>> welcomed back to the nixon presidential library. [applause] my name is jim byron and i'm the executive vice president of the richard nixon foundations my pleasure to welcome you back. this is the nixon foundation's only second in person east room event since march of 2020.

and the biggest crowd. [applause] the biggest crowd we have assembled since then and our first book signing event at nearly 17 months of thank you to all of you. [applause] for being here and for being part of it. i'd like to start by recognizing a few special guests who are here with us today beginning with christopher nixon cox a member of the board of directors for the nixon foundation. [applause] and the grandson of president and mrs. nixon, sandy quinn a member of the board of directors and the nixon foundation and former president of the nixon foundation. [applause] councilwoman beth haney of the city of yorba linda. where is she? there she is. [applause] and councilman gene hernandez.

[applause] and a special welcome to jesse's wife. thank you for joining us. [applause] emma and jesse left their 4-month-old baby to be with us here tonight. we appreciate them for being with us here tonight. how many of you are members of the nixon presidential library? i want to see everyone's hands shoot up or that's pretty good. how many of you have renewed your membership since covid? that's better than i was expecting. if you are not a member i would encourage you to look at it gives you receive all kinds of special benefits including advanced ticket sales to events like this one and you can sign up at nixon foundation.org. i'd the pleasure of welcoming

staff to the nixon moderator our moderator jennifer and a host of of -- on kla said i'm ready but he can hear jennifer every weekday along with her cohost from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. on a.m. 870. please welcome jennifer horn. [applause] >> i think every host of "fox news" channel has graced the stage. we have had greg gutfeld. we have had dana perino. we have had juan williams. nobody till one. let's hope he's not watching.

we haven't had jesse watters so we are going to fix that tonight. jesse joined the "fox news" channel in 2002 as a production assistant and became a correspondent for "the o'reilly factor" where he became the trademark man on the street interviews which of worse we all know. he hosts "watters' world" every saturday evening enisa cohost and jesse's look "how i saved the world" is available for purchase tonight. ladies and gentlemen please join me in welcoming jesse watters. [applause] ♪♪ ♪♪

>> thank you guys. >> jennifer and jesse the stage is yours. >> welcome to california. >> thank you for having me. [applause] i can't believe you guys decided juan williams --. >> i spent all weekend reading the book and i loved it. if you haven't read it yet it is equal parts memoir current events analysis which is really cool and comedy and i loved it because i'm a fan of yours and i visualize you talking to me about it. what made you decide to write this book during a pandemic during the crazy election-year,

was the catalyst collects. >> i needed the money. [laughter] >> a new baby, right? >> i'm not going to lie i needed the money. i'd i've gotten to the point in my life where i had the time to reflect on 20 years at "fox news" in covering the news. "the o'reilly factor" and i just wanted to share these stories. and then the pandemic hits so i had no excuse. there was nothing else to do except write the book so we got it all down and then we got it out, perfectly timed so i hit the number one slot on "the new york times" list right before

mark love and dropped his book. [applause] it was close. >> congratulations on that. >> at "the new york times" and the media's number two i would have just said they rigged it. >> in the book a porsche talk about overly and as a talk radio person i've love how you love to rush and you talked about your mom and the whole cast of people who influence you. who is the biggest influence on jesse watters the man and jesse watters. >> are you making me choose between rush, o'reilly and my mom? >> for c-span and the entire nixon presidential library. it's probably your mom. >> that's where you are wrong. she's not watching.

i was inebriated in college one night in the dorm room and i woke up from my stupor and c-span was on the television. i saw the republican politicians on the floor pontificating about god knows what and is as a history major they sounded exactly like what the founding fathers had proposed, limited government, personal responsibility and then i had an awakening. and by a republican. i thought, i am a republican and the next day i'd turned limp -- limbaugh on and that was it. [applause] my mother hated limbaugh and so i would make my mom listened to limbaugh on long car rides.

[laughter] and i think one time we were listening and there was a monologue from russia about welfare reform and i think she nearly drove the car off the road. limbaugh bitterly joked by mom crazy and i said to myself, i love this guy. so there was a little bit of rebellion there but for me brush was the first one that really grabbed me and after that o'reilly took hold of me and basically unleashed me into the country. >> we just met tonight but watching you you are a blend of rush who has quit and why a lot of people like your mom listened to rush because he is funny and you have the style of asking those questions that are unafraid that bill o'reilly has an eye can see how that helped you but i want to get back to your mom for second.

i have a liberal mom too. she listens to my show every day and she is dedicated. she sends text. are you insane in these kind of things. where did i go wrong? i know that my mom has influenced me in want -- wanting to talk to all sorts of people and not just living in an echo chamber. what did your mom do for you begase you do not in read directly? >> well my mom is very important in making me be nice to people. that's why i'm so polite. i'm very well mannered. [laughter] why are you laughing? >> i've seen the arguments. >> i think i'm well mannered. that was something that was important to her to make sure that i was nice to everyone no matter if it's the janitor, the ceo, a homeless person, a

liberal. [laughter] i just had to treat everybody with respect. >> somebody's playing bingo over there. so i try to treat everybody with respect whether i'm on the street or sitting next to juan. i tried to respect everybody no matter who they are and that was something she instilled in me. >> you are a funny guy. we think he's funny, don't we? [applause] it's funny because conservatives can laugh. we can have a good time and we can laugh at ourselves but liberals can't in the book you talk about how liberals just don't appreciate comedy and it's so evident in the late-night shows for the days of johnny carson are over and everyone's just making political statements. why do you think the left is so

afraid of comedy? >> well i laugh at myself because there's a lot of material there. [laughter] it's that self-deprecating humor that's critical to what i do because i can't take myself too seriously or people would think i was just an arrogant, i'm not going to say it. so humor disarms people especially on the street in dealing with these radicals. one of the things liberals have done is really tried to police conservative camera recently. jon stewart is very effective at ridicule and he had that run for a while on "the daily show" where he was really moving the needle even on policy. were republicans were terrified of this guy and he was just resting them and they show is very influential and then he dumped out and now he's on a farm and he grew a beard. putting conservatives tried to enter that realm of comedy

liberals don't want to do it because they know how effective comedy is. they know how effective ridicule is an number one if you allow conservatives to have that in their arsenal that could be very damaging to the liberal cause but when conservatives are funny and also humanizes them and it makes him likeable and conservatives can't be likeable, right? if we are likeable than we were actually real people and if we are real people than we can't be canceled because they. dehumanize us, right? they try to say they are not seasoned races and bigots and not even worth the conversation and not even worth paying in the industry. so if they are able to cancel waters -- amanda montell how is

someone going to feed his family? how was watters going to feed jesse jr.? >> a big problem. >> that's why they are so uptight with conservative humor. >> we live and guessing most of us in this room live in california and is not the easiest place to be a conservative. >> i live in new york. >> i know. in "how i saved the world" you talk to that getting attacked in the subway. >> he thought i was pete hegseth. [laughter] >> he poured beer on you and that's a bad day.

you have confronted judges and even college kids and you asked president trump if he drinks and smokes weed. >> imagine if he did? >> i love it trump rally but i don't know if i'm ready for it. >> just say no. >> exactly. so what advice can you give people who have to ask hard questions every day or who have to speak out to their co-workers or their bosses to not be afraid. you've asked tough questions and you've put yourself in tough situations. what advice can you give to californians functioning in a very blue state? >> i don't want to give anyone advice that's going to get fired

i think everybody has to use their best judgment. i wouldn't tell a college kid to go guns blazing to their professor and start fights. i wouldn't do that but i think they need to ask tough questions and they need to realize that there college professors may be indoctrinating them and they are smart to discern between propaganda and what the lesson plan is but if you're in a corporate setting that can be dangerous because now corporations have woke. i wouldn't put myself in the position where i could lose my job just to say build the wall. [laughter] go home and say that or go to a bar and say that. i would not say that to my boss. my boss is a democrat but i think obviously you are

passionate about what you believe and and you aren't going to holster your rhetorical revolver so it's important for people to take a stand when they need to take a stand like gary you were seeing sing with critical race theory. people are now going to school board hearings. no one ever goes to a school board hearing. it's the most boring thing in the world. why would you do that on a tuesday night that is so polluted what they are doing with these children and racism that you are getting parents who have never even voted to drive to a school board hearing and scream at these stupid officials. [applause] and that is something that's important. [applause] >> republicans have traditionally been taken down by isms. the republican party of old, you call matt romnius sexist and you

call -- a sexist. obviously had no shame bone so he broke the mold. the republicans before trump are taken down by the isms and you make an interesting point in your book which is republicans have to be evil so liberals can be good. how can the gop not go back because all of the seed that will shift. we we are seeing that shift of republicans starting to go back to fighting hard against culture. how can we stick with i guess the trump in style of not letting isms take us down? >> what the democrats do is they have labeled their opposition evil and they do that the cause if someone you were running against his evil the ends justified the ends. if you're running against then you can break the law. you can call or anything.

you don't even have to debate the substance and it makes sense. so it's not just a psychological copout. trump is very accurate does not have a shame bone among other things. and the country was hungry for that and trump got elect did a little bit on policy but mostly on attitude. his attitude. he galvanized the country and in the way the country was already galvanized. he just gave that part of the country of boys and every time he he would dismissed these ridiculous allegations against him and the attacks the states went wild to cut is the point of it all is the mob only goes for the soft spot.

mobs only look for penetration but if you're constantly -- then they are going to win every time. it's apparent the most important word the parent has is no. america just needs to learn how to say no. we are going to it change the name and where going to fire anybody we aren't going to resign. go for that soft spot in and that is what the mob will do. if the mob needs opposition trump would give them opposition. he didn't budge in the country over relied on culture and history on political correctness that would move in a different direction and that's what the mob does. you have to stand up to the mob. >> we have had lessons we have

learned and what you were writing this book you saw a lot of lessons that the gop learned. it's very symptomatic of what we learned in california. republicans lost a lot of people in california so there are lessons to be learned from 2020. but do you think or what should president trump's role be in the midterms and when you think your chances are and how do you think he should he or shouldn't be involved? >> while trump is going to play games in the primaries with people he has personal vendettas against. [applause] buddies also a great fund-raiser and will hold rallies and i

think his endorsement track record is excellent. he will definitely be a big player in depending on how we do and i think there are four critical issues critical race theory the border inflation gas prices and the crime wave. those four things are going to drive midterm turnout for republicans and those are issues that are not isms. those are things that impact regular families. the price of gas, crime, the borders and critical race theory because that affects the children in parents and voters feel that. it's my like russia, collusion. it's not in the sky. it's real stuff that moms feel. they made moms angry.

number one rule in politics don't make moms mad. [applause] so moms are angry and that means dads are angry and that means they turn out so i think you take back the senate debate wave in the house and the starkly that the trend most republicans screwed up which there is a chance of put it that point trump is going to look at the landscape and ask them i going to take another shot? he's going to have to make that decision for himself. he also has a nice life. golf every day at mar-a-lago or bedminster eight. great courses so if he doesn't run i think desantis, the nomination is his.

[applause] >> what is the likelihood of a trump desantis ticket? a hush filled the room. >> would do we think of trump watters? what do we think of trump watters? that's a powerful ticket. the desantis ticket. >> i would go with someone. if i'm drafted. >> you will do it preserve your country. >> send the checks. >> are we starting a sub one super pac? >> just filling up your gas tank to get over here. >> i landed at lax and it was

$4.79 a gallon. >> u.s. how much it cost to fill up an suv and i have one of those, $70. unbelievable. 99? so this brings me to my question about about california. we have a recall election going on. [applause] i think one of our mutual friends larry elder is in that race. the [applause] so i ask you jesse watters will you save christmas? how in the world do we save --

[laughter] >> if you tell us to move we can't. >> is california beyond saving or can you say that? >> look at this room. >> not being an expert in california but what they have done with illegal immigration is against the republican party so a huge problem there and then you have the supermajority in the state legislature. and i assume the california supreme court is not too conservative. >> now. >> okay. what was the question again and? >> you saved the world. can you save california? >> well i would just say we have got to start at the local level and i know orange county really is where it's at.

[applause] if i was the concert of living here i would try to deep luda size my campaign and i think caitlyn is tried to do that but she's having trouble with it. but it's the brand of republicanism is taking a beating california because we are just so outnumbered. if you can just make it about performance, about management because the state has been poorly managed. >> it's hard to manage estate when you are using the punchline. >> you started the school board and you started the council level and you started the state senator level. you start small and you start winning small and thinking about management and make it about how families lives are being

impacted by poor policies and then showcase that impact with stories of these families and that's a way to put a face on it and just don't play into the social stuff because they will try to get you on race and transgender stuff every time. then you are in defense. put them on defense. that's how you win california. >> i think you are so right. [applause] make it about them. don't make it about you make it about them. >> we have a lot that can be done and what i love in the book you talk about the power of an individual. i thought to give away oiler will let you have a personal

power that we all have. it's about personal responsibility and you say that in the book that everything centers around that so how did you come to that conclusion? >> i found love. >> she is the sweetest by the way. >> i've gotten to place my life my life where i felt i could write this book were after that i got insight into who i was and what that was all about so i decided to share the stories and really share my life in this book and the book is about my life and how i live my life

through my liberal mother and through my experiences with trump and o'reilly and all of that and if anybody knows me they know i needed saving. glasgow and i saved me and if everybody because as you know it's my world. i save the world but if everybody can save themselves in and the world would be a better place. so stop comment liberals do this all the time. liberals are always trying to fix everybody else's problems, right? they need to fix their own problems. [inaudible] >> what are you doing tomorrow? >> i should just stay in california.

[applause] >> i think they would love that, right? a 102nd answer but what if you learned about writing this book? >> i've learned them are pretty good writer. >> i will give you that. [laughter] >> that was 10 seconds. jennifer and jesse lets give them a round of applause. [applause] we are tight on time so we are only going to get a couple of questions and then we'll move into a book signing. we have to apologize that we cannot take photos with their phones and we can't do personal -- our first question is going to from somebody

special wanted to be here tonight. he's a colleague of yours jesse and if he would face the screen and take his first question. >> hello nixon library. i was looking at the way he looks at live and work, politics. hello nixon library. i've one question for jesse. how was working with greg gutfeld influence the way he looks at live and work politics and everything in general? i imagine it's had a huge impact but i'd like to hear it from him. thank you. [laughter] [applause] >> notice the wind? and one of the chapters in the book i actually write direct

quotes from greg gutfeld that he says during the commercial break. now if they found the commercial break conversations we probably have the best show on television but also the shortest. greg would get is canceled in about one day. i will just give an example. this is a direct quote from gutfeld on a commercial break. the best way to kill your wife, take or hiking. [laughter] -- take her hiking. >> it's terrible. and i'm not answering that stupid question. >> right here in the center role we have a question. >> hi jesse. one of the questions my wife and i want to know is what is the genesis of the handholding with dana perino?

c so, nothing would be more delicious if i was canceled. it's clear that the big target on my back. i have to be careful because we are on live television. i believe i was about to wade into a pretty dicey topic obviously involving women and i think it was the peloton commercial so it was about weight loss and wives and it was treacherous. [laughter] so i had some commentary prepared that i thought was a little on the edge and i said dana i'm about to address the topic but i want you to hold my hand and i want you to squeeze it if i start going off the rails. [laughter] and she couldn't do that when we were remote during the pandemic so thank god i made it. >> a question over there. >> to your left sir.

>> hi jesse. my name is juliette and thank you for being here. my question to you is why didn't you make your book audible? >> i was going to read it but am literally just had jesse jr. and we had gotten back from the hospital that day and i would have had to spend the first entire week after jesse jr. and emma had gotten back to the hospital at 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. recording the audio book and i just didn't want to do that so i had some other guy read it with a much cooler voice and i had. >> right here in front, jesse. >> have you asked john kasich how he feels about backing biden? >> i don't talk to john. [laughter] i have nothing against john personally but we don't talk

anymore. he used his fill-in for or rally when o'reilly was out in believe it or not he was a lot more difficult to deal with than bill. if you can believe it. >> hi jesse. to capture the youth of america it seems like we need to express conservative values in a way that is funny hip and cool. if you look at like we talked about early jimmy kimmel steve colbert and it seems like the fox network is embracing this idea between pirates and the rest of you with the award young conservative media and is that something to look forward to seeing more of with younger conservative voices? [applause] it being conservative is cool. it's cool when you are 80 and it's cool when you were 19 because you have the facts on

your side. and you are unafraid and that has always been a renegade out -- attitude of this country the risktakers the pioneers the loudmouths, the jokesters. it's pretty important to you. so the people that are willing to put themselves out there and say things that could be controversial and those people have always been a involved in comedy. comedy is where you push that edge and you can't push that edge seriously i mean get her out. so you have to have a platform like fox that's willing to stand by people who take risks because you can't develop that kind of personality if you are canceled or if you have a small platform and they don't see is the box i believe has done a good job of supporting edgier younger

funnier more of politically conservative young talent and i think you should expect to see more of that. now i seem old. [laughter] am i getting old? am i still young? >> you are still young. >> the back of the room guys. >> jesse my name is bobbin that i could ask all of your colleagues at fox to start speaking english instead of saying they are going to take away your fossil fuels. nobody knows what that means. all the kids i doesn't that have something to do with dinosaurs? tell them to say they want to take away your gasoline in your oil. also tell them to stop saying jim crow. when they mention jim crow i asked the people in the gym what does that mean and they say is that a bird or something? they need to tell them it's

segregation. >> that's an amazing point and i have no trouble dumbing it down. comes natural to me. and one of the things o'reilly did that was so effective was that he spoke like the folks. if you are smart you don't have to try to sound smart. if you are actually intelligent you don't have to prove how intelligent you are by using very big words, right? you just want to communicate simply powerfully and effectively and get right to the point. so i will no longer say fossil fuels. [applause] >> jesse. >> or jim crow. >> jesse way back here at the back. we are going to take your last question and then we will get into the book signing want to reiterate we cannot take photos and we can't do personal visions

at this book signing will be the fastest book signing we have ever done just like this is the largest crowd we have ever had. last question. >> name is chris and i does have a question. how does fox network justify calling. >> you saved the best for last. that was the decision desk. obviously had nothing to do it so don't blame me. [laughter] ..

there we go. [applause] thank you all very much. >> booktv continues now.

television for serious readers. >> greeting everyone. welcome to p&p life. i'm bradley graham concolor politics and prose along with my wife lissa muscatine. we have a great program for you this evening featuring "washington post" journalists bob woodward and robert costa here to talk about their revelatory new