November 25, 2025 • 16 mins
Host John Quick sits down with Governor Mike Dunleavy for a powerful and wide-ranging conversation on Stories Worth Hearing.
In this episode, Governor Dunleavy opens up about his genuine friendship with President Donald Trump, why Trump has such a deep love for Alaska, and how their relationship continues to deliver meaningful benefits for Alaskans.
John and the Governor also dig into the legacy of Charlie Kirk, the impact he has had on young people across the country, and why Governor Dunleavy issued an official proclamation declaring Charlie Kirk Day in Alaska.
The conversation goes even deeper as they discuss what keeps the Governor grounded, a question he says no one has ever asked him before. His answer reveals a humble and thoughtful side of his leadership.
They also cover the future of the Alaska LNG project, including how Governor Dunleavy’s private-sector-driven approach differs from previous administrations that pushed for a state-led model. The Governor explains why he believes private leadership gives Alaska the best chance to finally bring this massive project to life.
Governor Dunleavy is a humble and kind leader, and this episode highlights exactly why so many Alaskans respect him. You won’t want to miss it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Well, one of my favorite governors in the history of
politics inside been doing politics.
Governor Mike Dunleavy, welcome to my show.
Excited to have you on. You know, it's, it's great to be
on John. Thanks for having me.
Well, it's fun. It's fun to sit back and see
some of the cool things that you've done over the years.
I think one of the things that is really intriguing to me is
(00:20):
you have a really great relationship with President
Trump. And I think that that does
really well for the state of Alaska.
Can you talk to me a little bit about why that's been so
important for you? And maybe some of the key
differences is of like having the Joe Biden in and then
getting Trump back into office has been good for Alaska.
So obviously I support PresidentTrump and there's reason there's
(00:43):
there's clear reasons for that. He's been fantastic for Alaska.
Trump one point O he began the process of creating all kinds of
opportunities for Alaska. NPR Excuse me, Anwar reopening
the Tongass National Forest, giving us a presidential permit
to have a railroad go across theborder with Canada.
He really worked on the King Cove Rd.
(01:04):
He was very interested in givingAlaska the opportunities that we
had hoped we had gotten at statehood when we became a
state. And so there's been a lot of
other administrations. I'm mostly Democrat, but some
Republicans too, that have either ignored Alaska or have
actually worked against Alaska. President Trump is on the exact
opposite. And as a resource state, as a
(01:25):
state that came into the union having to develop its resources
in order to pay for itself, President Trump was fantastic.
That's one O 2 point O is even better.
He issued an executive order forthe state of Alaska.
We're the only state that's got an executive order.
He mentioned our gas line project and his State of the
Union speech. The list goes on.
And his he's instructed his staff, his secretaries and
(01:49):
others to work directly with Alaska to work with us to get
some of these things across the finish line reopened, Anwar is
reopening. The Tongas got the King Cove Rd.
land title situation straightened out so they can get
a road and PRA is going to be back online.
Ambler Rd. LDLNG pipeline, He's behind
(02:10):
100%, all for what I think are very good reasons for the state
of Alaska. Again, opportunities to help the
state, help the country and helpour Asian allies.
And do you think I mean, the obvious answer to me is yes, but
having a friendship with Trump is helpful to Alaska?
Yeah, You know, John, there's a thing that's not often spoken
(02:32):
about in politics. And I I term it the cringe
factor, meaning two politicians are walking down a hall or
street and they see each other. Do they cringe when they see
each other or do they not? For me, there's no cringe with
President Trump. We, we get along.
We like each other. I really think what he's doing
is, is terrific for Alaska. He sees what we're doing up here
(02:54):
is also in line with what his vision is for America.
And so we, we, we get along. And it, it is important because
you've developed AI think a level of trust the president's
the, the most powerful human being in the universe right now.
And so being able to have a conversation with him, I'll give
you an example. And, and this, it's phenomenal.
We were outside the Alaska Airlines Center when the
(03:17):
individuals were coming in from Typhoon Halong, from the
devastated villages out in the Yukon Delta.
And I was standing in front of the Alaska Airlines Center and I
sent the president on my phone. I texted him a picture and it
was about 9:00 our time. So East Coast, he's about 1:00
in the morning. He texts right back.
(03:37):
He goes tell the people we'll ask that I love them, hear about
them or we're going to help them.
I mean, how often does that happen, right?
And so I was on a plane getting ready to leave about a week or
two later was actually Doug Bergum, the Department of
Interior. His phone number came up on my
phone. I couldn't get to the phone in
time before we lost connection. So when I landed, I listened to
the phone and it was Doug's number, but it was the president
(03:59):
saying, hey, congratulations, Mike.
You know, we got the Ambler Rd. going and it's going to be great
things for Alaska. So appreciate the president.
President appreciates what what he's doing for Alaska.
Look at John, we're only 740,000people the size of a county at
the top of the world. We only have three electoral
votes. You know, we're we're not, we're
not a Texas or California. Yeah, he gives us a lot of
(04:21):
attention. And so for that I'm grateful.
That's pretty awesome. Let's talk a little bit about
this Alaska Day that happened. Doug was there.
I think both the senators, Nick Beige, they, they signed this,
you know, document that was going to basically unleash
Alaska's energy. You know, we've heard that.
We've seen those rumblings in the paper before, and you've
(04:44):
kind of been the governor to nottalk about it unless something's
actually happening, which I really appreciate.
Do you think something is actually happening with, let's
say, specifically LNG or some ofthese other projects?
Yeah. So LNG absolutely.
And I'll give you I'll give you some reasons why I believe it's
moving, right. I'm not going to do backflips,
(05:04):
which would be dangerous in any day, but for me to do a
backflip. But I'm not going to do
backflips until the pipe is on the ground.
Then we get a first Weld. But let me tell you where we're
at. So Baker Hughes, which is a huge
international firm that deals with things such as natural gas
pipelines and LNG, they signed on to actually start the process
of putting together the components for things like
(05:26):
compressors and so forth. They're also interested, I
believe, in being an investor inthis project.
They would never do that if theythought that this didn't have a
pretty good chance. And So what people need to watch
is December Glenfarn, who's the private concern that is running
the pipeline process and is going to be the major dealer in
(05:46):
this whole thing. They're going to finish up their
feed process and what feed is front end engineering and
design. It's really for the pipe.
It's an update. It's an it's a it's an updated
cost. Last cost update was done in
2015. It's now 2 thousand 2526 we're
going to be going into. So they got to update the the
cost of that pipe. They're feeling really good
(06:07):
about where they're at now. They've had contractors look at
the pipe. They've had contractors on the
on the pipeline right away, actually physically going down
from Prudhoe all the way down tothe Kiski engineers looking at
it. And they feel that their study
in the end in December will comeout that the pipe is coming in
within a price range that's going to make things economical.
(06:28):
When that happens, January is when they all announce FID,
economic FID be able to start topurchase pipe.
And so they believe that everything works out,
everything's going the way it should go.
January, they'll announce they're going to purchase pipe
and we should have pipe on the ground in August of 26, which
means we're going to have a pipeline.
So what those two, those two time periods of December and
(06:50):
January are absolutely crucial and will tell us a whole lot
about the future of this pipeline.
That's huge. You know, I look back and I look
at Governor Walker's strategy philosophy and your strategy
philosophy and philosophy reallycompletely different
philosophies. I think under Walker it's more
state LED. State ran, you had countries and
(07:11):
they're coming in and running the the man camps.
Yours is private LED, you know, state still involved, but more
private LED. Do you think that there is
having the state, having the state kind of back out of it was
a good, was a good choice and you know being the lead person
and owning the whole thing. You know, that's a great
(07:34):
question, right? And I'm not not one of those
politicians that takes credit for things that I have not been
part of. And oftentimes I'm criticized by
my supporters for not taking enough credit.
But I'll say this, this may shock people.
A lot of governors have tried topush this pipeline, right?
And they they all wanted a pipeline for Alaska, which I
appreciate. I mean, it goes back, it goes
(07:55):
back decades and decades and decades.
Frank Murkowski, Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell and Governor
Walker. Now Governor Walker's approach
and you got to understand all ofthese things in these moments of
time. It's it's a different time
period as to what's happening internationally too.
At the same at the time we're trying to move this gas line.
But I give all the governors a lot of credit.
I give, I give Governor Walker credit for trying to move the
(08:17):
pipeline in the manner that he did help bring attention to it,
especially with our Asian alliesand and with China, which is not
necessarily an ally of America, but nonetheless.
So what's the point? It's good to know that we've had
a number of administrations trying to get this across the
finish line. Things are different now.
The environment worldwide is different.
Gas with regard to AI, gas with regard to electrification of the
(08:40):
world, just a lot of gas being used in a whole host of areas,
both for economic reasons of political, geopolitical reasons.
So Long story short, I thought the approach that we took was
the best approach because it's got to be economical and who's
going to determine if it's economical is our private
enterprise. It's private enterprise.
(09:01):
And so we were able to do that. And eventually we had a
conversation with Glenn Farn about a year and a half two
years ago and they became very interested in this process by
breaking the the the concept up into three parts, the pipeline,
the liquefaction export plant and the gas conditioning plant
on the slope. And everything seems to be
working right now. Again, crossing my fingers I'm
(09:21):
not going to have a party or parade until the pipes ordered
and we start to Weld that up. But things are looking pretty
good so far. Yeah, my good friend Charlie
Pierce always tells me don't getexcited till they start ordering
the pipe. So yes, I think that that's a
good philosophy to take. Let's pivot now.
You just did a Charlie Kirk day.I believe you signed it into
(09:43):
fruition for the state of Alaska.
Talk to me a little bit about what that means to you.
I know what it means to me, but I think it's important that his
legacy not be forgotten. He was the guy that showed up to
college campuses and let anybodydebate him, regardless of how
crazy they were. And I think, man, it's a lost
art. And I think I'd hate to see that
be even more lost because he wastragically murdered.
(10:07):
So talk to me a little bit aboutCharlie Kirk Day for Alaska.
Yeah, so I mean, you've had a number of folks in the history
here in in America, across the world, but here specifically in
America. I mean, I'll, I'll start in the
60s with, you know, even people like Malcolm X, for example, was
assassinated in New York City because of his views on certain
things. And then, of course, our
president, President Kennedy wasassassinated.
(10:28):
Martin Luther King, similar reasons.
And Charlie Kirk, you know, the thing about Charlie Kirk, I
think that I think Charlie Kirk's assassination in some
respects bothered me than than than than other assassinations.
They're all terrible. It's, it's an awful way for
anyone to express their dislike or disagreement with somebody by
by doing the ultimate act of, ofcrossing that line and pulling a
trigger. Charlie Kirk, in my opinion, you
(10:51):
know, he certainly is politics certainly laid on the right side
of the spectrum, as we would say.
But I don't think anyone could argue with him, with him or
anyone that supported Charlie Kirk in terms of the 1st
Amendment. You got to be able to have a
conversation. And he often said this.
If you don't have a conversation, this is when
trouble trouble happens. And ironically, that he was
killed for that very reason. And you know, the concept of a
(11:13):
martyr is somebody that dies forcause in, in essence, Charlie
died for the First Amendment. We may not agree with him.
Some of some people in America may not agree with his positions
on things like transgender folks, the way to run
government, politics, etcetera. But nonetheless, he's a young
man, died at prime of his, in prime of his life.
He was married, he had kids, buthe died for a reason I think
(11:36):
every single American should support.
We don't have the 1st Amendment.And that's why, John, it's the
first. It's not the 4th, it's not the
8th. It's number one that
differentiates America from the rest of the world.
And this, you know, we're going to have a celebration here in
July, a 250 year birthday party for America.
But that's the key that separated us, the ability for
(11:58):
any individual to express their opinion.
This is what I believe God meantfor people to do.
We'll talk freely probably. Kirk promoted that.
Especially in an environment of a lot of a lot of political
vitriol in real time. We watched the poor man get
(12:19):
assassinated. And so I, I felt it was fitting
for us to remember his birthday,which is October 14th, I
believe. And I did do a proclamation
calling that Charlie Kirk Day. Really it's First Amendment Day
is what it is. It's to remind us that that
amendment separates us from history, separates us from all
the other, all the other countries on the face of the
(12:40):
earth. So.
Governor, my last question to you is this.
What keeps you? Grounded because I think you are
a little different than most politicians.
I've met most a lot of politicians, you know, they like
to talk about themselves and they like to think about
themselves. And that's not necessarily a bad
thing. But that's not ever been your
(13:01):
MO. You, you seem to not really care
if you make a headline or don't make a headline.
And in my opinion, I've gotten to know you a little bit and
you're you're a kind person. I often tell the story about how
Governor Dunleavy gave my wife and IA personal tour of the
governor's mansion for like 30 minutes.
(13:21):
Like no security, no staff, justgave us a tour.
And they're like, that just blows people away.
And that's just probably how younormally operate.
So what keeps you grounded in life in general?
Not just being the governor, butin life, what has kept you
grounded? That's a great question.
I don't think everyone I don't, I don't, I can't recall anyone
(13:42):
ever asking that question. But you know, I didn't run for
governor to pat myself in the back.
I, I, I'm pretty happy with who I am and have been my entire
life. It's not like I've been in
search of trying to give my lifemeaning.
I had great parents. They were FDR Democrats and and
they were very good parents. They always, they always
(14:05):
instilled in the four boys there.
I three brothers that you shouldalways be looking out for the
little guy and that's not a pun because I'm 6 foot 7, but it's
really it's everyone should haveopportunity and whatever you do
in life and if you're going to choose public service is to help
provide that opportunity. This isn't about, you know,
running for governor to be someone.
(14:26):
I mean, it's interesting, John, we're going to have a lot of
folks run for governor because I'm turning out and what people
should do is ask those people what their mission is.
And if they look at them like they're, there's a deer in the
headlights moment, maybe they don't have a mission.
But my mission has always been to try and create opportunities
for Alaskans. I am certainly on the right side
of the spectrum because I think that philosophy, I think honors
(14:47):
the individual. But I would say what keeps me
grounded is that I grew up the son of a, a mother who was the
daughter of immigrants. And maybe she may, I think she
made the most, maybe $16,000 a year as a secretary and a
mailman. My father maybe made 34, maybe
$35,000 as a mailman. And that everyone matters and
(15:11):
that don't get too full of yourself because you could be
disappointed and karma comes around.
So I would say Long story short,I like people, love Alaskans,
love Alaska. And in the end, it's, it's what
I can create in terms of regulation or, or legislature
with legislature to help Alaska and help people.
(15:33):
And so I don't, you know, I don't look in the mirror
everyday and say, you know, you're the most amazing person
that ever lived. I get up in the morning and I
get ready to tackle problems andI just enjoy dealing with
problems. I don't know if that answered
the question. It's just you just can't be full
of yourself in these jobs because you're only here for a
certain amount of time. And this is a this is a unique
Republic we have here in America.
(15:53):
Well, I appreciate your time, Governor.
Welcome back anytime and we wishyou well and we hope you have a
phenomenal rest of your day. Happy Thanksgiving to you and
your family.
Well, one of my favorite governors in the history of
politics inside been doing politics.
Governor Mike Dunleavy, welcome to my show.
Excited to have you on. You know, it's, it's great to be
on John. Thanks for having me.
Well, it's fun. It's fun to sit back and see
some of the cool things that you've done over the years.
I think one of the things that is really intriguing to me is
(00:20):
you have a really great relationship with President
Trump. And I think that that does
really well for the state of Alaska.
Can you talk to me a little bit about why that's been so
important for you? And maybe some of the key
differences is of like having the Joe Biden in and then
getting Trump back into office has been good for Alaska.
So obviously I support PresidentTrump and there's reason there's
(00:43):
there's clear reasons for that. He's been fantastic for Alaska.
Trump one point O he began the process of creating all kinds of
opportunities for Alaska. NPR Excuse me, Anwar reopening
the Tongass National Forest, giving us a presidential permit
to have a railroad go across theborder with Canada.
He really worked on the King Cove Rd.
(01:04):
He was very interested in givingAlaska the opportunities that we
had hoped we had gotten at statehood when we became a
state. And so there's been a lot of
other administrations. I'm mostly Democrat, but some
Republicans too, that have either ignored Alaska or have
actually worked against Alaska. President Trump is on the exact
opposite. And as a resource state, as a
(01:25):
state that came into the union having to develop its resources
in order to pay for itself, President Trump was fantastic.
That's one O 2 point O is even better.
He issued an executive order forthe state of Alaska.
We're the only state that's got an executive order.
He mentioned our gas line project and his State of the
Union speech. The list goes on.
And his he's instructed his staff, his secretaries and
(01:49):
others to work directly with Alaska to work with us to get
some of these things across the finish line reopened, Anwar is
reopening. The Tongas got the King Cove Rd.
land title situation straightened out so they can get
a road and PRA is going to be back online.
Ambler Rd. LDLNG pipeline, He's behind
(02:10):
100%, all for what I think are very good reasons for the state
of Alaska. Again, opportunities to help the
state, help the country and helpour Asian allies.
And do you think I mean, the obvious answer to me is yes, but
having a friendship with Trump is helpful to Alaska?
Yeah, You know, John, there's a thing that's not often spoken
(02:32):
about in politics. And I I term it the cringe
factor, meaning two politicians are walking down a hall or
street and they see each other. Do they cringe when they see
each other or do they not? For me, there's no cringe with
President Trump. We, we get along.
We like each other. I really think what he's doing
is, is terrific for Alaska. He sees what we're doing up here
(02:54):
is also in line with what his vision is for America.
And so we, we, we get along. And it, it is important because
you've developed AI think a level of trust the president's
the, the most powerful human being in the universe right now.
And so being able to have a conversation with him, I'll give
you an example. And, and this, it's phenomenal.
We were outside the Alaska Airlines Center when the
(03:17):
individuals were coming in from Typhoon Halong, from the
devastated villages out in the Yukon Delta.
And I was standing in front of the Alaska Airlines Center and I
sent the president on my phone. I texted him a picture and it
was about 9:00 our time. So East Coast, he's about 1:00
in the morning. He texts right back.
(03:37):
He goes tell the people we'll ask that I love them, hear about
them or we're going to help them.
I mean, how often does that happen, right?
And so I was on a plane getting ready to leave about a week or
two later was actually Doug Bergum, the Department of
Interior. His phone number came up on my
phone. I couldn't get to the phone in
time before we lost connection. So when I landed, I listened to
the phone and it was Doug's number, but it was the president
(03:59):
saying, hey, congratulations, Mike.
You know, we got the Ambler Rd. going and it's going to be great
things for Alaska. So appreciate the president.
President appreciates what what he's doing for Alaska.
Look at John, we're only 740,000people the size of a county at
the top of the world. We only have three electoral
votes. You know, we're we're not, we're
not a Texas or California. Yeah, he gives us a lot of
(04:21):
attention. And so for that I'm grateful.
That's pretty awesome. Let's talk a little bit about
this Alaska Day that happened. Doug was there.
I think both the senators, Nick Beige, they, they signed this,
you know, document that was going to basically unleash
Alaska's energy. You know, we've heard that.
We've seen those rumblings in the paper before, and you've
(04:44):
kind of been the governor to nottalk about it unless something's
actually happening, which I really appreciate.
Do you think something is actually happening with, let's
say, specifically LNG or some ofthese other projects?
Yeah. So LNG absolutely.
And I'll give you I'll give you some reasons why I believe it's
moving, right. I'm not going to do backflips,
(05:04):
which would be dangerous in any day, but for me to do a
backflip. But I'm not going to do
backflips until the pipe is on the ground.
Then we get a first Weld. But let me tell you where we're
at. So Baker Hughes, which is a huge
international firm that deals with things such as natural gas
pipelines and LNG, they signed on to actually start the process
of putting together the components for things like
(05:26):
compressors and so forth. They're also interested, I
believe, in being an investor inthis project.
They would never do that if theythought that this didn't have a
pretty good chance. And So what people need to watch
is December Glenfarn, who's the private concern that is running
the pipeline process and is going to be the major dealer in
(05:46):
this whole thing. They're going to finish up their
feed process and what feed is front end engineering and
design. It's really for the pipe.
It's an update. It's an it's a it's an updated
cost. Last cost update was done in
2015. It's now 2 thousand 2526 we're
going to be going into. So they got to update the the
cost of that pipe. They're feeling really good
(06:07):
about where they're at now. They've had contractors look at
the pipe. They've had contractors on the
on the pipeline right away, actually physically going down
from Prudhoe all the way down tothe Kiski engineers looking at
it. And they feel that their study
in the end in December will comeout that the pipe is coming in
within a price range that's going to make things economical.
(06:28):
When that happens, January is when they all announce FID,
economic FID be able to start topurchase pipe.
And so they believe that everything works out,
everything's going the way it should go.
January, they'll announce they're going to purchase pipe
and we should have pipe on the ground in August of 26, which
means we're going to have a pipeline.
So what those two, those two time periods of December and
(06:50):
January are absolutely crucial and will tell us a whole lot
about the future of this pipeline.
That's huge. You know, I look back and I look
at Governor Walker's strategy philosophy and your strategy
philosophy and philosophy reallycompletely different
philosophies. I think under Walker it's more
state LED. State ran, you had countries and
(07:11):
they're coming in and running the the man camps.
Yours is private LED, you know, state still involved, but more
private LED. Do you think that there is
having the state, having the state kind of back out of it was
a good, was a good choice and you know being the lead person
and owning the whole thing. You know, that's a great
(07:34):
question, right? And I'm not not one of those
politicians that takes credit for things that I have not been
part of. And oftentimes I'm criticized by
my supporters for not taking enough credit.
But I'll say this, this may shock people.
A lot of governors have tried topush this pipeline, right?
And they they all wanted a pipeline for Alaska, which I
appreciate. I mean, it goes back, it goes
(07:55):
back decades and decades and decades.
Frank Murkowski, Sarah Palin, Sean Parnell and Governor
Walker. Now Governor Walker's approach
and you got to understand all ofthese things in these moments of
time. It's it's a different time
period as to what's happening internationally too.
At the same at the time we're trying to move this gas line.
But I give all the governors a lot of credit.
I give, I give Governor Walker credit for trying to move the
(08:17):
pipeline in the manner that he did help bring attention to it,
especially with our Asian alliesand and with China, which is not
necessarily an ally of America, but nonetheless.
So what's the point? It's good to know that we've had
a number of administrations trying to get this across the
finish line. Things are different now.
The environment worldwide is different.
Gas with regard to AI, gas with regard to electrification of the
(08:40):
world, just a lot of gas being used in a whole host of areas,
both for economic reasons of political, geopolitical reasons.
So Long story short, I thought the approach that we took was
the best approach because it's got to be economical and who's
going to determine if it's economical is our private
enterprise. It's private enterprise.
(09:01):
And so we were able to do that. And eventually we had a
conversation with Glenn Farn about a year and a half two
years ago and they became very interested in this process by
breaking the the the concept up into three parts, the pipeline,
the liquefaction export plant and the gas conditioning plant
on the slope. And everything seems to be
working right now. Again, crossing my fingers I'm
(09:21):
not going to have a party or parade until the pipes ordered
and we start to Weld that up. But things are looking pretty
good so far. Yeah, my good friend Charlie
Pierce always tells me don't getexcited till they start ordering
the pipe. So yes, I think that that's a
good philosophy to take. Let's pivot now.
You just did a Charlie Kirk day.I believe you signed it into
(09:43):
fruition for the state of Alaska.
Talk to me a little bit about what that means to you.
I know what it means to me, but I think it's important that his
legacy not be forgotten. He was the guy that showed up to
college campuses and let anybodydebate him, regardless of how
crazy they were. And I think, man, it's a lost
art. And I think I'd hate to see that
be even more lost because he wastragically murdered.
(10:07):
So talk to me a little bit aboutCharlie Kirk Day for Alaska.
Yeah, so I mean, you've had a number of folks in the history
here in in America, across the world, but here specifically in
America. I mean, I'll, I'll start in the
60s with, you know, even people like Malcolm X, for example, was
assassinated in New York City because of his views on certain
things. And then, of course, our
president, President Kennedy wasassassinated.
(10:28):
Martin Luther King, similar reasons.
And Charlie Kirk, you know, the thing about Charlie Kirk, I
think that I think Charlie Kirk's assassination in some
respects bothered me than than than than other assassinations.
They're all terrible. It's, it's an awful way for
anyone to express their dislike or disagreement with somebody by
by doing the ultimate act of, ofcrossing that line and pulling a
trigger. Charlie Kirk, in my opinion, you
(10:51):
know, he certainly is politics certainly laid on the right side
of the spectrum, as we would say.
But I don't think anyone could argue with him, with him or
anyone that supported Charlie Kirk in terms of the 1st
Amendment. You got to be able to have a
conversation. And he often said this.
If you don't have a conversation, this is when
trouble trouble happens. And ironically, that he was
killed for that very reason. And you know, the concept of a
(11:13):
martyr is somebody that dies forcause in, in essence, Charlie
died for the First Amendment. We may not agree with him.
Some of some people in America may not agree with his positions
on things like transgender folks, the way to run
government, politics, etcetera. But nonetheless, he's a young
man, died at prime of his, in prime of his life.
He was married, he had kids, buthe died for a reason I think
(11:36):
every single American should support.
We don't have the 1st Amendment.And that's why, John, it's the
first. It's not the 4th, it's not the
8th. It's number one that
differentiates America from the rest of the world.
And this, you know, we're going to have a celebration here in
July, a 250 year birthday party for America.
But that's the key that separated us, the ability for
(11:58):
any individual to express their opinion.
This is what I believe God meantfor people to do.
We'll talk freely probably. Kirk promoted that.
Especially in an environment of a lot of a lot of political
vitriol in real time. We watched the poor man get
(12:19):
assassinated. And so I, I felt it was fitting
for us to remember his birthday,which is October 14th, I
believe. And I did do a proclamation
calling that Charlie Kirk Day. Really it's First Amendment Day
is what it is. It's to remind us that that
amendment separates us from history, separates us from all
the other, all the other countries on the face of the
(12:40):
earth. So.
Governor, my last question to you is this.
What keeps you? Grounded because I think you are
a little different than most politicians.
I've met most a lot of politicians, you know, they like
to talk about themselves and they like to think about
themselves. And that's not necessarily a bad
thing. But that's not ever been your
(13:01):
MO. You, you seem to not really care
if you make a headline or don't make a headline.
And in my opinion, I've gotten to know you a little bit and
you're you're a kind person. I often tell the story about how
Governor Dunleavy gave my wife and IA personal tour of the
governor's mansion for like 30 minutes.
(13:21):
Like no security, no staff, justgave us a tour.
And they're like, that just blows people away.
And that's just probably how younormally operate.
So what keeps you grounded in life in general?
Not just being the governor, butin life, what has kept you
grounded? That's a great question.
I don't think everyone I don't, I don't, I can't recall anyone
(13:42):
ever asking that question. But you know, I didn't run for
governor to pat myself in the back.
I, I, I'm pretty happy with who I am and have been my entire
life. It's not like I've been in
search of trying to give my lifemeaning.
I had great parents. They were FDR Democrats and and
they were very good parents. They always, they always
(14:05):
instilled in the four boys there.
I three brothers that you shouldalways be looking out for the
little guy and that's not a pun because I'm 6 foot 7, but it's
really it's everyone should haveopportunity and whatever you do
in life and if you're going to choose public service is to help
provide that opportunity. This isn't about, you know,
running for governor to be someone.
(14:26):
I mean, it's interesting, John, we're going to have a lot of
folks run for governor because I'm turning out and what people
should do is ask those people what their mission is.
And if they look at them like they're, there's a deer in the
headlights moment, maybe they don't have a mission.
But my mission has always been to try and create opportunities
for Alaskans. I am certainly on the right side
of the spectrum because I think that philosophy, I think honors
(14:47):
the individual. But I would say what keeps me
grounded is that I grew up the son of a, a mother who was the
daughter of immigrants. And maybe she may, I think she
made the most, maybe $16,000 a year as a secretary and a
mailman. My father maybe made 34, maybe
$35,000 as a mailman. And that everyone matters and
(15:11):
that don't get too full of yourself because you could be
disappointed and karma comes around.
So I would say Long story short,I like people, love Alaskans,
love Alaska. And in the end, it's, it's what
I can create in terms of regulation or, or legislature
with legislature to help Alaska and help people.
(15:33):
And so I don't, you know, I don't look in the mirror
everyday and say, you know, you're the most amazing person
that ever lived. I get up in the morning and I
get ready to tackle problems andI just enjoy dealing with
problems. I don't know if that answered
the question. It's just you just can't be full
of yourself in these jobs because you're only here for a
certain amount of time. And this is a this is a unique
Republic we have here in America.
(15:53):
Well, I appreciate your time, Governor.
Welcome back anytime and we wishyou well and we hope you have a
phenomenal rest of your day. Happy Thanksgiving to you and
your family.
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