Happy New Year Everyone! Welcome to the first show of 2025. In the almost 7 ½ years of doing the show, it’s been an absolute joy to be part of your life by connecting you with newsmakers, musicians, magicians, comedians, acrobats, and hometown heroes from across the world.
As you know, President Trump has nominated me to become the US Ambassador to Israel so I’ll be going through the process of Senate confirmation and hopefully will be approved. But it will mean that I’ll have to give up doing this show and that makes the appointment a bittersweet proposition. It means moving to Israel and divesting myself of a plate-full of activities and business interests. It will involve moving away from my children and grandchildren and having limited times to see them for the next few years. If I stay in the position for the full-term some of them will be almost grown by the time of our return. That makes this tough to contemplate, but I move forward believing that God has opened this door and is calling me to join the prophet Isaiah in saying, “Here am I Lord, send me.”
As we start preparing and presenting the final episodes of the Huckabee Show, we do so with gratitude for your faithful viewership that’s made us the most watched show on the network and a show that pioneered new standards for a variety show from a wholesome, family-friendly perspective.
We launched in the fall of 2017 in this beautiful, remodeled theater. Even most of the network leaders figured that the show might last 3 years before I was ready to move on. But after almost 7 ½ years, the only reason this show will conclude is due to the President asking me to serve my country as Ambassador to Israel. I really had planned on continuing the show for as long as TBN wanted me and as long as I was capable of doing.
The next few weeks will be marked by updates on how and when we will land the show safely on the runway. But be assured, we plan to save the best for the last!
It’s a new year, and we will have a new President, a new Senate and a new House. There are several new Governors across the country and there is hope and opportunities for us to actually Make America Great Again. I’m praying that’s more than a campaign slogan, but is the reality of policies that will restore our economy so that everyone has a good paying job, that the scourge of high prices for gas and groceries will get back to being affordable, that home ownership can again become doable for younger Americans, and that we see the cessation of military conflicts around the globe and a restoration of peace. I will especially hope for peace in the Middle East where I will be involved in trying to bring it. Saying the phrase “Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” will take on new meaning for Janet and me as we will soon be living there and not just visiting.
I believe that the people’s voice and vote in the recent election were a mandate to get back to sanity and common sense. No more nonsense of pretending that boys can be girls or that we should allow people to storm across our borders without even having to register who they are, why they are coming, where they are going or if they have a communicable disease. It was a mandate to have a government that didn’t use its power to attack, arrest and criminalize people for having a different political view or a government that would deny assistance after a natural disaster because they voted differently than taxpayer funded officials believed they should have voted. It was a mandate to restore real justice so that violent criminals aren’t put back on the streets while the victims are being kept in the hospital.
2025 will be a year with a LOT of changes…changes for this show, for me personally, and for the country. But one thing won’t change—that God loves us, has a plan for us, and will keep us in his Hand as we depend on Him!
