Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders Covers All the Issues

CLAY: We are joined now by Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of the great state of Arkansas. Woo pig sooie! And right off the top, hard-hitting question. I understand that you are a Chiefs fan, Sarah, Governor Sanders. And I want to know Patrick Mahomes has two Super Bowls. How many more do you think he’s going to win?

GOV. SANDERS: Oh, that’s a good question, I think. You know, if he stays healthy, he and the Kansas City Chiefs have a pretty big future ahead. He’s young and he makes the game so fun to watch. My husband grew up in Kansas City and his family is still there. And when we started dating, we made an agreement that I would take on all the Kansas City professional teams if he would take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. And so it’s worked out really well for me. The Royals have been to a couple of World Series. The Chiefs have been to the Super Bowl a few times. And so, it’s been a great time to be a Kansas City sports fan. And the Razorbacks, we’ve had some good moments. So, you know, I’m a diehard believer that every season is going to be the season and I’m trying to convince him of that every year a little bit more each time. So, we’re all Hogs and all Chiefs and Royals at our house.

CLAY: For people who haven’t been there, listening to us right now, to Fayetteville, Arkansas, it is a fabulous town, beautiful surroundings. The University of Arkansas, a fantastic university there. And going to games either to watch basketball or football in Fayetteville is really a heck of a trip. It’s one worth making. So, that’s a…I know you’ve been to a ton, but I would imagine you would endorse that as well.

GOV. SANDERS: 100%. I would say you haven’t lived until you’ve been to Arkansas and experienced an SEC match-up. It is spectacular. Obviously, I’m pretty biased, but I don’t think there’s anything better than a Saturday football game in Fayetteville and cheering on the Razorbacks. I love our coach. I think he’s brought so much energy and excitement to the program and would fully endorse anybody coming to visit for basketball, baseball, football, all of the above. Fayetteville’s a really great town. And you know, it’s nice to live in a state, in a way, where we don’t have professional sports teams. It’s like the one unifying thing. Everyone is a Razorback fan. We love the Hogs and we love this.

CLAY: No doubt. And you’re about to get Oklahoma and Texas into the SEC as well, which is going to be a really fabulous rivalry going forward. And certainly, the Hogs have produced a lot of guys out there like Jerry Jones, for instance, who’s a monster Razorback fans, owns the Dallas Cowboys. So, those Arkansas-Texas connections are real. All right. Let’s go to South Carolina, which also has an SEC football program, the Gamecocks. They’ve got a good one in Clemson as well. And their former governor, Nikki Haley, announced earlier today officially that she is running for president in a video release that came out. I imagine you know Nikki Haley pretty well, Sarah. She said before, “Hey, I’m not going to run for president against Trump.” She now is running for president against Trump. What are your thoughts on her campaign? What do you think about the announcement? How do you see that playing out?

GOV. SANDERS: You know, I have a good relationship with the governor and running for office no matter what it is, whether it is at the highest level of running for president or on the local city council or mayor’s race level, it’s a really personal decision, one that only that individual in their family can make. So, I never question anybody’s reasoning for getting into a race. And I feel like you have to go to the place certainly that you are called to do. My dad was told many times he had no business in certain races and went on to win in some places, certainly as governor and did very well when he ran for president. And so, I think it’s a really personal decision and one that you have to make for yourself and certainly wish the governor well. I’ll always love having more strong conservative women voices in the conversation.

CLAY: How do you think Donald Trump is reacting now that she’s officially in the race? You know him pretty well, too.

GOV. SANDERS: Look, he’s the most dominant voice in our party. That’s not going to change overnight and I don’t think it’s changing any time soon. He’s still hands-down the most influential person in the Republican Party. And I don’t think anybody’s challenging or changing that anytime soon. And I think he knows it and no one’s taking his microphone away.

CLAY: All right. So, I don’t know if you were tipped off on this or not. I don’t know if your staff was listening or not. But literally the last part of the show before you came on, Bob in Saint Louis called in. I don’t know if we have Bob’s audio, but I told him I would ask because he said, “Will you please ask Sarah Huckabee Sanders this? Will she be Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate?” He wants you to be the VP. This again, Bob in Saint Louis. Now, that might have been before he knew that you were a big Kansas City sports fan, because there’s a little bit of rivalry between Saint Louis and Kansas City for people out there who know Missouri well. So, how would you respond to Bob in Saint Louis, who wanted me to ask you if you will be Trump’s vice presidential candidate?

GOV. SANDERS: Look, I’m having the time of my life. I’ve been governor for one month, and I’m really excited to be here in Arkansas and doing things for the people of my state. And I’m looking forward to serving in this role for eight years if the people of Arkansas will have me. So, so far, we are off to the races doing amazing things very quickly. And my only focus right now is on doing a good job here and delivering on all the things that I campaigned on over the last two years.

CLAY: That’s a good answer. That sounds like the answer that you might give from the desk there, or the, I guess, the rostrum in the White House. Karine Jean-Pierre is there now. I know there’s a certain I would say bonhomie, and that’s a word probably that’s never been used before on this show. I don’t know why it came to mind, but sort of a confederation of just people who understand how difficult that job can be. Right? As the White House press secretary, I think they used to pass a flak jacket back and forth. Whether you were a Democrat or a Republican, you’re still kind of in the firing line, basically from the media. How would you assess Karine Jean-Pierre’s performance as an advocate for Joe Biden’s administration?

GOV. SANDERS: You know, I think she’s in a really tough position. I mean, one of the big differences that she and I have is I had a good story to tell. President Trump was doing phenomenal things. Our economy was booming. The country was securing the border. Our allies actually respected us. Our enemies actually feared us. Things were very good under President Trump. And that’s the total and complete opposite of what she has in front of her. As you know, inflation is up again. The economy has not rebounded in the same way under President Biden.

Just here in my home state of Arkansas, we’re paying more than double for gas under this president. Our electricity costs are up, our grocery shelves are empty. The people around the world certainly do not respect us. In fact, I think they are laughing at us on a regular basis. And our border is probably the weakest it’s ever been in history. So, her job in many ways is much more difficult because her story and her facts are really, really hard to sell. And I had the opposite and having a really good story to tell under President Trump. That being said, I think that she could probably do a bit better job on learning some of the facts and disseminating those out to the American people.

CLAY: We’re talking to the governor of Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders. You had the… well, let me ask you this before. If the Chinese spy balloon had been coming across the country and Donald Trump were president, what would have happened?

GOV. SANDERS: It would have been shot down immediately and we would have never made it into U.S. airspace. That would not have been (garbled) and it certainly wouldn’t have happened multiple times over the course of a week. I mean, it’s unbelievable. Their unwillingness to defend our skies, defend our border and defend the people of this country.

CLAY: No doubt. All right. You had the ability to respond to the State of the Union address. That’s an incredible honor. You were selected to respond to what Biden argued in his State of the Union. What was that experience like? What has the feedback been since you had the opportunity to deliver that address?

GOV. SANDERS: It’s an unbelievable opportunity. It also can be a bit risky. But, you know, I’m incredibly thankful that I had the chance to tell the Republican story and offer what I think is a very sharp contrast to what Joe Biden put out in his State of the Union. To me, it’s really simple. And I laid this out in the speech. We’re at a crossroads in our country that we’re deciding between normal and crazy. And I think that is one of the simplest and also most accurate ways to describe, kind of, the crossroads that we find ourselves in. And the feedback has been very positive from what I’ve seen. And I’m, again, just thankful that I had the opportunity to go out and tell the Republican message and offer what I think was a very sharp contrast to Joe Biden.

CLAY: We mentioned the University of Arkansas and how fabulous Fayetteville is. You are in the process right now of working education in with legislation that would create an education freedom account. What does that mean? What should be happening there, in your opinion, in our education space?

GOV. SANDERS: Well, we’re doing a number of things. We’re putting forward and look forward to passing and signing into law the most comprehensive education reform package anywhere in the country, offering educational freedom accounts that allow parents and empowers parents to make the best decision about where and how their children are educated. We’re also offering transparency in our curriculum and getting rid of things like CRT and the indoctrination of our school kids. At the same time, we are raising teacher pay to go from one of the lowest in the country to one of the highest. Making sure we’re rewarding the hard work of our teachers and also offering additional incentives for our teachers who are going above and beyond and really succeeding in educating our students. A massive focus on literacy and changing the game for what that looks like in our state. We have not done, in my eyes, an acceptable job when it comes to making sure every child in Arkansas can read. And we’re going to change that through the Arkansas learns plan and I think set the standard for what education can look like across the country.

CLAY: Last question for you. It’s Valentine’s Day. Do you have advice for men out there that might have just realized it’s Valentine’s Day at you know, what is it, 1:15 Central Time, 2:15 on the East Coast? How would you advise them to scramble and make sure that they have covered their Valentine’s Day basis?

GOV. SANDERS: I would say, make a plan. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but have a plan put in place. My husband did a great job, actually went a day early and we had dinner last night, which was very nice.

CLAY: That is a veteran… by the way. Sorry to cut you off, but that is such a veteran move. Go before it’s actually Valentine’s Day and make it clear that you’re doing that. And now that you finish that story, because that’s one that I think is a tip that a lot of married couples for sure, out there could take advantage of.

GOV. SANDERS: Yeah, he absolutely killed it. And, you know, I think most of the time, at least for me, we appreciate just the effort and the plan. And he did exactly that. And tonight, we’re going to trade off and he’s going to take my daughter out for a Valentine’s Day. And I think I’m going to take our two boys. My guess is his Valentine dinner evening will be a little less crazy and chaotic than mine with a 9 and 7-year-olds.

CLAY: I tell my wife, we’ve got three boys, but I think I’m like 90% of the difficulty that she has, even though the boys are also chaotic because she’s basically got four, I tell her she’s living in a frat house. If she ever wondered what that was like. Now she knows already.

GOV. SANDERS: She’s gotta be a true saint. A true saint.

CLAY: Governor Sanders, thank you for the time. She is a true saint, that’s for sure. Thank you for the time. Congratulations, belatedly on the big win in Arkansas. And Bob in Saint Louis is going to be really excited when you’re Trump’s VP.

GOV. SANDERS: (Laughter) Thanks so much. And tell him, “Go Chiefs!”