Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response, with Rich Lowry, Mark Halperin, and Alvin Lui | Ep. 1019

Summary

Summary of "The Megyn Kelly Show: Trump's Funny and Powerful Address, and Dems' Embarrassing Response | Ep. 1019"

Introduction

In Episode 1019 of The Megyn Kelly Show, hosted by Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM, the discussion centers around President Donald Trump's recent joint address to Congress. The episode features insightful commentary from notable conservative voices, including Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, Doug Bandow, Alvin Lui of Courage is a Habit, Pam Bondi, and Mark Halperin, host of Two Way on YouTube. The conversation delves into the nuances of Trump's speech, the unexpected Democratic response, and the broader implications for American politics.

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Overview of President Trump's Address

Megyn Kelly opens the discussion by highlighting the unprecedented nature of Trump's recent address to Congress. Contrary to typical inaugural speeches, Trump's delivery was dynamic, engaging, and infused with his characteristic humor and performance flair. This approach not only energized his Republican base but also garnered favorable responses from a broader segment of the American public.

Megyn Kelly: "President Donald Trump gave a speech that was quintessential Trump, full of surprises and performance and excitement and in a dynamic way that actually electrified the audience in front of him." [01:11]

Rich Lowry echoes this sentiment, expressing his initial skepticism about the speech's entertainment value but ultimately praising Trump's tight structure and memorable asides.

Rich Lowry: "He went off script in a way that was funny, endearing... he's so funny. And when he unleashes it... it totally works." [06:19]

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Analysis by Guests: Rich Lowry and Doug Bandow

Rich Lowry and Doug Bandow provide a detailed analysis of the speech, emphasizing its effectiveness in conveying popular policies without delving into overly technical details that might disengage listeners. They commend Trump's ability to maintain audience interest through humor and relatable anecdotes.

Doug Bandow: "These aren't really speeches so much, they're performances... 80% of the things Trump said last night, they were entertaining." [06:19]

They also discuss the favorable polling numbers post-speech, underscoring Trump's strong approval ratings across various demographics, including Republicans, Independents, and even a segment of Democrats.

Rich Lowry: "CBS YouGov survey... 76% approve of the speech... CNN survey... 69% had a either very or somewhat positive reaction to the speech." [06:19]

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Democratic Response Critique

A significant portion of the episode critiques the Democratic Party's lukewarm and, at times, disdainful response to Trump's address. Guests express bewilderment and disappointment over Democrats' refusal to clap or stand during poignant segments of the speech, which traditionally elicit bipartisan support.

Megyn Kelly: "Democratic lawmakers refusing to clap or stand multiple times throughout the night for all sorts of very moving, personal beautiful moments." [01:11]

Alvin Lui emphasizes the symbolic nature of the Democrats' inaction, suggesting it reflects a broader strategy to undermine Trump's messages rather than engage with them constructively.

Alvin Lui: "We have already identified $22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens... Nobody knows what that is." [08:00]

Pam Bondi and Doug Bandow further criticize the Democrats for what they perceive as theatrical yet ineffective gestures, such as holding up signs with slogans like "False" and "Musk Steals."

Pam Bondi: "They were giving off bingo vibes... their little auction paddles somehow is a gesture that's gonna be meaningful to someone." [09:44]

Doug Bandow: "They think it's hateful and xenophobic to highlight these cases for ordinary people... they just believe, and they have believed for a long time that there's some way to delegitimize Trump." [12:39]

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Emotional Moments and Lack of Applause

The guests highlight specific emotional segments from Trump's speech, where he honored individuals like DJ, a 13-year-old cancer survivor, and Jocelyn Nungare, a young girl who endured a brutal attack. Despite the heartfelt nature of these moments, Democratic members remained stoic, leading to intense criticism from the show's hosts and guests.

Alvin Lui: "DJ was talking to the head of the Secret Service... You could see the Republicans in the front clapping. And you can see the Democrats sitting... there's something deeply wrong with somebody who cannot stand for that." [16:53]

Megyn Kelly underscores the disparity between the emotional impact of these stories and the cold reception they received from Democratic lawmakers.

Megyn Kelly: "As a matter of politics, like I obviously they came up with a plan just not to clap and not to stand for anything." [20:09]

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Congressman Al Green’s Incident

A particularly memorable moment discussed is Congressman Al Green's disruptive behavior during the address. Green, a seasoned Democratic lawmaker, waved a cane and vocally opposed Trump throughout the speech, culminating in his ejection from the chamber.

Doug Bandow: "One of the worst we've ever seen. He waved his cane saying 'get him out of here,' and he was ejected." [45:14]

The incident is portrayed as a significant breach of decorum, serving as a stark contrast to the traditionally respectful conduct during such addresses.

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Impact on Future Policies and the Democratic Party

The episode speculates on the long-term repercussions of the Democratic Party's response. Guests suggest that Democrats' inability to cohesively counter Trump's strategies could hinder their legislative effectiveness and electoral prospects.

Pam Bondi: "They are far from getting their act together if that's the best they could do on a night like that..." [62:38]

Rich Lowry points out that Trump's focus on popular issues and strategic messaging may continue to resonate with voters, potentially solidifying his political influence despite ongoing opposition from Democrats.

Rich Lowry: "Trump is talking about popular issues... they just don't see that yet." [62:38]

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Social Media and Democratic Communication Strategies

The conversation transitions to the Democratic Party's efforts to modernize their social media presence. The guests critique Democratic senators for producing scripted and choreographed content that lacks authenticity, contrasting sharply with the organic and engaging strategies employed by their conservative counterparts.

Pam Bondi: "They are far away from where they need to be... this is one of the few areas where they're at least making an effort." [76:38]

Alvin Lui highlights the ineffectiveness of these strategies, suggesting that they fail to resonate with the intended audience and instead come across as forced and insincere.

Alvin Lui: "It's very hard to match fake stuff like that, scripted stuff like that, to be organic..." [76:38]

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Conclusion

Episode 1019 of The Megyn Kelly Show offers a critical examination of President Trump's recent address to Congress and the subsequent Democratic response. Through insightful commentary from esteemed conservative figures, the discussion underscores the effectiveness of Trump's messaging and performance, juxtaposed against what is perceived as the Democrats' disjointed and uninspiring reactions. The episode posits that this dynamic may have significant implications for future legislative endeavors and the broader landscape of American politics.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Megyn Kelly: "President Donald Trump gave a speech that was quintessential Trump, full of surprises and performance and excitement and in a dynamic way that actually electrified the audience in front of him." [01:11]

2. Rich Lowry: "He went off script in a way that was funny, endearing... he's so funny. And when he unleashes it... it totally works." [06:19]

3. Doug Bandow: "These aren't really speeches so much, they're performances... 80% of the things Trump said last night, they were entertaining." [06:19]

4. Pam Bondi: "They were giving off bingo vibes... their little auction paddles somehow is a gesture that's gonna be meaningful to someone." [09:44]

5. Alvin Lui: "DJ was talking to the head of the Secret Service... You could see the Republicans in the front clapping. And you can see the Democrats sitting... there's something deeply wrong with somebody who cannot stand for that." [16:53]

6. Doug Bandow: "They think it's hateful and xenophobic to highlight these cases for ordinary people... they just believe, and they have believed for a long time that there's some way to delegitimize Trump." [12:39]

7. Megyn Kelly: "As a matter of politics, like I obviously they came up with a plan just not to clap and not to stand for anything." [20:09]

8. Doug Bandow: "One of the worst we've ever seen. He waved his cane saying 'get him out of here,' and he was ejected." [45:14]

9. Rich Lowry: "Trump is talking about popular issues... they just don't see that yet." [62:38]

10. Pam Bondi: "They are far away from where they need to be... this is one of the few areas where they're at least making an effort." [76:38]

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This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from Episode 1019 of The Megyn Kelly Show, providing a comprehensive overview for those who have not listened to the episode.

Transcript

[Megyn Kelly]

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[Rich Lowry]

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[Megyn Kelly]

Get a quote today, restrictions apply. USAA welcome to the Megyn Kelly show live on Sirius XM channel 111 every weekday at noon East. Hey everyone, I'm Megyn Kelly. Welcome to the Megyn Kelly Show. We witnessed a norm breaking presidential address to Congress last night, but not for the reasons the corporate media will tell you. President Donald Trump gave a speech that was quintessential Trump, full of surprises and performance and excitement and in a dynamic way that actually electrified the audience in front of him. Words no one has ever spoken before about an address to Congress. In this setting, it's basically a State of the Union, but they call it just a joint address to Congress because it's his first year in office and the presumption is you won't have much to talk about because you've only been in office six weeks. Not this president, not this night. Obviously Donald Trump knows good TV and how to deliver it. The public largely responding very favorably to the speech and not just Republicans. But the story was very different on the other side of the aisle, with Democratic lawmakers refusing to clap or stand multiple times throughout the night for all sorts of very moving, personal beautiful moments that typically would see bipartisan support. I mean, there was one that even brought Canadian Debbie to tears and she is a hard hearted news producer. I mean you don't make Canadian Debbie cry. I've like rarely seen it. Even she had some tears. Then there was the one cane waving Democratic congressman who literally got escorted out of the chamber early on in the speech. He wanted to make a spectacle of himself and he did. Where were the cries of horror from the Democrats in response to that breach of decorum? Like we saw with old Joe what's his name a couple of years ago who yelled out you lie to Barack Obama. And then after the speech was over, you will not believe. I mean, maybe you will, but I think it's still shocking what one MSNBC host had to say in particular about that sweet 13 year old cancer surviving boy. We're gonna get into it now, starting with Rich Lowry, editor of National Review. Aren't you tired of the corporate media prioritizing certain narratives over the facts? I am too, of course. That's one of the reasons why we started this show, to have real conversations with tough questions to try to get to the truth. And this is one of the reasons why I wanna tell you about Ground News, an independent app and website not at the mercy of corporate control. They prioritize transparency so you can compare coverage on any issue and think for yourself instead of letting someone else think for you or manipulate you. They even show important stories that the other side is ignoring. Go to groundnews.com megan to check it out. With so many outlets suppressing conservative views and ignoring facts, Ground News is more important than ever. Track all of your most trusted independent sources there so you never miss out on the stories shaping our world. Right now you can get 40% off their vantage plan, knocking the price down to just five bucks a month. Go to groundnews.com Megan that's G R O U N D news.com Megan to invest in your ability to think critically about the news. Rich I thought it was a great speech. I prepared for utter boredom because that's what these things typically deliver. I even with Trump, I just figured it's going to be kind of a bore. His past State of the Unions have not been anywhere near this entertaining. But last night he, he kept everything tight. He didn't linger on any point too long. He didn't get too deep into policy to where your eyes glazed over. He was just hitting his points. He went off script in a way that was funny, endearing. I know the left didn't like it, but everybody laughed at the Pocahontas remark on Elizabeth Warren. They're just very funny asides. And his delivery. I was talking about this With Doug this morning, if I delivered the same things Trump delivered last night, people might be mildly bemused and say, okay, it's a good line. But the way Trump delivers these things really has you laughing out loud. He's so funny. And when he unleashes it, you know, in the right setting, it's endearing and it totally works. And I think it's why, in part, the speech was so well received. CBS YouGov survey of 1200 adults, though this is more heavily weighted toward Republicans, 51% Republicans, 27%, Independence, 20% Dems, but showing 76% approve of the speech. Time spent on issues you care about. 63% say a lot. Speech made you feel hopeful, 68%. And then even CNN with a survey which does not appear to have that sort of partisan waiting, that 69% had a either very or somewhat positive reaction to the speech. Your thoughts?

[Doug]

Yeah, I think for the ordinary viewer, that there's nothing you heard last night that you necessarily disagree with. And it may be tariffs or some. Some things, but largely he emphasized things that are popular. And the headline of that speech, the headline the first two months, is Trump to 2.0, the sequel, more Trump than ever. So it was. It was longer, it was more combative in some ways, more entertaining. And it's. These aren't really speeches so much, they're performances, right? So George W. Bush used to give speeches. He had the speechwriters, Mike Gerson, the late Mike Gerson, my friend Matt Scully, right? These eloquent speeches that he deliver. You can't do that with Trump. It has to be in his words and his way of speaking, which it is. How many times did he say, like we've never seen before, Right? No speechwriter sits down and writes, like we've never seen before. The point you're just making a minute ago is, as apt. You know, a comedian, a really good comedian, you can say his lines as an ordinary person. And they're not funny, right? Or they're not as funny. And 80% of the things Trump said last night, they were entertaining. You could say them, I could say them. Someone else could say them. They wouldn't be funny because they're Trump, because it's uniquely Trump. So I don't like State of the Union addresses. I'd prefer a State of the Union to be a 20 minute, eloquent, thematic speech. But that speech does not exist. No one's ever given that State of the Union. That's not what Trump did last night, but it works for him now. It's, it's not hugely important. By, by Saturday, you know, two or three other major, major news stories will have happened. But it was a good night for him, big time.

[Megyn Kelly]

Here is one of those moments where he was talking about some of the doge discoveries on waste, fraud and abuse. Sat 7.

[Alvin Louie]

Just listen to some of the appalling waste. We have already identified $22 billion from HHS to provide free housing and cars for illegal aliens. $45 million for diversity, equity and inclusion scholarships in Burma. $40 million to improve the social and economic inclusion of sedentary migrants. Nobody knows what that is. $8 million to promote and LGBTQI plus in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.

[Megyn Kelly]

That's it right there.

[Doug]

Yeah, just the way it says LBQIA plus is funny.

[Megyn Kelly]

Right.

[Doug]

And some of. There's a great meme last night of Al Green, you know, waving, waving his cane. And the caption was, they promised me trans mice. Because one of the items he of course mentioned was his experiment to try to create trans mice. I don't know whether they're successful or not. Probably, if they're in the San Francisco school district, those mice, they would be. Certainly be trans.

[Pam Bondi]

But.

[Doug]

But that, that was hilarious. People hate that stuff. And it's memorable as well. It's something. If people are listening at the bar, they'll. They'll take away and remember the next.

[Megyn Kelly]

Day exactly whether the Democrats found it funny or not. The average American sitting at home laughed at that. There's just no question there. No one who doesn't have TDS didn't get a chuckle out of that. Right. Like, it's. He's exactly right. None of us has ever, has ever heard of that place, whatever it was called. Yeah. Lesotho. Although John Podoris was tweeting out, he goes, I've heard of it.

[Doug]

I did win.

[Megyn Kelly]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. But it's just John and whoever enacted that policy on the left. Okay, so let's talk about the Democrat response for a minute, then we'll go back to Trump. But they. The little signs Simone Sanders tweeted out, and I totally agreed, they were giving off bingo vibes. Like, this was their big resistance. These tiny little signs which look like, you know, you were at an auction, like, I'll take Lesotho for $10, that read like, musk lies or false. Like, whoa, whoa, they're throwing down. Musk steals. Okay? I mean, what war criminal. Oh, well, that's going to turn the hearts and minds, you know, like, what did you make of the Resistance with that. And some people wearing the pink in honor of the. The pea hats they Wore back in 2016. This was their big fu.

[Doug]

Yeah, that's pathetic. So either just sit there and be civil and by the way, clap at the nice moments. There's no reason for any American not to clap when. When DJ has this, this amazing experience of instantly be made an honorary Secret Service member, or just leave en masse and just do it. I don't. I think that'd be bad. I don't think it'd play well for them. But they got this in between place. It was just pathetic. And it just advertised their cluelessness and their powerlessness. So. And Trump, obviously, he did this a lot in the first term as well, but last night it was really explicit. I'm going to call you out for not applauding anything I do. And then I'm going to have these wonderful people in the, in the balcony who are, you know, cancer survivors or victims of parents and loved ones of victims of terrible crimes, or I'm going to announce that we got the guy who blew up our 13 service members at the Abbey Gate. And I dare you not to. Not to clap. And they didn't. They took the dare, right? So, you know, they, they look grim. They're checking their phones. Just clap slightly. You're not going to lose anything. But he, he got the reaction, exactly the reaction he wanted.

[Megyn Kelly]

Just show up looking normal and give this mattering of applause on the things that are obviously going to be supported by the people watching at home and sit there politely not doing anything on the things you disagree with. It's very easy. It's not hard not to make yourself look like an absolute moron. I really do wonder, like, what man, truly, what man Rich would say, oh, I'll take one of the little signs. Could I have one of those little Popsicle sticks so I can hold up false. Like, it's just so undisputed, dignified and unmanly. There's something so teenage girl about it, you know, like snaps. It's the opposite of snaps. I'm embarrassed for them. And then with the pink outfits and then with the white outfits and then some with the T shirts.

[Pam Bondi]

Look.

[Megyn Kelly]

Look at that. There are men there. I don't know why I see a distinction between the men and the women doing this, but it's. There's something kind of feminine about it. I just feel like it's so emasculating.

[Doug]

Yeah, totally. And they just believe, and they have believed for a long time that there's Some way to delegitimize Trump such that he'll go away in the media. On msnbc, they had this constant debate whether they're gonna platform him and show his speeches live, like that was gonna make a difference one way or the other, whether it was on msnbc. And they seem to think that holding up their little auction paddles somehow is a gesture that's gonna be meaningful to someone. And there is a famous intellectual, Lionel trilling in the 1950s, had this line about conservatism at the time, which wasn't in a great state, that conservatism is just a series of irritable mental gestures, and that's what progressive is at the moment. Maybe not mental, maybe that's giving them too much, or mental, maybe in the psychological sense, but all they have at the moment is irritable gestures, and that's what the paddles were.

[Megyn Kelly]

Yeah, they have irritable gesture syndrome. Yeah, Gesture syndrome.

[Doug]

Feels like there should be an SNL skit on the medicine that addresses irritable gesture syndrome.

[Megyn Kelly]

I don't know what it is. I think it's. It's definitely not more Trump winning. That seems to aggravate it greatly. Trump knew this was coming, that they weren't going to root for him. Even on the gimmes, it's like, I don't understand why. I guess they really have no meaningful leader. But, like, why didn't some leader sit down with them beforehand and say, just don't project, asshole. Okay? That's what we want to avoid. We want to be like the strong, sober, but likable ones in the room. They forget about likability, how important it is. So we'll get to the congressman standing up and harassing him. The weirdness with the signs and the paddles and the pink outfits, whatever. But Trump set them up for today's narrative in a way, by calling out the fact that he knew they wouldn't clap or stand for anything, no matter how sympathetic the cause early on in the speech. Here's a bit of that in Sat for.

[Alvin Louie]

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. Five. Five times I've been up here. It's very sad, and it just shouldn't be this way. So, Democrats sitting before me for just this one night. Why not join us in celebrating so many incredible wins for America, for the good of our nation. Let's work together and let's truly make America great again.

[Megyn Kelly]

Cut away to Nancy Pelosi there by the pool feed, which, I mean, she, she looked terrible all night. There was, were such unflattering, nasty faced screen grabs of her. Somebody grabbed one and put it out and said caption this. And Michael Knowles wrote, I'll get you, my pretty, and your little doge too, which pretty much encapsulated how you felt when you looked at her. Like, oh, but he was right to set them up because they then played right into his hand.

[Doug]

Yeah. And he, he told them what he was doing. Right. He, he was banking on them not reacting to even things that are unquestionably good or moving or endearing. And, and they just, they couldn't bring themselves to do it because Trump is literally Trump saying it. Right. It's Trump derangement syndrome for everyone to see on live TV en masse. Right. If anyone else said, here's this adorable kid who's gone through this horrific illness in a police outfit being lifted by his father so people can see him, they all would have stood and applaud for the kid, but nothing to do with Trump for the kid. And they couldn't bring themselves to do it because this. Trump, Trump said it.

[Megyn Kelly]

Let's watch a little bit of that. So Trump brings this sweet young boy, 13 years old, into the chamber and his dream is to become law enforcement. And he's survived brain cancer and he's there with his dad. And Trump calls attention to the story. And there were. This was much better. Like, I have to say, there was something about these stories last night. Tell me if you feel the same, Rich. They always bring somebody. You know, every president who does this brings a few people into the chamber so they can tell their personal story. And sometimes it's a heart, you know, breaker, sometimes it's inspirational. I don't remember actually really feeling so moved repeatedly, you know, by some like, wow. And I mentioned Canadian Debbie. I'm softer than she is. She is tough. She's Holly Hunter in broadcast news. If she's shedding a tear, you've done something right. And we were both in tears a couple of times last night. I really felt like they did a very, very good job in, like, the art of the speech, like taking us on a bit of an emotional journey. Trump with the laughs, but also those sentimental moments which were crafted by his team, obviously were really good and the speechwriting around their stories, really good. Let's just start with, since we're on the subject of little DJ. Let's. Let's watch that moment.

[Alvin Louie]

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. Since that time, DJ and his dad have been on a quest to make his dream come true. And DJ has been sworn in as an honorary law enforcement officer, actually, a number of times. Peace. The police love him. The police departments love him. And tonight, dj, we're going to do you the biggest honor of them all. I am asking our new Secret Service director, Sean Curran, to officially make you an agent of the United States Secret Service.

[Megyn Kelly]

He looks so happy. His dad lifts him up, head of the Secret Service, giving him a badge. Oh. And he hugs him. Secret Service hugging dj, Whole arms around the neck.

[Alvin Louie]

Thank you, dj.

[Megyn Kelly]

I mean, wow. And I'll just finish it off Rich by showing you the Democrat reaction. So here's the video. You can see the Republicans in the front clapping. And you can see the Democrats sitting. See them in the back. They're all sitting, sitting. They couldn't get to their feet for that moment. They've. They've lost their way. That's. There's something deeply wrong with somebody who cannot stand for that.

[Pam Bondi]

Yeah.

[Doug]

One of my favorite parts of that moment, you don't know, but when DJs talking to the head of the Secret Service right afterwards, he imagines, so, so what do I get to do now? What are my responsibilities? You know, how do I. How do I get on the job? But this is a tradition that goes back. I think Reagan was the first to do it. And there was a terrible Air Florida crash at Washington National Airport. It wasn't Reagan then, of course. And there's a guy who I think might have been off duty fireman or just a bystander who swam out to the icy Potomac river and saved someone. And Reagan had that person in the balcony recognize his heroism and sacrifice, saved this person. So everyone's done this. Trump's taken it to a different level, though, because things. It's not just recognizing someone to make a point or to honor there. He makes something happen with Limbaugh, right? He awarded the Medal of Freedom right there. You know, has a secret head of Secret Service come down. So things are happening. So it just goes to. He's. He's a showman, right? And he envisions this as a show. And to quote another John Podor tweet from last night, you know, it's like it's a version of Oprah. You almost think Trump at some Point is going to ask every member of Congress to look under their seat there and find their gift. Right. So they can go out happy. At least Republicans would go out happy. Democrats would reject the car. They got a free car last night just on principle.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's true. Even if he were. If he were saying it's for your constituents, each of your constituents is getting one. No. No. It's a no.

[Doug]

Exactly.

[Megyn Kelly]

All right, so now we will go to the moment that made Heart of Steel Debbie Murphy cry. I'm giving her a hard time. She's actually a lovely person, but it takes a lot for hardened news people to actually shed a tear. It does, because we're just in this business where we use gallows humor and we cover the darkest events of our times every day for years. She's been with me since I launched my first show in 2000, 2007, and this was it. It had to do with Jocelyn Nungare. This was a little girl who was 12 years old who went out to the 711 and got attacked by two illegals from Venezuela. And they sexually assaulted her, tortured her and threw her off a bridge. And her mother was there. This is one of the. This is one of the reasons I personally voted for Donald Trump and ran to the voting booth to do it. I was literally thinking of Jocelyn Nungari. I didn't go to a voting booth. I figured it out, filled it out by mail. But my point is simply, that's who was on my mind. This girl's story was so harrowing and her poor mother so distraught. And there was no reason for it. There was no reason for it. Joe Biden opened the southern border and killers came across. And the Democrats know it's true. It was done intentionally. And her mother was there last night. And President Trump announced an extraordinary thing. To remember Jocelyn in Sat 12. Here it is.

[Alvin Louie]

Alexis, I promised that we would always remember your daughter, your magnificent daughter. And earlier tonight, I signed an order keeping my word to you. One thing I have learned about Jocelyn is that she loved animals so much. She loved nature. Across Galveston Bay from where Jocelyn lived in Houston, you'll find a magnificent national wildlife refuge, a pristine, peaceful, 34,000 acre sanctuary for all of God's creatures on the edge of the Gulf of America. Alexis, moments ago, I formally renamed that refuge in loving memory of your beautiful daughter, Jocelyn. So, Mr. Vice President, if you would. May I have the order?

[Megyn Kelly]

You can see she's trying not to cry. Rich and he. You know, to your point about the showmanship right there, there's showmanship going on there. But there's true emotion, too. I mean, you, there's something wrong with you again if you don't feel it. And yet again, here is the Democrat reaction to that moment. Like, how do they not stand? How is not everyone on the left side of the chamber standing and clapping for that?

[Doug]

Now this one, there's real ideological component. It's not just Trump derangement the way it is with dj. They hate talking about victims of illegal immigrants. They just don't, don't want to hear about it. They won't do it. The only time I can remember any Democrat ever addressing it basically is Biden was heckled into saying Lake and Riley's name incorrectly in the State of the Union. And Kamala Harris, asked by Bret Baier about it, grudgingly says, you know, this is terrible. They just, they just can't, it doesn't compute for them. They think it's inherently hateful to point out that this happens. All crimes are terrible, obviously. But as an extra layer, if it's someone who just shouldn't have been here and they don't get that, they won't admit it. And the best line for Trump the whole night obviously was that we didn't need a new immigration policy, we just needed a new president, which has been absolutely true. He obviously over promises sometimes and over promises on how quickly he, he can do things, but this is something he fixed instantly. Just one, just the deterrent effect of Donald Trump being president again convinces a lot of people, well, maybe we should wait and see what happens. Two, they just ended catch and release. Now they need more resources, there's more policies. They need, they need some help from Congress. But he's just turned off the faucet almost instantly. So there's less strain on cities. You have the Roosevelt Hotel, which has been a housing illegal immigrants closing down for that purpose. You're going to have less criminals just by sheer math, right? Fewer illegal immigrants coming in. The fewer illegal immigrant criminals you're going to have. And he did that instantly. And Joe Biden could have stopped this from starting in the first place by not reversing all the Trump stuff or done it himself. But he didn't want to. And they don't want to be faced with the consequences of what was a deliberate failure.

[Megyn Kelly]

Here's that line in sod 11.

[Alvin Louie]

The media and our friends in the Democrat Party kept saying we needed new legislation, we must have legislation to secure the border. But it turned out that all we really needed was a new president.

[Rich Lowry]

Foreign.

[Megyn Kelly]

And what we're seeing still is that the support for Trump's policies when it comes to immigration remain sky high. I mean, even just those two polls that I mentioned at the top. Let's see, Trump's immigration and border plan. How do you feel about it? 77%. Like, only 23% say they dislike it. I mean, and then there, then the, from the CNN survey. Let's see, they go on. Roughly six and 10 viewers said they approved of Trump's handling of the presidency. And they point out, this is the CNN survey. Trump scored his highest marks of the night for his policies on immigration. 76% of speech watchers said his proposed policies on this issue would take America in the right direction. And then CNN trying to make it sound like it's a much different story when it comes to his other policies. They say compared with closer to 6 in 10 who feel positive about his proposals to change how the government works, just 63% favor that rich and his proposed policies on the economy, just 62% favor that. Okay, like those are amazing numbers for any presidential policy in a country that's as divided as ours is. But 76% on his immigration plans. Get up and clap for what he did for Jocelyn Nungare.

[Doug]

Yeah. And I was going to say also get up and clap for the fact that the border's closed. Right. They all say they want to address illegal immigration, but they really don't. Right. They should be happy that this is happened, but they're not. Because if, if they wanted this to happen, Biden would have done it.

[Megyn Kelly]

Yeah. So here is Alexis Ngari, Jocelyn's mom, who went on Hannity after the speech. It was truly an honor, a very surreal feeling to be sitting in that area to remember the life that Jocelyn had. I found it very cowardly that a lot of the Democrats didn't stand, didn't clap, didn't do anything to support anything that Donald Trump is trying to do as president to make this country better. It was very shameful. I don't, to me, that was just so powerful, you know, equally to DJ, a 13 year old cancer stricken boy, because I feel like every mother sitting at home understands and father instinctually that woman's pain and the horror that she's been through as a result of this open border. And all she's saying is maybe acknowledge my daughter, acknowledge what happened to her, forget what Trump has done to close the border. But like, where is the humanity when it comes to my dead 12 year old? I just, I don't think women respond positively to any Sort of FU to that looks like an FU to her. I don't, I don't think most men will either. I just think as a matter of politics, Rich, obviously humanity, yes, you should be on your feet clapping. But as a matter of politics, like I obviously they came up with a plan just not, not to clap and not to stand for anything. But why? How could they be so foolhardy as opposed to like if there's a moment that's genuinely heartfelt that that moves you, of course, show your humanity again.

[Doug]

They think there's something wrong with, with doing this. They think it's hateful and xenophobic to highlight these cases for ordinary people. These cases obviously are a gut punch made much worse by the fact that the horrible criminals who perpetrate these crimes shouldn't have been here. So saying look, this terrible thing happened and I'm going to stop it by stopping these people come in isn't a 70 or 80% issue. And it's a huge reason that Joe Biden lost. I mean Joe Biden, if it hadn't been for the Afghan pullout, if it hadn't been for inflation, hadn't been for the border, he wouldn't have lost. You throw an age there, but Kamala Harris probably would have won one. These are huge issues. And Trump, you know, it's something he highlighted coming down that escalator in 2015 when it seemed very extreme what he was saying. It seemed as just Steve Miller and Steve Bannon. They believed that no one else did it couldn't sell, it would alienate Hispanics. And here we go. Go where he's actually implementing it or re implementing it from what he had figured out the first time around. And it's hugely popular. That's just been a sea change in American politics.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's amazing to see. Here is that MSNBC reaction that I teased at the top of the show. And this was in response to little DJ and honestly, I don't know what's happened to this person. She used to be a Republican. She was the person who shepherded Chief Justice John Roberts through his confirmation process. It's Nicole Wallace who now I think her next job will be with the Lincoln Project. Here was her reaction to sweet 13 year old DJ. It was a genuinely beautiful moment. Beauty of that child is the tragedy of the Trump presidency because he's. We don't know how he survived pediatric cancer, but it is likely he back benefited from some sort of cancer research. And it is a fact that Trump has slashed cancer research. I hope he lives the life he wants to live. He wants to be a cop. He knows what he wants to do. And maybe when you have childhood cancer, that crystallizes for you. And I hope he has a long life as a law enforcement officer, but I hope he never has to defend the United States Capitol against Donald Trump supporters. And if he does, I hope he isn't one of the six who loses his life to suicide. And I hope he isn't one who has to testify against the people who carried out acts of seditious conspiracy and then lived to see Donald Trump pardon those people. Oh, my God. I, that is jaw dropping. We went back and looked to see what the reaction on set was to her and even her fellow panelists, from Jen Psaki to Rachel Maddow. You could see Jen Psaki literally leaning away from her and even Rachel Maddow without commenting on that, just moved away, bridged away to another topic. When you've gone too far for Saki and Maddow, you've gone too far, period. Can you believe that?

[Doug]

It's a, it's a psychological malady. It's, it's literally sick. I mean, you, you look at that from a rational perspective, you're like, okay, that must be a deep fake of what Nicole, Nicole Wallace would, would say in such a circumstance. Say, is a lovely moment. Say the kid's a hero, his dad's a hero. We wish him the best. And yes, we, we want, we want research to get cures and therapies to make kids in such circumstances long lived as possible and move on. Right. To connect it to January 6th. How do you even, how does that even come into your mind? A cancer survivor, a kid in a police uniform. That's the first thing you think of. It's mind boggling, it's true.

[Megyn Kelly]

And she saw the same thing we saw where his eyes got all big. When President Trump said he was going to be made an honorary Secret Service, he was so exc. The hug. He threw his arms around the Secret Service director. It was a sincere embrace. And that's where she went, like, I hope he doesn't die on President Trump.

[Doug]

There are other things that you can object to that Trump said, if you're Nicole Walsh, lots of them, in fact, but not, not dj, not dj.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's such a strange syndrome. TDS is a very strange syndrome. It really should be in the DSM 5. And it's very unfortunate because once afflicted, you really cannot get out from under it. It' what is it? Personality disorder. If you have a personality Disorder, it's almost impossible to get out of it. Maybe it is impossible. And there are a lot of. My mom's in the psychiatric field. I mean she now she's retired, but she was telling me a lot of psychiatrists just won't even try to treat that same thing with like sociopaths. There's really no curing you of sociopathy. There's no curing you of tds. Once you get it, it's a, it's a lifelong affliction and it really does warp the way you see everything around you. You, you see the pot of gold and to you it looks like crap. You know, you see a wonderful event for a child and instead you see only doom and gloom and darkness. If it has anything to do with the orange man and I. It's strange how it's like it's broken for the rest of the country. Like the, they never really had it and so now they look at these people and they, they're not watching them. You were talking about this yesterday, Rich. Sometimes when you're in the opposition, your numbers go up. At Fox News, our numbers always went up when we were in the so called opposition. It was Democrat president under Barack Obama, etc. Their numbers are not going up under MSNBC post election, they're still withering on the vine. The numbers are horrid and I really think it's because of this. Like Trump's policies were not. Yes, tariffs are controversial, right? But like everything else he talked about was really not even controversial in the celebration of these suffering Americans and giving them a gift is a feel good moment that we can all get behind. And the dour tds afflicted anchors crapping all over the child's joy is something very evil. Yeah.

[Doug]

What we're talking about in capsule here is the debate over who's normal, right? And for them it's just a theological matter that Trump is not normal. And look, he's unusual in a lot of ways in some respects that we've talked about. Some, some good, some bad. It's an unusual state of the union or address a joint session of Congress. But if you just look at the reaction to dj, a president hailing this, this kid, nice gesture for this kid. Everyone standing up, applauding, wiping tears from the eyes, that's normal. Sitting grim faced and not reacting to this story or connecting it to January 6th is not normal. And this obviously is a reason why Trump won the elections. The reason why he's thrived, at least in relative Trump terms so far politically, is because he's occupied the normal ground in American politics and they're spun off into outer space somewhere.

[Megyn Kelly]

I mean, and not to mention, you know, seditious conspiracy and the mentioning of six cops who died by suicide. You know how many cop. First of all, being a police officer is extremely stressful, especially these days, thanks to her sides soft on crime policies and what's happening to cops on the street. And to attribute, you know, post J6 suicides to Donald Trump. You know how many suicides there were from cops after the BLM riots? No, we don't, because nobody kept track of that. But we know that no one cares. Cops were severely injured during those riots. What about Daniel Dorn, who was. Or David Dorn, who was killed in one of the BLM riots? I don't. What about him? Her mind just goes to J6. They're obsessed with J6. It's just, whatever. I can't save them. It's a very interesting, you know, psychological illness. I hope she gets the help she so desperately needs. There was one other controversial subject, though. The way Trump got in and out of it was clever, and it was Ukraine. You know, he, he styles it in a way that's tough to disagree with. Like he wants the killing to stop. It's like, well, who. Yes. That you should clap for that. Like, that's also one of those. Like. Yes, but of course, it's become a very hot button issue because people think he's pressuring Zelensky too much and not Putin enough and so on. Well, this is one of the more notable moments of the night where Trump was trying to make these points, and the Democrats, they, they, they clapped. I can't remember what the line was. Well, I'll just play this up. This is where he went out after Elizabeth Warren, and it was one of the few times where they were clapping. The 16.

[Alvin Louie]

The United States has sent hundreds of billions of dollars to support Ukraine's defense with no security with.

[Megyn Kelly]

There it is. Because the money that we've sent.

[Alvin Louie]

Do you want to keep it going for another five years? Yeah, yeah. You would say. Pocahontas says yes.

[Megyn Kelly]

Reaction shot. She's the sole person clapping. And it's just like, Trump doesn't give a fig. He's. He'll use that term anywhere. He, he's not that different behind closed doors versus how he is in front of the camera. But she is like, she lied to the American public for years about being a Native American, and that's kind of what he's. He's like this person has no credibility and, and the only thing she's clapped for all night is more money to Ukraine for a war that we all know is not going well.

[Doug]

Yeah, I'm a Ukraine hawk. But what Trump is talking about in the polling is, is popular and most people are, it's going to strike them as common sense. Let's strike a peace deal. Right. And again, it's another thing that we've had this weird reversal where any other person saying, oh, I'm going to try to forge a peace deal in this, this long running war, at least war has gone years, more than a million casualties. You add them all up probably, and, and this is a bad thing. Right. So the tactics of getting there, I don't necessarily, like, I don't know what's going, going on behind the scenes, but we established Russia is not going to win the war. And the sense of taking Kiev and toppling the government and creating a Russian puppet state out of Ukraine and Ukraine is not going to win the war. Sense of, in the sense of regaining all their territory. So it's time for it to, to end. And again, this is a commonsensical position, one that a lot of Americans would consider normal. Again, I don't think necessarily the way we're getting there is not normal. That Friday Oval Office confrontation with Zelensky, but not normal. It's like something we haven't seen before. But the goal, let's stop killing is not something that ordinary people are gonna recoil from. It's something they're gonna think makes sense.

[Megyn Kelly]

And Trump also announced last night that Zelenskyy sent him a letter saying he will accept the minerals. That process is now back on track, which again is a positive development, though you wouldn't know that from that side of the chamber. Last night I didn't go back, as I promised I would, to Al Green, a Democrat from Texas who decided to make this evening about him, about himself. And got up there. It was a, it was a consistent ongoing heckling of Donald Trump. It wasn't like, I mean, I remember that when Joe Wilson yelled out, you lie to Obama. And it was, it dominated the news the whole next day. It was a huge deal, this breach of decorum. This guy got up there and would not sit down. He was like a code Pinker who just kept yelling with his cane, almost like menacing Donald Trump with his cane. He's 77 years old, by the way. Trump's 78 and wouldn't take a seat. It was actually really interesting because what you saw was J.D. vance and Speaker Mike Johnson behind Trump saying to the sergeant at arms in the house, get him out of here with the thumb. Like, get him out. And eventually, Mike Johnson issued the order for the sergeant at arms to restore order to the chamber, and he was ejected, which I'm sure is what he wanted. But here's some of that. That moment as chaos broke out, we.

[Alvin Louie]

Won the popular vote by big numbers and won counties in our country.

[Megyn Kelly]

Republicans cheering us USA over Al Green's chance.

[Alvin Louie]

And one counties in our country. 2,700 to 525. On a map that Trump was completely red for Republican.

[Megyn Kelly]

A few things happening there, Rich, that jumped out at me. Trump first gives the thumb, you know, point and like, get him out of here. The Republicans have gotten good about this USA chant. I noticed it at when I went down for some of the confirmation hearings, like Hegseth, when protesters came in, Pete's supporters, most of whom, by the way, were military vets, just got up and chanted, USA they did it for Bobby Kennedy, too. It's pretty effective, right? They don't allow the heckler's veto. Look at that guy. Get him out. And J.D. vance, also with the, you know, the rap sign, like, get him out. And I have to say that was one of the dynamics that jumped out at me last night was JD with his. As the kids. The kids have a term, bombastic side eye. He had the bombastic side eye many times looking over the Democrats with those, like, twinkly blues, which are, you know, they know how to cast aspersions by just like a sort of wink at a nod. And, boy, you could just see he was literally behind the president, and he was figuratively behind the president at every moment, looking out for people who weren't clapping, people who were, you know, potential hecklers. And I thought it was kind of nice. I noticed the dynamic and I thought to myself, that's the kid who has the background in Appalachia, who would beat the shit out of you if you said anything bad about his mother, even though he said plenty of bad things about his mother, but you're. That it's different. The rules in the hala, as he pointed out, were, you know, you can rip on your mom or your family, but nobody else can. And even though he's got a mild manner in general, like, he is a street fighter at heart, anyway, all of that jumped out at me in, like, the ongoing dynamics around Trump last night. Your thoughts?

[Doug]

This was a shocking breach of decorum. The worst we've ever seen. There was some heckling of Biden from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Boebert, which I, which I didn't like and felt was wrong. And there's, there's Joe Wilson, who's a great guy by the way, and I think was, if I remember correctly, was an unplanned interjection. It's kind of just popped out. I think he regretted it afterwards. And when he did it, there were gasps in the chamber. So to have someone just stand there and shout and wave a cane at the President of the United States and have to be forcibly ejected, I thought for a while he might resist. Right. They might have to carry him or something. At least he walked out and expressing no regrets afterwards and saying it was a great thing to do is shocking. It's another step down in terms of our politics and a terrible moment for Democrats. Cuz this will be one of the most replayed moments of the night and it's a 77 year old angry man waving a cane saying get off my lawn to the President of the United States. It's just not a great look.

[Megyn Kelly]

Right. Trump handled himself well. He did not lose it. He did not acknowledge him other than the, you know, get him out of here. And so he didn't take the bait, which was good. And as much as, you know, JD And Mike Johnson, they, they gave him.

[Doug]

The rat, you could see a look towards the end, there was like a look of irritation on Trump's face where you're like, okay, is he going to go there? But, but he did, he just said thank you very much. After it wasn't back over.

[Megyn Kelly]

Sergeant at Arms was a little slow on the.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Megyn Kelly]

On the ejection. No, I was like, where is he? Get him out.

[Doug]

Yeah, yeah, I think so. But probably just because this is an unprecedented thing, you're, you're the sergeant expect to just kind of stand there with your, your hands folded, not to have to go eject an unruly member of Congress. But.

[Megyn Kelly]

If it's a war protester who sneaked in or who is a guest of a member, this was a member sitting right there. Total breaches.

[Doug]

This will be when, when Al Green inevitably offers the next articles of impeachment being expelled during Trump's. The address to the joint session will be one of the articles we can assume.

[Megyn Kelly]

Yeah, exactly. Okay, so last but not least, the Democrat response, which is always just like a terrible job. If asked, you should say no. It was Alyssa Slotkin, who I didn't know much about. She's a newly elected senator from Michigan. And when I went and saw her at the Pete Hegseth confirmation hearings. She started off by talking about her background in the CIA, how she signed up after 9 11, she determined she'd be in security. And then she got recruited by the CIA and she served under George W. Bush and Obama. Bipartisan, you know, more blue collar or blue, you know, crossover blue dog Democrat? No. The answer is no. You, you heard the way she cross examined Pete and you quickly learned this is a hateful person who I personally grew to loathe in the moment. But last night, while projecting that he's an existential threat, she tried to weave the, you know, I'm totally normal and this is what Democrats are. And therefore the selection of her made some sense. But here's how she sounded. He believes in cozying up to dictators like Vladimir Putin and kicking our friends like the Canadians in the teeth. He sees American leadership as merely a series of real estate transactions. As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War. Donald Trump's actions suggest that in his heart he doesn't believe we're an exceptional nation. He clearly doesn't think we should lead the world. So what did you make of her?

[Doug]

I thought it was okay. And as you know, I mean, this is just an impossible task. The only good response ever was the late great Fred Thompson, who was an actor and sat on his desk and gave a response in the 90s that was fantastic and very memorable and it's like rated talk of a presidential run by Thompson. But this is a very hard assignment. I think what sought there, that's a critique you can make of Trump. I don't think it matters for most people. I think the best thing for Democrats to say is his priorities aren't your priorities and you're going to pay the price and he's not doing enough to reduce prices. I think that's, that's where they should go and it should be kind of a traditional Democratic argument against a traditional Republican president. He's helping his rich friends. You know, I think that makes sense for them. All the other existential threat to democracy stuff is, is not going to get them anywhere.

[Megyn Kelly]

Here's throwback to her with Pete. Is there anything that a commander in chief could ask you to do with the uniform military that would be in violation of the US Constitution?

[Doug]

Senate? Anybody of any party could give an order that is against the Constitution or against the law.

[Megyn Kelly]

Right, okay. So. And are you, so are you saying that you would stand in the breach and push back if you were given an illegal order.

[Doug]

I start by saying I reject the premise that President, I understand giving done.

[Megyn Kelly]

Your gender any illegal orders at all. Mike, this isn't a hypothetical, okay? Again, you're going to be in charge of 3 million people. The active duty that I know you care about, I believe you care about. So have you been in conversations about using the active duty in any way? Whether it's setting up in detention camps, policing dangerous cities? Have you been involved in any of those conversations?

[Doug]

Certainly I have been involved in conversations relating to doing things this administration has not, which is secure the southern border.

[Megyn Kelly]

Sir, sir, I get your filibustering. I get it. Okay. I mean it just went on and on and on. I really, I have to say, I don't think she's the future of the party as the Democrats think she is. I just think she's. She should showed a rabid partisanship and attack dog nature and her exchange with him. We can show more of it later. But in any event, I don't know. Do you think that's the future of the Democratic Party there, Rich?

[Doug]

No, I don't think we're going to know the future of the Democratic Party for a very long time. I don't think the opposition and Congress really figures out how to react to a presidential loss. You just hope things go wrong. They do. Inevitably events happen, capitalize on those and then hope you get a decent presidential candidate who figures out something new.

[Megyn Kelly]

Well, there's rumblings that Tim Walls is thinking about running. Perhaps he's the great white hope. Rich, great to see you.

[Doug]

Thank you so much.

[Megyn Kelly]

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[Megyn Kelly]

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[Cyndi Lauper]

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[Megyn Kelly]

Joining me now, Editor in Chief and host of Two Way on YouTube, Mark Halperin. Mark, welcome back. So what'd you think of last night?

[Pam Bondi]

I'd say three main things. First of all, I thought the President's performance, you love him or hate him, it was just an incredible physical performance, entertaining. He's a great television producer, as you know, and I thought the casting of the folks from all over America representing certain themes were really key. And it's always important to remember the President. Contrary to what Politico and others want to say, he's not talking about extreme red meat MAGA issues. He's talking about issues that are broadly popular, including with people who don't like him. And that's something that put the Democrats on their back legs. Finally, I'll say what the Democrats did last night, even after decades of partisanship and even after Donald Trump is doing things that are partisan, I thought their behavior last night and not applauding a little boy with cancer, not employing Lake and Riley's family, was disgusting and unhinged, and I think they'll pay a price for it.

[Megyn Kelly]

We haven't yet shown the Lake and Riley moment her mother and sister were there. That mother's face was the picture of anguish. I mean, it was just, oh, heart wrenching. And of course, her daughter was the subject and the name of President Trump's first legislative act that actually did get passed and is now law, the Lake and Riley Act. Here's that moment of the President acknowledging the grieving family.

[Alvin Louie]

Last year, I told Lakin's grieving parents that we would ensure their daughter would not have died in vain. That's why the very first bill I signed into law as your 47th president mandates the detention of all dangerous criminal aliens who threaten public safety. It's a very strong, powerful act.

[Megyn Kelly]

Mother and daughter on their feet, clapping the Democrats all seated again.

[Alvin Louie]

It's called the Lakin Riley Act. So, Allison and Lauren, America will never, ever forget our beautiful Lakin Hope Riley.

[Megyn Kelly]

She knows. Thank you to the President, Lakin's mom. And once again, even after that piece of it, you know, it was sort of a separate line about we'll never forget Lakin. The Democrats did not stand. Here's the video again. Like, they couldn't even find the heart to stand for just that piece. Like, we'll never forget her. Nope. The grieving mother literally in tears. And they sat there. You know, it's one thing, Mark, to see the Supreme Court sitting there. We know they never stand. Or, you know, the heads of the military branches, they never stand. But those Democrats, not even feigning empathy, what did you make of it?

[Pam Bondi]

And, Megan, you'll recall that a year ago, Joe Biden had to be dragged kicking and screaming into saying her name at his State of the Union address after not acknowledging her brutal murder, after not having a consciousness phrasing to say, you know what, maybe we should listen to the public. Maybe we do need to close the border. Maybe we do need to figure out where all the people are in this country here illegally who have violent past. Last night, they were given a mulligan on this tragedy that not only is a tragedy for a family, but has implications for the country. And they refused to take it. They refused to be human. And I think, again, President Trump's plenty partisan. I understand how much they don't like Donald Trump, but there's opportunities to behave like a human being. And because of party politics and their Trump derangement syndrome, they chose not to. And I think it's a horrible thing. It's a horrible thing that they did.

[Megyn Kelly]

Why do you think so, Mark? Because I honestly, like, we all, we've all been watching State of the Union addresses For many years. And in my experience, I don't remember them all bit by bit, but they would sit there and not clap if it were a partisan issue and telegraph to the country. I disagree. But on the human moments, you would. You'd have many instances in which the whole chamber claps, if for no other reason, even if they're not really feeling it just because of good politics. So clearly the Democrats met and decided it would be bad politics to clap for anything.

[Pam Bondi]

Well, my reporting's mixed on that. Some of my sources say it kind of just happened spontaneously, that they once, they sort of got into the pattern of not clapping. Remember, the tradition is members of both parties escort the President out to the floor. And so they started the evening. They started the evening declining to participate in escorting him out the floor. Their view, and it's the view of tens of millions of people, he's illegitimate. He won the popular vote. He won the election. Even after January 6, they still think he's illegitimate. And so that is manifested in that room, by the party, by the members of Congress. And they simply, I think, just in the moment, they sabotage their efforts to make this about policy and Donald Trump's policy, the implications of his policies on real people, and they turned it into a. An MRI of their soul, as the old expression goes. I can't tell you, I just can't see how a human being could sit there and not stand up for that little boy. I just don't know. I just. I just, you know, there's so much in politics that you can understand because you understand the motives of politicians, right? If you've covered them for a while. I can't understand not standing up for that little boy. I just. I can't understand it. And I think it was reflective of how much they're still on their back feet. They still don't understand the country and Donald Trump's appeal to enough people to get him elected and to put him in a very powerful position. Because, as I said, he's talking about popular issues. They want to say he's talking about MAGA issues. He is some. But mostly he's talking about popular issues on which many of the members of Congress of the Democratic Party are on the wrong side.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's amazing, because one of their failures last night was to telegraph, like, what is it about Trump that you find so objectionable? You know, when he won in 16, people kind of knew, you know, he had said things that had been bandied about in the media quite often. You know, the opening speech about Mexico not sending Their best, the rapists and so on, which had been bastardized by the press, but whatever. There was a narrative, a very clear narrative around Trump. Now it's just so amorphous. The last thing we heard was, he's Hitler. And then the country rejected that and elected him. And that was one of the things I was searching for last night. Like, tell us what it is. What is the reason you hate him and you can't stand for anything. Your little bingo sign of Musk steals and just false or the random save Medicaid doesn't really do it. So I felt like it was an utter failure of messaging on their part, which it was just wound up in a total victory for Trump because there he is, hitting his points, using a sense of humor, getting laughs, getting applause from the Republicans and probably from people at home. And then the Democrats walking right into the trap he had set of showing zero humanity or empathy while also not making clear why it is they're being so nasty.

[Pam Bondi]

It's an interesting question. I think I want to figure out a way to drill down on it with a series of focus groups, because the amorphous thing is they hate him because he's Donald Trump and they think he's going to destroy democracy. But some of them don't like Tulsi Gabbard, some of them don't like Bobby Kennedy, some of them don't like Pete Hegseth, some of them don't like Musk, some of them don't like Doge, some of them create falsely that he's talking about cutting Social Security. I think that they're having trouble figuring out because I think a Democratic Party and the anti Trump movement contains multitudes and it's obviously a weakness. The point last night from the leadership was let's all focus on one thing that is policies will adversely affect people. And that's a good debate and there's some truth to it. If the country really wants to have significant savings from Doge, they're going to have to be things given up. Research on medical innovations going to have to be given up, access to national parks. It's going to have to be given up. Not entirely, but to some extent, that's the debate they said they wanted to have. And instead they did stuff that you can't ignore it. I will say if the Republic, if a Democratic president, if Kamala Harris had introduced a little boy with cancer who had outlived his diagnosis and loved law enforcement and the Republicans had sat silently, not applauding, not standing, it would have brought the media to a standstill. And that is part of their problem is they are enabled in their negative attitude and their lack of strategic vision to how to confront him. And there's plenty to confront because the press does not call them on it. And so they, they don't really understand exactly what's actually happening in the real lives of real people and how people would experience such a display.

[Megyn Kelly]

The thing about DJ was he was not controversial. He wants to be a police officer. It's not like there was a backstory behind him and something, you know, happened that was caused by Democrats. That's not where Trump went with his story. It was just a nice story about a kid who wants to be a cop. In a way, it was kind of endearing toward cops. Maybe that's their problem, I don't know. But, but that was such a weird one not to stand for. Lake and Riley was killed by illegals, but still there's not an American in the country who's in favor of Americans being killed by illegals. You know, with the grieving mother and sister standing there. Then we get to Peyton McNabb who was hit in the face by volleyball spiked at her by a male player pretending to be a female in her high school in North Carolina. And again, I realize the Democrats are very pro this so called trans agenda, but they know very well from the last election, election mark that the country is not. That is an 80% issue. There are no 80% issues in America, virtually none. But 80% of the populace does not want boys playing in girls sports. That's why he wisely brought Peyton McNabb to the state. Whatever the address last night. And here he is remarking on Peyton McNabb's presence. And then we'll show you the reaction. Stop five.

[Alvin Louie]

Our country will be woke no longer. We believe that whether you are a doctor, an accountant, a lawyer or an air traffic controller, you should be hired and promoted based on skill and competence, not race or gender. Very important. I also signed an executive executive order to ban men from playing in women's sports. Three years ago, Peyton McNabb was an all star high school athlete, one of the best preparing for a future in college sports. Peyton, from now on, schools will kick the men off the girls team or they will lose all federal funding. What I have just described is only a small fraction of the common sense revolution. Revolution that is now because of us sweeping the entire world. Common sense has become a common theme and we will never go back. Never.

[Megyn Kelly]

And here's the video of the Democrat reaction Which is the same reaction that we saw to dj, to Lake and Riley's parents, to every moment that tugged at the heartstrings. They did not stand. And he had gone through Peyton's injuries, which are severe. There's partial paralysis on her right side. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, by the way. The male who hurt her never apologized and actually was angry with Peyton for even speaking out about it. She's been on our show in any event, there too. And that's again, an 80% issue.

[Pam Bondi]

Mark, I asked some Democrats who were in the chamber, how could you not have stood at those moments? And they said, and these are reasonable people. Trump lies about the border. His policies on the border are inhumane. Trump wants to cut Social Security and he's lying about it. These are questionable positions to take, but I understand their passion, but I don't understand the connection between those things. And sitting silently while these extremely heart wrenching stories are told, as you say, some of them, they could say, well, I don't like Trump's immigration policy, so I'm not going to applaud and support Lake and Riley's family, I guess. But I go back to the little boy. As you said, there's no policy story there. It's just a great American story. And it is inhumane to not applaud them, but it speaks to their lack of strategy several months after the election. It speaks to their Trump derangement syndrome in many cases, and it speaks to their failure to recognize what's happening around them, which is a guy who they want to say is extreme red meat. MAGA actually has found the sweet spot on a bunch of issues that are popular even with a lot of their own voters and the Democrats, and they just don't see that yet. And they certainly didn't see it last night. And perhaps the reaction to last night will make them see it. But I'll say again, their best friends in the press, the irony is the best friends in the press are creating for them a blue bubble that won't, I don't believe, cause many of them to think anew after last night, because they're not being told in their world. That was a real problem last night. That was a real problem.

[Megyn Kelly]

Right? They. I was listening to the New York Times's the daily podcast this morning, and of course, it was all about how this Peyton McNabb, this, it's a culture war issue. She was injured by a trans woman. You know, they don't talk about the biological realities of who, like some people are still confused by that term, we talk about it so often here, our audience is not. But they're intentionally obfuscating what happened there. And for most people, I think this was a breath of fresh air to hear Trump get this specific on what's real and what's not. But again, the Democrats sat and did nothing. Sat 6.

[Alvin Louie]

There are only two genders, male and female.

[Megyn Kelly]

I'll tell you something, Mark, for me personally, having covered this very closely for a long time, it was heartening enough just to see all the Republicans on their feet for that. You know, that five years ago, that would have been a very dicey thing to say in this setting, and even the Republicans would have been unsure about whether they could stand and clap on that. So I'll take that victory where I can get it.

[Pam Bondi]

Yeah. I mean, on this issue, the pendulum swing way too far. Not for extremists, not for activists. It swing way too far for a big majority of the country. And now I think there needs to be a reasonable conversation about when it swings back, where should it stop as it swings back, because it will swing back some. There needs to be a serious conversation. I think for most Americans, there's a big difference between kids and adults. And so I see how people on the left are upset. They say this is inhumane, this is dehumanizing, this is shaming people. Well, they, they're going to have to recognize that their, their failure to acknowledge how far they let the pendulum swing and not just let it swing, how far they swung it. They're going to have to figure out. They're going to have to figure out where. Where can they accommodate understanding the majority and stop acting like they're the majority? Where the pendulum swung.

[Megyn Kelly]

I mean, even when I interviewed Trump in September of 23 and I asked him, can a man become a woman? He was uncomfortable. He was like, well, I say, no, I don't think so. You know, like, he's gotten much more bold. And, of course, we saw that on the campaign trail, and it's, it's, look, it's something to have him say that in the House chamber on a night as big as that. So that's a win. And the Democrats either will come along or they'll get left behind. We'll. We'll have to wait and see. You know, there was, there were audible boos and pushback when Trump talked about his historic victory. They really don't like to acknowledge that on the left. And that's when Al Green got up there and started harassing Trump and, you know, sort of things got chaotic inside of the chamber. But this was debated interestingly the other day when Stephen A. Smith went on the View and Joy Behar, you know, she too pushed back. And even on this morning's the Daily, Maggie Haberman was pushing back on just how historic the victory. They really don't want to say historic. They don't want to say mandate. They don't want to say any of the things that Trump says. And they put it under the guys like fact checking him. Let me show you the exchange that I'm talking about with Behar and Smith. Sat 27. He won the popular vote by 1.5%, one of the smallest ever. And he won the general election by less than 50%. So what kind of mandate is this, really? It is a mandate and I'm going to explain why.

[Pam Bondi]

And I don't mind the question.

[Megyn Kelly]

But let me be very clear. I'm no supporter of Trump.

[Cyndi Lauper]

I'm a supporter of truth and the facts.

[Megyn Kelly]

And here's the facts. The man won every swing state.

[Alvin Louie]

He increased in terms of his vote.

[Megyn Kelly]

Voter turnout in his favor from the standpoint of blacks, Latinos and young voters.

[Cyndi Lauper]

He increased his numbers in that regard from 2020, 89% of the counties shifted to the right.

[Megyn Kelly]

That's a mandate. I don't understand how people can look at that and say there's no mandate, there's a mandate. Well, it's a different definition of a mandate, I guess. It's very funny to me. Let's just keep redefining it until I feel better.

[Pam Bondi]

No, the people who on that set and in Congress and on MSNBC who want to litigate the size of the mandate and want to minimize his victory, are spending time not trying to understand why he won. Someone who they think is the worst person in the world, someone who won after the events of January 6, who won after denying he lost the election in 2020, who won after four years of a term that they consider to be a complete abomination. They need to spend more time for their own good and for the good of the country, answering the question not how big is this mandate? But why was he able to win? How did he win and how is he governing now? In a way that's almost unbothered by the Democrats efforts to slow him down.

[Megyn Kelly]

Your co host over on two way, Dan Turantine. We love him, too. He's a Democrat. He tweeted out the following I love my party, but tonight was a new low. I get silence on this or that policy and the raw politics of the base's anger. But for not a single Democrat to stand and applaud a boy's brave battle with cancer or a man's admission to West Point, which was a surprise Trump gave to one of the audience members, was a classless disgrace. And maddeningly, while overall Trump's speech was politically good, there were political holes that could be exploited, juvenile taunts that voters hate and comical lies. But much of that will be buried by our self inflicted stupidity. Do you agree with that? And how will it be buried? Like what happens from here, the media coverage in the wake of the speech and just the tone setting that happened last night.

[Pam Bondi]

Well, I do agree with Dan is one of the reasons we like him so much at Two Way and why he's so popular with honest Democrats and with a lot of centrists and moderates and independents and some Republicans, because he's willing to say the truth. You know, I watched more MSNBC last night after the speech than I usually do because I was super curious to see if they would acknowledge what had happened. And instead Nicole Wallace basically demonized the little boy. The question of what happens next, I think everybody assumes, as I did after the election, that the Democrats would get their act together. I think last night demonstrated as both cause and effect. They're far from getting their act together if that's the best they could do on a night like that to just completely have the biggest own goal I can remember in an event like that. They got a long way to go. And President Trump is All presidents are in danger of overreaching, but I think he's now basically competing against himself because there is no Democratic opposition that's putting up a meaningful challenge to what he's doing by executive order, by what he's doing in Congress, at least so far. There are some things that are going to require Democratic support. And I think one danger for him, he certainly faced the kind of heckling that Democrats used to decry. I mean, I've listened for years how Democrats had. One South Carolina Republican, Joe Wilson, said to Barack Obama, you lie. They still talk about that as a desecration of the state of the union and of the presidency. Last night there were countless things just like that. I think the president's going to have to decide if he can govern and the things that are going to require some Democratic senators at least to vote his way. Can he govern if he is not turning the other cheek to when he is slapped? And that's going to be a challenge for him because again, there are some things that require Democratic support. And after last night, I don't know where those votes are going to come from.

[Megyn Kelly]

From. I know, I mean with not a single Dem voting for the Protect Women and Girls in Sports act, not a sing single Democrat voting for cloture on that bill, I don't know what he's going to get any crossover votes on. I really don't. I like that one's just such a no brainer. It, this is not Megyn Kelly and her wishful thinking. It truly is an 80% support issue. It was a very simple clean bill. It wasn't filled with a bunch of weird things that might get them in trouble and they, they didn't vote for it. So like I, yes, he'll get his budget bill through because he can do that with just 51 votes. You don't have to, you don't need a cloture vote on that. So that'll be good. But I, I don't know what's going to happen on, on the rest of his agenda when we're speaking about legislative wins. It doesn't seem very promising. Okay, on your point about what the Dems are going to do and like they're getting their act together apart from their little bingo signs, you know, their little auctioneer signs. False. False. They, they released this weird thing on video this week that's making some news. What the heck happened here? So first some eagle eyed X users noticed that a few of these Dems, I think it was Senator Schumer, Senator Warren and Senator Cory Booker seem to be using the exact same script to just drop these sort of, you know, fu videos to Trump. Here's, here's how it first emerged.

[Alvin Louie]

I win. I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.

[Rich Lowry]

That ain't true.

[Pam Bondi]

That's what you just heard since day one.

[Megyn Kelly]

Donald Trump's presidency, prices are not down there up.

[Rich Lowry]

Inflation is getting worse.

[Megyn Kelly]

And then it emerged that at least 22, I think it's up to 23 senators did the exact same thing that we just saw there. Here it is. Sat 26.

[Alvin Louie]

I win. I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's amazing. They're all obviously reading, they're following an exact script. They actually seem to stand and sit at the same point as well. The whole thing's scripted, choreographed, what's going on there. And yeah, like that was just released on social media. So I guess this is the new like younger, hipper digital lane Dem.

[Pam Bondi]

They all have that same little mic too. Yeah, one of the, one of the few areas since the election where the Democrats, having found a correct diagnosis, not a necessary cure, correct diagnosis is they're way behind in organic social media and in creation of social media by political players. Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, there are no analogs like, for them on the left. So they say we need to do better. We need to create more compelling content on a regular basis. Their challenge is it's very hard to do quickly, and it's very hard to match fake stuff like that, scripted stuff like that, to be organic, because the organic stuff is so powerful and it involves big personalities who develop followings over a long period of time. Consistent performing. This is synthetic, but it's at least an effort to put out. It's somewhat compelling. Now, I don't know if they didn't think they'd get caught or maybe they thought it would be good to have it amplified by having the kind of coverage you're engaged with it now. But again, it's one of the few areas where they're at least acting on a correct diagnosis, which is they are so far behind. And of course, in the Obama years, they were far ahead, and now they're far behind. And they have to be players in podcasting and video and programs like this in. In the creation of social media for TikTok and other places. At least in this case, they're. They're trying. They're bringing in people. They spent a lot of time with liberal creators yesterday, the crooked media guys and other people. They're far away from where they need to be. But again, at least this is a single area where they're. Where they're making an effort.

[Megyn Kelly]

They, Elon Musk tweeted out, I'll give somebody a free cyber truck if they can tell me who created this script. Like, who was patient zero on this? And I guess Cory Booker today said it was me. And you can keep your cybertruck, which was a dumb addendum because who wouldn't want a free cybertruck? But I guess he was behind it. Here's the thing, though. If you have kids, you know, the rule is the last thing you want to be is cringe. Right? If you're gonna do it, you gotta do it well. And you're not supposed to be cringy. That was cringy. So was this by Representative Jasmine Crockett, who I think is 42 years old, not 28. Someone should have told her that before she dropped this video before the State of the Union or joint address to Congress last night. Watch.

[Rich Lowry]

Yeah, they tried to rip the game.

[Pam Bondi]

But you can't fake influence. Hey, I'm tripping, I'm sliding, I'm riding through the back, like.

[Megyn Kelly]

Amber lamp.

[Rich Lowry]

Around, like.

[Megyn Kelly]

And it ends. Jasmine Crockett with her signature.

[Pam Bondi]

I, I, I will say that that version's better than the one that Dick Durbin did. I don't know if you saw that one, but hers is. What? No, I'm kidding, kidding, kidding. I just like the thought of Dick Durbin doing his version. I think it'd be good.

[Megyn Kelly]

Oh my God. That was too much for my brain to handle. I, okay. I just think it's ridiculous. There's no dignity. You know, it's like you could be cool, you could fun video. I mean, I have to say in, in most ways, AOC understands this and she does. She uses social media very effectively. This is not it. And there it just, to me, it just shows that they're struggling. So speaking of struggling, Tim Walsh, if I think I could offer something, I would certainly consider that when asked if he's open to a 2028 presidential run, if I think I could offer something, I would certainly consider that. I'm also, though, not arrogant enough to believe there's a lot of people that can do this. I'll do whatever it takes. So do we think that Tim Walsh is a serious candidate for next leader of the party? Nevermind. Presidential candidate.

[Pam Bondi]

No, he's not. I could expound, I could expound, but no, he's not. Look, most people who join losing tickets. Tim Kaine, for instance, who did a thing on Saturday Night Live a few weeks ago where he was like, no one knows who he is. Most deep candidates on losing tickets don't then emerge as super strong. I think that the nature of his failure is pretty obvious to most Democrats. And he got off easy. As you know, he was not scrutinized very much and things that did turn up were not placed front and center. I think that it is a mystery in my career at this phase. We're early, obviously we're not even close to the midterms at this phase. Every cycle I could tell you five people for the party out of power or if there was an incumbent, both parties, term limited. Incumbent. Who are the five people who I'm watching who I think really have the potential to do what it takes, the difficult task of winning a party nomination and potentially the White House? I can't give you five Democrats, but what I can tell you is if you forced me to 50, I wouldn't say Tim Waltz.

[Megyn Kelly]

Oh, wow, that's saying something. All right. Last but not least, over on the Republican side, Pam Bondi in a bit of a controversy this week because she had or the White House. And there's new ABC News reporting on this. The White House invited those influencers to the White House last week reportedly as a, a thank you, a way to honor and thank strong online influencers of the kind that you just mentioned. Chaya Raichik, behind Libs of TikTok, Jack Bosobiak, Chad Prather, Liz Wheeler, a bunch of right wing influencers. And apparently, according to abc, unbeknownst to them, they were then, like they weren't expecting this. They were brought into a meeting with Pam Bondi and Cash Patel and she then surprised them with those Epstein file binders. And so I didn't realize that they were totally caught off guard with this. And so when we saw them emerging from the West Wing holding these binders and kind of like laughing about it, it was, they, they didn't know what they had. And the reporting is that she chose not to loop in any White House senior staff on this. She chose to keep it a secret from them because she thought that it would be like a fun surprise, that they would be pleased. But it turned out that there was absolutely nothing new in these binders. And it had the unfortunate effect of embarrassing the influencers because they'd been told and believed Cash and Bondi, that they'd been given something exciting and new and, you know, proprietary. So now there's been fallout because it's a question of who embarrassed an influential group around the President. Right. Who really deserve nothing other than thanks from him. Who embarrassed them? Why? How? Why wasn't senior White House staff told? And why was a thank you session turned into a Pam Bondi Epstein drop information session that actually was no actual info. All that happened. We have the ABC News report on it. And now Bondi saying that she did get a truckload of documents from the FBI who she accused of withholding against both her and Kash Patel's orders. Though the next drop has not been received and the question is whether she's in any sort of trouble. Trump had very warm references to her last night.

[Pam Bondi]

So here's the hierarchy. That way, I think about this, at the top is the victims. And nothing should be done on this that doesn't acknowledge what happened to them. Get them the justice that they deserve.

[Megyn Kelly]

The Epstein victims.

[Pam Bondi]

Yeah, the Epstein victims. And we shouldn't, we shouldn't look at the titillation that some people feel over the names of people associated with what happened. Shouldn't look at that as a distraction. So that's priority number one. Number two is the President promised transparency, not just with these files, but with the Kennedy files, the RFK and JFK files, the Dr. King files. That's an important commitment that he made and it should be lived up to. And when it's done in this way where they say we've got a big release and then it turns out to not be new, that undermines people's confidence that they really have a dedication to true transparency. Number three, this is a screw up. Whether the ABC reporting is exactly right or not, we know the end result was the public was misled. These influencers were treated poorly. That's a basic level of incompetence at the highest levels that I think should give people pause because for the most part, this administration, under strange circumstances, has executed pretty well. Lastly, as you said, the President and the administration's relationship with these very influential people. You don't want to embarrass your friends. You don't want to. You don't want to undermine them. And that photo of them smiling with the documents makes me sick every time I see it. But, but it's hard to blame them because as you said, they were put in a situation they weren't expecting. So that's. That's how I break it down. That's how I see it. And I think in all four strands, the story will continue because as you said, the Attorney General is promising more.

[Megyn Kelly]

Mm. I mean, if she makes it up to them by giving them the next big round, and it genuinely is a scoop, I think that'll heal. You know, that'll mend fences if they remain in the position they're in right now. Thanks to her. I think she's in for some PR trouble over the next coming months because she's probably lost a lot of goodwill with them. Mark, you have all the goodwill in the world here. Thank you for being on.

[Pam Bondi]

Thank you. Megan, Great to see you. Appreciate it.

[Megyn Kelly]

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[Megyn Kelly]

I'm Megyn Kelly, host of the Megyn Kelly show on Sirius xm. It's your home for open, honest and provocative conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal and cultural figures. Today you can catch the Megyn Kelly show on Triumph, a Sirius XM channel featuring lots of hosts you may know and probably love. Great people like Dr. Laura, Ben Beck, Nancy Grace, Dave Ramsey and yours truly, Megyn Kelly. You can stream the Megyn Kelly show on Sirius XM at home or anywhere you are. No car required. I do it all the time. I love the SiriusXM app. It has ad free music coverage of every major sport, comedy talk, podcast and more. Subscribe now. Get your first three months for free. Go to SiriusXM.com MK show to subscribe and get three months free.

[Pam Bondi]

That's SiriusXM.com MKShow and get three months free offer details apply.

[Megyn Kelly]

Want to take you now to a troubling situation in Maine where not everyone has gotten the memo about parental rights. Members of the school board in Maine school administrative district 11 are seeking to launch a health clinic at a high school where medical providers, not parents, will make key decisions for students. Here's what officials from the clinic said at a December school meeting. Watch. And the last question I have at this moment is who decides decision making.

[Rich Lowry]

Capacity for a minor child?

[Megyn Kelly]

A provider. So the medical clinician. The medical clinic, through their interviews and.

[Doug]

Their interactions with who gives permission for.

[Megyn Kelly]

That child to be interviewed in the first place as a minor child under the law, the state law, if the child sought one of those three services, substance use disorder, mental health or family planning, which then the provider would interview them and if there was a course of treatment needed, they would decide whether they could do that based on the decision making capacity during the interviews and the visits they had with the student. So no parental involvement. None whatsoever. And that term mental health is doing a lot of work there. It's a very large category that excludes the parent from any decision making. Speaking that woman you just heard, CEO of Health Reach is correct about Maine law and when children can consent to procedures medicine potential without parental permission. And while Health Reach says there are no plans right now to offer hormone treatments for so called trans students, parents are understandably very concerned about where this is going. You saw the main governor with Trump last week. There's an agenda in Maine. But thanks now in part to an email campaign by a group called Courage is a habit. MSAD11 has not yet approved that clinic and we are monitoring developments closely ahead of tomorrow's school board meeting. Here now to tell us more is Courage Is a Habit president Alvin Louie. Alvin, thank you so much for keeping a finger on the pulse of this one. So what specifically is this about? They're bringing in a so called health clinic clinic for the children with what appears to be the express goal of excluding parents.

[Rich Lowry]

Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you for having me, Megan. It's a pleasure to meet you.

[Megyn Kelly]

Likewise.

[Rich Lowry]

Absolutely. They in fact the one of the school board members, Joanne O'Brien, actually admitted on a Facebook post that they are providing referring out to the transgender drugs and different treatments of that nature. So they're lying in the sense that they go, oh, we're not giving it it, but they're referring out to it. And this all stems from the keeping secrets from parents in schools. This is just a logical conclusion of that because the school counselors are the biggest purveyors of the transgender cult and a lot of People don't know that. And so they've been setting the tone that parents are unsafe and abusive. They're redefining two words, unsafe and abusive. And what they do is they'll say, if you don't believe that your daughter is really a boy, then you are unsafe and abusive. And so based on that foundation that they've already established in government K12 in Maine and all 50 states, really now they'll go, well, we need the medical clinic because parents are unsafe and we need to provide the health coverage for children. But what they mean by that is vaccines, Covid vacs. Yeah, Covid vax, birth control, invasive IUDs and you know, Megan, it's even taking all those horrific things aside like the transgender drugs and they can refer out to it, these clinics are quite literally seating their own clients. They're putting these kids in these therapies, the therapists that are affirm only therapists, they're driving their mental health to the ground. And then they go, oh, they need medication. So they're quite literally seeding and creating their own customers.

[Megyn Kelly]

What do you mean referring out? How would it work under the proposed, you know, system that you are objecting to, if a kid comes in to this clinic and says, I'm gender confused.

[Rich Lowry]

So the first thing they'll do is they'll pair them with an affirm only therapist and then they'll keep that a secret from parents and they'll so you. They'll do the pronouns, they'll call them by a different name, things of that nature. Then they'll start driving them to that. And then if they need a, a breast binder or tucking, then they'll offer that, they'll give them that. Then if they start to do the cross sex hormones, then the clinic in the school will refer them out to another clinic or another pharmacy to go get said drugs.

[Megyn Kelly]

Could they get a prescription without their parents at that point?

[Rich Lowry]

Yes, they can because it'll be paid through by Medicaid in Maine is called main care.

[Megyn Kelly]

Oh my God. So your child could first get a COVID vaccine, which we know especially in young males, has a disturbingly high risk of causing heart infection, myocarditis would, could, could be potentially fatal without your knowledge. And your child, who maybe just be stressed out from like a divorce that the parents are going through or God forbid, a childhood sexual trauma or bullying in school and, and, and manifest this in the more sort of, of, oh, it's like the hip thing to be, which is trans without you knowing, gets affirmed, gets a Breast binder gets a prescription to go to this other clinic. And sometimes it can be like a Planned Parenthood. Those are, they're very like, pro.

[Rich Lowry]

That's right. It could be right.

[Megyn Kelly]

Sending kids down this lane. And, and that clinic gives them a prescription for puberty blockers into cross sex hormones which sterilizes a child. Yep.

[Rich Lowry]

You've got brain issues, bone density issues. Obviously, you're stopping puberty. Or even if you're. The cross sex hormones will screw up their fertility for women, for girls later on. It's such a horrific thing. Then you know that the rest, the other parts of the world are moving away from it. Hospitals are stopping it now, thanks to, you know, President Trump's executive order. But the schools, you know, the transgender cult is going to be the last place that this completely dies. It'll be in K12. That's the last place it dies because that's where it started it. This is not, this is not a chicken or egg thing. The social Contagion started in K12.

[Megyn Kelly]

That's a such a good point. That's exactly right. So. So that's incredible and very disturbing. But what's happening now, because There are reportedly 25 health clinics already in main schools. Right. But the nonprofit that would run this new one says, oh, no, we have no plans to provide hormone treatments.

[Rich Lowry]

Well, they say that, but in other states that have that, they've already done it. And one of the things also that they lie about it, they'll say that this doesn't cost taxpayers anything. And it's a complete lie because they use federal funding. They use federal funding to stand the clinic up for that first one or two years. So Health Reach uses federal funding. They'll use a mixture of funding from, let's say, Health and Human Services or the American Rescue act of 2021, for those of you who know is supposed to be for Covid, they use it for that. And then after the first one or two years, they'll have to raise taxes, property taxes, do a referendum for Maine residents to keep the clinics going. And if you say, hey, I don't want this referendum, it'll be, oh, you're taking healthcare away from poor kids. It's always weaponizing your empathy. We often say here at Courage is a habit. We don't have an oppression problem in this country. We have an idiot empathy problem. And that's what they always Dr. Good people's empathy to get these things passed.

[Megyn Kelly]

But do we think that they're backing off of it at all because they delayed the vote on this health clinic in December, and now it's not officially on the agenda for the meeting they're having this week. So do you feel like you've already won this or it's still alive?

[Rich Lowry]

No, the thing that they do, Megan, that's really, that. That's a tactic they always use across all 50 states, is they'll try to punt it until parents stop paying attention. And we've seen this. You know, my organization fights this at every level where there's a PO in schools or the critical race theory, transgender ideology. Every time something like this happens, they'll punt it because they know parents are busy and a lot of people look at punting as a victory. And so when they stop paying attention, they're going to go ahead and sneak it in. But it's a different day, and we are definitely not letting anyone forget it. And so our suspicion is that they're going to try to punt it until they can quietly install it or vote it in. But for sure, the heat is getting to them because they, they, they should have. They, they wanted to vote this in. December 5th. They snuck in this agenda on Thanksgiving eve. Imagine that. Imagine being so proud of this, of this medical clinic. It's so good that they snuck the agenda in on Thanksgiving eve. And then they were going to do the vote on December 5, hoping nobody was going to pay attention. Bad news for them. We were paying attention and we're not going to stop.

[Megyn Kelly]

Right. And I should point out to the viewers, you're not in Maine, you're in Indiana, but you're keeping an eye. You've been. This is one of the reasons why I love your Twitter account. But X, you've been paying attention to what's happening in schools across the nation. By the way, if anybody wants your help or to alert you to something that they'd love your help with, what. How can they contact you?

[Rich Lowry]

Drop us an email@team courageisahabit.org or you can drop us a DM on our X which is at couragehabit.

[Megyn Kelly]

Okay, now you foia the school board, as I understand it, and you got correct some disturbing text messages about yourself and your efforts to stand up for parents and for children. What happened?

[Rich Lowry]

So we know that they talk a lot of mad garbage with their in the emails. And so what we were foying was we were looking for an ethical conversation between them and Health Reach because they were saying, oh, no, you know, we didn't approach them and this is all above board, but we knew that Reach Health, Reach the clinic, right and so what? So we were looking. So we foyer. We're looking for that. So I had sent them an email when I was in Maine last, and I gave them the benefit of the doubt. I said, hey, listen, you guys got this sales pitch from Health Reach. Of course, like any salesperson, they're going to leave certain things out, even if they're not out outright lying to you. And this is. I, I think, I mean, I'll let your viewers. Viewers judge. But I thought it was a pretty cordial email. I said, hey, there's going to be some things that you, that you don't know about these clinics that we've seen in other states. I like to meet with some of you or all of you and like to share some of the things that you don't know. When you're installing something as serious as a medical clinic and you're dealing with people's children's health, you should know everything before you make this decision. Sent the email, didn't hear from them, didn't expect that to, but, you know, I tried. And then when we were foying for some of the unethical conversation, we saw that they were doing these group text messages. And in Maine, if you have either four or five people on a group text, we can foyer that. So we said, okay, we'll foyer that too. And we saw one of the texts, one of the school board members, Matthew Lilly, bridge quote, you know, in response to my email offering to give them information, he said, we'll see how much courage he has when I answer the door with an AR15 and a Doberman.

[Megyn Kelly]

Unbelievable.

[Rich Lowry]

What kind of person responds to an email offering information? And he could have said, you know, Megan, he could have said, you know, we'll see how tough he is. I'll get in his face. I'll. I'll punch him in the nose. I'll punch him in the mouth. Nope, he went right to the AR15. And this is a school board member who's literally. I'm not making this up, Megan. He's running again for his seat right now.

[Megyn Kelly]

Oh, my God. So we, we reached out to him for comment on that email and he did not respond to us. He does not understand courage. That's quite clear. Although behind closed doors, he's super tough, Alvin. Super tough. He's gonna get you are.

[Rich Lowry]

They always are. They always are.

[Megyn Kelly]

Can you talk a little bit about that? Because you actually are courageous. This is a battle that must be fought and you've been fighting it since before it was invited vogue and acceptable to be fighting it. But I understand there's, you know, your great grandfather came to America from ma China. So how has that affected your willingness to get on these issues?

[Rich Lowry]

Well, I think like most Americans, I've really took my hands off the wheel. I was born here. I was lucky to be born here. My great grandfather, he was an older man already when he left Miles Communism. And, you know, he owned two bakeries. He owned, not a rich man by any stretch, two very humble bakeries. And when Miles Redgard dragged him out and beat him, it wasn't soldiers. They were college kids, high school kids, just like what we're seeing today across the country being developed in K12 and in colleges. And so when he came here, it was obviously very tough. You come here as an old man, you don't even know the language. And you definitely try to make a life here because, you know, there isn't a life when communism comes. So my father has always, always reminded myself and my siblings that he would always tell us when we were younger, if you can't make it in America, you can't make it anywhere. And like most Americans, I've really taken that for granted. I've been able to do a lot of other things in my life and not having to worry about. If you asked me, you know, 10 years ago who my. Whom the mayor was in my city, I probably couldn't tell you much less who's on school board. But, you know, from being from California, when I saw how California turned out and, you know, we moved to Indiana, I saw the same things happening in Indiana, but in a smaller sense in California. And it really hit me that, you know, nobody's escaping out of Florida to Cuba in the middle of the night. If America goes the way it's going, there's nowhere else for my children, your children, anybody's children to go. And so I think that really thinking about my great grandfather running like that really kind of. Of really drove me to say, you know, even in the tiniest way, I gotta try to do something because I've enjoyed my freedom so much and I've been able to do things great, you know, fun things. And now I feel like I just have to do my duty.

[Megyn Kelly]

It's incredible. Thank you so much for being so involved in this fight and for calling our attention to it as well. We'll stay on it and we'll be keeping an eye on that main school board meeting tomorrow just to see if they do try to sneak this in in and have you back on if they do. Alvin thank you.

[Rich Lowry]

I appreciate it. Thank you, Megan.

[Megyn Kelly]

Wow, these guys. I mean, can you imagine? Your kid goes to school, gets a, gets a shot in the arm that could potentially cause a heart infection, which you wouldn't even know to be checking for because they vaccinated him without your consent. And then secretly give him tucking apparatus to start messing with his genitals so he can look and feel more like a girl. Then snap him with puberty blockers into cross sex hormones which sterilize a child, not to mention deprive him of any hope of sexual pleasure throughout his life. And you know nothing. And the school board will defend this and so will the main governor. I mean, this, this is how radical the left has become. This is. It's infuriating. And it's another reason why President Trump won and does have the mandate he says he does. Wow. All right, we will be back tomorrow. We're taking your thoughts on all of this. Please email me meganagancalli.com and then we're back tomorrow. Boy, do we have a treat for you. I'm really looking forward to this. The whole show with comedian Andrew Schulz. The greatest, the funniest. He's totally irreverent. Buckle up, we'll see you then. Thanks for listening to the Megyn Kelly Show. No bs, no agenda and no fear. Hi, I'm Cyndi Lauper. My scalp was covered with psoriasis, which could lead to psoriatic arthritis. But Cosentyx treats both.

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