Join the hosts as they reflect on the challenges and victories within today’s political landscape. They discuss Curtis Sliwa’s mayoral race insights, while honoring the contributions of the late Charlie Kirk. Additionally, they venture into the nuances of political relationships, personified by Christiane Amanpour’s public apology, evoking discussions on grace and redemption in political discourse.
00:00:13 The importance of focusing on the present
From director Sean McNamara comes Soul on Fire, based on a true story. They said you had no chance, but here you are. Starring Joel Courtney, John Corbett, Stephanie Shostak, Macy McLean, with Devon Franklin and William H. Macy.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you focus exactly on loving the life that you’re living right now, and not the life that you think you could have had or should have had, that’s the whole deal right there.
SPEAKER 03 :
Soul on Fire. Rated PG. Parental guidance suggested. Now playing. For tickets, go to soulonfiremovie.com. Soul!
SPEAKER 04 :
And I believe it could be something good has begun. These strings sounding loud.
SPEAKER 06 :
1971, the great Cat Stevens, Peace Train. I was looking for peace-themed musical library selections because peace is breaking out all over. My buddy Mike Gallagher is here. I need to know how your show, I heard some of your show, not all. How was your show yesterday? How was your day yesterday? Did you have the same kind of experience I did, just sort of pausing and just letting it wash over me, just the enormity of it all?
SPEAKER 05 :
The enormity is the right word to use. I had a dream last night, and I’ll go with me for a moment because it was based on the show yesterday. I know why I had this dream. You know how sometimes you have a dream and you wake up and you remember it vividly? Yep. You know, some dreams you kind of forget about and they just sort of fade away. And I don’t know about you, I dream a lot. I don’t know why. The last few years, I think it’s my supplements. Maybe it’s my relief factor, Texas superfood regimen. I don’t know. But I dream. And they’re not bad dreams. They’re just kind of vivid. So last night I had a dream. I was doing a remote at a radio station in, like, Idaho. Mm-hmm. And a lady burst into the studio and she hated me. She was real annoyed at me. And we knew there were 50 people out in the lobby who were there to see me, to see the show. And she said how much she hated the Mike Gallagher show. And I said, yeah, but there’s 50 people out in the lobby. And she said, yeah, but they don’t like you either. And I said, well, let me just go prove it to you. So I took her into the lobby, and there were 50 people waiting there. I said, hi, everybody. How many of you like me? And nobody responded. They all gave me a thumbs down. Some of them gave me a middle finger, and they booed. Now, here’s why I had that dream. Yes. We all have an innate desire to be liked or loved, right? And certainly those of us with big mouth talk show host platforms. We like to win the approval of people, yes. Yeah, we don’t want people to disapprove. I mean, you’re not always going to agree with us, but instinctively we want you to like us. And we care about whether you like us or not. Now, that’s a problem. That’s an Achilles heel, because you know who doesn’t care? That guy, Donald Trump, he doesn’t care anymore, Mark. He doesn’t care what politically correct scolds are going to say to him anymore. He’s not going to be lectured about how it’s supposed to be done. I think he tried that first term. I think he said, look, this is conventional wisdom. These are the kind of people I’m supposed to have. I’m supposed to have a General Kelly in the Oval Office with me. who stabbed him in the back within five minutes of leaving the White House.
SPEAKER 06 :
John Bolton.
SPEAKER 05 :
John Bolton. Scalawags, yes. Scalawag after scalawag. Now he’s got the Marco Rubios, the Pete Hegseths, the Christy Gnomes, the Pambandis, who are loyal to him, and he’s going to go with his gut. He defies conventional. He said, look, we’ve got to blow up the Iranian nuke facilities in order to make an Israel peace deal done. We’re going to do it. Go send in the nukes. He is brilliant that way. He doesn’t care. He gives two blanks about what anybody in the world thinks about why. And he doesn’t care about the criticism, Mark. No, no. Let me finish this real quick. And then I’m going to poke holes in it. Go ahead. Yeah, you could, but I think here’s the dichotomy. He’s perceived as a guy very much enamored with being loved by the New York Times.
SPEAKER 06 :
All about his ego, absolutely.
SPEAKER 05 :
I must be adored, exactly. I’ve got to be adored. I think that’s complete rubbish. He does not care about what the New York Times thinks. He cares about America. He puts America first, and damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. That’s what he is all about. Folks have holes in that. Prove me wrong.
SPEAKER 06 :
Here’s the only thing, and this is so funny because, of course, it’s going to be about you and me. Because the setup, and it was artful, it was beautiful. The dream, I love the dream story. And you’re totally right. We all have that thing about, you know, we want to be, well, what we want is to be listened to. We want to draw an audience, whether they agree with us or not. We just want to have a product that attracts ears, that attracts business, et cetera, et cetera. When you describe Trump as just plowing forward with what he truly believes, let people like me or not, I don’t care. That’s totally you. It’s totally me. We don’t want people to call us and say we hate you. But if people disagree with us, if people don’t think you’re right about borders, if people don’t think you’re right about gender, if people don’t think you’re right about the Middle East… Don’t lie awake at night worrying about that. You go, well, hey, I’m fighting for some things here. I’m standing for some things here. Take it or leave it. Because you absolutely have that same resilience. And I don’t think for one minute that you worry in taking the bold stands that you take, whether somebody will like you or not. I don’t think you worry about that at all.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s a little bit like the conversion I had and the way you helped me with the Curtis Lewa mayoral race. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
You had him on yesterday, right? Finish your point and then tell me how that went.
SPEAKER 05 :
You just have to do the right thing. You can’t say, well, yes, I’m a conservative Republican. And yes, Andrew Cuomo is a disgrace and a scoundrel. Yes, his actions led to thousands of nursing home deaths. Yes, he’s corrupt. Yes, he. But you know what? We got to support him because pragmatically, that’s the better option. No, no, no. Less are too evil. Lesser of Tooey Bologna. Maybe the voters of New York are getting – look, this – and Curtis yesterday was as good as I’ve ever seen him. Tell me. Well, we did 10 minutes of policy. He talked about the economics of New York. He talked about the disastrous communism-socialism threat of Mamdani. He gave – we started out the interview with his proper respect and props to Donald Trump. and to this Israel and what it means for New York. I mean, look, this guy is a New Yorker through and through. And he knows the heartbeat of the city as well as anybody you’ll ever meet in the world. He knows what it takes to fight crime. He knows all of it. It was just a great – if you missed it, mikeonline.com or check out the Mike Gallagher Show podcast because Curtis – and he’s gaining. I mean, will it be enough? No. Only the Lord knows. I know that we found out that Mamdani’s wife has publicly expressed grief for the death of a Palestinian radical who cheered on the October 7th terror attack. That’s Mamdani’s wife. I mean, you know, like husband, like wife.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, I mean, I teach you generally, whether it’s fathers and sons or husbands and wives. I don’t attach every family member to a person.
SPEAKER 05 :
I want to see Lisa cheer on October 7th. That won’t be happening.
SPEAKER 02 :
Out in these parts, some folks call it radio. We call it the last campfire of the American spirit. Stoke the fire of freedom with American Ground Radio with Louis R. Avalone and Stephen Parr. American Ground Radio, planting seeds, growing freedom. Listen wherever you get your podcasts and visit our website at AmericanGroundRadio.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
The observation I would make would be about your own bride and the evidence that you guys didn’t agree about a lot of things. Now, obviously, those were policy issues, et cetera, et cetera, with your lovely and beautiful and cherished Denise.
SPEAKER 05 :
My Denise and I argued, but we agreed on core fundamental things, faith, family, values, sovereignty. There were things that, you know, she was just a little astray, but I tried to bring her back.
SPEAKER 06 :
Speaking of agreeing on the basics, I offered up and I offer to you use it anytime you want, because this we may have reached that moment. Golda Meir, former prime minister of Israel, famously said there will not be peace in the Middle East until the Palestinians love their children more than they hate the Jews. On the text line, somebody shared with me incredible wisdom about domestic politics. Democrats will cannot be counted on to really, truly love America and be part of a constructive path forward until they love the country more than they hate Trump. Kind of a parallel.
SPEAKER 05 :
It sure is. It’s a perfect parallel. Speaking of the ceasefire, did you read about one of the View co-hosts, Alyssa Farah Griffin?
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, who sort of has some tangential Republican roots, right?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, kind of, but not really. About as much as Joe Scarborough does. Exactly. But Alyssa, back in December, Alyssa Farrah Griffin promised on air, I quote, if he gets the Israeli hostages out, I promise I will wear a MAGA hat for one day on the show and say thank you for doing it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Lordy, I hope there’s tape.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, oh, there is. There’s all kinds of tapes. You better believe it. But if you make a promise like that, you really have to fulfill it, don’t you?
SPEAKER 06 :
A, of course you do. And B, even though she’ll hate it with her every fiber, if you kind of have some fun with it and say, hey, I said it, so here we go, and then catch all kinds of grief from 90-year-old Joy Behar and And whoopee, Bay here. And whoopee. I think there’s a way for her to turn that into a positive if she actually does it. So is there any expectation that she will?
SPEAKER 05 :
She was on the show yesterday. Guess who didn’t wear it? She did not put on a MAGA hat.
SPEAKER 06 :
I don’t even know if it came up. Okay, I was going to say, well, it needs to.
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t know how they do that. Do they do that show live or do they tape it? I don’t know. Do they come out like bats out of the cave in the middle of the night and tape it in the middle of the night?
SPEAKER 06 :
Their echolocation leads them to their chairs on the panel.
SPEAKER 04 :
Do the crows come out of there? They hang upside down. They come up, they unleash their claws, and they swoop in. Let’s do the view!
SPEAKER 05 :
We could get in a lot of trouble on that one. Okay, so we wish them all well. And I think some grace is in order. Did you see the apology from Christiane Amapour?
SPEAKER 06 :
I did not. I remember her original offense. What was her sin, and then what is the redemption?
SPEAKER 05 :
I don’t even mean to laugh because it’s so dark.
SPEAKER 06 :
This, of course, is CNN’s legendary long-standing foreign correspondent. Did a lot of great work in the actual Middle East over the years. She’s been a fine reporter at times in commentary. She’s a crazed leftist, and so here we go.
SPEAKER 05 :
So what did she do to help him? Mark, she’s CNN’s chief international anchor. Well, of course. She’s not the co-chief. She’s not an assistant chief. She’s the chief. She’s like Pocahontas. She’s the chief. She’s the Indian chief. So Christiane Amanpour went on TV. I can’t even believe I’m reading this story. She said that she was joyful about the hostages and all that, but she said that the Israeli hostages were treated better than the victims of the Gaza attacks. Yes. Well, which of course is so, when you think, I mean, look, they murdered all the women because of what they did to them. I guarantee you, they didn’t, they killed all the female hostages because they brutalized them so badly, they didn’t dare let the world know, let them go free to tell them, tell the world what they did to them. Anyway, so now she has publicly apologized for her insensitive remarks. Good. And she did. And it was actually kind of a heartfelt apology. But you know what a lot of people on our side did? They rejected it outright. They said, you were made to say it. You read a teleprompter. The apology was forced. I’m funny about this. And maybe it’s because of what kind of the stuff that I’ve been through in my career. Sometimes you apologize because it’s the right thing to do. And just give some people some grace. I just am tending to give her grace on that and say, all right, let’s move on.
SPEAKER 06 :
Give people benefit of the doubt until you know that you don’t need to give them benefit of the doubt. Opt for grace as option one. If a day, a week, a month from now she commits another rhetorical, not even a gaffe, it was totally on purpose, commits another rhetorical sin, that dismissive and that stupid and that cruel, then you’ll know the apology was phony. But for now, of course I would accept the apology.
SPEAKER 05 :
And finally, on a kind of a somber note, today, October 14th, 2025, would have been Charlie Kirk’s 32nd birthday. President Trump rushed back from the Middle East, and he is going to posthumously award Charlie the Presidential Medal of Freedom today at 4 p.m. I’m sure we’ll carry it live. We’ll have it on Salem News Channel. God bless our friend. God bless Erica and those babies. God bless the legacy that he left behind. It still hurts. It still stings. I saw a montage.
SPEAKER 06 :
It still energizes, but it still energizes. It does. Charlie lives in the minds and hearts of those who remember him and across college campuses where he touched so many lives and so many minds and hearts. Go ahead. Sorry, I didn’t mean that.
SPEAKER 05 :
The Senate has unanimously approved a resolution. October 14th, henceforth, is the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.
SPEAKER 06 :
Did you just say unanimously?
SPEAKER 05 :
unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate.
SPEAKER 06 :
Charlie Schumer and Elizabeth Warren.
SPEAKER 05 :
I’m reading here at Newsmax in September.
SPEAKER 06 :
Adam Schiff signed on to that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Apparently so. In September, the Senate unanimously approved a resolution marking the day as the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk. Look, there’s some healing going on. There’s a whole bunch of Democrats that lined up yesterday to praise President Trump. There’s something weird is happening.
SPEAKER 06 :
Final 10 seconds, and what happens this Saturday, Mike? The No Kings protest.
SPEAKER 05 :
He’s an authoritarian monster. Oh, my gosh, the timing. I got my pots and pans out. I got my Birkenstocks. I got my, he’s a tyrant. Trump’s a dictator.
SPEAKER 06 :
If you want to prep, you want to prep for this. Get your Birkenstocks. Get your pan. Get a big wooden spoon. And leading up, we’ve got three, four days of lead time. Don’t bathe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Then you’re good to go. Yeah, don’t bathe and just look constipated on your face. Make sure you look like you haven’t gone to the bathroom in a week. You’re ready for the No Kings protest. You’ll be a perfect No Kings protester. God bless them all. I love you, man. I love you, too. Happy Tuesday.
SPEAKER 06 :
Happy Tuesday. Mike Gallagher, ready to rock. 10 o’clock soon as we’re done on 660 AM The Answer.
