November 25, 2024 • 34 mins
Healing as a nation starts with one simple thing in my opinion: listening. We don’t have to agree, but we do need to try and understand each other. For years, I avoided controversial conversations to keep the peace—but I’ve learned that true progress comes from leaning into uncomfortable dialogues. So, when I had the chance to sit down with Tomi Lahren, an outspoken Republican, I almost hesitated. But then I remembered: my whole purpose in starting this podcast almost 10 years ago was to learn, grow, and heal through understanding different perspectives.
In this episode, Tomi, the Outkick Podcast Host of “Tomi Lahren is Fearless,” opens up about why her beliefs run so deep, the cost of speaking out, and her hopes for the future. She even shares where she doesn’t align with extreme conservative views, offering insights that might surprise you.
If you’re ready to hear an honest, unfiltered conversation and step outside your comfort zone, this episode is for you. Tune in and let’s learn together!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
A carl Line. She's a queen and talking if it
was so, she's getting really not.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Afraid to fail, so so just let it flow.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
No one can do we quiet Cary line is sound
for Caroline.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, I'm so excited to be here with you, Tommy Loren.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Good to be here and Nashville, folks. I love having,
you know, a meeting of the minds because everybody's in
Nashville now. So I'm a newcomer about five years that
I've been here, but I love it. And we're never
gonna leave. Never unless you know, Trump has been handing
out appointments. So unless I get you know, ambassador to
Spain or something, we're gonna stay in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Would you take one of those jobs? No?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Probably not. I mean, listen, if it was offered to me.
You never know what's gonna happen. But we're hemorrhaging Fox
hosts at this point to the administration, which is a
good thing. We appreciate, you know, helping out, but we're
losing our team over there. So no, I'm at Fox
there to stay.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, Okay, I love that. So you love where you work?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I love where I work.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Ye do you love where you work.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I love where I work because, first of all, we're
just the best. And you know, I say that from
a biased perspective, but the people I work with are
just great. They're just nice people. Everybody supports each other.
We have differing opinions, we have a spectrum of opinions
at Fox, but everybody is just polite and cordial and
civil and supportive, and it's really a great place to work.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love that because I have grown up. This is
why I'm very excited to talk to you, because you
are so confident in standing in your beliefs, and I
am a person who I just like want everyone in
the whole world to be happy. It's the point where
it is debilitating and it has like rocked my nervous
system for so long because everybody seem to disagree. Then
(01:50):
I'm the kind of person where I'm like, Okay, I
can look at a situation and I can see a
million different ways things could go down. And it's like
when Tom Brady did his acceptance speech to come back
into the NFL or whatever, he did some long, beautiful
like quote about basically maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll
be bad, So like I never know if things are
gonna be good or bad. And I'm always so worried
(02:11):
that I'm going to pick the wrong decision even when
I'm trying to make the right decision, because I'm like, well,
how is it going to go? It's like I have
a hard time making decisions. Of course, no one knows
how the future is going to play out, but you
and your gut have always known how to stand up
for what you believe in, no matter what that is.
That is just such an incredible skill. Where did that
come from? And how do you handle people who so
(02:34):
like intensely disagree with you coming at you like how
did you get that kind of confidence to be able
to take such a stand. Well, first, I would say
I'm very opinionated, so it's easy. When you have pretty
definitive opinions, it's easy to stand by them.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I do this for a living, so when I
walk into a room, I don't have to worry about
offending people because just by the nature of me being myself,
they know who I am and they're either gonna love
me or they're gonna hate me. Not many people are
in the middle on me, and that's just on my
political opinions. They might like me personally, they might disagree
with me politically or professionally, it doesn't matter, but they
(03:07):
have an opinion of me, and that's okay. I would
rather polarize people than be somebody who is afraid of
offending people. And I don't go out of my way
to offend people. By the way, I'm not one of
those people that wants to antagonize people. I'm not somebody
who walks around in a mega hat in East Nashville
or in LA just to simply cause chaos and to
(03:28):
upset people. I'm not that way. I'm really not. But
I do have opinions and beliefs, and I will stand
by them because I always say to people, why are
you so worried about offending people who have absolutely zero
problem offending you? And I think that's where the conversation
needs to start. Is because people who are more conservative
in nature, they often don't want to rock the boat,
but they're around people who have zero problem rocking the boat.
(03:49):
And I admire the left for their ability to be
proud of what they believe in. The right is catching up.
We've caught up a lot in the last few weeks,
but there's more work to be done.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Growing up, you are in debate.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I've always been a nerd. I've always been into public speaking.
I've always been in debate and student government and journalism
and then those kind of things. I've always been opinionated.
It's part of being an only child. I think, are
you're an only child? I I'm an child.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
How was it being an only child? Because I'm always
worried my daughter is going to be like, oh, I
we're trying a sibling. Like I miss not having sisters
or brothers.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, not for one day of my life have I
ever wished I had a sibling. Not one day. Not
one day. And my husband has a half sister and
she's got a bunch of kids. But I always say
to him, like, for me, it's so easy. Hollidays are
coming up. I don't have to battle with anybody about
here's what we're doing, here's where we're going, here's what
we're eating. It's like, no, it's my mom and dad
and I and we are our own little posse now
(04:41):
including my husband, and it makes life so much easier.
I also think it foster's a really big sense of
independence when you're an only child, because you have to.
You have to make your own entertainment. You spend a
lot of time talking to adults. You cultivate your own
boys just by way of being a child talking mostly
to adults. So I wouldn't worry about it one bit
about how having an only child, because you're probably raising
(05:01):
somebody who's going to be very fiercely independent. And I
just come from the school of thought that that's a
good thing. So siblings are great. But when you're an
only child, I say, embrace it. And if I have kids,
which we hope to have kids, I really only want one,
like I want to have an only child.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So you loved it that much I did?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, No, I think it's a great thing to be
an only child. Big families are great. People that come
from big families. They love being from a big family.
But I have not one day said, oh boy, I
wish I had a brother or a sister. No, not
one day.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's amazing. Okay, tell me about your childhood. What was
magical about it.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I grew up in South Dakota.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's the most beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So it is a beautiful place and it's a place
to me where you know, we obviously don't live in
South Dakota anymore. My whole family still does. But I
was born with a belief system and a way of
life that I think a lot of other people in
media maybe don't have. So I come from a different
perspective in that way and going around, Well, for me,
it's just growing up around really hard working blue collar people, ranchers, farmers,
(06:01):
people who you know, make a modest living, but they're
very proud of what they do. They're very neighborly. It's
just a different sense of community than when you grew
up in a bigger city or in a bigger state.
So I bring that with me through everything that I
do and everywhere that I live. And I think that's
why my voice for a lot of people is really authentic,
because they can relate to somebody who maybe grows up
in a place or part of the country that doesn't
(06:23):
get a lot of attention generally.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Okay, And so that fully shaped who you are and
it got you on your path and you've never lost it,
like you never got lost in the midst of like
going to the big cities and being on the news,
like you stayed grounded and rooted this whole time.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Because I remember where I come from, and that's very
important to me, remembering where I come from, and I
think a lot of people lose that when they get
into media and then they only talk to people that
are in media. Also another reason I live in Nashville.
Though Nashville's a big city compared to where I'm from,
Tennessee's a big state compared to the state that I'm from,
but it's still very small town. It's still very community
oriented in Tennessee. And that's why I gravitate here of
(07:00):
all the places I've lived. That's why we're going to
stay here because Tennessee is like South Dakota in that way,
and it's a great place to be. And red free
states are just great places to be. I mean, I
wouldn't recommend living in a blue state right now, maybe
even just for tax purposes alone, but red states still
have community and family, and I think that's really important
for raising a family, Being in a family in a
(07:21):
profession that's polarizing and in the public spotlight all the time,
it's good to be in Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So what is that like, just having such a polarizing presence.
How do you handle that polarization? Is it hard?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It's not anymore. When I lived in La. Yeah, Like,
and when I lived in La I had to be conscious,
conscious of where I was. It wasn't something where it's
like I could just go anywhere I wanted to go
and it wouldn't be an issue. I couldn't go to
Santa Monica. That was just not a place where they
were going to like me, And it was going to
be they were or weren't they were not. It was
going to be, you know, maybe dangerous for me. And
(07:56):
it was in certain places like I would never go
to West Hollywood. I just I wouldn't go to Hollywood.
There's a lot of places in LA that I just
would not go because it wasn't safe for me to
go there. I lived in the beach cities, so that
was a little bit more hospitable to me, and being
in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. But
even there, I mean it was you had to be
aware of who you were around. You had to be
(08:17):
aware of how you carried yourself. In Tennessee, though more
often than not, people here are going to be friendly,
kind and probably also like minded, so here it's not
really even.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A thought have you had scary things happened to you?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, and many times. Yeah. In La it was scary
and it was usually women. Honestly, I would I had
women at bars kick me or throw things at me.
In Minneapolis with my family, I had people throw water
on us and you know, scream explotives at us and
get us to leave a restaurant. I mean there are
places in this country where it is more hostile. That
was also a different time, though, I think we've turned
(08:49):
a corner, especially with this last election, and whether you're
a Kama supporter or a Trump supporter, I think now
it's safer to have political disagreements, despite what the media
tells you. I think it's safe for now to have
political disagreements than it has been in the last ten years.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And you have Democrat friends, sure, I.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Mean I don't have a lot of Democrat friends. Most
my friends are conservative or more conservative minded, but I
have friends that are more conservative than me, maybe on
certain social issues, but it's to me. I live my
life where politics is always at the forefront because it's
what I do for a living and I deeply care,
so I want to know what's going on at all
times because I want to be aware of what I'm
going to talk about or what's shaping my landscape. But
(09:28):
politics doesn't drive my personal life, and it doesn't drive
what I talk about with friends, and it doesn't drive
Friday nights out, and it doesn't drive everything I think,
live and breathe when I'm on a personal capacity. And
I would encourage people to adapt that if they are
really political. I love that because you just can't do
it all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
And I love too that you've had some big moments
because I feel like probably a lot of Americans like
you don't fully align completely with one person in the
whole world period, you know, let alone one person governing.
It's hard to like align with every single thing, so
you have to see where you ligne the most. But
you've called out Republicans like you called out JD. Vance
when he was like making that comment about cat ladies,
(10:09):
like single women who aren't married. And I had some
friends who were like that. It was very hurtful to
them and they felt like they might be losing rights.
And I appreciate that you even though you are so conservative,
you still have real feelings too, and you're like, they're humans,
and I don't agree with everything as well. Has that
and that actually had some backfire for you when you
went on the You in twenty seventeen and you were like,
(10:30):
your vocal lot abortion rights because abortion.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Rates such a hot topic obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And you were like, I am pro choice in certain situations,
which I mean you call things out as well, which
is a big deal for a conservative. I feel like,
how do you have the confidence to do that?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
That's harder, I mean that is harder. Do you have
a conservative backlash? Yeah? Oh, I have more. I have
more backlash from conservatives and than probably the last five
years than I have from the left and from liberals,
because you know, again it does become like you have
to take a side. But for me, though there are issues,
it's like I disagree with this and I'm going to
be vocal about it. And for me, jadevanscredeemed himself. He
(11:06):
really did well.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He did.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I had some friends who are single with no children,
who are like, are they going to take me ovoting.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Right and well listen, and I was. I was vocal
about it not being helpful from a strategic standpoint. I
believe when he said those comments about childless cat ladies,
I believe he did mean it as a joke. I
don't believe that he meant it, and that's his personal philosophy,
and he doesn't like people who don't have kids. I
really didn't believe that. But strategically it wasn't helpful for
the reasons you just outlined. There's a lot of women
who are more conservative, but maybe they don't have kids,
(11:33):
maybe they're not married, maybe they would like to be
both of those things, but it hasn't happened for them.
So alienating those people strategically was not wise. So that's
why I was vocal about it. Right, So I think strategically,
if I want Republicans to win, I'm going to tell
you the blind spots that you might not see around
other white conservative men. But along those lines, listen, I'm
limited government. So when I say I'm pro choice, it
(11:54):
doesn't mean in pro abortion. It means I'm pro choice
because I just don't believe that government makes the best
choices for people in there life, whether it comes to
abortion or the COVID vaccine, or locking people down or
masking people. I just really don't think the government serves
that function well. And I'm vocal about that, and if
people don't like it, like, feel free to disagree, but
it doesn't make me any less conservative than you. There's
(12:16):
a lot of people, and I believe this election was
won by pro choice, suburban Trump voting women. I really do. Yeah.
They showed up and they showed out, and they might
have voted down abortion initiatives that were on their ballot,
but they still voted for Donald Trump because you can
do both things. And I think that that's an important
message that sometimes the right overlooks.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So how do you feel like Jad redeem himself just
in general?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
During the vice presidential debate, he really spoke to this
issue of abortion, and he said, listen, Republicans have gotten
this wrong for a long time, not in our beliefs,
but in the way that we've messaged it. So we
have to do a better job of being not just
pro life, but pro family, pro women. We have to
do a better job of supporting women wherever they are
in their life and their life choices. And we can't
(13:09):
be judgmental. And we have to foster a dialogue and
a discussion on the right that the right has not
been willing to have. So in my mind, he really
redeemed himself by being honest about that that Republicans have
gotten messaging around that issue wrong. So I really do
think that he understood that he offended people and it
wasn't his intention, and we need to have a better
conversation about those issues on the Republican side. So I
(13:31):
really do and I really am confident in both Donald
Trump and JD. Van said they will do right by
women on this issue. I want to talk to your
followers on this issue because they might not be as
political and they Democrats and Republicans, and they might believe
some of the things that they heard about Donald Trump
and the agenda. Donald Trump has said over and over again,
I will not sign a national abortion ban, and I
believe him when he says it because he was at
(13:53):
one point a pro choice Democrat. Let's be honest. But
Milania Trump, his wife, also vocal in her book about
being pro choice and believing in abortion rights. So he's
got his wife that believes in abortion rights. He says
he will not sign a federal ban. Jadvance will not
sign a federal ban. And just for people out there
that maybe even just don't believe Donald Trump, I have
news for you. There will never be a national abortion
(14:14):
ban in my lifetime on a Republican's desk to sign
the Senate, the House. They're never going to push through
a national abortion ban. It's never going to make it
that far. I promise you this, it's not going to
There's not a consensus on this issue on the right
or on the left. It's never going to get to
that point. The states will have to make up their
own minds, and the voters will be able to decide
in their states, and they will vote down initiatives that
(14:36):
maybe restrict abortion rights. In places like Ohio, they have
already done that. Right in California, You're always going to
be able to get an abortion, So don't worry about it.
New York, You're always going to be able to get
an abortion. Don't worry about it. If you are in
a more conservative state that might restrict those things, put
it up on the ballot and let the people decide.
And you know, there are going to be states that
are more conservative than others. But I had to leave
(14:57):
California because it was too liberal for me, you know,
and there might be people leave more conservative states because
it's too conservative for them. That's your right, that's your ability.
Let the voters decide.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So well, I think probably what we'll feel is conservative
and liberal states more now, not that they are already
that way, but it might just get a little bit
more intensified.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And Republicans are going to have to do a better
job of listening to the will of the people and
the will of voters on a couple different issues. When
we're talking about social issues. On abortion, Republicans are going
to have to understand that the majority of the country
believes in exceptions for rape incests, life of the mother.
I mean, I think most people agree with that, So
Republicans are going to have to understand that maybe in
more pro life states, that's where the will of the
(15:37):
American people is. But the left is going to have
to understand that the majority of the American people don't
believe that biological men should compete against women and women's sports.
So there's going to be both sides that are going
to have to have a reckoning and understand the will
of the American people. That will happen. Let it play out.
Returning the issue abortion to the States was the right decision,
and I just hope people have confidence in that. Let
(15:59):
your state to side and they will.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What do you hope America and the world is going
to look like after these four years that will benefit everyone?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, I would love to see an end to endless wars.
That would be great. If we could stop sending our
money to foreign nations, that would be nice. I think
a lot of Americans feel that way, that, hey, maybe
we should repair things in the United States before we're
sending hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to other
nations to fight their wars and protect their borders. So
that's what I'm excited about. Donald Trump can get that done.
He's done it before, he's going to do it again.
(16:27):
But just on a purely simple level, I would love
to be able to go to the grocery store and
not see senior citizens putting items back because they can't
afford them anymore. I would love to be able to see,
you know, single mothers and families be able to afford
things again and not have to worry every single month
about how they're going to pay bills and how they're
(16:47):
going to keep the lights on, and how they're going
to be able to afford like maybe little luxuries in life.
Maybe go out to a nice dinner with their family
every couple of weeks. I'm excited for that to return,
because it will return under Donald Trump. Your prices are
going to go down. That is a mandate from the
American people. He will get that done.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Is it always this intentional intents around elections or is
this different?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
This is twenty sixteen on. I mean, I don't think
this was like this before Donald Trump. But it's not
Donald Trump's fault. It's the reaction to Donald Trump that's
the problem.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Why did he cause that?
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I wonder because he is a disruptor. He's an outsider
disruptor he is. And you know what it needed disrupting,
It needed disrupting. Okay, so he is a disruptor.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
He came in and disrupted the normal flow of things completely.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yes, he said everything that everything that's been going on
in this establishment swamp in DC, where unelected bureaucrats spend
your money on things that you don't even know they're
spending your money on, and they waste money, and they
pay defense contractors to go fight endless foreign wars, and
we are hampering American energy and dependence and we're buying
it from foreign hostile nations. All of that is going
(17:49):
to end. And by the way, we're going to secure
our country. We're going to close our borders. We're going
to make sure that people that are in this country illegally,
that have also committed crimes illegally, are deported immediately. We're
going to make sure that young women can go on
a run at the University of Georgia and not be
raped and brutally murdered and had their heads smashed in
with a rock by someone who should have never been here.
That's what Donald Trump said he's gonna do. That's what
(18:10):
he did the first time, and he's going to do
it even better this time. But you know, talking about
women right now, let's have a real discussion. Women are
vulnerable in the United States of America right now and
women always have been. But you're more vulnerable now by
somebody who's been a repeat offender who's been let out
of jail eight times for recommitting violent crimes than you
are because you're worried about your abortion rights. Everybody. We've
(18:32):
got thirteen thousand plus convicted murderers who are illegal aliens
who are in our country. We've got hundreds of people
on the terrorists watch lists that are in our country.
Who do you think is the most vulnerable. It's not
my husband, and it's not your husband, it's you, and
it's me, and it's your daughter, and it's all the
young women out there. Those are the most vulnerable. We
just need to talk to each other more.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's why I was so excited to talk to you.
I mean I was nervous. Honestly, I was really nervous
because I am not really good at being polarizing like
it makes me, and I'm not rising person. Like I said,
I am very able to see everybody's perspective. I want
everyone to leave a conversation to feel happy, but that's
just not life. And the older I get, the more
I realize I can't be afraid to talk to someone
like you because someone might be mad at me that
(19:13):
I'm hanging out hearing your thoughts on things, right, I
want to know why do you believe what you believe? Like,
why are you so passionate about it? Because there's probably
something to learn there, you know, there's probably something that
we all can resonate with. We don't have to fully
agree with everyone, but we all have information to share.
And if we just listened and loved, So tell me
about that. How do you think we'll get there again?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Conversations you have to be able to separate what someone
believes in politically or religiously from the person that they
are in, the character that they have, who you voted for,
or what you believe in, or the initiatives that you're
going to vote on. Those are important, are their core
part of who you are, but they're not all of
who you are. And I think if we have more
(19:55):
conversations with people will realize, hey, they come from a
different perspective, they walk in different shoes, and that's okay.
Let's have conversations. Though let's not just talk to people
who think like us. And I've talked about this oftentimes
to conservative groups. It's great to have like minded people
to talk to. It's even better when you can talk
to somebody who disagrees with you politically or personally or professionally,
(20:16):
and you can still be friendly with that person and
you can still have a discussion in a dialogue. It
is possible we've forgotten how to do it. I do
think it's coming back, it's making its way back.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I agree, I hope, so, I pray so. I think
it has to. I think the only thing left to
do is talk to each other. Now we've done everything
else right right, So, how has married life changed you?
And you went through it like when you were out there,
like you had an engagement before yeah and called it off,
Like you've gone through some big decisions, Like you've gone
through some big moments. How did you know when it
(20:49):
was right? And I would love to ask you about
this because I have a lot of women on my
podcast seeing a women dating women. Yeah, it's hard outre
How do you know when it's wrong? And how do
you know when it's right? Especially when you're someone like
you in the public guy, Like, how do you know
how to decipher who is like actually in it for
you and not just in it for all the things
that come with you? But how do you know when
(21:10):
something's right? And how do you know when it's wrong
when you're in a relationship, Because that's a very hard decision.
I feel like a lot of people make the wrong
one there, especially women. They feel pressure. You know, they're
getting older, they want to get married, they want to
have babies, all of that, whatever the pressure wuy be Well,
first of all, I wouldn't tell anyone to put pressure
on themselves to fit into a timeline, and I think
women have gotten a lot better at that in the
last several years of not sticking by a timeline. If
(21:33):
I would have gotten married when I was twenty five
or twenty six or twenty seven, I would have been divorced.
And now I'm thirty two, and then who knows if
I would have been remarried by it would have just
been a disaster. I waited until I was thirty to
get married, and I would encourage that, I honestly would.
Some people find the person are supposed to be with
much younger in life, and that's great. Most people, you
have to go through seasons of your life to be
(21:53):
ready to get married. That was the case for me
and especially doing what I do. So for me, yes,
there's people that want to be with me because they're
faan that's sicky to me. I've gone down that path before.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
That's weird. I dated a fan well, somebody that like
maybe maybe I intimidated them and I it was too
easy for me to walk all over them, or I
was too big of a personality, right, I really think
you have to have somebody that doesn't have to necessarily
match your personality. But somebody that can handle your personality
and doesn't just become like a supporting character, like matches
(22:27):
your vibration, right, it just and it has to work.
I waited until later in life when I found that person.
And so my husband, you know, he's played professional sports,
he's been married to someone before, who has been in
the public eye, been through that done. That is also
somebody who is not going to shy away from the
controversy that comes with being with me. That's never something
that he's calculated in or cared about. And he's be
(22:48):
the first person to defend me, and he's not going
to let anybody tell him that he can't be proud
or supportive of me.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
That was important to me very like I have to
have to have that. I have to you'd be dead
without that.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, I can't have somebody that wants to hide who
they're with or is embarrassed of it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Or trying to make you small. That that's a big
part of the problem. Yes, for a lot of try
to dim you down, right, and we're going to try
to censor you, right. And I could never be with
someone like I'm not really sensorable, like that wouldn't have
That would have been a feudal endeavor if he ever
would have tried to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It just it doesn't work. But I have somebody who's
strong willed as well determined, successful, somebody who knows what
it's like to be in the spotlight. That's important for me.
For me, I need to have that. But I have
a lot of friends who are not in the spotlight.
But they are in their late thirties, maybe even their
early forties, never been married, don't have kids, maybe not
even seriously dating somebody. And I get that that pressure
(23:38):
is there and it is not easy. And I did
back during the COVID times when I had first moved
to Nashville and I was very single. I did from
La danger Out twenty twenty. How was that April of
twenty twenty, don't remember it or anything? Yeah, Mark time right. So, honestly,
Nashville was the most fun in COVID that endeavor has been.
So I think Nashville was actually at its peak during
(23:59):
COVID when the lockdown's eased. It was a wild time.
But I did it like a PSA to boyish men
because I was trying to date in Nashville, and I
I was frustrated, and my friends are frustrated, and they're
still frustrated. This is not an easy city to be in.
There's a pluthor of women here, like this is a
there's a lot of women here. There's a lot of
young women here. There's a lot of you know, there's
(24:19):
just there's it's a target rich environment. But it is
in la and it is in Dallas, and it is
in every place I've ever lived in. I mean the
community that you're in or at the city that you're in.
It's hard everywhere. It just is. But I have noticed
with my friends it's hard because men that are their
age are a little bit older, they want to be
with the twenty five year olds. So it's hard. Yeah,
(24:39):
it is, And I'm not going to say that it's not.
It's not easy. It's hard because everybody's living a life
for social media now. And I have found that the
twenty five year olds want to be with the forty
five year olds, not because they're attracted to the forty
five year olds, but because the forty five year olds
have money and they want to live a life on
social media and they want to have things. But then
the twenty five year olds are skilled open all the
(25:00):
forty five year olds that should be with the forty
year olds. I don't know the solution to the problem.
I think there are good men out there. But I
think another part of the thing I'm excited about in
America is I think masculinity is making a comeback. And
people think masculinity is like dating a bunch of girls
and macho.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
No, no. Masculinity is being a strong enough man that
you want to be with a strong woman and you
want to marry her and you want to have kids,
and you want to be faithful. That's masculinity, and I
think that is making a comeback. Slowly, but surely.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
How has married life been? How long have you been married?
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Just over two years? Just a little bit over two years? Yeah,
and y'all, so you met him here? No, I met
him on Instagram? You met him on Instagram? And how
did that happen? She just slid into the g slid
into the DMS and he's he was in Miami at
the time, yours. Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I'm not really
in the like you're going to send out the random
DMS phase of my life. No, no, But I've met
(26:06):
up Most of the people that I've ever dated has
been through social media, okay, because it's listen, it's a
way to connect with people that's outside of having to
go to a bar, which I'm not against, but it's
not easy. And during COVID especially wasn't easy because we
were that was taken away from us robbed. I would say,
I have a lot of thoughts on COVID policies, but
(26:26):
I listen. I met my husband on Instagram, lived in Miami.
I told him he'd be moving to Nashville within a year,
and you knew nine months later he moved to Nashville. Well, yes,
because I think when you meet somebody and you you
just have a connection, it's pretty obvious. And when you're older,
you recognize it. I would say, when you're thirty plus,
you recognize it. So for all the women out there
who think they have to find someone by age twenty six,
(26:48):
I promise you don't, and it actually will probably be
better for you if you wait until you for fully matured.
And it takes men longer to mature. So my husband's
going to be thirty nine in January. That's a good
age separation.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
How old.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Are you thirty two?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You've accomplished so much to be thirty two years old?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Why I appreciate it. When did you get to work
twenty one? I started twenty one, so you were ready?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, you were ready to get in there.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, because I'm an only child. See, so take comfort
in that.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Well, my daughter is she's got such spirits, so I
feel that. And she can talk to adults. She can
she loves to be involved. She was very sad she
cannot be with this interview today. She was like, do
I get to be at the podcast? But yeah, okay,
So you were ready to go?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
How and we'll wrap up soon because I know you
are so busy, especially right now in your life. But
how did that moment when you went on the view?
I think it was twenty seventeen and you were working
for the Blade. It was a big, big career opportunity.
You're in a big career moment, like you had been
going viral. You had your catch saying like Tommy's thoughts,
(27:51):
what was it your final final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
I still do them, yes, but I mean it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Had taken off. You were like all over the place
and you were on the view giving your opinions and
the abortion thing where you said you were kind of
pro choice happened and there's a big fallout. How did
that affect you? And what is that like to be
in a moment when you're in a dream job, you're
in a dream position, you're actually like on the view,
I mean, you're kind of like you're kind of at
a peak.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
There's a lot more peaks to get.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
But that's a big Yeah, it's a big time for me.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
To have it have such a backlash, like how do
you handle that? How did that go down? And it
obviously turned into something very positive because now you're independent
and you've been able to pursue things in your own way.
But I'm sure for the moment it might have felt
like that was earth shuttering for me. It would have,
but you're a lot, like I said, you're a lot
more you know.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
At the time. At the time, it was really stressful
because I was twenty four and I wasnt going handled
through a lawsuit with a television network, So that was stressful.
It costs a lot of money. It was stressful in
that it was a battle that I never thought I
would have to fight over saying my political opinions. I
thought that that's what I got paid to do, was
say my political opinions. But listen, it worked out the
(28:58):
way that it was supposed to, and I think I
think for as many people that were mad at me
for my stance on that, I think I also gained
a lot of trust. And I'll tell you why, because
that was right after Donald Trump had won. A lot
of people saw me as kind of one of the
front people for Donald Trump. Like I was a big
advocate and supporter of Donald Trump throughout the election. I
was one of the foremost people out there on social
media advocating for Donald Trump. So I had a huge
conservative following at that time. I go on the View
(29:21):
and I say, listen, I'm pro choice because I believe
in limited government. And then there were some people that
kind of went silent because it was like, well, we
thought that this girl was just this raw, raw Trump cheerleader,
this conservative beacon for us, and now she's saying something
that might be rocking our perception of her. And so
for a moment there, I think people were a little stunned.
(29:41):
But as time went on, I think I gained a
lot of trust because they realize I'm going to tell
you how I think, and it's not going to be
to fit into a narrative or to get a paycheck
or to make the right people happy. It's going to
be because this is actually what I believe. So when
I raw raw for Trump and I tell you he's
gonna bring your grocery prices down, he's going to end
endless wars, and he's not going to sign a national
(30:02):
abortion band, I feel like I've gained some credibility because
if I thought he was gonna not do those things,
I would tell you, yeah, because I'm not. I'm beyond
the point where I'm appeasing people on either side. I
gained a lot of trust through that experience, through people
who have listened to me, and they might not always
agree with it, but they appreciate the fact that I'm
going to be honest, and that's something that I will
I will always be.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
It's always there's always a blessing in those moments, like
they're always there. What would you want to tell someone
who's in the middle of what feels like their whole
life is shifting, Like how do you how do you
handle those how do you get the perspective to handle
that correctly. If you're in the middle of it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
It's always a redirection. I've been at Fox this my
eight year at Fox New you would never be here
right and and OutKick was acquired by Fox News. Clay
Travis has always been a good friend of mine, but
he started OutKick, and he's another visionary. He started OutKick
from right here in Nashville, Tennessee, and he sold it
to Fox News I believe maybe four almost five years
ago now, and then you know, I naturally came on
(30:58):
board with OutKick being at Fox News and being on
the digital side. I did Fox Nation. Now I'm over
at OutKick with Clay and you know, many other voices,
Riley Gaines and others, and we're just building out the
digital space and just being able to podcast and stream
and connect with people not only people that watch Fox News,
but people that are more on the digital side, that
maybe watch more of culture and sports and politics and
(31:20):
the intersection of all those things. So everywhere, everything that
you do, every redirection is an opportunity. For me, it
was a massive opportunity and it's just led to all
good things for me. Through an uncomfortable time, many good
things came out of it and being uncomfortable is really important.
If something scares you, I would say, run towards it,
because once you run towards it and you accomplish it
(31:42):
and you come out on the other side, then you've
just strengthened yourself for the next challenge rather than ducking
or shying away from things that scare you.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
That's amazing. How is the podcast? Tell me a spear less?
How's that been?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
It's great? You know, we love being in Nashville and
OutKick is a brand that was born in Nashville. So
Clay and I the fact that we can be in
Nashville and we can talk to a Fox News audience,
so we can also talk to our OutKick audience, and
it is it's really OutKick was developed as an answer
to woke sports media, and then it also evolved into
being an answer to woke social media and woke politics,
(32:16):
and that's what we do. So I love to be
able to be a part of that and to say
what I want to say. And taking that with the
Fox News side has been a really big tool and
asset to all of us at OutKick.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I always wrap up with Leader Light and it's super
open ended it's basically, what do you want people to know?
Just to drop some inspiration.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I want people to know that it is okay for
people not to like you. Mmm, ooh, okay, it really is.
You're not going to be for everybody, and that is
okay because if you are for everybody and absolutely every
single person out there loves you, you're probably holding some
part of you back.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
I'm not saying you can't be a generally likable person.
Most people you know aspire to be that. But if
you are hiding in your show in such a way
that you're not being full of yourself because you're afraid
of people not liking you, you're really not living up
to your full potential. So I would encourage you to
be yourself and to still aspire to be likable and
liked by many. But there will be things about you
(33:16):
if you're authentically honest, that people are not going to like,
and that is okay. What's on the other side of
being authentically yourself? True freedom, true and honest and open freedom.
Often when I do interviews, people ask me like, what's
it like to be hated? What's it like to you know,
have to worry about if people dislike you. And my
question back is always like, what is it like to
walk into a room and be worried that people are
(33:38):
going to figure out who you are? Like, people don't
have to figure out who I am. I walk in
already knowing that I'm gonna walk into an event this
weekend with MLB players and their wives and there's gonna
be people in that room that love me, and there's
gonna be people in that room that hate me and
they've never met me before. But you know what, I
don't have to worry about like having like a well
(33:58):
did you vote for Trump? Like I walk into a room,
guess what you're gonna know and you can choose to
interact with me or not based on how you feel
about me, But you're never gonna have a question about
where I stand. And that, to me is really liberating.
So I would encourage people to find that within themselves
because it's true freedom.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I love that. Tommy Lauren, amazing. Okay, everyone check out
your podcast. Tell us everything you have going on and
where everyone can find it.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You can find me on Fox News. I'm a Fox
News commentator, so you can often find me on Hannity Barney,
Fox Business across all those platforms, and then OutKick dot
com one pm Eastern Monday through Friday. That's where my
show streams live. Thank you so much, Tommy, thank you
for having me. I appreciate it. Hie
A carl Line. She's a queen and talking if it
was so, she's getting really not.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Afraid to fail, so so just let it flow.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
No one can do we quiet Cary line is sound
for Caroline.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, I'm so excited to be here with you, Tommy Loren.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Good to be here and Nashville, folks. I love having,
you know, a meeting of the minds because everybody's in
Nashville now. So I'm a newcomer about five years that
I've been here, but I love it. And we're never
gonna leave. Never unless you know, Trump has been handing
out appointments. So unless I get you know, ambassador to
Spain or something, we're gonna stay in Nashville.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Would you take one of those jobs? No?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Probably not. I mean, listen, if it was offered to me.
You never know what's gonna happen. But we're hemorrhaging Fox
hosts at this point to the administration, which is a
good thing. We appreciate, you know, helping out, but we're
losing our team over there. So no, I'm at Fox
there to stay.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Okay, Okay, I love that. So you love where you work?
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I love where I work.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Ye do you love where you work.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
I love where I work because, first of all, we're
just the best. And you know, I say that from
a biased perspective, but the people I work with are
just great. They're just nice people. Everybody supports each other.
We have differing opinions, we have a spectrum of opinions
at Fox, but everybody is just polite and cordial and
civil and supportive, and it's really a great place to work.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
I love that because I have grown up. This is
why I'm very excited to talk to you, because you
are so confident in standing in your beliefs, and I
am a person who I just like want everyone in
the whole world to be happy. It's the point where
it is debilitating and it has like rocked my nervous
system for so long because everybody seem to disagree. Then
(01:50):
I'm the kind of person where I'm like, Okay, I
can look at a situation and I can see a
million different ways things could go down. And it's like
when Tom Brady did his acceptance speech to come back
into the NFL or whatever, he did some long, beautiful
like quote about basically maybe it'll be good, maybe it'll
be bad, So like I never know if things are
gonna be good or bad. And I'm always so worried
(02:11):
that I'm going to pick the wrong decision even when
I'm trying to make the right decision, because I'm like, well,
how is it going to go? It's like I have
a hard time making decisions. Of course, no one knows
how the future is going to play out, but you
and your gut have always known how to stand up
for what you believe in, no matter what that is.
That is just such an incredible skill. Where did that
come from? And how do you handle people who so
(02:34):
like intensely disagree with you coming at you like how
did you get that kind of confidence to be able
to take such a stand. Well, first, I would say
I'm very opinionated, so it's easy. When you have pretty
definitive opinions, it's easy to stand by them.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
But I do this for a living, so when I
walk into a room, I don't have to worry about
offending people because just by the nature of me being myself,
they know who I am and they're either gonna love
me or they're gonna hate me. Not many people are
in the middle on me, and that's just on my
political opinions. They might like me personally, they might disagree
with me politically or professionally, it doesn't matter, but they
(03:07):
have an opinion of me, and that's okay. I would
rather polarize people than be somebody who is afraid of
offending people. And I don't go out of my way
to offend people. By the way, I'm not one of
those people that wants to antagonize people. I'm not somebody
who walks around in a mega hat in East Nashville
or in LA just to simply cause chaos and to
(03:28):
upset people. I'm not that way. I'm really not. But
I do have opinions and beliefs, and I will stand
by them because I always say to people, why are
you so worried about offending people who have absolutely zero
problem offending you? And I think that's where the conversation
needs to start. Is because people who are more conservative
in nature, they often don't want to rock the boat,
but they're around people who have zero problem rocking the boat.
(03:49):
And I admire the left for their ability to be
proud of what they believe in. The right is catching up.
We've caught up a lot in the last few weeks,
but there's more work to be done.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Growing up, you are in debate.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
I've always been a nerd. I've always been into public speaking.
I've always been in debate and student government and journalism
and then those kind of things. I've always been opinionated.
It's part of being an only child. I think, are
you're an only child? I I'm an child.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
How was it being an only child? Because I'm always
worried my daughter is going to be like, oh, I
we're trying a sibling. Like I miss not having sisters
or brothers.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
Yeah, not for one day of my life have I
ever wished I had a sibling. Not one day. Not
one day. And my husband has a half sister and
she's got a bunch of kids. But I always say
to him, like, for me, it's so easy. Hollidays are
coming up. I don't have to battle with anybody about
here's what we're doing, here's where we're going, here's what
we're eating. It's like, no, it's my mom and dad
and I and we are our own little posse now
(04:41):
including my husband, and it makes life so much easier.
I also think it foster's a really big sense of
independence when you're an only child, because you have to.
You have to make your own entertainment. You spend a
lot of time talking to adults. You cultivate your own
boys just by way of being a child talking mostly
to adults. So I wouldn't worry about it one bit
about how having an only child, because you're probably raising
(05:01):
somebody who's going to be very fiercely independent. And I
just come from the school of thought that that's a
good thing. So siblings are great. But when you're an
only child, I say, embrace it. And if I have kids,
which we hope to have kids, I really only want one,
like I want to have an only child.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So you loved it that much I did?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Yeah, No, I think it's a great thing to be
an only child. Big families are great. People that come
from big families. They love being from a big family.
But I have not one day said, oh boy, I
wish I had a brother or a sister. No, not
one day.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
That's amazing. Okay, tell me about your childhood. What was
magical about it.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I grew up in South Dakota.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's the most beautiful place.
Speaker 3 (05:38):
So it is a beautiful place and it's a place
to me where you know, we obviously don't live in
South Dakota anymore. My whole family still does. But I
was born with a belief system and a way of
life that I think a lot of other people in
media maybe don't have. So I come from a different
perspective in that way and going around, Well, for me,
it's just growing up around really hard working blue collar people, ranchers, farmers,
(06:01):
people who you know, make a modest living, but they're
very proud of what they do. They're very neighborly. It's
just a different sense of community than when you grew
up in a bigger city or in a bigger state.
So I bring that with me through everything that I
do and everywhere that I live. And I think that's
why my voice for a lot of people is really authentic,
because they can relate to somebody who maybe grows up
in a place or part of the country that doesn't
(06:23):
get a lot of attention generally.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Okay, And so that fully shaped who you are and
it got you on your path and you've never lost it,
like you never got lost in the midst of like
going to the big cities and being on the news,
like you stayed grounded and rooted this whole time.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Because I remember where I come from, and that's very
important to me, remembering where I come from, and I
think a lot of people lose that when they get
into media and then they only talk to people that
are in media. Also another reason I live in Nashville.
Though Nashville's a big city compared to where I'm from,
Tennessee's a big state compared to the state that I'm from,
but it's still very small town. It's still very community
oriented in Tennessee. And that's why I gravitate here of
(07:00):
all the places I've lived. That's why we're going to
stay here because Tennessee is like South Dakota in that way,
and it's a great place to be. And red free
states are just great places to be. I mean, I
wouldn't recommend living in a blue state right now, maybe
even just for tax purposes alone, but red states still
have community and family, and I think that's really important
for raising a family, Being in a family in a
(07:21):
profession that's polarizing and in the public spotlight all the time,
it's good to be in Tennessee.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
So what is that like, just having such a polarizing presence.
How do you handle that polarization? Is it hard?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
It's not anymore. When I lived in La. Yeah, Like,
and when I lived in La I had to be conscious,
conscious of where I was. It wasn't something where it's
like I could just go anywhere I wanted to go
and it wouldn't be an issue. I couldn't go to
Santa Monica. That was just not a place where they
were going to like me, And it was going to
be they were or weren't they were not. It was
going to be, you know, maybe dangerous for me. And
(07:56):
it was in certain places like I would never go
to West Hollywood. I just I wouldn't go to Hollywood.
There's a lot of places in LA that I just
would not go because it wasn't safe for me to
go there. I lived in the beach cities, so that
was a little bit more hospitable to me, and being
in Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach. But
even there, I mean it was you had to be
aware of who you were around. You had to be
(08:17):
aware of how you carried yourself. In Tennessee, though more
often than not, people here are going to be friendly,
kind and probably also like minded, so here it's not
really even.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A thought have you had scary things happened to you?
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Yeah, and many times. Yeah. In La it was scary
and it was usually women. Honestly, I would I had
women at bars kick me or throw things at me.
In Minneapolis with my family, I had people throw water
on us and you know, scream explotives at us and
get us to leave a restaurant. I mean there are
places in this country where it is more hostile. That
was also a different time, though, I think we've turned
(08:49):
a corner, especially with this last election, and whether you're
a Kama supporter or a Trump supporter, I think now
it's safer to have political disagreements, despite what the media
tells you. I think it's safe for now to have
political disagreements than it has been in the last ten years.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
And you have Democrat friends, sure, I.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Mean I don't have a lot of Democrat friends. Most
my friends are conservative or more conservative minded, but I
have friends that are more conservative than me, maybe on
certain social issues, but it's to me. I live my
life where politics is always at the forefront because it's
what I do for a living and I deeply care,
so I want to know what's going on at all
times because I want to be aware of what I'm
going to talk about or what's shaping my landscape. But
(09:28):
politics doesn't drive my personal life, and it doesn't drive
what I talk about with friends, and it doesn't drive
Friday nights out, and it doesn't drive everything I think,
live and breathe when I'm on a personal capacity. And
I would encourage people to adapt that if they are
really political. I love that because you just can't do
it all the time.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
And I love too that you've had some big moments
because I feel like probably a lot of Americans like
you don't fully align completely with one person in the
whole world period, you know, let alone one person governing.
It's hard to like align with every single thing, so
you have to see where you ligne the most. But
you've called out Republicans like you called out JD. Vance
when he was like making that comment about cat ladies,
(10:09):
like single women who aren't married. And I had some
friends who were like that. It was very hurtful to
them and they felt like they might be losing rights.
And I appreciate that you even though you are so conservative,
you still have real feelings too, and you're like, they're humans,
and I don't agree with everything as well. Has that
and that actually had some backfire for you when you
went on the You in twenty seventeen and you were like,
(10:30):
your vocal lot abortion rights because abortion.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Rates such a hot topic obviously.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
And you were like, I am pro choice in certain situations,
which I mean you call things out as well, which
is a big deal for a conservative. I feel like,
how do you have the confidence to do that?
Speaker 3 (10:44):
That's harder, I mean that is harder. Do you have
a conservative backlash? Yeah? Oh, I have more. I have
more backlash from conservatives and than probably the last five
years than I have from the left and from liberals,
because you know, again it does become like you have
to take a side. But for me, though there are issues,
it's like I disagree with this and I'm going to
be vocal about it. And for me, jadevanscredeemed himself. He
(11:06):
really did well.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
He did.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I had some friends who are single with no children,
who are like, are they going to take me ovoting.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
Right and well listen, and I was. I was vocal
about it not being helpful from a strategic standpoint. I
believe when he said those comments about childless cat ladies,
I believe he did mean it as a joke. I
don't believe that he meant it, and that's his personal philosophy,
and he doesn't like people who don't have kids. I
really didn't believe that. But strategically it wasn't helpful for
the reasons you just outlined. There's a lot of women
who are more conservative, but maybe they don't have kids,
(11:33):
maybe they're not married, maybe they would like to be
both of those things, but it hasn't happened for them.
So alienating those people strategically was not wise. So that's
why I was vocal about it. Right, So I think strategically,
if I want Republicans to win, I'm going to tell
you the blind spots that you might not see around
other white conservative men. But along those lines, listen, I'm
limited government. So when I say I'm pro choice, it
(11:54):
doesn't mean in pro abortion. It means I'm pro choice
because I just don't believe that government makes the best
choices for people in there life, whether it comes to
abortion or the COVID vaccine, or locking people down or
masking people. I just really don't think the government serves
that function well. And I'm vocal about that, and if
people don't like it, like, feel free to disagree, but
it doesn't make me any less conservative than you. There's
(12:16):
a lot of people, and I believe this election was
won by pro choice, suburban Trump voting women. I really do. Yeah.
They showed up and they showed out, and they might
have voted down abortion initiatives that were on their ballot,
but they still voted for Donald Trump because you can
do both things. And I think that that's an important
message that sometimes the right overlooks.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
So how do you feel like Jad redeem himself just
in general?
Speaker 3 (12:49):
During the vice presidential debate, he really spoke to this
issue of abortion, and he said, listen, Republicans have gotten
this wrong for a long time, not in our beliefs,
but in the way that we've messaged it. So we
have to do a better job of being not just
pro life, but pro family, pro women. We have to
do a better job of supporting women wherever they are
in their life and their life choices. And we can't
(13:09):
be judgmental. And we have to foster a dialogue and
a discussion on the right that the right has not
been willing to have. So in my mind, he really
redeemed himself by being honest about that that Republicans have
gotten messaging around that issue wrong. So I really do
think that he understood that he offended people and it
wasn't his intention, and we need to have a better
conversation about those issues on the Republican side. So I
(13:31):
really do and I really am confident in both Donald
Trump and JD. Van said they will do right by
women on this issue. I want to talk to your
followers on this issue because they might not be as
political and they Democrats and Republicans, and they might believe
some of the things that they heard about Donald Trump
and the agenda. Donald Trump has said over and over again,
I will not sign a national abortion ban, and I
believe him when he says it because he was at
(13:53):
one point a pro choice Democrat. Let's be honest. But
Milania Trump, his wife, also vocal in her book about
being pro choice and believing in abortion rights. So he's
got his wife that believes in abortion rights. He says
he will not sign a federal ban. Jadvance will not
sign a federal ban. And just for people out there
that maybe even just don't believe Donald Trump, I have
news for you. There will never be a national abortion
(14:14):
ban in my lifetime on a Republican's desk to sign
the Senate, the House. They're never going to push through
a national abortion ban. It's never going to make it
that far. I promise you this, it's not going to
There's not a consensus on this issue on the right
or on the left. It's never going to get to
that point. The states will have to make up their
own minds, and the voters will be able to decide
in their states, and they will vote down initiatives that
(14:36):
maybe restrict abortion rights. In places like Ohio, they have
already done that. Right in California, You're always going to
be able to get an abortion, So don't worry about it.
New York, You're always going to be able to get
an abortion. Don't worry about it. If you are in
a more conservative state that might restrict those things, put
it up on the ballot and let the people decide.
And you know, there are going to be states that
are more conservative than others. But I had to leave
(14:57):
California because it was too liberal for me, you know,
and there might be people leave more conservative states because
it's too conservative for them. That's your right, that's your ability.
Let the voters decide.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
So well, I think probably what we'll feel is conservative
and liberal states more now, not that they are already
that way, but it might just get a little bit
more intensified.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
And Republicans are going to have to do a better
job of listening to the will of the people and
the will of voters on a couple different issues. When
we're talking about social issues. On abortion, Republicans are going
to have to understand that the majority of the country
believes in exceptions for rape incests, life of the mother.
I mean, I think most people agree with that, So
Republicans are going to have to understand that maybe in
more pro life states, that's where the will of the
(15:37):
American people is. But the left is going to have
to understand that the majority of the American people don't
believe that biological men should compete against women and women's sports.
So there's going to be both sides that are going
to have to have a reckoning and understand the will
of the American people. That will happen. Let it play out.
Returning the issue abortion to the States was the right decision,
and I just hope people have confidence in that. Let
(15:59):
your state to side and they will.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
What do you hope America and the world is going
to look like after these four years that will benefit everyone?
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Well, I would love to see an end to endless wars.
That would be great. If we could stop sending our
money to foreign nations, that would be nice. I think
a lot of Americans feel that way, that, hey, maybe
we should repair things in the United States before we're
sending hundreds of millions or billions of dollars to other
nations to fight their wars and protect their borders. So
that's what I'm excited about. Donald Trump can get that done.
He's done it before, he's going to do it again.
(16:27):
But just on a purely simple level, I would love
to be able to go to the grocery store and
not see senior citizens putting items back because they can't
afford them anymore. I would love to be able to see,
you know, single mothers and families be able to afford
things again and not have to worry every single month
about how they're going to pay bills and how they're
(16:47):
going to keep the lights on, and how they're going
to be able to afford like maybe little luxuries in life.
Maybe go out to a nice dinner with their family
every couple of weeks. I'm excited for that to return,
because it will return under Donald Trump. Your prices are
going to go down. That is a mandate from the
American people. He will get that done.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Is it always this intentional intents around elections or is
this different?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
This is twenty sixteen on. I mean, I don't think
this was like this before Donald Trump. But it's not
Donald Trump's fault. It's the reaction to Donald Trump that's
the problem.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Why did he cause that?
Speaker 3 (17:16):
I wonder because he is a disruptor. He's an outsider
disruptor he is. And you know what it needed disrupting,
It needed disrupting. Okay, so he is a disruptor.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
He came in and disrupted the normal flow of things completely.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Yes, he said everything that everything that's been going on
in this establishment swamp in DC, where unelected bureaucrats spend
your money on things that you don't even know they're
spending your money on, and they waste money, and they
pay defense contractors to go fight endless foreign wars, and
we are hampering American energy and dependence and we're buying
it from foreign hostile nations. All of that is going
(17:49):
to end. And by the way, we're going to secure
our country. We're going to close our borders. We're going
to make sure that people that are in this country illegally,
that have also committed crimes illegally, are deported immediately. We're
going to make sure that young women can go on
a run at the University of Georgia and not be
raped and brutally murdered and had their heads smashed in
with a rock by someone who should have never been here.
That's what Donald Trump said he's gonna do. That's what
(18:10):
he did the first time, and he's going to do
it even better this time. But you know, talking about
women right now, let's have a real discussion. Women are
vulnerable in the United States of America right now and
women always have been. But you're more vulnerable now by
somebody who's been a repeat offender who's been let out
of jail eight times for recommitting violent crimes than you
are because you're worried about your abortion rights. Everybody. We've
(18:32):
got thirteen thousand plus convicted murderers who are illegal aliens
who are in our country. We've got hundreds of people
on the terrorists watch lists that are in our country.
Who do you think is the most vulnerable. It's not
my husband, and it's not your husband, it's you, and
it's me, and it's your daughter, and it's all the
young women out there. Those are the most vulnerable. We
just need to talk to each other more.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That's why I was so excited to talk to you.
I mean I was nervous. Honestly, I was really nervous
because I am not really good at being polarizing like
it makes me, and I'm not rising person. Like I said,
I am very able to see everybody's perspective. I want
everyone to leave a conversation to feel happy, but that's
just not life. And the older I get, the more
I realize I can't be afraid to talk to someone
like you because someone might be mad at me that
(19:13):
I'm hanging out hearing your thoughts on things, right, I
want to know why do you believe what you believe? Like,
why are you so passionate about it? Because there's probably
something to learn there, you know, there's probably something that
we all can resonate with. We don't have to fully
agree with everyone, but we all have information to share.
And if we just listened and loved, So tell me
about that. How do you think we'll get there again?
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Conversations you have to be able to separate what someone
believes in politically or religiously from the person that they
are in, the character that they have, who you voted for,
or what you believe in, or the initiatives that you're
going to vote on. Those are important, are their core
part of who you are, but they're not all of
who you are. And I think if we have more
(19:55):
conversations with people will realize, hey, they come from a
different perspective, they walk in different shoes, and that's okay.
Let's have conversations. Though let's not just talk to people
who think like us. And I've talked about this oftentimes
to conservative groups. It's great to have like minded people
to talk to. It's even better when you can talk
to somebody who disagrees with you politically or personally or professionally,
(20:16):
and you can still be friendly with that person and
you can still have a discussion in a dialogue. It
is possible we've forgotten how to do it. I do
think it's coming back, it's making its way back.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
I agree, I hope, so, I pray so. I think
it has to. I think the only thing left to
do is talk to each other. Now we've done everything
else right right, So, how has married life changed you?
And you went through it like when you were out there,
like you had an engagement before yeah and called it off,
Like you've gone through some big decisions, Like you've gone
through some big moments. How did you know when it
(20:49):
was right? And I would love to ask you about
this because I have a lot of women on my
podcast seeing a women dating women. Yeah, it's hard outre
How do you know when it's wrong? And how do
you know when it's right? Especially when you're someone like
you in the public guy, Like, how do you know
how to decipher who is like actually in it for
you and not just in it for all the things
that come with you? But how do you know when
(21:10):
something's right? And how do you know when it's wrong
when you're in a relationship, Because that's a very hard decision.
I feel like a lot of people make the wrong
one there, especially women. They feel pressure. You know, they're
getting older, they want to get married, they want to
have babies, all of that, whatever the pressure wuy be Well,
first of all, I wouldn't tell anyone to put pressure
on themselves to fit into a timeline, and I think
women have gotten a lot better at that in the
last several years of not sticking by a timeline. If
(21:33):
I would have gotten married when I was twenty five
or twenty six or twenty seven, I would have been divorced.
And now I'm thirty two, and then who knows if
I would have been remarried by it would have just
been a disaster. I waited until I was thirty to
get married, and I would encourage that, I honestly would.
Some people find the person are supposed to be with
much younger in life, and that's great. Most people, you
have to go through seasons of your life to be
(21:53):
ready to get married. That was the case for me
and especially doing what I do. So for me, yes,
there's people that want to be with me because they're
faan that's sicky to me. I've gone down that path before.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
That's weird. I dated a fan well, somebody that like
maybe maybe I intimidated them and I it was too
easy for me to walk all over them, or I
was too big of a personality, right, I really think
you have to have somebody that doesn't have to necessarily
match your personality. But somebody that can handle your personality
and doesn't just become like a supporting character, like matches
(22:27):
your vibration, right, it just and it has to work.
I waited until later in life when I found that person.
And so my husband, you know, he's played professional sports,
he's been married to someone before, who has been in
the public eye, been through that done. That is also
somebody who is not going to shy away from the
controversy that comes with being with me. That's never something
that he's calculated in or cared about. And he's be
(22:48):
the first person to defend me, and he's not going
to let anybody tell him that he can't be proud
or supportive of me.
Speaker 2 (22:53):
That was important to me very like I have to
have to have that. I have to you'd be dead
without that.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
Yeah, I can't have somebody that wants to hide who
they're with or is embarrassed of it.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Or trying to make you small. That that's a big
part of the problem. Yes, for a lot of try
to dim you down, right, and we're going to try
to censor you, right. And I could never be with
someone like I'm not really sensorable, like that wouldn't have
That would have been a feudal endeavor if he ever
would have tried to do that.
Speaker 3 (23:17):
It just it doesn't work. But I have somebody who's
strong willed as well determined, successful, somebody who knows what
it's like to be in the spotlight. That's important for me.
For me, I need to have that. But I have
a lot of friends who are not in the spotlight.
But they are in their late thirties, maybe even their
early forties, never been married, don't have kids, maybe not
even seriously dating somebody. And I get that that pressure
(23:38):
is there and it is not easy. And I did
back during the COVID times when I had first moved
to Nashville and I was very single. I did from
La danger Out twenty twenty. How was that April of
twenty twenty, don't remember it or anything? Yeah, Mark time right. So, honestly,
Nashville was the most fun in COVID that endeavor has been.
So I think Nashville was actually at its peak during
(23:59):
COVID when the lockdown's eased. It was a wild time.
But I did it like a PSA to boyish men
because I was trying to date in Nashville, and I
I was frustrated, and my friends are frustrated, and they're
still frustrated. This is not an easy city to be in.
There's a pluthor of women here, like this is a
there's a lot of women here. There's a lot of
young women here. There's a lot of you know, there's
(24:19):
just there's it's a target rich environment. But it is
in la and it is in Dallas, and it is
in every place I've ever lived in. I mean the
community that you're in or at the city that you're in.
It's hard everywhere. It just is. But I have noticed
with my friends it's hard because men that are their
age are a little bit older, they want to be
with the twenty five year olds. So it's hard. Yeah,
(24:39):
it is, And I'm not going to say that it's not.
It's not easy. It's hard because everybody's living a life
for social media now. And I have found that the
twenty five year olds want to be with the forty
five year olds, not because they're attracted to the forty
five year olds, but because the forty five year olds
have money and they want to live a life on
social media and they want to have things. But then
the twenty five year olds are skilled open all the
(25:00):
forty five year olds that should be with the forty
year olds. I don't know the solution to the problem.
I think there are good men out there. But I
think another part of the thing I'm excited about in
America is I think masculinity is making a comeback. And
people think masculinity is like dating a bunch of girls
and macho.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
No.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
No, no. Masculinity is being a strong enough man that
you want to be with a strong woman and you
want to marry her and you want to have kids,
and you want to be faithful. That's masculinity, and I
think that is making a comeback. Slowly, but surely.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
How has married life been? How long have you been married?
Speaker 3 (25:44):
Just over two years? Just a little bit over two years? Yeah,
and y'all, so you met him here? No, I met
him on Instagram? You met him on Instagram? And how
did that happen? She just slid into the g slid
into the DMS and he's he was in Miami at
the time, yours. Yeah, yeah, I didn't. I'm not really
in the like you're going to send out the random
DMS phase of my life. No, no, But I've met
(26:06):
up Most of the people that I've ever dated has
been through social media, okay, because it's listen, it's a
way to connect with people that's outside of having to
go to a bar, which I'm not against, but it's
not easy. And during COVID especially wasn't easy because we
were that was taken away from us robbed. I would say,
I have a lot of thoughts on COVID policies, but
(26:26):
I listen. I met my husband on Instagram, lived in Miami.
I told him he'd be moving to Nashville within a year,
and you knew nine months later he moved to Nashville. Well, yes,
because I think when you meet somebody and you you
just have a connection, it's pretty obvious. And when you're older,
you recognize it. I would say, when you're thirty plus,
you recognize it. So for all the women out there
who think they have to find someone by age twenty six,
(26:48):
I promise you don't, and it actually will probably be
better for you if you wait until you for fully matured.
And it takes men longer to mature. So my husband's
going to be thirty nine in January. That's a good
age separation.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
How old.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Are you thirty two?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
You've accomplished so much to be thirty two years old?
Speaker 3 (27:05):
Why I appreciate it. When did you get to work
twenty one? I started twenty one, so you were ready?
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, you were ready to get in there.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, because I'm an only child. See, so take comfort
in that.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
Well, my daughter is she's got such spirits, so I
feel that. And she can talk to adults. She can
she loves to be involved. She was very sad she
cannot be with this interview today. She was like, do
I get to be at the podcast? But yeah, okay,
So you were ready to go?
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (27:30):
How and we'll wrap up soon because I know you
are so busy, especially right now in your life. But
how did that moment when you went on the view?
I think it was twenty seventeen and you were working
for the Blade. It was a big, big career opportunity.
You're in a big career moment, like you had been
going viral. You had your catch saying like Tommy's thoughts,
(27:51):
what was it your final final thoughts?
Speaker 3 (27:52):
I still do them, yes, but I mean it.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
Had taken off. You were like all over the place
and you were on the view giving your opinions and
the abortion thing where you said you were kind of
pro choice happened and there's a big fallout. How did
that affect you? And what is that like to be
in a moment when you're in a dream job, you're
in a dream position, you're actually like on the view,
I mean, you're kind of like you're kind of at
a peak.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Nothing.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
There's a lot more peaks to get.
Speaker 3 (28:14):
But that's a big Yeah, it's a big time for me.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
To have it have such a backlash, like how do
you handle that? How did that go down? And it
obviously turned into something very positive because now you're independent
and you've been able to pursue things in your own way.
But I'm sure for the moment it might have felt
like that was earth shuttering for me. It would have,
but you're a lot, like I said, you're a lot
more you know.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
At the time. At the time, it was really stressful
because I was twenty four and I wasnt going handled
through a lawsuit with a television network, So that was stressful.
It costs a lot of money. It was stressful in
that it was a battle that I never thought I
would have to fight over saying my political opinions. I
thought that that's what I got paid to do, was
say my political opinions. But listen, it worked out the
(28:58):
way that it was supposed to, and I think I
think for as many people that were mad at me
for my stance on that, I think I also gained
a lot of trust. And I'll tell you why, because
that was right after Donald Trump had won. A lot
of people saw me as kind of one of the
front people for Donald Trump. Like I was a big
advocate and supporter of Donald Trump throughout the election. I
was one of the foremost people out there on social
media advocating for Donald Trump. So I had a huge
conservative following at that time. I go on the View
(29:21):
and I say, listen, I'm pro choice because I believe
in limited government. And then there were some people that
kind of went silent because it was like, well, we
thought that this girl was just this raw, raw Trump cheerleader,
this conservative beacon for us, and now she's saying something
that might be rocking our perception of her. And so
for a moment there, I think people were a little stunned.
(29:41):
But as time went on, I think I gained a
lot of trust because they realize I'm going to tell
you how I think, and it's not going to be
to fit into a narrative or to get a paycheck
or to make the right people happy. It's going to
be because this is actually what I believe. So when
I raw raw for Trump and I tell you he's
gonna bring your grocery prices down, he's going to end
endless wars, and he's not going to sign a national
(30:02):
abortion band, I feel like I've gained some credibility because
if I thought he was gonna not do those things,
I would tell you, yeah, because I'm not. I'm beyond
the point where I'm appeasing people on either side. I
gained a lot of trust through that experience, through people
who have listened to me, and they might not always
agree with it, but they appreciate the fact that I'm
going to be honest, and that's something that I will
I will always be.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
It's always there's always a blessing in those moments, like
they're always there. What would you want to tell someone
who's in the middle of what feels like their whole
life is shifting, Like how do you how do you
handle those how do you get the perspective to handle
that correctly. If you're in the middle of it.
Speaker 3 (30:37):
It's always a redirection. I've been at Fox this my
eight year at Fox New you would never be here
right and and OutKick was acquired by Fox News. Clay
Travis has always been a good friend of mine, but
he started OutKick, and he's another visionary. He started OutKick
from right here in Nashville, Tennessee, and he sold it
to Fox News I believe maybe four almost five years
ago now, and then you know, I naturally came on
(30:58):
board with OutKick being at Fox News and being on
the digital side. I did Fox Nation. Now I'm over
at OutKick with Clay and you know, many other voices,
Riley Gaines and others, and we're just building out the
digital space and just being able to podcast and stream
and connect with people not only people that watch Fox News,
but people that are more on the digital side, that
maybe watch more of culture and sports and politics and
(31:20):
the intersection of all those things. So everywhere, everything that
you do, every redirection is an opportunity. For me, it
was a massive opportunity and it's just led to all
good things for me. Through an uncomfortable time, many good
things came out of it and being uncomfortable is really important.
If something scares you, I would say, run towards it,
because once you run towards it and you accomplish it
(31:42):
and you come out on the other side, then you've
just strengthened yourself for the next challenge rather than ducking
or shying away from things that scare you.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
That's amazing. How is the podcast? Tell me a spear less?
How's that been?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
It's great? You know, we love being in Nashville and
OutKick is a brand that was born in Nashville. So
Clay and I the fact that we can be in
Nashville and we can talk to a Fox News audience,
so we can also talk to our OutKick audience, and
it is it's really OutKick was developed as an answer
to woke sports media, and then it also evolved into
being an answer to woke social media and woke politics,
(32:16):
and that's what we do. So I love to be
able to be a part of that and to say
what I want to say. And taking that with the
Fox News side has been a really big tool and
asset to all of us at OutKick.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
I always wrap up with Leader Light and it's super
open ended it's basically, what do you want people to know?
Just to drop some inspiration.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
I want people to know that it is okay for
people not to like you. Mmm, ooh, okay, it really is.
You're not going to be for everybody, and that is
okay because if you are for everybody and absolutely every
single person out there loves you, you're probably holding some
part of you back.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Now.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
I'm not saying you can't be a generally likable person.
Most people you know aspire to be that. But if
you are hiding in your show in such a way
that you're not being full of yourself because you're afraid
of people not liking you, you're really not living up
to your full potential. So I would encourage you to
be yourself and to still aspire to be likable and
liked by many. But there will be things about you
(33:16):
if you're authentically honest, that people are not going to like,
and that is okay. What's on the other side of
being authentically yourself? True freedom, true and honest and open freedom.
Often when I do interviews, people ask me like, what's
it like to be hated? What's it like to you know,
have to worry about if people dislike you. And my
question back is always like, what is it like to
walk into a room and be worried that people are
(33:38):
going to figure out who you are? Like, people don't
have to figure out who I am. I walk in
already knowing that I'm gonna walk into an event this
weekend with MLB players and their wives and there's gonna
be people in that room that love me, and there's
gonna be people in that room that hate me and
they've never met me before. But you know what, I
don't have to worry about like having like a well
(33:58):
did you vote for Trump? Like I walk into a room,
guess what you're gonna know and you can choose to
interact with me or not based on how you feel
about me, But you're never gonna have a question about
where I stand. And that, to me is really liberating.
So I would encourage people to find that within themselves
because it's true freedom.
Speaker 2 (34:16):
I love that. Tommy Lauren, amazing. Okay, everyone check out
your podcast. Tell us everything you have going on and
where everyone can find it.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
You can find me on Fox News. I'm a Fox
News commentator, so you can often find me on Hannity Barney,
Fox Business across all those platforms, and then OutKick dot
com one pm Eastern Monday through Friday. That's where my
show streams live. Thank you so much, Tommy, thank you
for having me. I appreciate it. Hie
Host
Caroline Hobby
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