The Positive Populist With Steve Hilton

Raymond Arroyo is a New York Times bestselling author, journalist, and producer that you may know best from his work on Laura Ingraham's radio show and appearing as a FOX News Contributor. Raymond and Steve discuss how he was a fan of Alexander Hamilton before it was cool, how he broke into the industry, and the impact that theater has on the way we view the world around us. Plus, Raymond explains why he thinks all Americans are a faithful people and the morality that the founding fathers were working toward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rob Smith is an Iraq War veteran and political analyst who is a contributor for Turning Point USA, an advocacy group for young conservatives and a FOX News Contributing Opinion Columnist.  He refers to himself as, "America's favorite black, gay, Republican." Steve and Rob discuss his childhood growing up in Ohio's working-class, the policies he's passionate for and both of his "coming out" stories. Plus, Rob shares how he went from being a registered Democrat to a staunch Republican Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tomi Lahren currently serves as host of FOX Nation's daily programs First Thoughts and Final Thoughts. On First Thoughts (9:30AM/ET) Tomi delivers her opinion on the latest news in politics and pop culture. Following, her signature Final Thoughts (6PM/ET) recaps her views on the day's top stories. In addition to her role on FOX Nation, Lahren is a contributor for FNC, offering political commentary across the network's opinion programming, primarily on Hannity and FOX & Friends. Lahren joined the network in August 2017. In this episode Tomi explains her perspective on starting a dialogue and engaging people with a different point of view. This is especially evident from her early days in college when she would challenge her liberal professors and express that she had a different point of view without being confrontational. "But I really wanted to challenge and I wanted to inform or at least provide a perspective and start a dialogue. And I don't think that you can necessarily always do that when you just stay in your group. I would much rather speak to a group that disagrees with me to this day I would rather be challenged than just sit there and say the same thing back to someone who is mirroring my views." Plus, we'll learn more about her new book "Never Play Dead: How the Truth Makes You Unstoppable" (available July 2nd), the audience's reaction to her on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and what led to her show being suspended on The Blaze. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lisa Boothe joined FOX News Channel (FNC) in 2016 as a network contributor, providing political analysis and commentary across FNC's daytime and primetime programming. In addition to her role at FNC, Boothe is the founder and president of High Noon Strategies, a boutique political communications and public affairs firm. She is also a contributing writer for The Washington Examiner. Prior to her current positions, Boothe was part of the executive team of WPA Research where she led the polling efforts for political campaigns across the country. Additionally, Boothe has led communications efforts for congressmen, senators and Super PACs. Boothe graduated with a B.A. in political science and government from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American businesswoman and Former pro wrestling executive, Linda McMahon, resigned in March 2019 from her President Trump appointed position as Administrator of the Small Business Association and is now the Chairman of America First Action, a pro-Trump Super PAC. In 2009 McMahon left the WWE to run as a Republican for the United States Senate in Connecticut. While campaigning for the position a local reporter asked her what the hardest part of running was and she responded with a concise critique of what is wrong with the media today. "The most difficult thing is that while I'm sitting here talking to you today, something could be happening somewhere in the world. I can walk out of this door, I can be confronted by one of your reporters, and ask for my opinion on it. If I don't have an opinion, I'm stupid. If I haven't heard about it, I'm ill-informed. But, if I make a statement, and then as I learn more about it, want to change or enhance what I've said now, I'm a flip-flopper. So, it's incredibly difficult to run, and to have a ready answer at all times with the 24-hour news cycle." Linda McMahon also speaks candidly about her working relationship with President Trump, and her mission when leading the Small Business Association. It's a fascinating and enlightening conversation that you don't want to miss. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google, TuneIn, or Stitcher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's guest is Ryan Williams, President of the Claremont Institute and Publisher of the Claremont Review of Books. Mr. Williams started at the institute as a fellow and worked his way up through the years to eventually lead the conservative think tank. Steve and Ryan discuss the roots of populism, and President Trump's role in returning our country politically closer to those roots. "As Charles Kesler wrote a couple of years ago, you know, Trump in a way is returning the Republican Party to its roots. You know, in the 1980s the Republican Party was sort of pro-assimilationist on immigration. It kind of closed borders, pro tariff to look after American workers and and slightly more modest." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some fans remember Lisa Kennedy Montgomery from her days as a radio show host and MTV VJ. Now she is the host of FOX Business Networks' "Kennedy" and appears on FOX News Channel's "Outnumbered" regularly. What many people many not know is that Kennedy admits that she didn't graduate from high school. "I don't have a high school diploma, but I do have a bachelor's degree." She was politically active at a young age, and she found a way to craft a career out of two areas is passionate about, music and politics. The Charlatans - Sproston Green     Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ben Carson, United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, joins the podcast this week. He has had an incredible career as a Director of Pediatric Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Maryland, an author of several books, and presidential candidate in the Republican primaries in 2016 prior to joining President Trump's cabinet. His appetite for knowledge started at a young age as an avid reader of books. "... for me reading really turned my life around completely. And I realized that if you can get a young person reading at grade level by third grade it changes the trajectory of their life." "I was interested in medicine even when I was a terrible student. I used to listen to the mission stories in church and Sabbath school they frequently featured missionary doctors who seemed to me to be like the most noble people of the earth. And that's what I wanted to do. And you know it changed over time from missionary doctor to psychiatry. So the doctor thing was quite early on. Listen to his fascinating political origin story as he explains how he navigated his journey from a self-proclaimed liberal democrat to running for president as a Republican nominee. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sara Carter is an award winning investigative reporter and FOX News contributor who willingly takes on some pretty dangerous assignments. She has covered Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, the cartels trafficking drugs across the Mexico border, and so much more. She is a world traveler who has a insatiable appetite for getting to the truth and telling people's stories. "We have to look at every issue and every policy angle. But, it is about the people, and it is about what is important to the people. And getting those stories out. That's the true essence of being an American. It's that freedom. It's that liberty that you don't see anywhere else in the world. No matter where I've gone, I've never seen anything as magnificent as this nation. And, the fear for me, I think the fear for me over the recent months is where are we going and what have we done. Because we've chosen to ignore what's been happening in our school systems. We haven't paid attention to the people that are indoctrinating right our kids." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A former democrat, now an independent, a Political consultant, a crisis manager, 2016 National Racial Justice Director for the Bernie Sanders campaign, and public relations specialist are merely just a few of the titles and experience that Tezlyn Figaro holds. Tezlyn didn't have the easiest of environments growing up as a child surrounded by gangs and drugs. At an early age her family experienced the loss of her infant brother, her parent's divorced, and as a result her life experiences were tumultuous throughout. Listen to Tezlyn and learn how she was able to turn that all around with her fighting spirit by becoming very active at the local level and progressing to the national stage as the 2016 National Racial Justice Director for the Bernie Sanders campaign, and now a FOX News Channel as a contributor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and an opinion columnist for The Washington Post. Henry's work "focuses on how America's political order is being upended by populist challenges, from the left and the right." He also studies populism's impact in other democracies in the developed world. Mr. Olsen's opinion pieces for The Washington Post focus on politics, populism, foreign affairs and American conservative thought. He has authored several books including: Working Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism, and The Four Faces of the Republican Party, co-authored with Dante Scala. "I grew up at a time of the Cold War and something attracted me to being politically interested as young as 6 years old. I remember following the 1968 presidential race you know. " "I was somebody who conflated American conservatism with what could be called populism. I grew up in Reagan's California. I volunteered for the Republican Party starting when I was 12 and imbibed California conservatism as part of my political philosophy." "And what's happened was, you know, over time I began to think that the things that I believed in weren't being upheld by the philosophy that was being propounded. And, for me I started thinking in the early part of this decade about how do we recover that? So, I thought, well I'm gonna go back to Ronald Reagan. I'm going to start learning about it because when Reagan took over he became the leader of the Republican Party. The Republican Party was considered a dinosaur. It had one third of the members of the house. It had thirty-something members of the Senate, it controlled four of the fifty states, and the common wisdom was the only solution was to move left, and Reagan not only moved it to the right, but he made it the equal of the Democratic Party for the first time in 50 years. So the question is how does he do this?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Buskirk is the editor and publisher of American Greatness. Chris learned to be an avid history buff at an early age. A stint working for the university as a graduate helped him realize that he was not interested in becoming an academic. Fast forward through 20 years of entrepreneurship in various finance businesses and we find Chris at a crossroads. "So, about three and a half-ish years ago... I was at a sort of crossroads career-wise, and I had all the things, I had time motivation and an opportunity to get back involved in politics in a serious way. And I was only too happy to take it." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign, joins the show today. You won't believe her wonderful story of how she worked as a medical professional for 14 years and became politically active in the Tea Party. Katrina then recounts the bold moment she walked up to Mr. Trump and addressed him directly. It was at that moment she was thrust on a path that would lead to her eventually becoming the National Spokesperson for the 2016 Trump presidential campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tammy Bruce joins the program today with a very unique perspective. Tammy is a radio host and contributor on the FOX News Channel. There was a time where Tammy supported and represented the ideas of a "classic liberal." She served as the president of the Los Angeles chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women) for six years between 1990 and 1996. But, at what point did she find that the liberal ideas and agenda were no longer the right fit for her. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charlie Kirk founded Turning Point USA at the ripe young age of 18. Charlie shares his fascinating story of how an unconventional pitch in a stairwell at the Republican National Convention lead to a $10,000 investment in Turning Point in 2012. Just four years later Charlie was asked to speak at the RNC where he met Donald Trump Jr. The two hit if off and he began to travel the country with Trump Jr., and eventually lead the youth efforts for the 2016 campaign. It's a fascinating story, and Charlie's passion shines through in this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reihan Salam is the executive editor of the National Review. He has a brilliant new book out called "Melting Pot Or Civil War? A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders." Reihan is a big influential figure in politics, and he joins us today to share his fascinating political origin story. Reihan is the newly named president of the conservative think tank, Manhattan Institute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sebastian Thrun is our first guest. He is an incredible computer scientist. One of the inventors of self-driving cars, now working on flying cars. He is the founder of a company called Udacity. It is an incredibly interesting company helping people to acquire skills for the jobs of the future. Sebastian was really the pioneer of the whole movement we've seen for what's called Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) which is online distance learning. There is so much more to unpack with Sebastian in this episode. Let's dive right in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We welcome Jason Chaffetz to the podcast. Jason is a retired politician and now a political commentator. Some of you may have seen him many times as a contributor on the FOX News Channel. Prior to joining FOX News he was the U.S. Representative for the 3rd congressional district from 2009 until his resignation 2017. Jason shares his journey from high school, through his business career, and serving in Congress, and his role as a political analyst. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices