Will Cain Country - Rating RNC Speakers! PLUS, Where Did The Secret Service Fail?

Episode Date: July 17, 2024

Story #1: Rating the RNC Speakers. Wait! Scratch that. What exactly are people on the Left implying about the assassination attempt of former President Trump? Story #2: Now Will rates the speakers so far at the RNC. Do the Republicans have any one good to follow former President Trump or is he irreplaceable? Plus, Carrying a ladder through a crowd and spending a half an hour on the roof. Analyzing how on earth this happened with Will's FOX & Friend Weekends Co-Host, Pete Hegseth. Story #3: The top three all-time responses to failed presidential assassination attempts. Former President Trump's fist pump only came in at number three! 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. One, rating the RNC, is there a deep bench or is it always and only? Donald Trump. Two, carrying a ladder through a crowd, spending a half hour on the roof under the surveillance of Secret Service.

Where exactly is the failure that led to an attempted assassination of Donald Trump? Where exactly is the failure of the Secret Service? Three, top three, most badass responses to an attempted assassination of a president. It is the Will Kane show streaming live at Fox News.com and on the Fox News YouTube channel and the Fox News Facebook page. Always on demand, if you're listening, on Terrestrial radio from coast to coast, by subscribing on Apple or Spotify. Or if you want to watch the Will Kane show, just hit subscribe on YouTube. Coming up on today's show, we're going to hang out with my buddy. and Friends Weekend co-host.

We're going to hang out with Pete Hegseth for an episode of Off the Rails. Wulisha, two days, young establishment James, tinfoil, Pat. Help me work through this for just a moment. I was right before we came on air watching a video. I was watching a video from MSNBC where Michael Steele, former president of the Republican Party, was making an argument to Ari Melburgh that we have a right to know after three days

the extent of the injuries to Donald Trump's ear. Steele claims if you are hit by, quote, a high caliber bullet, it would basically destroy the ear. There are reports, according to Steele, that it's a shard of glass from a broken teleprompter. And that if it's a medical impact on a presidential candidate, that we as a public have a right to know.

Now, in response to that, Melburgh said, well, there's a certain grace period, and we're coming to the end of that when it comes to three days. Now, interesting, all of a sudden, Melburgh has some journalistic desire to know the truth about the health of a president within three days after it being ignored for three years, of course. But set that aside for just a minute, okay? he makes a comparison between the public's demand and desire to know about Joe Biden's mental capacity to the, yeah, admittedly, open curiosities about the extent of Trump's here. I think any of us could, yeah, I'd love to know more, like what happened and how bad is it. I think all of us would like to know, right?

That's curious. But there's something else going on here. Like to make a comparison to the public desiring to know about. the mental capacity of Joe Biden. Okay, like, help me work through this, guys. Like, we as a public have a right to know if our sitting president is of sound mind because it impacts his ability to do the job. I don't see anything about Donald Trump's ear that rises to the level of news necessity

beyond curiosity. Like, even if it is glass. What I'm getting at is, what are you getting at, MSNBC? why do you think these two open questions are of equal news value? Yeah, it's just kind of like, hey, look, this is bad also. You know, with Biden, they're just trying to compare the two so they have something to talk about with, you know, the attack on Biden and his mental ability and cognitive ability. I think that's part of it.

Okay, I think there is an equivalency thing that they're so guilty of. like, that's why their initial CNN headline was Trump falls down. Like what that was is they were doing an equivalency thing to Biden's frailty, right? They were implying to the audience that, ooh, this 77-year-old fell down, like you've been accusing Biden of being frail. And I do think there's an element, two days, to what you're saying, like, you demanded to know all these things about Joe Biden, and you're not demanding to know about Donald Trump's ear.

But I don't think that's everything, because that doesn't pass the same. smell test. Like, of course, the mental capacity of a sitting president is of not equal curiosity to the damage to a campaign's ear, a guy running for president's ear. I think there's something deeper. I think the implication is they're saying, at the highest levels of a news agency now, they're implying that this is staged. That's why they want to know the answers to that question. Right, young James? It seems like they're going down. conspiracy rabbit hole, which is they're not totally going into it because they don't want to get in trouble, but they're at least putting out some feelers that are going into the, oh, was it a shard of glass? Did he fake it? Did he have ketchup? A bunch of nonsense. And I'll say like two quick things on the facts. One, somebody's dead and two, there's video that the teleprompters are fully intact. And I mean, on the Trump... Well, I don't even care. I don't even care if it's the teleprompter. That is meaningless details. Right. And Steele knows nothing about ammunition. Like, I mean, I saw a lady, by the way, hold up several bullets.

They are unexpended cartridges. They are, you know, with the gunpowder and the shell casing are still intact. So they're like, you know, this big or whatever. I'm holding it up on the screen about two inches, two and a half inches in depth. But, you know, a bullet, once it's been fired, is about, you know, a couple millimeters in length and diameter. And so he knows nothing about that. but it seems clear to me like to your point James of like

a dude is dead yeah two others critically injured and you're toying around with what type of notion here you're not just doing the moral equivalency of if you want to know about Biden and you got to know about Trump what what no

one is about your ear and the other is about your brain one is about a sitting president one is about a guy running for president so it seems to me you are suggesting that you're not getting the answers to these questions because you think the whole thing is a hoax and that is a, if you're a random internet poster, and by the way, when I say random, I want to tell you something. When I scroll my X or whatever, I don't follow a bunch

of randos and I don't read replies that much. I'm going to be real with you. I'm talking about people. Okay, I'm going to use two names. Let me give you an example. Clarence Hill who writes for the Fort War Star Delegram covers the Dallas Cowboys has jumped straight into this BS. And I don't understand how you do that and get away with having a job at a major market newspaper. And Jeff Perlman, who's written bestselling books about sports figures from Brett Fav to whoever, is doing the same thing by demanding answers to these questions. And I want to know what you're getting at. I want to know.

Are you suggesting that Donald Trump cavalierly had a dude killed to go up in the polls that he was already leading while his opponent was self- imploding because his brain is mush? Like, I want to know what you're doing, MSNBC. There's a comedian on Twitter, too, who writes a full article, and it's a joking script that's funnier than anything S&L's put out in the past 10 years. And they joke about Don June, about Dan Skavino saying, all right, this is good, just play golf and be quiet until the election. And Don and Eric basically suggesting this whole conspiracy. And it's laughable. It's kind of funny, but it shows how ridiculous the whole thing is.

all right well i just had to get that off my chest i had to figure out like i mean i don't do this with randos i don't do this with randos like these are people that have publication like they're paid for their thoughts and to write and to go on television they're paid to go on msnbc all right um i'm going to call an audible because what i was going to do today start with a monologue i was going to start with a monologue with you about the depth of the republican bench Okay, I've been thinking about this in the middle of the RNC. As I've been watching speaker after speaker come up, okay? And I've been thinking about it because I heard, for example, my colleague at Fox, Dana Prino, say, the bench is so deep.

And if I'm being real with you, I don't feel the same way. I don't come away with the same opinion. And I have a reason for that, okay? And it's because I want to talk about ideology. I want to talk about wisdom, judgment, leadership, charisma, and whether or not there is anything bigger

than Donald Trump, including Trumpism. But instead of monologuing, let's just, I want to get into it. Let's get into story number one. He's my co-host on Fox and Friends Weekend. He is off the rails. He's off the grid. He's

our guy. He's Pete Hegg-Seth. And he's at the RNC. What's up? What's up? Terminally tan, Pete, Hedgeset. Terminally tan. So, you look even tanner now than you did at a diner this morning on Fox. I look like I'm glowing right now. I'm not pregnant.

I don't know what's going on here. Hey, so I don't know when you jumped on and put that headset on. And I don't know if you've heard what I was talking about coming in. Yeah, I did. So I was thinking about this, Hegseth. Okay, I'm going to start with an open question to you before I give you my opinion. I would like to know what you think. Not about the R&C, because I think the R&C seems to be going great.

There's a great, everyone likes to, the buzzword of the moment is unity and all that. And that's great. And it's true. But I'm more curious about this, Pete. You've been in the auditorium, I believe, every night. You've been doing something for Fox Nation. You've probably seen almost all these speakers. What do you think?

Like, what's your rating overall of these individuals, not as surrogates of Donald Trump? That's not what I'm talking about. Not as their endorsement of Donald Trump. But I'm just curious how you rate these people as leaders from a stage, not from a governor's office. Or not from a center's office. You're talking about as... From a stage as prospective 2028 candidates. Is that what you're referring to when you're talking about a bench?

I guess I am. That's what you wanted to open up as. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's what I'm talking about. 2028. Yeah.

That's skipping ahead of squash, but I will say they're great surrogates, I think almost all of what they're saying is genuine, especially after what happened on Saturday night, which is dominating every aspect of this convention, whether people state it or not. I guess I take maybe a little bit more of a superficial take and that I look at that stage and I see a lot of capable, philosophically aligned, conservative, articulate men in women. taking to the stage, making a case for the country that, to me, doesn't sound ideological at all. The biggest takeaway for me has been the level of straight up common sense that speakers are talking about. We're not in the minutia of conservative philosophy here. We are in the realm of the left has gone and lost their damn mind. Donald Trump is strong enough to fight them, so they call him a radical, but here are the basic common sense things that he stands for,

which, to your point, most of those people on that stage probably not would have not. not come to that conclusion were it not for Donald Trump this is in a party entirely remade by his courage his view of where the American people are but yes I watched someone like Marco Rubio was interesting is an interesting example

and I didn't even see his entire speech because halfway through his speech I had to go back for the Fox Nation show but I had also kind of decided it was meh like okay we've seen Marco before it's right now by the time I got over there everyone was raving about the final part of his speech so I think I'm

missed the best part of the speech and I'll have to go back and look at it. But there is this sense of we know a lot of these people. We probably know what their ceiling is with an exception of a few. I think J.D. Vance is one of those exceptions. His part of the ingredient of modern politics is a background or a story that is compelling that takes you to the next level or a name ID or an affinity or of authenticity that people truly connect to beyond winning one Senate race in a key state and the ability to give a few good speech. which used to be the recipe for being a nominee as long as you were silver-tongued. And I think Ted Cruz and Marco Ruby are two great examples of those types of men

who would have been central casting for a conservative leader, who still are conservative leaders, but maybe not in the rotation for the next 10 years based on what happened when they ran to the Donald Trump buzzsaw. So I see J.D. Vance. I think Vivek passed that test in his speech. I don't I still think there's a lot of growth left in him but man he he speaks the language with an interesting background that people certainly do connect to I think I think from from what you're watching well I don't want to know what you think I mean from from what you're watching I don't want to I know I know I heard I heard you um push back on me in your very nice guy way and use a word that is just not in my rotation that I've jumped ahead of squash that's like not you're never going to hear me say that unless I'm quoting Pete Egg's head a little bit and here Let me tell you why I'm thinking about this.

Let me tell you why I'm thinking about it. I'm not jumping ahead because I'm, like, not interested in Donald Trump. I'm jumping ahead to 228 for three reasons. One, that's what a lot of these people are doing. They're setting themselves up for 2028. And I like to call it the way it is. And that's the way it is. And I even think some of them are faking it.

If I'm being real with you, Pete, I don't think some of them believe or are really loyally behind Donald Trump, okay? I don't think Nikki Haley is. That's one. But I'm going to tell you, I think there's more than one. Okay. Two, Barack Obama gave a speech in 2004 that set himself up for the presidency at the DNC. He went out there.

You know, he stole, wasn't it, 04 or was it 2000? I can't remember which one it was. It would have been 04. Yes, 2004. Oh, 4, I think, yeah. It rocketed him to start him, right? That speech at the DNC. So they all know that can happen, and they're all doing it.

And three, J.D. Vance. That's why I'm bringing it up. because part of the conversation is, does J.D. Vance set up Trumpism to be bigger than Donald Trump? Does he carry America first into the future beyond Donald Trump? And I don't want a monologue. This is my thoughts, Pete, and I've changed a lot on this. I begin to think that I look at DeSantis and Youngkin and all these guys, and I'm like, they're really good governors. And they execute conservative policy. And maybe, to your point, maybe even just common sense policy. But this moment that you and I were born into, and probably everybody listening, most everybody listening, the only people exempted would be the very young, I begin to think as a historical aberration, Pete, it's the age of ideology.

And for conservatives that ran from about William F. Buckley through maybe George W. Bush, but certainly Ronald Reagan. And that was the age of conservative, that's the golden era, right? That's the ideology of conservatism. And it trails the progressive ideology, which began with Marx. But essentially the 20th century is the century of ideology. But the longer arc of humanity and leadership is predicated on things outside of ideology, like wisdom, judgment, strength, common sense, and charisma. Those things. Like, you ride into town and you take over a town, you lean on those three things, those five things.

You don't lean on, let me tell you about, you know, Edmund Burke. sure like you don't win the town over by going now if we could all gather around our Burt textbooks and I think in a way Donald Trump is a reversion to the arc of humanity do you see what I'm saying and as I look at those people

that you named and that I'm watching on the stage I don't see anyone and it's an impossible task to say meets the bar of Trump but I don't yet see someone that satisfies what I think is the old and the new standard of leadership it's a fair point i think you are right that we're outside of an age of of ideology of

conservatism a lot of people are looking around and saying well what in the world are we conserving anymore it is it is back to basics uh in in what we're fighting for uh i i think if you listen to the names i mean the names i listed you know you've got jd yvance with you know hillbilly elegy and this sort of cultural celebrity that he was and and vivake rameswami those are the types and then i think there are outside media figures um you know i don't think we're counting in the Trump kids. I don't think we're counting in someone like Tucker. I don't think we're counting in someone like Charlie Kirk and his crew. There are some really interesting businessman, Elon Musk types. There are those people out on the horizon with interesting stories,

building interesting things who don't have a pin on their lapel and aren't sort of trying to calculate every speech and every moment toward this inching forward to the apex that I don't think any of us are anticipating right now. And the speeches, those people have given and will give, will be a, it'll be a part of their story, but I don't know that conventions have the same punch as they had in the 80s or the 90s or 2000s where you had this, you know, everyone coveted this certain time slot because it meant you, the party elders had said you are next. The closest to that is the choosing of J.D. Vance, which is a generational choice. Other than that, everyone else is going to get a chance to make a speech that they can clip and

push out on social media and might make people more interested in them. but the bosses aren't we're just not in a boss's moment we're in a you know everything is is reflecting off of Trump and what happens after him is going to be it is really I mean Will we're going to have a lot of it's going to be interesting to analyze a post-Trump world when we get there but right now I think it's good for the country and good for the party that everything is is is orbiting around him because it keeps them focused on basic issues other than reverting back to the establishment norm which is let's talk about marginal tax rates and how to reform social security, and it sounds really nice at heritage or other think tanks,

but voters aren't thinking about it, so we miss voters and we lose elections. Trump is focused on winning elections, and there are some things that take him out of alignment with conservatism, but I'm not a conservative because I'm a conservative. I'm a conservative because I love America, and if there are conservative policies that aren't in service of that larger cause, then what are we doing? I love the point you made. I guess that the highlighters or the headliners have been like the governors and the senators. But, you know, in the next couple of days, you're going to hear from Tucker to your point.

You're going to hear, you're not going to hear from Elon Musk. But I think you're right. Look outside. Maybe that's. And by the way, I'm not taking anything away from Desanta, the great governors. I'm just trying to be a realist about the qualities that lead to the highest levels of leadership. And what I would suggest to you is just go like this. Trump, Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, big charismatic personalities all who would walk into a room and you'd be like, whoa, they are here.

The only two people I didn't mention there were George H.W. Bush and Joe Biden. And I would say, truth is, younger Joe Biden might actually satisfy that criteria. Old Joe Biden's different. I think H.W. wrote on Reagan's coattails. That's what that was, his presidency. He wasn't, he was this big personality. Another thing that bolsters your perspective, Will, is we've only completed two days. So think about all those big names.

They got a Tuesday speaking spot, which is considered the third best. I mean, Wednesday, today, sort of a bigger spotlight, and certainly Thursday would be considered the most prime time territory with the most eyeballs. So, you know, that's pretty Trumpian thing to do to say, all of my opponents, you took on Tuesday, and we'll move on past that part of it. By the way, some of the most charismatic, like you brought up the family members, I forgot to mention him. Lara Trump was great. I mean, I was, like, really impressed with Lara Trump last night. Hey, so you bring up Trump. This came up yesterday. I don't know if you know this, but I talked about you yesterday. And I had Josh Holmes of The Ruthless podcast on here. And the conversations about J.D. Van.

And J.D. Vance has said some real anti-Trump things in his past, really anti-Trump, more than you or I or anyone else ever has, right? And what I said yesterday is I like that J.D. Vance has changed his mind. I think that if we're being real, everyone has. No one, very few people were born to Trump. They saw it at some point, right? Some saw it maybe in whatever, 13 when he was attacking Obama. Some saw it in 1560. I was said yesterday my conversion to Trump was like 1820 right in that range and I brought you up I said look he's pretty open about it my friend Pete he's a big supporter of Donald Trump but he wasn't always and I said I would like to do a show where everyone catalogs the moment of their conversion so now to have you I just kind of would like to know like I think I know the timeline for you and I don't think it's an overnight thing for anybody I don't think it's an epiphany I don't think it's an epiphany I I think it's a little bit of a snowball effect, but I'm curious a little bit because I brought you up what that is for you. Dude, it's a real thing, and that would be a great pot. I think you'd hit everyone in the Republican spectrum, because everyone has that moment if they're being honest about it for the most part. And there are some who have this sort of sycophant politically expedient view, and they're pretty easy to tease out, especially in moments of crisis. And so I'm not really counting that. These are people that are true supporter.

I mean, for me, it was basically April, May, June of 2016. It's after I had gone from Rubio to Cruz to definitely not Hillary Clinton to what in the world do I do here. I'm an Iraq vet who in these calls my war, a dumb war, and I don't like that. And I'm not used to this rhetoric. And I used to be kind of an establishment guy. I'm sort of a neocon guy. And it was really hard. But that thinking through, and frankly, a lot of it was watching, because Tucker was Fox and

Friends Weekend at that point. And he was going through some of the same process and watching him articulate Trump in real time as sort of one of his understudies that did Fox and Friends Weekend and Fox and Friends all the time was fascinating. But had the same moment. And I remember a Fourth of July party. I threw at my house where I pulled out a MAGA hat and put it on and no one knew that I was and it was this shock around like, what, what? And I'm like, yeah, I'm in. I'm in. They're like, what, you can't be in, bro. You can't. I mean, what, look. I was like, no, no, is it? He's our guy. he's our guy and it's almost like once you come out i remember going to trump tower before that and buying one in the lobby because that's the only place you could get him at that point was in trump tower lobby in new york city um but it was authentic it was he's our fighter like this is a break glass in case of war moment and that's what donald trump is going to do and then once you have but it's amazing i met a woman in a diner this morning will who had her conversion two days ago basically after really trump was you know really yes coming into the She said, I've never been a Trump person, I was a Nikki Haley person, but watching him walk into the convention on Monday after what he went through and the look on his face, I think he's a changed man.

It doesn't mean I think he's going to say everything perfect or the way I want, but I'm all in behind Trump. So I just, it takes, there's a sliding scale and it's a very, it's a very long one, but I like that, I agree with you. I like that about J.D. Vance. I think it shows intellectual honesty. He was pretty stubborn about it for a while, but he wasn't political. He wasn't very politically involved or invested for a long time when he made those comments. But then when he looked at who was a champion for the communities he wrote about, that he lived with, that he talked about, it became very clear.

And I think that's why Trump likes him. I mean, and what you hear from people that don't know much about J.D. Vance, they say, I trust Trump. If Trump thinks he's all in and is the right guy for the job, then I'm in for him, which is, again, another reflection of how much folks are behind him. all right i wrote i wrote a whole chapter about this i wrote a whole chapter about this in my book american crusade it's the start of the chapter is hi my name is pete heggseth and i was almost a never trumper and i wrote it because i saw a story i tell a story about the national remember that national review cover

where it was the never trumper and talked about it yesterday and all the names of the byline on the bottom okay rich low lowrowery wrote that and i remember that thing came out because i had been a writer for National Review and done stuff with them. It came out, and I remember calling Rich, and I shouldn't admit this, but I've already admitted it in writing. It's true. Calling Rich and saying, Rich, why didn't you ask me to be on that cover? I want to be. Really? Really? Thank goodness he didn't. Yes, yes. And I wasn't, and he didn't, but that's where my head was at that point. And because of fellow crews I had run in in the past and the way I had seen the world. What's funny you bring that up, because I talked about that National Review cover yesterday.

Apropos of nothing, I ended up reaching out to a guy I haven't spoken to in a long time, national review guy who I really think highly of, really smart, never been on the Trump bandwagon, it was part of that. And he was telling me, I think he's not, I don't think he's never Trump, but he's also hasn't gone through his full conversion. Like, he's like still in flux, right? But he's definitely not on the left, and he's not like a Bill Crystal, whatever Bill Crystal's doing, right? But one of the things he said was, like, how little impact that magazine cover had. Like, and at, like, 75% of the guy. whose names are on the cover of that magazine are now pro-Trump yes it's true it's amazing it's amazing um all right man i want to talk to you about this and you said something in the wake of the assassination on attempt on saturday you said it sunday morning and i think you've been proven very very um prescient on this and that is this has been a tough story in a lot of ways pete and I know you're geared this way, I'm geared this way, and the truth is most conservatives are geared this way. Like a great amount of respect for law enforcement

and people that put their life on the line. And so you have all this great respect and you want to honor them and you also want to analyze the clear failures of that day. But one of the things we should be able to point out is, you know, I don't know if we call it a minor victory or what, but Trump rally goers notice that guy up on the roof. They cause a commotion.

That sends a law enforcement officer, local law enforcement officer apparently up a ladder, I think it is, to peek over the edge and make eye contact with the shooter who turns to him and turns his weapon at the law enforcement officer. This is according to reports. The cop drops at that point. He's got an AR pointed at his face. He drops. But the whole thing they're suggesting, local law enforcement is certainly suggesting, rushed the shooter along. And might have because of that saved the life of Donald Trump. I've heard the same reports. I mean, it is, and again, I have the same respect that you do. But I do think it saved the life of Donald Trump. I don't have my arms around all the mistakes that were made. And you're following it. They were monitoring this guy for 30 minutes, people going in and out of the building. The sniper team was actually in the very building that he went on top on.

Now the Secret Service, loser's Secret Service ladies running around saying it was a sloped roof, so it was a safety issue that we couldn't put people on top of it. The counter sniper team sounds like it was. It wasn't Secret Service. It was maybe a local sniper team. And so were they fully, did they have the full go ahead to preemptively shoot? We don't know all of these things. I still added up to gross negligence, incompetence, mistakes, human error in the moment.

That man popping up on the ladder, like, how long was he down? Why did he stay down? Did he attempt to get back up? Did he attempt to call for other people? Was there confusion in the communications? Forget all of that right now. ultimately, vigilant, um, proactive Trump supporters saw something wrong and they said something about it. And I think it's a reflection of a group of people who've been trained to be

vigilant, trained to be bold, willing to speak up. Uh, and, and they did. And there's no doubt that this 10, this 20 year old punk is up there, you know, shit his pants, okay, about to do something. And he knows he's been found out. And who knows how much he trained and who know, all that other stuff. But ultimately, he's up there. They're, you know, if you've been in a situation like that, we've all been in high-tensity situations. Your breathing is up, up, I don't care who you are in that moment. He's nervous, okay? And now he's been found out, and there are people yelling loudly about it.

That means he knows his time is limited. He's got to get up there. And even just a simple movement on anything you've shot, I've shot, anything like that, will cause an inch, six inches on and off in either direction. And that could have been all that it takes. So I do credit a lot. those people on the ground for creating an environment where he was uncomfortable and rushed, and that might have been the difference in, you know, three inches or an inch or a centimeter that threw it off. And it wasn't, you know, the Secret Service obviously took care of him,

you know, three seconds later or whatever it was. And without that, sure, he could have kept shooting conceivably. But that first shot is the one he's most trained in on. And the fact that he missed, I credit in large part, yeah, those folks on the ground. I want to analyze a couple of those things. But to your point, to your point, point of the people in the ground so and i think you're right i think you are definitely right to praise those people and i'm going to say because of their instinct so two things that are fascinating to me do you see the ladder i don't know if you've seen the picture of the ladder it's not like it's like a frame ladder that's what it looks like to me it's a big ladder that he got up on the roof on

he walked through the crowd with that ladder and like place the ladder and nobody stops him Is that the report that he walked through the crowd with the ladder? Well, no. I need to be clear. But I believe I'm correct on this. He bought the ladder that day. But he placed it that day then. Okay, wait, hold on real quick.

Two days. Two days you're telling me he bought the ladder the night before? Yeah, so they're saying 48 hours just before. At Home Depot, he bought the ladder. But so, okay, that gives him time. He could have gone the day before and placed the ladder. or he walks through the crowd. Pete, I mean, one of the guys on my show said,

a ladder and confidence. Yeah, but you know what, man, a tool belt, a ladder, and confidence will get you past a lot of, like, security checkpoints. I mean, I will tell you, like, have you ever had a media pass, Pete, that is not a full media pass? I have because I've been in sports, and I'm like, this is good for this area,

but I don't get field access. And, by the way, my friend Pete's with me and he doesn't have one. And I've done this thing, like, just follow me. And I walk super confidently, and nobody stops you. And I do wonder if that kid is just like walking around with the back. You got kids walk around with a backpack and a ladder, and everybody's like, guess he's supposed to be here. But my point is, on the crowd, there was alarm bells in the crowd's head because it is very easy in all situations for the average human being to go.

I don't know. I guess that's what it's supposed to happen. I guess that's supposed to be happening, right? instead of leaping to could that be could that be an assassin I mean I fight it in my own life and I don't care how trained you are

or what your background is well this isn't happening here and well you must be there for a reason and there's security guards over there and they're not doing anything so what role do I have to play I mean it is a I just I do think it's a rowdy sense

of understand I think I'm not saying it's exclusive to Trump supporters I'm not but if you spend a lot of time with Trump supporters or with these patriots. They're independent minded. They're bold people who speak their opinions. They're willing to think outside the box. They've been taking criticism and oh, you're out, you're this or you're that. And so they've got a little bit of a stiffer spine. And, and I, but I ultimately think what came down to it is probably one person

saw a random person with a gun and said, a guy with a gun that looks like that shouldn't be on top of that building or shouldn't be on top of that ladder. And then by spreading that information, it's that courage and that insight spread like wildfire. You're right, though. I want to know, this is a, this is a story like you. You're so good at analyzing and trying to get new detail. I want, I'm thirsty for more details of, I'm going to go after this when I've got a little downtime and just search.

Like, what more, and, and I don't know, if this Secret Service ladies. I would like, you know one thing on, here's some, that's shocking to me. yeah i mean the slope excuse is ridiculous that's not that's not real i mean i think it's probably literally not real because you just told me which i heard for the first time that the counter sniper team might not have been secret service but those dudes were definitely perched on a sloped roof so it's just i'm just not buying that and you know dan bonjino dan bonjino has said somebody didn't show up for their post that day that was supposed to have that area covered he's reported that um i don't know pete like

here's something I'm thirsty for, is the engagement protocol that, like, can you preemptively shoot? And when can you preemptively shoot? And I've read that maybe they can't preemptively shoot, you know. So I don't know. Like, if they did have him spotted and glassed for a half hour, and even if they did know he was on the roof, were they going to take that shot? They did shoot him quickly after he unleashed, I don't know how many shots he ended up getting off. I know we've reported six to eight shots. I don't know how many were his versus. is counter-sniper, but, you know, I'd be real curious to know if they were allowed to take that preemptive shot, and if so, why didn't they? I mean, the environment around law enforcement is also

just like, you better be, no, because if you fail, you're splashed across CNN. You're right. Is this just a long tail of like the Ferguson effect, where these, this cop may technically have the ability, but knows that it's his hide if he makes the wrong call. Or was there actually someone in his ear saying, you know, if it really was 30 minutes, then there's definitely, or even if it was five, there's definitely radio interaction that went on between that shooter and higher headquarters or whoever the commander on the ground is to give him the high sign or not to fire. I just, if we don't have a protocol with Secret Service, I guess could he be concerned that it was one of their own, that he hasn't used? yet identified up on a rooftop and as a result didn't feel comfortable. I mean, you could conceive of that kind of confusion and fog of a moment, but I think in 90 seconds you could be able to verify something like that.

But if you have different units, different police units and different places, I don't know, something went terribly wrong. And this is the kind of thing that needs the highest level investigation possible. All right, Pete Hanks here. I want to give you some responses from people jumping in here on that conversion conversation you and I've had about Donald Trump. Two of a days back in the studio, I can put these up. These are some of the things.

I'll read them to you, Pete, on what people are saying. Harvey says, I always voted Democrat. I couldn't bring myself to vote for Hillary. I started reading and listening about Trump. This will be the third time I will vote for him. Let's keep going two days. What else you have? Let's run through a few of these real quick before we respond.

Glenn says, I'm just an average dude, but I wasn't a quote, Trump guy in the beginning. I was a cruise guy in 15, but after, I think it was in Iowa in 16, I started to turn and convert. That's a little bit like your story, Pete. Mama A says, I'm not positive on when exactly he won me over, as I was not a fan, but what stands out is the debate with Hillary Clinton. He had me at, you'd be in jail. You know, is that Dave Chappelle's moment? Dave Chappelle's like, she's like, he doesn't pay his taxes, and Trump goes, and that makes

me smart. And he was like, this guy. And if you wanted me to put my taxes, you'd change the tax code, but I know you won't because all your rich donors, they take the same exemptions that I do. Yes, like that kind of stuff is what pulled people. For me, it was him pointing out, there was two moments in particular. It was a press conference where I remember he looked at the press. He's like, you're an idiot, you're a loser, you've always been dumb next. You know, And I remember Rush Limbaugh calling it, whatever it was. He called it the press conference of Republicans who were waiting for for 20 years. And then the other one was the protest against him.

I remember. I'll never forget exactly. I can't remember exactly when it was. But it was in Southern California. And he had to get snuck into the back door because there was so many protests. And the protocol of getting there was messed up. But I remember seeing Mexican flags everywhere, flags of other countries and protests of Donald Trump because he was talking about building a wall. And I remember just that moment going, wait.

So this guy wants. to secure our border and the guys against them are flying flags of another country because he's talking about America first. Like, I'm, I think this guy's over the target. You know, it was just, for everybody, there's just a little bit of a moment where you're like, okay, now I get it. Now I get it. Right, right. Two more real quick. I know you got one or two more real quick. Two of a day's, throw them up. Comments who are part of the weekend show right now. Oh, this one's about me. CDA. The only reason you weren't initially for Trump will is because because you were at woke ESPN, and they were brainwashing you.

Well, you know what? Here's the truth on that. Pete and I've known each other a long time, and I was in the world of news and politics, you know, way back, whatever it was, 09, 10, 11 through 15, 14, roughly, 14, 15. And Pete, when I went to ESPN, I did take a break. Like, I wasn't in the daily grind of news and politics. I'd still paid attention, and I cared. But there's a different way of consuming news.

that today, I think, informs me about how people do. And I got more close to that vein of news consumer where it washes over you. And what was washing over you at that time was all the most negative stuff about Trump. And in retrospect, false, like very fine people or whatever. Like, that's just washing over you. And you had to really dig to go, uh, that's not true. And so it's not that I was never woke. I was never brainwashed.

And I was never even on the left. I've never voted Democrat in my life, you know. But I also wasn't a Trump guy because this stuff was washing over me as a casual consumer of the news. Well, you were always a conservative. I know that from having been on TV with you many years ago. But I know exactly how that goes because I think about that very fine people hoax Charlottesville. I was on the air the next morning. And I remember the amount of research I did that night and the next morning to sort of get to the,

the base of what was going on there. And I took a ton of heat for defending Trump the next morning based on pointing out the fact that what he said is not what you're saying he's saying. And this is not a right. And it was not, but it was only because I was totally enveloped in the media cycle and willing to say, okay, I know how these things go. Otherwise, there's no reason to attempt to defend it if you're getting washed over by the conventional narrative because it's an impossible one to overcome.

I totally get that. And I remember we talked about a lot of this when you first came over to Fox. You were a conservative like everybody else sorting out the sort of the wake of what Donald Trump creates. Right. Gary Wallace on YouTube says Trump walks the walk and talks the talk. And Daisy Reyes says, I started changing my mind about Trump in 1718. If I'm being real Pete, you know, yeah, when I first joined, I wasn't fully like, I get it. If I had to pinpoint, it's somewhere in 17, 18, where I started going.

And it may actually have been very fine people. What year was that, Pete? Very fine people. Was that about 17, 18? Somewhere in there? Yeah, I had to look at it. I can't remember. Two days just jumped in my ear and said August 17.

And I actually think that was part of it. Because there was a moment, it wasn't right away. It may even been a year later where I started going, I just started understanding that's not what he did. That's not what he said. And once that thing unraveled for me in my mind, then everything starts unraveling a little bit. And you're like, none of what I've been told is true. And look, I'm not saying you're saying he's a saint.

It's not all of a sudden you go, whom, and he's perfect. No, it's not what I'm getting at, but the bulk of what I was sold was false. It wasn't real. Yes. And it started unraveling. All right, hey, real quick, how's the convention, man? It's very easy. Oh, go for it.

Go ahead. I was just going to say it's very easy to sit back and try to take him literally and not understand how he speaks, and then you can just sit in a poopy diaper of your outrage because you're not willing to engage with what he has to say. You know what I mean? It's always, I think, been the case with him. The convention has been fascinating. I mean, if you think about it in 2016, you know, Ted Cruz refused to endorse him. There was a lot of contention. 2020 was a COVID convention. And yet here we are two days in. And every opponent that he had has endorsed him. It's universal. It's not as if there's a, this outlier group that's sort of protesting him.

And then after Saturday, it has this sort of glow over it. I'd say it's so optimistic that it's almost maybe, I don't want to say too optimistic. It's very optimistic about America, properly so. But sort of, I think you'll have a lot of people come out of this saying, oh, this is in the bag. And I think that's a false comfort. Consider, you know, yes, there's a lot of chaos on the Democrats side.

Yes, God's hand is on the shoulder of Donald Trump. Yes, it so far has been a well-choreographed, strong convention with great messaging, but there's a lot to come in the future, and the ground game has to be robust, and do they make a switcheroo? But it's as optimistic a moment as I would compare it to, what would I give? There was a Patriot Awards that happened, I think, after a big event. I mean, it was, I would compare it to the State of the Union in 2020, which was, I think, in January of 2020, and the economy was soaring. COVID wasn't here yet. stuff is all the riots. None of that. And Trump was at his peak. He was given the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh. And it looked like, hey, everything is on fast track

for a re-election and then a lot changed. So this is a high for America First folks, for Republicans, for Trump supporters. Yeah, okay. But what is the bar scene like? Yeah, but what's the bar scene like? Are you in some hotel rooms? Are you in some hotel rooms partying? Give me a little color. Who are you drinking with? Who you hanging with? what are you doing well i don't have i have a pretty regular well first of all jenn and gwen are here with me so i i've got second of all um i've got a fox nation show at 10 o'clock at night after the convention so i wait all day watch all the speeches then i do the show from 10 to 11 and thankfully there's a little private bar right there so we stay after and a lot of the other hosts and

stuff are there and we just have a drink and then walk back to the hotel there is a huge scene elsewhere. I mean, I'm actually quite happy. I've done, been to other conventions and been a part of all that party scene. I'm very happy to not be a part of it because it's find this party, find that party. Who can get into this? Who can get into that? Is it inside security? Is it outside security? And then it all, you know, can devolve in any particular direction. I know it exists. I've just haven't accepted an invitation to a single thing because I got to be up. And I got to be up in the morning. F, 5 in the morning. And I like, as we talk about all the time, I have never good. I don't want to be hung I know. I have never, I've been to a convention or two. I've never been a part of the party scene. I've done Super Bowl parties. And, you know, that's pretty fun. I just can't wrap my mind around the political dork party.

Like, I'm sure it's great. I mean, it has a different function. Like, athletes are going to party in a different way than, then, uh, pull. political pundits who, you know, there's a lot of self-segregating. So, like, the Fox people will party with Fox, and the CNN people are over here, and then the, this delegation's over here and, you know, this group. So I'm in the same bar. Trump world's over here. Sometimes, like, you know, our hotel is the same as the, our hotel is the same is the CNN Hotel.

Oh, it's great. I would love to see, like, Brian Kielmead make his way over to the CNN huddle. You know, Red Rover, Red Rover, let. docy come over whatever you know like um and then who wanders out this morning and i saw kill mead was having breakfast no no docy was having breakfast two tables over from wolf blitzer and last night i went and when we got back i went and grabbed a drink and and uh i think a couple of cnn hosts were behind me i there's i've had no interaction because i don't i'm not interested but uh i i have no doubt that will you would mix it up in that environment and have fun with it

i appreciate that oh i would i like the mix i like to mix it up part yeah and i don't force you to it'd be fun um all right man you've probably got why your wife and gwin right there i appreciate you giving us so much time today i know you got a pack schedule i've been seeing you've been doing a great job i see you on hannity and ingram and so forth and fox nation so you're doing a great job thanks for giving us some time today here budd absolutely all right there you guys we'll see this weekend all right take care there's pete haggseth off the rails here on the will cane show all right let's take a quick break and come back with some of your comments um on everything we've been talking about today, from your conversion to Donald Trump to whether or not the bench is deep, deeper than, is Trump is Trump bigger than Trump? And the latest on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump coming up on the Will Kane show.

Book Club on Monday. Jim on Tuesday. Date night on Wednesday. Out on the town on Thursday. Quiet night in on Friday. It's good. have a routine. And it's good for your eyes, too. Because with regular comprehensive eye exams at Specsavers, you'll know just how healthy they are. Visit Spexavers.cavers.cai to book your next eye exam. I exams provided by independent optometrists. It is time to take the quiz. It's five questions in less than five 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. Then come back here to see how you did. Thank you for taking the quiz.

Fox News Audio presents Unsolved with James Patterson. Every crime tells a story, but some stories are left unfinished. Somebody knows. Real cases, real people. Listen and follow now at Fox Truecrime.com. The three most bad asses responses to an attempted assassination in the history of the United States. Will Kane show. Streaming live at foxnews.com, the Fox News YouTube channel, and the Fox News Facebook page.

On terrestrial radio, every day I wake up, tinfoil pat. What did we just get? We got Cat Skills, New York the other day. Now we're in Carmel, California. Coast to coast. Texas, day by day, growing on stations across the country. We got a big one coming up in a couple weeks. So we can't, I don't think we can say anything yet.

but it's a big one it's gonna be good yeah and look that's a new thing for us here to be honest like when i launched this breathe breathe rub my face rub my face okay fix your hair fix your hair there's things i desire for this to be and we're getting there right and I didn't see radio down I didn't see that coming and so we're super pleased is my point like I didn't like I've got a grand scheme this is what people need to know about me I am ambitious but I'm not ambitious like I want your seat at Fox and you know in this career that's if there's a lot of that it's like this is zero-sum game I want what you have you you you don't get it because I want it and it's pretty gross it's not pervasive it's not everywhere

but it definitely exists. That's not my kind of ambition. Because I came from the entrepreneurial world before. I started a magazine, newspaper. So I'm like, I'm starting this. I want to do this. I want to create this specific thing, and this is where I want it to be.

But like in anybody who's entrepreneur, you've got to be able to pivot and go and take it where it goes. I didn't see radio as part of the grand plan. My point is I'm ambitious, and here we are. I don't know how many stations we're up to now. But let's put it this way. It's more than I ever thought.

Because I never thought it would be at all. and I'm super appreciative. So if you're driving around New York, if you're driving around Houston, Texas, if you're driving around California, and you're listening to The Will Kane Show, we love you. I love having you with us.

And, by the way, Spotify, Apple, you can listen to us whenever you want as well. I pictured it by you subscribing to YouTube. And by the way, we've been kicking out. Like 40,000, 50,000, 120,000 over the last couple of weeks watching us on YouTube. I would love for you to drop in.

The problem is if you do it, let me know where you're listening or watching. But if you're on YouTube, you're clearly going to say on YouTube. If you're on Facebook, you're going to say on Facebook. So I'm not sure how useful that will be. Anne Breitrich jumps in and says, good morning, boys. I actually don't know if that's for you guys.

I think it's for you guys. I don't think that's for Pete. She's the one that said, love the team yesterday, remember? Love the staff. Yes. Yeah. They love you back. Yes.

Salty Marine says on YouTube. My liberal friends are waking up. They had social media train. Your texts aren't coming through very well. What does that say, two days? Hold on. I know. I don't know what's going on. I don't know.

Let's see. We're being monitored. My liberal friends are waking up. They had social media brainworms for a minute. That's what it is. Brain worms. Okay. To get a new phone.

You? It's yours. It's not mine. No, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Tinfoil Pat sent us this the other day. I like historical context.

I like thinking of things in historical context. I think we need to do a better job of diving into history on everything. One of the best series we ever did here on the Will Cane show is when we went into the deep history of Ukraine when that war broke out. And then separately, we went into the deep history of the conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis when that war broke out. And I think that's part of what I hope to offer. just a little more depth and history and context. Donald Trump's not the first president, obviously, to survive assassination attempt. Of course, the most recent example that we all harken back to is Ronald Reagan.

Ronald Reagan whisked away after being shot by John Hinkley in the 1980s. Immediately, Secret Service barrels him into an awaiting limousine, and they drive away. But while we didn't get to see Ronald Reagan's immediate response, we did get to see Donald Trump's, which has now become the stuff of legend and will. I mean, this is iconic, raising his hand, raising his head, raising his fist, fight, fight, fight, multiple times. It's so iconic that there is now a debate, apparently, among photojournalists about whether or not the infamous image now. I don't know if infamous is the right word to use. Famous, infamous, iconic image, legendary image of Donald Trump, surrounded by Secret Service with the American flag, flying in the background with his fist raised.

Whether or not they should be running that, because it's of too much value to a campaign, which is, like, I guess I'm so naive. I always thought the reason I got into this was to tell the truth. And the picture is the truth. Let the chips fall where they may after you tell the truth. Like, that happened, Fotogs. So if somebody seems to like it, that's sort of on them, not you. Just tell the truth. But for all that, fight, fight, fight.

raise your fist, it probably comes in third when it comes to bad assuances to an attempted assassination on an American president. So Willisha come back in. If we're putting Donald Trump third, I'm going to say second, and I think this is actually a close call, not between second and third, but between first and second. I'm going to give second to Andrew Jackson, a would-be assassin with two pistols jams doesn't get a shot off

and Andrew Jackson starts immediately beating the assassin with his cane savage I mean that's a president I want I'm going to tell you something same scenario 100% that's what Trump would do

I'm like I also want to note well keep going on the no go ahead the theodore roosevelt one which we may or may not jump on ahead yeah that's why i'm yeah that was a bad editorial call bad editorial call every time i want to trust you you do that learning every time i give you the go ahead this is what you do go ahead so in jackson i am proud um jacksonville like you said is is the pawn shop of america i think there's a lot of that is true but i am proud that our city's named after Andrew Jackson.

He was pretty cool in some ways. If only he could see it now. Yeah, no. Trump had a bustle. He'd be so proud. Trump had his portrait in the Oval Office in his first term. Yep, that's true. Dude.

Yep. All right. That factoid is correct, James. You're going to. have a primetime show at this rate, James. All right. And number one, on this sloppy list of badass responses to a would-be presidential assassin, Teddy Roosevelt, who took a shot to the chest, tinfoil.

What did the bullet go through? Did it go through a flask, a speech, a pocketbook, or just straight into his peck? you know like James was saying it hit part of his speech so he had his speech folded up in his pocket and it also hit his eyeglasses case and so that it was made out of metal and so it and that's how it ended up not going far enough into his lung and being a hunter he knew as long as he wasn't bleeding he was okay and he kept going and he gave the rest of his speech stood there bullet in his peck and finished his speech man that's when you didn't have to tell secret service let me get my shoes yeah you know like what was you know what when did secret service

come around i don't even i'm embarrassed i don't know that history and who was protecting teddy roosevelt back then back in the day it used to be under the secretary treasury because it was um to it was supposed to it was to guard over counterfeit and then at some point And I think it was right after Lincoln, they became to protect the president. I have the date. Well, it was real quick. I think it wasn't at the Department of Treasury until recently, until DHS, right? Very recently.

Yeah. It was an office of Treasury. So July 5th, 1865, the U.S. Secret Service was founded. 1865. Really? Yep. So that's after Lincoln's assassination? Yeah.

They decide it's necessary. So before that, Lincoln's walking around with what? What kind of protection? Does he have military protection around him? A top hat. Does he have anything? That's terrible. Took it off.

Yeah, I wish I'd had a little more history baked in. I didn't exactly go as deep as I did on the war in Ukraine and Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trump apparently told Brett Bayer that he wanted to say a few words and finish the speech, and they were just like, no, absolutely not. You're getting out of here. Oh, he couldn't. They wouldn't allow him to now. Right.

Yeah, too, a day. Yeah, tinfoil. So the Secret Service did not protect the president initially. It wasn't until the assassination of President McKinley in 1901 that they started protecting the president. Congress had them start protecting the president. So there were a lot of, there were a lot of assassinations. Yeah. Yeah, they found it in 65, but not assigned to the protection of the president until after McKinley's.

Fascinating. All right. By the way, did you just take him down? Yeah. It's going great, guys. It's going great. One last comment, Gary Wallace, he walks, walk, and talks to talk. People are checking in.

I thought we had one more. Yeah, what are they saying? So they're saying people are checking from what they're watching from, saying Lake Placid, listening from Minnesota, Timber ape outdoors, Ozzy Osbourne, Orsbourne, says Central Illinois. Someone watching from Gold Coast Australia, they're saying, Dave Hutchinson. So we appreciate you. Dave, the Australians love meddling in GOP politics. What is this about now?

What is the online commentators, you know? What are you talking about? What is the latest entry in your Pulitzer Prize-winning commentary? I should have stuck with the Reagan quotes. Two of days. Yeah. Two of days. Read for me, white candle.

White candy. Is that what that says? White candy? We've got to get this fixed. I can't read any of these comments. Yeah. I'm just trying to keep your job as hard as possible. Danny Maldonado says Trump is okay.

What they need to focus on is how it was. allowed and not stopped talking about the attempted assassination. Yep, and White Candle says an untrained 20-year-old outwits the Secret Service with its billion-dollar funding, what's wrong with that picture?

You know? I know. This is what we said yesterday. I think the responsible thing is to keep an open mind and ask questions while respecting the people that take an oath of office and do that job and put their life on the line. You can do all these things at the same time. Remain responsible.

remain open-minded and demand answers for what exactly happened here, right here to President Trump. All right. Audibles, a mess, and a finale. That does it for us today here on The Will Cain Show. I hope you will hang out with this every day, Monday through Thursday live. I think we're going to do a special edition after Donald Trump's speech on Thursday night, so make sure you hit subscribe on YouTube and you can keep up with the latest from The Will Cain Show. See you next time. Listen 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. Listen to the all-new Brett Bear podcast featuring Common Ground, in-depth talks with lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle,

along with all your Brett Bear favorites like his All-Star panel. and much more. Available now at Fox Newspodcasts.com or wherever you get your podcasts.