Will Cain Country - Joey Jones & Jason Chaffetz: Breaking Down President Trump's Address

Episode Date: March 5, 2025

Will throws the script out the window and is joined by former House Oversight Chairman and Host of 'The Jason In The House' podcast, Jason Chaffetz, and War Veteran, FOX News Contributor, and author of 'Unbroken Bonds of Battle,' Joey Jones for a long, detailed, and nuanced conversation about what we learned on the state of the country after last night's Presidential Address To Congress. Also, Will & The Crew question the possibility of the Super Bowl being played outside of the United States. 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

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 $5.5 plus tax. Available until 11 a.m. at participating McDonald's restaurants. Price excludes flavored iced coffee and delivery. A young man who survives cancer. A terrorist caught for the bombing of Abbey Gate in Afghanistan. Record numbers entering the military. A young man accepted to West Point.

But none of it could bring Democrats to their feet in applause. Number two, Jason Chaffetz and Joey Jones on exactly what President Trump could do to unify America. Three, would you accept the Super Bowl outside of America? London, Mexico City, the Super Bowl. It is the Will Cain Show streaming live at Fox News.com on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Always on demand by subscribing at Apple or on Spotify or heading over to YouTube and Facebook and setting a reminder so that you know you can always be a member. At 12 o'clock Eastern time of the Wollisha.

Last night, President Donald Trump gave a joint session. of Congress. The room was pretty split. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. It got it a 70% approval rating. Did you guys see that? By CNN and CBS standards,

Donald Trump's speech last night got a 70% approval rating. It was also the longest, whatever we call these things. It's not a state of the union, a joint session of Congress. I don't know, you know. longest in history

at an hour and 40 minutes is that where we went yeah I think so it didn't feel long they said it's 2018 it was about 80 minutes it was so entertaining

that went by quick it was good yeah I mean it was good um I mean I fell asleep or we're gonna be real I mean I fell asleep for a while and then I woke back up

and then I was back in Central time. Saint climbed up on top of me. I'm really sending mixed signals here. You're not allowed on the couch, but you are allowed to get on top of me on top of the couch and cuddle me. That's a dog, by the way. 70 pounds.

Yeah, saints my dog. Yeah, for the listeners, I don't know what you're talking about. He's a really good cuddler in that he will just let. He's not particular. He doesn't care, like, is he in the perfect position? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, Violet has to be like, uh, uh, uh, And she wants to cuddle you, but she wants to be in the...

He's like, here, good, asleep. And he laid on me while we listened to Donald Trump. But the thing about it is, so how much, be honest, how much did the Democrats add to the entertainment value of last night? I mean, be honest. Good bit. Yeah, exactly. You need the yen and the yang. You need it.

Is it not performative, though, on their side? just like, you know, an act of defiance. I mean... Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the minute that he walked in and he's walking down in the aisle and I'm watching and, you know, the cabinet's coming in

and it's Pete and Sean, and by the way, if you're a television viewer of the Will Can't show and you ever tell me again that I'm disrespectful by referencing these people by their first names, I don't know what to say, but get out. Get out. Kindly see yourself out, sir. I know it's Mr. Secretary.

and vice president and all the thing but so i'm watching them all coming down the aisle and uh and by way i also wonder how much all those interactions are real like i sit there and watch you you watch their facial expressions and it's like oh and then you who they hug and the thing we can't see what they're saying you know but the way they're talking with one another and sometimes i'm like what how much do they have to say to each other like what are they saying what's up man good to see you i want to talk to you about that bill yeah we're going to get on that funding i want to talk to you about that as well. Like, what are they doing in those moments? You know, there was that audio last night of Vance and Johnson at the podium before it all starts, and I guess their mics

were on, they didn't realize it. Johnson tries to put it down and keeps going. Johnson does try to move it. Vance goes, I think it's going to be a great speech, but, you know, I don't know how you do this for 90 minutes. Sit here for 90 minutes. And Johnson goes, I mean, try doing it when Biden was the president and the stupid thing was all a campaign speech. Yeah, I wonder how much they're all talking. But when Trump is walking down the aisle, there's that Democratic congresswoman, and she's holding a sign up that says, this is not normal. And you say how much of it is performative.

I mean, there's your answer. It's all performative. And then Congressman Lance Gooden jumps across the aisle and grabs it and throws it. I mean, it's all. Who are you? Who are you making faces at, James, over there? Is Chaffetz already sitting in there? Chefitts is sitting in there.

I'm just in a really stellar mood this morning, that's all. Chafetz is in a good mood? We're all in a good mood. Oh. Coffee's strong, fun night. Well, shoot. Let's rip up the script. Let's throw the show out the window, okay?

Let's get to it with story number one. Oh, good. Good. Yeah. On the wheel can't throw out the script. You can't throw out the script. You can't throw out the script. You cannot throw out the script.

It throws me off. I don't know what to do. Did you have panic brain for a minute? Yes, absolutely. Because I'm trying to bring up Jason. I thought you might want to say hi. And then you start doing the set. I don't know.

No. Just follow me. Don't do your own thing. Just follow me. Hit story number one. Do it now. So everybody knows what I wanted you to do. Ready?

Story number one. Ah, there it is. Not the music to start the show. What's up, Jason? Now you can bring Jason up. Good to be with you. Good to be with you. Jason Chapit's former congressman, author.

Oh, I had your book up here. I can do it. Hold on. I can pull it up quick. It's quick. And I started thinking if I had a book, what is it? The puppeteers. But how about this?

The Jason in the House podcast here at Fox News podcast. Like, what do you want people to promote the most? Like when you come on, you hope the host says what? Check out my podcast, too. This is a good one, but I got one, too. It's got a fun, a little different. And I don't know. I'm just glad to be here.

We want to talk State of the Union. I've been to 10 of these things. So, you know, I just talk about whatever. I just love it. I love the volatility of, I have no idea what you're going to ask me. But, you know, that's what podcasts are all about. Good. I want to talk about the NFL.

I got a good NFL story for you. I don't care. No, I'm kidding. I want to, you got to promote your podcast on a podcast platform. That's what I've learned. Amen. You promote what on the platform you are is where you promote that thing. And so, by the way, you want to promote your book?

That's Fox News, baby. That's on the channel. See, that's Joey's in here looking at his phone right now. He doesn't even know he's on yet. And he doesn't have a podcast to promote. He's just got unbroken. He's got his book. I got another book.

I just finished. I mean, listen, we'll pump them out, man. It's a book. It's not a puppy mill. It's a book mill. Fox News books. You got a new book? What's your new book? I do. It's called Behind the Badge. It's about first responders. It's really good, actually.

See, I write my books. I write my books. That's all I'm saying is I write my books. That's all I'm saying. I didn't say anything else. I just said I write my books. Yeah, I hear you. what is he implying jason probably who doesn't i heard him but it's joey jones i'm not i think it i think i think i think i think i get a worse deal because i get paid the same either way right

okay jason you've been to ten of these things like you said yeah all right uh what have you ever did you work your way up to the aisle ever like like like like you know there's a lot of republican congressman i did see lance gooden because he grabbed the um democratic congresswoman signed that said this is not normal and through it, you know. Did you make a point of making your way up, you know, to the aisle? I didn't crush the aisle, but I usually stuck around. And even with President Obama, I shook his hand. You know, I think that's part of being an adult and a professional and being a representative. And, you know, when the first lady would walk in, even though it was Michelle Obama, I stood up. When they had first responders who'd gone through horrific things,

and they were ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. I stood up and applauded. And, you know, Donald Trump, I went to two of his, and he would come around, shake everybody's hands. And I got a great picture, like an awesome picture of him pointing at me. And we got a good little discussion at the end. And he said, come see me, come see me. I want to talk to you.

And I said, okay, set up an appointment. Next week I was in the Oval Office, you know, meeting with them. It was kind of fun that way. And did he want to talk to you? Yeah. Was it appointed conversation? that he really wanted to have with you? No, I told him, I said,

Mr. President, I got seven things and nobody's ever talked to you about. I want to talk to you. And he knew something about all of them. It was amazing. He's just unbelievable that way. He gave me like 30, 40 minutes, and I mean, one-on-one with the president.

That was amazing. So one more for you, Jason. So I am genuinely curious. So if you're up on the aisle and the cabinet and everybody's walking down and the president, what is that conversation like? I was watching Pete,

the Secretary of Defense. for those who think I'm being disrespectful and others. And I was watching those like 30-second interactions he was having with Congressman. I'm like, what are they really talking about in 30 seconds? Like, how you been, man? They're just trying to get their cheese on the face on the tube. That's all they're trying to do.

There's no conversation there. There's like, hey, buddy, you know, what's going on? And Pete, I'm sure Pete and, you know, Sean and the others that we know, there's a Ratcliffe, you know. You know, he'd say, hey, hey, come sit by me. or did, you know, you got an extra seat, you know, it's things like that, superfluous. It's just, just grinning. And it's kind of fun to see somebody that you know and worked with for, you know, eight years.

All of a sudden, they're sitting in one of the cabinet seats. That's fun. All right, Joey, listen to this. This, I don't know, this is clearly written. This is Donald Trump talking about what he can do to make Democrats happy, you know. And he said, basically, there's nothing. Watch this line right here. This is my fifth such speech to Congress.

And once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me, and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud. Nothing I can do. I could find a cure to the most devastating disease, a disease that would wipe out entire nations, or announce the answers to the greatest, economy and history, or the stoppage of crime to the lowest levels ever recorded.

And these people sitting right here will not clap, will not stand, and certainly will not cheer for these astronomical achievements. I mean, they certainly seemed to validate that last night, Joey. They wouldn't, he could cure cancer. No. And they wouldn't stand and clap. I think that's, I mean, maybe not for the cure of cancer, but they certainly wouldn't stand and clap.

laugh for a young kid with cancer. I mean, we saw that. I don't know what their strategy was. I guess they just want to come in there and look like a bunch of bumps on the log. I mean, I guess what they're trying to say is that there's no legitimacy to any of the good that he brings there. They might be like, you know, Lake and Riley's family did go through a tragedy, but they don't agree with using Lake and Riley's family. I don't know what their message was, probably because they didn't get it out beforehand.

They just, they were like, we're going to hold our cards close to our chest. We're going to wear some colors, and there will be some things. And it was so disorganized. It really was a great example of just where the Democrats are as a party. Yeah. Here's that moment you're talking about of a young kid who survived brain cancer and wanted to be, wants to be a law enforcement officer. He's been made an honorary law enforcement officer, I think, by numerous police departments.

And then last night, Trump's like, well, here's the best I can do. the best that it can be done. So, uh, Secret Service. We're going to make you an honorary member of the Secret Service. And the Democrats didn't find joy in this moment. But in 2018, DJ was diagnosed with brain cancer. The doctors gave him five months at most to live. That was more than six years ago. I mean, Jason, here's the list. People have put this together, okay? This is what did not capture approval by Democrats.

The capturing of an ISIS terrorist that masterminded the Abbey Gate attack that was announced last night. Cash Patel also put it out. No applause or no support there from Democrats. The moment you just saw the young boy fight. brain cancer. Americans joining the military in record numbers, the proposal to take down illegal revenge porn, the return of American Mark Fogel, he was in custody in Russia, and a student getting accepted to West Point last night. None of that was worth celebration to the Democrats. I mean, the Democrats had a strategy. It's Nancy Pelosi's strategy, which was play possum.

I mean, you had members get up and walk out with T-shirts. Imagine going down to your local t-shirt shop and making a shirt that on the back it said, resistance. I mean, resistance to what? I mean, it was about the most American thing you can ever think of, right? Yeah. To have a kid with cancer who's overcome at 13th surgery. And when the president announced that the young man was going to get into West Point,

and what is the kid that's the honorary Secret Service agent to? Comes over and gives him a high five. That's as American as it gets. You can't stand for that. You got a problem. There is something wrong with you. And the other moment, Will, that I just enjoy, that I absolutely loved is that story about Butler, Pennsylvania. I didn't tie those two together.

I did not recognize that the 95-year-old woman, who looks amazing, by the way, that it was her son that was being held hostage. And then 10 minutes later, the president was out on stage, gets shot, and yet days into his presidency brings it home. That, I mean, how can you not stand and applaud that? That's a good thing for America and how dare those people. You know what? I watched him do it multiple times. Every time Donald Trump's been out there, they cannot take themselves to stand up. And America sees it.

I think they're fed up with it. Okay. But, okay, you both are going to bring different perspectives to this. So I have a feeling I know where Joey's going to go. So I'm going to go to you first, Joey. we're in this weird weird place in american politics okay in many ways donald trump has blown up the traditional political ideological spectrum he's reimagined political um issues and what's left and what's right what's pragmatic what's ideological and in my mind because of that we've never been in a less

partisan environment we've never been on substance it is the most bipartisan and interesting moment in the last, I'd give it at least 40 to 50 years of American politics. That's my personal opinion. Okay. But on the other hand, we have this partisanship that is what we saw last night, but also maybe even more illustrative of it is like Jasmine Crockett, the Democratic Congressman from Texas. She did like a Kendrick Lamar video yesterday. Did you guys see that before the thing? No, I did. And she did a dance. And it was like that song, not like us. You know what I mean? my point is it's a sitting congresswoman and she right now might be the leading voice of the resistance within the democrats i mean she's getting how about this at least the most airtime

and her way of of of sharing her message is to essentially become a pop culture icon you know a meg the stallion a kendrick lamar type of figure in congress that's kind of what we're leaning into and so on one hand it's substantively very interesting joey on the other hand it's never been stupider. It's never been more idiocacy. And it's kind of hard for me to make sense of that. I don't think it should be hard to make sense of it. Just look at where everyone else in this country is. I mean, I know grown men that sit in their skid-steer with the air conditioning going scrolling TikTok on their lunch break while they're moving dirt. I mean, these aren't guys that are, these aren't Jasmine Crockett. These are just, that's where America is. We're all consuming our entertainment,

seconds to three minutes at a time. We're all learning what trends are. I mean, that's that's where America is, whether you like it or not. Like, I was surprised. And maybe I never jumped on TikTok because of the China connection and the profession I do. I don't know. I still go to Disney, regardless of politics, because my kids like it. I don't know why TikTok was never a thing for me, but I was surprised to learn all the adults and even older adults that I'm friends with that are on TikTok. And I say that because that's where, you know, we want to call it stupid because it's immature. It lacks a little bit of emotional intelligence. It's a little bit of unsiriousness.

Like for me, if I go into a cracker barrel on Sunday, I'm going to wear a collared shirt, whether I went to church today or not, because it's a social formality. Sunday morning, everybody in my community goes to church, I'm going to respect the way they're dressed. It's a rejection of that in a weird way, from fetterman wearing hoodies to congresspeople,

doing TikTok-style videos and cussing. I mean, you saw the video where everybody had to cussing. And cussing is kind of like the Trump effect. It's only cool and edgy. if you're already cool and edgy. And using it sparingly is how you make it fun. When you do it on purpose, it's just like when people,

it's like when Brian Kemp tried to emulate Trump when he was running down here, it just looks stupid. I mean that doesn't mean that to be mean. It just looked like you're acting. So don't act. Be you. And maybe that's what Jasmine Crock is doing.

Maybe that's what John Federman's doing. But we've lost this idea that there's some sort of standard on how you act and how you show yourself in Congress or in public or on. Sundays, and that kind of has gone away. For better or worse, I mean, there are a lot of people that like to dress down. They don't want to have to wear a college shirt. I get it. But it shows respect for the people around you to dress to the occasion, to use decorum. And I know that Trump sometimes will venture further away from the quorum than anybody. And I think sometimes

the showman, Donald Trump, gets in the way of the, really the businessman and political genius Donald Trump. There's a lot of little things like, say, Greenland, the strategic advantage of Greenland and making the case for Greenland as opposed to, we're going to buy Greenland. You know, so we see it kind of all around. But on the other side, it works. I mean, she's in Congress. Federman's in the Senate. Donald Trump's in office.

And I'm not comparing him to them, but he is a against the grain figure when it comes to how you expect people to act. So what would George Washington do on TikTok? That's the answer. We're not going to return to George Washington. But how do you, and you're 100% right about TikTok, Joey? I've like, I've noticed this as well. Okay, when we talk about it in our brains, we like to imagine it's 14-year-old girls. No, man.

There's a lot of, as you describe, dudes driving skid steers, manual labor, and they do it. I haven't been on TikTok much, and it's a whole other world, right? When you're not on a social media thing, meaning you're ignorant of what's going on in that world, right? But it's actually a pretty big world. And I've gone viral on TikTok several times, but it's in nothing in my life. Like, I don't know, because it's happening, and I'm not there. And I'll have grown men come up to me. Hey, man, I saw that thing about you.

That's that thing you're doing. I'm like, what thing? And like, that one where you're talking about the women's World Cup. And I'm like, I said that like six years ago on ESPN. And they're like, oh, yeah, it's all over TikTok. I'm like, wow. You know, but the point is the audience isn't what you think. But Jason, this is what I want to go to you.

I want to be fair about this, you know, when Democrats are in power and Barack Obama's president or Joe Biden and Marjorie Taylor Green is yelling, you lie or whatever, you know, the Republicans did their own performance at these things as well. Okay. They've done that. I do think last night might have been to the greatest level we've seen, you know, wearing all the same color and sitting down and incapable of applauding anything. But partisanship is nothing new. No, it's nothing new. But here's the problem. Democrats preach diversity, but they don't really actually enjoy or embrace diversity. They talk about inclusion, no, that they're not actually really going to do that unless you believe wholeheartedly exactly what you believe. So when they talk about, I mean, there's some of the least tolerant people you can imagine, but their brand is tolerance. And so the disconnect, I think, with the American people, not just their 20% base, but for the rest of America's, if you're going to resist Donald Trump

every single step, you're, in large part, resisting common sense and patriotism and love of flag and country and prayer and things that I think most Americans agree with. So they can take a partisan bent to it, but they don't have an effective spokesperson that can explain that, hey, we actually have a better plan on how to make your life better, and they don't have policies that follow through on that. Like, what do they want to do other than push back on being energy independent? And when you can't recognize, you know, just honorable Americans, kids overcoming adversity, then you got something wrong with you.

That's why there's this total disconnect. And they've never understood about Donald Trump is that he has a degree of authenticity that is off the charts. You may disagree with the tweet or something, you know, something silly he says, you know, on true social. about Greenland or something like that. But you feel like he's just telling you the way it is. Like, it's his stream of consciousness. And that's refreshing because most these people are canned. They do try to, way too hard to get out on the social media.

And I think Instagram and TikTok have taken us in the wrong direction. I think people want to see Congress kind of be the adults in the room. And last night, Democrats took as far step backwards as you could possibly be on that. Well, that's why I say, what would George, Washington do on TikTok. I actually wasn't joking. You're right. You're not going to be able to pretend like it doesn't exist. You're not going to be able to. And I think Joey's right. Like in the end, you're going to have to acknowledge it works. So what can you do in that environment to elevate the environment? Because I agree with you. If you're an elected official, you shouldn't be

trying to emulate Kendrick Lamar. You should be somebody that people are turning to on TikTok for something different than Kendrick Lamar. So I think that's, now, by the way, To your point, Jason, you said so many things I want to follow up on. It has to be authentic to you. It has to be real and authentic to you. And that's what people do not appreciate about Donald Trump. But the point I want to follow up on the most, Jason, is you said, partisanship is one thing.

But when it appears that you're anti-American, that's beyond Republican and Democrat. And you're against these commonly held American ideals. And here's an example of really, really the only moment when Democratic did applaud last night and it's when ukraine came up and then trump called as elizabeth warren pocahontas watch with no end in sight the united states has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support ukraine's defense with no security do you want to keep it going for another five years yeah yeah you would say pocahontas says yes So they start clapping when he talks about funding for Ukraine.

Then he says you want to go for another five years. They keep clapping and he sees Elizabeth Warren over there. And she claps even harder. Yeah, I want to keep funding Ukraine. That would be one thing if it weren't. But it's the only moment in there. the night when you really gave your support to something and it wasn't about america it was about ukraine and i do think jason to your point you as a party democrats you don't have to sign up for

don't trump's agenda but you've got to figure out your american ideals that you are championing you know that's otherwise this partisanship looks really really flaccid no i i think that's exactly right and look if they the ukraine war has gone up for three years they had all the levers they had all the controls. So if you want a different result, you got to try something different. And so, you know, and then Donald Trump had went and read what Zelensky had sent to him and feels like we're actually going to get to somewhere good in this. But again, no spokesperson, no driving values, nothing that American people can relate to. And quite frankly, two weeks later, everybody's going to forget about it. What is going to happen is, you know, a year and a half

from now, they're going to start to see all these ads. That's what these Democrats are going to start to be, you know, they're going to start to get targeted. Their vote, for instance, on men and women's sports, those types of things, that's where it's going to play out. But, you know, two weeks from now, they'll probably everybody will pretty much forget about it. Right before I came down here to do this with you guys, I had Fox on, and I think I saw Harris Faulkner, and she had up on a big wall with a graphic, and it had John Federman,

it had Mark Cuban, and it had Stephen A. Smith. And it was like, who will be, who could? be that voice that you brought up jason like who could be the voice for a democrat and maybe the time is exactly right for their total outsider to emerge um i think they're right by the way that now is the time i don't know that any three of those individuals are the person you know but joey i do think like i don't think jasmine crock's your person i don't think elizabeth warren's your person i don't think Gavin Newsom's your person. I maybe could be sold on Josh Shapiro being your person, but right now you might as well look far afield. You might look into the quote-unquote celebrity

world and see who could carry your message. You mean person like president or just leader in general? Well, I mean somebody to run for president. Like who's going to run? Presume it's J.D. Vance. Who's going to run against J.D. Vance successfully? I don't know. I thought, I had to conversation not long ago. I don't know where in 2006, I guess it was, I guess it was 2004 when Barack Obama found his way on the stage at the DNC. And so that was what, four years before he ran for president. It was a, I guess, a junior senator. It hadn't been in the Senate very long. He didn't have legislative accomplishments that said him aside. He just, he came out and he gave a hell of a speech and people started looking like, man, this is the guy we might could get behind. I think he could be that

quick. It could really be that quick, almost unassuming maybe somebody that's plotting and planning and has some momentum on the hill, but we don't know about it yet. I think that the person that the Democrats are going to look to in 2008 will be the person that's necessary or saying the right thing for 2028. Like my point is, I don't think, it's almost a fool's errand to try to figure out who it is now, because there's a lot that's going to change. President Trump's agenda, if successful, we'll be in a completely different environment come 2028. If not successful, then maybe some of the voices you hear now are the ones that come forward like a Gavin Newsom or I guess Gretchen Whitmer has aspirations. I don't know much about her other than that she did some really weird stuff on social media, but there we go.

And so I think that the brand of person that comes forward in 2028 will be the person for the moment. But nobody, nobody in 2019 was going to back Joe Biden to run for president. But come 2020, we've gone through a pandemic. People are scared. They want what feels normal and safe again. And for some reason, that's where Democrats landed. And so I think 2020 to be similar. I don't expect us to go through a pandemic, but I think we'll be in a different situation.

I might disagree. Do you agree with that, Jason? I kind of disagree with the whole Biden thing. I think they were left. they didn't know where to go who to have and they thought oh let's just pick this safe one

let's pick the guy's been around and kind of by default he got there it wasn't because he put together that's what I think he was an orator I just think he was like yeah Joe's been here the longest I read this analysis

campaign were held in 2019 do you think the default is Joe Biden or if the campaign if Donald Trump had run in 2012 do you think he wins the nomination well I'm saying and I'm curious of Jason, I'm curious if Jason, where I think you're wrong, Joey's this. Okay, if, first of all, elections happen quickly, like time goes quick. And if you're thinking about when a presidential

election starts, it'll start two years before 28. So it'll start in 26. That's one year away from now. We're sitting here today. It's 25, right? We're talking about a Democratic primary. We're talking about getting your name out there, getting your message out there. Okay. So all I'm saying is, if you do think you might want to go with somebody who's sort of, of unique, right? A Trumpian figure. And I'll give you Obama as well, because I think Obama's lead up was more than four years. It was that DNC convention in 2004 that put him on the map, and he's not elected until 08. So you need to be someone who's on the map now. Otherwise, they're going to get to the default position, which was Joe Biden in 2019. I don't know who

default will be in 28. It'll probably be, who will default be? Would it be Newsome? or Shapiro? I don't know. But if you're going to go with a Stephen A. Smith, it needs to start now. Go ahead, Jason. I think if they go with a politician, it's a mistake, and social media creates a real problem for him. I read this analysis, I think was right. Democrats have been most successful. They've taken somebody almost totally unknown, and then they mold them into who they think they should be. Think of Jimmy Carter. I mean, a governor, you know, peanut farmer, I think of Bill Clinton. Think of Barack Obama. These are the people. that were molded into the candidate that was fitting for that time, and they prevailed.

And so I think it's going to be some sort of celebrity. That's the point I was trying to make. Yeah, I think it's going to be some sort of somebody who can get clicks, whether it's from the business community, the tech community, you know, maybe it's a celebrity out there. You know, I don't know who's brave enough because your world gets torn apart. And there are a lot of people that just flat out don't want to take that on. It's just not worth it to them personally. Well, also, a lot of those people, Jason, that we might have come up with, let's say we had this conversation six months ago.

They've actually gravitated into Donald Trump's orbit. Yeah. So, Jamie Diamond, gravitated. He could have been a Democrat. You know, he's a name we might have, should have been talking about. But now he's sort of in Trump's orbit. The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, you know. You know, there was, people have talked about him in the past because, like you said, get clicks.

He's a smart guy. In my opinion, he's a good guy. I don't know where he is in the political spectrum, but he seems to have been drawn further to the right. So many people have. And so I don't know how they run as Democrats unless they can draw that entire party that way. And truthfully, I know you laugh, Joey, like Stephen A. And I laugh at it too. I think it's silly.

But his name is out there. And that's the first thing. But Stephen A is getting pulled to the right. Have you not noticed? Like, he's getting pulled to the right. And maybe that's all good for somebody trying to ultimately be a Democratic national leader. I don't think it's enough to simply pick a celebrity because Donald Trump was a celebrity because of his success, because of his leadership, because of his businesses, because he understood that with the brand Donald Trump has to come to back in, the boardroom Donald Trump. So people were willing to take a chance on this showman because he had the receipts to back it up.

And that's such a hard needle to thread. The Republicans could not recreate it today. Who's probably the second most popular leader in the Republican Party? I mean, depending on where you are with their rivalry, probably Ron DeSantis, completely different personality. He has none of the Riz that Donald Trump has. And that's not a hit against him. He doesn't have that inherent.

You like that, right? It's my one TikTok video. He doesn't have that inherent people skills. But what he does have is he can get up on stage and talk past the press. and two, the people sitting, it may be J.D. Vance, but I think Ron DeSantis is very strong, and I don't think it's given that J.D. Vance would beat Ron DeSantis. But of those two, J.D. Vance doesn't have the record to back it up, but he has the personality. Ron DeSantis doesn't have the Donald Trump personality, but he's got a hell of a record to back it up.

And so now you've got what you want, and Donald Trump split among two people, and they're going to have to battle it out. And so it's just, it's going to be so hard to recreate anything like what Donald Trump has done. I think what Jason said it very perfectly, what I was trying to say, which is that I don't know that we know the name as a name brand. We talk about them every day person that the Democrats will put up there, but it'll be someone that they have, that they believe is ready for that moment, probably a moderate because that's what it's going to take. Because Donald Trump is a, he's a populist. I mean, he's got more Democrats in his cabinet than possibly Biden. Biden did, because Biden had a bunch of war hawks. But if they don't change their process, they're screwed.

I mean, they're absolutely screwed if they don't change their process. Because Donald Trump rose organically, and he won the votes. Democrats bypassed that. They thought the party leadership would be smarter, and they ended up with the worst candidate. Well, who would party leadership pick today, Jason? On the Democratic side, probably Shapiro. I think if Shapiro had actually been. been the vice presidential nominee, that would have made it a lot tougher. I still think

nobody, but nobody was beating Donald Trump in 24. I just don't think anybody could have beat him. But I think it would have made it much more difficult because they do think they would have taken Pennsylvania. So you think today it would be Shapiro by party leadership? And you know what? To be honest, Shapiro would fulfill that Obama Clinton thing you guys were talking about a minute ago because he's not a national brand. People don't know him. And he can be molded. Joey, here's what I like that you really said. Donald Trump was a celebrity because of his leadership, not the other way around, not you're a celebrity, therefore we want to make you a leader. So he was a business leader and he was respected for something ahead of time.

And the other thing I've had people argue to me, and I think it's correct in talking about the Stephen A's or the rocks or whatever it may be, or even a Shapiro. But that matter, even Shapiro. Everyone underestimates Donald Trump's issue set. they always talk about his personality and you know the art of the deal but the issue set that he championed was also unique and it was antagonistic to a lot of the republican platform and it was incredibly popular you know the the border and immigration that was Donald Trump back in he was talking about that stuff back in 14 and 13 when you know Mitt Romney was looking at soft on that stuff and there was there was articles after written after Mitt Romney lost like you need to be

softer and on immigration. The Republicans are going to lose Latinos forever if they don't figure out how to talk on immigration. And here comes Donald Trump on that issue. And also, by the way, other issues like China and economic issues that he owned. And those were unique issue sets to him. And I think whoever we're talking about has to. By the way, I think J.D. has his issue set.

I think he's talking about it on it. Think about what he talks about on a regular bet. basis. He talks about culture, immigration, Europe, core principles like free speech. These are clearly the things he's passionate about. So whoever we're talking about on Democrats, I watched Alyssa Slotkin last night. And you know, here was my takeaway. She gave the response. She's actually pretty good. Like, I thought the way she spoke was not unappealing. But the things that she said, standard, fair, Democrat, same stuff we've heard, painted over a little. more nicely in 15 minutes. She called him a threat to democracy. She said he's bullying trans kids.

She just said it in nicer ways. And they've got to come up with their own issue set in addition to finding that person. Jason. Yeah, I agree. Look, she did something real creepy. You know, they had that vote. They had this vote on whether or not to have men in women's sports. She skipped the vote. So I think right there, she's just a fake. I've watched this. I've been in Congress. I know how it works. You've got a tough vote. You skip it. That's so bogus. I think she is just hollow. She may have been able to read a script because nobody else wanted to read it. Oh, let's pick the freshman. Yeah, I mean, there's our new voice, our rising. She's not a rising star of the Democratic Party. She's the only one that would do it. Right.

Will, can I jump in real quick? No. So these, okay, fair enough. Go ahead, John. It's your show. One of these days, you know, you'll let me have. I just want you to jump in. I don't want you to ask. I want you to get it. That's what I want you to do. Go grab the steering wheel. Yeah. Go. So, Jason, I love for you to, because I know it Will understands this, but for the audience, we're going into midterms.

So in the House especially, you're not just looking for what people voted for. You're also looking for what they voted against. And that'll be used at the local level against members of Congress. How important is it, you know, like you're talking about how she's. skip that vote. We've got votes about, well, we've got a bill now that passed where people voted for and against for men and women's sports, but now it's the revenge porn or, you know, whatever these more social issues that Johnson pushes or that come from the Senate, how important is it? Is it going to help determine the midterms if they basically back Democrats in the corner and make them vote against these populist issues? Because that's what I think the strategy

is less than actually getting the legislation through. It's having this host of so-and-so voted against this and against this and against this to use against them in a year and a half? Well, let's remember more than 98% of the people that are in Congress when they run for re-election, they're going to get re-elected. So because of the gerrymandering and whatnot on both sides, it is much more partisan. So your number one goal is to continue to get the nomination. Most of the people are fearful of not getting through a primary. So they've got some tough votes on the Republican side. For instance, coming up on March 14th, the week from Friday, you know, are they going to vote for a continuing resolution that's

quote-unquote clean? That's not a safe, easy vote for Republicans, because you're going to be voting to perpetuate spending on things that Doge says they're wasteful. That's tough for Republicans. And you only have two people that can drop out, and then you've got trouble, right? So they've got to get through that. And then the reconciliation package. I mean, we would have chick-fil-a in the back of the room when the conference you get together, and people would complain because they didn't have honey mustard and somebody wanted ketchup. And so if you try to get all those people to say, okay, we're okay with the Chick-fil-A,

that would be like a major achievement. And I'm just telling you, try to get a bill across, is like it's the same thing. I'm just telling you, folks, I've been in that room. That's exactly what it's like. Is it miserable? Yeah, that's why I left. I quit.

It does. Hirting cats. All different persons. personalities. Oh, you're on the same team. You're Republicans. You have the same values. I mean, that's got to melt away really quickly when you can't even decide between Chick-fil-A and McDonald's. Yeah. I'll do anything. You don't get a body like mine by missing out on either one of those. You want to buy my vote? Give me a Big Mac. Let's go. I do think that from afar, we don't remember. And we should. We all have our. lives we all go to work we all are on kids have our kids on sport teams or whatever how much

personalities have to do with all of this as well and i don't mean to make it um small some of it is personalities like oh my god here comes i want to think of the nicest guy because i can't you know actually one of the nicest guys i can think of is speaker johnson you know but like yeah here comes here comes speaker johnson god every time he comes in the room we have to talk about chick fillet You know, and everybody starts, you got your personalities to get in the way of all these deals. But more importantly, substantive, like you said, getting me reelected. Like, Nicole Malia Takas, like, you're going to make cuts. That's going to get me not reelected in New York.

I mean, we're going to lose a Republican seat. Versus, Chip Roy in Texas. If you don't put cuts in, then what are we all doing here, you know? I mean, like, how do you bring those two together? Yeah, so you got the salt states, the state and local taxes, they want to have that raised, and you got a Chip Roy, who's a great consideration. conservative who wants to cut things. So where do you find the balance? And everything can't be on Donald Trump. I went through that joint session of Congress. Unbelievable. This guy's only

been in office, what, 35, 36 days? And that list looked like he had been there for four years. But you look at now it's on, it can't always be on Donald Trump. At some point that Congress has to realize, hey, this is a team sport. We got to come together. I'm not going to get everything I want. Regular order is out the door. But I'm telling you, I think it's very hard for Republicans to say the nine months, 10 months of the of the Trump administration is the status quo of the Biden budget. That's really hard to swallow as a conservative. I do want to hit this before we go. You guys are both pretty good on this. I don't know what Democrats would think of their attack line is. Like, I don't think they found it. And I think

everything they've run out there. Everything they've run out there is pretty weak. but the economy i mean i can tell you when i do my show every day at four o'clock on fox i get a lot of honestly i get voicemails i get emails i get everything from viewers and you know what's i'm starting to hear the economy hey inflation is not under control it's not going well um the stock market is crashing or whatever it's lost i think it's lost three or four percent in the last couple of days right um and i mean i think trump acknowledges it when he says we're going to go through some hard times it's going to be or it's going to be disruptive it's going to be difficult but his pursuit of tariffs and i don't know honestly i'm just not economically smart enough and i'm not i do read and i do

think that there are big social benefits potentially for set tariffs like the idea of bringing jobs home to america over a longer period of time that hadn't happened overnight though you know that takes a while and i have to think it probably does have some pretty disruptive effects on the economy in the short term and i don't want us to just be sycophants here today i think i think I think there's way too much sycifancy, and I'm guilty of it as much as anybody else, and I think it's a real special time in America. I think you've got a real special leader as well. But I also want to acknowledge, hey, this other thing is happening right now, and it's not good.

Like, this economy thing, it's not looking good right now. And I personally don't know how much that's tied to his pursuit of tariffs. Who wants to take that? I'm happy to take it. Go ahead, Joey. I was going to yield to Joe. That's good. Yeah.

I'll hit it from a 30,000-foot view because I'm about as strong as on the economy as you are. Like the only investment my dad ever taught me was buy land, and I'm going to pay off my land for the next 30 years. So that didn't work for me. But what I will tell you is, I've said this since Donald Trump won the nomination. And it's kind of a two-part now. One of them is when Donald Trump won in 2016, the country wasn't broken. It was held back. It was all about deregulating, getting business started.

that was, I don't want to say easier, but much quicker. I think Donald Trump's worst enemy is comparing the expediency of his successes felt in 2016 to the expediences of them felt now, because now the country's kind of broken. COVID, the effects of COVID on our economy will be felt for decades, just by paying off the debt of was it $7 trillion, just about an extra spending because of COVID? That's just an insane amount of money in a short period. time. And so now it's not about releasing the hounds. It's about rebuilding the kennel. Yeah, you know, to make a terrible analogy work a little bit. It's about where does the money

come from. We knew where the money was at and that wanted to be spent and energy or what have you in 2016. Now where does the money come from? Where does the industry come from? And I think it's a completely different scenario than when Donald Trump came in. Obama's, the biggest criticism economically on Obama was that he adhered himself to policies that made the recovery from recession so slow that it could have happened a lot faster. Donald Trump comes into office and he lets it go. He lets the floodgates go. That's not what's happened this time around. This time we've spent so much money. And then the culturally, we're so broken that we'll argue over everything. No one is stupid to the point that they don't understand the price of eggs is because of the

mass killing of chickens. Democrats understand that. Republicans understand that. Eggs aren't going to get cheaper overnight. But also, Donald Trump basically said he would end the Ukraine war and fix inflation the day he went into office. So they're going to hold that over his head. You said the day you become, you said you would end that war before you became president, actually. So those, are they legitimate attacks? He's a hyperbole guy. But you're going to have to show some return quick. And I just don't know that we're in a situation where return quick is even the best thing for the country. And I, you know, I hate that it's a wait and see, but I think it is a wait and see. I think it comes down to... And I think that's probably right real quick. I think that's right.

I don't think it's fair to think, oh, you've been in office for a month. The economy should be fixed like that. That's not realistic. But I also think people don't live in reality, and you will pay the price. This is separate, by the way, from the tariff conversation. You always pay the price, regardless of it's your fault or not economically. Politically, you do. The tariff conversation is a different conversation like is it going to hurt the economy you know i do that to the extent that jason and i'm sure you were were educated this way jason like tariffs are a tax taxes hurt the economy tariffs raise prices i mean economically i understand that i see lutnik saying it's not true you know and and these kind of things again i think tariffs as a tool for reciprocal trade

agreements is great like you want to you want to do heavy tariffs on us we'll do heavy tariffs on you great. I also think tariffs as a tool to over the long term try to onshore some manufacturing and jobs is great. But in the short term for the economy, I'm not sure if this isn't correlated or connected. Yeah, I've come a long way on the tariffs. I think the White House is falling short in its communication on explaining to Americans on the reciprocity, the reciprocal nature. I wish they would show, you know, the president mentioned 100% tariff on cars going into India. and yet we have nothing on theirs. And so I'd like to see that, like, literally laid out,

you know, product by product by product, because under reciprocity, if it's zero, then we'll be zero. That seems fair to me. But I still think that for the average American, overwhelming number of them did not watch the state or the joint address to Congress. They just didn't see it, right? We're all paying attention to politics,

but I guarantee you, most of the neighbors on my street, they didn't watch it. They don't care. They want, it's all about safety, security. So I score high points for Donald Trump on safety, locking down the border, deporting people, getting after crime on the streets. The hearing Congress is having right now about getting, you know, these sanctuary cities, I give them like off the charts. But people on the other side of safety and security care about their wallets. And that shows up in gas and eggs and

you have to call 160 million chickens. You're not going to be able to turn that spicket back on right away, but I like the Ag Secretary's five-point plan to get us there. But it's groceries and it's gas and it's your mortgage rate. That's what people care about. That's the barometer. And they don't care that Joe Biden was the president a month and a half ago. It's on Donald Trump's watch right now and that's what they're watching. Yeah. All right. Jason in the House podcast, if you're listening to us right now, just head on over there. It's a Fox News podcast, Spotify, Apple, and subscribe to the Jason in the House podcast. And Joey, Jones has a brand new book out um another book this time on first responders behind the badge see that

i remembered that 45 minutes later not even in my notes um i remembered that i always appreciate you guys uh thank you for hanging out with me for so long and so um unstructured and messy i appreciate you guys just being a part of it thank you there they go jason and joey Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Foxtruecrime.com. Hey, I'm Trey Gowdy host of the Trey Gowdy podcast.

I hope you will join me every Tuesday and Thursday as we navigate life together and hopefully find ourselves a little bit better on the other side. Listen and follow now at Fox Newspodcast.com. All right. let's keep rolling here um we have a meeting that two days and tinfoil and young establishment james i'll need to get to so we're going to finish off today with an old colleague of mine at ESPN um diana rassini i always like diana she's an NFL reporter and she said this idea has been batted about in the NFL and she's okay with it how about

an overseas Super Bowl. Listen. The NFL can't do a Super Bowl abroad. Can you make sure that doesn't happen? Why not? Why don't you want to do it? It's our game. Don't do that. I mean, look, coming off New Orleans,

it's hard to imagine, like, the travel. Like, if you took the logistics out of it, would you be into it? No. No, no. It's our game. It's America's game. You can't give the game to another country.

The food in London sucks. The teeth. The teeth are bad. You're going to have media members just complain. all week. Teeth are bad. You think the teeth would affect the... The teeth are bad in London.

I'm sorry. They got bad teeth. Okay, what if it was in Italy? And we got to eat really well. Too many perverts. And what are the teeth like that? Are you calling Italians perverts? I just, I don't think that the NFL should do an overseas game for the Super Bowl.

I'm open to it. That's Diana Rossini on, pardon my take podcast. Can I just tell you, like, this is, I don't know if this is a, uh, I don't know if this is a, uh, tells us something about our culture or the difference between doing sports and I don't know what this says I would say it was the year 2012 okay I'm at CNN

and CNN decides they're going to start doing these diners like Morning Joe used to do okay and and I go and I can't remember where this diner was and I had just read one of the Malcolm Gladwell books I can't remember which one it was

but the book was a I can't remember if it was blank it may have been blank because it was about how you make decisions and it was about a plane crash and i think it was a korean a korean plane that crashed oh yeah and and the story is that the pilot was making a mistake but the co-pilots the um outliers i think there's two of them in the cop it could have been in outliers it could have been in blink but i think it was in blink the co-pilots i think there's two of them in the cockpit did not feel like they could correct the

pilot even though they knew he was making a mistake he was making a mistake and ultimately led to a crash and because of hierarchy in their culture they did not feel open to just the way the Korean culture works like you don't he's a superior and you don't question a superior and you don't certainly you know shout at him or tell him he's getting something wrong and it ultimately led to this plane crash so now I'm on the CNN panel and do you guys remember the story about the Italian um cruise ship that crashed yeah you guys remember remember that? It like ran aground, then it listed. And I can't remember if people died or how many people died. But I'm on that panel and I'm listening and I'm just, you know, trying to be thoughtful.

And I'm like, I wonder, you know, if there's something, you know, in Italian culture that could have led to a failure of leadership. And, you know, I think I mentioned this thing I had read in one of Gladwell's books. And the media headline afterwards was, Will Kane says Italians basically can't drive boats. So just like that. That's awesome. That's how media does it, right? So, but here is Big Cat going, she goes, what about Italy? Too many perverts.

I mean, how does the headline not read, Big Cat calls Italians perverts? He does a lot of stuff. Well, Cuomo just announced he's running for mayor, so there could be a correlation there. What are you saying? Yeah. There was a meme. Cuomo had a, never. No, explain your joke.

I didn't get it. Explain your joke. So Cuomo announced that he's running for mayor of New York City. He's actually polling very well, and the big meme on Twitter was him. And the banner line says, Cuomo. I'm not perverted. I'm just Italian. Oh.

See, I was trying to box James into an uncomfortable thing where he wasn't, where he wasn't, like, he's not going to get away with this, like half-joke stuff, right? Because he's going to try to be safe. But you actually landed that plane. Like that one That's uh Unlike the Italians To bring this full circle Yeah

Anyway so I'm with Big Cat Not on Italians being perverts On this game cannot go overseas Yeah This game has to be in America It does It's our game It doesn't belong in London

It doesn't belong in Rome It doesn't belong in Mexico City This is not the world's game It's not like the World Cup Coming to America This is America's game. It belongs in America. What's up? Two a days.

Yeah, people are agreeing with you in the chat room, as they say. Kathy's saying if they play football, it needs to stay in the U.S. No way, says S&J. The Super Bowl belongs to America, period. I like how you didn't just read it. No way. I acted it out because it's in all caps with an exclamation point. I felt I needed to give it some emphasis on that word.

Nice. Yeah. Hey, I'm liking the Will Kane logo there in the background in the studio. It's a light. It's just a light. We get some new colors on the bottom. Kind of look like yours. I dig it.

Way to take my work. I dig it. Well, it's tigers work. Tigers making it. Then we got tinfoil pat with a vacuum in the background. We need to get him a little background there. Is that a vacuum he has back there? guitar up the little stairs oh that's a guitar the bass oh it's a bass what should we do

with the background oh really can you play that can you play that thing uh not now because my hands are all out arphritic but yeah i used to be able to slap it a bass we'll start a will can show band pick it the bass i did pick it a bass mom um yeah yeah yeah you we've got two i don't know what james can do I can do nothing in a band He plays piano He plays piano Anything there For real?

Yeah I heard him play He's really good You named the song I play it Wow the three of you You three of you should really Put some music together

For this show Like what's going on You want to play a tambourine For us Sure I can Sure I can figure out the tambourine I'm the least musical guy You'd be the singer

Right I don't have a voice either We have to leave that to two of days We've heard him on American Idol Yeah All right That's going to do it for us today. By the way, real quick, before you take yourselves off the screen.

So I'm hosting, I'm going to, this is a, I just looked at my text. So I wanted to see, see it. I got a text when I was hosting the show on, I can't remember what day it was. Monday, maybe, Friday. I'm not going to pretend like we're friends, but I know him. Okay, but it's just so random. I want to see if you can guess it. From an NBA, I think it's fair to say legend that he was watching the show, enjoying it.

And, you know, can you? you guess you get three guesses let's see if you can figure it out but between the three of you get three guesses NBA legend enjoying the show it's not Charles Barkley I'll take that off the table because you guys gag gum it I was going to say Charles Shaquille O'Neal not good guess because I met Shaq the other day right Kevin Garnett not Shaq I mean why would Kevin Garnett text me but that's okay because I think it's going to be it's going to be as random I've never met Kevin Garnett I don't know Kevin Garnett and I'm going to give you a hint, since Patrick has one guess now.

Older. Older than Garnett, older than Shack. Different generation. Larry Bird. Right generation wrong player. Isaiah Thomas. No way. No way.

It's a shorty. Pretty random, right? My wife went to ice school with his son, actually. Oh, wait, the original? Yeah, the original Isaiah Thomas, not the Celtic. Yeah. You guys are in Thomas. All right, that's going to do it for us today.

I'll see you again tomorrow. Same time, same place, same digital channels, same audio platforms. We'll see you next time on The Will Kane Show. 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.