Bret Baier currently serves as FOX News Channel’s (FNC) anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Bret Baier, and is chief political anchor of the network and co-anchor of the network’s election coverage. Based in Washington, D.C., Baier joined the network in 1998 as the first reporter in the Atlanta bureau. He was recently described as ''the most influential news anchor in America right now'' at the 2025 Semafor Trust in News Summit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is a podcast from wor Here's Larry Minting with
more of the WR Saturday Morning show, Welcome Back. Well,
you know Brett Baer as the chief political anchor on
Fox News. You watch him every day, but he's also
a best selling author on history. He's written his sixth
book in a series on US presidents, this one called
(00:23):
to Rescue the American Spirit, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rise
of a Superpower. Right, I'll tell you this is a
great honor. I watch you every night and I appreciate
the work you've done. I also read the Ronald Reagan
book Three Days in Moscow. You are a wonderful storyteller
and I'm looking forward to your next book. Theodore Roosevelt
(00:46):
is a wonderful topic. I think that a lot of
people know his bluster and know him as this bigger
than life politician. I'm not sure people understand and what
a great conservationist he was as well.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, thank you for having me. Teddy Roosevelt is a character.
You know, he jumps off the page to your point.
He's so passionate and energetic and is just such a
rich character full of anecdotes that's, you know, easy to write.
About his life each one of these books. So this
is my sixth, believe it or not. I started with
(01:25):
Eisenhower three days in January, then Reagan three days in Moscow,
then FDR three days at the Brink, then Grant to
rescue the Republic, then Washington to rescue the Constitution, and
this one Teddy Roosevelt to rescue the American spirit. The
reason this is so relevant is each one of these
(01:47):
books I look at a soda straw moment in history
that maybe was overlooked or didn't get covered that much,
or history just forgot in the big picture of context.
And this one looks at despite all of the things,
including conservation, and I talk a lot about that in
the book, all the things that Teddy Roosevelt wanted to
do his legacy, he wanted it to be that America
(02:10):
was a global leader on the world stage, that we
were leading the way and at the turn of the century,
that was really key for the world to understand that
America was in this pole position. And how he does
that is he sees Russia and Japan fighting a territorial
dispute that's actually getting very intense and could devolve into
a world war. He reaches out to the leaders of
(02:33):
Russia and Japan. He sends them telegrams and letters and says,
I would like to host a peace negotiation in the US.
So he brings the leaders and their delegations to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, and he sets up this entire logistics of
peace negotiations and sets up going back and forth to
the delegations, and he shuttles back and forth, and he
(02:55):
eventually steers them to a peace treaty, gets him the
Nobel Peace Prize, and that after that America is put
on the map on the world stage.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Why who does that sound like trying to get the
Nobel Peace Prize. I guess his politics were different, but
the personalities are similar, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
With three percent? You know, I wrote this well before
all of that started with the second Trump administration, So
I mean, it's not clairvoyance. Each one of these books
has a moment where I think it's really evident that
history is cyclical and it comes back around, and this
is a perfect thing that ties to that. There are
(03:37):
similarities between Teddy Roosevelt and Donald Trump. They're not one
to one. There's definitely different ideology and different thoughts, but
Teddy Roosevelt was called the human cyclone. I can tell
you that after ripping up a rundown in my news
show six times during a day, there's a little human cyclone.
To President Trump, he was again larger than life. He
(04:00):
used the press, He used the press and brought them
into everything he was doing. But he also went after
the press. He called them muckrakers, and he really kind
of said, you're writing the wrong things. I mean, if
that doesn't sound like President Trump, I don't know what
it does. But I also think that there's a part
(04:20):
of it that you can't put him in a box.
You know, he was a conservative, he was a Republican.
He believed in capitalism, but he believed in capitalism for everybody,
and he really fought for the little guy and the worker,
especially the laborer. And it didn't go to type of
a Republican who was, you know, part of an elitist
(04:42):
family to begin with.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, I love the name of the book, especially the
part the Birth of a Superpower. And one of my
favorite stories about Teddy Roosevelt is the Great White Fleet.
Now let you tell it, but man, what an amazing
story that sounds Trump like.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
By the way, it does doing something out of the ordinary,
out of the box, to show America's strength. Basically, President
Roosevelt says, this is after the Peace Treaty, after America's
kind of on the world stage. Japan is starting to
make rumblings again, and President Roosevelt says, we need to
(05:21):
do something to show America's prominence. And so he takes
the US Navy Naval fleet, all the ships that are
battleship gray, and he paints them gleaming white, and he
makes the Great White Fleet, and he sends an armada
of sixteen ships around the world to sail around the
world to show America's might. And Congress says, what are
(05:42):
you doing. We are not paying for this, and he says,
we'll figure that out later, and he sends them anyway.
Eventually Congress gets on board. But they do sail around
the world, and it is the message of peace through strength,
like look at this power. They come back ten days
before the end of President Roosevelt's term and it turns
(06:04):
out to be a success. The message was sent.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I always heard that. He said, I'll send them out.
I have the money to send them out. Congress can
come up with the money to get them back. Is
that a fable?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
That's true. Yeah, he sent them out and there was
no funding to have keep them out, and Congress eventually
came around and paid for it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know, I have the Man in the Arena up
on the wall in my office at home. I always
assumed he was talking about the media and which would
be more Trump like that he had this love hate
relationship with them.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, so that's me. It's called the Citizenship in the Republic,
but it becomes known as the Man in the Arena
and it's a classic. You know, it's it's about the
spirit of engagement. And you know, there's a lot of
people that look at it and see, say, what is
he talking about? You know, at the time he's left
the president and he's delivering this speech, and believe it
(07:02):
or not, I think he's talking about himself because soon
thereafter he decides to get back in the arena and
run for president himself.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Brett, it was a pleasure to talk to you. Brett Baer,
chief political anchor for the Fox News Channel and the
anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Brett Beher,
also most importantly, author of To Rescue the American Spirit,
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rise of the superpower. Thank you
so much, it was an honor.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Thank you very much. This has been a podcast from
wor
This is a podcast from wor Here's Larry Minting with
more of the WR Saturday Morning show, Welcome Back. Well,
you know Brett Baer as the chief political anchor on
Fox News. You watch him every day, but he's also
a best selling author on history. He's written his sixth
book in a series on US presidents, this one called
(00:23):
to Rescue the American Spirit, Teddy Roosevelt and the Rise
of a Superpower. Right, I'll tell you this is a
great honor. I watch you every night and I appreciate
the work you've done. I also read the Ronald Reagan
book Three Days in Moscow. You are a wonderful storyteller
and I'm looking forward to your next book. Theodore Roosevelt
(00:46):
is a wonderful topic. I think that a lot of
people know his bluster and know him as this bigger
than life politician. I'm not sure people understand and what
a great conservationist he was as well.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah, thank you for having me. Teddy Roosevelt is a character.
You know, he jumps off the page to your point.
He's so passionate and energetic and is just such a
rich character full of anecdotes that's, you know, easy to write.
About his life each one of these books. So this
is my sixth, believe it or not. I started with
(01:25):
Eisenhower three days in January, then Reagan three days in Moscow,
then FDR three days at the Brink, then Grant to
rescue the Republic, then Washington to rescue the Constitution, and
this one Teddy Roosevelt to rescue the American spirit. The
reason this is so relevant is each one of these
(01:47):
books I look at a soda straw moment in history
that maybe was overlooked or didn't get covered that much,
or history just forgot in the big picture of context.
And this one looks at despite all of the things,
including conservation, and I talk a lot about that in
the book, all the things that Teddy Roosevelt wanted to
do his legacy, he wanted it to be that America
(02:10):
was a global leader on the world stage, that we
were leading the way and at the turn of the century,
that was really key for the world to understand that
America was in this pole position. And how he does
that is he sees Russia and Japan fighting a territorial
dispute that's actually getting very intense and could devolve into
a world war. He reaches out to the leaders of
(02:33):
Russia and Japan. He sends them telegrams and letters and says,
I would like to host a peace negotiation in the US.
So he brings the leaders and their delegations to Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, and he sets up this entire logistics of
peace negotiations and sets up going back and forth to
the delegations, and he shuttles back and forth, and he
(02:55):
eventually steers them to a peace treaty, gets him the
Nobel Peace Prize, and that after that America is put
on the map on the world stage.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Why who does that sound like trying to get the
Nobel Peace Prize. I guess his politics were different, but
the personalities are similar, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
With three percent? You know, I wrote this well before
all of that started with the second Trump administration, So
I mean, it's not clairvoyance. Each one of these books
has a moment where I think it's really evident that
history is cyclical and it comes back around, and this
is a perfect thing that ties to that. There are
(03:37):
similarities between Teddy Roosevelt and Donald Trump. They're not one
to one. There's definitely different ideology and different thoughts, but
Teddy Roosevelt was called the human cyclone. I can tell
you that after ripping up a rundown in my news
show six times during a day, there's a little human cyclone.
To President Trump, he was again larger than life. He
(04:00):
used the press, He used the press and brought them
into everything he was doing. But he also went after
the press. He called them muckrakers, and he really kind
of said, you're writing the wrong things. I mean, if
that doesn't sound like President Trump, I don't know what
it does. But I also think that there's a part
(04:20):
of it that you can't put him in a box.
You know, he was a conservative, he was a Republican.
He believed in capitalism, but he believed in capitalism for everybody,
and he really fought for the little guy and the worker,
especially the laborer. And it didn't go to type of
a Republican who was, you know, part of an elitist
(04:42):
family to begin with.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah, I love the name of the book, especially the
part the Birth of a Superpower. And one of my
favorite stories about Teddy Roosevelt is the Great White Fleet.
Now let you tell it, but man, what an amazing
story that sounds Trump like.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
By the way, it does doing something out of the ordinary,
out of the box, to show America's strength. Basically, President
Roosevelt says, this is after the Peace Treaty, after America's
kind of on the world stage. Japan is starting to
make rumblings again, and President Roosevelt says, we need to
(05:21):
do something to show America's prominence. And so he takes
the US Navy Naval fleet, all the ships that are
battleship gray, and he paints them gleaming white, and he
makes the Great White Fleet, and he sends an armada
of sixteen ships around the world to sail around the
world to show America's might. And Congress says, what are
(05:42):
you doing. We are not paying for this, and he says,
we'll figure that out later, and he sends them anyway.
Eventually Congress gets on board. But they do sail around
the world, and it is the message of peace through strength,
like look at this power. They come back ten days
before the end of President Roosevelt's term and it turns
(06:04):
out to be a success. The message was sent.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
I always heard that. He said, I'll send them out.
I have the money to send them out. Congress can
come up with the money to get them back. Is
that a fable?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
That's true. Yeah, he sent them out and there was
no funding to have keep them out, and Congress eventually
came around and paid for it.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You know, I have the Man in the Arena up
on the wall in my office at home. I always
assumed he was talking about the media and which would
be more Trump like that he had this love hate
relationship with them.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Yeah, so that's me. It's called the Citizenship in the Republic,
but it becomes known as the Man in the Arena
and it's a classic. You know, it's it's about the
spirit of engagement. And you know, there's a lot of
people that look at it and see, say, what is
he talking about? You know, at the time he's left
the president and he's delivering this speech, and believe it
(07:02):
or not, I think he's talking about himself because soon
thereafter he decides to get back in the arena and
run for president himself.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Brett, it was a pleasure to talk to you. Brett Baer,
chief political anchor for the Fox News Channel and the
anchor and executive editor of Special Report with Brett Beher,
also most importantly, author of To Rescue the American Spirit,
Teddy Roosevelt and the Rise of the superpower. Thank you
so much, it was an honor.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Thank you very much. This has been a podcast from
wor
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