Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome back to the Sean Hannity Show. I
am Jeffrey Lord of the American Spectator or Newsmax and
all over the place the Word of the Lord Podcast.
We can't forget that, and I am sitting in for
Sean as we wind down the year. You can call
in at eight hundred and nine four one, seven, three
(00:22):
two six or eight hundred and nine four to one Shawn.
And we now are going to move on to our
next guest, one, Selena Zito. Hello, Selena, Hey.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Joff, how are you nice to hear your voice?
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I am, I am fine. Let me just tell our audience.
Selena is a I'm biased is a terrific journalist who
joined The Washington Examiner in twenty sixteen as a Pittsburgh
based columnist and reporter covering national politics and culture from
a perspective outside the Beltway. She is the author of Butler,
(00:57):
The Untold Story of the near Assassin of Donald Trump
and the Fight for America's Heartland and the Great Revolt.
She began her career at the Pittsburgh Tribune Review as
a reporter and columnist covering national politics, and she has
been a contributor at The New York Post and The
Wall Street Journal, and is currently contributor at the Washington Post. So, Selena,
(01:20):
it is great to talk to you.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Well, right back at Jeff, thank you so much. I
hope you had a very very Christmas.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
I did, indeed, I did, indeed, And now it's on
to twenty six, which is exactly where I wanted to
start with you. Let's start out with your thoughts on
twenty six, both in terms of what's going to be
happening in Pennsylvania politically and then anywhere else in the
country that you have found of interest.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Well, as most people know, a mid term election for
the party in power traditionally but not always tends to
benefit the opposing party. But we're in very different times,
so I wouldn't place a bet on that there. You know,
(02:10):
there's been a lot of sort of speculation because of
what happened in Virginia, New Jersey, but what happened in
Virginia in New Jersey is exactly what always happens, and
so I wouldn't use that as a as a stepping
stone to say, well, this means this, or that we're
(02:31):
in very sort of turbulent times, not just in our politics,
but also in how this country is changing in terms
of our economy. We are going through a version of
the Industrial Revolution, only this time it centers on tech.
And so with that turbulence becomes unpredictability in American politics. Now, Pennsylvania,
(02:57):
as always will be the center of a ten. We
have a governor's race between Democrats Josh Shapiro and Republican
Stacy Garrity. This, uh, well just will be a very
different matchup than the one between Shapiro and Mastriano. And
and so I would look to this to be competitive.
(03:21):
But Shapiro has done a very good job of earning
Trump voters in the last election cycle, So I wouldn't
I would be cautious to think that this is something
that would be easily won by a Republican. Shapiro does
a very good job of having a moderating voice. And
(03:44):
so we also have I would say three competitive races
in the House and the and and for Congress, and
also for this for the State House and the State Senate.
Both parties are being be pushing to get the majority
in those in those in those legislative bodies.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
How much do you think the governor Shapiro's eye on
twenty twenty eight will affect what happens with him in
twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I think what Shapiro wants to do is, obviously, when
the seat right, he wants to win reelection, but I
think he also wants to show his muscle and try
to get a larger majority of the State House. They
only have it by one seat. That's not a lot
of power. And I think he wants to also win
(04:41):
the state the majority in the state Senate, which they
do not have. I think Republicans have the majority by
about five or six seats. So that's what he is
going to be putting his effort into, not just his race,
but also also show his political chops by saying, hey,
look what I did. I not only won the governor's race,
(05:04):
I brought majorities in Now that's what he wants to do.
That doesn't mean that that's what's going to happen. Pennsylvanians
notoriously split their tickets, and I suspect this will over
year will be no different.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
How do you think you know? One of the things
when I first when I was a teenager getting involved,
I was a page not to date myself. I was
a page at the nineteen sixty eight Republican Convention. I was,
I think seventeen years old, and I started, you know,
having conversations with my political elders of the day, and
(05:44):
one of the things that was explained to me was
about what Pennsylvanians know as the t and for those
not from Pennsylvania, basically that means that Democrats would do
well in the east in Philadelphia, and in the world
west in Pittsburgh and surrounding counties, and then this huge
(06:04):
swath of Pennsylvania that goes right up the middle from
between those two spots and goes right up the middle
to from the Maryland border to the New York border,
and then goes left and right all the way over
to Erie and the right over to Scranton and Wilkesbury.
How much of a role do you think that that
(06:26):
sort of formulation is going to play in the governor's race.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
As they go on, Well, not much has changed about
the Key other than the middle of the Key has
gotten wider. Uh, you know, there's more there has been
more power exercised in counties like Luverne and Erie and
but also Cambria, Beaver Washington, Westmoreland. Back in those days,
(06:56):
those were still Democrat reliable Democrat counties. That has changed
over the past two ten years to the point where
most locally elected offices are now held by Republicans. So
that has given Republicans more power and more ability to
(07:17):
win statewide elections. You saw that with President Trump in
twenty sixteen. You saw it more so with President Trump
in twenty four where he expanded those wins. And you
also saw it with Dave McCormick. So the power has
shrunk away from Billy and Pittsburgh and went one point
(07:39):
where there's those cities and the counties that surrounded them
determined elections. That's not the case anymore.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, Yeah, what was I going to say to you
here about how much do you think President Trump is
going to affect things in Pennsylvania in in our election,
whether it's for the governorship or or just in general
for other candidates lower down on.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
The on the ballot.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
I think that the president is going to be really
really focused on the congressional races and also on the
state legislative races. I suspect in our state that's where
he is where he's going to use his political muscle,
and and that's where I expect him to to to
(08:32):
come out and be supportive and do the things that
those candidates need for them to win.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
And I have to ask, what are your thoughts on
the state of the Pennsylvania Republican Party and how it
How it's.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Doing well, I mean, it has its challenges. I think
that the state Party should have not focused on the
Supreme Court races this past November to the extent that
they did. They were never going to win them. Those
(09:10):
are races that are hard to win. And also, I think,
most importantly, because you know, I'm old and I have
history of historical recollection, in twenty fifteen, Republicans lost those
state Supreme Court races and everybody thought everything was over
for the Republican Party and then look what happened in
(09:31):
twenty sixteen. So I'm really reluctant to believe what happened
this past November with those state Supreme Court races matters.
They should have focused more on local elections because that's
what meaning you know, row offices and counties like Bucks
(09:56):
and Eerie and Westmoreland. I think that's where that's where
the state Party is most muscular, and they should take
advantage of what they're best at doing.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, do you think I'm curious what you think about
the state of industry in Pennsylvania. I mean, once upon
a time it was all steel and coal, and now
I think there are other things coming to the fore
in Pennsylvania, twenty first century technology and all that kind
of thing. What are your thoughts on that as to
(10:33):
how we're doing, how the state is doing with that
kind of thing and changes that may lie ahead or
are already in progress.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, thanks to President Trump, the steel industry is going
to be booming. It already is. They've been hiring at
a robust clip because of the deal between Nippon and
US Steel. So as the steel manufacturing is only going
to get bigger and better in our state. And coal
is also on the rebound in the state in particular
(11:02):
because of the most important emerging industry in our state,
which is the AI data power centers. Now, while they
don't typically employ a lot of people, the data are
power centers themselves to build them and maintain them does
and we have rich abundant energy in coal and natural
(11:26):
gas to build the facilities and energy components needed to
supply the energy to those data power centers. So we're
going through a boom right now in our state, and
we are for the at least the next ten years.
We've got hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, not
(11:46):
only in western Pennsylvania, but also in Luzerne and other counties.
There's going to be one upcoming in Green County where
you are going to see and also Indiana County where
you were going to see a sturge of hiring. It's
already started and you're going to see these little boom
(12:06):
towns start to form around these jobs.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Well, that's that's great news because I think that you know,
I was a little more than a little concerned about
our state of Pennsylvania, and uh when when I was
starting out and eventually watching my old boss, Senator John
Hines working very closely as staff members. We had to
(12:31):
work on the energy industry, and we also and I
don't know, maybe you can update us on the status
of what's going on with shipyard construction and I don't know,
the Philadelphia Navy Yard is that's still uh still in
business as it were.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
Yeah, Senator McCormick and President Trump announced just a few
a few weeks ago. Yeah, a couple billion dollar investment
in the shipyards. So in terms of manufacturing, uh and
blue collar work, you know people that work in the trade, right,
(13:11):
the biggest challenge is to finding people to fill the jobs.
Not that the jobs aren't there. There are lots of jobs.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Well that's that's good to know because when I worked
for Senator Hines, that was that was one of my
assignments that he made they would get This was directly
tied to the Reagan defense build up. And the deal
was that there were aircraft carriers and battleships that needed
(13:41):
to be They called it the SLEPT program s l
e P, which stood for Service Life Extension program and uh,
it was it was a battle for Senator Hines to
get others around around the country, Uh, to you know,
come pete against them and win so that we would
(14:02):
get those ships into the Philadelphia Navy Yard. And a
lot of times it happened, but sometimes it didn't happen,
and UH, that's a that's a problem. Well, my friend,
it was great to talk to you. We will doubtless
be seeing you talking to you again. Have a great
twenty twenty six, And I would just remind our audience
our numbers eight hundred nine four one seven, three two six,
(14:25):
eight hundred and nine four to one Sean, and we'll
be back very shortly. All right, this is Jeffrey Lord
sitting in for our friend Sean Hannity, and let me
give out our number here, Sean's number eight hundred and
nine four one seven, three two six and eight hundred
and nine forour to one Sean, and you are welcome
(14:47):
to call in and check in and see what's going on.
We're going to have a good guest coming up with
our friend Jeff Bardos, who was very involved in Pennsylvania
and UH is now also moved to the international stage
at the UN, and we're going to want to talk
to him a little bit about that. The UN is
(15:09):
always as long as I've been around in life, it's
always been a source of of of conversations with various
ambassadors from the United States making a case eloquently for
the United States and sometimes UH scolding others and all
of that. It's always very interesting and very interesting atmosphere.
So it'll be interesting to talk to UH to Jeff
(15:31):
about that. And after that, I think, UH, we'll just uh,
we'll see what's going on here. We do have news
coming out with Prime Minister net and Yahoo and President Trump,
and uh, we'll we'll see what that has going on
for it. So we will be back very shortly.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Breaking news straight from the source. This is the Sean
Hannity Show.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
All right, this is Jeffrey Lord sitting in for our
friend Sean Hannity. Welcome to Shawn's radio show, and you
can reach us at eight hundred and nine four one
seven three two six or eight hundred and nine four
one sewn. So we're going to play a little We're
gonna dip into this press conference that was just held
(16:49):
President Trump and President Prime Minister net and Yahoo and
actually I think some of it may even still be
going on, but there's a lot of stuff happening here.
And uh, you know what President Trump has managed to
accomplish in the Middle East with the various countries and
getting peace agreements and all of this kind of thing, uh,
(17:13):
I think has been astonishing, and getting Israel and some
of Arab countries to work together. Jared Kushner has been
out there working very hard on all this. So we're
going to just play a little bit here for you
to sort of get the flavor of what's going on.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Can you clarify to us, did you talk about what
are you talking about.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
With the president?
Speaker 5 (17:33):
There's really President Hartok. Did you talk with him directly?
Speaker 7 (17:41):
Yeah, oh, we like you got to say that. No,
I think he's going to be in great shape. He's
a wartime prime minister at the highest level. He's achieved
tremendous success. And I'll say it. You know, if you
had eight out of ten prime ministers in his position
right now or before right now, maybe you wouldn't have
(18:02):
Israel any longer.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Israel would not exist.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
I'd say two of them would in eight of them
would that. Those are not good odds. You needed a
very special man to really carry through and really help
Israel through this horrible jam. You know, these are major factions,
and it started with our negotiation with Iran.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
I think it probably started with Solomony.
Speaker 7 (18:31):
That was really where you mentioned that today, which started
with Solomoni bad guy doing bad things, hurting a lot
of people, killing American soldiers and other soldiers. But it
started right there would probably be the starting point, and
then from that point forward, but you would you have
a wartime prime minister at the highest level. There could
(18:54):
be other wartime prime ministers, but that'd lose. He won,
and I think the people of Israel appreciated. I think
a lot of the people in the world appreciated, actually,
and because of that victory, we were able to get
peace in the Middle East. If you had a different
kind of a personality, if you had a weak person
or a stupid person, and there are plenty of both
(19:15):
of them, you would not have had success, and you
might not have Israel. And you report for Israel, I
know you're very proud of it, and you do a
great job. You might not have a job because they
might not be an Israel right now if you had
a different prime minister. That's a big statement. But to me,
it's a very simple statement to make. I'm looking at
Pete Hegseth and he's sort of nodding. If they don't
(19:36):
have a strong prime minister, Pete, you might not have
Israel today.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
I think you'll go down in the record books.
Speaker 7 (19:41):
And you know I was a big help. I'll be honest,
with big, big help. Somebody may sit in the room.
If you don't have Trump, you needed a proper combination
of everything. And if you didn't have that combination, which
they had, you would not have an existing Israel right now.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
And the people of Israel know it.
Speaker 7 (20:03):
That's why they like me, and that's why they really
they actually like him. He's got a little bit of
a love hate more than I do over there. But
you know what, even the haters have a lot of
respect for him. There's a lot of jealousy about him,
a lot of jealousy. Jealousy is a bad word. But
I believe you would not have Israel right now. So
it's a big deal.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
Yeah. Please.
Speaker 8 (20:24):
A recent Paul showed that as many of as half
of Gosens would be willing to leave the gods of
strip of afforded the opportunity to do so.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Back in February, you said that all Godsens.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
I heard the numbers to the half of Gaza would leave.
I've always said it.
Speaker 7 (20:37):
I said, if you were given the opportunity to live
in a better climate.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
They would move.
Speaker 7 (20:44):
They're there because they sort of have to be. I
think it would be I think it would be a
great opportunity. But let's see if that opportunity presents itself.
But we're helping the people of Gaza a lot, so
is Israel, by the way, So we'll see what happens.
But I saw that it was a poll. It was
actually more than half the people would leave if they
were given the opportunity. And I've been saying that for
(21:06):
a long time. It was to me it was common sense.
So it's interesting.
Speaker 8 (21:09):
I wouldn't countries accept them.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Look, let's not talk about it because we don't want
the controversy.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Right now, we're helping guys.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
But if they were given the opportunity, I think even
higher than that. The person the group that did the
poll is usually I call them negative pulses. You have
a lot of them, and yet this poll was I
think very accurate. Other than it would be more than
half the people if given the opportunity. But they haven't
been given that opportunity. So we'll see what happens.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
Have you reach a point of understanding regarding Syria?
Speaker 3 (21:45):
We do have.
Speaker 7 (21:46):
An understanding regarding Syria. Now with Syria, you know you're
new president. I respect him. He's a very strong guy,
and that's what you need in Syria. You can't put
a choir boy, can't put you know, somebody that's a
perfect person. Everything's nice, no problems in life. You have
(22:06):
the opposite there. He's a strong guy. We get along
with him great. I can't ask for anymore. He's been
with us all the way. We had that misap with Isis,
and he was with us all the way. He was
fighting us, you know, he was fighting them. So I
hope Israel. I'm sure that Israel and him will get along.
I will try and make it so that they do
(22:29):
get along.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
I think they will. Maybe Do you have anything to
say about that.
Speaker 9 (22:32):
Yeah, well, our interest is to have a peaceful border
with Sarah. Our interest is to have and we openly said,
we want to make sure that the border area right
next to our border is safe. We don't have terrorists,
we don't have attacks, and we also want to secure
(22:55):
our Jews friends. And by the way, I think not
only the Jews, but other mind artists, especially the Christians,
should be protected as well in Syria and throughout the
Middle East and in Nigeria. When your efforts we back
completely because Christian communities are beleaguered around the world and
especially in the Middle East, but in parts of Africa too,
(23:16):
and we stand for the same thing.
Speaker 7 (23:18):
And don't forget it was President Erdawan that helped very
much get rid of a very bad ruler of Syria.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
That was President Dawe.
Speaker 7 (23:29):
And he never wanted the credit for it, but he
really gets a lot of credit.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Bbe agrees with that. I agree with.
Speaker 7 (23:35):
I mean, I know it, and President one should get
a lot of good credit for what he did. He
get rid of some very bad people, and you know
they've been wanting to do that for a thousand years
with different names, but for a thousand years in Syria,
President Erdwan did it, and we give him a lot
of credit.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
I give him a lot of credit.
Speaker 7 (23:54):
But I think it's going to work out well between
Syria and Israel.
Speaker 10 (24:01):
About about Lebanon, the Lebanese government, so what we saw
is not meeting the terms of the ceasefire agreement, has
failed to disarmed.
Speaker 8 (24:12):
Chrisbala, Actually, in your view, should.
Speaker 10 (24:15):
Israel strike the tourist organization again.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
Well, we're gonna see about that. We'll see about it. Uh.
Speaker 7 (24:21):
The Lebanese government is a little bit of a disadvantage
if you think of it, with Hesbela, but Hesbela has
been behaving badly, so we'll see what happens.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
Also, we do another operation of Israel in Iran. You
said before the meeting with Nataniel that you are in
support of Israel if the ballistic missile project will take on,
and also the nuclear weapon. But after the meeting, after
what you know from the intelligence? How close a week
to another with the one?
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Well, I don't want to say that, but a run
maybe behaving badly. It hasn't been confirmed, but if it's confirmed, Look,
they know the consequences. You know, consequences will be very powerful,
maybe more powerful than the last time. Yeah, and a
Rand should have made a deal. The last time I
(25:11):
gave them the option. I said, you can make a deal,
do it. I told them do it, and they didn't
believe me. Now they believe me.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You evid is behaving badly? And what do you mean?
This is just what we hear. But usually where there's smoke,
there's fire.
Speaker 7 (25:30):
Have you heard the expression what do you mean related
to the nuclear caple? No, I'm hearing that they're not
nuclear yet, but maybe nuclear too. The sites were obliterated,
but they're looking at other sites, That's what I've heard.
Speaker 3 (25:41):
They're looking. So it'll take a long time.
Speaker 7 (25:44):
They're not going to go back to where they were,
but they have other places they can go. And if
they're doing that, they're making a big mistake. Yeah, there's
no reason for them to do it.
Speaker 8 (25:55):
Mister President, Is the United States currently UH open to
engaging in bilateral discussions with Turan? We're hearing reports from
numerous countries that there may be some discussions. Is that
something you would support or something that I would support that?
Speaker 7 (26:10):
I would Yes, I have been by the way before
the war.
Speaker 3 (26:13):
I would support that.
Speaker 7 (26:14):
I said to him, maybe I said, let's negotiate and
they didn't believe what was going to happen would happen.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
China's been doing naval exercises basically to test encircling Taiwan.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
Can you explain to us what your knowledge is of that?
What do you think about that?
Speaker 5 (26:34):
Have you had any discussions with Well.
Speaker 7 (26:35):
I have a great relationship with Presidency and he hasn't
told me anything about it. I certainly have seen it,
but he hasn't told me anything about it. And I
don't believe he's going to be doing it. No, nothing
worries me.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Nothing.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
There's fire, right, So if you're in circle, if you're
doing naval exercises and air exercises.
Speaker 7 (26:57):
Doing naval exercises for twenty years in that area. Now
people take it a little bit differently, but in fact
larger than they're doing right now.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
So we'll see. But they've been doing that for twenty
twenty five years.
Speaker 8 (27:12):
Yeah, as president, if you don't see Amos disarm in
that short amount of time they're giving them, can you
tell us what the next steps would be?
Speaker 7 (27:21):
Horrible for them, horrible, gonna be really really bad for them,
And I don't want that to happen. But they made
an agreement that they were going to disarm, and you
couldn't blame Israel. By the way, we have other countries
that will come in and do it. They said, let
us do it for you if they don't. Countries that
(27:42):
were with them wanted the deal to be made, agreed
that they would disarm. And now if they say they're
going to disarm, that's fine. If they say they're not
going to disarm, those same countries will go and wipe
them out.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
They don't even need Israel.
Speaker 7 (27:58):
You know, we have many countries, fifty nine countries that
already agree this is a real peace in the Middle East,
and Hamas is a small part of it, but it's
still a part of it. But we have fifty nine
countries that signed on big countries, countries that are outside
of the Middle East, as you know, the Middle East.
(28:19):
They want to go in and wipe out Hamas. They
don't want Israel, they don't need Israel. They want to
do it because it's the right thing to do, because
they were for the deal based on the fact that
Hamas pledged, they swore that they were going to disarm.
Now if they're not going to disarm, those same countries
will wipe out Hamas.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (28:42):
Do you think that the PA should be involved in
the day after? In data strip even in the near future,
and the same person enter Prime Minister Nathaniel, do you
see a real opportunity that the PA will be in Ghaza?
Speaker 3 (28:52):
Go ahead?
Speaker 9 (28:54):
I think President Trump put clearly the conditions that of
reform that he wants to see in the PA for
them to be involved. And I think he put it
very clearly what he wants to see, the kind of
real reforms, not just perfunctory reforms, but real reforms. Stop
paid the sleigh, change the curriculum in your textbooks, open up,
(29:14):
you know, a different society and a different future if
they do it, well, you know, let them, you know,
I think it was clear you put you put guidelines
that were, by the way, the Trump Plan of two
thousand and twenty, and they were put then in the
twenty points. And it's up to them.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Remember this.
Speaker 7 (29:36):
If we didn't do what we did to Iran just
to make these subjects just slightly different, you wouldn't have
peace to the Middleast. You wouldn't have a deal signed
in the Middle East. You wouldn't have a deal because
other Arab nations, which are great, great, great people.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
I know them very well. I know them. They're great people.
Speaker 7 (29:55):
They wouldn't be able to have agreed to peace of
the Middleast because you would have had a dark cloud
hanging over everything.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
It wouldn't it wouldn't have been possible.
Speaker 7 (30:04):
So Iran has been greatly reduced in power prestige. I
don't want to use the word humiliation, because you know
they're trying to build up again. But we can't let
them build up because if they build up, they can't
be peace in the Middle East.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
It was a mistake, you know, when they wiped out Iraq.
Speaker 7 (30:23):
Iraq and Iran were about the same power, and they
fought each other with different names for a thousand years,
and then our country came out and blew up one
of those two countries, namely Iraq, and all of a
sudden Iran had the.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
But that's not true anymore. That's not true anymore.
Speaker 10 (30:47):
Tell us something about your plan to expand abram cords.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
All right, this is Jeffrey Lord sitting in for our
friend Sean Hannity, and we can be found at eight
hundred nine four one seven three two six or eight
hundred nine four one sewn, and we will be back
very shortly. Here we will have a great guest with
a talk with Jeff Barthos from Pennsylvania, whom was now
(31:25):
got some ties to the UN. This will be very.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
Interesting, Hannity watch keep it an eye on breaking news
and bringing it to you first.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Sean Hannity,