. And then from Ellis Island, to Manhattan. A couple other, real quick, at Statue Liberty, we do 100 pushups on 22 pull-ups to honor our nation of freedoms and civil liberties. Is that my first set of 100 pull-ups? Okay. All right. Before Jason's speech, I was going to say, maybe I don't do all the push-ups. But now, Jason, I'm a man of action, so I'm going to do the whole thing, soup to nuts. That's it, man. And, you know, one of the things I do, too, is I stop and I try to reflect the meaning of it. Like, what's, you know, what this is really symbolizing.

Then at Ellis Island, we do 100 push-ups, 22 pull-ups to celebrate our nation's diversity. All the men and women who came to our country for a better life. And you think Ellis Island, how many millions of American families got processed started right through there? My grandfather went through there. Yeah. And you'll hear stories about guys seeing the same thing. And then we do the long stretch to South Coast Marina and Lower Manhattan. And I use, a lot of times, I use Freedom Tower right there

and kind of keep her off my left shoulder as I'm rolling in. And that's pretty epic. Once we get high and drive there, we get a head count. Next thing we do, grab our American flags. And think about this, New York City, one of the most woke cities in this country. And you got a bunch of pipe hitters with American flags and their shirts off, rolling through New York City, World Trade Center.

It's just a beautiful thing. And now, what do I wear? Oh, we're going to have some short shorts for you. That's all right. I'm not afraid to put on a speedo. Maybe on national television, but... Sure, sexy time. We can say the water was really cold.

And fins, I know you can wear fins. And fins are a mixed blessing. As a swimmer enough, I know that because, I mean, almost every time I wear fins, I get some cramp, calf or arch cramp. or something in my feet. But that's going to help, too. I mean, I'm excited. I really.

What's that? Lots of electrolytes prior to the swim. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. I'm training. I'm in the pool.

I'm going to do so. I told Bill, I'm going to do some open waters. I go on vacation at the end of July. I'll do open waters there. I can't, listen, you guys, this has been awesome. I appreciate both of you sharing your story with us. Like I said, I mean it. I don't give gratuitous compliments.

I don't compliment people's dogs, even though they tell. me, mine's good looking, unless their dog is good looking. If their dog's good looking, then I'll say it. So when I tell you that you guys, you know, you're figurative, but also individually literal heroes to me and so many others, I mean it. And I really appreciate getting the opportunity to do it. I really do, Bill. I appreciate you letting me do this.

Well, Will, I tell you the truth, you, Pete, you guys are heroes of mine because your influence, without your help, the message would be very minute. And now it's a global message. And let's share this. So are you doing a documentary on it? Yep. And you're raising money. That's right.

And you have a GoFundMe. That's right. And let's see, what's the name of the GoFundMe? It's a New York City seal swim documentary right there. You're looking for it to get it up to 30 something thousand, right? Roger that. And you're at 11,500 roughly right now. It's about it.

You need this money to get up so we can help share this message of this really cool event. You filmed the documentary this year? We've got a bunch of film from the previous years. We'll get a crew up this year. I won't figure out if I'm going to be in it. Well, you'll be in it. Oh, okay. Well, we need to talk about my compensation.

All right. All right, this is awesome. Jason, thank you so much. I hope we stay in touch. I want to hear more from you in the future besides just seeing you in August. Go ahead. I see you saying, yeah. Well, can I say one last thing?

We're also raising money this year for the Navy SEAL Foundation. And I've got to tell you, they're an amazing group. I am personally connected them on many levels. The Navy SEAL Foundation supports our SEALs, both active duty, retired, the families of our fallen. And, man, they took care of me when I was wounded and medabacked. Immediately they sent a check to take care of my family. And now all the SEALs friends of mine that have lost, they take care of them, they take care of our gold star. So a lot of the money that's being raised, you know, maybe you're not able to do this to WEM, but, man, you can directly support.

the SEAL teams and the guys who are currently still doing it along with the families that got left behind we've got a lot of gold star families over a hundred gold star families not only that they also support the families have been left behind by the invisible wounds of war suicide is an epidemic we're seeing it in the SEAL community I lost my best friend in December to suicide and we need the support of this group and the support of the programs are putting out there so that's where this money is going and that's an amazing way that you can support. Awesome. I appreciate that. We wanted to let people know if you can't swim, there are ways, obviously, Navy SEAL Foundation, New York City SEAL swim documentary that they can

participate as well. Jason, Bill, thank you guys so much. Thank you. All right, brother. There you go. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Bill Brown and Jason Redmond. Again, you heard the link on the GoFundMe for the SEAL, the New York City Navy SEAL swim documentary. You can also go to the Navy SEAL Foundation. And again, message Bill. Maybe you can take part, August 19th. All right, that's going to do it for me today on the Will Cain podcast. I'll see you again next time. Listen to ad-free with a Fox News podcast plus subscription on Apple Podcasts.

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