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HH: But we begin, and how appropriately so, on the first live show of 2014 with Columnist To the World, Mark Steyn. Hello, Mark, Happy 2014. MS: Hey, yeah, Happy New Year, and congratulations on the book, Hugh. It’s the perfect match of author and subject, because you are the optimistic man. And I sometimes feel that leads you a little bit astray on the political field, but this is perfect terrain for you, all the important stuff. HH: Well, whenever I start to go like the floating uncle in Mary Poppins, I go get my After America book down...

"I tend to err on the side of security," said 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on the Hugh Hewitt Show. 2016 Republican presidential candidate and billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump said that he supports reauthorizing the USA PATRIOT Act and bulk cell phone metadata collection by the National Security Agency in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show earlier this month. In the above-embedded clip, Hewitt asks Trump, “On metadata collection, Ted Cruz is glad the NSA got out of it. Marco Rubio wants it back. What’s Donald Trump think?” “Well, I tend to err on the side...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Cookie went and rolled off the answer Trump gave to the question from Hugh Hewitt about whether he will run third party or not. This is what I talked about at the opening of the program where Trump drops the performance persona and communicates. This is an example of many; these things happen frequently in his personal appearances. I'm only illustrating this, or mentioning it, because so many people still wonder how it is that Trump doesn't get hurt by what some people think are the stupid things he says or the ignorant things he says or...

Chuck Todd On The Latest Terrorism News HH: Yeah, because Chris Christie said last hour on this program I wonder if the President is going to mock me as a tough guy now for worrying about widows, because this was a black widow. That is where my observation is taking me. And Christie just hammered the President. (Excuse us, Christie does not hammer Obama more than Trump. Christie is only trying to become a mini Trump) What do you think happens now inside the White House on their reluctance to use the term Islamist terror, on the jayvee stuff coming...

When Sen. Ted Cruz declared that the majority of criminals are Democrats, it was a masterful stroke. The media is going crazy over the declaration, claiming it's outrageous.On Hugh Hewitt's radio show Monday, Cruz said that the Planned Parenthood shooting has really displayed the ugly underbelly of the media. You know, every time you have some sort of violent crime or mass killing, you can almost see the media salivating, hoping, hoping, desperately that the murderer happens to be a Republican so they can use it to try to paint their political enemies.""Now listen, here's the simple and undeniable...

Senator Ted Cruz On The Planned Parenthood Attacks, The Freedom Act, 2016, Illegal Immigration And More Senator Ted Cruz, surging in Iowa, joined me on today's show: ...

On today's Morning Joe, an incensed Joe Scarborough told Hugh Hewitt he was "full of it," and that "you owe me an apology." Scarborough was steamed that Hewitt seemed to suggest that Joe was part of the "Manhattan-DC Beltway elite" that refused to cover Hillary's scandals. Scarborough said "I put my neck on the line every day here," covering Hillary and criticizing media bias. View the video here.

...HUGH HEWITT: Now Mark Steyn, on two levels, and we'll talk about the substance, but there is art in that response. There is a man who's litigated successfully nine times before the Supreme Court, who managed without taking notes to retain every personal attack, reframe them, repackage them, repurpose them into a counterattack on the panel expertly. It was actually art.MARK STEYN: Yeah, and that's the Ted Cruz I like, Hugh. The criticism of Ted Cruz this election cycle has been that he's been too canned and too rehearsed, and he uses his talking points. And when he does that,...

Donald Trump boasts, “I’m the most militaristic person there is,” and that he’d build a military force so robust “no one is going to mess” with the U.S. Yet at his core, Trump is a businessman. So when the Republican presidential frontrunner looks at the Defense Department’s multi-billion dollar F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, he sees a lousy deal. During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, the real estate mogul said he has received briefings on the fighter jet effort and that it has “big problems.” “I’m hearing that our existing planes are better. And one of the...

Donald Trump joined me today top discuss the Benghazi hearing with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the state of the 2016 GOP race for the nomination to face her in the general election: ... Transcript: HH: On a day of huge headlines from Capitol Hill and from polling around the country, Donald Trump has surged to a commanding lead in the Washington Post/ABC poll. He’s ahead in the Bowling Green University poll in Ohio, and in fact, he leads every poll I’ve seen except one with Iowa. We’ll talk about that, but Donald Trump, welcome back to the...

Joe Scarborough swung a double-edged sword on today's Morning Joe, swiping simultaneously at his MSNBC colleague Chris Matthews and at radio host and debate panelist Hugh Hewitt. The subject was Marco Rubio, with Hewitt calling him "the most dynamic speaker the Republican party has seen ever, since Lincoln." "Since Lincoln," asked Scarborough incredulously—"do you have a tingle going up your leg?" Scarborough said that rather than recalling Lincoln, "when I see Marco speaking, I'm seeing a guy that's running for student government." View the video here.

Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Sunday slammed Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) and the House Freedom Caucus for "holding the House hostage" and blocking Republicans from electing a successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who wants to resign at the end of the month. Hewitt said on NBC's "Meet The Press" that he hopes Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) — who has said he doesn't want to be Speaker — will change his mind. Hewitt then criticized Brat, who was on the roundtable, and the conservative House Freedom Caucus for giving Ryan a tepid response. "There's like 15 of you...

Senator Ted Cruz joined me on the show today:Audio: 10-08hhs-cruzTranscript:HH: Joined now by United States Senator Ted Cruz. Senator Cruz, welcome, itÂ’s good to speak with you. TC: Hugh, thank you for having me. ItÂ’s always a pleasure to be with you.HH: Quite an amazing day in Washington, D.C.TC: Yes.HH: You have an extraordinary amount of influence on the House of Representatives. What do you think they ought to do?TC: Well, it has been an extraordinary day. Kevin McCarthyÂ’s dropping out, I think, surprised everybody. And you know, what I think they should do is what I have both publicly...

First, there are the GOP’s “True Believers,” to use Eric Hoffer’s term. Among the four categories of voters, the True Believers in 2016 have already picked a candidate and are sticking to him come hell or high water—at least unless and until he drops out or wins. It’s clear that the True Believers are lining up primarily behind Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Rick Santorum or Donald Trump. The second category of GOP voters are the “Buckley Voters,” so-called because they tend to follow the “Buckley Rule” and support the most conservative candidate they see...

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday the United States should use India’s help to deal with Pakistan if it becomes ‘unstable’ in the future. “You have to get India involved. India’s the check to Pakistan,” Trump said, during his appearance on a radio talk show. Trump’s statement came in response to Hewitt’s question regarding what he would do if Pakistan, “the most dangerous country in the world other than Iran,” became ‘unstable’. Asked whether he would send in US troops to neutralise Pakistan’s nuclear capability should the country go rogue, Trump replied that he would not reveal his...

Hugh Hewitt interviewed Donald Trump today. The interview took place during the first two segments (about 22 minutes including commercials) of Hugh's show. It was friendly and covered several subjects. You can listen to the replay here tonight. Click "LISTEN LIVE". 6 Pacific / 7 Mountain / 8 Central / 9 Eastern

In the view of this NewsBuster, Hugh Hewitt is the ablest conservative interviewer on radio. So it was surprising to see him serve as such a loyal CNN soldier on today's Morning Joe. Hewitt, a member of the CNN panel at Wednesday's GOP debate, refused to complain about the paltry opportunities he was given to question the candidates. And defending the fact that Donald Trump had been given twice Scott Walker and Mike Huckabee's airtime, Hewitt said that while "unfortunate," Jake Tapper had done a "marvelous" job of allocating time. That was too much for Mika Brzezinski, who bluntly told...

Here’s my 10-minute summary of the CNN Republican debate (which should have been renamed the CNN-Pssst-did-you-hear-that-nasty-thing-one-Republican-said-about-another-Republican debate):The Winners: Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina were the two standouts in Wednesday’s debate.Rubio brought an appealing mix of the common touch and tough talk on foreign policy to the debate stage. Unlike some other candidates, he didn’t seem like he was elbowing his way into the debate, so it “felt” like he was a featured speaker. He sounded like the grownup in the room when he tussled with Trump on foreign policy. Trump grimaced and rolled his eyes, but offered no substantive...

Hugh Hewitt drew Trump’s ire with a smart question. On Wednesday night, the conservative talk radio host will be ready for round 2 ... Hewitt declined for obvious reasons to detail potential debate questions. But he showed off a spreadsheet grid he’s made to keep track of each candidate’s “at-bats,” in an effort to assure that all are heard from. And his basic philosophy is simple. “Trying to channel the Republican primary voter who is undecided—or, what’s the term, loosely attached—and what they would want to know,” he explains. “And one of those things is who’s the best positioned to...

CNN’s Republican debate on September 16th will be conducted with dignity and gravitas by questioners like Hugh Hewitt and Jake Tapper, who will treat the candidates with a level of respect and courtesy that many of them just don’t deserve. They have to. I don’t. On behalf of all infuriated conservatives, I demand the right to interrogate the candidates myself. I get to ask a question and a follow-up, and here are the rules. First, answer the damn question. It insults me when you think I’ll somehow forget what I asked, so bewitching is your oratory. Second, answer, then stop talking....