Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / K.T. McFarland | Former Deputy National Security Advisor Speaks on the Significance of Sid's One-on-One with VP Vance

Transcript

K.T. McFarland | Former Deputy National Security Advisor Speaks on the Significance of Sid's One-on-One with VP Vance · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I know that KT McFarland, who's worked for four presidents,
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: sat at that table with Trump and three others, Ronald Reagan.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: I know you agree with what I'm saying, right, KT?
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: Is she there?
• 0:14
  Speaker 3: The people who criticize President Trump in the first term, oh,
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: he was Putin's puppet. He won't call out President Putin.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Isn't that terrible? Donald Trump was looking way down the road,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: knowing that if he needed to negotiate, he needed to
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: have a good relationship with Putin. At the same time,
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: he was tougher on Putin and more pro-Ukraine than the
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: previous president. I mean, he gave Ukraine lethal weapons. Obama
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: didn't do that. So I think President Trump is he's
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: smart enough to know that you can let off steam
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: and you can scream at everybody, but it gets you
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: no place.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: That's right.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: So that's why we decided yesterday, the vice president and
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: I to just say, hang up a call.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: You know, it was 20 minutes.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: And we talked about a lot of things. There was
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: some substantial stuff in there, which I'm not going to
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: get into. Because that'll be between us.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: It's confidential.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to just go in there and start.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: First of all, who the hell am I? He's the
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: vice president of the United States. I'm a radio guy.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start yelling at the guy. I mean,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: so there are people that are upset with me this morning, but.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: He didn't take it easy. Calm down.
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: He's willing to talk. He does not hate Israel. I'll
• 1:21
  Speaker 4: tell you that right now. He doesn't.
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  Speaker 1: OK, but he does hang out with people that do.
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  Speaker 1: And that is a major, major problem. And I'm going
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: to try to find a way.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: To stop that. But that doesn't happen in 20 minutes.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Does that make sense?
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Correct. It's an overall relationship. And what you've done and
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: I think what's extraordinary is the vice president reached out
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: to you. Not the other way around. It's usually the
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: other way around, that every journalist wants to get in
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: and have a meeting. By the way, you almost never
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: have these kinds of meetings. So you were in the
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  Speaker 3: vice president's office in the West Wing. Is that correct?
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: Right there. And then what was great about it was,
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: you know the building better than anybody.
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  Speaker 1: As I finished the meeting with Vance in the West Wing,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: right there in his beautiful office, Margo Martin walks in.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: grabs me and my wife, Danielle, and says, the president
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: is ready for you. Because, you know, the Oval Office
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: is right outside.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: J.D.
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  Speaker 4: 's office, nice lobby, Oval Office. So I hit both.
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  Speaker 1: There's a beautiful picture of me and the president in
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  Speaker 1: the Oval Office on my social media this morning.
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  Speaker 2: So, yes, I was in J.D. 's office in the
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: West Wing in.
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  Speaker 4: The White House.
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  Speaker 3: Now, the way out of the White House, most people
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  Speaker 3: think it's this huge place. It's not. Offices are very small.
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  Speaker 3: Where you are in the vice president's office, immediately to
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  Speaker 3: the right is the national security advisor's office. That was
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: my office.
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  Speaker 2: That's right.
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  Speaker 3: Immediately to the left of the vice president's office is
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: the chief of staff's office. And then you turn the
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  Speaker 3: corner and then there's the president's office at the Oval Office.
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  Speaker 3: This is all like 20, 30 steps away. None of
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  Speaker 3: this is some big office building. And people who are
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: in the way, everybody knows who's in the West Wing.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, if you were in the vice president's office,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: everybody on that floor, including the president himself, would have
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: been told that you were there. That's why the president said, oh,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: you know, bring him in.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: No, it's like when I was there, because you mentioned
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: these other offices. The short time I was waiting for
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the president with my wife, Danielle, Mark Wayne Mullen was
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: walking through. We had a great conversation. Jay Clayton, who
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: replaced Tulsi Gabbard, he comes through. We had a great conversation.
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  Speaker 1: So you know this again. You sit on that floor
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  Speaker 1: anywhere between the VP's office and the Oval Office, you're
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: going to see a whole bunch of big-time administration people
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  Speaker 1: every day just kind of walking through having meetings.
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  Speaker 4: All day long.
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  Speaker 3: And it's a very important way to be seen and
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: to see those people. And I think what you did
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: with the vice president was absolutely the right thing to do.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: You have now established a relationship with him. He can
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: come to you and ask your advice. You go to
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  Speaker 3: him if something's on your mind. You will now have
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: a sustained and enduring relationship with, you know, right now,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: the vice president of the United States and who knows
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: where it goes when it goes forward. But it's important
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: for him to hear from you as not, you know,
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: a crazy jump up and down guy. Sometimes you're a
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: little crazy, jump up and down on these important issues
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  Speaker 3: because you're very well informed and you represent a constituency
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  Speaker 3: that the vice president and the president and the secretary
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: of state all really care about.
• 4:28
  Speaker 4: You can throw in the Prime Minister of Israel, too,
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: while you're at it.
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  Speaker 2: He's coming.
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  Speaker 4: He's coming.
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  Speaker 1: He's coming Thursday. And my plan is to go with
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Bibi to the United Nations. I think you saw the
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: video he sent.
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  Speaker 4: Me this week congratulating me like Trump did on the
• 4:42
  Speaker 4: Hall of Fame. It was beautiful. But, you know, he's
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: coming here with all this nonsense.
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  Speaker 2: You know, the mayor, that creep.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: He now says, well, I'm not going to go to
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  Speaker 1: any protests next week.
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  Speaker 2: You know what he did, Katie? He started the fire.
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  Speaker 2: And then he ran away from the fire. But guess what?
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  Speaker 2: The fire is still burning, you moron.
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  Speaker 1: So the fact that he's not going to any protests,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that's a bit late because he started the fire already.
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  Speaker 1: Paul Beebe, you know, Beebe's going to have to come
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  Speaker 1: and go the same day because there's going to be
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  Speaker 1: one huge protest from Brian Park right to the U.N.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: That's going to be a big, big problem. The next
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: day happens to be Sukkot anyway, a very important Jewish
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: holiday right at the Yom Kippur. But I'm telling you,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: Bibi is going to come in that day and go
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: home that night because the city, because of Mamdani, no
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: matter how many briefings he has with Jessica Tisch, just
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  Speaker 1: isn't safe.
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  Speaker 3: It isn't safe. I completely agree. And I think first
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  Speaker 3: of all, Bibi, good on you for coming because the
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: United Nations doesn't like Bibi. They're all pro-Palestinian. A lot
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: of them are pro-Hamas. But it's good for him to go.
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  Speaker 3: It's good for him to be seen. It's good for
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  Speaker 3: him to make his case. And I think that this U.N.
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  Speaker 3: meeting next week that meets several meetings that the president's
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: going to have with Xi Jinping, hopefully with Bibi, or
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: at least their senior officials will meet with each other
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: with the Gulf Arabs that President Trump has announced he's
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: meeting with. I think these are all really, and then potentially, Zelensky,
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I think a lot of diplomacy is going to be
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: done in the hallways of the United Nations in the
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: next week. There are a lot of things coming to
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: a head.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: I know, but I work on 49th and 3rd. The
• 6:19
  Speaker 4: traffic here is terrible.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: Well, there are your sneakers.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I know.
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to have to.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: You know, it's funny.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Sometimes, annually, you'll see the president and his cavalcade there.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: They will drive down the block right by the windows
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: where I sit here. Right on, literally right on 3rd Avenue,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: you'll see the whole crew. The president and a couple
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: years ago, Joe Biden. That moron, Joe Biden, he had
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: his window down. He thought he was sightseeing.
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  Speaker 2: He had no idea. So you're right.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: It's going to be a huge week next week. Now,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: you heard Joseph Takapina, what he had to say about
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the Iran conflict. And he is an Army Ranger. He
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: does have relationships with all these generals that would just
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: let go. They said they left, but Pete Hex, I
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: thought you didn't want them. What are your thoughts on
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: what Takapina had to say about the conflict?
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: Well, I thought what Joe said was very wise in
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: a lot of ways. President Trump's got a real decision.
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  Speaker 3: And when Joe said, I wish the president would come
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: and tell us what the plan is, to me, that's
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: the single most important thing the president needs to do
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: in the coming days and weeks ahead. be square with
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  Speaker 3: the American people. Look, we went in to get rid
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: of the nukes. If Iran had stopped and they're fine,
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: we would have been done. But they didn't. They closed
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: the strait. So we had the blockade in place. The
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: armada was there. We did the blockade. This is not
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: the war we wanted to fight. This is a different war.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: But we're going to win this one, too. And the
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: example I always give is that there are two ways
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: to kill a snake, right? One way is you try
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  Speaker 3: to chop his head off. But that's tricky. You know,
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  Speaker 3: you might miss. He might strike you first. Things could
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  Speaker 3: go wrong. He could slither away. The other way is
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  Speaker 3: to starve a snake, get him in the cage and
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: just starve him. It takes longer. Not as exciting. But
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: either way, the snake is dead. And so I think
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  Speaker 3: what President Trump needs to do is explain to the
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  Speaker 3: American people, here's my plan going forward. I'm going to
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: starve the snake. Eventually, the snake will give up. And
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: if the snake doesn't, the snake doesn't die. The snake
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  Speaker 3: will be so dead. just so weakened that he can't
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  Speaker 3: be a threat again, won't be a threat in the region,
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  Speaker 3: won't be a threat to the United States. It's just
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: not a satisfying end. But the war will end, maybe
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  Speaker 3: not with a big peace agreement, but the war will
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  Speaker 3: end because Iran will be so neutered, so subjected to
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: poverty for the next generation that they won't be incapable
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  Speaker 3: of launching a military threat in the region or to
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: the United States or to the world economy.
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  Speaker 4: Great job. The whole snake thing was terrific.
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  Speaker 2: I loved it. That was really great.
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  Speaker 4: On the way out, KT, I had Tom Emmer in
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: studio earlier, the majority whip. He's a great guy out
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: of Minnesota, you know.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, I was in Dallas last week and
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: I watched the president's speech and I saw a whole
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: bunch of Congress folks and senators from across the nation,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: our folks, of course, Republicans. And, you know, people are
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: telling me almost every day we're going to lose.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: You know, maybe I'm.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: I'm too, I'm bought in.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: I love Trump and I just don't want to see it.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: I just don't know if that's the case. I feel
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: like these races, some of these races are ultimately winnable.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: Maybe Michelle Tafoya in Minnesota, grab at least one of
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: these races out on Long Island with the Petri and Janine.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't, I'm not convinced that we're
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: dead in the water. Like people are telling me, said
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you're losing the house. I'm not convinced.
• 9:36
  Speaker 5: Are you?
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  Speaker 3: You know, after the 2016 election, I stopped believing in
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: anybody's polls because, you know, President Trump was going to lose.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: He was going to lose. There was not a single
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: chance he was going to win in 2016.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: He was down 11 points to Hillary that week. 11.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: Oh, man.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: She had already planned the victory parade and the fireworks
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: on the Hudson River.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: And yet she won.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: She had the Jacob Javits Center.
• 9:59
  Speaker 4: I'll never forget it.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: The Jacob Javits Center.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: She never showed up.
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: Never showed up. And so I'm not believing the polls.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: But if the president can explain to the American people, hey,
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: stick with me a little longer. I need your support
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: a little longer for the Middle East stuff. And then
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: point out, look, you let those Democrats come back in.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Guess what? The border reopens. You have all those problems
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: in the cities. You bring back the corruption, the fraud
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: and the corruption. Look at look at what Minnesota has
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: done with stealing our money. Taking it out of the
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: hands of people who need it and putting it into
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: the hands of Somali people. you know, cheaters, and then say,
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: and look, do you really want to go back to
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: the high drug prices? Do you really want to go
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: back to what it was like? Because if the Democrats
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: come in, they will go take such a left turn
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: that Joe Biden will even look like a moderate. They
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: will go so far left. And that's what, you may
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: not like everything Trump has done, but if you want
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: to go so far left and pay a lot of
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: money for your drugs, have the border reopened, Half of
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: the city's unsafe again.
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: Great.
• 11:06
  Speaker 3: Go for those guys. But you may never get it
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: back if you do.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: You're 100% right.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: And this morning's a little scary because I've got Fox
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: News on in the background. And as of this morning,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: El Sayed, who's one of those very scary people. I
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: know he's distanced himself from Hasan Piker. I'm not going
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: to give him credit for that. Because Piker is just
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: the lowest of the low. Just the absolute worst. But
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: as of this morning... He's got a three-point lead on
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Mike Rogers. I don't love Mike Rogers. I'm being honest, KT.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: But at least he's Republican. At least he shares my
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: ideologies and values. And if he loses to El Sayed,
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: that's going to be a very depressing day.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: Very. I completely agree. I'm not believing the polls. But
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: on the other hand, you know, I think you've got
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: to make the point, as Ronald Reagan always said, you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: you don't have to agree with me 100% of the time.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: If you agree with me 80% of the time, that's
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: a win. You're my best friend. And I think that's
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: what the attitude we should have. We're not asking you
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: to marry any of these people who are candidates. But
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: if they agree with you 80% of the time on
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: the policies, that's the person you should support. And not
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: just with your mouth, but with your feet. Get out
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: and vote for them.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: That's the big one right there. Get out and vote.
• 12:16
  Speaker 4: KT is always an amazing job. We love having you
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: every Friday.
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: You're terrific.
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Thank you, thank you, thank you.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: God bless you.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: KT McFarlane right there on Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: So lucky to have her each and every Friday.
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to Sid and Friends in the Morning.
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: You can hear Sid and Friends in the Morning weekday
• 12:35
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• 12:38
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• 12:43
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• 12:46
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• 12:53
  Speaker 5: and X. See you next time for a new episode
• 12:56
  Speaker 5: so you never have to wonder.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: What the heck is
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: Going on here?