In this episode, we discuss the pressing matters of the world’s political landscape and financial futures. From the efforts to extend Trump’s tax cuts with Ashley Klingensmith of Americans for Prosperity to a surprising poll revealing troubling trends among Democrats about violence, this podcast offers a vivid lens into current affairs. Plus, get an inside look at the thrilling and unsettling experiences of space travel and aviation mishaps with Eric Hansen and Mike Gallagher.
Welcome to the Mike Gallagher Show Week in Review podcast. I’m Eric Hansen. It’s Friday, April 18th, 2025. And this week, the Blue Origin traveled to outer space, which turned out to be a smoother flight than the trip home from Mike’s vacation. Plus, we tackled Tax Day in America and Mr. Maher goes to Washington. But first, a disturbing story from the state of Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER 06 :
The guy in Pennsylvania evidently hated Trump. He hated Biden. He was allegedly upset because his house was foreclosed on. And that was his beef. He’s a violent screwball with pictures of guns and fire, shooting guns with flames, shooting out of the guns and everything. According to the New York Post, the suspected arsonist shared multiple left-wing anti-capitalist posts on his Facebook. He also attacked both Trump and Biden. He wrote in Facebook, allegedly in January of 2021, Biden supporters shouldn’t exist. Where were you his first run? RIP Joe Biden. He also shared a Facebook post supporting mask mandates during the COVID pandemic. I mean, again, you go down this rabbit hole of, oh, what’s the political leaning of the violent person? It’s stupid. The double standard is when somebody on the left does it, the media doesn’t want to cover it. If somebody on the right does it, January 6th comes to mind. That’s the end of the world. Stop the presses. That’s all we’re going to talk about. And the media has a vested interest in denigrating Trump supporters. So if they think they can play the gotcha game by a Trump supporter committing an act of violence, that’s all they talk about. But when one of their own commits an act of violence, they either downplay it or they prop them up like a hero, like this Luigi character. Violence is violence and should be condemned no matter who’s doing it. And it’s reprehensible when people try to find a political narrative to be attached to an act of violence. Here was Josh Shapiro, the governor, who I’ve seen the pictures. That whole governor’s mansion almost got burned down. It was horrible. I guess the guy threw a Molotov cocktail through the window in the middle of the night while the governor and his family were in the home asleep. Here was Governor Shapiro after the event.
SPEAKER 04 :
This type of violence is not okay. This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other. Directed at one particular party or another or one particular person or another. It is not okay. And it has to stop.
SPEAKER 06 :
He’s right, of course. He’s totally right. There’s nothing he said there that one should disagree with. This violence is not okay. Now, do Luis Mangione. Now do the Summer of Love. Now do what happens when people were burning city blocks down in Minneapolis and St. Paul and Seattle and Oakland. It’s not okay. whether you’re trying to assassinate a bunch of Republican congressmen on a baseball field, like the guy did a few years ago, or a guy tries to burn down Governor Shapiro’s house. And there ought to be that kind of condemnation that you just heard from Josh Shapiro should be applied evenly.
SPEAKER 08 :
Comedian and TV host Bill Maher visited the White House this week. What he found surprised him and outraged many on the left.
SPEAKER 06 :
Bill Maher has a very popular show that airs on Friday night. And the left typically loves this guy. Well, they don’t love him anymore. Not after he said this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Just for starters, he laughs. I’d never seen him laugh in public, but he does, including in himself. And it’s not fake. Believe me, as a comedian of 40 years, I know a fake laugh when I hear it. And I thank you for that. Okay, example. In the Oval Office, he was showing me the portraits of presidents, and he pointed to Reagan and said, in all seriousness, you know the best thing about him? His hair. I said, well, there was also that whole bringing down communism thing, waiting for the button next to the Diet Coke button to get pushed and I go through the trap door. But no, he laughed. He got it. I said to him at one point, Mr. President, you know the dog? That’s unusual in the White House. He said, well, a lot of the presidents, they had a dog for political reasons. I said, no, people love dogs. That’s what that is. Oh, yeah. Okay. That’s true. I’m telling you what happened. At one point, we were walking through his amazing, it is an amazing tour of the whole house. And I don’t remember exactly what we were talking about, but it must have been something with the 2020 election, because I know he used the word lost. And I distinctly remember saying, wow, I never thought I’d hear you say that. He didn’t get mad. He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public. Look, I get it. It doesn’t matter who he is at a private dinner with a comedian. It matters who he is on the world stage. I’m just taking it as a positive that this person exists, because everything I’ve ever not liked about him was, I swear to God, absent, at least on this night with this guy. Bob, Kid Rock, told me the night before, he said, if you want to get a word in edgewise, you’re going to have to cut him off. He’ll just go on. Not at all. I’ve had so many conversations with prominent people who are much less connected. People who don’t look you in the eye. People who don’t really listen because they just want to get to their next thing. People whose response to things you say just doesn’t track like, what? None of that with him. And he mostly steered the conversation to, what do you think about this? I know, your mind is blown. So is mine.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, you should have seen the fury from the Keith Olbermanns of the world. Oh, my gosh. They’ve lost their marbles at Bill Maher. How dare you talk about the Nazi the way you did? You mean he’s a nice guy? He’s warm? Do you realize something has changed? Something is different. Remember this year, this time during the first year of Trump’s first administration, they were screeching about impeaching him? Have you noticed you don’t even hear about impeachment? Do you realize that so much has happened in his first 90 or so days? He has caught them flat-footed or something, but it’s different this time. They’re giving him a level of respect, whether they like it or not, that didn’t happen during his first term.
SPEAKER 08 :
This past Tuesday was tax day, the deadline to file our returns. We spoke to Ashley Klingensmith from Americans for Prosperity. She’s working every day to help you keep more of the money that you earn.
SPEAKER 06 :
House Republicans just adopted the Senate’s framework to extend Trump’s tax cuts, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. And Ashley, you guys at AFP are front and center in making sure that these tax cuts don’t expire. Can you walk us through what AFP is doing and how our audience can help?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes, absolutely. So we launched Protect Prosperity national campaign back in January, on January 13th. But we’ve been working on this legislation since 2017, since this was passed. And tomorrow is a real inflection point for grassroots to rally with a unified voice in calling on Congress to make these a priority, the extension of these tax cuts a priority on tax day. Look, it is painful every year, and tomorrow is no exception. But it could be even worse in 2026 if these are not extended. We’re talking about a $4 trillion tax tax hike over the next decade so we want to meet people where they are our heartbeat at americans for prosperity is grassroots so tomorrow on tax day 60 events happening across 30 states nationwide some of those will be in congressional districts where members have taken the great votes they’re supporting extending these tax cuts so we’re going to give them some air cover some reinforcement And then conversely, we’re going to be on the ground in over two dozen congressional districts where members have failed to offer their support to this important legislation. Hold their feet to the fire, hold them accountable and ensure they feel some heat. So you’re going to see some great things, LED trucks traversing cities like Atlanta and more. And it’s going to be a great day.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is what you guys do better than anybody. This is why we really appreciate Americans for Prosperity. Because, look, if this is successful, lawmakers will head into the midterms with great economic growth, consumer confidence, a lot of momentum. And you can be a part of this effort as you’re hearing Ashley Klingensmith, Regional Vice President for Americans for Prosperity, go to protectprosperity.com to take action. Because that’s what you’re all about. AFP is all about grassroots action. and there is a very tangible way that everybody in our audience can get involved.
SPEAKER 01 :
That’s exactly right. And I want to tell you, we are on the ground knocking doors right now in 19 critical congressional districts. We’ll be out tomorrow for sure. But we are connecting members. And listen, there’s 535 between the Senate and the House that we’ve got to impact, right? And so we need the audience’s help. Again, that website, protectprosperity.com has some great resources there. You can share your story about how you’ve benefited from this legislation. Also, interactive map where you can see how this legislation impacted your state specifically with respect to businesses, jobs and just kind of take home pay. But I’ll tell you, this is a real impact for real people.
SPEAKER 08 :
A new poll revealed a very disturbing mindset among Democrats in America. It should be alarming to all of us.
SPEAKER 06 :
talk a little bit about the culture of violence and how infuriating it is to me that people want to politicize an act of violence like the governor of Pennsylvania. There’s a bombshell study, it’s the way it was described over at foxnews.com, from the NCRI, an agency called the Network Contagion Research Institute. It revealed that violent political rhetoric, including calls for the murder of public figures like President Trump and Elon Musk, is being increasingly normalized, particularly on the left. I’m going to give you a pop quiz. If I asked you what percentage of left-leaning respondents… would think it’s acceptable or okay or somewhat justified to murder Donald Trump, what would you guess the percentage to be? If I asked you, when they only counted respondents who lean left, Is it justifiable to assassinate the President of the United States? What percentage would you find alarming from people on the left saying, yeah, it can be somewhat justified?
SPEAKER 1 :
20%?
SPEAKER 06 :
That’d be awful, right?
SPEAKER 1 :
25%?
SPEAKER 06 :
30%? Wouldn’t it be crazy if 33% of people on the left thought it was justifiable? to kill Trump? That would be awful, right? Do you want to know what the percentage really is?
SPEAKER 1 :
55%.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well over half of the respondents to the NCRI study claim that it would be at least somewhat justified to murder Trump. Now, Musk gets off easy. For Elon, it’s only 48%. 48% of left-leaning respondents to this survey believe it’s at least somewhat justifiable to slaughter Elon Musk. How do you like them apples, huh? How do you like that? So I’m glad that Josh Shapiro said there’s absolutely no justification for violence, but you better start with your own party. Because evidently there’s a whole lot of Democrats who find it justifiable to assassinate the 45th and the 47th president of the United States. There’s a whole lot of Democrats who evidently find it perfectly acceptable to murder a businessman named Elon Musk. Portions of our show brought to you by MyPillow and Big Deal. Two sales in one. First, they’re having a closeout sale on the percale bedsheets. Any size, any color, $25. You can get Queens, Kings, Split Kings, California Kings, any size, any color, $25. It’s a crazy sale from MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Special Square. The second sale, Mike Lindell has introduced a brand new energy drink called Rev7. It’s a premium energy drink that’s good for you. It tastes great, gives you energy all day. I sampled it yesterday for the first time. It is delicious. No sugar, no caffeine. Rev7 is so special because it’s powered with a premium nootropic that helps fuel your mind. MyPillow’s so confident you’re going to love Rev7 that for a limited time you can try their introductory three-pack absolutely free. Now, these offers aren’t going to last long. So go to MyPillow.com. Use the promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. Or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. Sing along with me. For the best night’s sleep in the whole wide world, visit MyPillow.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Promo code MikeG. This is the Mike Gallagher Show Week in Review podcast. I’m Eric Hansen. We all remember the president’s prosecution last year, right? Of course, New York Attorney General Letitia James led the charge to convict Trump. Well, you know what they say about karma.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, I got to know a guy in Tampa Bay named Will Smith. He’s an aviation entrepreneur. He’s got his own charter company. In fact, I’m going to fly with him in a couple of weeks. He’s got beautiful aircraft, a great business model. And he was a commercial pilot. And he was falsely accused of a crime. The man wound up in jail. And there was a judge who was as corrupt as the day is long. friends with the prosecutor, and it was a horrible story. And the helplessness that Will experienced has to be the same kind of helplessness that people like Donald Trump or Mike Lindell or Peter Navarro or anybody who’s been targeted for their political beliefs have. and face real serious consequences. I mean, it’s everybody’s worst nightmare. If the police came knocking on your door and accused you of doing something that you didn’t do, can you imagine the helplessness of that? Can you imagine the horror of being falsely accused and there’s an agenda that’s attached to why you’re being accused of something? Wouldn’t that be awful? Well, look at what’s happening right now. with Letitia James. Now, Letitia James literally campaigned on the promise to ruin Donald Trump. That’s who this woman is. I don’t know anything about her. I don’t care to know about her, everything about her. Just the hair on the back of my neck stands up when I see her fiery speeches about how no one is above the law. But she also, of course, was caught on tape saying that they’re going to ruin Donald Trump. We’re going to get him. She did that when she campaigned for attorney general. During the state AG campaign, she would give speeches, and we played the clips for you. She was smirking and laughing, and yeah, we’re going to get his ass. We’re going to tear him in. We’re going to lock him up. She was all fired up. And then, of course, as she promised, they went after him. They took a business record mistake, alleging that… A payment to Stormy Daniels was concealed or improperly filed. It would have been a misdemeanor, as legal experts have pointed out a million times. And they twisted it into making it 34 felony counts. And then they got a jury of mind-numb robots from New York, naturally, New York City, who to convict him of all 34 counts, leading people like AOC to this day to shriek about what a convicted felon Donald Trump is. That’s all it was about. And Letitia James, Letitia James was the ringleader on that weaponization of the court system, along with Alvin Bragg. Well, now… The Justice Department is reviewing a very serious and apparently credible accusation that Tish James committed mortgage fraud. That’s right. The administration has referred the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, for potential prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud, claiming that she… tried to claim that a Virginia home was her primary residence and that her father was her husband, all in order to get preferential lending rates and mortgage treatment. Buck Sexton posted on social media, what a shock that the state attorney general who got elected promising to ruin an innocent man is in fact a corrupt imbecile who should be prosecuted herself. This story is off the charts.
SPEAKER 08 :
Trump administration official Stephen Miller addressed the media this week to answer questions about the deportation of illegals. Miller conducted a masterclass in immigration law, then rolled it up like an old newspaper and spanked reporters with it.
SPEAKER 06 :
Vice President J.D. Vance just schooled a reporter on social media over on X. The reporter said, look, the Supreme Court said that this guy has to be returned to the United States. J.D. Vance wrote, are you proposing that we invade El Salvador to retrieve a gang member with no legal right to be in our country? Where in the Supreme Court decision… Does it require us to do that? I want you to hear Stephen Miller’s master class yesterday on the lawn of the White House. It’s that important.
SPEAKER 07 :
Gentlemen, the return. Guys, do you know the difference between a deportation order and a withholding order? Do you know the difference? Any of you, please. Do you? We’re not in the government. So you couldn’t even spend 72 hours over the weekend learning the distinction, even though you’ve been writing and talking about it this whole time. Just raise your hand. Does any of you know the difference between a deportation order and a withholding order? According to our government and his government. In other words, his government has confirmed based on their own intelligence that he’s a member of MS-13. First of all, do you dispute that he’s an illegal alien?
SPEAKER 02 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Do you dispute that he’s an illegal alien? No. Okay. And do you dispute that as an illegal alien, we have the right to deport him? He’s going through the process. And he went through the legal process. So I would be very… What I’m getting from this conversation, which is educational for me, is that not one person in the media knows the difference between a deportation order and a withholding order. Is that a fair statement? You’re learning about this all for the first time right now? I guess so. Okay. So the deportation order means the judge has said he must be deported from the country. He has no right to remain here any longer. He must be removed from the country. So his only options are to be deported to his home country or another country. That’s it. There’s no other option. He doesn’t get to stay here. He doesn’t get to live here. He has no future here. He has no right to be here. He’s an illegal alien. So when you keep saying return, because you’ve been spun up by the open borders advocates, you all seem to be operating under the illusion that he would be able to come to the United States and just continue to live here illegally. That’s not an option available to him.
SPEAKER 06 :
That’s how it is done. Just got a text on the MyPillow text line from David in Carrollton, Texas, who said, wow, this ought to be required viewing for every American.
SPEAKER 08 :
The Jeff Bezos-funded Blue Origin spacecraft successfully carried several prominent American women into space and back again this week.
SPEAKER 06 :
Tracy just told me about Gayle King coming off the Blue Origin. Nobody’s really talking about it. Have you noticed it? It’s not really covered that much. It’s not even on social media. I think it’s probably because they’re all sort of, I don’t know, obnoxious. The whole thing is obnoxious. You have six women that are all superstars and singers and talk show hosts. Oprah Winfrey’s friend, Gayle King. And Katy Perry. Tracy saw the video clip. She said they all got off the spaceship, the rocket or whatever it is, and they’re ringing the bell and they’re, you-hoo-hoo, we made it, you know, and they’re all happy and exuberant. But Gayle King looks like she’s ready to heave. She looked like she was ready to pass out. I guarantee you, Gayle King was horrified. She said it. I saw these interviews with her, and she was so worried and terrified. You know she was thinking about the challenger. You know she was thinking about those poor, you know, that teacher. What was her name? Krista McAuliffe? She did not want to have that happen to her. Look, you couldn’t take me hostage and put me on that thing. Do you think I’d go on a rocket ship? The only person I’d know that would love to do it is Mark Davis, and that’s because he’s a space geek. He loves all things space. I mean, go up and fly around for, how long were they up, 11 minutes? That’s 11 minutes. Gayle King just aged. You want to talk about reaching 65? Gayle King just aged 20 years. She’ll never be the same again. That woman was traumatized, and all because of Oprah. Oprah made her do it. Be like Joey Hudson making me get on a spaceship. It’s not going to happen. I’m not going to get on a rocket and go propelled into the atmosphere. Are you kidding me? I wonder if she fainted. Would that be something if Gail passed out? Bet you she’d be like screaming. But you know that she was just terrified. There’s something. Why am I enjoying this so much? I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Definitely something wrong with me.
SPEAKER 08 :
Mike took some time off last week to celebrate a landmark birthday. The trip? Unforgettable. The journey home? Priceless.
SPEAKER 06 :
A lot of people were calling me last night. Mike, you’re on Fox News. I said, well, how can I be on Fox News? I’m sitting here eating dinner in a restaurant. No, no, no. They’re covering your diverted flight. It was all over the place. If you follow me at Gallagher Show on X, you’ll see the drama of how our Delta flight from Mexico City. scheduled to land in Atlanta, and then I was going to change planes and go home to Tampa Bay. Two planes got diverted. Well, actually, seven or eight planes got diverted, but two of us, two of the planes were international. One was from Cabo, and the other one was from Mexico City, which is the one I was on. We got stuck on the tarmac in the plane for seven hours. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. There were a couple of times when I thought I was going to flip out, Because you’re sitting on a plane, you can’t get off the plane. There were no customs officials at the Montgomery, Alabama airport because the brain trusts thought it would be wise to divert us from Atlanta to Montgomery. Oh, then the pilot incidentally found out, and it was a shock to him, they closed the customs office at Atlanta Hartsfield Airport overnight. And the pilot said, boy, that sure sounds weird to me. It’s one of the busiest airports in the world, and they don’t have any customs officials to take you through customs overnight. So even if we got the plane to Atlanta, there wouldn’t have been anybody there to take us through customs. And the fuel truck driver, he just vanished. They ran out of fuel. The guy went to the fuel field or the fuel park or whatever to get more fuel. MIA. He was gone. Here’s the clip they played on Fox News. Now, this is from my own show where I checked in with Joey Hudson, who was guest hosting for me, doing his normal, wonderful job. And Fox News Channel played my clip apparently last night on their big weekend show.
SPEAKER 02 :
Back with a flight mare that’s gone viral. Nearly 300 passengers were left stranded on a tarmac last Thursday after storms caused two Boston-bound Delta flights to fly from Mexico to a regional airport in Alabama that was not staffed with customs officers. Here’s what happened.
SPEAKER 05 :
Ouch.
SPEAKER 02 :
Delta Airlines has apologized for the event, saying that they have refunded each passenger. That is a tough story. I couldn’t imagine being on a flight for seven hours.
SPEAKER 06 :
And by the way, apparently, I’ve only seen that clip because I didn’t watch it live, but evidently, Giano said after he played that part that the passengers should get more than a refund, which is interesting to me because I don’t know what to ask for. How do you do that? So I did. I thought, well, yeah, I don’t think a refund’s enough. I use miles. So they put the miles back into my account, which is great. But how about some, I don’t know, some upgrade certificates or something? I don’t know. No idea what to ask for. But I’m waiting to hear it. Delta did refund the miles, and they did that right away, like within an hour after I finally got home to Tampa Bay. Can you imagine what it would be like to sit… Have you ever had an experience like that where you were on a plane for seven hours? And they ran out of food about three or four hours in. I felt so sorry for some of the elderly people on the plane. This one poor woman, she had like an oxygen mask or, you know, an oxygen tube under her nose. And I thought, gosh, I hope this lady’s going to be okay. It was pretty bad.
SPEAKER 08 :
And that wraps up the Mike Gallagher Show Week in Review podcast for Friday, April 18th, 2025. Be sure to subscribe to all of the podcasts and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like the show, be sure to share it with a friend. I’m Eric Hansen. We’ll see you back here next week on the Mike Gallagher Show Week in Review podcast.
