June 9, 2026 • 39 mins
What’s it like to lead with faith in a time of global upheaval? Today’s episode of The Greg Laurie Show features U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio like you’ve never seen him before. An honest and wide-ranging conversation about history, hope, and the challenges of leadership in turbulent times—you’re not going to want to miss this one.
Fresh off the historic release of the hostages in Israel, Secretary Rubio reflects on the behind-the-scenes courage and teamwork that made the miracle possible—giving us a rare glimpse into the high-pressure world of international negotiation and the personalities driving world-changing decisions. But this conversation goes far deeper than politics: together Pastor Greg and Secretary Rubio also dig into the impact of a God-centered marriage, the importance of strong families, and how faith shapes everyday choices at the highest levels of power.
Secretary Rubio also opens up about his own family’s story, the life-changing influence of his grandfather, and the Scriptures that anchor him during moments of anxiety and sleepless nights. Don’t miss their discussion on the rise of antisemitism, America’s founding principles, and the dangers of political indoctrination facing today’s youth—plus some lighthearted moments featuring Secretary Rubio’s favorite movies, books, and fun presidential history.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Rights Come from the Creator, Not Government
02:20 Hostage Release: Behind the Scenes with President Trump
05:32 Delivering the Gospel at Charlie Kirk’s Memorial—Without Notes
06:21 Marriage: Reflecting God’s Love and Sacramental Importance
09:03 Family Breakdown and America’s Social Ills
10:59 Grandfather’s Influence: From Rural Cuba to U.S. Politics
13:28 Fear, Faith, and Knowing How the Story Ends
16:28 Are We Nearing the End Times? A Global Perspective
17:30 Rising Anti-Semitism & Lessons from the Holocaust
20:05 Youth & the Allure of Socialism—Campus Controversies
22:01 Faith on Display: Scripture Tweets and Daily Discipline
24:23 The Cost and Courage of Living Out Faith Publicly
26:03 Why America Is Unique: Rights, Government, and Founding Principles
28:04 Lightning Round: Comfort Foods and Favorite Films
30:12 Presidential Leadership: Right People at the Right Time
33:00 How Marco Rubio Wants to Be Remembered
34:18 Prayer for Leadership and Closing Reflections
Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Life, Audio, What are the atoms?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is the basic structures of structural blocks of a
society and of a country, And if you begin to
think about what it is, it's actually communities built by
families and homes. So I always tell people the most
important thing that happens in our country is not what
happens in the White House, is what happens in your house.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Greg Glory. Here in our nation's capital, Washington, d C.
And I'm in the State Department, and it is directed
by our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. And so I
met Secretary of Rubio over ten years ago when he
was the Senator Rubio, and he came to a couple's
comforts I was speaking at and someone said, would you
(00:55):
like to meet Marco Rubio. They didn't say Senator Marco Rubio,
thought wow, someone with the same name is a well
known senator. Well, it turned out to be one and
the same. We got to know Marco and his wife
Jeannette their invitation, went to Washington, DC, and met a
lot of his very interesting friends like Trey Goudi and
Tim Scott and so many others who had strong faith.
(01:18):
What I really loved was how they would study the
Bible together, and their faith motivated and moved them in
so many of their decisions. So I had the unique
honor to just sit down with the Secretary of State
Marco Rubio and talk about his role, his pivotal role
that he is playing in our nation right now, starting
(01:41):
with the release of the hostages, and the great confidence
that the President has placed in him. In fact, President
Trump just said of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he
is the greatest Secretary of State in American history. That's
quite a compliment, and I believe we'll deserve. So you're
going to see perhaps the side of the Secretary you
(02:03):
have not seen before, to talk about all kinds of
things about his life, about his faith, about how his
faith influences what he does, and much more. So join
me now for this special sit down talk with Secretary
of State Marco Rubio. Mister Secretary, thanks for thank you
(02:26):
taking the time to talk a little bit, and congratulations
on this incredible historic achievement of finally getting the hostages freed.
And I was watching on television when the President at
the Knesset and you were there with him in Israel,
said of you that you're the greatest Secretary of State
(02:46):
in history went through your mind when you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Want, Well, look, the President's great about that stuff, and
I'm grateful to him, But really the credit for that
deal and some ma of the other things belongs with him.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I mean, he did things.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And I've said this, I've sort of alluded to it.
Maybe one day the story will be told. One day
history will provide the details of how this came about
and how this is possible. But I assure you the
President did some extraordinary things that he had to do
to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And then we had a great team on the ground
over there.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I mean, Steve Woodcoff and Jared Kushner deserve a tremendous
amount of credit for sort of carrying out and executing
on the President's plan with regards to this, And obviously
I'm blessed and grateful to be a part of it.
And you know, over time, and perhaps you've had the
chance to do this too, we've met a lot of
those families. A lot of those families that we saw
the videos are people we've met with four or five
six times. In the depths of this, there were months
(03:33):
where frankly I doubted whether they were ever going to
see their loved ones again. I mean, it was a
real question about whatever was going to happen. So to
be able to watch video of these people that I've
met with some of them as recently as six days
before they were here in Washington on the seventh of October.
To be able to see those people on television reuniting
with their loved ones just six days later was It's
(03:53):
one of those things that I think you can serve
in a place like this for a very long time,
and few people get a chance to be a part
of a day as historic as that. Now, that said,
there's a lot of work to be done to sustain this,
but the one thing that's irreversible is that those hostages
are back with their families.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We were in Israel not long ago, and we raised
money to buy a bulletproof ambulance to get to the
state of Israel, because he says it all, they need
a bulletproof ambulance, effectively a tink that brings medical care
for people. And I met one of the mothers of
the hostages and the anguish and her faith, and I
(04:29):
pray and trust that her son was one of the ones.
I finally did get released. We met over ten years
ago and we were at a couple's conference and someone
came up to me and said, Marco Rubio it's here
and wants to meet you. I said, wait, you mean
Senator Marco Rubio. Well, I'd love to meet him. And
then we met you and your wonderful, wonderful wife, Jeanette.
(04:49):
We got to know each other, and what so impressed
me was that you were taking and actually it's a
long flight from.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Florida to w but I went twice two years in
a row.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That's true, and it was so great just to see
you there because that says a lot about you that
your marriage matters to you. Yeah, you would take that
time to be with your wife and his strength in
your own marriage. And your wife and my wife are
having tea right now and Cathying. My wife texts with Jinnett,
your wife all the time, and she told us something
(05:22):
really amazing about you, and that you know you're always
going to get insight intel from the wives, right, but
that when you got up at Charlie Kirk's memorial service
and you gave what I thought was a stunning talk.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
One of the things he wants us to take away
from this, from all of this is the following his
deep belief that we were all created, every single one
of us, before the beginning of time, by the hands
of the God of the universe and all powerful God,
who loved us and created us for the purpose of
living with him in eternity. But then sin entered the
(05:58):
world and separated us.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
From our creator.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And so God took on the form of a man
and came down and lived among us, and he suffered
like men, and he died like a man. But on
the third day he rose unlike any mortal man.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And then, and to prove any.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Doubters wrong, he ate with his disciples so they could see,
and they touched his wounds. He didn't rise as a
ghost or as a spirit, but his flesh.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And then he rose to the heaven.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But he promised he would return, and he will. And
when he returns, because he took on that death, because
he carried that cross, we were freed from the sin
that separated.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Us from him.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And when he returns, there will be a new heaven
and a new earth, and we will all be together,
and we are going to have a great reunion there
again with Charlie and all the people we loved.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thank you, and God bless you.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
In fact, I thought you did a better job presenting
the Gospel than some creatures i've heard. It was theologically accurate,
it was passionate, and it was also understandable, and we
were so impressed, like that was such a great moment.
And then Jeannette told Kathy that you had no notes
when you kind of did that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, it works out better that way sometimes, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So what happens when you don't write things out is
you might forget to say something. But I think what
you lose sometimes is sort of the authenticity of it.
There are speeches you have to give that are written,
and often I'll do an outline. They're just notes of reminders,
but I think these things always come best from the heart.
I want to go back to something you mentioned about marriage,
because I know it's a topic. It's interesting. The other
day I heard someone say this, and it's absolutely true.
(07:39):
If you look at the Bible repeatedly in the Gospels,
were and even in the Old Testament, when it describes
God's love for his people, it's always discussed in marital terms.
It's never described as a parent's love for a child.
It's almost described the bridegroom, and so it tells you
the importance that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Marriage has on to God.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
How in many cases, you know, marriages in fact a
sacramental union that really reflects God's love for people. So
that said, you know, it's as everyone knows who's been
married in life, it's a vocation. It's a job, but
it is the most important job I'll ever have. It's more,
it's more important than being a parent. It's actually related
to it, but it's even more. The best gift that
(08:18):
parents can give their children is a sort of the
teamwork of a man and a woman working together to
raise a child. And back to the point you made
on the on the speech and so forth. You know,
I think one of the things that were unique about
Charlie is he was both. He was he really, I mean,
people consider him to be a political and he was
involved in American politics.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
But his mission, I felt, his ministry.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Really in many cases, which much deeper than just politics.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It was a call to.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
The reinvigoration of the society of all the things we know,
that work, of all the things we know are good, right,
and not to force it upon anybody, but I thought
in many ways. That's what his mission was really geared towards,
and it had political aspects to it, but I thought
what the work he did went far beyond just simple politics,
from partisan perspective or anything like that. So I felt
(09:08):
that was an important opportunity to talk about that as well,
because I did get to know Charlie quite well, and
in fact, I've just been exchanging text message with him
five days before he died. He had just recently he
was either in South Korea or returning from South Korea,
and is very concerned about some of the things that
are happening to churches inside of South Korea right now,
(09:28):
and so we were going to talk about that the
next time we got together, and unfortunately that that.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Conversation won't happen. But yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It was, and that memorialbout it was an amazing situation
there with a number of.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
One hundred million people watched it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It was unreal.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
H So, you know, coming back to marriage, I mean,
you can almost take every social ill in America today
and directly related to the breakdown of the family and
specifically to a lack of fathers. I've looked at statistics
of people who are incarcerated, people who turned to drugs,
girls who get pregnant outside of wedlock. The list goes on.
(10:05):
In an almost every instance, they come from a broken
home and specifically they had no father growing up. I've
heard it said that a nation can survive a family
can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive
without the family.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, I think the important point to note is that
it is a nation. But what is the what are
the atoms? What is the basic structures of the structural
blocks of a society and of a country, And if
you begin to think about what it is, it's actually
communities built by families and homes. So I always tell
people the most important thing that happens in our country
is not what happens in the White House, is what
happens in your house.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So that's an example of it too.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so if you think about what composes a nation
in a society, it basically is community, which is composed
of families, which is obviously composed of homes, and it
is you know, the family in an ideal setting is
the first government, it's the first school, it's the first church,
it is the foundational to everything. Now does that mean
that someone who comes from a broken home or someone
who comes from a dysfunctional family can't be successful.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Of course, it doesn't mean that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Does that mean that there are some very courageous single parents,
particularly single women, that are out there. Of single mothers
that are raising their children. It's extraordinary, and I think
it calls an obligation to be helpful to them and
understand that the mission they have is so difficult. In
many cases, they'll be the ones that tell you how
hard it is. So some amazing stories out there, and
some heroic women, in particular, I say women. There are
(11:26):
obviously men that have done this, but you run into
a lot of women that have had to raise children
on their own, and.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's a tough deal.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But we know this the ideal setting, the one that history,
thousands of years of collective human history teaches us, and
even in our own country, the most effective way to
raise children is in a home in which a loving
mother and father are doing it together, although in some circumstances,
unfortunately that's not possible for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Well, my mom was married, didn't divorce seven times. I
never had a father growing up, but when I became
a Christian, I found father figures. I found mentors, older
men who were godly who could fill that role in
my life. And speaking about extended family, your grandfather played
a major role in influencing you to kind of follow
a political course, didn't he well?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And I guess the sense is he inspired. Probably.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I think we're all born with natural interests and inclinations.
So obviously I had some natural interest in government history
things of this nature.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
At a very early age.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
What I had was.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The blessing of a grandfather, my mother's father, who lived
with us for much of my life until he passed
away I was about thirteen, who spent a lot of
time sort of feeding that spark. And so I think
in life, if you can find you know, there are
a lot of things that people love to do but
they're not good at it, and that's called the hobby.
And then there are things that we are good at
but we don't like, and that's always going to feel
(12:47):
like work. And then there are things you love and
you're good at and that's where you found your calling,
and that depends on who you are what that is,
And sometimes it's something that makes a lot of money,
and sometimes it's something that makes a great impact, and
sometimes it's just your mission you're calling in life, because
that's how God made you. And I think in this
particular case, I had a natural interest had from a
young age someone that helped feed it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And I don't want to mislead people.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
When I was sixteen and seventeen and eighteen years of age,
government and politics was not the leading feature of my
life in terms of what I was thinking about or
interested in, but I always followed it, especially if it
was topical like during an election in nineteen eighty eight
or what have you. And my grandfather helped fuel and
feed that because he was someone that loved He had
read a lot. He had been disabled as a young
(13:31):
child by polio. He was one of multiple children, over
a dozen children that lived in a family in rural Cuba,
a farming family. So he's the only one that couldn't
work labor, you know, couldn't provide labor.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So he was actually the.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
One that went to school, learned how to read, and
ultimately became what's called elector, someone who would sit in
the front of the cigar rolling factories in Cuba, and
while the workers rolled cigars, they'd hire someone to sit
in the front and read to the workers. First they'd
read the newspapers, then they'd read a novel. So he
was very well read because of that, and sort of
fed that. And by the way, I think is a
(14:03):
testament to the impact grandparents have on the lives of
young people as well.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They're also a treasure.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, very much so. And so as you. When I
first met you, you were a senator. Now you're the
Secretary of State. And I can't even imagine the kind
of information you're exposed to and the things that could
cause great alarm and the things that could cause fear.
And I don't know if you deal with things that
(14:30):
keep you up at night, But how do you process that?
And maybe are the passage of passages of scripture you
turn to to help put yourself in a place of
trusting in God, or how you cope with all of that?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, I think first of all, Erica Kirk yesterday had
some pretty powerful lines at the memorial services. She talked
about how Charlie lived free of fear. I think fear
is an enemy. It's a paralytic it almost so, I
think fear is the wrong terminology. Certainly, we're all worry,
we all have things to worry about. Here's what I
would say for Christianity and particu of all the faiths
(15:06):
in the world. And I'm not pre judging or criticizing anybody,
but of all the faiths in the world, the ones
who should never live in fear or the ones who
should never live in worry, that becomes paralyzing our Christians
because we know.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
How it ends.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I always say this to people all the time, you know,
and it reminds me a little bit of like you
watch a scary movie. You've seen it ten times, you
know how it ends, you know that the lead character survives,
but nonetheless you still get nervous every time you see it,
even though you know what the outcome of it's going
to be. And I think that's our story, right, the
story that we know that at the end of time
there'll be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and
that Jesus will return. We also know that between now
(15:40):
and then they'll come a period of great tribulation, of
great challenges. The world's never been free of them, but
this will be specifically extra and so we already know that,
and so for us to somehow, I think what's for
some to somehow aspire to live in a world free
of problems and free of challenges and free of worry
is not realistic.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's also not biblical. It's not true to our faith.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And so but in the end, I always sort of
remind people of the Christian faith, like, of all the
people in the world that shouldn't be that anxious about
the future, it should be us, especially when it comes
to global events. Because we know how the movie ends.
We know how the story ends. We don't know when
it ends. We can't detell exactly how that's going to
play out, but we know generally the thematic of it
and the thematic of its victory and the restoration of
(16:25):
what we should have been from the very beginning. And
that's the most important thing to tell everybody. We were
not Death is not a natural it's natural because it
entered into the world through sin.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
But we were never meant to die. We were not
created to die.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And all that entered the world because of death, and
now we're in a process of sort of overcoming that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Jesus did that, and now we're in.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
The process as mortals as a result of the consequence
of sin, of living through that. But we know how
the story ends, so we should be so it helps
manage That's a key way that I think faith.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I think if the secretary of state thing doesn't work out,
you can consider being a pastor.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
It's much harder than being secretary of state, I think.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
But you know, listening to talk about the things it
is surprising and very encouraging for a man in your
position to believe. And you mentioned this at Charlie's memorial service.
You not only talk about the death of Christ's resurrection,
you talked about the return of Christ and you just
talked about it again. And you know the Bible, there's
(17:23):
what we call prophetic events, signs of the times that
tell us Jesus Christ is coming back again. You're more
privy to information than probably anyone out there, apart from
the President of course and members of his cabinet. But
do you see things happening in our world right now
that meek You say, wow, I believe that Christ could
be coming back very soon.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, I'm sure I do.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I mean in the sense that, but I also believe
that if you look at the two thousand years of Christianity,
every generation is they believe they lived in the end times.
They couldn't imagine things getting any worse than they were.
I imagine if you lived in the nineteen forties and
saw the growth of Nazi Germany and particularly early on
the progress that they had made and the success as
(18:05):
they were having in the battlefield, that was a very
scary time.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So I think it's almost a trap.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
We're basically told that you know, whether it's death or
the Second Coming, or come as a thief in the night.
I mean, people will be out there basically doing normal
life activities. So rather than try to predict it or
anticipate it, I think you just sort of understand that's
how the story ends, and in the meantime, this is
what we're called to do to live our faith.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
One hundred percent. I agree with that. I've said that
I'm going to get to Heaven and maybe through a
taxi or an uber I'm going to get there, So
it doesn't matter. I just you have that hope that
you're going to be with Christ. But we just went
to the Holocaust Museum, and I've been to yad Vishem
in Israel. Let's say, sure you have been as well,
but it's just so stunning to see something like that
happen in relatively modern times, and yet we see the
(18:52):
rise of anti Semitism around the world today, especially among
young people, and especially on college campuses, even Ivy League universities.
Why a return of anti Semitists.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, there's a lot of factors to deconstruct there. I'm
not sure I'm an expert at explaining all of it.
I can tell you that it is an ancient poison.
It's one of the oldest hatreds in the world, and
it's cost tremendous harm repeatedly throughout history. It's also been
the story of the Jewish people of the challenges that
we know they have faced from the very beginning, despite
(19:25):
God's covenant, and certainly, you know, even seventy a d
you know, the destruction of the temple and the scattering
of the people. So but in more modern times, obviously
the Holocaust brings to mind sort of the worst of it,
sort of in an era that we can see. And
then October seventh, which is the stunning It was the
deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. So I
(19:46):
think it puts us on guard very much to understand that.
I think hatred, unfortunately is part of the fallen human condition,
but somehow anti Semitism is a unique, enduring form of hatred.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
That has repeated itself.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
In every generation, some more pronounced than others, but certainly
the Holocaust being the worst, then October seventh being right
there next to it in terms of what happened in
a single day, and I think it puts us on
guard and realizing it. I think some of what's happened
in modern times, unfortunately is you've seen the sort of
contemporary times has been the sort of melding of this
(20:20):
anti they call themselves anti colonial, anti capitalist, anti Western
sentiment that latches on to key issues, and they latched
onto the situation in.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Gaza as the latest example.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
They view Israel and by extension, the Jewish people, as
they say it openly, as some sort of colonial capitalist
invaders that occupied a land that didn't belong to them,
that they in many cases making a historic arguments about
how the Jewish people had never had an enduring presence in.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That land, which we know is not true.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So I think it's latched onto it, and it's a
globalized movement, and I think it's sick and destructive and
should be rejected in all its forms very true.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
And then the interest among so many young people in
socialism and communism. I mean your family, of course came
from Quba communist country. Why this interest in communism? Do
you think that so many of these young people even
fully understand what any of these things mean. When they
call people fascists Nazis and they are drawn to communism
(21:19):
and socialism, what is going on?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Well, it's part of what actually talking about Charlie Kirk,
It's part of the things that he was confronting on campuses,
and I thought he did it in a very effective way,
which is that he would engage people in debate and
force them to justify they understand that in many of
these cases, these beliefs that some people adopt about socialism,
about communism in particular, are never challenged. They're not challenging
(21:43):
At the university setting. It begins with your professor sort
of pushing this on you, and then there really aren't
forms available on that can be challenged. So I do
think it's a combination. I think academia has played a
big part in this. Academia has become a magnet and
there's always been to be clear, there's always been crazy
professors there's always been people that are out of whack
and how they think about certain things. I don't think
(22:04):
it had been as institutional as it's been over the
last thirty or forty years. And you know, you've now
produced multiple generations of young Americans that have gone through
this system, particularly pronounce in our most elite schools. People
leave these most elite schools with that level of indoctrination,
and in twenty years they wind up in positions of
authority and power. And so I think we're now beginning
to see the ramifications of that. In many cases they
(22:25):
go back and become the crazy professors, except there's a
lot more of them. Sometimes they go back and become administrators.
And so that needs to be challenged because the purpose
of the university is to learn, and you learn by
being exposed and being challenged in your beliefs, not by indoctrination.
There's a big difference between education and indoctrination. So I
think there's some consequence of that that we're seeing play out.
And I want to say it's not just a US phenomena.
(22:46):
It's a Western phenomenon that's played out in multiple places
around the world. But I also see there's a legitimate
pushback happening now. And I think that's what Charlie Kirk
as much as anything else did is he challenged young
people to question these things that were being taught, and
in many cases, you know, engaged in debate in front
of them with people he disagreed with, as the most
(23:06):
effective way of poking.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Holes in the argument of the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
You're very outfront about your faith when you were senator,
at one point you were texting a passage of scripture
every day.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, on the old Twitter now known as that Yes, that's.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Right, and you would do it, I think very early
in the morning, right, Like what time do you wake
up in the morning.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Depends on the day, It depends on the time zone.
If we're traveling, you know, we're now this kind of
I'm generally an earlier riser than other people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Honey, would just all these time zones will keep your
wits about you.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
It depends on where you're going. You generally try to
it depends on you're going to be there. So we
just did a very quick trip to Israel, Egypt and back.
So you didn't want to mess with the time because
you're going to be back.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
The next day, you just stayed in an American time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You kind of just did it and you got You know,
the President doesn't very much sleep.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Very I was on his plane. He doesn't really sleep.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Is there a place for you to sleep on that plane? Well?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, except you know, but not comfortably, you know. And
I'm not a great sleeper to begin with, like the
other people that can sit in a chair and just
fall a seat for fifteen minutes and they wake up.
That's not my forte. But if it's a one day thing,
you can handle it, you know. I think if it
extends now, if you're going somewhere around the world, or
the twelve hour time difference, I try to at least
cut that in half and maybe you know, a day
(24:16):
or two ahead of time, fall asleep, if possible, six
hours earlier. So your body guy, But you don't know.
You just got to just you know, fight through it.
And usually the first day is not as bad. It's
the second or third day where it starts to hit
you a little bit so, but you work through it.
It's asn't been too bad.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Years ago, I flew to Australia, which, as you know,
it's like I'm fifteen hour flight from LA and I
got up the plane and I had a speaking engagement
and I drank three espressos right before I spoke, And
as I got up to speak, I felt like I
was in an altered state of consciousness. What I was
seeing made no sense to me. And I just said
to myself, your mind was right when you wrote the notes.
(24:53):
Read the notes, and don't add lib it was so bad,
But it is.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It takes a little bit of adjusting to do. And
there's and I think some people are more affected by
it than others. Like I said, I'm fortunate I've never
really had like bad, bad jet lag. I mean, there's
been times where it's two in the afternoon somewhere, but
it's two in the morning, and so your body's telling
you need to be sleeping right now. But we fight
through it, and that's why God invented caffeine.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Now, you you've made sacrifices or for your faith. I'm
you stood up for your faith. Has it ever cost
you politically? Do you think or has it not affected you?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I don't know if it has or has it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
To be honest with you, I'm not I can't give
you an example of what I thought.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So I think with you, it's so beautifully integrated into
your life and everything that you say and do well, But.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
The Gospel's clear you'll be hated for it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yes, So, I mean, I think people that understand, people
that go into this understanding that ours is the faith
of the Cross. It's not the faith of winning the lottery.
And there's nothing wrong with walth, there's nothing wrong with success,
there's nothing wrong with happiness.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But I think it's a misunderstanding of Christianity.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Believe that it's that it leads to happiness and prosperity.
These are things that God may bless you with. But
our faith is the faith of the Cross. And in fact,
if you look at the era of Christianity, where Christianity
has been strongest and most vibrant is when it's countercultural.
When it's been strong and the most vibrant is when
it's been oppressed. Now, I don't seek oppression, We don't
seek to uh to be you hated, but it's going
(26:20):
to happen. And once you understand that, and it's and
in some cases it's not just hatred, it's a special
kind of anger that you see that some people adopt
as a result of your faith. But I can't say
it's necessarily led to a sacrifice, or its hurt me
or harm me politically. But it really wouldn't matter. I mean,
there might be some issues that I believe strongly about
when I was in political office.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Now you know an.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Executive os that, but i'd I said, I'd rather lose
an election than be wrong on those issues in the
public stage.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
You once said that there's never been a nation like
the United States. It begins with the principles of our
founding documents, principles that recognize our rights come from God,
not government. And you see America as unique. I mean,
I would say, and I'm sure you would agree, but
I believe America is the greatest nation in the world today.
(27:12):
We have our flaws, we have our shortcomings, but there's
no place like America. Do you agree with that? And
it's so white?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well, first of all, America is not a government.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I think that's the mistake people make is they think
America is a government. We have a government, but America
is a nation, and a nation, as I said earlier,
is a society made up of communities. This is really
where change matters, where change happens and communities are made.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Up of families, and so that's the key. And if
that breaks down at the.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Family level, and you can't have community, and if community
breaks down, then you really aren't a nation per se.
So to me, that's always been fundamental and important. We're
not a government. We have a government, but we're not
a government. The American story is special and unique because
it is founded on a very powerful principle which even
today is not largely accepted in much of the world,
but certainly when those words were written, we're alien to
(27:57):
most people. The idea for almost everyone that's ever existed,
they were told that you don't have any rights. To
the extent you have them, it's because they've been given
to you by your lead leaders. Your rights or whatever
your leaders say you have, and largely your rights or
whatever you're able to belong to the people with the
most weapons, who can win the war. And the notion
that somehow, no, no, your rights don't come from the law,
they don't come from the government, they don't come from
(28:18):
your leaders. Your rights come from your creator, and the
job of government is to protect your rights, not to
decide them or to bestow them. That's a very unique thought,
and that's a very unique belief and it's a foundational
principle of the country. Have we always lived up to
that belief. No, because it's a human institution. Right at
the end of the day, anything that's a human institution
will bring with it the flaws of humanity.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
But I also think one of the great things about
the American.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Story is that every injustice, every great cause in American
history has been a demand to fulfill our pounding principles,
not a revolution against our founding principles. The reason why
slavery could not survive in America is because it violated
our founding principles. The reason why women vote is because
it violated our founding principles. Every single one of the
great causes in American history has been a demand that
(29:03):
we live up to the principles of our founding beautiful.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Okay, So closing lightning round weird questions You've probably never
been asked, but your friend Greg is going to ask you. Okay,
So what's your favorite food? Like when you like go
to comfort food, what do you order?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Chicken parmesan or a pizza of every I mean a
good pizza, you know, Yeah, I just like that stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And pizza too.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah, Like, do.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
You have a favorite movie of all timer? Maybe a
top three or four movies?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, you know, I like all the I don't know
about Godfather three was okay.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I mean if it was if they had only made
a Godfather three, people wouldn't say a nice way. But
I think Godfather too, followed by Godfather one. I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It's not the most family friendly thing, but it's such
a fascinating.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Story story of a family.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
It is a story of a family. It is you know,
it's one of my favorites too. It's very well done.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
But one and two, Yes, this is not my list.
So what is your favorite book? I know you read
the Bible all the time, so we'll exclude that. So
is there a book that's profoundly moved you or you
go back to and read again and again.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, there's a couple books out there that I
think are very fascinating. The Obstacle is the Way, But
I think it's Ryan Holliday, if I'm not mistaken, And
it tells the story about how many of the great
achievements in human history were people that had failed a
thousand times before and they finally got it. Right, So
that was one, and then autobiographies. I've read multiple autobiographies
about Lincoln, about Churchill.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I think you learned a lot about.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The not autobiographies biographies about from Lincoln, about Churchill, about
other I actually read one. I don't remember exactly who
the author was. It was about Eisenhower. President Eisenhower, well,
I think, in hindsight, is probably an underestimated president. He
wasn't the probably the flashiest and most remembered, but I
think was a very foundational figure. I mean, the interstate
highway system in the United States is an example, and
(30:48):
things of this nature.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
But nowadays I wish I could read more.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But everything I reader, like memos and decision points and
letters and.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Things of this nature.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I got to get back to that, you know, again
going back to Charlie Kirk, because we just came from that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
He was a very big reader.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
He consumed about one hundred books or more a year,
mostly an audio version because it was hard to and
I do think people should read more, and I encourage
him to do so. For a time, I read so
much I lost my eyesight. As I was telling you
before it went on the air. Well, I don't know,
I blame reading for eroding my reading vision.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So like, well, you look back at the president's in
American history. I know you love and appreciate President Trump,
so will exclude him. Who are some of your favorite
US presidents?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
You know what, We've been blessed as a country. I
made this observation the other day. I think God has
bestowed upon us in different times in our history the
right person for the right time, and so I think
you can go back and find multiple examples of that.
I think President Trump is the right person for this time.
He is achieving things and is doing things as president
that you wouldn't get in an orthodox type presidency. And
(31:51):
I think it's to be honest with you, I think
that he is far and it was very effective in
his first term when I was in the Senate. And
I'm not saying it just because I'm part of the administration,
but this administration, the second Trump term, I think he's
going to achieve things because he challenges what people think
is possible. People tell him is impossible, He doesn't accept that,
and he works through it in a way.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That almost like a red kat and runt of a bull.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
With absolutely I look back at Reagan right and he
was the right person for the right time. When Row
Reagan took office in nineteen eighty, the idea, the notion
that the Soviet Union would collapse.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And disappear, people thought was that's just not possible.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
I mean, we have to figure out how to coexist
and accept it because Soviet Union's not going anywhere. And
about a year after he'd been out of office, the
Soviet Union, two years after being out of a silvit
union was gone. And so I think you go all
the way back to Lincoln as an example.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
We've raised him.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Earlier, and he had a combination of his temperament and
life experience positioned him to lead us through Civil War
in a way that perhaps some other leader would not
have been able to do so in that period of time.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And even in our founding with George Washington.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Those are all the ones that I chose, well, Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, Trump,
and I also really liked Teddy where it was about too.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
You know, yeah, I don't know as much about Teddy Roosevelt.
A I wish I know about him, but I don't
have that. But I even with Washington was so unique
because you know, a new, brand new country you put
the wrong person as your first president, and you could
wind up with somebody who's there for twenty years and
appoints himself king. In fact, there are people that wanted
him to be named the king, and he was. Not
only did he serve, but he did so reluctantly for lack.
(33:24):
You know, he didn't do it enthusiastically, but he didn't
want to be president. He didn't fight that war because
he wanted to be the leader of a country. So
from our very inception, from the very beginning, I thought,
we've been very blessed in that regard. And there are others,
you know, I know, not of my party, but I
think and perhaps some of the things he did on
their economy were not things I would have agreed with.
But I think FDR deserves credit for having guided our
(33:45):
country through a very delicate time leading into World War Two,
where there are a.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Lot of people Up until the eve of.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Pearl Harbor, he knew what was coming, he knew the
gathering storm, and he had to prepare our country for
war while balancing the fact that a large majority of
Americans had no interest in another European war.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
How would you like to be remembered. What would you
like to be known for. You mentioned the importance of
your family, of course, the important positions you've held, but
what things would sum up your life? Well, I'd like
people to remember.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I at fifty four, I still don't think too much
about that yet. I think ultimately there's two ways. How
I'd like to be remembered professionally as someone who made
a difference and had an impact and obviously had the
opportunity to do that in the United States Center representing Florida,
and now this new opportunity under President Trump, that I
was effective at the job that I was given and
that we made an impact, that we made a difference.
(34:38):
There's really only one reason to do this, and that
is to be able to make a difference and have
an impact. I think as a person, I'd like to
be remembered to someone, you know, who was a good
husband and a good father, and who tried the best
he could and perfectly to live out the teachings and
tenants of his faith and to model that behavior as
much as anything else.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
And that's an ongoing project. You know.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
That's the one thing about life is you can blow
it all in one moment. It's a daily reminder of
how difficult it is to walk on that path. But
when it's all said and done, I think we were
all created for a purpose and a reason, and we
spend if we're blessed, a long time, if we're not blessed,
the shorter amount of time, trying to figure out why
was I creator? What was the purpose of my life?
(35:18):
And then you hope at the end we don't fully
understand it. It's one of the great mysteries of our faith.
But in the end, you hope that when you come
face to face with your creator, you'll say.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
You know, well done.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
You walk the path that I had created you for imperfectly,
because he knows we're imperfect.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
I think that God has raised you up for this
moment to do exactly what you're doing. And I would
like to pray for you if I could right now. Father,
I want to thank you for Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
and I thank you for raising him up for such
a time as this. Continue to give him wisdom and
(35:52):
direction to do the right thing, say the right thing
at the right time. Protect him, Lord, watch over him,
watch over his family, keep his health strong in me,
he stay very close to you. You and we're so
thankful for the way you're using him and will continue
to use him in the days ahead. Bless this administration,
(36:13):
blessed President Trump, and bless the United States of America.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen, Thank you again,
Thanks high pleasure. You know, I've had the opportunity to
interview some pretty amazing people over the years, from rock
stars to movie stars, to pastors to politicians, and these
(36:36):
are people that influence others. And in my interview that
I just did with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we
talked about presidents. He works directly under President Trump. We
talked about other presidents that impacted our nation and profound ways,
from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan to
(37:00):
Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the
United States dates of America. Why was Lincoln the great president? Well,
he had the most humble origins imaginable literally born in
a log cabin, he received little to no education, but
he was a voracious student and loved to read and learn.
(37:23):
And of course he unified the United States. America was
falling apart, and so he unified our nation. Then he
freed the slaves, and most significantly, President Lincoln paid the
ultimate price. He was assassinated in the Ford Theater at
the conclusion of the Civil War. But his words still
(37:47):
impact us today. And one of the things that motivated
President Abraham Lincoln was his faith in God, his belief
in the Bible, his trust in Christ, as we have
seen in our interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
as we also saw in my interview with Speaker of
(38:09):
the House Mike Johnson and so many others in Washington
today who are speaking openly about their faith. I love
how Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that, yes, there
is a price to pay for being a Christian, but
it's a price well worth pain to stand up for Christ.
(38:29):
And I'm thankful for men of God in elected office.
You know, the Bible says when the righteous rule, the
people rejoice, and we should all remember this when it
comes time to vote. Find candidates that are godly, find
candidates that hold to biblical values and have a biblical worldview,
(38:51):
and everything will be better in our nation. Oh it
won't be perfect, it never is, but it can be
a lot better than when people are godless and are
going contrary to what the Word of God says. Many
are today doing on the far left. So I thank
God that the Lord has placed Marco Rubio in this
(39:13):
place of influence as their Secretary of State, and it
was a real honor to talk to him today
Life, Audio, What are the atoms?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
What is the basic structures of structural blocks of a
society and of a country, And if you begin to
think about what it is, it's actually communities built by
families and homes. So I always tell people the most
important thing that happens in our country is not what
happens in the White House, is what happens in your house.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Greg Glory. Here in our nation's capital, Washington, d C.
And I'm in the State Department, and it is directed
by our Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. And so I
met Secretary of Rubio over ten years ago when he
was the Senator Rubio, and he came to a couple's
comforts I was speaking at and someone said, would you
(00:55):
like to meet Marco Rubio. They didn't say Senator Marco Rubio,
thought wow, someone with the same name is a well
known senator. Well, it turned out to be one and
the same. We got to know Marco and his wife
Jeannette their invitation, went to Washington, DC, and met a
lot of his very interesting friends like Trey Goudi and
Tim Scott and so many others who had strong faith.
(01:18):
What I really loved was how they would study the
Bible together, and their faith motivated and moved them in
so many of their decisions. So I had the unique
honor to just sit down with the Secretary of State
Marco Rubio and talk about his role, his pivotal role
that he is playing in our nation right now, starting
(01:41):
with the release of the hostages, and the great confidence
that the President has placed in him. In fact, President
Trump just said of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he
is the greatest Secretary of State in American history. That's
quite a compliment, and I believe we'll deserve. So you're
going to see perhaps the side of the Secretary you
(02:03):
have not seen before, to talk about all kinds of
things about his life, about his faith, about how his
faith influences what he does, and much more. So join
me now for this special sit down talk with Secretary
of State Marco Rubio. Mister Secretary, thanks for thank you
(02:26):
taking the time to talk a little bit, and congratulations
on this incredible historic achievement of finally getting the hostages freed.
And I was watching on television when the President at
the Knesset and you were there with him in Israel,
said of you that you're the greatest Secretary of State
(02:46):
in history went through your mind when you.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Want, Well, look, the President's great about that stuff, and
I'm grateful to him, But really the credit for that
deal and some ma of the other things belongs with him.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I mean, he did things.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
And I've said this, I've sort of alluded to it.
Maybe one day the story will be told. One day
history will provide the details of how this came about
and how this is possible. But I assure you the
President did some extraordinary things that he had to do
to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
And then we had a great team on the ground
over there.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
I mean, Steve Woodcoff and Jared Kushner deserve a tremendous
amount of credit for sort of carrying out and executing
on the President's plan with regards to this, And obviously
I'm blessed and grateful to be a part of it.
And you know, over time, and perhaps you've had the
chance to do this too, we've met a lot of
those families. A lot of those families that we saw
the videos are people we've met with four or five
six times. In the depths of this, there were months
(03:33):
where frankly I doubted whether they were ever going to
see their loved ones again. I mean, it was a
real question about whatever was going to happen. So to
be able to watch video of these people that I've
met with some of them as recently as six days
before they were here in Washington on the seventh of October.
To be able to see those people on television reuniting
with their loved ones just six days later was It's
(03:53):
one of those things that I think you can serve
in a place like this for a very long time,
and few people get a chance to be a part
of a day as historic as that. Now, that said,
there's a lot of work to be done to sustain this,
but the one thing that's irreversible is that those hostages
are back with their families.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
We were in Israel not long ago, and we raised
money to buy a bulletproof ambulance to get to the
state of Israel, because he says it all, they need
a bulletproof ambulance, effectively a tink that brings medical care
for people. And I met one of the mothers of
the hostages and the anguish and her faith, and I
(04:29):
pray and trust that her son was one of the ones.
I finally did get released. We met over ten years
ago and we were at a couple's conference and someone
came up to me and said, Marco Rubio it's here
and wants to meet you. I said, wait, you mean
Senator Marco Rubio. Well, I'd love to meet him. And
then we met you and your wonderful, wonderful wife, Jeanette.
(04:49):
We got to know each other, and what so impressed
me was that you were taking and actually it's a
long flight from.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Florida to w but I went twice two years in
a row.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
That's true, and it was so great just to see
you there because that says a lot about you that
your marriage matters to you. Yeah, you would take that
time to be with your wife and his strength in
your own marriage. And your wife and my wife are
having tea right now and Cathying. My wife texts with Jinnett,
your wife all the time, and she told us something
(05:22):
really amazing about you, and that you know you're always
going to get insight intel from the wives, right, but
that when you got up at Charlie Kirk's memorial service
and you gave what I thought was a stunning talk.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
One of the things he wants us to take away
from this, from all of this is the following his
deep belief that we were all created, every single one
of us, before the beginning of time, by the hands
of the God of the universe and all powerful God,
who loved us and created us for the purpose of
living with him in eternity. But then sin entered the
(05:58):
world and separated us.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
From our creator.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
And so God took on the form of a man
and came down and lived among us, and he suffered
like men, and he died like a man. But on
the third day he rose unlike any mortal man.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
And then, and to prove any.
Speaker 4 (06:20):
Doubters wrong, he ate with his disciples so they could see,
and they touched his wounds. He didn't rise as a
ghost or as a spirit, but his flesh.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
And then he rose to the heaven.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
But he promised he would return, and he will. And
when he returns, because he took on that death, because
he carried that cross, we were freed from the sin
that separated.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Us from him.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
And when he returns, there will be a new heaven
and a new earth, and we will all be together,
and we are going to have a great reunion there
again with Charlie and all the people we loved.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Thank you, and God bless you.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
In fact, I thought you did a better job presenting
the Gospel than some creatures i've heard. It was theologically accurate,
it was passionate, and it was also understandable, and we
were so impressed, like that was such a great moment.
And then Jeannette told Kathy that you had no notes
when you kind of did that.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Yeah, it works out better that way sometimes, I think.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So what happens when you don't write things out is
you might forget to say something. But I think what
you lose sometimes is sort of the authenticity of it.
There are speeches you have to give that are written,
and often I'll do an outline. They're just notes of reminders,
but I think these things always come best from the heart.
I want to go back to something you mentioned about marriage,
because I know it's a topic. It's interesting. The other
day I heard someone say this, and it's absolutely true.
(07:39):
If you look at the Bible repeatedly in the Gospels,
were and even in the Old Testament, when it describes
God's love for his people, it's always discussed in marital terms.
It's never described as a parent's love for a child.
It's almost described the bridegroom, and so it tells you
the importance that.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Marriage has on to God.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
How in many cases, you know, marriages in fact a
sacramental union that really reflects God's love for people. So
that said, you know, it's as everyone knows who's been
married in life, it's a vocation. It's a job, but
it is the most important job I'll ever have. It's more,
it's more important than being a parent. It's actually related
to it, but it's even more. The best gift that
(08:18):
parents can give their children is a sort of the
teamwork of a man and a woman working together to
raise a child. And back to the point you made
on the on the speech and so forth. You know,
I think one of the things that were unique about
Charlie is he was both. He was he really, I mean,
people consider him to be a political and he was
involved in American politics.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
But his mission, I felt, his ministry.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Really in many cases, which much deeper than just politics.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
It was a call to.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
The reinvigoration of the society of all the things we know,
that work, of all the things we know are good, right,
and not to force it upon anybody, but I thought
in many ways. That's what his mission was really geared towards,
and it had political aspects to it, but I thought
what the work he did went far beyond just simple politics,
from partisan perspective or anything like that. So I felt
(09:08):
that was an important opportunity to talk about that as well,
because I did get to know Charlie quite well, and
in fact, I've just been exchanging text message with him
five days before he died. He had just recently he
was either in South Korea or returning from South Korea,
and is very concerned about some of the things that
are happening to churches inside of South Korea right now,
(09:28):
and so we were going to talk about that the
next time we got together, and unfortunately that that.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Conversation won't happen. But yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
It was, and that memorialbout it was an amazing situation
there with a number of.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
One hundred million people watched it.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It was unreal.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
H So, you know, coming back to marriage, I mean,
you can almost take every social ill in America today
and directly related to the breakdown of the family and
specifically to a lack of fathers. I've looked at statistics
of people who are incarcerated, people who turned to drugs,
girls who get pregnant outside of wedlock. The list goes on.
(10:05):
In an almost every instance, they come from a broken
home and specifically they had no father growing up. I've
heard it said that a nation can survive a family
can survive without a nation, but a nation cannot survive
without the family.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Well, I think the important point to note is that
it is a nation. But what is the what are
the atoms? What is the basic structures of the structural
blocks of a society and of a country, And if
you begin to think about what it is, it's actually
communities built by families and homes. So I always tell
people the most important thing that happens in our country
is not what happens in the White House, is what
happens in your house.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
So that's an example of it too.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
And so if you think about what composes a nation
in a society, it basically is community, which is composed
of families, which is obviously composed of homes, and it
is you know, the family in an ideal setting is
the first government, it's the first school, it's the first church,
it is the foundational to everything. Now does that mean
that someone who comes from a broken home or someone
who comes from a dysfunctional family can't be successful.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Of course, it doesn't mean that.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Does that mean that there are some very courageous single parents,
particularly single women, that are out there. Of single mothers
that are raising their children. It's extraordinary, and I think
it calls an obligation to be helpful to them and
understand that the mission they have is so difficult. In
many cases, they'll be the ones that tell you how
hard it is. So some amazing stories out there, and
some heroic women, in particular, I say women. There are
(11:26):
obviously men that have done this, but you run into
a lot of women that have had to raise children
on their own, and.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
It's a tough deal.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
But we know this the ideal setting, the one that history,
thousands of years of collective human history teaches us, and
even in our own country, the most effective way to
raise children is in a home in which a loving
mother and father are doing it together, although in some circumstances,
unfortunately that's not possible for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 3 (11:53):
Well, my mom was married, didn't divorce seven times. I
never had a father growing up, but when I became
a Christian, I found father figures. I found mentors, older
men who were godly who could fill that role in
my life. And speaking about extended family, your grandfather played
a major role in influencing you to kind of follow
a political course, didn't he well?
Speaker 1 (12:15):
And I guess the sense is he inspired. Probably.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
I think we're all born with natural interests and inclinations.
So obviously I had some natural interest in government history
things of this nature.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
At a very early age.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
What I had was.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The blessing of a grandfather, my mother's father, who lived
with us for much of my life until he passed
away I was about thirteen, who spent a lot of
time sort of feeding that spark. And so I think
in life, if you can find you know, there are
a lot of things that people love to do but
they're not good at it, and that's called the hobby.
And then there are things that we are good at
but we don't like, and that's always going to feel
(12:47):
like work. And then there are things you love and
you're good at and that's where you found your calling,
and that depends on who you are what that is,
And sometimes it's something that makes a lot of money,
and sometimes it's something that makes a great impact, and
sometimes it's just your mission you're calling in life, because
that's how God made you. And I think in this
particular case, I had a natural interest had from a
young age someone that helped feed it.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And I don't want to mislead people.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
When I was sixteen and seventeen and eighteen years of age,
government and politics was not the leading feature of my
life in terms of what I was thinking about or
interested in, but I always followed it, especially if it
was topical like during an election in nineteen eighty eight
or what have you. And my grandfather helped fuel and
feed that because he was someone that loved He had
read a lot. He had been disabled as a young
(13:31):
child by polio. He was one of multiple children, over
a dozen children that lived in a family in rural Cuba,
a farming family. So he's the only one that couldn't
work labor, you know, couldn't provide labor.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
So he was actually the.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
One that went to school, learned how to read, and
ultimately became what's called elector, someone who would sit in
the front of the cigar rolling factories in Cuba, and
while the workers rolled cigars, they'd hire someone to sit
in the front and read to the workers. First they'd
read the newspapers, then they'd read a novel. So he
was very well read because of that, and sort of
fed that. And by the way, I think is a
(14:03):
testament to the impact grandparents have on the lives of
young people as well.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
They're also a treasure.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
Yeah, very much so. And so as you. When I
first met you, you were a senator. Now you're the
Secretary of State. And I can't even imagine the kind
of information you're exposed to and the things that could
cause great alarm and the things that could cause fear.
And I don't know if you deal with things that
(14:30):
keep you up at night, But how do you process that?
And maybe are the passage of passages of scripture you
turn to to help put yourself in a place of
trusting in God, or how you cope with all of that?
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Well, I think first of all, Erica Kirk yesterday had
some pretty powerful lines at the memorial services. She talked
about how Charlie lived free of fear. I think fear
is an enemy. It's a paralytic it almost so, I
think fear is the wrong terminology. Certainly, we're all worry,
we all have things to worry about. Here's what I
would say for Christianity and particu of all the faiths
(15:06):
in the world. And I'm not pre judging or criticizing anybody,
but of all the faiths in the world, the ones
who should never live in fear or the ones who
should never live in worry, that becomes paralyzing our Christians
because we know.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
How it ends.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
I always say this to people all the time, you know,
and it reminds me a little bit of like you
watch a scary movie. You've seen it ten times, you
know how it ends, you know that the lead character survives,
but nonetheless you still get nervous every time you see it,
even though you know what the outcome of it's going
to be. And I think that's our story, right, the
story that we know that at the end of time
there'll be a new Heaven and a new Earth, and
that Jesus will return. We also know that between now
(15:40):
and then they'll come a period of great tribulation, of
great challenges. The world's never been free of them, but
this will be specifically extra and so we already know that,
and so for us to somehow, I think what's for
some to somehow aspire to live in a world free
of problems and free of challenges and free of worry
is not realistic.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's also not biblical. It's not true to our faith.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
And so but in the end, I always sort of
remind people of the Christian faith, like, of all the
people in the world that shouldn't be that anxious about
the future, it should be us, especially when it comes
to global events. Because we know how the movie ends.
We know how the story ends. We don't know when
it ends. We can't detell exactly how that's going to
play out, but we know generally the thematic of it
and the thematic of its victory and the restoration of
(16:25):
what we should have been from the very beginning. And
that's the most important thing to tell everybody. We were
not Death is not a natural it's natural because it
entered into the world through sin.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
But we were never meant to die. We were not
created to die.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
And all that entered the world because of death, and
now we're in a process of sort of overcoming that.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Jesus did that, and now we're in.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
The process as mortals as a result of the consequence
of sin, of living through that. But we know how
the story ends, so we should be so it helps
manage That's a key way that I think faith.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
I think if the secretary of state thing doesn't work out,
you can consider being a pastor.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
It's much harder than being secretary of state, I think.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
But you know, listening to talk about the things it
is surprising and very encouraging for a man in your
position to believe. And you mentioned this at Charlie's memorial service.
You not only talk about the death of Christ's resurrection,
you talked about the return of Christ and you just
talked about it again. And you know the Bible, there's
(17:23):
what we call prophetic events, signs of the times that
tell us Jesus Christ is coming back again. You're more
privy to information than probably anyone out there, apart from
the President of course and members of his cabinet. But
do you see things happening in our world right now
that meek You say, wow, I believe that Christ could
be coming back very soon.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Well, I'm sure I do.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I mean in the sense that, but I also believe
that if you look at the two thousand years of Christianity,
every generation is they believe they lived in the end times.
They couldn't imagine things getting any worse than they were.
I imagine if you lived in the nineteen forties and
saw the growth of Nazi Germany and particularly early on
the progress that they had made and the success as
(18:05):
they were having in the battlefield, that was a very
scary time.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
So I think it's almost a trap.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
We're basically told that you know, whether it's death or
the Second Coming, or come as a thief in the night.
I mean, people will be out there basically doing normal
life activities. So rather than try to predict it or
anticipate it, I think you just sort of understand that's
how the story ends, and in the meantime, this is
what we're called to do to live our faith.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
One hundred percent. I agree with that. I've said that
I'm going to get to Heaven and maybe through a
taxi or an uber I'm going to get there, So
it doesn't matter. I just you have that hope that
you're going to be with Christ. But we just went
to the Holocaust Museum, and I've been to yad Vishem
in Israel. Let's say, sure you have been as well,
but it's just so stunning to see something like that
happen in relatively modern times, and yet we see the
(18:52):
rise of anti Semitism around the world today, especially among
young people, and especially on college campuses, even Ivy League universities.
Why a return of anti Semitists.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Well, there's a lot of factors to deconstruct there. I'm
not sure I'm an expert at explaining all of it.
I can tell you that it is an ancient poison.
It's one of the oldest hatreds in the world, and
it's cost tremendous harm repeatedly throughout history. It's also been
the story of the Jewish people of the challenges that
we know they have faced from the very beginning, despite
(19:25):
God's covenant, and certainly, you know, even seventy a d
you know, the destruction of the temple and the scattering
of the people. So but in more modern times, obviously
the Holocaust brings to mind sort of the worst of it,
sort of in an era that we can see. And
then October seventh, which is the stunning It was the
deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. So I
(19:46):
think it puts us on guard very much to understand that.
I think hatred, unfortunately is part of the fallen human condition,
but somehow anti Semitism is a unique, enduring form of hatred.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
That has repeated itself.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
In every generation, some more pronounced than others, but certainly
the Holocaust being the worst, then October seventh being right
there next to it in terms of what happened in
a single day, and I think it puts us on
guard and realizing it. I think some of what's happened
in modern times, unfortunately is you've seen the sort of
contemporary times has been the sort of melding of this
(20:20):
anti they call themselves anti colonial, anti capitalist, anti Western
sentiment that latches on to key issues, and they latched
onto the situation in.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Gaza as the latest example.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
They view Israel and by extension, the Jewish people, as
they say it openly, as some sort of colonial capitalist
invaders that occupied a land that didn't belong to them,
that they in many cases making a historic arguments about
how the Jewish people had never had an enduring presence in.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
That land, which we know is not true.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So I think it's latched onto it, and it's a
globalized movement, and I think it's sick and destructive and
should be rejected in all its forms very true.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
And then the interest among so many young people in
socialism and communism. I mean your family, of course came
from Quba communist country. Why this interest in communism? Do
you think that so many of these young people even
fully understand what any of these things mean. When they
call people fascists Nazis and they are drawn to communism
(21:19):
and socialism, what is going on?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Well, it's part of what actually talking about Charlie Kirk,
It's part of the things that he was confronting on campuses,
and I thought he did it in a very effective way,
which is that he would engage people in debate and
force them to justify they understand that in many of
these cases, these beliefs that some people adopt about socialism,
about communism in particular, are never challenged. They're not challenging
(21:43):
At the university setting. It begins with your professor sort
of pushing this on you, and then there really aren't
forms available on that can be challenged. So I do
think it's a combination. I think academia has played a
big part in this. Academia has become a magnet and
there's always been to be clear, there's always been crazy
professors there's always been people that are out of whack
and how they think about certain things. I don't think
(22:04):
it had been as institutional as it's been over the
last thirty or forty years. And you know, you've now
produced multiple generations of young Americans that have gone through
this system, particularly pronounce in our most elite schools. People
leave these most elite schools with that level of indoctrination,
and in twenty years they wind up in positions of
authority and power. And so I think we're now beginning
to see the ramifications of that. In many cases they
(22:25):
go back and become the crazy professors, except there's a
lot more of them. Sometimes they go back and become administrators.
And so that needs to be challenged because the purpose
of the university is to learn, and you learn by
being exposed and being challenged in your beliefs, not by indoctrination.
There's a big difference between education and indoctrination. So I
think there's some consequence of that that we're seeing play out.
And I want to say it's not just a US phenomena.
(22:46):
It's a Western phenomenon that's played out in multiple places
around the world. But I also see there's a legitimate
pushback happening now. And I think that's what Charlie Kirk
as much as anything else did is he challenged young
people to question these things that were being taught, and
in many cases, you know, engaged in debate in front
of them with people he disagreed with, as the most
(23:06):
effective way of poking.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
Holes in the argument of the other side.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
You're very outfront about your faith when you were senator,
at one point you were texting a passage of scripture
every day.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, on the old Twitter now known as that Yes, that's.
Speaker 3 (23:20):
Right, and you would do it, I think very early
in the morning, right, Like what time do you wake
up in the morning.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Depends on the day, It depends on the time zone.
If we're traveling, you know, we're now this kind of
I'm generally an earlier riser than other people.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Honey, would just all these time zones will keep your
wits about you.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
It depends on where you're going. You generally try to
it depends on you're going to be there. So we
just did a very quick trip to Israel, Egypt and back.
So you didn't want to mess with the time because
you're going to be back.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
The next day, you just stayed in an American time.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You kind of just did it and you got You know,
the President doesn't very much sleep.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
Very I was on his plane. He doesn't really sleep.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Is there a place for you to sleep on that plane? Well?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, except you know, but not comfortably, you know. And
I'm not a great sleeper to begin with, like the
other people that can sit in a chair and just
fall a seat for fifteen minutes and they wake up.
That's not my forte. But if it's a one day thing,
you can handle it, you know. I think if it
extends now, if you're going somewhere around the world, or
the twelve hour time difference, I try to at least
cut that in half and maybe you know, a day
(24:16):
or two ahead of time, fall asleep, if possible, six
hours earlier. So your body guy, But you don't know.
You just got to just you know, fight through it.
And usually the first day is not as bad. It's
the second or third day where it starts to hit
you a little bit so, but you work through it.
It's asn't been too bad.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Years ago, I flew to Australia, which, as you know,
it's like I'm fifteen hour flight from LA and I
got up the plane and I had a speaking engagement
and I drank three espressos right before I spoke, And
as I got up to speak, I felt like I
was in an altered state of consciousness. What I was
seeing made no sense to me. And I just said
to myself, your mind was right when you wrote the notes.
(24:53):
Read the notes, and don't add lib it was so bad,
But it is.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It takes a little bit of adjusting to do. And
there's and I think some people are more affected by
it than others. Like I said, I'm fortunate I've never
really had like bad, bad jet lag. I mean, there's
been times where it's two in the afternoon somewhere, but
it's two in the morning, and so your body's telling
you need to be sleeping right now. But we fight
through it, and that's why God invented caffeine.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Now, you you've made sacrifices or for your faith. I'm
you stood up for your faith. Has it ever cost
you politically? Do you think or has it not affected you?
Speaker 1 (25:29):
I don't know if it has or has it.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
To be honest with you, I'm not I can't give
you an example of what I thought.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So I think with you, it's so beautifully integrated into
your life and everything that you say and do well, But.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
The Gospel's clear you'll be hated for it.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Yes, So, I mean, I think people that understand, people
that go into this understanding that ours is the faith
of the Cross. It's not the faith of winning the lottery.
And there's nothing wrong with walth, there's nothing wrong with success,
there's nothing wrong with happiness.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But I think it's a misunderstanding of Christianity.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Believe that it's that it leads to happiness and prosperity.
These are things that God may bless you with. But
our faith is the faith of the Cross. And in fact,
if you look at the era of Christianity, where Christianity
has been strongest and most vibrant is when it's countercultural.
When it's been strong and the most vibrant is when
it's been oppressed. Now, I don't seek oppression, We don't
seek to uh to be you hated, but it's going
(26:20):
to happen. And once you understand that, and it's and
in some cases it's not just hatred, it's a special
kind of anger that you see that some people adopt
as a result of your faith. But I can't say
it's necessarily led to a sacrifice, or its hurt me
or harm me politically. But it really wouldn't matter. I mean,
there might be some issues that I believe strongly about
when I was in political office.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Now you know an.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Executive os that, but i'd I said, I'd rather lose
an election than be wrong on those issues in the
public stage.
Speaker 3 (26:50):
You once said that there's never been a nation like
the United States. It begins with the principles of our
founding documents, principles that recognize our rights come from God,
not government. And you see America as unique. I mean,
I would say, and I'm sure you would agree, but
I believe America is the greatest nation in the world today.
(27:12):
We have our flaws, we have our shortcomings, but there's
no place like America. Do you agree with that? And
it's so white?
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Well, first of all, America is not a government.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
I think that's the mistake people make is they think
America is a government. We have a government, but America
is a nation, and a nation, as I said earlier,
is a society made up of communities. This is really
where change matters, where change happens and communities are made.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Up of families, and so that's the key. And if
that breaks down at the.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Family level, and you can't have community, and if community
breaks down, then you really aren't a nation per se.
So to me, that's always been fundamental and important. We're
not a government. We have a government, but we're not
a government. The American story is special and unique because
it is founded on a very powerful principle which even
today is not largely accepted in much of the world,
but certainly when those words were written, we're alien to
(27:57):
most people. The idea for almost everyone that's ever existed,
they were told that you don't have any rights. To
the extent you have them, it's because they've been given
to you by your lead leaders. Your rights or whatever
your leaders say you have, and largely your rights or
whatever you're able to belong to the people with the
most weapons, who can win the war. And the notion
that somehow, no, no, your rights don't come from the law,
they don't come from the government, they don't come from
(28:18):
your leaders. Your rights come from your creator, and the
job of government is to protect your rights, not to
decide them or to bestow them. That's a very unique thought,
and that's a very unique belief and it's a foundational
principle of the country. Have we always lived up to
that belief. No, because it's a human institution. Right at
the end of the day, anything that's a human institution
will bring with it the flaws of humanity.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
But I also think one of the great things about
the American.
Speaker 2 (28:41):
Story is that every injustice, every great cause in American
history has been a demand to fulfill our pounding principles,
not a revolution against our founding principles. The reason why
slavery could not survive in America is because it violated
our founding principles. The reason why women vote is because
it violated our founding principles. Every single one of the
great causes in American history has been a demand that
(29:03):
we live up to the principles of our founding beautiful.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Okay, So closing lightning round weird questions You've probably never
been asked, but your friend Greg is going to ask you. Okay,
So what's your favorite food? Like when you like go
to comfort food, what do you order?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Chicken parmesan or a pizza of every I mean a
good pizza, you know, Yeah, I just like that stuff.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
And pizza too.
Speaker 1 (29:27):
Yeah, Like, do.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
You have a favorite movie of all timer? Maybe a
top three or four movies?
Speaker 2 (29:31):
Well, you know, I like all the I don't know
about Godfather three was okay.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
I mean if it was if they had only made
a Godfather three, people wouldn't say a nice way. But
I think Godfather too, followed by Godfather one. I get it.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It's not the most family friendly thing, but it's such
a fascinating.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Story story of a family.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
It is a story of a family. It is you know,
it's one of my favorites too. It's very well done.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
But one and two, Yes, this is not my list.
So what is your favorite book? I know you read
the Bible all the time, so we'll exclude that. So
is there a book that's profoundly moved you or you
go back to and read again and again.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
You know, there's a couple books out there that I
think are very fascinating. The Obstacle is the Way, But
I think it's Ryan Holliday, if I'm not mistaken, And
it tells the story about how many of the great
achievements in human history were people that had failed a
thousand times before and they finally got it. Right, So
that was one, and then autobiographies. I've read multiple autobiographies
about Lincoln, about Churchill.
Speaker 1 (30:26):
I think you learned a lot about.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
The not autobiographies biographies about from Lincoln, about Churchill, about
other I actually read one. I don't remember exactly who
the author was. It was about Eisenhower. President Eisenhower, well,
I think, in hindsight, is probably an underestimated president. He
wasn't the probably the flashiest and most remembered, but I
think was a very foundational figure. I mean, the interstate
highway system in the United States is an example, and
(30:48):
things of this nature.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
But nowadays I wish I could read more.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
But everything I reader, like memos and decision points and
letters and.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Things of this nature.
Speaker 2 (30:55):
I got to get back to that, you know, again
going back to Charlie Kirk, because we just came from that.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
He was a very big reader.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
He consumed about one hundred books or more a year,
mostly an audio version because it was hard to and
I do think people should read more, and I encourage
him to do so. For a time, I read so
much I lost my eyesight. As I was telling you
before it went on the air. Well, I don't know,
I blame reading for eroding my reading vision.
Speaker 3 (31:18):
So like, well, you look back at the president's in
American history. I know you love and appreciate President Trump,
so will exclude him. Who are some of your favorite
US presidents?
Speaker 2 (31:29):
You know what, We've been blessed as a country. I
made this observation the other day. I think God has
bestowed upon us in different times in our history the
right person for the right time, and so I think
you can go back and find multiple examples of that.
I think President Trump is the right person for this time.
He is achieving things and is doing things as president
that you wouldn't get in an orthodox type presidency. And
(31:51):
I think it's to be honest with you, I think
that he is far and it was very effective in
his first term when I was in the Senate. And
I'm not saying it just because I'm part of the administration,
but this administration, the second Trump term, I think he's
going to achieve things because he challenges what people think
is possible. People tell him is impossible, He doesn't accept that,
and he works through it in a way.
Speaker 3 (32:11):
That almost like a red kat and runt of a bull.
Speaker 2 (32:13):
With absolutely I look back at Reagan right and he
was the right person for the right time. When Row
Reagan took office in nineteen eighty, the idea, the notion
that the Soviet Union would collapse.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
And disappear, people thought was that's just not possible.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
I mean, we have to figure out how to coexist
and accept it because Soviet Union's not going anywhere. And
about a year after he'd been out of office, the
Soviet Union, two years after being out of a silvit
union was gone. And so I think you go all
the way back to Lincoln as an example.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
We've raised him.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Earlier, and he had a combination of his temperament and
life experience positioned him to lead us through Civil War
in a way that perhaps some other leader would not
have been able to do so in that period of time.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
And even in our founding with George Washington.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
Those are all the ones that I chose, well, Washington, Lincoln, Reagan, Trump,
and I also really liked Teddy where it was about too.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
You know, yeah, I don't know as much about Teddy Roosevelt.
A I wish I know about him, but I don't
have that. But I even with Washington was so unique
because you know, a new, brand new country you put
the wrong person as your first president, and you could
wind up with somebody who's there for twenty years and
appoints himself king. In fact, there are people that wanted
him to be named the king, and he was. Not
only did he serve, but he did so reluctantly for lack.
(33:24):
You know, he didn't do it enthusiastically, but he didn't
want to be president. He didn't fight that war because
he wanted to be the leader of a country. So
from our very inception, from the very beginning, I thought,
we've been very blessed in that regard. And there are others,
you know, I know, not of my party, but I
think and perhaps some of the things he did on
their economy were not things I would have agreed with.
But I think FDR deserves credit for having guided our
(33:45):
country through a very delicate time leading into World War Two,
where there are a.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Lot of people Up until the eve of.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Pearl Harbor, he knew what was coming, he knew the
gathering storm, and he had to prepare our country for
war while balancing the fact that a large majority of
Americans had no interest in another European war.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
How would you like to be remembered. What would you
like to be known for. You mentioned the importance of
your family, of course, the important positions you've held, but
what things would sum up your life? Well, I'd like
people to remember.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
I at fifty four, I still don't think too much
about that yet. I think ultimately there's two ways. How
I'd like to be remembered professionally as someone who made
a difference and had an impact and obviously had the
opportunity to do that in the United States Center representing Florida,
and now this new opportunity under President Trump, that I
was effective at the job that I was given and
that we made an impact, that we made a difference.
(34:38):
There's really only one reason to do this, and that
is to be able to make a difference and have
an impact. I think as a person, I'd like to
be remembered to someone, you know, who was a good
husband and a good father, and who tried the best
he could and perfectly to live out the teachings and
tenants of his faith and to model that behavior as
much as anything else.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
And that's an ongoing project. You know.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
That's the one thing about life is you can blow
it all in one moment. It's a daily reminder of
how difficult it is to walk on that path. But
when it's all said and done, I think we were
all created for a purpose and a reason, and we
spend if we're blessed, a long time, if we're not blessed,
the shorter amount of time, trying to figure out why
was I creator? What was the purpose of my life?
(35:18):
And then you hope at the end we don't fully
understand it. It's one of the great mysteries of our faith.
But in the end, you hope that when you come
face to face with your creator, you'll say.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
You know, well done.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
You walk the path that I had created you for imperfectly,
because he knows we're imperfect.
Speaker 3 (35:32):
I think that God has raised you up for this
moment to do exactly what you're doing. And I would
like to pray for you if I could right now. Father,
I want to thank you for Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
and I thank you for raising him up for such
a time as this. Continue to give him wisdom and
(35:52):
direction to do the right thing, say the right thing
at the right time. Protect him, Lord, watch over him,
watch over his family, keep his health strong in me,
he stay very close to you. You and we're so
thankful for the way you're using him and will continue
to use him in the days ahead. Bless this administration,
(36:13):
blessed President Trump, and bless the United States of America.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen, Thank you again,
Thanks high pleasure. You know, I've had the opportunity to
interview some pretty amazing people over the years, from rock
stars to movie stars, to pastors to politicians, and these
(36:36):
are people that influence others. And in my interview that
I just did with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we
talked about presidents. He works directly under President Trump. We
talked about other presidents that impacted our nation and profound ways,
from George Washington to Theodore Roosevelt to Ronald Reagan to
(37:00):
Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president of the
United States dates of America. Why was Lincoln the great president? Well,
he had the most humble origins imaginable literally born in
a log cabin, he received little to no education, but
he was a voracious student and loved to read and learn.
(37:23):
And of course he unified the United States. America was
falling apart, and so he unified our nation. Then he
freed the slaves, and most significantly, President Lincoln paid the
ultimate price. He was assassinated in the Ford Theater at
the conclusion of the Civil War. But his words still
(37:47):
impact us today. And one of the things that motivated
President Abraham Lincoln was his faith in God, his belief
in the Bible, his trust in Christ, as we have
seen in our interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio,
as we also saw in my interview with Speaker of
(38:09):
the House Mike Johnson and so many others in Washington
today who are speaking openly about their faith. I love
how Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that, yes, there
is a price to pay for being a Christian, but
it's a price well worth pain to stand up for Christ.
(38:29):
And I'm thankful for men of God in elected office.
You know, the Bible says when the righteous rule, the
people rejoice, and we should all remember this when it
comes time to vote. Find candidates that are godly, find
candidates that hold to biblical values and have a biblical worldview,
(38:51):
and everything will be better in our nation. Oh it
won't be perfect, it never is, but it can be
a lot better than when people are godless and are
going contrary to what the Word of God says. Many
are today doing on the far left. So I thank
God that the Lord has placed Marco Rubio in this
(39:13):
place of influence as their Secretary of State, and it
was a real honor to talk to him today
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