February 25, 2025 • 29 mins
Roger welcomes Ari Fleischer, former White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush and an esteemed communication and crisis management leader.
They discuss Fleischer’s firsthand experience of the September 11 attacks while serving as White House Press Secretary, reflecting on the immediate chaos and the key lessons learned in crisis management, particularly the importance of staying calm under pressure. Plus, the modernization of the White House Press Room, the significance of diverse voices in journalism, why supporting Israel aligns with American values, and the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government.
After leaving the White House in 2003, Ari continued to offer valuable insights into the intricacies of government and the media through his company, Fleischer Communications. He’s also a highly sought-after public speaker and a New York Times bestselling author. His latest book “Suppression, Deception, Snobbery, and Bias,” was published in 2022.
Ari will be the keynote speaker at our Annual Conference in Naples, Florida, on March 6-8, 2025.
The Liberty + Leadership Podcast is hosted by TFAS president Roger Ream and produced by Podville Media. If you have a comment or question for the show, please email us at podcast@TFAS.org. To support TFAS and its mission, please visit TFAS.org/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Liberty and Leadership Podcast,
a conversation with TFAS alumni,faculty and friends who are
making an impact.
Today I'm your host, roger Ream.
Today I'm delighted to welcomeAri Fleischer, an esteemed
communication and crisismanagement leader.
Ari was the former White Housepress secretary under President
(00:24):
George W Bush, serving asspokesman during the recount of
the 2000 presidential electionand the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
After leaving the White Housein 2003, ari continued to offer
insight into the complexities ofgovernment and the media
through his company FleischerCommunications.
(00:44):
Ari is also a highlysought-after public speaker and
a New York Times bestsellingauthor.
His latest book is Suppression,deception, snobbery and Bias,
which was published in 2022.
(01:05):
We're also excited that Ari willbe the keynote speaker at our
annual donor conference inNaples, florida, on March 6, 7,
8.
Details for the conference areavailable at tfasorg.
That's tfasorg, ari.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
You got it, roger.
Glad to do this.
Let's jump right into yourexperience in the White House in
2001.
(01:25):
You weren't working for thepresident long before the 9-11
attacks took place.
You were with the presidentthat day, as I recall.
Can you talk about what thatwas like?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we began the day a little bit up the road
from here in Naples.
I was in Sarasota, florida.
The president had arrived therethe night before September 10th
because he was going to read toa group of elementary school
students the next day as part ofhis focus on education.
And as the motorcade pulled upto the Emma Booker Elementary
School, I got a page it was oneof those old-fashioned pagers
(01:58):
and I got a message fromsomebody who worked for me back
at the White House beforesmartphones, before
communications technology likethat that said an airplane's hit
the World Trade Center and myfirst reaction was it had to be
some type of accident.
And then, as President Bush wasin that school reading to the
kids, I got a second pagetelling me a second plane hit
(02:20):
the second World Trade Centertower and I knew at that moment
that it had to be a terroristattack on the United States.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
In the subsequent hours and even days.
What was that like?
You're getting breaking newsand news from the White House
and the government regularly andyou had to then speak to the
American people the president,to speak to the American people.
How was that?
You know, that was not onlyjust stressful, but just really
a tough task to handle.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, starting immediately with that second
page, literally about 30 secondslater, white House Chief of
Staff Andy Card interrupted thepresident, walked into that
school room and did somethingthat I've never seen happen
before at an event.
He stopped.
The president whispered in hisear.
A second plane hit the secondtower.
America is under attack, and Iwatched all that unfold right
(03:10):
before my eyes.
It never even occurred to me tointerrupt the president, and
the president absorbed thatinformation, thought about it
for several minutes and then gotup from his chair, walked into
the classroom.
The press started to shoutquestions and we of course
didn't know anything.
Yet the president was sittingat the school event.
We got into what's called aholding room where there's
secure classified phones.
(03:31):
Everywhere the president goesany president.
There's a room set aside,guarded by the Secret Service,
with secure telephonecommunications inside it, just
in case something goes wrongsomewhere around the world.
We never used it before thatday.
President Bush used it, so hestarts getting updates from
Condi Rice, the NationalSecurity Advisor, and
(03:51):
everybody's now furiouslyworking the phones, trying to
get as much information as wecan.
So we wheeled the TV into thatholding room, so now the
president and the rest of thestaff could see what the
American people were seeing.
Think about for all that timeAmerica is fixed on their TVs.
None of us are watching it,because we're at this event at a
schoolroom in Florida, andquickly it became apparent that
(04:14):
we needed to leave, not finishany more of the event, get on
Air Force One and head back toWashington.
So in the motorcade en route toAir Force One, we got a report
of the third plane hitting thePentagon.
And then we got on Air ForceOne and the plane took off like
a rocket ship.
I've never seen Air Force Onetake off the way it did, and
that's because they had a report, which turned out to be false,
(04:36):
that there was a sniper at theend of the runway.
We take off and start headingback to what we thought would be
Washington, and the SecretService said to the president
it's not safe to go toWashington.
We don't know how many aircraftare in the sky.
We don't know how many planeshave been hijacked.
The last thing we want to do isput Air Force One down at a
known, predictable location likeAndrews Air Force Base.
(04:57):
Now, at that time too, once weboarded the plane, understand
three planes were now down.
First report we got was thatsix aircraft were in the sky,
had not responded to the orderthat was given to all aircraft
to immediately land, so wethought there were still six
missiles up in the sky.
Then we got a report that afourth plane went down near Camp
(05:19):
David.
That was the first report aboutthe plane that went down in
Shanksville, pennsylvania, which, as the crow flies, isn't
terribly far from Camp David,but it had nothing to do with
Camp David.
Yet that's the firstinformation we got about that
fourth aircraft.
So a debate broke out on AirForce One do we return to
Washington or not?
And once the determination wasmade that you cannot go back to
(05:42):
Washington, air Force Oneactually went up to 45,000 feet
in the sky a very high altitudefor a 747, and flew in a random
zigzag pattern in the sky, whichturns out to be an old Cold War
practice.
That in case there was ever aSoviet or a Chinese attack on
the United States.
Cold War doctrine said AirForce One goes up to a very high
(06:05):
altitude so it has more time.
Very few aliens can go thathigh, see anything that's coming
and fly in a pattern that onlythe pilot of Air Force One knows
where Air Force One is going,and that way there's no
possibility, other than randomluck, of somebody finding Air
Force One in the sky.
We did that, and then thedecision was made to land at
(06:27):
Barksdale Air Force Base inLouisiana, which was actually in
the middle of a live B-52 drillloading nuclear weapons.
The nuclear weapons weren'tlive, but everything else they
were doing was live, and so thatbase was already on the highest
alert status possible and wemade their alert go even higher
because now all of a suddenthey've got the President of the
United States on their base andthe President gathered more
(06:50):
information at Barksdale andthen still wanted to go back to
Washington and still being toldby the Secret Service and Vice
President Cheney, who was in thebunker underneath the White
House it's not safe, don't comehere.
The decision was then made toleave Barksdale and go to Offutt
Air Force Base in Nebraska,where they had very secure
(07:12):
communications facilities so thepresident could convene a
meeting with the NationalSecurity Council and others
around the world, and we flew toOffutt, thinking we might have
to spend the night there.
The meeting ended and thepresident made the decision.
He was just tired of being keptout of Washington and he said
we're going back to Washingtonno matter what.
At that point all the planeshad landed.
(07:32):
Generally they thought it wouldbe safe to get back to
Washington.
There was a CAP Combat AirPatrol up in the skies above
Washington.
But just as we were leavingOffutt, a report came in that a
plane was coming to the UnitedStates from Spain and had not
returned to its point of origin.
We thought there was anotheraircraft coming to the United
(07:52):
States.
That report turned out to befalse as well.
The plane actually did turnaround the nation that night.
And then I remember, after hisspeech, I went with him to the
bunker underneath the WhiteHouse.
It's called the PEOC, thePresidential Emergency
Operations Center.
And Roger, what sticks out inmy mind?
I still remember it like it wasyesterday.
(08:14):
The Secret Service had theirlong guns out inside the PEOC,
in the hallway immediatelyleading up to the PEOC, in the
safest place, what you wouldthink on earth, the most
protected place on earth, theWhite House, the bunker
underneath the White House.
They were so unsure of whatcould be next, where the next
(08:35):
threat was from.
I've never seen that.
Their long guns were outalready.
And that was the night ofSeptember 11th and then
everything from that momentforward was all geared to two
things First and foremost,helping the people of New York
and then, second, protecting thecountry so it cannot possibly
(08:57):
ever happen again.
Because we were told by the CIA, it's not a question of if,
it's a question of when the nextattack will take place.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, I appreciate that.
I know it's probably not eventsyou want to relive, but if you
pull back from that day, I'mcurious about you had an
immediate lesson in crisismanagement over the next few
months as well.
I'd be interested if you havethoughts on that, as well as
lessons that you took fromPresident George W Bush's
leadership through that crisis.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's especially a greatquestion for the young people
who gather under your auspicesand learn about leadership and
learn about what the future canbe.
You never know when you'regoing to be tested and there are
tests like September 11thaffecting a commander-in-chief
but in every field, in everywalk of life, you're going to be
(09:49):
tested.
If you're a principal at aschool and something goes wrong
and you have to deal withstudents and teachers.
If you're a union shop leaderon the floor and there's a
terrible accident on a factoryfloor, you have to deal with
your workers.
Same thing with the managementof the factory.
All walks of life, people willbe tested.
And what I learned on September11th is calm.
When something goes wrong, thecalmest, coolest heads are the
(10:10):
ones that prevail.
The people who immediately getignored or get written off the
picture are the people who getemotional, who get hotheaded,
who just crack under the stress.
And there's stress in every way, shape and form, in every field
in America.
And the lesson I learned is,when something bad happens and I
learned this about myself as Istarted to brief the press on
(10:32):
September 12th and brief thecountry the worst things got,
the calmer I became.
I don't know how, I don't knowwhy.
I had not been tested like thisbefore, but that was my
personality, I suppose, and Ithink that helped me.
And I learned that, goingforward through everything,
You've got to have just a steelyapproach, a level-headed
(10:55):
approach, so you can calmly,wisely and deliberatively make
right decisions under stress andunder pressure.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
One other thing I want to ask you about from that
time is the World Series.
I think it was game three inNew York, and, as I understand
it, you're a Yankees fan too, soit must have been extra special
for you.
Could you recount that story?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, that's right.
That would have been, I think,november 1st, and I am a huge
Yankees fan.
Because I'm such a Yankee fan,I didn't go to the game.
So when the president goes to agame like that, back in that
era actually, the TV receptionon Air Force One was spotty.
We didn't have satellite TVback then, and so Air Force One
could intermittently pick upsignals from ground-based large
(11:37):
antenna and so you could beflying, get the game, and then
you get to the large pocketswhere you don't get the game
there's no TV on Marine One.
And so I knew President wouldget there prior to the game, go
into the game and then leave inthe third or fourth inning to
get back to Washington.
No TV on Marine One,intermittent TV on Air Force One
.
And then certainly from mydrive from Andrews or the White
(12:00):
House back to my house, I had noTV in the car.
I was going to watch everypitch of that game.
So I didn't go on purpose.
But the next morning PresidentBush did something I'd never
seen him do before.
He walked into my office atabout seven in the morning.
Normally if you need to talk tothe president you'd go to see
him in the Oval, he doesn't comeinto your office.
(12:20):
Seven in the morning he cameinto my office and he said to me
no matter what happens to me inthe course of my presidency,
what happened last night atYankee Stadium will be one of
the most special things.
Because when that crowd burstout into USA, usa, he knew how
much that meant to America.
(12:41):
After the suffering, after thetragedy, the loss of life,
america was still feeling shaken.
For that brief moment, thatshining moment of cheer, he knew
that the country was rallying,he knew we were one.
You know there wasn't as ifthere was a Democrat chanting
USA or a Republican or anIndependent.
It was.
Everybody was chanting USA andit really was.
(13:03):
It was just a thunder.
Or an Independent, it was.
Everybody was chanting USA andit really was.
It was just a thunderstruckmoment and he really appreciated
it.
He and I still talk about thatmoment.
You know what?
There's a big piece of me thatwishes I had gone, just to have
been in the infield, to havetouched the turf of Yankee
Stadium on that day, to havewitnessed it in person.
But the Yankees won the game.
So I was glad I stayed home Donday.
Who have witnessed it in person?
But the Yankees won the game soI was glad I stayed home.
(13:24):
Don't ask me about game seven.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
That was a much worse outcome.
Let's fast forward now to 2025.
We have a new president who'sbeen in the office just barely
over a month as we talk today,and he's made some changes in
the press briefing room.
I know and been very disruptivein terms of executive orders,
but I know he's allowing a lotmore people from outside the
legacy media if you want to callit that bloggers and podcasters
(13:48):
into the press briefing room.
What are your thoughts aboutthe transformation in terms of
the press side of things withthe Trump administration?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It's about time that room is the last bastion of the
1980s.
The White House press room isstill overwhelmingly dominated
by the mainstream media, thesame way they existed in 81 when
Ronald Reagan was president.
And CBS, nbc.
Abc had all the viewers becausethere was nowhere else to watch
.
New York Times, washington Post, associated Press reigned
(14:17):
supreme because they werelargely it.
If it appeared on the frontpage of the New York Times, it
must be true, and every otherreporter in America chased it as
if it was true.
There was no conservative mediaback then.
There was no independent media,there was no blogs, no social
media, no alternatives.
So you were a captive audienceof the mainstream media.
(14:37):
That is largely still what theWhite House briefing room is.
The first rows of the WhiteHouse briefing room are ABC, nbc
, cbs, the New York Times, theWashington Post, the Associated
Press.
Fox News is now in the firstrow, but it's largely unchanged.
So I welcome the modernizationof the White House briefing room
to the way people get theirnews today.
(14:57):
Back in the 80s some 60 to 80million people got their news
from ABC, cbs and NBC.
Now those three evening 630broadcasts have only 20 million
viewers.
So tens of millions have gonesomewhere else and those
somewhere else's deserverepresentation in that briefing
room, and so I think it's afantastic idea to let social
(15:19):
media influencers responsible,serious social media influencers
, into that room.
I think it's a breath of freshair to have podcasters in that
room, and I also think it'sabout time that room had more
conservative voices.
I wrote a book about the press,and one of the things that I
researched that came out twoyears ago was of the 49 seats in
the room where the 49 mostestablished reporters sit.
(15:41):
I looked up their partyidentifications it's 12 to 1
Democrat to Republican.
Tell me how the most importantbriefing room, the most
important gathering spot for themedia in America, should not
look like America, think likeAmerica, talk like America?
How can it be so out of whackwith America that it's 12 to 1
(16:01):
Democrat to Republican?
That's just not right.
So I welcome these changes.
And one last point, roger.
I also want to point outPresident Trump, no matter who
he's talking to, whether it'smainstream media or otherwise,
is the most accessible presidentI've ever seen.
You could even argue he's soaccessible that it's going to
hurt him because he'soverexposing himself, but he
(16:25):
takes questions a couple times aday from the mainstream media.
They've never had this muchaccess to the president of the
United States.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Well, harry, there's been a flurry of activity since
he was inaugurated on January20th.
Lots of executive orders, evenmany more than in his first term
.
I think there have been more inthe first month than the first
year of President Trump's firstterm.
Some of it is responding tothings the Biden administration
was doing.
Clearly, we have seriousproblems in our country with
(16:55):
spending, with overregulation,with the inability of Congress
to tackle a lot of importantissues.
So I'm kind of conflicted.
On the one hand, I feel like ifthe president doesn't enact
executive orders to reverse someof these things, to get us back
on on track, to hopefullyprompt real economic growth,
we're going to be in deepertrouble.
(17:15):
On the other hand, I worryabout the executive having too
much power.
What are your thoughts on this?
And you know, can we expectCongress to take back some
responsibility in theConstitution to legislate,
rather than having the courts orthe executive branch or the
administrative state doing thelegislating?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think that's just a great question, especially for
the young people who arewatching this.
Your question follows a verylong tradition of people
watching the power balancebetween the legislature, the
executive and the Supreme Court.
It preceded the existence ofour nation.
It was one of the thingsEnlightenment thinkers had to
deal with.
It goes back to the Britishcrown and how much authority the
(17:55):
parliament would have vis-a-visthe crown, versus spending,
versus appointments.
All those issues are centuriesold, so you're seeing a
continuation of that.
There's nothing new here withwhat Donald Trump is doing,
other than Trump is doing itwhere most politicians shy away
from it, or I should say he'strying to do it because we don't
yet know what the final resultswill be.
But I am a believer that thegovernment is too big, spends
(18:18):
too much, over-regulates andeverybody just accepted it.
We just kind of rolled our eyesand said there's nothing
anybody can do about it.
Well, along comes Donald Trump,an outsider, a businessman, and
Elon Musk, an outsider,businessman, and says we have to
do something about it.
And only an outsider can eventry to do it, because everybody
(18:40):
in government eventually getsco-opted, because they become
part of the system, because nowthey're making reductions that
will affect people they knowtheir constituents will come and
say you can't do that, you'regoing to hurt somebody, or some
very sympathetic soul will be onTV saying this hurts me and all
of a sudden, now you're hurtingpeople, so you can't do it.
(19:01):
And most politicians back down.
Well, these outsiders, trumpand Musk, aren't backing down,
and this is going to be an epicstruggle to see whether or not
the Leviathan can be tamed,whether or not the bureaucracy
is on its own track that no onecan slow down because it's
self-perpetuating.
Or is it indeed responsive to aunitary executive, a president
(19:23):
of the United States who goesafter this?
Now Trump's hand will bestrengthened immensely through
legislation as Trump, throughexecutive order, eliminates this
program or that program or getsinto an argument that the
courts will indeed have to weighin on, on whether the president
has the authority to end,terminate certain federal
programs.
Statute will always enhance thepresident's power because now
(19:47):
it's longer lasting.
Now it can only be undone bystatute, not by executive order.
So I'm hopeful that Congress,which seems to be growing a
spine about spending cuts, thatCongress will back President
Trump up and in the tax act andin the spending laws that
they're dealing with now thatthey'll write much of what Trump
has done into law.
(20:09):
If not, will the executiveorders be sufficient?
That's going to get tested incourt.
Can the president under theunitary executive theory of the
Constitution, does he indeedhave the authority to run the
executive branch?
How much does he have strong?
That's what's being tested andthis nonsense that we're in a
constitutional crisis.
We are in an absolute typicaltipping between the legislature
(20:34):
and the executive, for who haswhat power over what issues, and
it's going to be dealt with inthe courts.
It's going to be dealt with inCongress and we'll see how far
the president pushes theenvelope.
But if you don't push thatenvelope, you get pushed over in
Washington DC.
So I welcome what Musk andTrump are doing.
It's really, I think, our lastand only chance to do something
(20:56):
about the bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
The president certainly has every right to try
to take control of theadministrative state of the
executive branch and a lot ofhis executive orders have been
geared toward him trying to takecontrol of the executive branch
which he's responsible for.
And I even think, as you weresaying that, that some of the
recent Roberts court decisionshave been in a sense saying to
(21:19):
Congress hey, congress, you'vegot prerogative here and you've
got to do legislating, andhopefully they'll accept that
responsibility.
I want to also ask you you knowwe've seen I'm curious on
Israel what relates to what wedo at the Fund for American
Studies was after the horrificOctober 7th attacks in 2023,
(21:40):
what we saw on college campusesand mainly the response of the
administrations at many of ourelite universities was just such
a disgusting lack of leadershipby college administrations.
There's probably going to be ashift maybe there has been
already in the approach of theTrump administration versus the
Biden administration towardIsrael.
I'd love to hear some of yourthoughts on how we should
(22:02):
approach those issues.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
This, again, is where your work is so important and
so influential.
It just baffles me that therecan be at least it seems so many
young people on campus who arewilling to support Hamas and
have organized events to boycottIsrael after the Hamas butchery
.
Yet this is what so many oncampuses had to endure, and I
(22:26):
cannot imagine what it's like tobe a conservative, to be Jewish
, to walk on a campus in whichthese encampments took place and
be expected to just accept it.
You know the left is so used tosaying to the right just accept
our behavior, but anytimeanybody in the right even if you
remember in 2017, would wear aMAGA hat on campus,
(22:47):
administrators would come downon that student for creating a
threatening environment.
Yet now you can have anencampment in support of Hamas,
often with faculty membersattending, with the blessings of
the administration.
So we need young voices.
We need people with the courageto speak out.
We need young people to rallyto Israel, because when you
(23:08):
rally to Israel, you're rallyingto America.
You're rallying on behalf ofWestern ideals.
You're rallying on behalf ofthe very morality that shaped
the Judeo-Christian ethic, whichgave fruit to democracy and
gave fruit to freedom andindividual liberty.
This is the essence of whatChristianity, judaism and
(23:28):
democracies is about and I thinkyour students clearly
understand that.
But I welcome what theadministration is doing now.
They're cracked down on thesecollege campuses, their message
that you'll be deported ifyou're a foreign citizen under
existing statute providingmaterial support for terrorism,
which is what Hamas is thatyou'll be deported.
And it's also interesting tonote last spring, when all the
(23:53):
encampments were created androse up and administrations,
college administrations justsort of yielded and folded or
accepted and welcomed.
You don't see much of thatanymore.
It's even more rare now to seethat on college campuses.
I think even the leadership ofuniversities got tired of it
because they recognize how outof line it is for their schools
(24:15):
to put up with that type ofbehavior.
And I hope young conservativesjust continue to step forward
with pride and dignity and wavethe American flag, wave the
Israeli flag and stand forfreedom.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
We've started a student journalism association
and it has over 400 members.
And then we've started severaldozen independent campus
newspapers, beginning before theOctober 7th attacks at Ivy
League schools at some of theelite public universities,
giving financial support to getthese papers going, giving them
(24:49):
training and in some casesColumbia, penn, nyu.
I know these independent paperswere breaking news because the
mainstream college paper wasn'tcovering some of the things
going on on campus, many of theencampment Some of our reporters
on our network were getting onplaces like Fox News and other
media.
(25:09):
A couple of them wrote an op-edfor the New York Times
reporting on what was happeningon campus.
And so I wonder, as we trainthese young people, what would
you say to young people today?
A college student who isinterested in a career in
journalism?
Would you encourage it?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Absolutely, and my message would be have no fear.
We need other voices in thepublic square.
For too long journalism hasbeen defined by liberalism.
There's a self-selection,interestingly, about most of the
people who want to go intojournalism and they see the job
of a journalist is to speaktruth to power, to protect the
(25:45):
weak, and they usually definethat by if you're successful in
America, if you create jobs inAmerica, there's something wrong
with you.
The only reason you were ableto make money, be successful,
create jobs, is you must havetaken something away from
somebody else as opposed to youbuilt yourself up, you did what
we're supposed to do in thiscountry and we need other voices
(26:08):
in the public square torepresent frankly Adam Smith's
invisible hand.
You know the media doesn'tcover it.
Maybe it's invisible so theydon't see it.
But I think every conservativeeconomic thinker realizes Adam
Smith's invisible hand is thegreatest way to alleviate
poverty.
It is the greatest way to movesomebody from lower income to
lower middle income or fromlower middle to middle income
(26:31):
and up the scale.
We need conservativeintellectual thinkers and
writers to bring that case tothe public and there will be a
hunger for it, because you can'tget that in the New York Times.
You can't get that in themainstream media, but I begin my
day not only with the New YorkTimes and the mainstream media,
but I read the Federalist, theWashington Examiner, the Daily
(26:52):
Wire, the Daily Signal from theHeritage Foundation.
There's just so many goodconservative outlets out there
now.
So there's a great future forpeople who are studying
journalism to be able to be trueto who they are, true to what
they say, and be employed, andthat's a sea change.
That did not exist when I wasWhite House press secretary, it
(27:12):
exists now and it's a great pathfor young people.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And we have many of our graduates working at those
publications that you mentioned.
I'm proud to say, and alsomentioned, that we have a Joseph
Rago fellowship at the WallStreet Journal and we started
out selecting one young personcoming out of college and we
paid their salary to work fornine months on the editorial
page and of our first sixfellows, three have been hired
(27:38):
there as permanent staff.
One the first, elliot Kaufman,was just named to the editorial
board and he's written a lot oftheir coverage of the Middle
East, the attack on Israel, andwe have two there now who I hope
might get hired, and we've justdecided to expand it to three
fellows a year who will haveworking at the Wall Street
Journal.
And it's one who wasn't hiredbecause they just didn't have a
(28:00):
position at the time.
Her fellowship ended, ended upnow writing opinion at the
Boston Globe as well, so it's agreat program to get
conservatives into the mediawhere they can have influence.
Ari, you'll be coming to Naplesto our conference March 6th, 7th
and 8th.
We're looking forward to that.
Could you just?
You know I didn't ask you muchabout your business, but I know
(28:21):
you're doing a lot of work inconsulting, related to both
sports and other types ofclients.
Could you say something aboutwhat's keeping you busy beside
your appearances on televisionand your speaking around the
country?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I'm a Fox News contributor and so that's how I
keep my foot in the water onpolitics.
But I run a PR firm and half myclients are corporations, the
other half are sportsorganizations.
So the college football playoffselection committee is a client
of mine.
I attend all the meetings ofthe selection committee, give
advice to the commissioners.
I helped launch Live Golf,which was a whole lot of fun.
(28:56):
I've worked for Major LeagueBaseball.
I've media trained some 12 NFLteams, so I do a lot of work in
sports and I work for a lot oflarge American corporations on
communications issues, how tohandle the press, where I'll do
training of people who are goingto talk to the press Kind of
what I did at the White House,just different issues.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
You don't have a vote on who plays in the college
football playoff no vote, justcommunications advisor.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
If I had a vote, Middlebury would have gotten it.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, well, thank you very much for joining me on the
Liberty and Leadership podcasttoday, harry.
I look forward to seeing you inNaples soon.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Thanks so much.
We'll see you Friday night.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Thank you for listening to the Liberty and
Leadership podcast.
If you have a comment orquestion, please drop us an
email at podcast at tfasorg, andbe sure to subscribe to the
show on your favorite podcastapp and leave a five-star review
.
Liberty and Leadership isproduced at Podville Media.
I'm your host, roger Ream, anduntil next time, show courage in
(30:00):
things, large and small.
Welcome to the Liberty and Leadership Podcast,
a conversation with TFAS alumni,faculty and friends who are
making an impact.
Today I'm your host, roger Ream.
Today I'm delighted to welcomeAri Fleischer, an esteemed
communication and crisismanagement leader.
Ari was the former White Housepress secretary under President
(00:24):
George W Bush, serving asspokesman during the recount of
the 2000 presidential electionand the 9-11 terrorist attacks.
After leaving the White Housein 2003, ari continued to offer
insight into the complexities ofgovernment and the media
through his company FleischerCommunications.
(00:44):
Ari is also a highlysought-after public speaker and
a New York Times bestsellingauthor.
His latest book is Suppression,deception, snobbery and Bias,
which was published in 2022.
(01:05):
We're also excited that Ari willbe the keynote speaker at our
annual donor conference inNaples, florida, on March 6, 7,
8.
Details for the conference areavailable at tfasorg.
That's tfasorg, ari.
Thank you so much for joiningme today.
You got it, roger.
Glad to do this.
Let's jump right into yourexperience in the White House in
2001.
(01:25):
You weren't working for thepresident long before the 9-11
attacks took place.
You were with the presidentthat day, as I recall.
Can you talk about what thatwas like?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, we began the day a little bit up the road
from here in Naples.
I was in Sarasota, florida.
The president had arrived therethe night before September 10th
because he was going to read toa group of elementary school
students the next day as part ofhis focus on education.
And as the motorcade pulled upto the Emma Booker Elementary
School, I got a page it was oneof those old-fashioned pagers
(01:58):
and I got a message fromsomebody who worked for me back
at the White House beforesmartphones, before
communications technology likethat that said an airplane's hit
the World Trade Center and myfirst reaction was it had to be
some type of accident.
And then, as President Bush wasin that school reading to the
kids, I got a second pagetelling me a second plane hit
(02:20):
the second World Trade Centertower and I knew at that moment
that it had to be a terroristattack on the United States.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
In the subsequent hours and even days.
What was that like?
You're getting breaking newsand news from the White House
and the government regularly andyou had to then speak to the
American people the president,to speak to the American people.
How was that?
You know, that was not onlyjust stressful, but just really
a tough task to handle.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Well, starting immediately with that second
page, literally about 30 secondslater, white House Chief of
Staff Andy Card interrupted thepresident, walked into that
school room and did somethingthat I've never seen happen
before at an event.
He stopped.
The president whispered in hisear.
A second plane hit the secondtower.
America is under attack, and Iwatched all that unfold right
(03:10):
before my eyes.
It never even occurred to me tointerrupt the president, and
the president absorbed thatinformation, thought about it
for several minutes and then gotup from his chair, walked into
the classroom.
The press started to shoutquestions and we of course
didn't know anything.
Yet the president was sittingat the school event.
We got into what's called aholding room where there's
secure classified phones.
(03:31):
Everywhere the president goesany president.
There's a room set aside,guarded by the Secret Service,
with secure telephonecommunications inside it, just
in case something goes wrongsomewhere around the world.
We never used it before thatday.
President Bush used it, so hestarts getting updates from
Condi Rice, the NationalSecurity Advisor, and
(03:51):
everybody's now furiouslyworking the phones, trying to
get as much information as wecan.
So we wheeled the TV into thatholding room, so now the
president and the rest of thestaff could see what the
American people were seeing.
Think about for all that timeAmerica is fixed on their TVs.
None of us are watching it,because we're at this event at a
schoolroom in Florida, andquickly it became apparent that
(04:14):
we needed to leave, not finishany more of the event, get on
Air Force One and head back toWashington.
So in the motorcade en route toAir Force One, we got a report
of the third plane hitting thePentagon.
And then we got on Air ForceOne and the plane took off like
a rocket ship.
I've never seen Air Force Onetake off the way it did, and
that's because they had a report, which turned out to be false,
(04:36):
that there was a sniper at theend of the runway.
We take off and start headingback to what we thought would be
Washington, and the SecretService said to the president
it's not safe to go toWashington.
We don't know how many aircraftare in the sky.
We don't know how many planeshave been hijacked.
The last thing we want to do isput Air Force One down at a
known, predictable location likeAndrews Air Force Base.
(04:57):
Now, at that time too, once weboarded the plane, understand
three planes were now down.
First report we got was thatsix aircraft were in the sky,
had not responded to the orderthat was given to all aircraft
to immediately land, so wethought there were still six
missiles up in the sky.
Then we got a report that afourth plane went down near Camp
(05:19):
David.
That was the first report aboutthe plane that went down in
Shanksville, pennsylvania, which, as the crow flies, isn't
terribly far from Camp David,but it had nothing to do with
Camp David.
Yet that's the firstinformation we got about that
fourth aircraft.
So a debate broke out on AirForce One do we return to
Washington or not?
And once the determination wasmade that you cannot go back to
(05:42):
Washington, air Force Oneactually went up to 45,000 feet
in the sky a very high altitudefor a 747, and flew in a random
zigzag pattern in the sky, whichturns out to be an old Cold War
practice.
That in case there was ever aSoviet or a Chinese attack on
the United States.
Cold War doctrine said AirForce One goes up to a very high
(06:05):
altitude so it has more time.
Very few aliens can go thathigh, see anything that's coming
and fly in a pattern that onlythe pilot of Air Force One knows
where Air Force One is going,and that way there's no
possibility, other than randomluck, of somebody finding Air
Force One in the sky.
We did that, and then thedecision was made to land at
(06:27):
Barksdale Air Force Base inLouisiana, which was actually in
the middle of a live B-52 drillloading nuclear weapons.
The nuclear weapons weren'tlive, but everything else they
were doing was live, and so thatbase was already on the highest
alert status possible and wemade their alert go even higher
because now all of a suddenthey've got the President of the
United States on their base andthe President gathered more
(06:50):
information at Barksdale andthen still wanted to go back to
Washington and still being toldby the Secret Service and Vice
President Cheney, who was in thebunker underneath the White
House it's not safe, don't comehere.
The decision was then made toleave Barksdale and go to Offutt
Air Force Base in Nebraska,where they had very secure
(07:12):
communications facilities so thepresident could convene a
meeting with the NationalSecurity Council and others
around the world, and we flew toOffutt, thinking we might have
to spend the night there.
The meeting ended and thepresident made the decision.
He was just tired of being keptout of Washington and he said
we're going back to Washingtonno matter what.
At that point all the planeshad landed.
(07:32):
Generally they thought it wouldbe safe to get back to
Washington.
There was a CAP Combat AirPatrol up in the skies above
Washington.
But just as we were leavingOffutt, a report came in that a
plane was coming to the UnitedStates from Spain and had not
returned to its point of origin.
We thought there was anotheraircraft coming to the United
(07:52):
States.
That report turned out to befalse as well.
The plane actually did turnaround the nation that night.
And then I remember, after hisspeech, I went with him to the
bunker underneath the WhiteHouse.
It's called the PEOC, thePresidential Emergency
Operations Center.
And Roger, what sticks out inmy mind?
I still remember it like it wasyesterday.
(08:14):
The Secret Service had theirlong guns out inside the PEOC,
in the hallway immediatelyleading up to the PEOC, in the
safest place, what you wouldthink on earth, the most
protected place on earth, theWhite House, the bunker
underneath the White House.
They were so unsure of whatcould be next, where the next
(08:35):
threat was from.
I've never seen that.
Their long guns were outalready.
And that was the night ofSeptember 11th and then
everything from that momentforward was all geared to two
things First and foremost,helping the people of New York
and then, second, protecting thecountry so it cannot possibly
(08:57):
ever happen again.
Because we were told by the CIA, it's not a question of if,
it's a question of when the nextattack will take place.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, I appreciate that.
I know it's probably not eventsyou want to relive, but if you
pull back from that day, I'mcurious about you had an
immediate lesson in crisismanagement over the next few
months as well.
I'd be interested if you havethoughts on that, as well as
lessons that you took fromPresident George W Bush's
leadership through that crisis.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Yeah, that's a great question.
It's especially a greatquestion for the young people
who gather under your auspicesand learn about leadership and
learn about what the future canbe.
You never know when you'regoing to be tested and there are
tests like September 11thaffecting a commander-in-chief
but in every field, in everywalk of life, you're going to be
(09:49):
tested.
If you're a principal at aschool and something goes wrong
and you have to deal withstudents and teachers.
If you're a union shop leaderon the floor and there's a
terrible accident on a factoryfloor, you have to deal with
your workers.
Same thing with the managementof the factory.
All walks of life, people willbe tested.
And what I learned on September11th is calm.
When something goes wrong, thecalmest, coolest heads are the
(10:10):
ones that prevail.
The people who immediately getignored or get written off the
picture are the people who getemotional, who get hotheaded,
who just crack under the stress.
And there's stress in every way, shape and form, in every field
in America.
And the lesson I learned is,when something bad happens and I
learned this about myself as Istarted to brief the press on
(10:32):
September 12th and brief thecountry the worst things got,
the calmer I became.
I don't know how, I don't knowwhy.
I had not been tested like thisbefore, but that was my
personality, I suppose, and Ithink that helped me.
And I learned that, goingforward through everything,
You've got to have just a steelyapproach, a level-headed
(10:55):
approach, so you can calmly,wisely and deliberatively make
right decisions under stress andunder pressure.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
One other thing I want to ask you about from that
time is the World Series.
I think it was game three inNew York, and, as I understand
it, you're a Yankees fan too, soit must have been extra special
for you.
Could you recount that story?
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Well, that's right.
That would have been, I think,november 1st, and I am a huge
Yankees fan.
Because I'm such a Yankee fan,I didn't go to the game.
So when the president goes to agame like that, back in that
era actually, the TV receptionon Air Force One was spotty.
We didn't have satellite TVback then, and so Air Force One
could intermittently pick upsignals from ground-based large
(11:37):
antenna and so you could beflying, get the game, and then
you get to the large pocketswhere you don't get the game
there's no TV on Marine One.
And so I knew President wouldget there prior to the game, go
into the game and then leave inthe third or fourth inning to
get back to Washington.
No TV on Marine One,intermittent TV on Air Force One
.
And then certainly from mydrive from Andrews or the White
(12:00):
House back to my house, I had noTV in the car.
I was going to watch everypitch of that game.
So I didn't go on purpose.
But the next morning PresidentBush did something I'd never
seen him do before.
He walked into my office atabout seven in the morning.
Normally if you need to talk tothe president you'd go to see
him in the Oval, he doesn't comeinto your office.
(12:20):
Seven in the morning he cameinto my office and he said to me
no matter what happens to me inthe course of my presidency,
what happened last night atYankee Stadium will be one of
the most special things.
Because when that crowd burstout into USA, usa, he knew how
much that meant to America.
(12:41):
After the suffering, after thetragedy, the loss of life,
america was still feeling shaken.
For that brief moment, thatshining moment of cheer, he knew
that the country was rallying,he knew we were one.
You know there wasn't as ifthere was a Democrat chanting
USA or a Republican or anIndependent.
It was.
Everybody was chanting USA andit really was.
(13:03):
It was just a thunder.
Or an Independent, it was.
Everybody was chanting USA andit really was.
It was just a thunderstruckmoment and he really appreciated
it.
He and I still talk about thatmoment.
You know what?
There's a big piece of me thatwishes I had gone, just to have
been in the infield, to havetouched the turf of Yankee
Stadium on that day, to havewitnessed it in person.
But the Yankees won the game.
So I was glad I stayed home Donday.
Who have witnessed it in person?
But the Yankees won the game soI was glad I stayed home.
(13:24):
Don't ask me about game seven.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
That was a much worse outcome.
Let's fast forward now to 2025.
We have a new president who'sbeen in the office just barely
over a month as we talk today,and he's made some changes in
the press briefing room.
I know and been very disruptivein terms of executive orders,
but I know he's allowing a lotmore people from outside the
legacy media if you want to callit that bloggers and podcasters
(13:48):
into the press briefing room.
What are your thoughts aboutthe transformation in terms of
the press side of things withthe Trump administration?
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It's about time that room is the last bastion of the
1980s.
The White House press room isstill overwhelmingly dominated
by the mainstream media, thesame way they existed in 81 when
Ronald Reagan was president.
And CBS, nbc.
Abc had all the viewers becausethere was nowhere else to watch
.
New York Times, washington Post, associated Press reigned
(14:17):
supreme because they werelargely it.
If it appeared on the frontpage of the New York Times, it
must be true, and every otherreporter in America chased it as
if it was true.
There was no conservative mediaback then.
There was no independent media,there was no blogs, no social
media, no alternatives.
So you were a captive audienceof the mainstream media.
(14:37):
That is largely still what theWhite House briefing room is.
The first rows of the WhiteHouse briefing room are ABC, nbc
, cbs, the New York Times, theWashington Post, the Associated
Press.
Fox News is now in the firstrow, but it's largely unchanged.
So I welcome the modernizationof the White House briefing room
to the way people get theirnews today.
(14:57):
Back in the 80s some 60 to 80million people got their news
from ABC, cbs and NBC.
Now those three evening 630broadcasts have only 20 million
viewers.
So tens of millions have gonesomewhere else and those
somewhere else's deserverepresentation in that briefing
room, and so I think it's afantastic idea to let social
(15:19):
media influencers responsible,serious social media influencers
, into that room.
I think it's a breath of freshair to have podcasters in that
room, and I also think it'sabout time that room had more
conservative voices.
I wrote a book about the press,and one of the things that I
researched that came out twoyears ago was of the 49 seats in
the room where the 49 mostestablished reporters sit.
(15:41):
I looked up their partyidentifications it's 12 to 1
Democrat to Republican.
Tell me how the most importantbriefing room, the most
important gathering spot for themedia in America, should not
look like America, think likeAmerica, talk like America?
How can it be so out of whackwith America that it's 12 to 1
(16:01):
Democrat to Republican?
That's just not right.
So I welcome these changes.
And one last point, roger.
I also want to point outPresident Trump, no matter who
he's talking to, whether it'smainstream media or otherwise,
is the most accessible presidentI've ever seen.
You could even argue he's soaccessible that it's going to
hurt him because he'soverexposing himself, but he
(16:25):
takes questions a couple times aday from the mainstream media.
They've never had this muchaccess to the president of the
United States.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Well, harry, there's been a flurry of activity since
he was inaugurated on January20th.
Lots of executive orders, evenmany more than in his first term
.
I think there have been more inthe first month than the first
year of President Trump's firstterm.
Some of it is responding tothings the Biden administration
was doing.
Clearly, we have seriousproblems in our country with
(16:55):
spending, with overregulation,with the inability of Congress
to tackle a lot of importantissues.
So I'm kind of conflicted.
On the one hand, I feel like ifthe president doesn't enact
executive orders to reverse someof these things, to get us back
on on track, to hopefullyprompt real economic growth,
we're going to be in deepertrouble.
(17:15):
On the other hand, I worryabout the executive having too
much power.
What are your thoughts on this?
And you know, can we expectCongress to take back some
responsibility in theConstitution to legislate,
rather than having the courts orthe executive branch or the
administrative state doing thelegislating?
Speaker 2 (17:32):
I think that's just a great question, especially for
the young people who arewatching this.
Your question follows a verylong tradition of people
watching the power balancebetween the legislature, the
executive and the Supreme Court.
It preceded the existence ofour nation.
It was one of the thingsEnlightenment thinkers had to
deal with.
It goes back to the Britishcrown and how much authority the
(17:55):
parliament would have vis-a-visthe crown, versus spending,
versus appointments.
All those issues are centuriesold, so you're seeing a
continuation of that.
There's nothing new here withwhat Donald Trump is doing,
other than Trump is doing itwhere most politicians shy away
from it, or I should say he'strying to do it because we don't
yet know what the final resultswill be.
But I am a believer that thegovernment is too big, spends
(18:18):
too much, over-regulates andeverybody just accepted it.
We just kind of rolled our eyesand said there's nothing
anybody can do about it.
Well, along comes Donald Trump,an outsider, a businessman, and
Elon Musk, an outsider,businessman, and says we have to
do something about it.
And only an outsider can eventry to do it, because everybody
(18:40):
in government eventually getsco-opted, because they become
part of the system, because nowthey're making reductions that
will affect people they knowtheir constituents will come and
say you can't do that, you'regoing to hurt somebody, or some
very sympathetic soul will be onTV saying this hurts me and all
of a sudden, now you're hurtingpeople, so you can't do it.
(19:01):
And most politicians back down.
Well, these outsiders, trumpand Musk, aren't backing down,
and this is going to be an epicstruggle to see whether or not
the Leviathan can be tamed,whether or not the bureaucracy
is on its own track that no onecan slow down because it's
self-perpetuating.
Or is it indeed responsive to aunitary executive, a president
(19:23):
of the United States who goesafter this?
Now Trump's hand will bestrengthened immensely through
legislation as Trump, throughexecutive order, eliminates this
program or that program or getsinto an argument that the
courts will indeed have to weighin on, on whether the president
has the authority to end,terminate certain federal
programs.
Statute will always enhance thepresident's power because now
(19:47):
it's longer lasting.
Now it can only be undone bystatute, not by executive order.
So I'm hopeful that Congress,which seems to be growing a
spine about spending cuts, thatCongress will back President
Trump up and in the tax act andin the spending laws that
they're dealing with now thatthey'll write much of what Trump
has done into law.
(20:09):
If not, will the executiveorders be sufficient?
That's going to get tested incourt.
Can the president under theunitary executive theory of the
Constitution, does he indeedhave the authority to run the
executive branch?
How much does he have strong?
That's what's being tested andthis nonsense that we're in a
constitutional crisis.
We are in an absolute typicaltipping between the legislature
(20:34):
and the executive, for who haswhat power over what issues, and
it's going to be dealt with inthe courts.
It's going to be dealt with inCongress and we'll see how far
the president pushes theenvelope.
But if you don't push thatenvelope, you get pushed over in
Washington DC.
So I welcome what Musk andTrump are doing.
It's really, I think, our lastand only chance to do something
(20:56):
about the bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
The president certainly has every right to try
to take control of theadministrative state of the
executive branch and a lot ofhis executive orders have been
geared toward him trying to takecontrol of the executive branch
which he's responsible for.
And I even think, as you weresaying that, that some of the
recent Roberts court decisionshave been in a sense saying to
(21:19):
Congress hey, congress, you'vegot prerogative here and you've
got to do legislating, andhopefully they'll accept that
responsibility.
I want to also ask you you knowwe've seen I'm curious on
Israel what relates to what wedo at the Fund for American
Studies was after the horrificOctober 7th attacks in 2023,
(21:40):
what we saw on college campusesand mainly the response of the
administrations at many of ourelite universities was just such
a disgusting lack of leadershipby college administrations.
There's probably going to be ashift maybe there has been
already in the approach of theTrump administration versus the
Biden administration towardIsrael.
I'd love to hear some of yourthoughts on how we should
(22:02):
approach those issues.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
This, again, is where your work is so important and
so influential.
It just baffles me that therecan be at least it seems so many
young people on campus who arewilling to support Hamas and
have organized events to boycottIsrael after the Hamas butchery
.
Yet this is what so many oncampuses had to endure, and I
(22:26):
cannot imagine what it's like tobe a conservative, to be Jewish
, to walk on a campus in whichthese encampments took place and
be expected to just accept it.
You know the left is so used tosaying to the right just accept
our behavior, but anytimeanybody in the right even if you
remember in 2017, would wear aMAGA hat on campus,
(22:47):
administrators would come downon that student for creating a
threatening environment.
Yet now you can have anencampment in support of Hamas,
often with faculty membersattending, with the blessings of
the administration.
So we need young voices.
We need people with the courageto speak out.
We need young people to rallyto Israel, because when you
(23:08):
rally to Israel, you're rallyingto America.
You're rallying on behalf ofWestern ideals.
You're rallying on behalf ofthe very morality that shaped
the Judeo-Christian ethic, whichgave fruit to democracy and
gave fruit to freedom andindividual liberty.
This is the essence of whatChristianity, judaism and
(23:28):
democracies is about and I thinkyour students clearly
understand that.
But I welcome what theadministration is doing now.
They're cracked down on thesecollege campuses, their message
that you'll be deported ifyou're a foreign citizen under
existing statute providingmaterial support for terrorism,
which is what Hamas is thatyou'll be deported.
And it's also interesting tonote last spring, when all the
(23:53):
encampments were created androse up and administrations,
college administrations justsort of yielded and folded or
accepted and welcomed.
You don't see much of thatanymore.
It's even more rare now to seethat on college campuses.
I think even the leadership ofuniversities got tired of it
because they recognize how outof line it is for their schools
(24:15):
to put up with that type ofbehavior.
And I hope young conservativesjust continue to step forward
with pride and dignity and wavethe American flag, wave the
Israeli flag and stand forfreedom.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
We've started a student journalism association
and it has over 400 members.
And then we've started severaldozen independent campus
newspapers, beginning before theOctober 7th attacks at Ivy
League schools at some of theelite public universities,
giving financial support to getthese papers going, giving them
(24:49):
training and in some casesColumbia, penn, nyu.
I know these independent paperswere breaking news because the
mainstream college paper wasn'tcovering some of the things
going on on campus, many of theencampment Some of our reporters
on our network were getting onplaces like Fox News and other
media.
(25:09):
A couple of them wrote an op-edfor the New York Times
reporting on what was happeningon campus.
And so I wonder, as we trainthese young people, what would
you say to young people today?
A college student who isinterested in a career in
journalism?
Would you encourage it?
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Absolutely, and my message would be have no fear.
We need other voices in thepublic square.
For too long journalism hasbeen defined by liberalism.
There's a self-selection,interestingly, about most of the
people who want to go intojournalism and they see the job
of a journalist is to speaktruth to power, to protect the
(25:45):
weak, and they usually definethat by if you're successful in
America, if you create jobs inAmerica, there's something wrong
with you.
The only reason you were ableto make money, be successful,
create jobs, is you must havetaken something away from
somebody else as opposed to youbuilt yourself up, you did what
we're supposed to do in thiscountry and we need other voices
(26:08):
in the public square torepresent frankly Adam Smith's
invisible hand.
You know the media doesn'tcover it.
Maybe it's invisible so theydon't see it.
But I think every conservativeeconomic thinker realizes Adam
Smith's invisible hand is thegreatest way to alleviate
poverty.
It is the greatest way to movesomebody from lower income to
lower middle income or fromlower middle to middle income
(26:31):
and up the scale.
We need conservativeintellectual thinkers and
writers to bring that case tothe public and there will be a
hunger for it, because you can'tget that in the New York Times.
You can't get that in themainstream media, but I begin my
day not only with the New YorkTimes and the mainstream media,
but I read the Federalist, theWashington Examiner, the Daily
(26:52):
Wire, the Daily Signal from theHeritage Foundation.
There's just so many goodconservative outlets out there
now.
So there's a great future forpeople who are studying
journalism to be able to be trueto who they are, true to what
they say, and be employed, andthat's a sea change.
That did not exist when I wasWhite House press secretary, it
(27:12):
exists now and it's a great pathfor young people.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
And we have many of our graduates working at those
publications that you mentioned.
I'm proud to say, and alsomentioned, that we have a Joseph
Rago fellowship at the WallStreet Journal and we started
out selecting one young personcoming out of college and we
paid their salary to work fornine months on the editorial
page and of our first sixfellows, three have been hired
(27:38):
there as permanent staff.
One the first, elliot Kaufman,was just named to the editorial
board and he's written a lot oftheir coverage of the Middle
East, the attack on Israel, andwe have two there now who I hope
might get hired, and we've justdecided to expand it to three
fellows a year who will haveworking at the Wall Street
Journal.
And it's one who wasn't hiredbecause they just didn't have a
(28:00):
position at the time.
Her fellowship ended, ended upnow writing opinion at the
Boston Globe as well, so it's agreat program to get
conservatives into the mediawhere they can have influence.
Ari, you'll be coming to Naplesto our conference March 6th, 7th
and 8th.
We're looking forward to that.
Could you just?
You know I didn't ask you muchabout your business, but I know
(28:21):
you're doing a lot of work inconsulting, related to both
sports and other types ofclients.
Could you say something aboutwhat's keeping you busy beside
your appearances on televisionand your speaking around the
country?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I'm a Fox News contributor and so that's how I
keep my foot in the water onpolitics.
But I run a PR firm and half myclients are corporations, the
other half are sportsorganizations.
So the college football playoffselection committee is a client
of mine.
I attend all the meetings ofthe selection committee, give
advice to the commissioners.
I helped launch Live Golf,which was a whole lot of fun.
(28:56):
I've worked for Major LeagueBaseball.
I've media trained some 12 NFLteams, so I do a lot of work in
sports and I work for a lot oflarge American corporations on
communications issues, how tohandle the press, where I'll do
training of people who are goingto talk to the press Kind of
what I did at the White House,just different issues.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
You don't have a vote on who plays in the college
football playoff no vote, justcommunications advisor.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
If I had a vote, Middlebury would have gotten it.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah, well, thank you very much for joining me on the
Liberty and Leadership podcasttoday, harry.
I look forward to seeing you inNaples soon.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Thanks so much.
We'll see you Friday night.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Thank you for listening to the Liberty and
Leadership podcast.
If you have a comment orquestion, please drop us an
email at podcast at tfasorg, andbe sure to subscribe to the
show on your favorite podcastapp and leave a five-star review
.
Liberty and Leadership isproduced at Podville Media.
I'm your host, roger Ream, anduntil next time, show courage in
(30:00):
things, large and small.
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.