Willie Robertson: The Unlikely Origin of Duck Dynasty, Willie’s New Show, & Why Trump Won

The great Willie Robertson. (02:30) Willie’s Family and Spiritual Journey (13:58) How the Robertson’s Shared Their Faith Through Duck Dynasty (27:00) The Unlikely Origins of Duck Dynasty (39:29) Tucker and Willie's Bird Hunting Trip (52:27) The Booming Duck Call Business (1:10:00) Willie’s Story of Meeting Donald Trump Paid partnerships with: Alp Pouch Shop now at https://AlpPouch.com ExpressVPN Get 3 months free at https://ExpressVPN.com/Tucker Hillsdale College https://TuckerforHillsdale.com Take a free online course today Jase Medical https://Jasemedical.com Promo code “Tucker” for extra discount Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was on the five. I remember. No, I was on over, uh, what do they call it? I was the one with the women and

• 0:06Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, outnumbered.

• 0:09Speaker 00

  And I was up there. They used to bring me up there all the time because DuckDuckDuck was just so, so popular.

• 0:13Tucker Carlson?

  With our viewers, it was popular.

• 0:15Speaker 00

  Yeah. And the girls, the girls on that show, they were laughing. They said, oh, this guy Donald Trump's, you know, says he's running for president and all that. And, uh,

• 0:25Speaker 00

  and they're laughing and they're kind of, you know, making like it's a joke. They came and they said, uh, what say you, Willie? And I said, tell you what, I think he's resonated with a lot of people. And you could just see him like, sat like, oh, like they thought I was gonna laugh and be joking. I said, don't underestimate the power of celebrity because I was like, I'm just new to it. But man, when everybody knows who you are, that it's a big advantage because

• 0:51Speaker 00

  the thing about Kamala Harris, she was the vice president for three and a half years. No one knew how to say her name.

• 0:55Tucker Carlson?

  Including her.

• 0:56Speaker 00

  And she was the vice president.

• 1:09Tucker Carlson?

  Welcome to Tucker Carlson Show. We bring you stories that have not been showcased anywhere else. And they're not censored, of course, because we're not gatekeepers. We are honest brokers here to tell you what we think you need to know and do it honestly. Check out all of our content at TuckerCarlson.com. Here's the episode. When they got elected or whatever it was in 2020, I, I totally by accident, I pronounced, I called her Kamala.

• 1:36Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:37Tucker Carlson?

  Which is what I thought her name was. And the White House Press Secretary attacked me as racist. Which, okay, fine, but it really was, I would admit, was totally accidental.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:49Tucker Carlson?

  And so this kid on our staff found a tape of her calling herself Kamala. And then Kamala. And I just thought, like, who can't pronounce her own first name?

• 2:00Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's

• 2:00Tucker Carlson?

  If you were like, I'm Willie Robertson or I'm Will A. Robertson. You know, I mean, that'd be kind of weird, right?

• 2:06Speaker 00

  Hello, I'm Wiley Robertson.

• 2:08Tucker Carlson?

  No, I mean, I think it's fair to like settle on a pronunciation of your own first name.

• 2:14Tucker Carlson?

  So one of the things, um, I was, I've never hunted with you before. You've, you've become famous for bird hunting. You're an excellent shot. I just want to confirm that for people watching. It's not fake.

• 2:26Speaker 00

  I've got to make my dad and brothers watch this.

• 2:29Tucker Carlson?

  It's true. No, it's, no, it's true. You are, um, but you're not, uh, you've become famous from television. You've, I just want to get right to it. You've written this book, Goss Speller, um, which is not about hunting.

• 2:44Speaker 00

  It's kinda.

• 2:46Tucker Carlson?

  What's it about?

• 2:46Speaker 00

  Hunting for people.

• 2:48Tucker Carlson?

  Hunting for people.

• 2:48Speaker 00

  Fishing for people, perhaps.

• 2:50Tucker Carlson?

  Turning, turning darkness into light, one conversation at a time.

• 2:53Speaker 00

  Yeah, that's, uh, came with this book this year and, um, this was kind of the one I wanted to write, you know, it was like, before I die, I want to write this book and it's really about my faith, um, the faith that was passed down, the first chapters. Uh, my mom and dad's story about how they, uh, got their faith. We put out a movie last year called The Blind. Um, which was their journey of faith, um, shot in the late sixties, uh, seventies. And that was a bad, he was a bad guy and.

• 3:25Tucker Carlson?

  In what way?

• 3:26Speaker 00

  Oh, he's just, uh, well, he called himself a heathen. He was just a bad dude, you know, just into everything he shouldn't have been into. He's married. He's got this young family. Uh, he's drunk all the time. He loses his job. He's, uh, ends up running a bar and, um, all hope literally was over. He had kicked us out of the home. Uh, he's a bad dad. He's a bad husband. Um.

• 3:51Tucker Carlson?

  What do you mean kicked you out of the home?

• 3:52Speaker 00

  He kicked mom and us out of the house. He's, or out of the trailer.

• 3:56Tucker Carlson?

  Really?

• 3:56Speaker 00

  Yeah. And, um, yeah. And so, um, and the one person who didn't give up on him was my aunt, Jan, his younger sister. And she, she'd go up to this bar he was running. Dad has like a master's degree. He was a, um, could have went professional, um, quarterback. He played ahead of Bradshaw and, uh, in college at Louisiana Tech. Gifted athlete, had everything. You know, ahead of him and just pretty much throws it all away. And so my, my, my aunt would go up there and pass out a little Bible track. She was a very charismatic Christian and, um, and he hated it, you know? He was like, stay out of here. And, uh, and she begged this preacher to go preach the gospel to her brother.

• 4:41Speaker 00

  And, and I write in the book, I can just imagine this conversation like, cause, cause the preacher's in Louisiana. The bar is in Arkansas and, uh, and I'm sure it was like, can you share the gospel with my brother? He's wayward and, and he probably was like, yeah, it's happening to come to church. We'll meet after. He's not coming to church and you'll have to go see him. What does he do? He runs a bar.

• 5:03Tucker Carlson?

  In Arkansas.

• 5:04Speaker 00

  Yeah. Which one in town? It's not even in, it's not even in the state, you know? And this guy gets in his car and drives to a bar, walks in.

• 5:12Tucker Carlson?

  Where was the bar?

• 5:12Speaker 00

  With his Bible. It was in Junction City, Arkansas. And it was rough, you know, it was a rough, rough spot.

• 5:19Tucker Carlson?

  That goes that sad.

• 5:21Speaker 00

  And it was adversarial, like the guy goes in, Phil does not want to hear. He does not, he's not even invited in there. And, and I knew the preacher up until he passed away and, and he, and he, he says, uh, he says, your dad, your dad's sitting there, he said, he's got a pistol in his belt and a giant Budweiser. And he's about half lit and the dad looks at him and says, what you selling preacher man? And so the guy sits down and nothing happens. Phil doesn't, there's no, there's no conversion. There's no, just as I am, uh, bar baptism. Phil just said, I'll keep that in mind. And so he leaves and then, and Phil's life even goes more in the tank. He ends up, um, the state police showed up to arrest him.

• 6:04Speaker 00

  He goes and lives in the woods for six months, I think, like he was that guy.

• 6:09Tucker Carlson?

  What were they arresting him for?

• 6:10Speaker 00

  He had put two people in ICU, uh, beat them up over a bar dispute. And he just takes off, lives in the woods. Says, I'm on my own. And out there is when he, he, um, he got really sick and nobody, you know, everybody was trying to figure out where he was and, but he was.

• 6:28Tucker Carlson?

  He's got a wife and kids at this point too.

• 6:30Speaker 00

  Well, then they let mom end up moving to, they moved to Louisiana and was pretty much like. Hope he doesn't die, you know, but it's over, you know, he's already kicked us out. And um, and then he comes dragging back up into that town. And he pulls up to where my mom was working. She has a new job and trying to move on with her life. And, and she's like, call the police. Like, oh no, he's, you know, he's a, he's living in the woods. And he pulls up and he's crying. He said, where, where's that preacher? I need to talk to him. And that's when Phil became a believer right there. So that's the first chapter in the book.

• 7:07Tucker Carlson?

  So how long did it take your mom to take him back into?

• 7:11Speaker 00

  She took him right back. It was amazing. Yeah, I always said if it weren't for dad changing his life, but also if it wasn't for mom forgiving him and.

• 7:20Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, it's easier to change your life than to forgive someone who's abandoned.

• 7:23Speaker 00

  Especially when you're just saying it, yeah. And who knows, you know, I'm sure there probably wasn't the counseling that we had, you know, they just.

• 7:31Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, no.

• 7:32Speaker 00

  Yeah, she, but she needed help. I mean, she's got three young boys and at the time, three. And I was the youngest at the time. So in the movie, I'm portrayed, I was very particular on who played me in the movie at two years old. I mean, you gotta get that part right.

• 7:46Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, yeah. It's gotta be a handsome toddler, wasn't it?

• 7:48Speaker 00

  It was, uh, my grandson played me. My grandson played me about his great grandfather. It was awesome. It's fun. It's fun to watch that movie. It's a hard movie to watch. Um, and dad didn't even want to do it. He, it was tough for him to go back, you know, and relive that, you know, just pull all those. But we said, dad and mom too, both, we just said, I think this can help a lot of people. You know, a lot of people who were in similar situations and, um. So, yeah, they stayed together. And so the first chapter of the book is that. And, and so if you think about it like this, like 50 years ago, that happened. Uh, if that doesn't happen, this family does not stay together. If the family doesn't stay together, there's no Duck Commander.

• 8:32Speaker 00

  There's no Duck Commander. There's no Duck Dynasty. There's no podcast. I don't know where I would be. My whole life would look completely different. And so part of the reason for us being still so excited about our faith is because we feel like we owe everything we have to our faith. Had it not been for faith, it would have been over, you know? Marriage was over, you know, who knows?

• 8:53Tucker Carlson?

  So do, I mean, do you remember a time before your father was Christian? Do your brothers?

• 8:58Speaker 00

  They do. They do. I don't really. Everything I remember was was great. And and he went from, you know, darkness to light. I mean, he literally, it's kind of like Saul and Paul in the Bible. Yeah, it was like this old person, then he just turned and just went, I mean, just full blaze. And he just wanted to share the gospel with everybody he knew, you know? Because I guess he had lived, and he said, I live so bad, and I gotta go help these people. And so he became known, became a known gospeller, uh, just known for preaching the gospel to everybody.

• 9:32Tucker Carlson?

  A gospeller is someone who preaches the gospel?

• 9:34Speaker 00

  It is. It's a it's a real word. It's not. It's an old word. Have you ever heard of it?

• 9:39Tucker Carlson?

  No, never.

• 9:40Speaker 00

  I've never heard of it either. So I'm writing this book. It's 2020, you know, COVID. I was like, I want to write this book. And so it was about sharing your faith. And my wife, who's way smarter than I am, she comes in because I couldn't figure out what to call it. And she goes, Willie, I found this word. It's called gospeller. And it used to be very commonplace. And it was not necessarily pastoral. It was just like common folk who were just known for sharing the gospel. Uh, and it simply means somebody shares the gospel with people either publicly or personally. And it didn't fall short on me that the word is literally a dinosaur. No one's ever heard of it.

• 10:17Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 10:17Speaker 00

  But at one point in America, in Europe, this was a common word. And they were they were called known gospellers. I I found a law, I want to say it was up in it was up in the Northeast, where it's like, nobody can stop a priest or a known gospeller from preaching on the town square. It was actually in a law, like that word was in a law.

• 10:37Tucker Carlson?

  Amazing.

• 10:37Speaker 00

  Isn't that cool? Yeah. So she found the word.

• 10:39Tucker Carlson?

  So how did you grow up? Like, you grew up in a world where Christianity was at the center of everything?

• 10:44Speaker 00

  Oh, yeah, for sure. Number one. Number one, no doubt about it. So, uh, it wasn't like, oh, we should try to go to church. It wasn't. It was, you know? Every and we had so many Bible studies that it it just really went all week like cause what happened it would we would once you're kind of known for that so people would bring people down to the house for Phil to talk to there and there was the most wayward people it's like murderers only like the craziest people ever and I would just wait and dad would just go there no matter who they were he would just sit there on the couch and he'd feed him supper and then he would jump into the Bible and just I mean it was Fridays Tuesdays

• 11:26Tucker Carlson?

  Really?

• 11:27Speaker 00

  All the time yeah all the time and then dad started teaching Bible classes so he would teach his Bible class on Sunday mornings uh and then he would but he would just study like crazy like just crazy person this you know and my father's never owned a computer he's never owned a cellphone

• 11:44Tucker Carlson?

  He doesn't have a cellphone?

• 11:45Speaker 00

  Mm-mm.

• 11:46Tucker Carlson?

  How do you text him?

• 11:48Speaker 00

  You don't.

• 11:49Tucker Carlson?

  Just like saying that.

• 11:50Speaker 00

  You go find him so I call and I'm like there's there's there's a dude there's a dude down there near so you call him but you gotta go find him he's like in the woods you know and you you've gotta if you want to track him down you gotta go find him.

• 12:04Tucker Carlson?

  Does he still hunt?

• 12:05Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm oh yeah but it was but yeah then dad would just read and study and you know he would just um just thirsting for knowledge he loved the knowledge but then he loved trying to to share that and that's kind of the point of the book is just turning darkness into light one conversation at a time and that that the tagline comes from it's funny how my business mixed with my faith so we have some new products for deer and it's this this feature where you can you click a button so right at that time where it's real dark you know it's getting a little dim still legal shooting hours and it just boom it just goes turns it into it's daylight it's crazy.

• 12:45Tucker Carlson?

  How what is it?

• 12:46Speaker 00

  It's pulling light whatever ambient light is it's pulling in.

• 12:49Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 12:50Speaker 00

  It's amazing so we had this new product so I'm looking at all the marketing material and they had on there uh turn turn dark into light and when I saw that I went that's the tagline for my book. Turning darkness into light, one conversation at a time. So through a conversation, meaning had the guy not gone and shared with that, you know, he was the one that actually planted the seed or shared with that and and boom, that's where it started, just that conversation. Then I watched, you know, hundreds and hundreds of other people, just through a conversation, lead to a life change. And so, and so what I wanted to do was go through the book and go through, um, kind of how to do that, because a lot of people, they're so intimidated, they don't know what to say. And they like the idea of it and they're like,

• 13:34Speaker 00

  well, I hope somebody tells somebody about their faith or about Jesus, but it ain't me, and I don't know how to do that. I don't, it's like, I don't know where to start. I don't know the Bible enough. And so we kind of disqualify ourselves from a lot of those, uh, for a lot of those reasons. And, um, so I just tried to go through and tell stories and I'll pull stories from the New Testament, just conversations, like especially conversations, like especially in the book of Acts, like that's where you're really seeing kind of the church meet with the world and just pull the conversations like this is what they said? And this is how you could share with others.

• 14:08Tucker Carlson?

  So you, your family, despite living in a very rural area, you've got a duck call business and you're seriously Christian, you wind up in television.

• 14:18Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:18Tucker Carlson?

  Which is like the opposite of all of that.

• 14:20Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 14:21Tucker Carlson?

  So how do you have the, so the, the crew comes in for wherever you're meeting with the studio executives from wherever, but not from West Monroe, Louisiana.

• 14:29Speaker 00

  No.

• 14:30Tucker Carlson?

  How do you begin a conversation about your faith with someone like that?

• 14:34Speaker 00

  Uh, well, it was obvious. I mean, I think the faith just comes through in every, it's going to be hard to separate that, separate the faith. And so, but I understood television enough to know that, you know, it can't just be a sermon, you know, it's got to, you know,

• 14:47Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 14:47Speaker 00

  And we live our lives.

• 14:49Tucker Carlson?

  People who run television, I have noticed from spending a lifetime there, not super receptive to the message.

• 14:57Speaker 00

  They weren't as, you know, a lot of people ask me that, like, we ended every show with a prayer. And, um, and I get, I almost get this, like, weekly, it's like, I bet they didn't want that prayer. And, but that wasn't the case. They, they were like, oh, that's cool. You know, like,

• 15:13Tucker Carlson?

  Good for them.

• 15:13Speaker 00

  Yeah, it wasn't a, wasn't a battle at all. It was just a good way to end the show. They knew faith was important to us. And, um, and that's how they, well, that's how we ended every show was with that prayer. But there wasn't a lot of resistance, um, uh, at all from that. So,

• 15:30Tucker Carlson?

  But you're,

• 15:30Speaker 00

  But I know, I think people, they thought that was the case or wanted to,

• 15:33Tucker Carlson?

  No, I love hearing that it's not.

• 15:35Speaker 00

  And it really wasn't. It was like, and then once it works and once it's,

• 15:39Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 15:39Speaker 00

  The,

• 15:40Tucker Carlson?

  Commercial,

• 15:40Speaker 00

  It was the biggest show, you know, ever in reality TV. There's like, oh, we love that prayer. Yeah, that was our idea. No, no, it, you know, it, it, it worked. And so, once we talked about how to do it. And my father was, he was so funny with the show. So, when I went down to tell him, I said, Dad, we, you know, we got this idea doing this television show. And he hated it. He's like, I don't want to do it, you know, and, um, uh,

• 16:04Tucker Carlson?

  Where'd the idea come from?

• 16:05Speaker 00

  I said, it's a way to get the gospel out to more people. And, and literally, that's what I told him. And he sits in a chair and goes, hmm, I've never thought about that. He goes, you think it can? I said, I don't see why not. He gives a thumbs up and he's like, all right, we'll do the TV show. If it can get the gospel out to more people.

• 16:21Tucker Carlson?

  So, you do a show like that. What are the mechanics of it? Cause it seems like it would take over your life completely.

• 16:26Speaker 00

  It does.

• 16:27Tucker Carlson?

  So, like, how does it work?

• 16:28Speaker 00

  It's a lot of, well, we didn't know when we started, like, we had no idea. Um, I get a, I get an email. Uh, this is, so we had done another television show on the Outdoor Channel. And in the same way, like, my, it was my wife's idea. Corey said, Corey watched reality television.

• 16:49Tucker Carlson?

  Is she from West Monroe?

• 16:50Speaker 00

  She's from West Monroe. She's from the city. I'm from the state. So, um, so she says, uh, she's watching all this reality television. And she said, uh, Willie, I think, I think your family needs to have a reality TV show and I'm like.

• 17:04Tucker Carlson?

  That's not a compliment.

• 17:05Speaker 00

  Well.

• 17:06Tucker Carlson?

  When your wife says your family needs a reality TV show, that's.

• 17:08Speaker 00

  Well, that's what I said. I said.

• 17:11Tucker Carlson?

  That's usually an attack.

• 17:12Speaker 00

  Well, that's what, why I didn't realize it. And I said, Corey, we're just normal people. And she goes, Willie, y'all ain't nor- like, and then so what? She was like, you guys are like, she goes, I, I've been with you for a long time and.

• 17:25Tucker Carlson?

  Where'd you meet her, by the way?

• 17:26Speaker 00

  Uh, summer camp, fifth grade. Wow. Camp Chioka. Camp Chioka, yeah, her, uh, yeah, I saw her sitting on the swing. So her grandfather and father were business guys, very successful business guys. And part of their charity work, they had built this summer camp. And so now that we're new believers, uh, my parents are, that was a new thing. Like now we're going to church summer camp, you know? And we'd never been to church. So, you know, that was like, and we couldn't even afford it. So when we would pull up to the camp, my mother had no money. And she would be, and so we would have our bags packed, like we're ready. And she was like, all right, here's the deal. Y'all stay here. Let me go see if I can trade working in the kitchen for you guys to come.

• 18:09Speaker 00

  If they say yes, you're in. If they say no, we're going back to the house. And we're just like, please say yes. Which, what's funny is. It was, it was my wife's parents who were making the deci- my, as it turns out in life, I later married their daughter who ran the camp. That was the same camp I was hoping to get into.

• 18:27Tucker Carlson?

  That's amazing.

• 18:28Speaker 00

  So every time they said yes, and so they would like, and so we would go, and I see this girl, she's on the swing. So I can see her to this day and, um. She got this big giant, you know, 1980s, I'm like, who's that girl? And, uh, they said, ah, it's Corey Howard, you know? Her dad and them, they, they're the ones who run the camp. And so I went over and talked to her. I invited her on the moonlight hike. And she said yes, and we went on the moonlight hike in fifth grade. And we didn't keep dating. We didn't, and we didn't get married, uh, that year, but, um, we waited.

• 19:00Tucker Carlson?

  When you got married?

• 19:01Speaker 00

  1918.

• 19:03Tucker Carlson?

  You were 19, she was 18?

• 19:05Speaker 00

  Correct. I proposed to her when she was 17, I was 18.

• 19:09Tucker Carlson?

  What did her dad say?

• 19:10Speaker 00

  He didn't like it.

• 19:11Tucker Carlson?

  I bet he didn't.

• 19:12Speaker 00

  He didn't like, he didn't like the idea. He wasn't a fan. They were very well off. They were, um, yeah, they, they lived in the neighborhoods. And I pull up in this neighborhood, Doug, and I'm like, looking around, it's like mowed grass, you know, like.

• 19:30Tucker Carlson?

  They mowed their grass?

• 19:31Speaker 00

  Sprinkler systems. Yeah, I'm just like, whoa, man, this is crazy. I'm looking around and there's not one visible burn pile anywhere. I'm going like, what are these people doing with their garbage? I didn't know there was another way. Uh, so we're, we're gonna have to talk, right? So he's like, we got, and I know that, like, we went to church, guys, I knew her family and, uh, but he just was like, no, y'all need to wait and you're too young and, and we're just dead set. We're like, no, we're getting married. So he gets, so when we have a meeting and he's such a, he's a smart business guy and, um,

• 20:12Speaker 00

  he's got all these papers. He's got statistics and papers and files, you know? I'm just sitting there, white t-shirt, like he's blowing me away. He's making me so mad, you know, cause I'm like giving him, I'm, I'm pitching vision, man, you know?

• 20:27Tucker Carlson?

  What was your vision?

• 20:29Speaker 00

  Well, Christianity, like we're brothers, like, come on, man, this is gonna be great. And then he's like, you haven't thought about all these things in life? And finally he just goes, he's getting so mad. And he's like, I thought he was gonna hit me. And he's like, leaning up on me. He said, um, where exactly do you plan on living with my daughter? You know? And I, right, I mean, I said, well, I reckon I'll pull a trailer up on the back of Phil's house and we'll just live there for free.

• 20:58Tucker Carlson?

  That was your vision?

• 20:59Speaker 00

  Not the, not the answer the dude wanted to take. And we'll burn our garbage in the yard like normal people do.

• 21:13Speaker 00

  But it worked out.

• 21:15Tucker Carlson?

  So last fall, I was out in Las Vegas and I ran into Theo Von, who's hilarious. And I wind up doing a podcast with Theo Von and I have a tin of Zin on the set with me. And he says, what's that? And I start joking about product nicotine pouches. And I say, in effect, this is a cure for erectile dysfunction. Totally joking, of course, not serious, not a doctor, never even think about making medical claims. I have no idea if that's true. I'm totally kidding. It's what we call a joke in the business. It's a joke, it's not serious. So I get home and there is a letter from the General Counsel of Zin written in the most super silliest, nasty, to whom it may concern, Mr. Carlson or representative thereof.

• 21:58Tucker Carlson?

  It has come to our attention that on a broadcast with a nationally known comedian, you made an inaccurate health claim about our product. I'm like, what is this? What did I do? You should know that there's no medical study that suggests that our product is an effective ED cure. And I'm like, are you kidding? I made a boner joke and you're sending me a nasty lawyer letter? It was the dumbest, most humorless thing I've ever seen. And it was instantly recognizable to me as someone who's worked at big companies most of my life. It was the product of HR lawyer culture. Only like a pronoun company could issue a letter like this. And it was like somewhere on this planet, somebody is laughing. We must make them stop. Call the General Counsel, issue a nasty letter.

• 22:42Tucker Carlson?

  And I thought to myself, I cannot believe I'm buying their product. I have nothing in common with these people. They can't take a joke. They're stupid and they hate me and they hate humor and they hate joy. And I thought to myself, I'm going to create an alternative because there's no way I'm going to spend another dollar on a product made by people like this. And so we created an alternative. alppouch.com usher in tomorrow, a brand new world of nicotine pouches. The American Lip Pillow on sale now.

• 23:12Speaker 02

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• 24:12Speaker 03

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• 24:57Speaker 03

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• 25:19Tucker Carlson?

  Wait, so how long did it take you?

• 25:20Speaker 00

  Thirty-two years later, we're still married.

• 25:22Tucker Carlson?

  That's amazing.

• 25:24Speaker 00

  And we're great. We're, we, I mean, I, so her parents' house and my house, literally, it's like a, I know you don't play golf, it's a pitch and wedge away from me. And we were just right beside each other.

• 25:36Tucker Carlson?

  Now?

• 25:37Speaker 00

  Mm-hmm. Yeah, I see them every day. We're, yeah. And I learned, most of what I learned in business, I learned from him.

• 25:43Tucker Carlson?

  How many grandkids did you give him?

• 25:45Speaker 00

  Eight. Eight so far.

• 25:49Tucker Carlson?

  You have eight?

• 25:50Speaker 00

  I have eight.

• 25:51Tucker Carlson?

  So he has?

• 25:53Speaker 00

  Oh, how many does?

• 25:53Tucker Carlson?

  Eight grand, great-grandchildren. How many kids did you have with his daughter?

• 25:59Tucker Carlson?

  How many kids do you?

• 26:00Speaker 00

  Oh, how many kids? I have six.

• 26:01Tucker Carlson?

  Six, okay.

• 26:06Tucker Carlson?

  He's gotta be pretty sick.

• 26:07Speaker 00

  It's just the way you ask him.

• 26:08Tucker Carlson?

  Sorry. I asked you backwards.

• 26:10Speaker 00

  Let me just start again. I have six children, eight grandchildren, so, yeah.

• 26:15Tucker Carlson?

  Amazing.

• 26:16Speaker 00

  But yeah, they're great. And so we live there on the, and we all live right there. We're just all connected and live beside each other.

• 26:22Tucker Carlson?

  So how long did it take you to, to win a yes from your father-in-law?

• 26:26Speaker 00

  I mean, it was after that night, um, he wanted me to come over to their house. And so Cory was, she was in college. So she wasn't even there when all this happened. She was in college, I wasn't going to college. Um, I was going to seminary. I was gonna be a preacher. And, um, and so Cory calls and says, um, Dad wants you to come over. And I said, no, he's gonna come pick you up and take you over to their house. I said, no. She said, why not? And I said, I'll have to walk home. She goes, what do you mean? I said, oh, it's gonna go bad. And I don't have a ride. I'm gonna have to walk all the way back to my house. It's like seven miles. I said, no, I'm not, time to come over here. So he comes over to where

• 27:11Speaker 00

  I was staying. And I was living with my brother at the time. And it was he and his mom and me, we were on the couch together. Uh, and, and my mother-in-law, she was in between us. But I did, I thought, man, I think he may punch me. And, uh, I was ready. I mean, I have three brothers. And so I was like, we just gotta fight. Let's just fight. I was like, let's go, you know?

• 27:33Speaker 00

  But then it was after that night, they said, okay. Um, and then I think just six months later, we got married and we were driving to the wedding and he said, you know what, I said what I said and that's the way I felt, but now we're good and, and I literally never heard another word about it like.

• 27:51Tucker Carlson?

  Really?

• 27:52Speaker 00

  Yeah, he was great.

• 27:53Tucker Carlson?

  So it was your wife that came up the idea for Duck Dynasty?

• 27:56Speaker 00

  Yep. Then I had to go tell Phil and then, cause originally it was on the outdoor channel.

• 28:03Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah. What was it?

• 28:04Speaker 00

  And I was approached by Benelli Shotguns at Shot Show. Have you been to Shot Show?

• 28:08Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 28:09Speaker 00

  Yeah. So I was approached by them right after she said that. And they were like, hey, are you guys interested in doing a, like a reality TV show with the shotguns? And I was like, Corey just said we should do a reality TV show. And he goes, well, let's, let's, let's have a meeting. And so, um, so we sat down and they said, hey, we'll, we'll pay for production. You guys will be on the show. Uh, thankfully they had two guys that came in that they had just hired who were, who they came out of reality television. So he'd hire them for like their in-house, you know, all their commercials and stuff that they do. And, uh, we love Benelli and we love the shotgun. So, uh, it was like, yeah. And so we're going through the deals and, um,

• 28:52Speaker 00

  so right then Corey says, uh, she's, she's such a smart business person. And I'm excited. I'm like, hey, this is our business is going to go up. So I go to Phil, I'm like, Phil, he's like, oh, it's a terrible idea. And I'm like, dad, we'll sell more duck. I was like, we'll be on the outdoor channel.

• 29:05Tucker Carlson?

  Plus free shotguns.

• 29:07Speaker 00

  Plus free shotguns. I was like, plus free other stuff. I was like, this is the smoking deal, you know? And so Corey says, so we're going to go up to Maryland. I think that's where they're at, Maryland. And we're going to have this meeting. And Corey's, uh, she'd been reading these books and she goes, well, I think, I think, uh, I think they should pay off a talent fee. I'd never heard that word. I said, what is talent fee? She goes, like, they should pay y'all to be on this. I said, Corey, Corey, Corey, don't get greedy. Like, this is a gift. They're paying for production. And

• 29:41Tucker Carlson?

  Shotguns.

• 29:42Speaker 00

  Yeah. And she's like, well, it won't hurt to ask. And I said, what? Okay. But I said, here's the deal. When you ask, if you get any weird sense, abort the mission. Get out of it. Do not screw this. Because I was like, this is our big chance. You're going to ruin it by asking for too much. So we go in the meeting, guys going through, he said, okay, we'll start production here and we'll do this and that. And he goes, I think we're about ready to go. And Corey's like, one more thing, you know? And I'm like, oh, God, you know, like, and she's like, um, we're thinking you should pay the guys a talent fee. He was like, oh, what, what were you thinking? And she said, we were thinking $30,000 a piece.

• 30:24Speaker 00

  This will be for the whole season and I'm making $28,000 a year. That's my salary.

• 30:30Tucker Carlson?

  What were you doing?

• 30:31Speaker 00

  That was my job. I made 28,000.

• 30:34Tucker Carlson?

  But what was your job? Oh, at the, at the duck call company?

• 30:36Speaker 00

  That was my whole yearly job. I made 28,000. She just asked for 30

• 30:42Speaker 00

  for, to do this thing, which would essentially double my pay. And when she said 30, I'm like, oh, my gosh, like, that's way too much. And the guy literally just goes, yeah, okay, no problem. And I'm like, crap, we should have said 50. We should have said 50. She said 30.

• 31:01Speaker 00

  So then, and here's what kind of CEO I am. So we were excited. So we go back to the house. I go back down to dad's house. Jason's there. We're all in the house and they're waiting to hear what happened with the TV show. And I walk in, I'm like, well, boys, we're fixing to do us a television show on the outdoor channel. And guess what else I got us? $30,000 a piece. I act like it was my idea.

• 31:25Speaker 00

  And I just like, we were like, we did it. We, it's over. We finally figured it out. We got free shotguns. We doubled our pay. We have to do a TV show. We have no idea what we're doing. And we launched into that show.

• 31:38Tucker Carlson?

  What year was that?

• 31:40Speaker 00

  Um, this would have been probably oh eight.

• 31:45Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, somewhere in oh eight.

• 31:46Speaker 00

  Um, so we launched into the show. We're able to cut our teeth. So we've been making DVDs and hunting videos. Now we go on this TV with these, these boys from reality TV were there. So we really learned how to do television, you know, how to do, you know, uh, what was gonna become ultimately Duck Dynasty. Um, it was a, it was a different show. Like half of it was just like hardcore guns, you know, and, and all the good, they were showing their products. And, uh, but the other half was just like silly reality stuff that we just came up and I kinda focused on that. My brother and dad and them, they did the hardcore hunting and then I was over there doing the, hey, we could show this and we could just wild crazy stuff we were doing. And, uh,

• 32:29Speaker 00

  and the show was super popular, like in, in that world, everybody loved it. And, uh, we won awards and, uh, our sales went up. More people were buying duck calls and our T-shirts. So it was like, hey, we did it, man. And, uh, I had to sell, part of the deal was I had to sell half the advertisers. So, cause then that, that when you get your commercial, then you have to go sell them. So, uh, Benelli would sell half and I sold half of them. And it was so funny, like it was hard selling, but ultimately it was gonna be Duck Dynasty. It was, you know, it was hard selling an ad for this thing. I ended up selling all mine. I would sell my ads and, uh, that was part of the deal I had to do.

• 33:08Speaker 00

  So then we get an email. I get a generic email. Information at Duck Commander. And there's no time how many days, just never even get looked at.

• 33:18Tucker Carlson?

  Of course.

• 33:19Speaker 00

  Uh, it's a dude. He said, I'm a producer in Los Angeles. I've watched the show on Outdoor Channel. He saw that show.

• 33:27Speaker 00

  I think you guys have a really big show. Give me a call. Left his number. Secretary comes in and says, I got this email. Somebody sent it from Los Angeles.

• 33:38Speaker 00

  She said, do you want me to throw it away? Or do you want me to respond? And I looked at and I said, I'll respond. So I responded, hey, this is Willie. What? What are you thinking? You know? And I get on the call with him and man, he's a fast talker, you know, he's LA. He's like, this will, I'm telling you, this is gonna be the biggest show. I mean, I'm telling you, I've got something this big. Yeah, yeah. And like, like, you have a really big show. Like, you gotta, we gotta take this thing bigger, you know, this could, this is on cable. This is on. And I'm thinking this guy's full of crap. I'm like, I said, you think so? And he's like, he said, Willie, you will not be able to walk down the street without people, everybody recognizing who you are. And I, this guy, like he is laying it on thick, you know?

• 34:21Speaker 00

  And so, uh, I said, well, so what do we need to do if we were to do that? He said, well, make a system real. And unfortunately, we had, we had just done like three seasons of this show. So we took three minutes and then he started pitching around the networks. And there was a lot of interest. You gotta remember, this is the time Louisiana, the tax credits were big, like, before Georgia had it, Louisiana was kind of the hotbed. And there was tons of shows. I mean, our state is like, there's so much culture and just, um, fun people in our state anyway. And so you had, Billy the Exterminator, uh, Swamp, uh, Swamp People, uh, Sons of Guns. All these are Louisiana shows. Buy You Billionaires. There was tons of shows been shot there. So if you had anything in Louisiana, because they knew they could go,

• 35:06Speaker 00

  say 40%, you know, in this state. And he saw it and we were on the Outdoor Channel. He saw it. And then I'd know where it comes A and E. A and E, I didn't really know anything about A and E. I didn't watch, um, even what it was. And, um, he said, A and E is interested in two pilots. And I'm like, what does that mean? And he says, well, if they pick it up, that's where we want to be. Uh, it's a good mixed audience, like men and women watch A and E, um, big company, you know, it's, you know, combined with History Channel, ABC, Disney, all this and ESPN. And so he said, the problem is if they pass on his dad, like, because then everybody would say, oh, they passed on.

• 35:47Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 35:48Speaker 00

  And so we shot two pilots for A and E, had no idea what we were doing. And then the film crew got giant, you know, they sent down this huge crew and, and we had no idea and we just kind of went into it and not really know what we were doing.

• 36:02Tucker Carlson?

  So what's it?

• 36:03Speaker 00

  And didn't know if it was good or not. I didn't know, you know, and, and so what was interesting was they didn't know, they didn't know what exactly they were getting. So if you, if you kind of looked at a picture of us, you'd be like, I think they thought we like grunted and like, you know, and

• 36:22Speaker 00

  couldn't speak English. So they didn't, I think, they thought, and they thought it was gonna be like danger, like, alligators are coming out of the water, you know? So they come down and so, hey, so we shot the bios, we sent it off. And so they called and we're like, well, we have good news and bad news. The, the bad news is this is not the show we were ordering, like at all. We were all shocked and we're like, uh oh. They said, the good news is it's way better than what we thought we were getting. And they were like, this is a family show. Cause nobody had put us in any category of family show, even though we were a family, but it was like, they just didn't. I think they thought kind of like, we're gonna laugh at these, but you know, these are, and they just totally didn't.

• 37:03Tucker Carlson?

  It was a Honey Boo Boo thing.

• 37:04Speaker 00

  They said, right. They didn't realize, right, that, um, cause some of their ideas, initially, some of them, it was like, the women folk are out, you know, getting opossums, you know, and skinning them out. And my wife's like, uh, these women folk do not, we don't even go in the woods, you know? So, so, but they saw, and then there was this comedy, this real, cause the first show we did on Outdoor Channel wasn't really funny. And once we saw this kind of comedic thing come out, that's what, I mean, that was what really I think set it apart was, it's funny. It's a, you know, it's something you can laugh, you know? It's a funny show.

• 37:42Tucker Carlson?

  What's the, I mean, what's the process of filming it?

• 37:46Speaker 00

  Um, well.

• 37:49Tucker Carlson?

  You said you get your house got descended on by a swarm of producers.

• 37:53Speaker 00

  It was, yeah. So we've, we shot in all our houses, especially mine. Especially my house was kind of the, cause the show was kinda, we, we didn't know any of this going in cause we didn't know what we were doing, but it was kinda shot through my eyes. And so you would have like Willie's dad, Willie's wife. So you're watching the, as a viewer, you're watching it through my eyes. So I was supposed to be the normal guy. I'm the normal person. And then everybody else is, is crazy, you know, this chaos is happening and they, to some extent, they are crazy. And so, uh, so you had some people that are just kinda like themselves, like, like my father just, he, dad never understood what exactly we were doing. Like he, he, he never understood the show.

• 38:36Speaker 00

  He never liked it. He never understood. He, he told me early on, he was like, well, tell them we need more preaching on this show. I said, dad, there's another Robertson family with a show like that. It's the 700. We're not that show. Like this is, this is not that.

• 38:53Tucker Carlson?

  Are you related to them by the way?

• 38:54Speaker 00

  And he was like, uh, I'm not, no, I'm not, not that, uh, they haven't asked me for money. So I guess I'm not. Everybody related to me has asked me for money. So.

• 39:03Tucker Carlson?

  You're like an NBA player.

• 39:06Speaker 00

  So yeah, he never quite understood the show. He, um, so my dad got to this one. So my dad got so mad one time. He said, he wouldn't say anything. He just didn't understand. He thought it was so goofy and we were just being stupid. And, uh, so we sit down. This is my favorite thing that ever happened to Gnostie that never got shown. So we had this dinner scene every time, you know?

• 39:27Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 39:27Speaker 00

  And so we're on like episode 80, you know? And you know, the part of TV is, you know, you got these kids, they come in from LA, they're 25 years old and they're telling you what to do. Ah, go, you don't look right. And yeah, it's just, it's kinda weird when you become the CEO of your company and do all this. Now that you're, you know, you're listening to people you don't know, and they're telling you what to do. And so I think my dad had gotten well, past the point of that at this point.

• 39:53Tucker Carlson?

  Pretty quickly.

• 39:54Speaker 00

  So we're setting all the table up and we're just sitting there, you know, we've done this a thousand, you know, and jibs on the table and like, okay, everybody ready? And so a little young producer is like, okay. And Mr. Phil, your prayer action. So we bow our heads and Phil said, Father, I pray for these bunch of heathens from Los Angeles, California with their latte coffees and their filthy language. I pray you don't burn them all in hell for their sinfulness. Amen.

• 40:35Speaker 00

  We were laughing so hard because none of us knew that was coming. None of us realized. And so we all look up, we're just like, look around, go, what was that? And this, this young producer, he never missed a beat. He was like, thank you, Mr. Phil. Now can we do another prayer that we could actually put on television?

• 40:52Tucker Carlson?

  That never aired.

• 40:54Speaker 00

  Never aired, never aired. Uh, it was so funny. So yeah, Dad didn't quite understand.

• 41:02Tucker Carlson?

  But I mean, these cameras are in your house for what?

• 41:04Speaker 00

  They are, but you know, you know, um, well, it was like walking into here.

• 41:10Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 41:11Speaker 00

  We're, we're filming in here. Yeah. Obviously, you know.

• 41:16Tucker Carlson?

  And we're in a pheasant camp in South Dakota.

• 41:17Speaker 00

  Somebody, we are in a pheasant camp. I was a little worried too about that. I thought we did a bad idea. So we stayed up too late last night.

• 41:25Tucker Carlson?

  That's true.

• 41:26Speaker 00

  We were telling a story. It was so fun.

• 41:27Tucker Carlson?

  It's true.

• 41:28Speaker 00

  And it was, I'm glad we did. So we get up this morning, we go shoot tons of birds.

• 41:33Tucker Carlson?

  Quite a few birds.

• 41:33Speaker 00

  Walked around and then we go, I, I think I ate two pounds of meatloaf.

• 41:38Tucker Carlson?

  At least.

• 41:39Speaker 00

  Yeah. I said, at least I ate that. Okay. You did as well. I didn't look at your plate.

• 41:44Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, a lot.

• 41:44Speaker 00

  And I thought, that's not a good recipe for doing a long podcast.

• 41:51Tucker Carlson?

  Not at four in the afternoon after hunting in a big woods.

• 41:54Speaker 00

  Man, that was, that was part of my demands though. Cause I've heard recently about people in their podcasts and demands.

• 42:01Tucker Carlson?

  Contract writers. Yeah.

• 42:03Speaker 00

  And I said, I demand, we have to fly to another state, shoot birds that morning.

• 42:08Tucker Carlson?

  Yes.

• 42:09Speaker 00

  This should be every, this should be every podcast.

• 42:12Tucker Carlson?

  And it was literally in the contract that you signed with us where you demanded lemon squares after. And I thought, that's a bit, that's a little much.

• 42:19Speaker 00

  Yeah. No, I said, let's just go, we have to go find somewhere to, actually this was your idea. And so thank you.

• 42:24Tucker Carlson?

  It was my idea.

• 42:24Speaker 00

  I was gonna go to Maine.

• 42:28Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, but we don't have any pheasants in Maine.

• 42:30Speaker 00

  No, this was a better, this was a way, this was a way better idea.

• 42:34Tucker Carlson?

  If you could, I don't know how many birds I shot this morning, but if you could shoot two grouse a day in Maine, you're the best grouse hunter in Maine.

• 42:40Speaker 00

  Really? You're a good shot, too. I'm telling your audience.

• 42:44Tucker Carlson?

  I would hope so.

• 42:44Speaker 00

  I'm telling your audience, you're a good shot.

• 42:47Tucker Carlson?

  I'm not half as good.

• 42:47Speaker 00

  I wasn't surprised. I mean, I knew you hunted a lot.

• 42:50Tucker Carlson?

  I'm not half as good as I should be after all the practice I've had, I'll tell you that. Um, but no, it's actually, I, I missed a bird. Bird got too aggressive with me and it intimidated me. And I always think, you know, when you're bird hunting, you're the pursuer, you're the aggressor, you're the predator, and when the bird turns it around and tries to fly up your nose, I just, I freeze and miss the bird.

• 43:11Speaker 00

  Wow. And you had to go, you know?

• 43:13Tucker Carlson?

  Because it's unnatural.

• 43:14Speaker 00

  I was here a month ago doing this pheasant hunting. I didn't grow up pheasant hunting, so we were poor.

• 43:23Speaker 00

  I have a pheasant come, he literally is coming at my face.

• 43:25Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 43:26Speaker 00

  And I did know what to do. And I, I took the shot and I went back like I was gonna hit it like a baseball bat. And I, oh, and I, uh, if I had a little more cojones, I would, because the guy said, you should have done it, you know?

• 43:41Tucker Carlson?

  It was that close?

• 43:42Speaker 00

  It was that close. He had, I think he'd been hit. So he was, he's coming down and he's like, and I'm like, oh, he was just so close. And I, there's a picture and you see me go like this, but, and he just goes, shoo, right? And then I thought, why didn't I, can you imagine?

• 43:57Tucker Carlson?

  If you just grab.

• 43:58Speaker 00

  The presence of mind. That's what separates the

• 44:01Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 44:02Speaker 00

  Most of, to that one that just grabbed that sucker out of the air, ah, would have been.

• 44:07Tucker Carlson?

  That's an Aaron Rodgers move.

• 44:08Speaker 00

  And I blew it. And I, one day, I'm gonna, now I'm gonna schedule like

• 44:13Tucker Carlson?

  I was.

• 44:14Speaker 00

  Months of pheasant hunting, do I can get that same scenario to happen again?

• 44:18Tucker Carlson?

  I watched my father get hit right in the chest on a driven peg shoot for pheasant when I was a kid. And it knocked him right down. He was turning, talking to someone, and the pheasant just came in and hit him right, and just bam, and he's a big man.

• 44:28Speaker 00

  Did you grow up pheasant man? Yeah. Oh, you did? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

• 44:32Tucker Carlson?

  It used to be only crazy people thought they were being watched all the time, surveilled, the guy mumbling next to you on the bus. But now, anyone who knows what's going on thinks that because it's true. Your phones are listening to you. Tech companies tracking all your online activity in order to profit off of what ought to be private information. Governments are watching too. It's a corrupt system. It's frightening. And the worst part is it's all legal. Governments certainly will not help stop this, of course. The intel agencies love it. So it's up to you to protect yourself. And that's where ExpressVPN comes in. ExpressVPN, which we use here, is an app that sends 100% of your online activity through secure encrypted servers. That means nobody can see what you do online. Not internet service providers, not data brokers, not intel agencies.

• 45:17Tucker Carlson?

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• 45:59Speaker 04

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• 46:28Speaker 05

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• 47:12Tucker Carlson?

  We were poor. We were poor too. Yeah, we were really poor. Oh, yeah. You were super poor.

• 47:17Speaker 00

  You were middle class too.

• 47:18Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 47:19Speaker 00

  How did you get off of McDonald's to go work and do your pheasant?

• 47:21Tucker Carlson?

  I don't know. I've come a long way. Just bootstrapping it. So. Did you, like, what was it like to go from being maybe locally famous to nationally famous?

• 47:35Speaker 00

  Uh, yeah, night and day. Cause it, but it was, man, I'm so appreciative. So we, it was like we did just enough to get comfortable enough to figure out what it is that you're doing. And I love the, you know, the progression. Yeah, I think zero to, you know, just like nothing to something. Uh, but it was just enough. Like we knew just enough TV and then we had done some, you know, stuff to where if we went in Bass Pro Shop or what, you know, it was like, oh, there's documentary guys. And, um, but just enough. But then when, once we hit the, the really national spotlight, especially to the level our show was, it was crazy. It was just crazy.

• 48:16Tucker Carlson?

  Not good for you.

• 48:17Speaker 00

  No.

• 48:19Speaker 00

  It wasn't good, no, in many way, business is not, because business went crazy and it trying to do everything, you know, because you're still trying, you have, you have a business, you're trying to run your business and, and then, uh, ours was really unique because the nature of the show looked like we were goofing off, or everybody in the, well, then I'm getting, you know, 50,000 orders, well, we can't fill them. And then I got people emailing me, I just saw y'all are goofing off, I just watched the show, it was like, that's really what we

• 48:51Tucker Carlson?

  Go build some more duck calls.

• 48:53Speaker 00

  So then, yeah, I had to go like, do a video going, hey, guys, look, Willie from Duck Nasty, uh, we really are working. It's not everything you see on the TV shows, what exactly happened that day, you know, exactly that day. Uh, so it was, it was crazy, it was, we, the first holidays, we crashed our computer, I think, three times. Um, it was so bad because they ordered their product, so we got their money, and then it crashed, but we didn't know what they ordered, so we have your money.

• 49:23Tucker Carlson?

  What'd you do?

• 49:26Speaker 00

  Just tried to put out, saying, hey, call, call us, and so they call and be like, I didn't get my order, and we're like, why don't you tell us what you ordered? Well, uh, just, just generalize, whatever you think, you know, spitballing, you know, we'll, we'll get as close as we can, we're just trying to ship stuff out, uh, people were like, those are good problems to have, and I'm like, no, they're not, they're terrible problems, they're terrible problems to have, just really overwhelmed, just wasn't, wasn't ready. And, and to think that when we did this show, we had this meeting, and my wife, Corey, says, do you think we should order more duck calls? And I said, no, no, nobody's gonna order a duck call, you know, even if you like the show, why would you need a duck call? I mean, if you're, if you're not a duck hunter, what do you, uh, was I wrong?

• 50:11Tucker Carlson?

  Really? People were buying decorative duck calls?

• 50:14Speaker 00

  People were just buying any duck call, like, they just wanted that.

• 50:17Tucker Carlson?

  What'd they do with, I mean, unless you had a duck.

• 50:19Speaker 00

  On a shelf, well, it was just, uh, they wanted a piece of the show, and that was, uh, that was the piece they wanted.

• 50:24Tucker Carlson?

  How many duck calls did you sell?

• 50:26Speaker 00

  Oh, man, like. Million and a half or something crazy.

• 50:29Tucker Carlson?

  Duck calls?

• 50:30Speaker 00

  Yeah. And the year before we'd done fifty thousand, fifty thousand to one point five million.

• 50:37Tucker Carlson?

  That's crazy.

• 50:37Speaker 00

  It's insane. It's insane. We were working twenty four hours a day. I had crews. I had everybody who could possibly.

• 50:45Tucker Carlson?

  How much child labor?

• 50:47Speaker 00

  Uh, not much child labor, except for ours. We made ours work.

• 50:51Tucker Carlson?

  What did your kids think of the whole thing?

• 50:54Speaker 00

  Uh, that's what I was, I mean, I think that's your big fear. I mean, your fear is, is how's it gonna, how's it play with them?

• 51:01Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 51:02Speaker 00

  Uh, I always say this year in life, I've been able to do a lot of things and most of the things my kids are gonna do or have done, I've already done, you know, went to college, have children, get married, you know, move, what, I mean, uh, the only thing I had zero experience with was being famous at a young age.

• 51:22Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 51:22Speaker 00

  I understood it at forty, cause I was forty when, when the show came out, um, but being sixteen, you know, I had no idea. And also, you've got the beginning of social media too, and so that's new as well. And so, uh, yeah, I think they probably struggled, you know, with some of it and struggled, certainly some aspects of it, uh, understood the good of it and, you know, figure out a way how to use it, you know, use what it was for, for the good and then ditch the stuff that was.

• 51:54Tucker Carlson?

  So they're not mad about it now?

• 51:57Speaker 00

  No, they're not.

• 51:58Tucker Carlson?

  How many are married?

• 52:00Speaker 00

  Four, five.

• 52:04Tucker Carlson?

  How do you get your kids to get married so young? Yeah.

• 52:10Speaker 00

  I don't know. I didn't encourage it.

• 52:14Tucker Carlson?

  You didn't?

• 52:16Speaker 00

  Well, that was the day I told you about Cory's parents, you know, her dad's mad, all right, you're too young. This is what made him mad. I said, how old were y'all? Nineteen eighteen, same age. I was like, you're the same age we were when we got married. So it was interesting that, cause he couldn't say, oh, we waited and, uh, but no, they wanted to get, you know, they got around the same age and they got married as well. But it's not like I said, here's how we do it around these parts, you know, not at all. They just.

• 52:47Speaker 00

  I don't know, you find the right one and then make a commitment and go.

• 52:52Tucker Carlson?

  It's pretty great.

• 52:53Speaker 00

  Yeah. It really is great. Well, it's great because then you're young. Because I'm, I got eight grandkids, I'm a young, young grandparent. I mean, it's fun when you're younger, you know. You're not.

• 53:07Tucker Carlson?

  So how long did the show go?

• 53:10Speaker 00

  Five years, 130 episodes.

• 53:14Tucker Carlson?

  Wow, why'd they end it?

• 53:16Speaker 00

  Um.

• 53:18Speaker 00

  There were a lot of reasons. I think.

• 53:22Speaker 00

  One, it gets more expensive. It just keeps getting more expensive.

• 53:26Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 53:26Speaker 00

  You know. Everything goes up, you know, it's like.

• 53:30Tucker Carlson?

  Your fees go up.

• 53:30Speaker 00

  Everything goes up. Well, not just ours, everybody, you know, production, everybody's going, hey, if this keeps, you know, generating income and. Um. And so I think, you know, it's, uh. I'm assuming, I mean, I think it's probably like a baseball player, like you're paying a guy. 10 million dollars at first base, he hits 25 home runs. We could pay a guy five hundred thousand, maybe he'll hit, maybe he hit 12 home runs, good enough, we'll save them. Yeah, and so I'm sure they're like, we could make other shows. Um. And some of it just played out. I mean, it like. You just kind of run out of, like, what's, what are we doing now? You know, it's like, you had, you still have more kids and stuff, but it's like you've done so many. I mean, 130 episodes with two storylines is.

• 54:14Speaker 00

  260 stories, that's a lot of stories, you know?

• 54:18Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 54:19Speaker 00

  We were certainly ready. I mean, we were ready for a break. It was, that's a lot of work, man. I mean, the first year, man, we filmed. God. We filmed 10 months that year. Yeah, this is not some couple of month, you know, and this is not like.

• 54:34Tucker Carlson?

  How many days a week?

• 54:35Speaker 00

  The first year, we did six days a week. And we did even some Sundays, Sunday afternoons.

• 54:42Speaker 00

  Just getting it, man. We were just.

• 54:45Tucker Carlson?

  That's cra- for ten months, six days a week?

• 54:47Speaker 00

  It was hard. It was hard. It was a lot. But we were just, you know, at that point, we're like, figured out and then they were just, it became so popular.

• 54:57Tucker Carlson?

  You must have gotten close.

• 54:57Speaker 00

  Cause they wanted more, everything was like, we need more, we need more, we need more. And so it was like, keep making them, keep making them. And so finally we're like, time out, you know, renegotiate. And so part of that, we went to, um, Monday through Thursday schedules gives us a day off, at least a day to go to the hos- I mean, to go to the doctor, to go to, you know, stuff, you know, stuff you need to do. Um, cause it's not like you worked every day, but you're on the schedule for that long. So some days you may not be, you know, you may not be on that afternoon, but you won't know until it comes out, you know, on the schedule, kind of where you're at.

• 55:27Tucker Carlson?

  Did you ever feel misrepresented by the show?

• 55:31Speaker 00

  Uh, no, because I, you know, I kind of played a part, like I had a part that I played on the show and it was kind of consistent of, it just kept me, it was authentic. I mean, it was like, I'm the CEO, I'm the head guy. And so I think in order to make some of it work, you know, you kind of had to have a a bad guy, you know, some like, and I mean, it's kind of the sort of comedy comes from, you know, it's like, you think about like, the stories you think about in school or in church growing up, you know, what are the funniest things? It's when you're getting in trouble, right?

• 56:06Tucker Carlson?

  Of course.

• 56:06Speaker 00

  It's like, oh, it's so funny, you don't, like you can't stop laughing. So some of that was, was kind of like that, you know, let them do stuff and then, and then I'd be like, this is so stupid, you know, and like, cause it was stupid, but uh, so it's kind of, you know, so for my role in it and, and then I was also the guy that narrated you through the show. So I had to keep you, I had to keep you up on what was going on. Cause, cause people get confused, they get, and when you get confused and if you don't, if you can't figure a show out, you'll just change the channel.

• 56:37Tucker Carlson?

  Of course.

• 56:38Speaker 00

  Cause it makes you feel dumb.

• 56:39Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 56:40Speaker 00

  And you're like, oh, I can't watch this, this, you know, cause I can't figure it out.

• 56:43Tucker Carlson?

  Did you watch the shows?

• 56:44Speaker 00

  We did. I, I did. I don't, I, I never liked watching really myself, not like watching speeches or other stuff, but we watched that one together because half of the show, I never knew what happened. Because it wasn't the parts I was in.

• 56:59Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 56:59Speaker 00

  To be like, meanwhile, down with the river. And so I didn't see that stuff. And it was hilarious. I'd watch it go, this is so funny, because I didn't know what that was. I was watching with everybody else in the world. And so it was so funny. God, I would get so tickled at some of the stuff they would do.

• 57:17Speaker 00

  So we'd watch it together. We, like, my family would all get together. And the kids were younger, so it was cool for them to be able to, you know, kind of see themselves on TV.

• 57:28Tucker Carlson?

  How were they treated at school because of it?

• 57:32Speaker 00

  Different. I mean, everybody's treated different, you know. But they were, it was probably wor- yeah, probably good and bad, you know. They didn't go to school as much as, like, they were out of school a lot. So we had a teacher there on set, just because it was a lot of days. So they weren't,

• 57:54Speaker 00

  they just had to do a lot of the school. Sadie did a ton of school from, from the house, just because that's what she had to do. But they were, they were in a Christian school, and they were pretty lenient. I mean, not on the grades, they were so lenient on, they let them play sports, and they could still participate in stuff like that, you know, even though they were kind of doing school from afar.

• 58:13Tucker Carlson?

  What year did it end, the show?

• 58:18Speaker 00

  Twelve to seventeen, maybe, so.

• 58:20Tucker Carlson?

  It would have to end at seven. I mean, at some point, you're going to run into the, to the political problem, right? A show like that.

• 58:27Speaker 00

  Yeah. When you say political problem?

• 58:29Tucker Carlson?

  Well, I mean, I don't know. You know, you, you live in Louisiana, you run a hunting-related company, and you're Christian. So you're probably going to reach a different political conclusion. You're probably going to be pro-Trump. I mean, just judging by all that.

• 58:44Speaker 00

  That is true, yeah. There was Trump. Yeah, most of the show was President Obama. That was, he was the president. And yeah, Trump was right there.

• 58:53Tucker Carlson?

  Did you address it on the show? I don't remember that, Trump.

• 58:56Speaker 00

  No, we didn't. We didn't. Cause it kinda wasn't that kinda, it wasn't like really reality like that. It wasn't like you didn't see stuff from

• 59:07Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 59:07Speaker 00

  The, like I remember we would be filming at a grocery store. We'd have to turn the magazines around because we would be on the cover of the magazine. We were filming the show around. It'd be like, hey.

• 59:17Tucker Carlson?

  It's too fourth wall.

• 59:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, it was a little, uh, it was a little, but yeah, Trump was, uh, no, that was right when Trump, yeah, I kinda, I stick my toe in the water a little bit on that one.

• 59:29Tucker Carlson?

  On the air you did?

• 59:31Speaker 00

  No, just in life. Yeah. Just with Trump and

• 59:34Tucker Carlson?

  Well, yeah. I mean, it's a different world now though, right? I mean.

• 59:37Speaker 00

  Well, in my mind, I was a little naive. I just thought, this is cool, you know? Uh, I liked Trump. I liked when I first heard about, I thought, oh, that's what we need. We need a business guy. We need, we gotta get away from these politicians. We need a bit. That's exactly who we need.

• 59:53Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 59:54Speaker 00

  And he had a reality TV show. So I was like, hey, he's like, uh, so, um, yeah. And so I meet him.

• 1:00:03Speaker 00

  I don't know. You probably never read the story. So first I met him, I was doing, uh, I was in Oklahoma City. My son was speaking at something. I went to hear him speak. We had been elk hunting, uh, not my son, but me and a buddy were elk hunting and the dude has a plane. I said, hey, can we stop in here? My son's giving us space. Yeah, cool. So we, we go in there and, uh, see him. We're at lunch and this guy said, hey, guess who's in town? I said, who? He said, uh, Trump. He's doing one of his rallies. This is back 15. And, you know, he's doing these rallies. He was at the Oklahoma State Fair.

• 1:00:43Speaker 00

  And I was like, oh, we gotta go. We gotta go to this. This is awesome, you know? And I had just met Don Jr., who's a hunter. And that's how

• 1:00:53Tucker Carlson?

  Certainly is.

• 1:00:54Speaker 00

  That's how we, we met each other. We just met and talked and, um, uh, so I, I emailed him or texted him and just said, hey, your dad's doing this rally. I was gonna go check it out. And he's like, cool. I'll set it up. And, uh, I remember I got a police officer because I was like, there's no way I can go to this Oklahoma State Fair. Like I'm gonna get mobbed at this place, you know? And, uh, I may be more recognizable than Donald Trump in Oklahoma City at this, in 2015 and, um,

• 1:01:22Speaker 00

  So I show, I have this cop with me. Um, I get, there's an RV in the back. So it's like a outdoor, you know, that's a giant, you know, it's outdoor thing. There's an RV. So I get on this RV, me and my buddies and, uh, and my cop friend. And there's these other people in there. There's like cater person. There's a few people and this, this is funny story. There's a dude on there and he comes up to me. He's got an earpiece and, but he's like got beach shorts, you know? Oh, who is this guy? I said, what do you? He said, can I get a picture? I said, yeah. I said, what do you do? Uh, cause I didn't know who worked for Trump.

• 1:02:06Speaker 00

  Trump's not there yet, you know? And he goes, I do all kinds of stuff, you know? He said, uh, do you want to see my gun? Now I've been around, you've been around enough. Has any security person ever asked you, do you want to see my gun?

• 1:02:20Tucker Carlson?

  No.

• 1:02:21Speaker 00

  No, that's not a.

• 1:02:21Tucker Carlson?

  No, it's not a thing.

• 1:02:22Speaker 00

  And I'm looking at this cat going, what in the world? So I take a picture and, uh, Corey Lewandowski gets on the bus. He goes, if you ain't with Willie, get off the bus. And so these people started getting off the bus, right? And so here comes the whole entourage, you know? And Trump gets on, first I met him. And he's like, Willie, Willie, uh, you say the crowd is huge. Two thousand, he goes, even for you, it's huge, right? And this is a huge crowd for somebody like you, you know? And, uh, and so I'm kind of like, my buddies are just like, this is the funniest thing ever. I look back on the, you guys Corey's story.

• 1:03:02Speaker 00

  I look back, that dude who said he had a gun is talking to Trump. He didn't get off the bus and he's got like his book or something. And I could see like Trump does, he just looks. And that's back when he had those like giant security guards, you know? This is, he wasn't the president, you know? He used to have those like six foot nine guys. So Trump just gives us a look, there's a look here. They come to me and go, is that dude with you? I said, no, he's not with me. I said, and he said he had a gun. And when I said that, oh, they grabbed this guy like by the back and just threw him off the bus.

• 1:03:43Speaker 00

  And Trump said, these spies are everywhere. And so I was like, and they're all looking, I could tell me. And I looked up and I said, what kind of operation y'all running here within that really made it bad? Because then I'm making fun of their security. Uh, but it was a true story like this dude.

• 1:04:01Tucker Carlson?

  Who was he?

• 1:04:03Speaker 00

  Thankfully I had the cop, it was a detective from Oklahoma City. So later, a week later, he calls me, he says, Willie, he said, I found out about you, about that guy. He brought the, um, um, porta potties in to the fair. And he tells the fair director, anything else I can help you with, I'll do. Well, they start putting him to work, doing all the, he has an earpiece because they're telling him. His whole thing was he wanted to get Trump's on his book. He did the whole thing. He goes, he didn't even know you were going to be there. You were a bonus. He was excited he got the picture and they, in that while.

• 1:04:39Tucker Carlson?

  That's amazing.

• 1:04:39Speaker 00

  So, so I'm on the bus. So, um, so Trump's fixing to go speak. Well, when I went to this deal, my wife, I said, look, Trump's speaking, we're going to go over and check it out. She says, Willie, do not, do not get on that stage. And I said, don't worry, I'm out of this. I'm not getting involved. Bobby Jindal was running. He was a friend of mine. I was like, no, no, no, I ain't doing any of that stuff. And so Trump, before he gets off the bus, he goes, Willie, did you want to get up and say anything to the crowd? And I said, no, no, no, it was Trump. I'm good, man. I'm good. I'm, I'm, you go ahead, you know? But I thought, oh, you know, I thought these politicians, you know, but I thought, well, he's not a politician, so probably maybe he won't do it.

• 1:05:24Speaker 00

  So I go out there, Tucker, I'm like, he gets on the stage and I thought if he's gonna do, he's gonna do it right off the bat. And so there's a stairwell. And so I'm kind of hiding in this because I don't want to, I don't really want to be seen at this point, you know, I'm like, somebody be like, there's Willie Robertson. I'm like, no, no, I look like him, you know, and I'm kind of like leaning the stairwell. And I'm thinking, Ralph the Bae is gonna go like, hey, guess who's here, you know, nothing. Trump just goes into a speech. He's China, he's there, he's thirty minutes deep. By this time, I'm, we're, we're laughing, we're like, this is the funnest thing ever, you know, I never dreamed it'd be the first day, I was like, this is cool to see, you know, and, and Trump, thirty minutes deep, he just stops. He looks around, he goes, where's Willie?

• 1:06:10Speaker 00

  And my heart stopped. I went, oh my gosh, please tell me he knows another guy named Willie at the Oklahoma State Fair. And he just starts walking on the stage, he goes, where the hell is Willie at? Where is he at? And nobody knows who he's talking about. Everybody's going, who's Willie? And my buddy's going, Willie, you gotta go up there. And I said, I can't, I can't go up there. Like, I can't, I'm not prepared to go up on the stage. And he's like, he's calling for you on the stage. So, I pop up on the stage. Where everybody goes crazy, like, it was like, oh my gosh. And so I walk over, I was like, yeah.

• 1:06:46Speaker 00

  And so I leaned, I shook his ass, I said, hey, good job, Mr. Trump. Kill him, man, it's awesome. And I go to pull away, he doesn't let go of my hand. He just holds it and I'm like, You're in the Trump trap. And I'm going, uh-oh. And he's holding it, he goes, hey, hey, hey. He goes, hey, I got something. He said, do y'all know who this is? And everybody goes, he goes, this is the biggest television star in America. Everybody's going crazy, you know. He says, here's Willie Robert, duck down, let's see, yeah. He said, I got one question for Willie. And I was like, yeah. And I'm like, oh, please. He goes, do you love Trump? And just hands me the microphone.

• 1:07:30Speaker 00

  Do you ever feel like you can't trust the thing?

• 1:07:32Tucker Carlson?

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• 1:08:16Tucker Carlson?

  is free, no cost whatsoever, no strings attached. They just send it to you. Hillsdale will send Imprimis right to your house, no charge. All you got to do is ask. Go to TuckerforHillsdale.com and subscribe for free today. That's TuckerforHillsdale.com. The only way this stays a democracy is if the citizenry is informed. You can't fight tyranny if you don't know what's going on. Imprimis helps. It's free. Don't wait. Sign up now. So, most people don't wake up in the morning and decide to feel horrible, exhausted, foggy, disconnected from themselves. But it does happen and it happens slowly. You're working hard, you're showing up, and then your energy disappears by midday. Your focus is dull. Your weight won't move. A lot of people are told, that's just getting old.

• 1:09:00Tucker Carlson?

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• 1:09:44Tucker Carlson?

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• 1:10:10Speaker 00

  That's the Trumpiest question ever.

• 1:10:14Speaker 00

  Tucker, my brain is going so fast, I'm like, because here's the situation. We've got 10,000 people here, they're all there to see him, they're there to see me. And now he's asked me this super awkward question. I'm like, I've already endorsed Bobby Jindal, I'm like, what am I supposed to, you know? And so I lean up to the, the mic and I go, uh, yeah. Yeah, I do like me some Trump. And everybody cheers, you know? And I said, uh, and Trump's behind me with his hands on my shoulder.

• 1:10:47Speaker 00

  He's ready to like, if I say the wrong thing, he's gonna throw me away. And I said, here's the deal, uh, me and Mr. Trump have three things in common. We both had successful television shows, we both were successful at business, and we both married people that look way better than we do. Thank Oklahoma City.

• 1:11:10Speaker 00

  And so I walk off to the deal and I'm still just like, literally kind of shaking from the whole experience. And, uh, I get in the stairway and my buddy's going, oh my gosh, I can't believe that just happened. And my phone just immediately starts going crazy, just buzzing, buzzing. And so I'm looking at it and I'm like, oh no, you know, what have I, what have I started now? And so my buddies going, oh my gosh, we just saw you on TV, oh my God, you're on TV. And when I'm sending a screenshot, Trump's behind with a sign, you know, and he's behind me like this. And then there's my wife's. And I went, oh no. And she said, did you just endorse Donald Trump for president? And so I just screenshot the picture with Trump, I sent it to her and I said, no, why would you say that?

• 1:11:54Speaker 00

  And she was like, do not get on stage. And, and there I am on the stage. Um, and the next day, I got in an Uber car in Oklahoma City to go to the airport. I'm sitting right beside this driver, little old guy. He looks at me, goes, "What'd you fellas do last night?" And I said, "We went to the Oklahoma State Fair." He goes, "So did I." He goes, "I went to see Donald Trump." I said, "Did you?" He goes, "He's gonna be the next President of the United States." I said, "You think so?" He said, "Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We believe in him. He's gonna be the President." I said, "Did you see that dude that got up in the middle of the speech?" I'm this far from his face.

• 1:12:35Speaker 00

  He goes, "You know who that was? Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty. He flew in just to endorse Donald Trump for President."

• 1:12:44Speaker 00

  And I said, "Really?" He goes, "Oh, yeah. He's a huge fan of Mr. Trump. Yeah, he's a big television guy." And I'm, and I'm, and I said, "Sir, do you know who I am?" He looks at me, goes, "No idea." I said, "I'm that dude. I'm Will. I was on the stage." And I thought he was gonna freak out. He goes, "You had a different bandana on."

• 1:13:08Speaker 00

  I said, "I did have a different bandana on." He goes, "Yeah, yeah. I didn't recognize you with that other bandana on."

• 1:13:15Speaker 00

  That's how I met Trump. Have you ever met him again? I have, yeah. I saw him a couple of more times. He did, um, when Don Jr. came to the house and, uh, hunted. Uh, that one we set up, uh, we set up Phil. Well, Phil made me so mad, my dad. Uh, so Dad, I go, so Don Jr.'s gonna come duck out with us. He goes, "I'm coming down. Let's duck out. It's perfect." We set it up. Well, I'm going to Mexico for my anniversary. Four days. Four days I'm in Mexico. So I go to Mexico. Yeah, and your phones are all jacked up down there. You know, it's like, numbers come in. So I'm leaving the Mex- Mexico Airport, coming to America. I get this call. I don't, but it doesn't say who it is.

• 1:13:58Speaker 00

  I answer it. This dude is talking so fast. I'm like, he is nowhere within a thousand miles of where I live in the South. It was a northern accent. He is, and I'm like, now, whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down, slow down. Who is this? He goes, it's Don Jr. I said, all right, what's up? I said, oh, we on, huh, Don? He goes, I don't know if I can come. I don't know, I don't know. We're still, we've got to figure out. I said, oh, what happened? He was like, because of what your dad did. Like, I've been gone for four days. I'm like, four days? What, who has he offended? What has he done? And I can't understand this about my dad. He lives on the end of a dead end street, does not have a cell phone, does not have a computer.

• 1:14:42Speaker 00

  But somehow he can get messages out all over the world, like instant, it's amazing how he can, how he can do this. I'm like, what did he do? He said, he endorsed Ted Cruz. I said, no. I was like, where did that come from? He goes, there's commercials. I said, there's commercials? In four days, he has met Ted Cruz and he has endorsed Ted Cruz. And there's commercials. He goes, yes, they're playing right now. So I pull up the commercial. Phil's in, Phil's in the duck line. So, and it's Ted, and they've all got face paint on. Ted Cruz has got this face paint. He doesn't look like he's in play. He's like, he looks scared of dad.

• 1:15:26Speaker 00

  It was like, everyone's like got chews in their bag, you know, spits come out of their mouth. And then there's Ted Cruz.

• 1:15:35Speaker 00

  A face paint. And so Phil, the words he goes, we're voting for Ted Cruz. He's a brother in Christ. We're all voting for him. And it's anyway, like, we're, we're all, like, the whole duck, Duck Dynasty, Cruz is voting. I'm not there, obviously, I'm in Mexico. I went, oh, my gosh. So I call the house. Mom answers the phone. I said, Mom, where's Phil? He's in the woods. I said, well, crap, I gotta talk to him. She goes, right, you go try to find him. I said, she goes, what's wrong with you? I said, he just made a commercial with Ted Cruz. Nobody, these are things you have to tell me. Like, you know what I'm saying? You have to let me in on.

• 1:16:17Speaker 00

  And she goes, oh, no, he knew he was gonna be mad over that. He knew you liked Trump. Uh, but you know, Ted Cruz showed up with a bunch of TV cameras and, uh, I don't know. The next thing I know. And I said, well, mom, he said we're all voting for him. We're, we're not all voting. And she goes, no, no, no. He didn't mean all, uh, you boys. He meant all the Christians. I said, mom, I'm a Christian. Well, you know what I mean?

• 1:16:45Speaker 00

  So, okay, so we, so we set up, so we set up, uh, so Don Jr. Finally, he's like, all right, I'm, cause he was like, I'm not coming down there if you're endorsing, you know, it was, it was awkward. So I said, oh, we're gonna, we're gonna set up dad good. So we're, we're gonna burn him on this one. Don Jr. Come down, duck hunts. And, you know, he's lights out. Oh, yeah, yeah. And I knew it. So, you know, his, now, so dad's blown away. You know, it's good. So. By what, what a good shot Don is. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And so, uh, so I reached out to Hannity. I said, Handy, I said,

• 1:17:21Speaker 00

  put me and Phil on the show. I'm backing Trump. He's backing Cruz, apparently. And I said, I'm gonna set that sucker up. So we get on the show. Dad and I are going after it. And I said, hang on, I said, I got one question to ask Phil, uh, since we're on this show. I said, you, Phil recently went duck hunting with Ted Cruz and he also went hunting with Trump. I just said, Trump. I didn't say, I just said, Trump. I said, uh, dad, who exactly is the better hunter? Phil said, ain't a doubt about it. That cat from New York can shoot, son. So I got him saying that Cruz wasn't cause I asked dad, he said, oh, yeah, he couldn't hit the broadside of a bar.

• 1:18:04Speaker 00

  And finally, true, uh, Cruz dropped out, thank goodness. And so then Phil came on board.

• 1:18:11Tucker Carlson?

  He's been on board ever since?

• 1:18:12Speaker 00

  He has been.

• 1:18:15Speaker 00

  He has been.

• 1:18:16Tucker Carlson?

  I mean, is there anyone in the world that, I mean, I think things have changed since then, of course. But like the world that you live in is probably pretty much 100% Trump at this point.

• 1:18:25Speaker 00

  Uh, yeah, I mean, down there, yeah.

• 1:18:27Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:18:28Speaker 00

  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think it's, well, now it is for sure.

• 1:18:33Tucker Carlson?

  Like, did you have a lot of friends voting Kamala Harris?

• 1:18:36Speaker 00

  Um, yeah. Well, I mean, well, just because I know a lot of people outside of Louisiana, so.

• 1:18:43Tucker Carlson?

  No, I mean in.

• 1:18:44Speaker 00

  Production, yeah, all my TV friends. I mean, yeah, I've done tons of TV. I mean, so, yeah, I've got friends all over who were, and we had great debates, but it's the way it should be. Like, we debate, we love each other, we're friends, we're, you know? And, um, and I can certainly look at Trump and call them like, that doesn't make sense, or that's not how I feel, or that's not what I would say, or that's ugly, or that's unkind, or whatever it is. And so, um, and this year I was staying out of it. I, I really wasn't because of the book, because I, when I wrote this book and I said, I don't want to get pulled it, I want this message to come out, you know?

• 1:19:19Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:19:20Speaker 00

  I want the mess of the gospel. And I don't want it to get gummed up with, and I understand, you know, because I was involved. I was the first speaker in the 2016 convention. I was the first.

• 1:19:31Tucker Carlson?

  You were?

• 1:19:33Speaker 00

  You don't remember?

• 1:19:34Tucker Carlson?

  No.

• 1:19:34Speaker 00

  That powerful message that I gave? Golly, Tucker, where were you?

• 1:19:38Tucker Carlson?

  I think I was just in a cloud of euphoria.

• 1:19:41Speaker 00

  Dude, I was the first speaker and you're, and now you gotta remember 16. When I went out there, they were like, all right, look, we don't know how this is gonna go. Remember? Because they were fighting. They were, they didn't know whether they were gonna walk off or.

• 1:19:52Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, yeah.

• 1:19:53Speaker 00

  So they were like, good luck, Willie, because I was the first guy out. Like, I was the first guy on the stage. And Don Jr. called and I, he said, hey, my father wants you to speak at the convention. I was like, and I, I was gathering my breath to say no. Because I was just gonna be like, because in my mind, I thought it was like forty five minutes. I was like, I don't have forty five minutes in me on politics, you know? And I'm going, and I said, uh, I said, let me check my schedule. That's what I said, let me check my schedule. And he goes, okay, well, check your schedule and they'll get back with you. So like the next day, someone calls, some lady calls and says, hey, uh, so we've got you scheduled. You're the first speaker. And I'm fixing to tell her like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I didn't, I didn't say yes, you know?

• 1:20:36Speaker 00

  And she goes, you're the first one up, you go for three minutes. And I went, three minutes? That's a commercial, but yeah, of course I'll do three minutes, you know? And so I was, yeah, I was the first speaker in the sixteen.

• 1:20:48Tucker Carlson?

  What'd you say?

• 1:20:49Speaker 00

  I can't even remember. I mean, it was nothing, it was like, I really don't.

• 1:20:54Tucker Carlson?

  Did you think he was gonna win that year?

• 1:20:56Speaker 00

  I did.

• 1:20:57Tucker Carlson?

  Did you think he was gonna win this year?

• 1:20:58Speaker 00

  I did.

• 1:21:00Tucker Carlson?

  Why?

• 1:21:01Speaker 00

  Well, I thought he had a really good, I mean, I was a little, I called it at eight thirty three central time that night. When I saw Virginia and North Carolina, I said, it's over. Virginia was close, I was like, it's, it's over.

• 1:21:16Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:21:17Speaker 00

  I mean, that, I just, I wasn't sure about North Carolina, that was the only state that confuses me sometimes. But Virginia, I mean, I think he was winning, like, you know, like early on, I was like, oh. It's, and I told my family, I texted my friends, I said, Trump wins. It's over. Um, but yeah, I had a good, I had a good sense about it. Um, it just, it felt like it did in sixteen, it felt like, I was just kinda looking at the culture and looking at what people were saying, I was like, he's got a lot of people that are, you know? Cause it wasn't as, it wasn't as weird as it was before, like, that was kinda cool. It was like, you weren't ostracized as much. I mean, sixteen, I mean, there was, it was, people did not like him in twenty, oh my gosh.

• 1:22:02Speaker 00

  We had that COVID, I mean, the whole COVID. And I said, that year, probably, well, earlier that year, somebody asked me who I thought was gonna win, I said, oh, Trump. I said, Trump's got this, there's no way he can lose, the economy's strong, we're safe, we're not in a war. I said, that, that's it, this game over. I said, unless something really weird happens, I said that.

• 1:22:20Tucker Carlson?

  Like they manufacture a virus in China.

• 1:22:22Speaker 00

  And then the weird thing happened. And there you go. And. But I went to bed last time thinking it. I went to bed in 20 thinking it. I was like, oh, it's over.

• 1:22:33Tucker Carlson?

  Oh, so you fell asleep before they shut down the polling places?

• 1:22:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, I was like, uh oh.

• 1:22:39Tucker Carlson?

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• 1:22:50Tucker Carlson?

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• 1:23:34Tucker Carlson?

  totally prepared. It's better to be too early than too late, though at this point, nobody thinks we're gonna be too early with this. Check it out for yourself. Go to jase.com, J-A-S-E dot com, and use the code TUCKER for a discount. That's jase.com promo code TUCKER. You should do it. We have.

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• 1:24:48Tucker Carlson?

  Did anyone in, that you know in Louisiana, have questions about that election? 2020?

• 1:24:57Speaker 00

  All of them?

• 1:24:58Tucker Carlson?

  It's kind of what I thought.

• 1:25:02Speaker 00

  We've all got questions, but I don't understand what it is like. I was like, I've listened to people over time. There's tons of people who question that stuff.

• 1:25:11Tucker Carlson?

  Always.

• 1:25:12Speaker 00

  They question, you know, like, ah, you know, they question like, was it done right? Was it, you know, I mean, I didn't realize it was a crime to question. Just to make sure that, hey, did everything, did I do that right? Cause it seems strange, you know? Um, maybe it wasn't, but.

• 1:25:31Tucker Carlson?

  It was strange.

• 1:25:32Speaker 00

  Yeah.

• 1:25:32Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:25:33Speaker 00

  I think the people in Louisiana are all like, hmm, you know?

• 1:25:38Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, it was pretty obvious.

• 1:25:39Speaker 00

  A few cities were waiting, though. We'll, we'll let you know tomorrow. How much are we behind?

• 1:25:44Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, they had to tally the number of votes they needed. So what's the new show?

• 1:25:49Speaker 00

  Yeah, we have a, we are getting back into production. Um, it's kind of like the next generation of Duck Dynasty. So my kids are older. Well, so since 2017, 2024, yeah, lots happened. The cast has grown up.

• 1:26:08Speaker 00

  And then everybody else is still around and so, yeah, so, um, uh, back with A and E, we met and, um, they said, hey, you guys, I shouldn't, you know, kind of redoing the show and, uh, felt like the time was right, met with the family, prayed about it, was like, I think so. The kids were excited and said, yeah, let's show, you know? Realize Tucker, what, um, you know, we talk about it's a long show and it's like, it's hard work, whatever, you know? I mean, it's a lot. But man, when you talk to people and they tell you like how much that meant to them and how much, I can't tell you how many people just like, it was what my dad and I watched together. My mom passed away. It was like the la, you know, it was the only thing that we could laugh at together and we watched as a family.

• 1:26:53Speaker 00

  And I have like 25 year olds, even here, I mean, these kids are like, you know, when I was eight, I watched every show y'all had and was just, you know, watching the prayer at the end and just watching our family be positive with our, you know, the roles were correct and it wasn't a lot of. You know, just darkness and stuff that people watch and it wasn't just a train wreck. And so it's really inspiring. You're like, oh, man, you know, it's good to make something, especially when it came out originally, you know, it was pretty much a little bright light amongst a lot of, you know, some dark stuff out there, some dark TV. So, uh, so I think when you can do that and you can provide that for people.

• 1:27:34Tucker Carlson?

  There's no pressure at all from your corporate masters to change anything or make it.

• 1:27:41Speaker 00

  No, I mean, I actually, I mean, to be honest with you, I feel stronger now than I would then because they know who we are, you know?

• 1:27:47Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:27:48Speaker 00

  I mean, they know what we're all about. It's not like, I mean, back then they didn't know. They were like, I think they're religious. I think, you know, like, but now, obviously over the past, well, crap, since 2000, you know, last 12 years, you know where we stand, you know what we're, what our morals are, you know, what's important to us and, uh, and we have a lot of followers, you know what I'm saying? Like we have social media, for say, there's millions of people, you know, my kids have followers, they, you know, so a lot of people are interested in that and it's, it's, they're interested in, uh, I think they want to be entertained, but they also, you know, I think they learn stuff. I think they can watch and learn, you know? A lot of people that watch our show are like, well, we never prayed, like, we never prayed before a meal. We didn't even know, you know?

• 1:28:31Speaker 00

  And we started trying that. You know, probably more often than not, even the praying, they rarely ever sat down and even ate together anymore. That's a gone.

• 1:28:42Tucker Carlson?

  It's the saddest thing.

• 1:28:44Speaker 00

  They were like, we never even, we never even had dinner. Everybody's just grabbing it and going, you know, meet you there, meet you at the deal, go to the ballpark, get, you know? And so this whole idea of just sitting down and just spending time with each other at dinner was becoming a foreign concept. And so I think people can learn and they can be like, oh, that's, you know, uh, maybe they can't, they don't have the family we do. Maybe they don't have, uh, maybe everybody doesn't live there like that, but they can kind of live through that and kind of, you know, start their own, you know, traditions or doing something more as a family and realizing, you know, the importance of it. And then also just taking a break and not, you know, I think what I love about the Agnostics was we didn't take ourselves too seriously. We had fun. We laughed and, oh

• 1:29:28Speaker 00

  God, I mean, do we need that? I mean, we need, yeah, need some, you know, everybody's so

• 1:29:32Tucker Carlson?

  I think if you had written this book 10 years ago, it would have seemed pretty weird. You know, why is a reality TV show writing a book about spreading the gospel?

• 1:29:42Speaker 00

  Right.

• 1:29:43Tucker Carlson?

  It does not seem weird now. Do you think the country's changed?

• 1:29:47Speaker 00

  Um, I think it's changing. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's certainly changing. I think people are looking for answers. That's why I wrote the book. I think, um, because I think we get so lethargic and, and some of this was even like, even in churches, they get, they just get lethargic and they get off, you know, you gotta know what your goal is and what kind of what you're here for and, uh, what's your mission? You know, what's your mission in life?

• 1:30:11Tucker Carlson?

  What's your mission?

• 1:30:12Speaker 00

  Well, and I take my mission from Matthew 28, which is the, it's labeled as the Great Commission. And Jesus says, go out and make disciples of all nations, baptize people, teach people. Three things, three specific ideas. Make disciples, baptize people, teach people. So those are the last things he said before he left, like, make sure you do this. So when that's your mission, um, you just think about what you've got to do to accomplish those three things. You're probably going to have to have conversations with people.

• 1:30:42Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:30:43Speaker 00

  If you're gonna make a disciple out of them, if you're gonna baptize them, if you're gonna teach them, you're gonna have to have some sort of conversation. And so what I find is people, if your mission in life is, uh, as a, as a Christian, if you're like, well, I try to go to church as often as I can. I try to be a good person. Nothing in and of itself wrong with that. That's not a mission. And what happens is the mission becomes a little self. I go to church so I can listen, so I can learn, so I can try to get through my week, you know, and everything becomes inward. Those three things Jesus said were outward. It's out.

• 1:31:15Tucker Carlson?

  Out, out.

• 1:31:16Speaker 00

  Other people, other people, other people, not just you. It's other people. And, uh, again, back to my father, who was sitting in a bar, the guy drives up there. Why? Why? He's not gonna be a member of his church. He doesn't have any money. He's a reprobate, you know, who's got a terrible reputation. What drove him to drive up there, that hour drive, walk into that bar? What drove him to do that? It was just for him. Just for that guy.

• 1:31:45Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:31:46Speaker 00

  And I thought, I thought, wow.

• 1:31:49Speaker 00

  I don't know if I would, would I drop, would I be like, you know, but he did that. It cha- literally changed my life. It changed my whole family's life. And if, and if that would have been it, I'm not a big prosperity guy like, and look what God has done. You know, look at what he gave us.

• 1:32:05Tucker Carlson?

  It paid off.

• 1:32:05Speaker 00

  Didn't matter. If it just changed our life and kept our family together, worth it. Nobody knows who we are, worth it. I got to see my dad and grow up with two parents, worth it, you know? And you look over time as then dad took that and then never went about this for money or fame or anything. In fact, uh, really pushed that away more than embraced it. Even when I told you the show and he's like, no, you know? Um, and, and that was, that was a little different too with us. Like we didn't go, an email was sent to us, a company came to us, the network came to us. We weren't trying to go become famous.

• 1:32:45Tucker Carlson?

  Right.

• 1:32:46Speaker 00

  And so you see a lot today, you know, people are like, I'll do whatever it takes to get famous. You know? And so there's no authenticity there. It's like, we want you to do this, fine, I'll do it. Will I be famous? Yes, then I'll do it, you know?

• 1:32:57Tucker Carlson?

  Why would you want to be famous?

• 1:33:00Speaker 00

  Why would, who?

• 1:33:01Tucker Carlson?

  Anyone.

• 1:33:02Speaker 00

  Oh.

• 1:33:04Speaker 00

  I don't know. It seemed like a lot of people, I mean, from social media.

• 1:33:07Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, people do, yeah, people want to be famous. What do you think of it? You are famous. What do you think of it?

• 1:33:11Speaker 00

  Uh, it has its good parts about it.

• 1:33:15Tucker Carlson?

  What are those?

• 1:33:17Speaker 00

  The people I've been able to meet.

• 1:33:19Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:33:20Speaker 00

  I wouldn't know you if I wasn't, you know? Well, you wouldn't have invited me on this podcast had I not had a TV show, you know?

• 1:33:27Tucker Carlson?

  I don't know, I ran into you in an elevator in Nashville.

• 1:33:29Speaker 00

  That's true. But you thought I was a homeless guy.

• 1:33:32Tucker Carlson?

  I did, yeah.

• 1:33:33Speaker 00

  He put money in my coffee cup.

• 1:33:34Tucker Carlson?

  Which was filled with dip spit.

• 1:33:39Speaker 00

  I did, I spit in my cup and you said, he looked at me and you said, did you spit in your cup? First word you said to me, you said, did you spit in that cup?

• 1:33:47Tucker Carlson?

  Anyone who dips in an elevator is a potential friend. That's how I feel about it.

• 1:33:51Speaker 00

  And you started doing your little maniacal laugh and you started laughing so hard and it was so funny because of all the people I was expecting to see, it wasn't you.

• 1:34:01Tucker Carlson?

  Catch you do. I didn't expect to catch Willie Robertson dipping in an elevator, but that was it. I was.

• 1:34:06Speaker 00

  I was headed to my room. I'd been promoting this book and and you happened to be there as well, which is how this all ended up. And I think God, you know, I don't know. I think God works like that. I think he puts people together and you know, just seems too weird to me not. So I think there's those opportunities that people have and they meet and some you take advantage of, some you don't, some you miss, some you're like, oh crap, you know, and but I just, I don't know. I mean, well, I he did that in the Bible, you know?

• 1:34:35Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:34:35Speaker 00

  There was, there was things moving around and so so it could be for that person, could be for someone else, could be for something completely different, you know? Some situation that maybe needs to, to get out and so, but it was interesting that I had written this book. I had decided this year I'm not jumping in this, even though it's so tempting. Everybody tried to get me to, you know,

• 1:34:59Tucker Carlson?

  Get involved.

• 1:34:59Speaker 00

  Let's go, you know, and and I'd really just said, no, I'm not. And I'm, I'm just gonna promote this book and then, and then I meet you. And then you said, hey, you should come on the podcast. And it was scheduled for a few months ago and I went, I'm gonna get pulled into the politics. I was like, I said, I'm gonna get pulled into this thing and and then as it turned around and spun around, we still did podcasts after the election and then, you know? And that was kind of the commitment I made. Just don't get so involved. Cause I didn't want the mess. I don't, I don't care what, I really don't care. Like if it's the gospel or some political agenda, I'm going with the gospel every time.

• 1:35:41Speaker 00

  Cause this is the power. This is, you know, if we can change people's, you know, I just saw it. I mean, it changed me, but it like, somebody like my father can change people's lives and turn them into completely different people. And so that's what I want to get to people, you know?

• 1:35:57Tucker Carlson?

  Politics turns people into completely different people too, but rarely for the better.

• 1:36:01Speaker 00

  Right. I mean, it, it has its place and it, you know, and I, and I'm not casting aspersions on people who you know, want our country to be, you know, a great country and but we're, you know? I'm not even one that says we have, we have to, everything's gotta be like you have to have Christians in every position. I mean, I mean, no, that's okay. I mean, we can work together and figure that out. Let the gospel do what it does and let politics do what it does and let government, you know.

• 1:36:37Tucker Carlson?

  So almost like Ren under Caesar, what is Caesar's and.

• 1:36:40Speaker 00

  Exactly. Exactly, exactly.

• 1:36:43Tucker Carlson?

  Where do you get that?

• 1:36:44Speaker 00

  Yeah, because, and that's the thing, had, back to mission. So I'm into that mission, make disciples, baptize people, teach people, not to, you know. I think if Jesus wanted us to just make sure your government is, he would have talked about it, right? And I said, let's lay out a plan and, and all that. Because it was, you know, under these governmental things that he was gonna end up being crucified anyway, so. And those things are, they're, they're of the world. I mean, they're, you know, they're here and they come and they die and they go away and they change and, you know. Stuff happens and, you know, I was like, if we, if that's where we end up, and I do think there's a lot of darkness for sure.

• 1:37:27Speaker 00

  But they need the gospel. They don't need a, a better program from DC, you know. And that's what'll change it. Oh, wow, look, now families are staying together and, you know, and it's not gonna be, it's not gonna be that way. And it's gonna be when the church wakes up and decides to go out and, and have that kind of mission, you know, is to go after. But we can't hate each other. That's the problem. We can't hate each other. Cause that's the deal, man. I can't. Uh, and I saw that so much in this one. God, I got roasted. I mean, people would get in my face and. If I said the wrong, like if I said, oh, I'm not, I'm writing this book and I'm not doing as much with, and people would just be like, what? This country is, we're not gonna have a country tomorrow.

• 1:38:12Speaker 00

  And but what I don't like about the, it's, that's like my fault. It's like, like, they're telling me it's my fault that I'm not, I'm like, how's it my fault? You know? And that's what we got to. And then it was just bullying everywhere. Everybody's just bullying everybody. I mean, certainly saw that with, you know, the Democrats been bullying or you better vote this way, you know, like, like, we're telling you what to do. And I'm just not good at people telling me what to do. I'm like, don't tell me what to do. Don't tell, you know, vote for, I'm, but now it's like, no, you gotta do more. We, you know, you've gotta go out and, you know, and do all this. I understand their, their passion and all that, but we've gotta let people. And some of that's the part, it's their job is to win the vote. You know what I'm saying?

• 1:38:55Tucker Carlson?

  It doesn't answer the deepest questions. Like what happens when you die? You know, it doesn't address that. So.

• 1:39:01Speaker 00

  When you die, yeah.

• 1:39:02Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah, when, when you die.

• 1:39:03Speaker 00

  When you die.

• 1:39:04Tucker Carlson?

  So my last question is if, I, I do think a lot of people are all of a sudden wondering, like, is there something beyond what we can see, hear, feel and taste? I mean, is there, you know, is there a spiritual realm? Is there a God? And I, I, people all around me are asking those questions. What would you recommend to them? Like how to pursue that? You, something stirs in you, you think, wow, maybe I should learn more.

• 1:39:32Speaker 00

  Right. I mean, I found those answers in the, uh, in the Bible and particularly in the New Testament. You know, that's where I found those answers. It comes down to the faith. Like you've got to have this faith and you're gonna have to jump and believe something that you can't see. It's interesting how people can't do that. I remember I was talking to a guy one time, I was having one of these convers- I don't know if this story's in the book, but there's a lot in there. We're having this story and he's like, I don't, I don't believe in faith. I don't, I don't see it. I don't believe it, you know? And he was, he just got married and I said, and we're at a, we're at a hunting camp and I said, where's your wife right now?

• 1:40:12Speaker 00

  And he's like, she's at home and she's, I said, I bet she's with another guy. And he said, no.

• 1:40:19Tucker Carlson?

  I, I love how you proselytize.

• 1:40:21Speaker 00

  Yeah. And he said, no, she's not. And he, and he gets, I can tell he's mad.

• 1:40:25Tucker Carlson?

  Well, yeah.

• 1:40:26Speaker 00

  He's been married like six months. I said, oh no, for sure. She's, she's with another guy, like no doubt. And he goes, no, she's not, you know, what are you, what are you doing? I said, how do you know she's not?

• 1:40:40Speaker 00

  He goes, because I trust her. And I said, so you do have faith in something that you can't see? And he went, I've never thought about it that way. He was atheist. He was, he said, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any of this stuff. And that was, so it was just a small move, though. We moved him off of that position. Now we have moved him to, there are some things that even though I can't see it, I have faith and I trust it.

• 1:41:07Tucker Carlson?

  Why do more preachers not start with that? I bet your wife's sleeping with somebody else.

• 1:41:14Tucker Carlson?

  That works.

• 1:41:17Speaker 00

  Maybe they don't go to enough hunting camps.

• 1:41:20Speaker 00

  I mean, for me, though, what, what else, I mean, like, he's an atheist. What was I gonna say? Okay, good luck with that. Let me know how that works for you, you know? I mean, I'm trying to think of, Paul says in the New Testament, Paul, who knew the gospel better than anybody, who's a writer, and he says, pray for me that the mystery of the gospel can come out of my mouth more clearly. He's praying that it can come out more clearly. And my question is, why? Why is he, he knows this stuff? Like, he wrote it. You know, he's writing because some weren't obeying it, some weren't getting it.

• 1:41:56Speaker 00

  He's going, hmm. So you have to keep coming at like, keep asking more questions. Keep, maybe I'm not asking the right questions. I did that. There's a story in the book, a beautiful story of a guy that I just kept. I kept trying to, he, he had, uh, problems with his brain. Like he had lesions on, I thought he was gonna die. And I was like, he's gonna die. And I, I don't think he's a Christian. I don't think he's a believer. And so I'm just like, hey, man, have you thought about heaven and how? He would say the same thing every time to me. Well, he who had not sinned cast the first stone. That's what he would say. It was, he was quoting a scripture. And I knew what that meant. That's,

• 1:42:33Speaker 00

  that's redneck for, I don't want to hear what you're gonna say. I'm not interested. And I was like, hmm. So I could have thought, well, I tried, you know, I get to heaven. I tried. Remember I told you four times? And every time he would just divert, divert, divert, well. So finally, we're in a car. We're in New York City, working on a business deal. We're talking about money. He's a super rich guy. We're talking about money. He's over there, he's smoking. He's like, "We're gonna make so much money." I was just like, he was so excited about it, you know? I look at him and I ask, I said, "How old are you?" And he said, "I'm 58 years old." And I said, "I bet you're gonna be dead in 14 years."

• 1:43:15Speaker 00

  He just looks back.

• 1:43:19Speaker 00

  I was a cigarette. He goes, "What?" And I said, "I bet you're gonna be dead in 14 years." He goes, "Why would you say that?" And I said, "The way you live," you know, I said, "But, I mean, I'm just guessing, but..." I said, "Have you ever thought about that? Like, what's gonna happen then? What happens then?" I said, "We just did an investment. Are you investing anything beyond here, or is it just here?"

• 1:43:46Speaker 00

  He goes, "I've never thought about that before." You know what he didn't say? "He who had not sinned cast the first stone." No, it's... We got past that. Yeah, you did. We finally got past that. And I was like, "If we get past that..." And so, we get to the hotel. We're in Manhattan, and he goes, "Can you come up and tell me more about that?" I said, "Yeah." So, I go to my room. I got my Bible. I go to his room. I sit down, and that's the verse. I got like seven verses. It's not a lot, just... And I just start reading them to him.

• 1:44:18Speaker 00

  He just stands up in the hotel room. I'll never forget it. And he yells at his wife. She's in a bed. He goes, "I'm getting baptized." And I was like, "Man, it's midnight. We're in Central Park. I gotta go find some water here," you know? And, which I was ready. I was like, "We'll go find some." And I said, "Well, let's go, I guess..." We're in a hotel in New York City. I said, "We'll go find some water." He said, "No, no. I gotta tell everybody. I gotta tell everybody I know that what's fixing to happen." This is the same guy I've been working on for years and he's like, he, you know, and now he's saying, I'll go, and he emailed everybody he knows, everybody. So finally, like a month later, I show up to his house, the big house.

• 1:44:59Speaker 00

  There's people, people from New York, people from LA, Florida. People have shown up because he said, I'm getting baptized, come watch this. And so, so I get there and I walk up and he goes, everybody gathers around, he goes, Willie,

• 1:45:16Speaker 00

  tell them what you told me in that hotel room that night. And I said, yeah, no problems, I'll go through that. So,

• 1:45:25Speaker 00

  his wife gets baptized, daughter gets baptized, he gets baptized, is anybody else? And they just start screaming in their blue jeans, taking their boots off. Just over and over and over, just like what's happened in the Bible. You see that in the book of Acts, it's like 25 people that night over that, that one, that conversation. But I didn't stop that conversation. When you don't hear it, you just, you keep on, and plus, I'm still there. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes, sometimes it takes two hours, sometimes it takes 20 years. Cause I don't give up on anybody, because they didn't give up on dad. I would have given up on Phil a long time ago, I'd have said, forget that sucker.

• 1:46:09Speaker 00

  He needs to go to jail, you know? But that dude didn't give up, his sister didn't give up on him, that guy went up there and talked to him. And it changed my whole life. And so I never give up on anybody. You never know, you never know when that time is and they're like, oh no, and they're ready and they're like, so we're just really planting the seeds, I'm just planting the seeds, because I'm ready, I'm, I wanna, you know, make disciples, I wanna baptize people, I wanna teach people, that's what I'm doing. So everything I look at in life, where does it fall in that category? This book does, the TV show does, the stuff that my kids do, the family stuff, you know? All of it can fall through there and that's where I want to, it's way more than going to church and, you know? Having some love can be in a church way more than that. That's like an hour a week. That's not, that's nothing.

• 1:46:53Speaker 00

  Like I'm like, you take, how about this? You take your hour, don't go to church. I want you for the other six days. Yeah. We'll go change the world, you know? But people got a missing, they got a miss, they got a bad idea on that. They're thinking, isn't it just like you show up an hour? I mean, try that in your marriage. Try that with your kid. Try to see him an hour, you know? See if that gets you enough to get through. And so it's just a bigger idea and it's a bigger concept. And then when you're in that moment, when I, when I've, when you're there with people and you watch their lives change, and then you watch the fruit of that come out of it.

• 1:47:27Speaker 00

  It's a good, it's like a high. I mean, you're just like, that's what it's all about, you know? That's the kind of stuff to where you're then going, there is hope. And so I live my life based on there's hope in something beyond. If it's not, it's not. And I've hopefully lived a great life. I have great friends. I've, you know, the my, the my faith and the principles of the Bible has probably kept me out of a lot of misery and hell and, you know, bad stuff and uh, but I'm, I'm thinking that there is and I'm, I see evidence everywhere. I see evidence everywhere, you know? Like what?

• 1:48:04Speaker 00

  I mean, I just, I can see it in people's lives. I can, you know, if Jesus lives in us, the Holy Spirit lives in us. I can see it in their lives. I can, I can see this, I can see people doing this. I'm like, why would you do that? Like why? But there's no advantage. It's not financial advantage. I'm, I'm seeing them share and do things and sacrifice and I, I see that. For each other. Yeah, for each other, for other people and for, you know, I can see it. I can, I can feel it. Like I can, at times I feel stuff too. I feel, you know, like, it just seems like, I'm like, wow, that's a lot of, I, I can't help but think

• 1:48:42Speaker 00

  something was going on with Trump, like, there was a lot of weird. Yeah. Turn your head the right way. Doing this.

• 1:48:52Speaker 00

  We were shooting birds today.

• 1:48:55Tucker Carlson?

  Yeah.

• 1:48:55Speaker 00

  How close is that?

• 1:48:57Tucker Carlson?

  Too close.

• 1:48:58Speaker 00

  I mean, to who knows what would happen? Who knows what today would look like? You know what I'm saying? Like, who knows? So it just, I, I, you know, I'm not, I'm just saying it looked like God was

• 1:49:16Speaker 00

  doing something there. I don't, I don't know. I don't know what it is. And I don't know, you know? But that's the faith part. I think sometimes Tucker, we're out, I think we think our goal is to try to figure it out.

• 1:49:25Tucker Carlson?

  No.

• 1:49:26Speaker 00

  Like, like, we're like, we have to know. We got to read the signs and we got to, everybody was wanting to know like, what's going to happen? Even with our country, like, where will we be in 20 years? Where, it's like, we want to know, but there's too many factors like, you have to have faith.

• 1:49:37Tucker Carlson?

  It's impossible.

• 1:49:37Speaker 00

  It's impossible. You can't figure that out. You got to live. I can always look back and it makes sense. I'm like, oh, wow, that made sense. But looking forward, that's the, and if, and that's the message that I'm gonna, but somebody's been sharing this message for 2000 years. We're halfway around the globe from where it happened.

• 1:49:57Speaker 00

  And still talking about it.

• 1:49:59Tucker Carlson?

  True.

• 1:49:59Speaker 00

  They had no money. They had no fame. They weren't soldiers and weren't, you know? They didn't even speak the same language. We're speaking a different language. We are sitting here today halfway across the globe and we're still talking about it. I'm still writing books about it, living our lives on it and professing it. It just, that's a big deal. Like, I haven't seen that with anything else. Most everything else 2000 years ago, we don't even know what it is. They're gone, you know? It's just gone.

• 1:50:29Tucker Carlson?

  We don't know their names.

• 1:50:30Speaker 00

  Yeah, not at all.

• 1:50:32Tucker Carlson?

  Willie Robinson, thank you very much.

• 1:50:34Speaker 00

  Awesome.

• 1:50:36Tucker Carlson?

  Thanks for listening to Tucker Carlson Show. If you enjoyed it, you can go to TuckerCarlson.com to see everything that we have made. The complete library. TuckerCarlson.com.