All right, This is Jeffrey, Lord of the American Spectator in Newsmax, sitting in for our friend Sean Hannity. You can reach us in here at eight hundred ninety four one seven three two six or eight hundred nine four to one, Sean. And we have a great guest coming up right now is Jeff Bardos, who happens this is a Pennsylvania kind of today. I guess he's also a
Pennsylvanian like myself. He is an American real estate developer, a lawyer, and a diplomat, and he's currently serving, by the appointment of President Trump as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform since this past year of twenty twenty five. So Jeff, good to talk to you.
My friend, Jeffrey. It's always great to speak with you. And I think we have a nice tradition at the end of calendar years where we get on the phone two Pennsylvanians. At this point though, two Pennsylvanians sitting in Manhattan, and I don't know, there's something wrong with that we gotta do something about. But greeting greetings from the East Side in Turtle Bay, and I hope you and your family are well and all your listeners had a wonderful Christmas.
Exactly, Well, thank you very much. You know, I was really intrigued. I didn't realize you were over there at the UN doing this and Jeff's background in business and politics and all of that sort of thing, and now he is adding diplomacy to the resume and tell us a little bit about what your UN job and tails. I'm sort of intrigued.
Well, it's the honor of a lifetime to serve President Trump and the American people as the representative of the United States to the UN for management and reform. And in my hearing before the United States Senate Chairman Rich said, that's a little oxymoronic management reform and the UN. How how are you going to how are you going to
tackle this? Which is a great question. So we I lead a terrific team of very skilled experts who comb through the gigantic breocracy and budget that is the United Nations. And with President Trump's leadership, and the way I answered the question during my set of hearing is that President Trump his leadership provided a unique window of opportunity, maybe a once in a generation or once in fifty year, eighty year opportunity to bring real, meaningful, durable, consequential reform
to this gigantic bureaucracy that is the United Nations. And since we hit the ground running, I mean, we have a great team, many of whom I think you know. Ambassador Mike Waltz, Ambassador Tammy Bruce, Ambassador Jennifer Lisetta, Ambassador Dan de Greya, and myself. We all have different portfolios. Mike's our chief of mission, Tammy is our deputy chief of Mission. Jennifer handles the Security Council, Dan has the Economic and Social Council, and I have management and reform.
And we've been sent up here by the President, by the Secretary and by our peers to come up here and make sure this place runs better. And so I spend my day and my night and many nights with my team getting this place fit for purpose, get it back to basics. I'm tomorrow we will gavel in. We've only been here one hundred days. We all got up here in mid September. Tomorrow we will gabble through the
largest cut to the UN's regular budget in history. Maybe in the time that nobody can remember a bigger cut to the budget. And we also so a fifteen percent cuts to the budget and a elimination of twenty six hundred UN bureaucratic posts, which is unprecedented and only happens because of President Trump's leadership, his vision. He when he spoke at the UN in September, he said, the UN has great potential. It's not living up to that potential.
And we are executing the President's vision. And like I said, it's the honor of a lifetime to serve the President and the American people in this in this work.
Well, I think that is really really great. I'd be curious to know. I means, as we speak, we are I'm seeing that President Trump is going to receive the Israel Prize for Peace and things are just not doing so well over there. How does that affect what you do and what the UN does, et cetera.
Well, the President's incredible leadership, his visionary leadership also allowed that the Charmel shake deal and the twenty point peace Plan that immediately saw the release of the twenty living hostages. And at this point there is one hostage remains. When the remains of one hostage right that have not been released by Hamas and bipalaestis pulcinating Islamic jihad. So we have to get one. One family is still without their
son and that is unacceptable. But the President's twenty point peace Plan was put into a Security Council resolution, again a first of its kind, with the Board of Peace and with the International Stabilization Force. And again it's the President's leadership, his vision that allowed all of this to come together. It would there just wouldn't be peace. He is the president of piece. We see it every day
and it's it's so much. I have to say, it's fun to serve in this administration because every day we're achieving goals and objectives that really before the president was sworn in just people said it was impossible. And as he said in as inaugural address, the impossible is what we do. And because of that leadership, we're able to achieve a lot of things here at the UN that previously people thought was just were just unattainable.
Well, I really do think that the fact that he was not a career politician. If he spent any time in Washington, it was to see somebody and get out, And so I do think that that gives him a particular perspective on dealing with government, in this case the United Nations that other presidents wouldn't have because they are so used to the you know, the being involved from
the governmental and political aspect of things. And in particular, I think the UN is an interesting place because you've got all these countries from all over the place, and you know, history is filled with all these episodes of American ambassadors to the UN getting into clashes with the Soviet Union or others, and you know, just just sort of amazing thing. And I think, you know, you really
are there at a very interesting time. And jeff I would also ask, as someone who writes, I hope you're taking notes.
We're working really hard. The you know, the every day is a new challenge. And as I mentioned, you know there's this is the unique window of opportunity in this time to and there's hunt Jeffrey. There's one hundred and ninety three countries in the United Nations. It's a staggering number.
And the way the budget works, if you can believe this, whether you whether you contribute thirty seven thousand dollars or twelve billion dollars, you get the same boat in the General Assembly, and of course we have the Security Council. So it's a it's a governance structure that we set up, you know, back in nineteen forty five, nineteen forty six, right, but it really is it needs major reforms, and we're
executing against that every day. I mean we, like I said, we're going to gabble through the budget tomorrow and then that sets up a huge reform opportunities in twenty twenty six, which we're already starting to execute upon and starting to work with. And everybody wants to see the United States and everybody is listening to President Trump and it's again it's an honor to have the opportunity to serve him and the American people for us looking ahead, the President
said this in his remarks. The UN has great potential, and it is the world needs a place where everybody can talk. And Ambassador Waltz talks about this all the time that we'd much rather that place be in the United States than in Moscow or Beijing or some other place. And so it has a real role. It has gone, like so many big organizations, the UN has become bloated. It tries to do everything and you know this from
your busines this world. If you try to do everything, it's impossible to do everything well and so you end up doing mediocre or worse and a lot of things. And we are just guiding with our business experience and with the President's direction, where we are bringing this place. We're bringing these reforms which will hopefully get it fit the purpose back to basics, promote international peace and security. And you got right now the President is settling conflicts
around the world basically himself and the small team. It'd be great if the UN could could be right there helping and be a force for good. So that's also something we're focused on.
Who do you work with in the course of I mean, what particular countries are there? Some that you are more obvious allies than others, and others that you just you can't really get near in a sense.
Well, we're the largest contributor Americans have since the founding of the UN. We're the largest contributor to the system, and we're the most generous nation on earth, and we tend to work with the other large donor countries. But of course, in the scope of our work, we work with almost every country. I mean, of one hundred and ninety three. I haven't met every country, but you know, it's pretty close in one hundred days, and so we work with everybody. But again, we have been laser focused
on delivering this reform agenda since mid September. And so when we will take a little breather here, maybe maybe a couple of days between now and New Year's and then get right back at it. I guess a week from today we'll get right back at it. So yeah, but we I mean, Jeffrey, it's come visit any time. It's a fascinating place.
Yeah, yeah, I'd like to do that. That might go on my bucket list. Well. I spent some time courtesy of my friends at Newsmax in Israel this summer. I think it was in August for a week and wow, truly an amazing place to see. And you know, I have first of all that, and I was saying to people, you know, as Americans, you talk about, say the Pilgrims in sixteen twenty, I think that's a long time ago.
Then you're walking around Jerusalem and they're telling you that something was three thousand years old and that streets were put in by the Romans and all of this kind of thing. It really is an amazing thing, but it also gives you the impression of how hyper sensitive relations are.
And they pointed out to me in one part of our tour, there was a hillside that was just on the other side of the Israeli border, and below it, on the Israeli side was a soccer field where kids had been playing soccer, and all of a sudden, gunfire comes from the hill in Lebanon and killed some kids. You know, it just takes your breath away at the kind of brutality that can be found over there and how much work needs to be done, which you know President Trump was doing just today.
Yes, with all of this, was that your first trip?
That was my first trip?
Wow. So when we're not on the radio though, you could certainly tell me about it now, but I would love to hear more about it. We just marked the fiftieth anniversary of Embassador Daniel Patrick Mooyne, then Senator Daniel Patrick Jinian's remarkable explanation of vote when the United States cast its vote and then vote and then explained why against the outrageous and shameful Zionism as Racism resolution from
nineteen seventy five. And those remarks that the Ambassador in Mestered Morny hand delivered back in nineteen seventy five ring true today. The level of anti West, anti American, anti Israel, right, it's all kind of wrapped up into one that still exists here and it's something that we fight every day. We're committed to stamping out this anti West, anti American, anti Israel bias that courses through too many parts of
the United Nations. And it's a this is not something that's going to happen overnight, but we are again focused, and we have the resources and the support to get it done, and it just has to happen. But you're when we took our first trip to Israel back in twenty thirteen, my goal for our girls was to see that Israel was a tiny country in a tough neighborhood and in spite of, or maybe because of, those dynamics, the Israeli people lived their lives with great joy and
great focus and great purpose. And so you have national service, which is a unique aspect, not singular, but very unique amongst countries. And so it's a special place and they're a very special important ally of the United States. So yeah, We work very close you mentioned before, We work very closely with our allies, not only in the Middle East, but across Europe and really across the globe.
Right. Well, that's good to know, you know. I sometimes wonder if the United Nations did not exist and there was a move to set it up, now, would this be anywhere near the same? Would would we still? Would we be having worse problems now? Would would there even be a United Nations headquarters in New York? Would there be too many people out there that say, no, no, no, not with the Americans, uh, et cetera. But it's, uh, it's very interesting because I think that our enemies so
called out there. It isn't just Israel, it's the West, It's it's America in particular. I mean, I think we have a you know, a target on us all the time, and you know, too bad in one sense. But boy, you have to be wary. And I would imagine as you as you walk around the UN you're you're sensitive to anything that you can see that that seems like it's sending a message that things are not very good here.
Yeah, if anything gets frustrating during the day, whether it's across the street, or back here at the Mission. I I and I've done this a number of times throughout the last hundred days. I will go down into our lobby and I get to walk past the American flag and then portraits of the President, the Vice President, Secretary of Rubio, and Ambassador Waltz. And then there's most weeks, not every week, but most weeks, I have the genuine privilege and honor to sit behind the placard that says
the United States. And Jeffrey, you and I've known each other a long time. I can't really describe the feeling of what it feels like to sit behind the placard that says the United States, but it is. It will never get old. It is just a tremendous honor. And as much as people may want to pick at us and do damage to us or try to hurt the United States, we are the indispensable nation where the indispensable ally for many many countries, and we try to do it.
I mean, we're the most generous nation on earth. And the President, yeah, the President has said that, the Secretary has said that, and we proudly do that. I'll just give you a quick story of how zany the un can get. There was a week, it was a couple of months ago where the Cubans were running their resolution that they run every year condemning the United States for blockading and they call it a blockading and Cuba, which
of course is fundamentally untrue. We send something like six hundred million dollars of key important humanitarian goods, food, medicine, other things to Cuba every year, so that's just fundamentally untrue what they said. But it was the same week, in the same week, we were fighting about this in the General Assembly and trying to get countries to vote with us because it's just offensive what the Cubans were doing.
And that same week is when Hurricane Melissa hit And without missing a beat, hey, without missing a beat.
Hey, jeff h I hate to say this, but I'm getting a hard break. Sign here. We can hold you over if you'd like to do that or whatever.
I'll just finish the quick story when we come back.
Sure, okay, great, thank you. All right. This is Jeffrey Lord from the American Spectator, a Newsmax subbing for our friend Sean Hannity, and we have our friend Jeff Bardos on the line, who is the US Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform, and he's held that position since this year, so he's got a lot of interesting times ahead of me. Jeff, and you were telling a story there and we interrupted you for a break. Let me get back to that.
Yeah, I was making the point, and thank you again for having me on. I was making the point that the United States, for you know, the whole of the World War post World War two era, the entirety of the history of the Nations, by far the largest contributor to the system and the most generous nation on Earth
bar Non. There's not even a close second. And that I mean, there's many, many examples of what I just said, but I'll just give you one, which is the same week that we were on the floor of the General Assembly going back and forth with Cuba and some of their allies on this ridiculous resolution that they run every year accusing us of embargoing or blockading them, which is absurd. We do almost six hundred million, as I mentioned before, a six hundred million of of food, medicine, and other
humanitarian goods to the Cuban people every year. At that same week, when we were fighting about the resolution. Hurricane Melissa hit the Caribbean and did terrible damage, not only to our friends in Jamaica in other countries where we have dear friends, but also to Cuba. And I'm very proud right the State Department leapt into action and had a twenty four hour day, seven day a week operations center to help our friends in the region, including the
Cuban people. We're not friends with the Cuban regime, but we look after our neighbors here in the Western Hemisphere, and the Cuban people needed our help and we were there. And that's the United States is the only nation in the world that would do that. And we don't even really talk about it very much. We just do it because that's who we are.
Yeah, I think that's wow, that's a great story, and it really is true. The United States does so much around the world, and yet that is what the bad guys want to target here. And uh, I think that that's what makes us an exceptionally dangerous world out there, because you've got all kinds of people trying to undermine uh, you know, good decent human relations between nations and all of this kind of thing. So I think that uh, you know, setting a setting a model at the United Nations.
And you know, I'm old enough to remember, you know, some of these incredible moments. I think it was the UH Cuban missile crisis where Ambassador Adlei Stevenson was in a tete a tete with the Soviet ambassador. Do you, Ambassador Zarn, deny that the Soviet Union is placed and it is placing you know, nuclear weapons in Cuba and all this kind of thing. Don't wait for the translator, sir, give me your answer now. I mean, lots of lots
of drama. Who would think that when they add the UN that the American ambassador whomever that might be, would be getting all kinds of attention from from the world and world media and all of this kind of thing because they do play such an important role in front of the cameras and behind the cameras. I'm sure as you can testify.
Yes. And of course you know, Ambassador Walt is our chief of mission and is a remarkable leader, remarkable, remarkable man. I mean, you know, his books are extraordinary, his life history is extraordinary. You know, the first Greenbury elected to Congress three terms, picked by President Trump to go to serve in the administration. I mean, it's history is remarkable, and we all feed off of that. As I mentioned before,
whenever I'm having a bad day, I walk downstairs. And it's not that often, by the way, but whenever i am go down, I walk by the flag, I walk by the portraits of our leaders, and it's just like I said, it's it's the honorable lifetime to serve the president and the American people.
Yeah, yeah, well, it certainly is. I did it for President Reagan and it just was amazing. And you know what these people are like when the cameras are off, you know, it's it's always it's always amazing that people have such negative impressions of them, whether it was President Reagan then or President Trump now. And yet those who really know him and have spent time with him, and I certainly have been privileged to do that. With President Trump. Wow, you know what a great guy and a kind and
considerate soul and all this kind of thing. When he found out that he wanted to know why I was living in Pennsylvania when I'd had all this career in Washington, and I told him, you know, I was taking care of my mother who was in her nineties at the time, and he said, well, that tells me everything I need to know about you. And you know, and periodically I would he would call, or I would get little handwritten notes, you know, say hi to Mom, that kind of thing.
But you know, the public image out there with people is a difficult thing. And I would imagine it's it's difficult in dealing with the UN because I would imagine there are people inside the UN that have negative impressions of President Trump or America written large and are not above causing problems.
Yeah, but you know, we're focused, right, We have a clear reform agenda. The President's given us direction. We're executing on that direction. And I said, I said this to my wife. Often, I feel like I'm the luckiest and we're here in New York, so I can say I feel like I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth because I get to serve President Trump. We work for Secretary of Rubio and Ambassador Waltz and the like. We just, you know, I'm very blessed to have this opportunity,
and we're not going to let anybody down. We're going to execute the President's vision. We're going to execute the agenda and we're going to get it done for the President and for the American people.
Well that's right now. Is the President coming up there at any point in the near future.
Or oh gosh, I don't know. I know that every September you've probably been in New York High Level Week the President crazy. My first day at the office, I was sworn in the night before. My very first day at the office was on the floor of the General Assembly with the President speaking to during High Level Week. That was my day one. That was quite a quite a first day. And uh, we have not slowed down since, but that was. Yeah. So High Level Week is usually
the week where all the world leaders come together. And again, as I mentioned before, we need one place where everybody in the world can speak to each other, and we have it here in the United States, right here in New York. With all the bad sports teams that New York has.
Oh man, Well, you know, I grew up in Massachusetts, so I'm a Red Sox fan in perpetuity.
Here and I probably wear my Eagles gear. I go to Eagles bar as I wear my Philly stuff. So no, no Flyers, Sixers, you know, there's no uh, there's no, no hesitancy. You know we're Philly.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Well that is great, Jeff, it was. It was good to talk to you, and I think, you know, it was a great opportunity for people to learn of not just what you're doing, but what the UN is about and all that, because you know, frankly, it doesn't get the kind of intense coverage that I think it it might be better off with, except sometimes when there was a negative out there and people want to want to criticize it for you know, this that or the other thing. But it's it's a it's a
great place. It's a fabulous place. I think the creation of the United Nations was very, very amazing, and when you think back in history of World War One and then that didn't end well in terms of a permanent peace, and then World War Two, and finally the message was received that you had to have some sort of an institution out there that that could help keep the world a peaceful place to live. And I think you know
when they finally got the message with that. I mean I remember as a kid, as I say, watching Henry Cabot Lodge and it's interesting and of course Daniel Patrick moynihan in later years. But boy, they really they really had some first class US ambassadors there and your team, and I think continues that tradition. So that is a that is a great thing. Well, in the meantime, Jeff, there's stuff going on in a state known as Pennsylvania. And I don't know whether you're familiar with Pennsylvania.
I think my Twitter it says husband, father or father, husband and Pennsylvanian. So yes, very familiar with our beloved commonwealth.
Well, they are having we taught on on this show. Earlier we spoke with day Security, who is going to be our nominee for governor, And I think it's going to be a very very interesting race here. Josh Shapiro is I think, going to be a tough guy to beat. But I think he also and this may be an Achilles heel, I think he also has his eyes set on twenty twenty eight, so that getting through twenty twenty six is really to get to twenty twenty eight with him.
I don't know if you have any thoughts on the politics of our commonwealth and all that sort of thing, But.
Having run twice, it is a strange for me to answer this but you know, we don't do electoral politics right now. We're serving in the executive branch and there are lots of rules around that. So you know, obviously I think and Jeff.
Bhil with that, what that really says is you're a diplomat.
Yes, I'm proud registered in Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania resident, have been my whole life, and certainly follow things. But you know, it's it's do you remember we've had some senators in Pennsylvania over the years, not now, but in the past who when penn State would play Pitt or the Eagles
would play the Steelers. The ones who were maybe less courageous in their expressing their views would say, I'm just rooting for a good game or I'm reading for Pennsylvania, and I would always shake my head and say, come on, just take a side. But when it comes to this stuff, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna demur, and you know, just simply say that I love our commonwealth. And gosh, you know, with Pence, he's always been at the forefront. So it's gonna be an interesting It'll be an interesting
twenty twenty six. But you know, here, we're just working every day. And you said something before about about the UN being a special place, and it is. It needs massive reform and we're executing on those reforms. And I think that's the number one message you share with you and your listeners, that the American taxpayers have not been regarded as much as they should have been over the years,
and we are squarely thinking about the taxpayers. We're thinking about the farmers and the mechanics and the I mean small business owners, teachers, firefighters, first responders all over Pennsylvania, all over the nation who pay their hard earned tax dollars.
So some of that can go to international organizations and they have the absolute right and they should demand of us, and we think about it every day that we're here to make sure every dollar the American taxpayers spend to the UN sent to the UN is fit for purpose, well spent and you know, no waste for round abuse. So that's what that's really you know, you asked me before what we do. That's that's what me and our team, that's what we spend a lot of our time on.
Well. I think that's I think that's great and hopefully and having you here on Sean's show gives a little more attention to what you guys are involved with in working at the United Nations and dealing with all the you know, the problems that I mean, this is not going to be a world without problems ever, you know, you finally get to the point where you realize that.
And so I'm glad you're there. And as I say, I hope you're taking notes and that there's a book down the road when you're done, because I do think that history needs to be told so that people down the road who are who are not involved with all of this or too young or what have you eventually begin to understand what it is that being at the UN means and how it is and how you had to deal with it and all of that kind of thing.
So so thank you very much, mister Jeff Bardos. It was great to talk to you.
Wishing you and your family and your listeners a very healthy and happy new year, and just thankfully thank you for having me on and please come over love to show you around.
All right, I may, I may. I'll put that on my bucket list. Okay, thank Jeff, Bye, buye, We'll be right back. The interviews you won't hear anywhere else every day, every day.
That's what we do. You're on the Sean Hannity Show.
All right, well, this is Jeffrey Lord sitting in for our friend Sean Hannity. I want to thank Sean for the opportunity and our friend Linda of course, and on we go to twenty twenty six. We are going to have I think a very interesting year. It's an election year. President Trump is not on the ballot, but in the peculiar way of American off your elections, he will be on the ballot in the sense that he will be around the country campaigning for Republican candidates, which is something
that he is very very good at. I'm sure some of you have been at Trump rallies. I've been in my fair share. There are quite an amazing experience to see. So that will be very interesting these elections. Just by a little history background, you know me as the history buff. Two years after a president gets elected, these elections can tend to go south for the president, whomever that might be.
It's very bipartisan and president President Reagan won a landslide in nineteen eighty and two years later got clobbered in the congressional elections. Then he won again big time, even bigger in nineteen eighty four, and got smacked a bit in nineteen eighty six two years after, so that kind of thing can, in fact happen. And one of the good things about President Trump is he is the team leader for Republicans and conservatives and he will be out
there making the case. So buckle in for twenty twenty six. As I say, I'm Jeffrey Lord from Newsmax and the American Spectator. Have a great time and we will see you in the new year. Bye bye,