You can’t help but be moved by this moment: Steve Hilton

CELL. I DON'T KNOW. SO THERE YOU HAVE EVAN GERSKOVIC. HE'S ADDRESSING SOME OF HIS MEDIA COLLEAGUES OVER THERE. HE'S A COUPLE OF TIMES HE'S WALKED OVER IN THAT AREA. HE HAS NOT WALKED OVER. YOU HEARD OUR OWN KEVIN CORKE SAYING, EVAN, EVAN, COME OVER HERE. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS? HE DID NOT MAKE HIS WAY OVER THERE TOWARD THE MICROPHONES, BUT HE DID ON A FEW OCCASIONS, MAKE HIS WAY OVER TO WHAT WE BELIEVE ARE SOME OF HIS COLLEAGUES AT LEAST, AND SOME OF THE DOCUMENTARIANS AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL WHO ARE DOING A DOCUMENTARY ON HIM. AND THEN YOU SAW THE OTHERS WALK OFF, BUT YOU HEARD TWICE FROM THE PRESIDENT. YOU ALSO HEARD TWICE FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT, WHICH IS WHICH IS NOT USUAL IN THESE TYPES OF SITUATIONS. BUT BUT APPARENTLY IS NOW IT'S BECOME IT'S BECOME A NEW THING, A NEW POLITICAL THING. IT'S FASCINATING AS WE LOOK AT THIS, BECAUSE WE KNOW THAT THERE ARE GOING TO BE GOING INTO THE WAITING AREA FOR HOW LONG? WE DON'T KNOW. AND THEN THEY WILL GET BACK ON BOARD AN AIRPLANE AND THEY WILL TRAVEL DOWN TO SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS, TO BE MEDICALLY CHECKED OUT, YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT YOU JUST SAW, STEVE HILTON? WELL, FIRST OF ALL, LET'S REITERATE WHAT AN INCREDIBLE MOMENT. I MEAN, I KNOW EXACTLY TEARFUL YOU WERE TO TRACE, I WAS WATCHING YOU CAN'T HELP BUT BE MOVED. AND SO LET'S JUST REITERATE THAT AN ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL MOMENT FROM A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE THAT WE ALL ABSOLUTELY REJOICE IN. AND I. WAS SAYING EARLIER, AND LET'S REMIND OUR AUDIENCE OF THAT AS WELL. OUR COLLEAGUE EVAN, AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, OUR SISTER COMPANY, AND OUR COLLEAGUES AT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL FOUGHT SO HARD TO MAKE SURE HE WAS NOT FORGOTTEN THAT HE WOULD BE ON THE AGENDA FOR ANY MOVE LIKE THIS. AND IT'S A TRIBUTE TO THEIR WORK AS WELL. I MEAN, WHAT A MOMENT THERE, I DO WANT TO SAY, HOWEVER, IF I MAY, LET'S PUT IT THIS WAY, TRACE TO FOLLOW THE LEAD OF JOE BIDEN AND IN PARTICULAR, KAMALA HARRIS TO MAKE SOME POLITICAL POINTS HERE, BECAUSE THERE'S NO QUESTION THAT THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE DOING. THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE DOING. AND YOU COULD READ BETWEEN THE LINES. YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO READ VERY STRONGLY BETWEEN THE LINES. WELL, ALL THIS TALK ABOUT, WELL, IT SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG RELATIONSHIPS AND ALLIANCES. UNLIKE TRUMP, THAT WAS THE MESSAGE. AND LET'S JUST REMIND OUR AUDIENCE TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT THIS, THAT THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, PRESIDENT TRUMP HIMSELF, FAR FROM BEING SOMEONE, AS THEY TRIED TO IMPLY, WHO DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS AND ALLIANCES RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING OF HIS PRESIDENCY, FOCUSED ON RELATIONSHIPS AND ALLIANCES IN THE MIDDLE EAST, SAUDI ARABIA, ALL THOSE COUNTRIES. AND THAT LED TO THE FIRST PEACE DEAL IN THE MIDDLE EAST. SO THIS IMPLICATION THAT THEY ALONE UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF DIPLOMACY AND ALLIANCES AND RELATIONSHIPS IS GROSSLY UNFAIR. AND TO MAKE THESE POINTS AT A TIME LIKE THIS, WELL, IT'S AN ELECTION SEASON. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT? BUT I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT WE SEE THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT ARGUMENT. AND AS FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO POINTED OUT TODAY, YOU KNOW, DONALD TRUMP ALSO DURING HIS TIME IN OFFICE, GOT 50 AMERICANS TO COME HOME. AND SO AND YOU LOOK AT PAUL WHELAN AND YOU THINK LIKE HE WAS HE WAS ONE OF THOSE HE WAS THERE FOR FIVE YEARS. ERICK STAKELBECK BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, HE WAS THERE WHEN THE BRITTNEY GRINER DEAL HAPPENED FOR VIKTOR BOUT, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT GOT BRITTNEY GRINER OUT. PAUL WHELAN WAS NOT SET FREE. AND THAT GENERATED SOME CRITICISM. AND AGAIN, POLITICS IS NOT REALLY A NIGHT FOR POLITICS. BUT BUT POLITICS ARE ARE SEEPED INTO TO THE POTION HERE. YEAH. NO DOUBT. AND I THINK THERE'S SOMETHING TO BE SAID. AND STEVE ALLUDES TO IT OF PRESIDENT TRUMP NEGOTIATING FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH. I MEAN, FRANKLY, DURING HIS FOUR YEARS, RUSSIA, IRAN, CHINA, NORTH KOREA, THEY DIDN'T KNOW QUITE WHAT TO MAKE OF THEM. YEAH AND HE KEPT THEM ON EDGE. AND I THINK EVEN TURKEY, WHICH IS KIND OF A ROGUE MEMBER OF NATO RIGHT NOW, NEEDLESS TO SAY, TRUMP PRESSURED ERDOGAN, THE STRONGMAN THERE, TO RELEASE PASTOR ANDREW BRUNSON, A FEW YEARS AGO, AND THE US DIDN'T GIVE MUCH IN RETURN THERE. TRUMP BASICALLY SAID, HEY, YOU'RE GOING TO DO THIS. SO HE EXERCISED THAT LEVERAGE WITH ERDOGAN. AND BY THE WAY, ONE SIDE NOTE, TRACE, I WISH PRESIDENT BIDEN WOULD STOP SAYING STOP AND DON'T TO AMERICA'S ENEMIES BECAUSE EVERY TIME HE DOES IT, THEY IGNORE HIM. TONIGHT HE SAYS ABOUT PUTIN, STOP HIS ONE WORD. AND THEY'VE IGNORED DON'T. NOW THEY'RE PROBABLY GOING TO IGNORE STOP AS WELL. SADLY AND TO YOU, BRETT SADLER, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THE PRESIDENT WAS ASKED ABOUT THE GERMAN PRESIDENT, OLAF SCHOLZ, SAYING HE WAS HE WAS HE INSTRUMENTAL IN THIS? AND THE ANSWER WAS YE. AND REMEMBER, HE HAD TO OVERCOME THIS WHOLE CONCEPT OF GIVING BACK SOMEONE THAT HIS COURTS AND HIS STATE, HIS COUNTRY HAVE CALLED A TERRORIST, SAID THAT YOU ARE RELEASING A TERRORIST. AND YET HE WAS ON BOARD WITH THAT? NO, ABSOLUTELY. WELL, I THINK IT JUST GOES TO THE POINT YOU MADE EARLIER IN THE PROGRAM THAT THE PRESIDENT HAD TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS AND TRY TO CAJOLE AND TO ENTICE GERMANY, SLOVENIA, NORWAY, POLAND TO ALL COME TOGETHER TO PULL THIS DEAL OFF, TO MEET PUTIN'S DEMANDS. BUT AGAIN, I A LOT OF WHAT I'VE SEEN TONIGHT, ON THE POLITICAL SIDE, THIS COMES ACROSS AS THEATER. WHEN YOU HAVE THE PRESENCE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT ON THE TARMAC AS WELL. AND NEITHER OF THEM MET GRINER WHEN SHE CAME BACK WHEN SHE WAS BROUGHT BACK FROM RUSSIA. SO THERE IS A LOT OF POLITICAL THEATER HERE NOT TO BE MISSED. AND IT IS VERY SHALLOW. AND AGAIN, GOING BACK TO THE TRACK RECORD OF A STRONGER PRESIDENT AND TRUMP, YOU HAD PEOPLE THAT DIDN'T EVEN THINK OF TAKING AMERICANS HOSTAGE WITHOUT BEING WILLING TO TAKE A VERY MUCH HIGHER COST OR RISK. AND I'M AFRAID THAT IF THIS IS CONTINUED, THIS WE'RE GOING TO SEE EVEN MORE BRAZEN CAPTURES OF AMERICANS, NOT JUST IN RUSSIA, BUT IN OTHER COUNTRIES. YEAH, AND IT IS A FAIR ASSESSMENT. KAREN SKINNER, BECAUSE YOU WATCHED IT AND EVERY TIME YOU HAD THE PRESIDENT WALK OVER AND ADDRESS THE MEDIA, WHICH HE DID, YOU HAD KAMALA HARRIS RIGHT ON HIS RIGHT WING, ALSO ADDRESSING THE MEDIA, WHICH IS HIGHLY UNUSUAL. THE PRESIDENT WALKS OVER AND ADDRESSES, AND THE VICE PRESIDENT RARELY JOINS IN STEP AND ALSO ADDRESSES. IT'S ALMOST LIKE SOMETHING HAS CHANGED. KAREN IT HAS. AND WE'RE TRYING NOT TO HAVE A FULLY POLITICAL DISCUSSION TONIGHT. BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT BOTH OF THEM, THEY WERE IN ELECTION MODE AND FULLY ON POLITICS IN TERMS OF WHAT THEY WERE SAYING AND HOW THEY WERE PRESENTING THEMSELVES. BUT WE MAY BE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION ON YOUR PROGRAM. A NUMBER OF TIMES BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR. I JUST WONDER IF PUTIN AND OTHERS WHO ARE HOLDING AMERICANS HOSTAGE ARE GOING TO START EMPTYING THEIR PRISONS OUT WITH AN IMPENDING DONALD TRUMP VICTORY, KNOWING THAT HE WON'T JUST BE USING SANCTIONS AND TRYING TO NEGOTIATE, BIG THINGS WILL HAPPEN TO THEM. AND I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING HIM SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THAT. THEY MAY JUST BE GETTING READY. INVITE US ALL