Embark on a spiritual journey with Rick Hughes as he uncovers the transformative power of grace and its role in solving life's challenges. This engaging discussion covers the vital concepts of saving, living, and dying grace, and how they play a pivotal role in the Christian life. Equip yourself with knowledge from the Bible and discover how consistent study and understanding can lead to spiritual fulfillment and steadfast faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you'll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I'm your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It doesn't take long, just about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education with no manipulation. Something I say, say that to you every Sunday morning, I know I do. But I'd just like to remind you, and there are always those people that are listening for the very first time. You'd be surprised how many people contact me and say, I just happened to hear your show on the car radio on my way to church or at home. And the Lord does wonderful things that way. And I'm always really happy about people that hear it and let us know that they're learning something. My job is not to be your pastor, My job is to give you some basic understanding of the Christian life and guide you towards a good pastor where you can get into a situation where you can learn God's word on a daily basis. That's what I want to do. That's why I'm doing these shows. By the way, what we'll do today is 1,024 Sundays on the air across the United States. 1,024 Sundays. that is a testimony to the grace of god not my strength not my ability simply the grace of god and those wonderful problem-solving devices that he lets me use in my life every day last week i reviewed the first three problem-solving devices for you thinking that this wouldn't help you grasp the concept of having your own personal flatline in the mentality of your soul This show is called the FLOT line. A lot of people miss the word. They think sometimes flat or sometimes flight. You'd be surprised how many people call it the flight line or the flat line. It's FLOT, F-L-O-T, and that stands for forward line of troops. And what we do there, we have 10 unique problem-solving devices that we teach out of the Bible that This is not something anybody made up. These are all biblical illustrations. And to tell you the truth, it essentially puts the Christian life in a nutshell. This is it. If you understand these and you use these, you are living the Christian life. So as we pick up new listeners like we are today or last week, I'm always concerned they might not know exactly what the FLOT line actually refers to. So I've decided to do a series of shows reviewing each FLOT line problem solving device. Hopefully it'll help you write notes, take it down, order the book, Christian Problem Solving, Order the bookmark to put in your Bible, the problem-solving devices, and it'll help you remember these. So your individual flatline is your invisible protective barrier in your soul, and it's built on 10 major biblical concepts. If you don't understand these concepts, if you don't understand these doctrines, If you don't believe them and use them, then you will at best be doing many things the right way, but doing them in the wrong way. And I think that's the most discouraging thing about Christians. Many Christians do the right thing, but they do it in the wrong way. and you have to remember what someone told me my pastor told me this years ago a right thing done the wrong way is still wrong so you have to do a right thing in a right way and going to church is the right thing but you can be there in the wrong way if you're in church with known sin in your life then the Holy Spirit is quenched and grieved. And even though you're there, the Holy Spirit cannot help you pick up divine viewpoint and help you to apply it into your life because you quench the Holy Spirit and you grieve the Holy Spirit. So if someone's in church and Brother Smith hates Brother John over there on the other side of the aisle, but he's in the right place, but he's doing it the wrong way. And prayer is another thing. Same thing. Right thing, wrong way. There's so much you can do the wrong way, and you think you're honoring God, but you're not. So that's why you have to understand these doctrines so you don't wind up doing all the right things in the wrong way and then get to the judgment seat of Christ and get embarrassed because it goes up. It's called wood, hay, and stubble. I want to remind you this concept of having a flat line was first taught by R.B. Thiem Jr. during his 50-year tenure as pastor of Baraka Church located in Houston, Texas. You can always contact them, Baraka Church in Houston, Texas, and ask for his studies on that, and they'll get them for you. But last Sunday, we looked at rebound, we looked at the filling of the Holy Spirit, and we looked at the faith rest drill. That was problem-solving devices number one, problem-solving device number two, problem-solving device number three, and we have transcripts on that. If you'd like to get the transcript, let us know. So today, I would like to talk to you about problem-solving device number four, grace orientation within your soul's mentality. This particular problem-solving device is all about the grace policy of God. So if you put it this way, simply put, grace is God doing all the work based on his unfailing love for mankind. When you understand God's grace, then you can begin to utilize all he provided for you. Those grace provisions are simply this. Number one, saving grace. Number two, living grace. Number three, dying grace. And number four, surpassing grace. So what are these and what is saving grace? What's that? Well, it's a reference to what God provided for each of us through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to earn God's forgiveness since the work of Christ provides it for us. So don't make the mistake of mixing grace with works thinking that you're going to go to heaven because you believed in Christ and you don't smoke or you believed in Christ and you don't curse. You believed in Christ and you're good. You're a good person. That's works. Those are things that Christians shouldn't do sometimes, but that's not how you get to heaven. So let's remember that. Okay. All right, so let me see. I want to go back to this for a minute. Saving grace is a reference for what God has done for each one of us through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to earn God's forgiveness since the work of Christ provided it for us, and don't make the mistakes of mixing grace and works thinking it's what saves you. Faith added to grace provides eternal life and nothing else. So listen to the verse, Ephesians 2, 8 through 9. For by grace you've been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast about it. For by grace you've been saved through faith, that's saving grace, you don't earn it, you don't buy it, you're given it by faith, that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God, not of works, no way you can work for it, lest you'd boast about it. Titus 2.11 says, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. So saving grace is available to every member of the human race because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did on that cross for us. If you understand this doctrine, then you will understand what God says and you will never have to doubt your eternal security, your eternal destiny. Because you understand you're going to heaven because of what Christ did for you, not what you're doing for yourself. That's saving grace. You're saved by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by something you do. And then there's living grace. And that's a reference to what God supplies for you on a daily basis. Listen to the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 5, 12, where he says, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is true, the grace of God, so stand fast in it. So what's he saying? He's communicated to them, testified to them, challenged them to live in the grace of God, to stand fast in the grace of God. Living grace, that refers to grace that is given after salvation. And it's described in this manner. It includes his total divine provision of God for the fulfillment of his plan, for the fulfillment of his will and purpose for our lives. He provides everything we need in our daily life for us to fulfill his plan and purpose. This type of grace is like logistics. It's logistical grace provision. His grace provides everything we need to live, everything we need to function in the devil's world, particularly the daily needs that we have to exist as well as our daily spiritual needs. You know, like food, shelter, clothing, a Bible, a pastor, the ministry of the Holy Spirit. These are all grace provisions provided for us freely by the unfailing love of God. So if you're alive today and you have food today, that's living grace. If you're alive today and you have shelter, that's living grace. If you're alive today and have clothes, that's living grace. You have a Bible, that's living grace. There's a pastor, that's living grace. So if you're confident of God's daily grace provisions, then you never need to worry about what it'll take to sustain your life on a daily basis. In Matthew 6, 25 through 34, a rather long passage, but here's what it says. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life. Don't worry about what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body or what you'll put on your body. It's not life more than food and the body more than clothing. look at the birds of the air for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them are you not more valuable than a little bird which of you by worrying could add one cubit to your statue so why do you worry about your clothes Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don't toil, they don't spin, and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. So if God clothes the grass of the field, which is today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you? Oh, you of little faith, that's the fault, the shortcoming of the faithless drill there, that's what the problem is. So therefore, don't worry about And don't say, oh, what am I going to eat, or what should we drink, or what should we wear? For after all of these things the Gentiles seek, but your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. If you'll seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things will be added to you. Therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So there we have living grace, living grace. You don't have anything to worry about. He just promised you in that passage, don't worry about tomorrow. God will take care of you. He'll give you food. He'll give you clothing. He'll give you shelter. That's living grace. So orient to that when you talk about grace orientation. You're saved by grace and you live by grace. And then there's dying grace. We're all going to die. You know that sooner or later. There's no way out unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns to get us before we die. But death is a matter of the sovereignty of God. And it's based on his omniscience of all the facts in our life. Now listen, because of God's perfect sovereignty, he's able to pick the right time and the right place and the right conditions of our death. God predetermined this in eternity past. That's called dying grace. And that's defined as the death of a mature believer. That sort of dying grace is the experience of physical death under special provisions of grace where we as believers involved in that experience both blessing and happiness while dying. Some people don't understand that for sure because they're afraid to die. But for the believer, especially for the mature believer, it's a promotion. It's going to heaven, going to be face to face with his Lord. I call it getting called to the home office. And it's a wonderful thing because when it comes, you have happiness and you have blessing. And anybody that has any doctrine, anybody that has the word of God understands this. It's a blessing when you are promoted to be face to face with your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I know a lot of people that have been promoted today Maybe you're getting close, I'm getting close, but it's gonna come a time when we're gonna be promoted and if we understand dying grace, we understand it's a matter of the sovereignty of God, we don't have to be afraid of it, we just have to face it with all the facts that he's provided everything we need to be happy. It can occur regardless of the amount of pain, regardless of the amount of suffering. While we go through death, dying grace can still occur. I mean, there could be maximum pain or maximum any sort of pain. But in either case, there's happiness and stimulation of the soul with confidence and hope in God's glory. In Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, you know, the devil uses death to scare people. And so much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, and it's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ now, he himself shared in the same, that because of his death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through the fear of death with all their lifetime subject to bondage. It's a wonderful thing when you understand dying grace and you don't have to be afraid of death. You can actually testify to people about the grace policy of God if they see you dying as a mature believer. So understanding this sort of doctrine and believing this doctrine removes the fear of death. And it's for this reason that the mature believer has an understanding of God's grace for visions. That's why for these reasons we have the mandate. Listen, here it is, 2 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It doesn't say please behave and learn. It says grow. And that's a mandate in the Greek New Testament. That's a commandment. That's not a request. Grow in grace and knowledge. Living grace, saving grace, dying grace. You should have that. You should understand that. Okay, so what are they again? Let me ask you again. What's the first one? saving grace. What's the second one? Living grace. What's the third one? Dying grace. Write it down so you can remember it. This leads us to problem solving device number five. That's called what? Doctrinal orientation. Biblical orientation. Remember this, that every problem in life has a solution stated in the word of God. Every problem. Every problem we have has a solution. This is the believer's attitude when confronted with the question, what does the Bible say? What should I do? What am I supposed to do about this? Well, here's where we get into trouble. Because sometimes you ignore God's advice because of your own arrogance. This sort of negative volition causes you to sin by ignoring divine directives and often results in a life of regret and bitterness for you. That's why you must learn to be obedient to what the Word of God says. You have to obey. When that verse in 2 Peter 3.18 said, "...grow in the grace and knowledge..." If you don't have the knowledge of God, you don't know what you're supposed to do in any certain situation. And if you ignore God's advice in the scripture because of your own arrogance and you say, well, I got a better deal. I know what's better. The Lord said, don't do this, but I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to do it. I can handle it. then you wind up destroying your life because of your negative volition. The Word of God penetrates into the human soul and the human spirit. How does it do that? Through the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit. If you are a Christian, you have the equal ability to understand Bible doctrine. Hebrews 4.12 talks about how the word of God can get into your soul. Listen, for the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of the soul and the spirit and of the joints and the marrow and is discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. So when you understand and learn and apply and use the word of God, then you have a fantastic opportunity to have a wonderful life. But when you reject the word of God, when you don't spend time studying the word of God or learning the word of God or paying attention to the word of God, then you're gonna mess your life up and I guarantee you, you're gonna make a stupid decision That doesn't mean you can't recover from it. You can always rebound and confess your sin and get back in fellowship. But why do you want to go down a dead-end street? Why do you want to do that? Why do you want to go down a dead-end street and spend two or three years in the wrong marriage or spend two or three years in the wrong business, spend two or three years doing something you shouldn't have done, only then to figure out that was a dumb thing because you didn't listen to God to start with? What does the Bible say about the word of God? Prophet Jeremiah put it this way in Jeremiah 15, 15. He said, your words were found and I ate them. I devoured them. I consumed them. And your word was to me the joy and the rejoicing of my heart. For I'm called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. What a wonderful thing. Is the Word of God your joy? Do you feed on the Word of God on a daily basis? If you don't feed on the Word of God on a daily basis, you're going to starve to death. That's why I'm always harping on you about you think you're getting enough by going to church once a week. I've used this illustration hundreds of times. If you put a kid in the first grade and they go for an hour a week, they're never going to get out of the first grade. If that's all you get out of church an hour a week, you're still a baby Christian. You've got to get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor that will teach you the Bible on a daily basis. When you get to where you can take it in every day and apply it every day in your life, then you're going to lag, L-A-G, lag. Learn, apply, and glorify. That's what God wants you to do. And so the Word of God has to be the number one priority in your life on a daily basis. So number one, stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Number two, take in the word of God every day. Because I can absolutely guarantee you that you will have a life of regret if you ignore God's word. It's your source of confidence. It's your source of assurance. Plus it's the key to happiness throughout your entire life. In 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, the Bible says, all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God might be capable, equipped for every good thing. Did you hear that? All scripture, that's the Bible, is God-breathed. It didn't come by some man. Some guy didn't sit there and decide to write it. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit and it's profitable You want to make an investment? Invest in the word of God and it will bring profit to you. It is profitable for teaching and for reproof, correction. It'll guide you. It'll tell you when to slow down. It'll tell you when to speed up. It'll tell you there's a dead end ahead. It's called biblical wisdom. which is a combination of insight and understanding and discernment. When you have insight, understanding, and discernment, you have biblical wisdom. And when you have biblical wisdom, then you have reproof and correction from the Word of God. And it equips you so that you can live your life as God would have you live your life. But without the Word of God, without learning and applying the Word of God in your life, at best you're just gambling with it. Why in the world would you sabotage your future happiness? Just because you're not willing to make time on a daily basis to learn God's Word. And some people say, well, I got a little daily devotion. I bought this little book for $19.95, and I bought it in a truck stop somewhere, a Christian bookstore, and I read a little two-minute devotion, a three-minute devotion out of it every day. That's not studying the Word of God. That's like an appetizer. I'm talking about sitting down with a Bible and with a notebook and listening to someone teach you the Bible. You say, well, I don't have anybody in my area that can do that. I know that. I talk to people every day that are dying for a great pastor. But I can tell you where to get it. It'll take a little effort, but you can get it through the Internet. You can get it through print. You can get it through a lot of different ways, through tapes, through disk. The teaching of the Word of God is available to you if you want it. If you don't want it, then I can't help you. But I'm telling you that it is important for you that you take in the Word of God on a daily basis. because if not, you're gonna sabotage your future happiness just because you're not willing to take the time to learn it. Living your life unto the Lord demands what? Consistent cognition and consistent inculcation of the word under the objectivity of the filling of the Holy Spirit, not the lust pattern of your sin nature, but the filling of the Holy Spirit. So if you've got a great pastor, and you can sit there and fill with the Holy Spirit, you can listen to him teach you the Bible, teach you the Word of God, and apply it into your life, then you're going to be a hearer of the Word, not just a doer. not just a peeker, but a seeker, I call it. I'm not just talking about one service on Sunday morning, but rather studying daily under a well-qualified pastor. I'm often amazed at some churches that have, well, we're going to have a January Bible study. Well, and they go through the whole book of Romans in a week. You've got to be kidding me. My pastor taught the book of Ephesians. It took about eight years. My pastor taught a life of Christ study, and that took several years. You can't go through it like that. If you're going to dig in and learn it on a daily basis, it's going to be line upon line, word upon word, precept upon precept. If you want that, you get in touch with me, I'll tell you how to get it. I'll tell you how to get a Bible and a notebook and sit down at a table with a cup of coffee or a soda and listen and learn and apply it into your life. I've met many people that this has changed their life. I had a friend of mine that I met who came to work in our house, do some work, and I told him, if you would do this, a year from now you won't recognize yourself. And he's told me many times I was right. He started studying, started learning, started growing instead of operating on his emotions, and today he's a totally different person. So unfortunately, many Christians are just too busy to give much attention to God's directives. too busy having a good time, too busy taking the kids to the ball game, too busy doing this, too busy taking a vacation, too busy doing this, too busy doing that. They just don't have time to get doctrinal orientation. And it's a lack of problem-solving advice in their soul. And they're gonna be a flawed believer. What I mean by that, they're gonna be a handicapped believer. What's a handicapped believer? You're handicapped by your own negative volition and you're doomed to a life of mistakes and a life of regrets because you're handicapped and you are blinded to your own failure and possibly becoming neurotic and full of hypersensitivity and insensitivity to the needs of others. So these two devices that I'm talking about this morning, problem-solving device number four, problem-solving device number five, grace orientation, saving grace, living grace, dying grace, and doctrinal orientation, growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, learning the Word of God, living the Word of God on a consistent basis is what will make a difference in your life. I want you to get to heaven, and I want you to hear, well done, my good and faithful servant. And I hope you'll apply this information. And I hope you'll come back same time next week, same place, same station. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you'd like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
Join Dana Lash as she delves into the week's most absurd stories, from the shocking actions of a Florida boat captain to the rallying cries of confused political protests. Uncover the layers of modern identity in a world where social media headlines often trump deeper understanding. View this engaging narrative with a mix of humor and critical examination of how narratives play out in both the public and political spheres.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to It Takes Energy, presented by Energy Transfer, where we talk all things oil and natural gas. Oil and gas drive our economy, ensure our country's security, and open pathways to brighter futures. Did you know the first oil well was drilled almost 1,700 years ago? The first American well was drilled in Pennsylvania in 1859, and the Texas oil boom began in 1901, when the Lucas Gusher produced an astonishing geyser that flowed for nine days This oil boom helped launch the widespread use of the automobile and grease the wheels of the modern machine age. Today, the U.S. is the world's top producer of oil and gas, supporting 11 million jobs and contributing $2 trillion to the American economy. Look around, and you'll see the essential role oil and gas plays in our modern lives. Our world needs oil and gas, and people rely on us to deliver it. To learn more, visit ittakesenergy.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast, sponsored by Kel-Tec.
SPEAKER 10 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, we have one big Florida Man story, which may need its own segment. It has to do with the bully Florida boat captain who got... Well, he got wrecked by the Internet because he tried to bully a 22-year-old. He's this charter boat captain. He was bullying a young fisherman, and then he jumped on the guy's dinghy and threatened to bash him in the face. Now he faces jail and professional ruin. Why do people do this stuff? I don't think we can play the video because every other... It's really bad. But this is like a whole other segment. He told... I mean, the guy's Brock Horner, Tarpon Coast Fishing Charters. He went after Gage Towels. What is with your people's names? What is happening? Brock Gage. Like, what is happening? Towels, it's Mr. and Mrs. Towels' son, not to be confused with the Washcloth family. He was on the water after a near miss with a different vessel. Towels posted the footage, and he told Horner he had the wrong guy. Apparently, Horner thought, basically, he did have the wrong guy. And now he faces felony burglary with assault battery, all this stuff. This deserves its own segment, I think. Like, what would you do? Choose your own adventure. So we're going to come back to this one because it's a big one. Let's see. A Florida woman wrestled a gator to snatch a dog from the jaws of danger. She said, I didn't even think because she's hardcore and that's awesome. She Kim Spencer was walking her dog when a gator just ran out of the water, tried to snatch her dog and she didn't call for help. She jumped in and used her bare hands to pry open the animal's jaws and save her dog. She said, I didn't think I just moved. And, uh, thankfully, uh, you know, everybody's okay, but she is actually gonna try now. She's like telling everybody, look, they'll come out of the water faster than you think, which is true. Now, also over the weekend, they had these stupid protests. They had all I don't understand what is happening at these protests. So wait. So they had some protests about immigrants at one Tesla thing and then another one. They were like, we don't like Trump and Musk. And then another one. Still, they were like, you you can stand with veterans or Musk. What? I don't even understand what this means. Why are they so insane? OK, first up, this is the United We Dream. This this. They are an activist. This was at one of the again, one of the hands off things there. You see what I mean? They have no cohesive messaging. They're all over the place. So this one female gets up. Grecia Martinez-Rosas. She is a national immigration activist, per my notes, and heads the group United We Dream. And, well, these were her remarks. Listen.
SPEAKER 09 :
My name is Grecia Martinez-Rosas. I am an immigrant. I am undocumented, unafraid, queer, and unashamed.
SPEAKER 01 :
So see, do you know that every other political identifier that you apply to oneself that lessens the severity of any kind of punitive action in chance of wrongdoing? yeah uh-huh so like if you're a female what if you're a trans female oh okay now you're talking what if you're like a queer trans female i don't even know what that would be but i'm just saying i'm not saying she's trans but she needs another modifier um i have zero uh first off i have zero empathy for her sympathy Anything? She's been here long enough where she was protected previously and against deportation by Flores. So she didn't have to worry about all of that. So she could have applied to become a citizen or have a legalized status in the United States, seeing how long she has been here. So I just I can't feel sorry for people who want to stay in their current situation and have no will at all whatsoever to change it. So I don't feel bad for it. But what does that have to do? What do they mean hands off? Like these people get up to talk about themselves. It's a never ending doom scroll live. That's what these rallies are. These rallies are nothing more than doom scrolling coming to fruition in meat space. I can't think of anything more heinous. I can't believe somebody also wanted to spend like a perfectly good Saturday doing this stuff. Then you had this dude, right, transgender, audio somebody 24, trans activist at another hands-off rally. Listen, 24.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am black, I am Filipino-Japanese, second generation, and I'm a disabled trans man. But I'm also a Medicaid patient. I'm also a person who uses food stamps. I'm also a person who has been through houselessness in this country. I am also a person who has gone through substance use and addiction. And most of all, I am a patient of Planned Parenthood. I am everything that Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to erase.
SPEAKER 01 :
I don't think they care particularly about your life. in terms of they are going to stop doing the stuff that they're doing and focus on erasing you. What does that even mean? These people have a really high opinion of themselves. First off, you counted nine, right? nine there was 10 i think intersectional political she's like i have three toes and i'm lactose intolerant and i also want to be a man and i'm a trans man was it right i can't tell i don't even know the language anymore allergy yeah i have a peanut allergy um what else um yeah i it Why? Who cares about all of this stuff? That doesn't make you special-er than anybody else there. But to the left, it does. The more things that you can rack up on a list, the special-er you are. That's how the left works. Like, you can't just be like a woman and be a Democrat. You have to be like a trans woman, queer trans woman with three toes who, you know, survived a house fire. I don't know. Like, it just... It's only burnt like on 30%. I just, I don't understand the never-ending boxes to check with these people. I mean, I can't even think of that about me. Everything about, you have to overshare in order to do it. I don't like overshare. I don't like sharing, period, but... Good heavens. Now, then you have this one audience of my 25. This person's with in D.C. They are they they are the gatekeeper for all veterans. Listen, 25.
SPEAKER 06 :
You can stand with Doge and Trump and Elon Musk or you can stand for veterans. You cannot stand for both. Now, make no mistake.
SPEAKER 01 :
Wait, what do you mean you can't stand with both? Well, he's the president of all the veterans, that guy. I don't even know who this guy is. It's part of their hands-off thing. By the way, the left doesn't care about veterans. I honestly am sorry. Abby Gate would like a word. Abby Gate would love to have a word, by the way. Who is this guy? I don't even care. But they... Every single rally, nobody... What was the purpose of them all coming together? Again, it's a two-minute hate session. They just wanted to come together and bitch. That's it. Did they change anything over the weekend? Was there any big realization learned? I don't think so. Who's the guy that... Wait, this was... I think I put this in... It's the trans dude. this was uh oh yeah the trans democrat tim mrs tim mcbride okay can we play can we play this one because this was in another hands-off rally listen and we are here today because while we know that donald trump thinks that he can place his hands anywhere what
SPEAKER 09 :
We're telling him he'll know. Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our Medicaid. Hands off Medicare. Hands off SNAP. Hands off our kids. Hands off women's rights. Hands off LGBTQ rights. So the irony of a man.
SPEAKER 01 :
Acting like, no, no, no, we're telling Trump to keep his hands off of women's rights. The idea of a man doing this, the guy dresses up as a woman and who he cosplays as a woman and mocks feminine, mocks the essence of what it is to be a woman.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, she's a guy.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. But I just... When they say hands off Social Security, well, you guys already took it. So it's gone. I mean, it's been insolvent for forever. I mean, story after story, warning after warning, you guys spent it. Al Gore talked about putting it in a lockbox that you know had no bottom, just the way he likes his masseuses. And they robbed you blind of Social Security. So they've already had their hands all over it. Whenever they... When they bristle over Social Security, they bristle over the idea that you would actually be able to keep your own money. So that's number one. Number two, no. Is this how they really think the government's operating? Because that explains so much stupidity about the left. Every single one of these rallies, there was no central theme. There was no central mission. It was all over the place. They had no goal except to get together and complain. And I don't know if they realize that last election voters were tired of Democrats just getting together and holding two minutes hate sessions. They were done with it. They were tired of hearing Democrats complain about Trump and everything else and not offer any solutions. And here Democrats did it again. Lovely spring Saturday and they decide to gather in various cities across the country and do it again. No solutions offered. You have this guy sitting here lecturing about women's rights, the irony of ironies. There's no, I don't understand the point of this. I wouldn't want to, that's not, no one's rights are being eliminated. No one's being deprived or being denied of anything. But especially the guy who's the gatekeeper for the veteran. Yeah. Abby Gatewood, like a word. I just don't understand the whole when you know, when we got together for like tea party events back when we kicked off and founded the second coming of it. Every single protest was had a purpose. They're the messaging and grassroots would all talk. We'd all talk with each other. But we wanted a singular focus, whether it was, you know, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, whether it's the idea of too big to fail, whether it's about, you know, the cash for clunkers. Every single event had a singular focus and a singular message. item of action after the rally. So in the event of, you know, too big to fail and all of that, there were action plans at rallies that we all, you know, on phone calls and meetings leading up to this device, like this is what people need to do after the rally. The rally is supposed to be the thing that kicks off your motivation and gives you some context, gives you the perspective and And then after that, that's when you hit up your congressional member's office or send out an email or call their offices or talk to them, whatever. And and everyone was kind of aligned there. There was a purpose for it. It wasn't just like, let's everybody get together and have a political kegger and bitch and moan for however, you know, all afternoon. That that was not the purpose of any rally I ever attended or ever planned. We I mean, literally we were passing out. handbills for people to get in touch with their lawmakers about these specific issues. Every single speaker had to adhere to driving home that message. This is our message. This is the issue that we're talking about today. We kept it really singular, really focused. We're not going to like run all over God's green earth and talk about every issue under the sun. We're going to keep it very simple and very focused so that we can better, uh, to harness direct action. And it was incredibly successful. That is not what they're doing. Like ours had a purpose. They're just getting out there and yelling. And it's the same stuff that we saw leading up to the election. And you saw how successful that was for them. Gold prices have surged over 40% since January 2024, consistently reaching new highs. According to Goldman Sachs research, the upward trend is expected to persist due to strong demand from central banks. It's stuff like this that's made me take action and why I've bought precious metals like gold and silver. I've partnered with a great company that makes it super easy to buy. Easy, transparent, and simple. And that company is Goldco. They're a huge supporter of this show, and they're the best at what they do. And right now, you can get a free 2025 gold and silver kit jam-packed with critical information about buying precious metals. It was a huge help, not just for me, but to all of you if you do this. And for my audience, you could also qualify for up to a 10% instant match in bonus silver. It's a really great deal, so don't miss out. Visit danalikesgold.com to learn more. That's danalikesgold.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
Hey, this is Todd Herman, host of The Todd Herman Show. You might have heard me on Rush Limbaugh's show. I was a regular fill-in for about eight years. I now do a show out of the high mountains of free America because, you know, I got exiled from Seattle. Ecclesiastes. There's nothing new under the sun and God uses imperfect people all the time. And I'm just seeing these similarities in how he's using President Trump and how he's used other actual king in this country. We have a king in the form of the deep state. Check out the Todd Herman Show every day on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 05 :
If you like true crime, you'll love the Miracle Files podcast.
SPEAKER 04 :
We share real stories with the suspense of true crime, but we'll leave you with a sense of light and hope.
SPEAKER 05 :
Like the college wrestler who fought a grizzly, the woman who was dead for nearly an hour, or the child lost in a dark mine for days. These are the kind of stories that remind us miracles are real.
SPEAKER 04 :
Subscribe to The Miracle Files wherever you get your podcasts and join us on this thrilling journey of faith and miracles.
SPEAKER 10 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 01 :
They're really trying to get you to freak out over bird flu. They're saying, oh my gosh, bird flu could be heading north this spring. Fewer federal health officials are working to stop it. I don't care. It's a virus. It's just, that's the way it is. Just wash your hands. Don't be gross and don't eat dead birds on the side of the road. I mean, really, how difficult is this, people? Do we have to freak out over everything? Stop it. Just take a breather. These people with these headlines. Good night. Panic in Austria. Borders are shut to two countries after a disease outbreak. Oh, but not to like the influx of people coming in from all manners of the globe illegally. They said Slovakia has closed 24 borders, introduced strict measures to help prevent the spread of a highly infectious disease. They said this is it's foot in mouth. Foot and mouth disease. Again, just don't be gross. Be careful what you eat. I mean, what pain? What in the world? People know this. Second measles death reported in Texas. I mean, all of these are just like and also Texas AG is investigating Kellogg's over healthy cereal claims. Ken Paxton said that they're investigating Kellogg's over the artificial food dyes in cereals. Why does anybody eat? Why do anybody eat these anyway? Like the pops and the Froot Loops or Fruiteos.
SPEAKER 10 :
From nostalgia, probably. I remember as a kid loving it.
SPEAKER 01 :
I never had Froot Loops until I moved out on my own and I bought a box of Froot Loops. I always had Fruiteos. I always had like... the great value version actually growing up you're right we all we had cheerios dude i did not get cereal in a box like maybe a couple times it was always in bags right it was always in a bag remember when kicks came out kid tested mother that's a horrible cereal because all i had was cheerios up to that point cheerios also was horrible unless you put a cup of sugar in it it's horrible Why would anybody eat that?
SPEAKER 10 :
Remember Grape Nuts?
SPEAKER 01 :
Grape Nuts are horrible. That's like, go out and just, you know what, just beat up a squirrel and take its food. That's the same thing.
SPEAKER 10 :
You used to love putting sugar in that.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know what Grape Nuts is? Squirrels eating nuts and spitting them into the cereal box and they seal it up at the factory and send it out and people pay money for it. That's where Grape Nuts come from.
SPEAKER 10 :
I'm not going to be the same actor today.
SPEAKER 1 :
Huh?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I'm just saying. Anyway, just stop eating trash. There's your headline. And then, what have I got? But I've got more. What? Dana, we're done with your Dorian-ness today. That's okay. But you're not. NASA, by the way, we did miss this last segment, last headlines. NASA, they're saying that there is a mysterious structure on Mars that proves there was life on the red planet. It's a new book out. They said that they've analyzed dozens of photos of structures on the Martian surface, and they are positive that they are man-made. Well, I don't know. If they're watching what our headlines have been for the past 48 hours, actually longer than that, they don't want anything to do with us because the stupidity may be more catching than the hand, foot, and mouth and the measles. Our partners over at Kel-Tec. PR 57. Now, I did go get mine. I haven't been able to really fire it yet because it's been busy preparing for some stuff that we got coming up. But very excited to put a few hundred rounds through this. And it's one of the latest from Caltex. I think it's actually genius. It's a really smart product. And if you like 5.7s, you always wanted to carry one. I think for men, obviously, it's a heck of a lot easier. For us ladies, we're just built differently. This is the lightest 5.7 that's on the market. It's actually 40% lighter than the next lightest 5.7. And from Kel-Tec, it's the PR57 rotary barrel pistol chambered in 5.7 low recoil. It's actually great for everyday carry because it's super thin and super light. They achieve it two ways. The rotary barrel, which makes it super light, and the unique top-loading design that gets this, replaces traditional magazines with stripper clips. You have a slimmer carry profile, 20 plus 1 capacity. MSRP is only $399. Super, super affordable. It's the first of its kind. Kel-Tec PR-57 rotary barrel pistol chambered in 5.7. Visit Kel-TecWeapons.com to learn more. Innovation Performance. Kel-Tec. K-E-L-T-E-C. Weapons.com. Tell them Dana sent you. Can I just go back to this? I had it in the headline. It was a brief headline. And the reason that I am bringing the story up to discuss this particular totally not in news at all story today is because I really feel like we all should go here and take it over. And then we become the tribesmen and then we can shoot arrows at anyone who wants to try to get near us. I see the headlines like I've been seen with the terror of craziness and it makes me want to go to the silence. So it's the Bay of Bengal. And in the vast expanse, let me put on my David Attenborough hat, in the vast expanse that is the Bay of Bengal, there lies North Sentinel Island, a remote speck of land that is fiercely guarded by both the Indian Navy and its indigenous inhabitants. people known as the Sentinelese. It is a tribe, the population of which we can only estimate maybe between 50 and 200, right? They are classified as uncontacted. They are isolated and they respond in the same manner that I do when unwanted guests appear with lethal force. I'm kidding. They don't like drop-bys. Don't think that you're going to just scooch on over and knock on their door. It's not going to happen. And they are protected in part because the Indian government and others do not want them contracting any kind of potential diseases from outsiders to which they've no immunity. And so there are strict prohibitions on approaching the island So they've declared the island and all of the surrounding waters to be an exclusion zone. And they enforce this with a regular naval patrol. And any unauthorized entry is highly illegal. And you are forbidden to contact the tribe at all. Now, they do this not because they're going to necessarily fine you, but because you will be killed to death by the Sentinelese. They are legally permitted to defend their territory, even up to the point of killing trespassers. And now they've had hapless fishermen. There was a determined Christian missionary. All have gained access and they all met grizzly ends there. Now, last Monday. not this Black Monday, Cain, but last Monday, there was an American tourist. Now, if you said, oh boy. I already know where this is going, Dana. Yes, you do. Down to the description of said tourist. Said tourist. Again, you know, I have a thing about because I think it looks bad and it just isn't the same. White people with dreadlocks, particularly if you're blonde, don't do it like this guy did. So that's his first problem. Right. You look like a tourist. Stop that. He's an American tourist. He traveled. to a restricted reserve on North Sentinel Island, and he left behind a can of Coca-Cola as an offering so that the most isolated tribe in the world could try it. The experts branded this guy's attempt as a deeply disturbing stunt. Not only did he put himself in danger, but the entire Sentinelese tribe They could contract a common disease like socialism or something, and it could kill all of them. There's no education, by the way, as the actual vaccine for socialism. Did you know that? It's true. You don't even have to get a shot just there. So he was arrested. He's 24 years old. He was arrested when he returned to land. And they were warning him, like, you could have been killed to death. You know this, right? Because they will kill you and eat you. Well, maybe not eat you, but they'll totally kill you. Apparently, they've inhabited this place for 30,000 to 38,000 years. I don't know if I believe that. But they're there. They're indigenous. And you don't want to mess with them because they will literally come out and just throw a barrage of arrows at you. It will rain down and block out the sun. Didn't Xerxes say that when he was battling the 300? The arrows will block out the sun. And so I don't know why people are hell bent on contacting them. What if, though, to get away, because if I swear, if I have to put up with any more of these press headlines, what if we just act like we're there? Like, oh, no, no, we didn't. We're here. We've been here this whole time. Just, you know, just go and show up and we'll act like we're members of the tribe. That way we don't have to watch these insane headlines and all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth about the economic or not downfall. I would. Would you go there, Cain? But you like grounding and bacteria tea. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
I can do that wherever I want.
SPEAKER 01 :
You like hippie stuff. These are like professional hippies.
SPEAKER 10 :
You're really throwing that professional word around.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I mean, by our society's measurement, they are. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
Still a lot of heavy lifting.
SPEAKER 01 :
Uh-huh. Well, I'm just saying. Yeah. I mean, they're... I don't see it. This is where I think that if we don't go there, we should send the Panikins there. It still sounds like I'm talking about a bird, doesn't it? I don't like Trump's nickname. I'm really disappointed. It's the first time I've never not liked a nickname. That's what he's calling Chex Notes, the weak and stupid people.
SPEAKER 10 :
It'll be the new Galapagos. We'll just put all the Panikins there.
SPEAKER 01 :
They're like pangolins, but dumb. Well, what can you tell us? This is an indigenous Panikin. Oh, yes, they're bulbous heads. And very dumb, very dumb beasts of burden they are, the Panikins. They sound like a weird flightless bird, Panikins. So just saying.
SPEAKER 08 :
Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure to hit that subscribe button on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In this episode, we dive into the complexities surrounding recent economic trends and the unexpected outcomes that have shaped the financial landscape. Listen as experts break down the nuances of market volatility, driven in part by the influence of social media and misinformation. We also explore how policy decisions at the national level can have far-reaching effects on small businesses and global trade networks.
SPEAKER 13 :
The world is facing urgent, monumental issues, and you may be considering a career where you can make a global impact, even if you don't know where to begin. In the heart of Washington, D.C., gain world-renowned expert knowledge and a global network as you pursue a master's degree and turn your passion into practice. Thousands of the world's leaders got their start at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Are you next?
SPEAKER 04 :
If the president doesn't try to reach out and reward these countries and companies that play by the rules, then the 1987 scenario, the one where we went down three days and then down 22% on Monday, has the most cogency. We will not have to wait out too long, will we? We'll know by Monday. Fortunately, we had an excellent set of employment numbers today. At least it makes it less likely a crash will necessarily lead to a recession. But if President Trump stays intransigent and does nothing to ameliorate the damage that I saw these last two days, I'm not going to be constructive here. I will contain my anger, but only because I lived through 87, and in the end, I came out okay. I was in cash for the crash. I know what this feels like.
SPEAKER 22 :
Commentary on the economy if your sleeves aren't pushed back. Because I feel like you're not. If your sleeves aren't pushed back, then are you really doing commentary on the economy? You know, so that's Jim Cramer. And we have to talk about inverse inverse Cramer, which is sort of like a marveled universe multiverse sort of thing. And it's only because he gets everything wrong so many times, like what he when he says to do something. You're supposed to do the exact opposite of the thing that he's suggesting. And that's how you know that you're doing the right thing. That's how we do our economy now. I don't know if you guys were aware of that. Whatever the opposite of what he says. Because, guys, I got to tell you, you know, I was... I was reliably informed that all hell... I'm really disappointed. Like, I went out and I prepared. I'm not disappointed that the economy isn't in the sewer. I'm disappointed in that I went out and, you know, I, like, prepared for all hell to break loose, Cain. I was told we were going to be eating our pets. Got some sharper knives, you know, you know, the whole nine yards. And and then it ended up not being a black Monday. Like I thought people would, you know, I thought it was there was going to be a run on banks. It was going to be mass hysteria. And it's just like a regular all Monday. What happened? I was reliably informed. I was told all last week. I was told all over the weekend. All hell is going to break loose, guys. All hell. Are you ready for all the hell that's happening? And it didn't happen. It came. It didn't happen. And then not only that, but then we've got some updates. Some of these other countries are going, hey, FYI, we want zero to zero tariffs. Hey, we want some zeros. So we're going to talk about all this today. Welcome to the show. Dana Lash with you. We're at the top of this first hour on Monday, and we are going to go through the black market. monday that didn't happen i guess right yeah i mean that's kind of what it seems like that the black monday didn't happen it didn't happen and so i do i have this this story here because i will say that now this is not this is not without the press trying guys the press really tried to do this a friend of mine over at red state captured it because they they were really rally. The media was rallying for disaster. And this just, I think also goes to show you for whatever they say about social media, social media works until it doesn't. And this is one of those instances where social media was very influential in what the market was doing. Future showed another bad day for stocks. And then you had all three major markets. They were preparing for a big old drop and it kind of happened. But, um, It had to do with this 90 day pause on tariffs. So I saw these headlines this morning. I was wondering where it came from. This is one of the first things I saw this morning. CNBC. Who else came? Reuters. Everybody. Everybody and their brother. They were talking about, well, you know, we got this pause on tariffs. This is audio soundbite 30. Listen to this because this was the White House secretary, press secretary responding to it.
SPEAKER 02 :
I spoke to Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary, on the phone just a short time ago, and she tells me it is quote-unquote fake news that the White House is considering a 90-day pause. So the White House pouring cold water on this idea, wherever it came from, that they're considering a 90-day pause on tariffs, saying that the president is committed to his tariff regime, and any reports that he's considering a 90-day pause are, quote, fake news.
SPEAKER 22 :
But that's not what was reported all morning. Literally all morning, yours truly, I saw headline after headline saying that all of this is going to be a 90-day pause on tariffs. And then, of course, the market reacted. Stocks flew. Nasdaq and S&P 500. They were at or above 3% gains. And it was a fake report. And then you had the White House's rapid response 47 on social media, they had to come out really fast with a rebuttal, say no, and you just heard part of that. And then I mean, watching it live within a second, maybe a second, they dropped back into the red. And then they climbed a little bit and then they... So it's volatile. It's market uncertainty, which is what's driving all of this. But that's a very interesting... Damn you, media. Right? I mean, why would you guys do this stuff? You know what we heard? I heard that just make something up. Media ran with it. Media ran with it. So the... I mean, clearly what the lesson is is that the White House is incredibly influential, all of this. Is it going to be temporary? Is it not? Everyone who's telling me that they know what's going to happen is lying. They don't. So just, you know, just sort of settle in. That's the best advice I have. Great advice, isn't it, Cain? Life lessons. It's a life hack from Dana Lash. Life hack. It's a life hack. Now, can we talk about Panikins? Because, no, I don't like the name. No? No. I am, for the first time in my life, disappointed in a nickname from POTUS. I feel let down. Like I just watched my, like I watched, you know, if you're a dad and you're watching your son learn to throw and you realize, oh, he can't catch, can't throw either. It's that same feeling, sinking feeling. He, Trump decided he created the panic in. It sounded like a form of mannequin, honestly, but it's the way that they put it. It's his response to people who I guess are flipping out about everything that following all of the media, they're following all of it. And they had me pull this up. He had tweeted out, well, not tweeted out, it was on True Social, quote, the United States has a chance to do something that should have been done decades ago. Don't be weak. Don't be stupid. Don't be a panicking, a new party based on weak and stupid people. Be strong, courageous, and patient, and greatness will be the result. And then he capitalizes certain words the way my mom does. I think it's a boomer thing. I think that, no offense, boomers, I'm just pointing out something y'all do, right? Just how millennials say like with everything you guys like to capitalize weird stuff.
SPEAKER 19 :
You just have to read it louder at that point.
SPEAKER 22 :
Is that, so is it, so okay, let me read it. So the United States has a chance to do something that should have been done decades ago. There you go. Don't be weak.
SPEAKER 21 :
There you go.
SPEAKER 22 :
Don't be stupid. Don't be a Panikin. Almost sounds like a messed up penguin. A new party based on weak and stupid people. So, yeah, that makes a little bit of sense, I guess. But I still don't like the name Panikin. It's like a zombie monster pelican something. I'm not sure what I think about a Panikin. I've got some other names for them. Not Panikin. Panikin's not one of them, but I do have some other names. But, um... He's, you know, obviously he's that's his pep talk. He's given his pep talk like, follow me, follow me into this. Trust me. Trust the plan. And the problem is that everybody's got to take, including everybody in the Republican Party and everybody in his administration. They all have takes to give. Right. And when you have so many people out there adding to so much noise, POTUS's, I think, focus on this gets generally lost. Right. Right. I think it gets generally lost. But I think what we've learned today is that Black Monday didn't happen and that the markets actually are. I mean, our economy is still pretty strong, although I do agree with what Carol Roth said when she was on the program on Friday. You know, whether or not something like this is sustainable, that's another debate. But using it as leverage. uh, yeah, I mean, I, I can, I get the point of using it as leverage and making an actual, you know, equalizing, having actual equal trade. But I also think that a lot of people don't know what tariffs are. And I think a lot of people, this just, and I get it because you didn't, you know, you didn't go to be an economist or an investment banker, and it doesn't help that all the people that you look, everybody's fighting over it. I mean, I think that's part of what's driving a lot of this uncertainty, especially from the right and in cane to you. I think that that's, what's driving a lot of this is the, uh, It is all in flux because it's based on a negotiating tactic from the White House, which is not really like anything Wall Street's had to predict before or investors have had to predict before.
SPEAKER 19 :
I mean, people have to understand that the top like 10% of people that actually own the, these are Wall Street that owns most of what's the stock market, essentially the paper that represents these companies. So Main Street isn't suffering as much as Wall Street right now.
SPEAKER 22 :
Main Street isn't... Well, I will say, one thing I get worried about is the price increases, especially as it pertains to small businesses, because we went through hell with COVID for small businesses. Small businesses just about finished off mom and pop stores all around the country. And so I get a little nervous whenever I see people's prices go up, whenever I see orders being canceled to some of these small businesses, when I watch them struggle, because we went through this already. And I just don't want to see what... covid didn't finish off that these that you know maybe tariffs may kane sees it as leveling the playing field but at what cost though this is where you have to be concerned but a small business has a hard time competing with larger conglomerates if we're allowing these countries to come in and do that
SPEAKER 19 :
without paying, you know what I mean, without doing the necessary things that we should be doing as a country and requiring them to do, then that's going to be the problem. And that's what we've been seeing for decades now. We've allowed this to happen where it's cheaper to send the jobs overseas than it is to actually manufacture here. Trump has flipped that coin, and now it's going to be cheaper to manufacture here than it is to import from other places. That, to me, is leveling the playing field for small business.
SPEAKER 22 :
Do they actually make a panic and tip line? What? Something I saw. Did they really? I don't know. I was just asking. I don't know. We're going to come back to this because there's a lot here. Also, we're still waiting for the house to do something. It'd be great. We need tax cuts sooner than later. That's for certain on this. The hands-off AstroTurf thing happened over this weekend. I totally forgot. Didn't even affect my life. Did you guys see any of these morons out in the streets? I say it because they're upset literally over Tesla and whoever knows, who knows what else. I've never seen people be so upset at government accountability. Like, oh, the government's wasting your money. Taxpayer dollars, that... They're not allowed to spend under Article 1, Section 8. So what say you? And they get upset over it. How dare you? How dare you stop the government waste, fraud, and abuse? We love waste, fraud, and abuse. They're upset. So they've been having this hands-off. I don't know. They've had them all over. There were tens of people that came out to them. You know, to be honest, I didn't really pay attention to any of it. Unless I see it in the streets, it's just not... It's just not bothering me. And I didn't see anybody doing anything. I think they had like some out around the country. They had a couple of people go out and speak. They had some in Dallas. They had what? What was the goal? Nobody knows the goal. They all went out there. Nobody knows what the hell they were out there for. They just all went out in the streets and nobody knows why. Oh, you noticed that they were mostly... So no offense, because I feel like the conservative boomers really don't like the Marxist boomers. You know, there's like two sets of boomers. There's the one, you know, that... Well, they're like my parents or my mom, who's just kind of like in the middle and, you know, watches. You know, she's conservative, but she... Just really fit into one of these niches. Then you have the peaceful hippie boomers that just want to be left alone. Right. And they want to go out in the woods and live a snow white life. Talk to the animals, you know, nature grounding, which is basically walking barefoot or whatever. You know, they just want to go out there and live their best lives. Then you have the Marxist boomers who are not satisfied unless everybody's is equally as miserable as they are. Those were all of the people that were out there. At these events, they were all like the mean old communist boomers that were out in the streets. No idea who these people are. No idea what they accomplished. They don't know either. Burn a gun. B-Y-R-N-A. The non-firearm firearm. Whether it's a restriction, a municipal restriction, or private property restrictions, you want to make sure that you're still able to protect yourself. And I always tell people, Carrie, I have zero issue using the lethal force, but I also believe in making sure that I have a diversified weapons cachet. And so that's where burn a gun comes in. I mean, for crying out loud, you have different calibers and you'll carry blades. It's completely understandable to have something that you can take as a way to defend yourself when you're going into quote unquote, and, you know, if you live in Washington, DC, or New York, or have to work in some of these areas where, You know, you don't feel safe and walk in your car at night. And I have friends who have gone out because of those exact reasons and they've gotten a Burna gun. In fact, the Burna SD, that's the best selling model. And I think that's the most realistic model for this particular need. You can choose your color, the projectiles, accessories, and it shoots chemical irritant projectiles from up to 50 feet away and it can deter those threats. And it still provides a powerful deterrent. And in addition to that, it requires no background checks, no permits. It can be shipped directly to your door. There's no waiting period. It's legal in all 50 states. So it's accessible for everybody and there's no recoil. It's super easy to use with quick deployment and it has a five round capacity. So already when you compare that to regular stun guns, tasers, that they've maybe one or two rounds, this is five. Way better. So this is the perfect time to reevaluate your self-defense options. Visit Burna.com slash Dana. That's B-Y-R-N-A. And get 10% off your purchase. Burna.com slash Dana for 10% off.
SPEAKER 05 :
Elon's not cutting Medicare. Just the billions in waste of it. As the left freaks out claiming Elon Musk is going to cut Medicare. Remember during Obamacare when health insurers got double paid by Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of patients and our government didn't check? Check out the Watchdog on Wall Street podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, this is Todd Herman, host of The Todd Herman Show. You might have heard me on Rush Limbaugh's show. I was a regular fill-in for about eight years. I now do a show out of the high mountains of free America because, you know, I got exiled from Seattle. Ecclesiastes. There's nothing new under the sun and God uses imperfect people all the time. And I'm just seeing these similarities in how he's using President Trump and how he's used other actual king in this country. We have a king in the form of the deep state. Check out The Todd Herman Show every day on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 19 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 22 :
Well, tariffs have sparked a U.S. junk bond sell-off as recession risks mount. And, of course, because they know that what they have is losing value quickly. This is coming from Financial Times. They're saying corporate credit is the canary in the coal mine for a faltering economy. Most of this stuff, look, I'm just going to tell you guys, a lot of the speculation is nonsense. It's just so stupid. I don't want to contribute to that. We're not going to contribute to the speculation and nonsense, but I think that there's some genuine concerns, but there's also some genuine gains. So let's watch and wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, hedge funds hit with the steepest margin. since the 2020 covid crisis this also you know we're again we're supposed to have black monday i was waiting for like a night what was in 1920s 30s big old market crash yeah people were throwing themselves off buildings thought that's what we were i was told that's what monday was going to happen we were going to wake up with that instead now Banks are asking clients to stump off additional money as global market sell-off knocks the values of holdings, hedge funds, biggest margins since the RONA. Since the RONA. Kamala Harris is being praised by Hollywood donors for quote-unquote, gosh, this is such a tiring headline. Gosh, cliched. Ripping Trump and corporate capitulation to unconstitutional threats. Deadline Hollywood has it. She was telling a bunch of rich people out in Hollywood. And they're saying, oh, that's great. We need more of that. Is this mean that... Are they going to try to run her again? I mean, I'm... I don't even know why she's out speaking because she doesn't raise money. She's never been able to raise money ever. So I'm just kind of, you know, I don't know. Let's see here. A battle to keep. This is crazy. Influencers are trying to contact an uncontactable tribe. And they said they were nearly exterminated by a Coke can. It's a Bay of Bengal. It's an island, a remote island. And governments are trying to keep influencers away from this tribe. Stay with us. I want to go there. Partners that help bring you the program. It's our friends at Gold Coat Precious Metals. The economy. I mean, we're all waiting for everything to kind of get normalized. Of course, we need tax cuts because it's not going to be great until we get that. But anyway, you can get your free 2025 gold and silver kit today and you could qualify for up to 10 percent in bonus silver when you visit through Dana likes gold dot com Goldman Sachs research. They raise the gold price forecast to thirty one hundred by the end of the year. That's underpinned by higher than expected demand from central banks. So now is the time to move. Now is the time to buy. It's easy and transparent to do with GoldCo, a strong supporter of this show. Nobody knows metals inside and out better than them. You can secure your future with GoldCo. Investing in metals is straightforward and reliable. And with over $3 billion in gold and silver secured for hardworking Americans. They've been a top-rated company from the start. And experience matters when it comes to protecting your wealth. GoldCo has that experience. They've helped thousands of people secure their financial futures with gold and silver. And they've been with our program since the beginning, so they know what they're doing. You can secure your future and trust GoldCo. 6,000-plus five-star reviews, an A-plus Better Business Bureau rating. I mean, they are literally the number one-rated gold company in the country. So call now, request their free 2025 GoldCo kit, or actually visit their website now. and learn how to diversify and safeguard your savings today. Visit danalikesgold.com, join the thousands who've called GoldCo the number one rated gold company, and you can get a free copy of their 2025 gold and silver kit. On top of that, you could also qualify for up to 10% in bonus silver. That's danalikesgold.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
Democrats now insist they have a huge momentum shift after those special elections turned out pretty much like we thought they would. President Trump has the audacity to claim he should be able to decide who works for him. And Trump makes the media look like Wile E. Coyote again over comments about a third term. I'm Greg Karambas, inviting you to join Jim Garrity of National Review and me each weekday for the Three Martini Lunch podcast. We'll give you the good, bad, and crazy news of the day and hopefully a lot of laughs too. Follow the Three Martini Lunch on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 07 :
The Dana Show podcast, your fast, funny and informative news companion for those always on the move. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 25 :
I hope it is agreed that both Europe and the United States should move ideally, in my view, to a zero tariff situation, effectively creating a free trade zone between Europe and North America.
SPEAKER 22 :
So there's some daylight there between Musk and Trump. I think to an extent there's some nuance as well. I think that he recognizes the manner in which this is all being applied. But at the same time, he would love for zero tariffs. I think everybody, that would be great, right? But we don't live in a kittens and sunshine world. I don't think it's as big of a deal as the... Media is trying to make it out to be like, oh, wow, there's daylight. Yeah, because, you know, you're not going to have people who agree a thousand percent on every single thing. So I don't think that that's a huge deal, although I do think it's interesting. And if you've never it's an oldie but a goodie. This is an amazing video. It's a two minute lesson. from Milton Friedman, who he was very much against tariffs. And he was, you know, arguing about, you know, like, for instance, using something as simple as a pencil and how it's not central planning, but rather it's, you know, the free market and the free exchange of goods and ideas. This is such a great soundbite. And Musk had also tweeted it. Oldie but a goodie, listen.
SPEAKER 23 :
This lead pencil. There's not a single person in the world who could make this pencil. Remarkable statement? Not at all. The wood from which it's made, for all I know, comes from a tree that was cut down in the state of Washington. To cut down that tree, it took a saw. To make the saw, it took steel. To make the steel, it took iron ore. This black center, we call it lead, but it's really graphite, compressed graphite. I'm not sure where it comes from, but I think it comes from some mines in South America. This red top up here, the eraser, bit of rubber, probably comes from Malaya, where the rubber tree isn't even native. It was imported from South America by some businessmen with the help of the British government. This brass ferrule, I haven't the slightest idea where it came from, or the yellow paint, or the paint that made the black lines, or the glue that holds it together. Literally thousands of people People who don't speak the same language, who practice different religions, who might hate one another if they ever met. When you go down to the store and buy this pencil, you are in effect trading a few minutes of your time for a few seconds of the time of all those thousands of people. What brought them together and induced them to cooperate to make this pencil? There was no commissar sending out offices from sending out orders from some central office. It was a magic of the price system. The impersonal operation of prices that brought them together and got them to cooperate to make this pencil so that you could have it for a trifling sum. That is why the operation of the free market is so essential. Not only to promote productive efficiency, but even more, to foster harmony and peace among the peoples of the world.
SPEAKER 22 :
That is a very interesting point there. And I find that it's kind of absent in a lot of these discussions that are being had today. And that's, of course, Milton Friedman, the pencil lesson, which is, you know, I always thought it was such a great short little lesson. But he gets into, you know, as well. Yes, you have all of these different groups of people who for this purpose, they're working together and they're. That's what he, you know, he's alluding to when he talks about peace and harmony. It's a very Randian, you know, Ayn Randian kind of philosophy, but he's exactly right. It promotes efficiency and it does foster harmony and peace because people are creating something. And I that's like that's I think that's such a great analogy for all of this. I do agree. And there's there's a couple, you know, the media is trying to figure out how to how to focus on this as as a best way to use it as a weapon. But, you know, Musk and I think what? He and Peter Navarro, they're on opposite ends of this. He says he wants a zero tariff situation with Europe. The EU did approach and say that, you know, from what from early reports that they would like, you know, zero tariffs. You know, that's that's one of the things that they've, you know, and we'll wait and see. Although this is changing like, you know, day by day. But. the uh musk had criticized peter navarro saying that he wanted a zero tariff situation between the united states and europe and he made a couple of comments about navarro so clearly he doesn't agree he had tweeted at one point a phd in econ from harvard is a bad thing not a good thing results in the ego slash brains greater than one problem uh and he uh Somebody else had chimed in and said that Navarro was correct in his assessment of tariffs, in which Musk replied, he ain't built redacted. Then, of course, Navarro hit back and said that he's only protecting his own interests as any business person would do. Well, I mean, I think business, when you're talking about protecting your own interests, I think you're also talking about protecting your jobs and the people who fill those job roles. But I'm really let down by all the news. It's not the disaster you all thought, so operate normally, right? I think at the end, when do you think this gets resolved, Cain? Nobody knows, and that's part of this uncertainty that's fueling all of this. Nobody knows.
SPEAKER 19 :
Once we hit the bottom, as far as the panic selling goes, the thing is, look, no one realizes losses until they sell. So if you don't want to realize any losses, just don't sell. Just hang tight. Everybody knows that whenever we go through these, whether it be from 1987 to 2008 to 2020 to now, Everything has always gone up gradually after such a correction. And the same will happen here.
SPEAKER 22 :
I just think that there unless there all of this is going to be for nothing. If Congress and I know I say this and I probably sound like a broken record, but it's so incredibly important. I can't overemphasize it enough. None of this is going to matter anything if Congress can't get it together. It's all going to suck if Congress doesn't act and make their make some relief permanent. This is going to be a disaster of epic proportions. And there is nothing that anyone can say to the contrary on this. If we don't have tax cuts made permanent, we will essentially be living under double taxation. That's got to change. We should have tax cuts permanent anyway. I mean, good night. But if we don't have a better business climate created in the United States, where we have an even further lowering of corporate tax rate, where we have a lot of these regulations and restrictions with regard to new businesses, et cetera, et cetera. If we don't deregulate and cut federal spending, none of this is going to matter. We are still going to be right in the same place fiscally. The only reason, the only way that moves like this makes sense is if you follow it up with actual permanent action. Because nobody is going to want to slog through this and pay an exorbitant, god-awful amount of tax every year. Nobody's going to want to slog through this and have nothing change afterwards or have just double taxation because of tariffs. Nobody's going to want to go through all of that for nothing. You can't do one without the other. It makes sense when there's relief for the average everyday American. Scott Besant brought this up when he talked about wages, real net wages. This was, I can't remember what this was on. Yeah, audio sent by 13.
SPEAKER 08 :
Chris, what I like is data. And if we look at data from President Trump's first term, and there's a big study that just came out from a group of economists, mostly at MIT, that showed that a 20% tariff on China led to a 0.7% tax... or price level increase over four years. I think that's pretty good. If we can take in 20% in tariffs and it's a 0.7% increase. And Kristen, the little publicized story this week, everyone wants to look at the stock market going down. You know what else went down? Oil prices went down almost 15% in two days, which impacts working Americans much more than the stock market does. Interest rates hit their low for the year. So I'm expecting the mortgage applications.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, that's true. I mean, that is what hits average Americans more than anything. That makes sense. But, you know, we'll, I'm just saying, we've got to have more from Congress. We can't have Congress fighting on, the thing about The proxy voting enrages me. We have some of the dumbest members in Congress. I just it's just it's impossible. Impossible. Speaking of which, by the way, and it's interesting, Mike Johnson got Trump to just to go back and not support the proxy voting thing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I guess give credit to Mike Johnson on that one. He apparently was able to convince POTUS. Yeah, the proxy voting is a bad thing. Remember when Nancy Pelosi and all of them were trying to do it during COVID? Guys, remember that? Why in the hell would we embrace it? So he got him to walk back. And it's actually conservative women that helped defeat it in Congress. There was not a single Republican woman that supported it. Not one. So that was big news. The fact that we spent an inordinate amount of time last week on that than anything else is pretty insufferable, I think. I mean, we've got people that are worried about what's going to happen with them in the future. They're worried about what's going to what's going to happen with their retirement, their 401ks. And you had Congress fighting over this stuff, like in Texas right now, in Texas, in Austin, some of the stupidest stuff I've ever seen. You know, I look at this stuff. I'm in a very cynical mood today. And I think Why in the world do we support having Republican supermajority if they're not going to give you anything different than what Democrats would? Why? What is the point? What makes having a Republican supermajority so special? Because so far in two different red states, we've seen nothing but disappointment. I expect it from Democrats, but not these tranny Republicans, meaning that they're Democrats cosplaying as Republicans. So this is it's it's doesn't make any sense. This, you know, again, Texas, instead of talking about property tax relief, they're talking about checks notes, banning THC, which has been legal and there's no issues. And they decided that what we need right now are some laws and regulations on this out of nowhere. That's what they're focusing on right now. I can't even make it up if I tried instead of property tax relief. Seriously, I'm telling you what, if Republicans don't get it together and give fiscal tax relief. Oh, I am all for a very impolite Tea Party to 3.0. I mean, by impolite, I mean, well, just let your imagination run wild. I'm done with it. Done with it. There's no point. Where's the return on my investment for my support of these insufferable people? What have you given me? Nothing. I haven't gotten any tax relief. What are we waiting for? We need permanent tax relief. We need actual fiscal policy. We need a balanced budget. We need all of these things. Why do we not have them? There's no excuse anymore from these people. At some point, voters need to start demanding results instead of being made to dance and act as cheerleaders for subpar, sucktastic Republicans. It's done. It's infuriating. Makes me just live it. I'm more and more. I don't like anybody. The older I get, the less I like actually literally anybody in politics. But that's what they're doing down in Austin right now. We'll come back to that. It's our partners. Of course, all this brought to you by people who support the program, people like Tax Network USA. It's the government theft agency. You know, they want their money. so that they can go and spend it on trans education in South Africa. Very important. I'm not kidding. So here's the thing. You don't want to deal with the IRS by yourself. Everybody knows that. It's kind of like the big official unwritten rule, right? You need Tax Network USA. They are the biggest entity that deals with the IRS. Not only that, they are the most successful resolution company that deals with the IRS because you're dealing with experienced taxpayers. experts. They have actually resolved over a billion dollars in tax debt, delivering real results for clients across the country. It doesn't matter if you have 10,000 or 10 million. They have tailored strategies that will settle your issues in your favor. They got preferred direct lines to the IRS agents that they know they can talk with. They know which ones to avoid and which ones to tell you to avoid. So schedule your complimentary consultation. Talk with a Tax Network USA strategist, 1-800-958-1000, or visit TNUSA.com slash Dana. And have your debt reduced or eliminated. It's free to talk with their strategist. Stop the anxiety. Stop the threatening letters. Schedule your complimentary consultation today, 1-800-958-1000, or visit TNUSA.com slash Dana.
SPEAKER 07 :
Get the lowdown on the latest news with a side of laughs whenever you want. Subscribe to the Dana Show podcast on YouTube, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER 18 :
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of the United States.
SPEAKER 10 :
So, for the people who voted for Trump or have supported Trump, can you finally just admit you were wrong? Trump has spent his entire life bankrupting businesses and now, surprise, surprise, he's bankrupting the United States. So look, we can move on. But if you supported Trump or voted for him, just please finally now just admit you were wrong.
SPEAKER 22 :
I call that guy an old lesbian, but it's an insult to actual lesbians, I think. Why does he he just like he looks like an old woman. That's Moby. Remember Moby? Nobody. Nobody remembers Moby. Was he ever like, I don't know. I never got into his stuff, but he was a little too poppy for me. But what is he mad about? Like, what did Trump not deliver on? So far, I got deportations, tax cuts. I'm waiting for them. But so like, what is Moby? What's that old lady upset about? I'm just curious. These people come out of the woodwork. Bless his little soft jaw heart. Seriously, I've never seen anybody. He looks like a child's drawing of a person. He's so disproportionate in all the weakest ways. It's difficult to look at him. And then his neck tattoos. I don't know. Is that to hide the loose skin on his neck? I'm not quite sure what's happening here. I don't know. Is that mean? I just don't like him. I find him annoying. He's one of those, well, actually, people, right? Everybody knows somebody like that. I'm not a fan of Moby. Were you a fan of Moby's music, Kane? I wasn't.
SPEAKER 19 :
No, I was familiar with it, but no.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah. I like the people who are like, oh, I love electronic music. I like Moby. I'm like, oh, yeah, okay. Oh, welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you. We are in a very weird, cynical Daria esque mode today. And we're I'm just going to sit back and watch all these people who are economically illiterate, confuse the hell out of all everybody and drive uncertainty in the markets. Kane, that's what we're doing today. I know that they were all saying it was Black Monday, but I think it's just everybody's confused Monday, really, you know, but POTUS still I'm not really into panicking yet. The party name, it sounds like a pelican that's an Anakin Skywalker fan. I'm just not into it. Like there's got to be, just call them what they are. Just, you know, anything. But the White House had denied that 90-day pause that the media was fueling. That made the markets go wild. We'll talk more about that. We're also going to talk to, coming up, Grover Norquist on the taxes. with all of this. As you know, he only is concerned with the taxes and how that translates for the middle class. And we're going to talk with him about some of that. And like I said, too, none of this is going to matter if we don't have a more hospitable business climate. None of it's going to matter. I mean, this is a weird Rube Goldberg way to finagle what we could be doing with better domestic policy, like a Rube Goldberg machine. I actually just watched a video on those the other day. It's like that, where we could, you know, to create a better business climate. We're going to talk about that and more coming up. Stick with us. Second hour on the way. Our partners that bring you the program. It's our friends at All Family Pharmacy. All Family Pharmacy has all of the medications that you need without anything being manufactured at all or sourced from China or even India. It's all right here made in the USA, which I think is incredibly important, especially if we're talking about becoming more self-sufficient with things like antibiotics, et cetera, because that's what all family pharmacy does. You don't have to play by big pharma's rules. Remember when they tried to shut down actual therapeutics and access to those therapeutics? Remember when they tried to bar you from getting ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and that you were being told that you were crazy if you had those? Yeah, yeah. But hey, take this injection. We don't know what it does. Go ahead and take it. They didn't just dismiss the alternatives. They crushed your ability to get them. All family pharmacy is about access and affordability. It's simple, fast and affordable. No insurance, no problem. Straightforward pricing, online ordering. You can get your muds in just two to four days or if you need them in a pinch overnight. Your health is always within reach. I've used them many times before. You can also get your everyday maintenance medications too. They make it super simple, fast shipping, no gatekeepers. And again, made right here in the US of A. Visit allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana and get 10% off using promo code Dana10. Protect yourself and your family today at allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana. Coupon code Dana10 to save 10%.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you like true crime, you'll love the Miracle Files podcast.
SPEAKER 27 :
We share real stories with the suspense of true crime, but we'll leave you with a sense of light and hope.
SPEAKER 01 :
Like the college wrestler who fought a grizzly, the woman who was dead for nearly an hour, or the child lost in a dark mine for days. These are the kind of stories that remind us miracles are real.
SPEAKER 27 :
Subscribe to the Miracle Files wherever you get your podcasts and join us on this thrilling journey of faith and miracles.
SPEAKER 22 :
Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you. We're at the top of the second hour. And my friend, our listener, Vegas Larry, that's his official name. He's gonna have to get like a satin jacket with it on as many times as we shout him out on the show. He made this. This is an actually great point. And I retweeted it. He said, everyone who wanted student loan forgiveness, they're all of a sudden economic experts on tariffs. I was telling Cain over the radio break that, and I was trying to find it, someone actually was trying to op-ed The, you know, the whole Black Friday thing and how it doesn't exist right now because we don't have a Black Friday. And they're trying to say, oh, well, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean like literally Friday, people. The Black Monday thing. Like what? What? It came. What were the headlines Friday?
SPEAKER 19 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 22 :
It's all going to be Black Monday. We're all going to die today.
SPEAKER 19 :
It didn't happen.
SPEAKER 22 :
So now the left is like, well, it doesn't literally mean like what? Yes, it does. Actually, it's in the news. Yeah, it does actually mean that anything that they can do. So at what point, look, I'm not going to sit here and talk about it nonstop because I'm not going to engage in the speculation. That's what I don't like. I don't like the speculation because at some point, you know, we know the tenants of free market and we know the tenants of good economic policy. And, you know, there's only so much to be said of it. But. You know, at the same time, I can't stand getting into the speculation of stuff and making people freak out unnecessarily, right? I kind of am one of those. I'm going to just stay and sort of bob in the water here and watch and see what happens because it all changes so dramatically day to day. I mean, for crying out loud, Cain, it's like the EU is now saying, yeah, we would like to have a zero tariff. We'd like to have, you know, a zero tariff policy. So let's talk about how maybe perhaps we can do that. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Listen to this. The content. Listen.
SPEAKER 24 :
These tariffs come first and foremost at immense costs for U.S. consumers and businesses. But at the same time, they have a massive impact on the global economy. Especially hard hit are the developing countries. And this is a major turning point for the United States. Nonetheless, we stand ready to negotiate with the United States. Indeed, we have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods, as we have successfully done with many other trading partners.
SPEAKER 22 :
So that's Ursula von der Leyen. She's the head of the European Union. She's the head of the EU. And so she's coming and saying, yes, we would love to be able to negotiate. have no tariffs let's talk about how we can make this possible great let's do it let's make okay then let's have that i'm okay with it and i'm okay if it's all on china we need to really start purchasing less from china anyway and we're going to talk to steven yates about this coming up so these are all great things right can i just change your gears totally for a moment we'll come back to this can i just go back to this um i had it in the headline it was a brief headline And the reason that I am bringing the story up to discuss this particular totally not in news at all story today is because I really feel like we all should go here and take it over. And then we become the tribesmen and then we can shoot arrows at anyone who wants to try to get near us. I see the headlines like I've been seen with the terror of craziness and it makes me want to go to the silence. So it's the Bay of Bengal. And in the vast expanse, let me put on my David Attenborough hat, in the vast expanse that is the Bay of Bengal, there lies North Sentinel Island, a remote speck of land that is fiercely guarded by both the Indian Navy and its indigenous inhabitants. people known as the Sentinelese. It is a tribe, the population of which we can only estimate maybe between 50 and 200, right? They are classified as uncontacted. They are isolated and they respond in the same manner that I do when unwanted guests appear with lethal force.
SPEAKER 21 :
I'm kidding.
SPEAKER 22 :
They don't like drop-bys. Don't think that you're going to just scooch on over and knock on their door. It's not going to happen. And they are protected in part because the Indian government and others do not want them contracting any kind of potential diseases from outsiders to which they've no immunity. And so there are strict prohibitions on approaching the island. So they've declared the island and all of the surrounding waters to be an exclusion zone. And they enforce this with a regular naval patrol. And any unauthorized entry is highly illegal. And you are forbidden to contact the tribe at all. Now, they do this not because they're going to necessarily fine you, but because you will be killed to death by the Sentinelese. They are legally permitted to defend their territory, even up to the point of killing trespassers. And now, they've had hapless fishermen. There was a determined Christian missionary. All have gained access, and they all met grizzly ends there. Now, last Monday... Not this Black Monday, Cain, but last Monday, there was an American tourist. Now, if you said, oh boy, I already know where this is going, Dana. Yes, you do. Down to the description of said tourist. Said tourist, again, you know, I have a thing about, because I think it looks bad and it just isn't the same. White people with dreadlocks, particularly if you're blonde, don't do it like this guy did. So that's his first problem, right? You look like a tourist. Stop that. He's an American tourist. He traveled to a restricted reserve on North Sentinel Island and he left behind a can of Coca-Cola as an offering. so that the most isolated tribe in the world could try it. The experts branded this guy's attempt as a deeply disturbing stunt. Not only did he put himself in danger, but the entire Sentinelese tribe, they could contract a common disease like socialism or something, and it could kill all of them. There's no education, by the way, as the actual vaccine for socialism. Did you know that? It's true. You don't even have to get a shot just there. So he was arrested. He's 24 years old. He was arrested when he returned to land. And they were warning him like, you could have been killed to death. You know this, right? Because they will kill you and eat you. Well, maybe not eat you, but they'll totally kill you. They've apparently they've inhabited this place for 30 to 30,000 years. I don't know if I believe that. But they're there. They're indigenous. And you don't want to mess with them because they will literally come out and just throw a barrage of arrows at you. You it will rain down and block out the sun. As didn't Xerxes say that when he was battling the 300, the arrows will block out the sun. And so I don't know why people are hell bent on contacting them. What if, though, to get away, because if I swear, if I have to put up with any more of these press headlines, what if we just act like we're there? Like, oh, no, no, we didn't. We're here. We've been here this whole time. Just, you know, just go and show up and we'll act like we're members of the tribe. That way we don't have to watch these insane headlines and all of the weeping and gnashing of teeth about the economic or not downfall. I would. Would you go there, Cain? But you like grounding and bacteria tea. Yeah.
SPEAKER 19 :
I can do that wherever I want.
SPEAKER 22 :
You like hippie stuff. These are like professional hippies.
SPEAKER 19 :
You're really throwing that professional word around.
SPEAKER 22 :
Well, I mean, by our society's measurement, they are. Yeah.
SPEAKER 19 :
Still a lot of heavy lifting.
SPEAKER 22 :
Uh-huh. Well, I'm just saying. Yeah. I mean, they're... I don't see it. This is where I think that if we don't go there, we should send the Panikins there. It still sounds like I'm talking about a bird, doesn't it? I don't like Trump's nickname. I'm really disappointed. It's the first time I've never not liked a nickname. That's what he's calling Chex Notes, the weak and stupid people.
SPEAKER 19 :
It'll be the new Galapagos. We'll just put all the Panikins there.
SPEAKER 22 :
They're like pangolins, but dumb. Well, what can you tell us? This is an indigenous Panikin. Oh, yes, they're bulbous heads. and very dumb very dumb beasts of burden they are the panikins don't they sound they sound like a weird flightless bird panikins so just just you know just saying all right some of the other uh the things that we've been watching obviously the tariffs i i'm not gonna be okay uh why also Can I ask this question? Why is it? And this is what I wanted to bring up last. This is one of our last segments, but we ran out of time. So CNN has announced that they're hosting a town hall with four battleground members of Congress. You've got Lawler out of New York, McKenzie out of Pennsylvania. Those are the two Republicans. And then you have the two Democrats, Tran out of California and Hayes out of Connecticut, moderated by. Jake Tapper and Caitlin Collins, and it's going to be this week. Why are they doing this? It's going to be a two-minute hate sesh. It'll be like Parkland Light. Why in the world are they doing this? Because I've got to be honest with you. I feel like the comms people that work with these particular battleground folks, that... They're not going to adequately prep these lawmakers, how much you want to bet. And it's going to be a bunch of Democrats that are going to get up and they're going to scream and gnash teeth. And why are you letting Elon Musk steal all of our monies and all of these other things? That's what you're going to hear nonstop. There's not going to be. any kind of resolution or ground of agreement to be had it is literally a way to make money from a two minutes hate session i think yeah you agree king that's i will i would not i don't understand the point of doing these i told a congressional member that had one of these town halls and of course it was a two minute hate session i'm like why did you even have this First off, these people are arguably not even in your district, number one. Number two, this isn't about having an open and honest discussion. It's a bunch of socialists that want to screech at you. That's it. And take videos of themselves screeching at you so that they can put it up on Instagram and act like they're a hard ass later. That's all they want. That's all this is. Why would you even participate in this? This is not a good faith town hall. For real, a good faith town hall. Why don't you have a good faith town hall about Tesla at a Tesla dealership and see how well that goes. You guys remember the one town hall that we had? This was after the shooting of Gabby Giffords that took place. And there was a tea party. I still talk to him every now and then. He was the head of the Tucson Tea Party. And they threatened to kill him. Like this guy stood up and threatened to kill him like live on air at a CNN town hall. You remember that game? Oh, yeah. CNN was like, anyway, guys, remember that? That's kind of how they view the town halls. So I don't why is any Republican doing this? If you're in a battleground? This isn't the way to do it. Yeah, I'm just saying this is not the way to try to like get an advantage. So you guys are very familiar with super beats. And you're familiar with the choose. But there's also The Super Breen product, which they came out with late last year, well, last year. And the Super Breen, again, same people who make the Super Beets heart chews and the Super Beets powder, the Super Breen helps to support healthy metabolism and blood sugar. And you can use Superberine. In fact, they have a coupon now, $5 off at Sam's Club through April 29th. So it's just $24.98. It's plant-based. It's doctor formulated. It has a unique form of berberine and Italian fruit extract. So you get additional antioxidant and cardiovascular support. and it has a nearly 10 times higher absorption than standard berberine, and grapeseed extract is used for greater tolerability. So visit Sam's Club and restock your heart health support with Super Beats Heart Juice and expand your routine with the Super Berine for healthy metabolism and blood sugar support. Super Berine is $5 off at Sam's Club through April 29th. Snack this offer at Sam's Club while it lasts. Start today and get on the road to better cardiovascular health support.
SPEAKER 19 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 22 :
They're really trying to get you to freak out over bird flu. They're saying, oh my gosh, bird flu could be heading north this spring. Fewer federal health officials are working to stop it. I don't care. It's a virus. It's just, that's the way it is. Just wash your hands. Don't be gross and don't eat dead birds on the side of the road. I mean, really, how difficult is this, people? Do we have to freak out over everything? Stop it. Just take a breather. These people with these headlines. Good night. Panic in Austria. Borders are shut to two countries after a disease outbreak. Oh, but not to like the influx of people coming in from all manners of the globe illegally. They said Slovakia has closed 24 borders, introduced strict measures to help prevent the spread of a highly infectious disease. They said this is it's foot in mouth. Foot and mouth disease. Again, just don't be gross. Be careful what you eat. I mean, what pain? What in the world? People know this. Second measles death reported in Texas. I mean, all of these are just like and also Texas AG is investigating Kellogg's over healthy cereal claims. Ken Paxton said that they're investigating Kellogg's over the artificial food dyes in cereals. Why does anybody eat? Why do anybody eat these anyway? Like the pops and the Froot Loops or Fruiteos.
SPEAKER 19 :
From nostalgia, probably. I remember as a kid loving them.
SPEAKER 22 :
I never had Froot Loops until I moved out on my own and I bought a box of Froot Loops. I always had Fruiteos. I always had like... The great value version of stuff.
SPEAKER 19 :
Actually, growing up, you're right. We had Cheerios.
SPEAKER 22 :
Dude, I did not get cereal in a box like maybe a couple times. It was always in bags, right? It was always in a bag.
SPEAKER 19 :
Remember when Kix came out? Kid tested, mother approved.
SPEAKER 22 :
That's a horrible cereal.
SPEAKER 19 :
I used to like that cereal. Kix was just a boring disappointment. Because all I had was Cheerios up to that point.
SPEAKER 22 :
Cheerios also was horrible unless you put a cup of sugar in it. It's horrible. Why would anybody eat that?
SPEAKER 19 :
Remember Grape Nuts?
SPEAKER 22 :
Grape Nuts. Grape nuts are horrible. That's like, go out and just, you know what, just beat up a squirrel and take its food. That's the same thing.
SPEAKER 20 :
You used to love putting sugar in that.
SPEAKER 22 :
You know what grape nuts is? Squirrels eating nuts and spitting them into the cereal box and they seal it up at the factory and send it out and people pay money for it.
SPEAKER 20 :
That's where grape nuts come from. I'm not going to be the same actor today.
SPEAKER 22 :
Huh? I'm not going to. I'm just saying. Anyway, just stop eating trash. There's your headline. But I've got more. What? Dana, we're done with your Dorian-ness today. That's okay. But you're not. NASA, by the way, we did miss this last segment, last headline. NASA, they're saying that there is a mysterious structure on Mars that proves there was life on the red planet. It's a new book out. They said that they've analyzed dozens of photos of structures on the Martian surface and they are positive that they are man-made. Well, I don't know. If they're watching what our headlines have been for the past 48 hours, actually longer than that, they don't want anything to do with us because the stupidity may be more catching than the hand, foot, and mouth and the measles. Grover Norquist coming up. What does living better mean to you? Is it more money, a bigger house? Now think about this. What about how you feel physically every day? Life is so much better when you feel good. When you wake up feeling great, you can do more of the things that you love and you're ready to take on the day. If pain is affecting your life, see how Relief Factor can help change that. Relief Factor is a 100% drug-free daily supplement that helps your body fight pain naturally. Developed by doctors, Relief Factor supports your body's response to inflammation. And it doesn't just mask pain for a short time. It helps to reduce or even eliminate it, and it's safe to take daily. In fact, the longer you take Relief Factor, the more effective it is. Over 1 million people have turned to Relief Factor. Feel better every day, and you'll live better every day. Trying Relief Factor is easy. Get their three-week quick start for only $19.95. That's less than a dollar a day. Call 1-800-4-RELIEF. That's 1-800-4-RELIEF, or visit relieffactor.com.
SPEAKER 07 :
Make some common sense of the crazy headlines with the Dana Show podcast. Your on-the-go guide for getting up to speed on today's most important stories. Subscribe on YouTube, Apple, or your favorite podcast platform.
SPEAKER 22 :
Welcome back to the program. You can listen coast to coast. You can also watch the simulcast on Channel 347, DirecTV, X, Rumble, where the chat is, all that good stuff. But welcome back. We're at the bottom of the second hour. My favorite part, my favorite thing, I guess, about the whole tariff debate is all the experts that suddenly they all wanted student loan forgiveness and other experts on tariffs. That's what I love, social media, bringing the people who know nothing but proclaim that they're experts on it and you together. So we thought that, you know, maybe we should go to our good friend who actually is an expert on all this stuff. And you guys are very familiar with Mr. Grover Norquist. He's the president of Americans for Tax Reform. And he joins us now. Grover, always good to see you. So now we're here on Monday. It's supposed to be Black Monday. What are your thoughts right now, days into this, on tariffs?
SPEAKER 26 :
Well, the president's stated goal is to get other countries to reduce the tariff barriers they have on American goods and the non-tariff barriers that are often hidden. China, because it's a dictatorship, can tell any business, don't buy the American stuff, buy the French stuff or something else. And that doesn't show up as a tariff, but it sure shows up in our inability to penetrate that market. So he wants to negotiate down using tariffs as the threat. That said, tariffs are a tax, and they're a tax on American consumers. They're not a tax on China or France. It's a tax paid by American consumers. So there's a cost to this, and there's a cost to China as well if they do the same thing back to us, Chinese tariffs. are a cost imposed on Chinese people, not us, on Chinese people. So it's a situation where hopefully the president says that 50 or 60 countries' leaders have called him already and said, I want to talk about how we can do better and come to an agreement. That's very powerful and important and helpful. But what this also tells us, with the stock market down significantly and a lot of concern about what if we get stuck with the tariffs instead of using them to do better. We need to get the President's tax cut, the one that passed in 2017, the one that he wants to make permanent, that the House and the Senate have both said, we are going to make this permanent. There's some work to be done on the House and Senate side, but I just got a briefing from the Speaker. He's confident that we will, in fact, get this done, but sooner is better than later. We need to tell men and women who invest, who have small businesses, who hire people, people looking for jobs, they need to know what their taxes are going to be now, next year, 10 years from now, 20 years from now, if they're going to make these decisions. So we need to hurry up and pass what is in effect a five trillion dollar tax cut or rather preventing a five trillion dollar tax increase uh as soon as possible next couple of months uh get that done and then fighting out the tariff thing is an important project as well
SPEAKER 22 :
I, you know, I were talking with our friend Grover Norquist. I really wish the sequencing of this was so and I've talked about this before on the program was very different from what it was like. I feel like, you know, maybe they should have made tax cuts permanent first. And then, you know, in the minds of Americans, they would have been much more amenable to having tariffs instead of now having double taxation for however long it lasts.
SPEAKER 26 :
oh absolutely the tariff if it stays as it's written is a six trillion dollar tax increase on american consumers over the next decade uh... what we're fighting for stopping another five trillion dollar tax increase and making that permanent we need to increase the pro-growth parts of the president's tax cut. For instance, back in 2017, when he first became president, he wanted to take the business tax from 35, highest in the world, stupider than France, higher than China, not where you want to be. He took it from 35 to 21. okay but still with local and state income taxes we're over 25 we're we're still higher than China on our tax how we tax businesses they're the communists we're not we have higher taxes that's that he wanted to take it to 15 originally we really need to do something that dramatic to get the growth that will get us past the challenges we have now as we negotiate tariffs
SPEAKER 22 :
How much of this – because I think especially with tariffs, there's a lot that hinges on some sort of related issues, making the tax cuts permanent. I also think having obviously a more hospitable business environment here in the United States because you could undercut a lot of the need for tariffs if you have just better – I mean deregulation, less government spending, and it just feels like the success – Of the tariff gambit is going to depend on things that are kind of almost in some ways out of Trump's control. And that's members of Congress, you know, not just making tax cuts permanent, but a lot of this deregulation and cutting of spending. And I just don't know how realistic that is.
SPEAKER 26 :
Dan, I agree with you completely. If we want to compete more effectively with Europe, China, other countries, the most important thing we do is take taxes down so we are more competitive and to get the permitting process, not five, six years to build something, but maybe one year to get it done, speeding all that up. Our nuclear power plants should be built very quickly, not years and years late, all because of of permitting and and regulatory regime not because of actual building uh and on the regulations we can and the president's been moving as quickly as he can by executive order some of this takes congress's help but he's doing a lot through executive orders and so on to deregulate we reduce the cost of regulations, about $2 trillion in regulatory burdens. Let's take it down by half. That's a trillion dollars not being wasted on regulations. Now we can compete with China and Europe. And we don't have to wait on some foreigner to agree in a negotiation while we tax our own people during the negotiation. We can do this ourselves. So I don't want to wait on foreign countries agreeing to something. I'd rather do the things immediately that we can. Cut taxes, less regulations. And by the way, tort law. The trial lawyers walk away with 2% of GDP. Why do we do that? It's one of the things we do stupider than the rest of the world is our tort law.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, I completely agree with that. I think that that's a huge thing. Talking with our friend Grover Norquist, how do you view so far the administration's messaging on all of this? I mean, I realize that what we don't know, you know, uncertainty is really driving a lot of this volatility. But how do you how would you grade the administration's messaging to kind of soothe some of that?
SPEAKER 26 :
Well, I'd have started earlier with what you were trying to do, and the sort of explanation of what they're doing almost came after the tariffs dropped. If we're just negotiating things down, why do we have a 10% across the board tariff against countries like Jordan, with whom we have a free trade zone? because it was part of the Arab-Israeli peace agreements. So all of a sudden, they did exactly what we wanted. It was very helpful to the United States, make the place more stable and safer. And they get hit with a 10%, as well as somebody who is misbehaving or whatever, and with whom we don't have agreements. So maybe some of that is you just do everything, and then you pull it back a little bit to solve where you overstepped. clearer on what the goal is. And perhaps now we're hearing that maybe there'd be a three-month hiatus on the higher tariffs. So to give people time to negotiate down, we didn't exactly get a lot of time. They said, OK, this is what happened. And they only decided a couple of days before. So it's not like other countries had a chance to look at it and react. We are where we are. It's a pretty big tax increase on American consumers. If we can get it down by negotiating tariffs down, that's very important. But as you point out, less regulation, lower taxes, and permitting that fixes things, and tort reform. These are all ways to reduce the cost of, oh, and I'm sorry, the president's energy abundance issue. I mean, this is where he's done tremendous things, both in the past and now, where we're going to make energy less expensive by letting people drill for oil and natural gas. and to move forward on nuclear power. All of these things, what stops them are American bureaucrats, not foreigners, not Russians, not Chinese dictators, American politicians and bureaucrats. They've slowed us down. That's the group that needs to be moved aside and get out of the way of creating jobs for Americans.
SPEAKER 22 :
Talking with our friend Grover Norquist with taxfoundation.org is the website. This, you know, I... The debate over tariffs, I get it, you know, the short term strategy, but how long can you play this game, though? When do you I mean, I'm asking you, Grover, to look into your crystal ball. You know, what is that? I mean, that's the thing. It's uncertainty. Nobody knows what's going to happen. How long foreseeably can this be sustained?
SPEAKER 26 :
Well, Argentina sustained it for 100 years as they declined all the way down. That part's important. Tariffs are a barrier to trade, and some countries hide behind the tariffs. So they don't. cut their taxes they don't reform their regulations they don't do the sorts of things that you need to do have energy abundance and make that easier um that you need to do to become competitive and so argentina went from the richest country in the hemisphere at one point to one of the poorest and not turning it around but but what are they doing they're opening up trade not not restricting it they're reducing tariffs um so i think America's competitive advantage is we need to have lower taxes, less regulations, and a pro-energy policy, unlike the Germans, which have decided to run a world without energy. Right. I don't know how they're going to do that.
SPEAKER 22 :
Or everybody else's energy.
SPEAKER 26 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yes, that's right. And I want to correct myself. I said the wrong URL. I meant ATR.org, Americans for Tax Reform. ATR.org. I messed that up.
SPEAKER 26 :
One thing, ATR.org slash list is a list of all of the... press coverage of the successes of the Trump tax cut eight years ago. And so where a business said, we're hiring more people, we're paying higher wages because of the Trump tax cut, atr.org slash list, you can see in your state how much jobs and wealth was created by the previous tax cut. We need to continue that and build on it.
SPEAKER 22 :
Is it possible to and this is last question for you're talking with Grover Norquist. Isn't it possible? And I hear this from a lot of people within the Trump administration who are laying out the necessity for the strategy and how this is going to be a positive impact long term. And I've heard some people float the idea that, well, you know, tariffs. Ultimately, that's how we funded our federal government. And I get that whole argument. We could you know what? We could get to a point where we're replacing the income tax with, you know, what we from with tariffs. I. Yes, but I wanted to get your thoughts on that. I would love to have an abolishment, obviously, of the IRS and just get out of the income tax business altogether and let's have like a consumption tax or something. Anything's better than what we have, I think, at this point. But I don't know how that works for a fair market if that's what we're using for our... What is your thought on that?
SPEAKER 26 :
We... In around 1900, the federal government was about 3% of GDP. It's now almost 10 times that. So it's not like you can switch one for the other. One is very teeny, the taxes and the duties and excise taxes. The other is very high. Also, of all the taxes, excise taxes are very divisive. It's one of the problems we had with Britain when we started shooting at them. It was one of the problems we had with France and Britain when they were at war and we were doing excise tax things as well. And then in 1832, South Carolina talked about leaving the Union, this is 30 years before the Civil War, and pulled their National Guard out together. because of the tariff of abominations, because the tariffs were seen as vicious against the South. And the Civil War itself was to a large extent also driven by the South's understanding that the tariffs were designed to help the manufacturers in the North and hurt all the agriculture in the South. So tariffs can rip the country apart uh and have in in america had been very damaging so i'm not sure it's a very good way to raise revenue uh but the best way to raise revenue is to not raise revenue that is to reduce the income tax and reduce spending not raise some other tax reduce spending that's what states are doing there there are eight states that have no income tax they spend less They don't have higher other taxes, they spend less. Texas, Florida, Tennessee. There are 12 states that we're working with at Americans for Tax Reform where the governors and the legislatures are moving towards zero. Twelve other states, in addition to the eight that have them, they're not raising other taxes, they're reining in spending. They're growing spending less rapidly. So over time, they're replacing the income tax with not spending. That's what I think we should do at the federal level. Reduce the spending and reduce the income tax. Keep taking the income tax down. When do we stop? When we get tired of it. Keep taking it down towards zero.
SPEAKER 22 :
I don't think we'll ever get tired of taking down those taxes towards zero. I won't. It'll never happen. Grover Norquist, ATR.org. Always a pleasure, my friend. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. We'll talk again soon. Take care. Have a good week. Our partners over at Caltech, the Caltech PR 57. Now I did. I did go get mine. I haven't been able to really fire it yet because it's been busy preparing for some stuff that we got coming up. But very excited to put a few hundred rounds through this. And it's one of the latest from Caltex. I think it's actually genius. It's a really smart... And if you like 5.7s, you always wanted to carry one. I think for men, obviously, it's a heck of a lot easier. For us ladies, we're just built differently. This is the lightest 5.7 that's on the market. It's actually 40% lighter than the next lightest 5.7. And from Kel-Tec, it's the PR57 rotary barrel pistol chambered in 5.7 low recoil. It's actually great for everyday carry because it's super thin and super light. They achieve it two ways. The rotary barrel, which makes it super light, and the unique top-loading design that gets this, replaces traditional magazines with stripper clips. You have a slimmer carry profile, 20 plus 1 capacity. MSRP is only $399. Super, super affordable. It's the first of its kind. Kel-Tec PR57 Rotary Barrel Pistol Chambered N57. Visit Kel-TecWeapons.com to learn more. Innovation Performance. Kel-Tec. K-E-L-T-E-C. Weapons.com. Tell them Dana sent you.
SPEAKER 17 :
Pastor Alan Jackson encourages Christians to get tough and fight.
SPEAKER 12 :
The military had been turned into a social experiment. Apparently, they've been looting the coffers in Washington for a long time of hundreds of billions of dollars, terminating the lives of our children. I mean, we all know the litany of things that are happening. It feels like it's going to take a determination from the people of faith if we're going to see this walked back to the place it needs to be for the sake of our children.
SPEAKER 17 :
Subscribe to Culture and Christianity, an Alan Jackson podcast on your favorite podcast app.
SPEAKER 19 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 22 :
Well, we have one big Florida Man story, which may need its own segment. It has to do with the bully Florida boat captain who got... Well, he got wrecked by the Internet because he tried to bully a 22 year old. He's this charter boat captain. He was bullying a young fisherman and then he jumped on the guy's dinghy and threatened to bash him in the face. Now he faces jail and professional ruin. Why do people do this stuff? I don't think we can play the video because every other, it's really bad. But this is like a whole other segment. He told, I mean, the guy's Brock Horner, Tarpon Coast Fishing Charters. He went after Gage Towels. What is with your people's names? What is happening? Brock Gage. Like, what is happening? Towels, it's Mr. and Mrs. Towels' son, not to be confused with the Washcloth family. He was on the water after a near miss with a different vessel. Towels posted the footage and he told Horner he had the wrong guy. Apparently Horner thought he, basically he did have the wrong guy. And now he faces felony burglary with assault battery, all this stuff. This deserves its own segment, I think. Like, what would you do? Choose your own adventure. So we're going to come back to this one because it's a big one. Let's see. A Florida woman wrestled a gator to snatch a dog from the jaws of danger. She said, I didn't even think because she's hardcore and that's awesome. She Kim Spencer was walking her dog when a gator just ran out of the water, tried to snatch her dog and she didn't call for help. She jumped in and used her bare hands to pry open the animal's jaws and save her dog. She said, I didn't think I just moved. And thankfully, you know, everybody's okay. But she is actually going to try now. She's like telling everybody, look, they'll come out of the water faster than you think, which is true. Stick with us. Third hour on the way. Our partners that bring you the program. It's our friends at All Family Pharmacy. All family pharmacy is all of the medications that you need without anything being manufactured at all or sourced from China or even India. It's all right here made in the USA, which I think is incredibly important, especially if we're talking about becoming more self-sufficient with things like antibiotics, et cetera, because that's what all family pharmacy does. You don't have to play by big pharma's rules. Remember when they tried to shut down actual therapeutics and access to those therapeutics. Remember when they tried to bar you from getting ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine and that you were being told that you were crazy if you had those? But hey, take this injection. We don't know what it does, but go ahead and take it. They didn't just dismiss the alternatives. They crushed your ability to get them. All Family Pharmacy is about access and affordability. It's simple, fast, and affordable. No insurance, no problem. Straightforward pricing, online ordering. You can get your MUDs in just two to four days, or if you need them in a pinch, overnight. Your health is always within reach. I've used them many times before. You can also get your everyday maintenance medications too. They make it super simple, fast shipping, no gatekeepers, and again, made right here in the US of A. Visit allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana and get 10% off using promo code Dana10. Protect yourself and your family today at allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana, coupon code Dana10 to save 10%.
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, and and I think that that the way that he's been explaining it is I think
SPEAKER 22 :
I think it's more helpful, the way that he's explaining it, the way that Trump is talking about, you know, the volatility, especially afterwards. Welcome back to the program, top of this third hour. We're going to talk about what some of this means as it pertains to foreign policy with Stephen Yates coming up. Trump is meeting with Netanyahu. They were going to hold a press conference later. Netanyahu went back. I think it's, what, zero for zero for tariffs, except for what I understand from vehicles. Not so much with vehicles, though, because I still like vehicles particularly. It's I think if you want to sell cars in Israel, it's an 83 percent tariff. And then the VAT, the value added tax, the VAT that's on top of that is 18 percent. So that brings it up to about 118 percent of the export cost. for the car, or export price for the car. But with about 99% of everything else, the tariffs are down to zero. And he's meeting with them today, but I don't think they're having their press conference. So welcome back. Top of, again, this third hour. Dana Lash with you. Substack is the newsletter. Find us at Facebook, YouTube. Rumble is the chat as well. And Taiwan's market crashed. I want to talk to Yates about that, because that is an ally. That's our chip, our friends in the chip business, the semiconductors, that's a pretty big thing. And I'm wondering what that means in terms of, again, their market more opening up to us, etc. So we're and then I worry about China's influence in that area. We're gonna we're gonna, yeah, we'll stop. We'll talk about building them here. But it takes time. We can't just snap our fingers and And apparate out of the ether, a factory to produce chips. And that's something we've got to build. And apparently, I don't know how long it takes. I don't know how long it takes to build a giant semiconductor factory. I mean, if there's money in it, people are going to want to do it. But that's the problem for there to be money in it. We have to have a more business friendly climate. And so far, Republicans are doing everything but that. Ask Republicans what they're focusing on right now in Congress. They're goofy. Cain, these people are goofy. They're not focusing on the right thing, whether it's state by state or in D.C. They're not. So it's incredibly frustrating. So we're going to cover some of this stuff here with Yates coming up now. Also, over the weekend, they had these stupid protests. They had all I don't understand what is happening at these protests. So wait. So they had some protests about immigrants at one Tesla thing and then another one. They were like, we don't like Trump and Musk. And then another one still, they were like, you can stand with veterans or Musk. What? I don't even understand what this means. Why are they so insane? Okay, first up, this is the United We Dream. This... This... They an activist. This was at one of the again, one of the hands off things there. You see what I mean? They have no cohesive messaging. They're all over the place. So this one female gets up. Grecia Martinez Rosas. She is a national immigration activist, per my notes, and heads the group United We Dream. And well, this was these were her remarks. Listen.
SPEAKER 14 :
My name is Greisa Martinez-Rosas. I am an immigrant. I am undocumented, unafraid, queer, and unashamed.
SPEAKER 22 :
So see, do you know that every other political identifier that you apply to oneself that lessens the severity of any kind of punitive action in chance of wrongdoing? Yeah, uh-huh. So, like, if you're a female, meh, meh. What if you're a trans female? Oh, okay, now you're talking. What if you're, like, a queer trans female? I don't even know what that would be, but I'm just saying. I'm not saying she's trans, but she needs another modifier. I have zero... First off, I have zero... Empathy for her? Sympathy? Yeah. anything she's been here long enough where she was protected previously uh and for against deportation by flores so she didn't have to worry about all of that so she could have applied to become a citizen or have a legalized status in the united states seeing how long she has been here so i just i can't feel sorry for people who want to stay in their current situation and have no will at all whatsoever to change it. So I don't feel bad for it. But what does that have to do? What do they mean hands off? Like these people get up to talk about themselves. It's a never ending doom scroll live. That's what these rallies are. These rallies are nothing more than doom scrolling coming to fruition in meat space. I can't think of anything more heinous. I can't believe somebody also wanted to spend like a perfectly good Saturday doing this stuff. Then you had this dude Transgender, audio somebody 24, trans activist at another hands-off rally. Listen.
SPEAKER 1 :
24.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I am black. I am Filipino-Japanese, second generation. And I'm a disabled trans man. But I'm also a Medicaid patient. I'm also a person who uses food stamps. I'm also a person who has been through houselessness in this country. I'm also a person who has gone through substance use and addiction. And most of all, I am a patient of Planned Parenthood. I am everything that Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to erase.
SPEAKER 22 :
I don't think they care particularly about your life. in terms of they are going to stop doing the stuff that they're doing and focus on erasing you. What does that even mean? These people have a really high opinion of themselves. First off, you counted nine, right? nine there was 10 i think intersectional political she's like i have three toes and i'm lactose intolerant and i also want to be a man and i'm a trans man was it right i can't tell i don't even know the language anymore allergy yeah i have a peanut allergy um what else um yeah i it Why? Who cares about all of this stuff? That doesn't make you special-er than anybody else there, but to the left it does. The more things that you can rack up on a list, the special-er you are. That's how the left works. Like you can't just be like a woman and be a Democrat. You have to be like a trans woman, queer trans woman with three toes who, you know, survived a house fire. I don't know. Like I just, right. It's only burnt like on 30%. I just, I don't understand the never ending boxes to check with these people. I mean, I can't even think of that about me. I everything about you have to overshare in order to do it. I don't like overshare. I don't like sharing, period. But good heavens. Now, then you have this one audience by 25. This person's with in D.C. They are they they are the gatekeeper for all veterans. Listen, 25.
SPEAKER 16 :
You can stand with Doge and Trump and Elon Musk or you can stand for veterans. You cannot stand for both. Now make no mistake.
SPEAKER 22 :
Wait, what do you mean you can't stand with both? Well, he's the president of all the veterans, that guy. I don't even know who this guy is. It's part of their hands-off thing. By the way, the left doesn't care about veterans. I honestly am sorry. Abbey Gate would like a word. Abbey Gate would love to have a word, by the way. Who is this guy? I don't even care. But they... I, every single rally, nobody, what was the purpose of them all coming together? Again, it's a two minutes hate session. They just wanted to come together and bitch. That's it. They, did they change anything over the weekend? Was there any big realization learned? I don't think so. Who's the guy that, wait, this was, I think I put this in. It's the trans dude. This was, oh, yeah, the trans Democrat, Tim, Mrs. Tim McBride. Okay. Can we play this one? Because this was in another hands-off rally. Listen.
SPEAKER 15 :
And we are here today because while we know that Donald Trump thinks that he can place his hands anywhere. What? What? We're telling him he'll know. Hands off our Social Security. Hands off our Medicaid. Hands off Medicare. Hands off SNAP. Hands off our kids. Hands off women's rights. Hands off LGBTQ rights. So the irony of a man...
SPEAKER 22 :
Acting like, no, no, no, we're telling Trump to keep his hands off of women's rights. The idea of a man doing this, the guy dresses up as a woman and who he cosplays as a woman and mocks feminine, mocks the essence of what it is to be a woman.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, she's a guy.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah. But I just... When they say hands off Social Security, well, you guys already took it. So it's gone. I mean, it's been insolvent for forever. I mean, story after story, warning after warning, you guys spent it. Al Gore talked about putting it in a lockbox that you know had no bottom, just the way he likes his masseuses. And they robbed you blind of Social Security. So they've already had their hands all over it. Whenever they... When they bristle over Social Security, they bristle over the idea that you would actually be able to keep your own money. So that's number one. Number two, no. Is this how they really think the government's operating? Because that explains so much stupidity about the left. Every single one of these rallies, there was no central theme. There was no central mission. It was all over the place. They had no goal except to get together and complain. And I don't know if they realize that last election voters were tired of Democrats just getting together and holding two minutes hate sessions. They were done with it. They were tired of hearing Democrats complain about Trump and everything else and not offer any solutions. And here Democrats did it again. Lovely spring Saturday and they decide to gather in various cities across the country and do it again. No solutions offered. You have this guy sitting here lecturing about women's rights, the irony of ironies. There's no, I don't understand the point of this. I wouldn't want to, that's not, no one's rights are being eliminated. No one's being deprived or being denied of anything. But especially the guy who's the gatekeeper for the veteran. Yeah. Abby Gatewood, like a word. I just don't understand the whole when you know, when we got together for like tea party events back when we kicked off and founded the second coming of it. Every single protest was had a purpose. They're the messaging and grassroots would all talk. We'd all talk with each other. But we wanted a singular focus, whether it was, you know, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, whether it's the idea of too big to fail, whether it's about, you know, the cash for clunkers. Every single event had a singular focus and a singular purpose. item of action after the rally. So in the event of, you know, too big to fail and all of that, there were action plans at rallies that we all, you know, on phone calls and meetings leading up to this device, like this is what people need to do after the rally. The rally is supposed to be the thing that kicks off your motivation and gives you some context, gives you the perspective and And then after that, that's when you hit up your congressional member's office or send out an email or call their offices or talk to them, whatever. And and everyone was kind of aligned there. There was a purpose for it. It wasn't just like, let's everybody get together and have a political kegger and bitch and moan for however, you know, all afternoon. That that was not the purpose of any rally I ever attended or ever planned. We I mean, literally we were passing out. uh, hand bills for people to get in touch with their lawmakers about these specific issues. Every single speaker had to adhere to driving home that message. This is our message. This is the issue that we're talking about today. We kept it really singular, really focused. We're not going to like run all over God's green earth and talk about every issue under the sun. We're going to keep it very simple and very focused so that we can better, uh, to harness direct action. And it was incredibly successful. That is not what they're doing. Like ours had a purpose. They're just getting out there and yelling. And it's the same stuff that we saw leading up to the election. And you saw how successful that was for them. Gold prices have surged over 40% since January 2024, consistently reaching new highs. According to Goldman Sachs research, the upward trend is expected to persist due to strong demand from central banks. It's stuff like this that's made me take action and why I've bought precious metals like gold and silver. I've partnered with a great company that makes it super easy to buy. Easy, transparent, and simple. And that company is Goldco. They're a huge supporter of this show, and they're the best at what they do. And right now, you can get a free 2025 gold and silver kit jam-packed with critical information about buying precious metals. It was a huge help, not just for me, but to all of you if you do this. And for my audience, you could also qualify for up to a 10% instant match in bonus silver. It's a really great deal, so don't miss out. Visit danalikesgold.com to learn more. That's danalikesgold.com.
SPEAKER 19 :
And now all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 22 :
Let's see. So the computer that runs on human neurons, the CL1 biological computer manufactured by an Australian company. Oh, wait, here's the fun part. Lab grown brain cells are the basis for the functioning brain. I don't like that. That's what we're going to become. We're all going to be robots, tasteless robots. It's the computer that runs on human neurons. So they say that they promise that they can deliver a more fast-paced and energy-efficient computing system. They are these millimetric chips composed of silicon semiconductors. And they've been... The making them with here gets weird carbon nanotubes. But the riskiest proposal, Cain, was the lab grown brain cell. The basis for the functioning of the CL1. I mean, I'm intrigued, but no. Right. What if they're like girl brain cells and then you ask it to do math? It's going to be girl math. I'm kidding. Am I, though? Let's just offend everybody. I don't care. Let's see. Also, the Walmart shopper stole twenty thousand dollars of items with a trick at self-checkout, which in a video. turned him in he was able they were able to to get him because he people change stickers on stuff all the time they go through the self-checkout and then you know they think they're getting away with it steven yates coming up next as we move our partners that help bring you the program it's our friends over at patriot mobile the only christian conservative cell phone service that's out there patriot mobile wants to save you money and they don't want to make your money work against you see if you have not switched your funding all the stuff that you vote against every single time you go to the ballot box With Patriot Mobile, you get exceptional nationwide coverage, access to all three major U.S. networks. You also can add two numbers on two networks on one phone. Now, the big carriers can't do this, but Patriot Mobile can. They also have flexible, unlimited data plans designed to fit your lifestyle. All kinds of stuff, mobile hotspots, high-speed data, international roaming, device protection, internet backup, the whole nine yards. Keep your phone, keep your number, or upgrade immediately. It is up to you. Seamless switching with our U.S.-based customer support team. You can get activated in minutes. And you're supporting what you believe in. Visit PatriotMobile.com slash Dana or call 972-PATRIOT and get a free month of service using promo code Dana. Make the switch today. That's PatriotMobile.com slash Dana or call 972-PATRIOT promo code Dana.
SPEAKER 07 :
Brighten up your timely news consumption with a Dana Show podcast, where every update comes with a little dash of Not So Serious on YouTube, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 22 :
Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you. Bottom of this third hour, we haven't had really anything to talk about today. The Black Friday that never really happened, you know, I mean, things like that. You can listen, obviously, terrestrially. Channel 347 is the simulcast, and you can find us chats at Rumble as well. Our very good friend, Stephen Yates, who's always in a weird, undisclosed bunker. We like our lives, so we're not going to pester him as to where he's broadcasting from. Because he knows all the buttons to push and knows all the calls to make. And he's in Blurland right now joining us. Is it Skype still or are they out now? It's Zoom now. It's all Zoom now. And as you know, Mr. Yates served in not one, but two presidential administrations. And he's now currently the Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation. And he's an expert foreign policy with a particular emphasis on China. And he joins us now. Good to see you, my friend. OK, I've got a million other things to ask, but I want to start right away. Is China going to invade Taiwan because they think D.C. is too busy?
SPEAKER 11 :
I don't think they will, but I think we have to live every day as if it's going to happen. And so I think that whether it's invasion of Taiwan or tariffs or whatever it is, the China shock is now baked into the cake and people should be adjusting accordingly. After all, we have not been, you know, we've been talking about this for more than 10 years, you and I and many others. And if people haven't adjusted by now, well, it's sort of shame on them. But whether it's this invasion scenario, which would be a disaster for China, but also painful for us, or the economic stuff going out of control, we're kind of here where the rubber hits the road.
SPEAKER 22 :
Because I know you have remarked on that as well. I was actually going to pull up one of the, I can't say tweet posts, I think that you had on that. Because I get that some in the CCP think that DC might be spread too thin. We have tariffs, we're broke, you know, and they're highlighting that point. But they are also not doing great economically, which makes me, and we've talked about this before, but because it's come up because the tariff war, and there's been a lot of speculation that, oh, you know, Taiwan with the semiconductor chips and, you know, being so incredibly important to US infrastructure, oh, this is a great time for the CCP to do something. But unless it's changed dramatically since the last time you and I talked about China's economy, they're not doing too great, at least not great enough to attempt something like that.
SPEAKER 11 :
No, I think it's actually worse for them. If you take the military part of it out of the equation, they've got a property bubble. They've got a demographic decline. They have banking insolvency questions. They don't have a convertible currency. They are dependent on a lot of inputs. They are the middle of a supply chain for a lot of the world, but not the source of everything and so if things go bad in the world or for them a lot of those things come to a halt and that is just politically fatal for the Communist Party of China which I wouldn't shed a tear over but that's a lot of suffering for the Chinese people again not my first concern but it's going to disrupt our lives too yeah so I'm hopeful that they will wake up and be wise and make a deal with the deal maker in chief and that is good for America and good for stability. But I also think that we should be rebalancing all of our supply chains out of China yesterday.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 11 :
And get on with that.
SPEAKER 22 :
Taiwan's market kind of went into freefall, kind of. It did. It dropped after the tariffs went into, after they were announced, go into effect what I think in a couple of days, the first round and the second round of the high value tariffs. Is there concern about that volatility and how that affects Taiwan as an ally and again as you know these number world's number one source for these chips because I would think that we wouldn't want to make it we don't want to make it more difficult for Taiwan and they've already you know they're already like we don't want any tariffs on anything they're one of the very you know one of the countries along with Vietnam and several others uh in Southeast Asia that have said you know we don't we don't want to have tariffs on U.S. U.S. products so I'm hoping that that's being taken into consideration with all of this coming out of D.C. is that concern you?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, all of it concerns me in the sense that I've seen people kind of grow their way out of martial law into a multi-party democracy. They've been good and faithful partners in economics and security and other areas with the United States and are good allies in that neighborhood. And, you know, I hate to see people who seem to be making a lot of the right decisions have to face bad consequences because they live on an island that can't sail away from red China. And but at the same time, I think their president, Lai Ching-da, made an amazing decision. statement when he basically said they want to have zero tariffs across the board want to buy more from the United States and basically have a comprehensive economic partnership with us and are ready to come negotiate basically should be setting the standard and I think the White House would say yes except they're stuck with 50 plus years of, oh, are they a country? Can we meet with them? So they've got that to deal with. But on substance, it was a perfect response. And I think the combination of that and Japan should be the best kind of resolve for that first island chain. And we'll see how the uncertainty with China plays out.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, we're talking with our good friend Stephen Yates at Yatescoms on X. China, speaking of them, they initiated a dispute with the World Trade Organization saying they're unhappy with these tariff measures. They think that they are violating the World Trade Organization rules. The irony of ironies, Stephen, with China making this claim.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it's just perfect for them to go to another institution that they've lied to and broken and act as if it's going to come to some kind of defense for them. It's sort of like they lied to and broke the World Health Organization and now want to complain about other countries getting the flu. And so at this point, I think it's just more of the same from them. They seem to be caught in like a season two of a series, but they are still in season one and haven't flipped the script yet. And so they're going to have to get new talking points and a new reality soon. Or I think we might be at a point where we're finally doing the right thing, which is leave them behind, deal with the responsible countries of the world, reinvigorate our manufacturing with our closest trusted neighbors and partners, and just basically move on from this bad experiment.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, I completely agree. Talking with our friend Stephen Yates, a couple of more things that I want to bring up with you, kind of switching gears from China and looking at Europe. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU, came forward, said they're interested in coming into a zero to zero tariff discussion with the administration. I mean, I'm not going to celebrate it until the inks dry, but that seems like a pretty big win so far this early on into this. I mean, they haven't even kicked into effect yet.
SPEAKER 11 :
I'm inclined to be gracious for people who are inching in the right direction with their rhetoric. That's another thing to actually come and iron out a deal. And whether it's the European Union, China or others, and including some of our friends, tariffs are just one of the things that need to get addressed. There's a lot of what the specialists call non-tariff barriers, which might be subsidies or other kind of distortions. And Europe has a fair amount of those. And it sure as heck matters an awful lot whether they're going to commit to fundamental things like free speech too. That's going to have to affect where we go with artificial intelligence and true trusted networks in terms of communications going forward. But I'll just take yes with thanks in moving incrementally in the right direction from a continent we haven't been hearing good news from for too long.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, we haven't heard any good news coming out of them from the EU and for forever. She's a weird kind of... I mean, I don't trust Van der Leen at all. However, I do think that she can read the tea leaves, so to speak. And she's been a lot more amenable to more European conservative leaders like Maloney and others than I would say prior heads of the EU have been. So I don't know. I'm not optimistic by nature, but it seems... You know, it seems like this. I'm going to view it as a partial success. One quick thing. I actually do want to go back to the Pacific region because I wanted to ask you and I had this on my notes to bring up to you. What is happening with South Korea's government right now? I know that there are there's kind of we've. They're conservative movements in almost every nation right now around the world. We've been watching them, whether mostly focusing on Europe. But in South Korea, they've been they've have been battling over this ideology as well. Tell me exactly what is tell us what's happening, because this is an ally in this area. We like the relations with South Korea. We would like for them to be a more conservative party.
SPEAKER 11 :
you know governing body is that going to be the case going forward what's the lay of the land there well i guess the first threshold is that in terms of military to military and our alliance nothing has really changed on that it's as healthy as it's been has room for growth but mostly okay politically south korea has lived up to the korean reputation for being asia's leader in drama And it has played that out to a fairly well. Now the now impeached president that's been affirmed by the Constitutional Court, so it's final, it's done. The only thing now is the question, I think, of his sentencing. But Yoon was center-right, he was a good partner with the incoming Trump administration, did some good things in normalizing elements of relations with Japan, all of that, but he got caught up in corruption charges. And frankly, almost every leader of Korea gets caught up in something like that, where a majority of these one-term presidents end up dead, impeached, or otherwise prosecuted. There's only one that sort of slipped through that. so it's it's a sad tale in terms of south korean democracy but they're going through that they now have 60 days to have a new election for a new president they had also impeached an acting president before the former prime minister that impeachment was not upheld by the constitutional court so that caretaker government is in place through this next election It's kind of even odds, maybe net benefit to the Democratic Party in South Korea for them to take control of the Blue House there. But we'll see. 60 days of wild, woolly, dramatic Korean politics. But they've got an impeached president. And, you know, we're hoping for the best in terms of the economic and other things. Samsung and others have promised a lot of investment in the United States. Political stability there would be a nice step in the right direction to keep those economic engines going with the good part of the world.
SPEAKER 22 :
Are the corruption accusations? Well, now, I mean, he's impeached. So they, you know, it's pretty much settled science at this point. But is it because I think now people on the right are immediately suspicious when they hear about this involving high level conservative leaders, because after what happened with Trump in New York and then this Marine Le Pen stuff, I mean, I just immediately am suspicious of it.
SPEAKER 11 :
I am too, and I have not seen anything in terms of evidence. No one's asked me to dive into the evidence to be able to say, you know what, this is more than a smoking gun. This fire burned my hands, and it's worthy of an impeachment. It went through their process. Parts of the president's own party felt it was bad enough, and all I can do is sort of leave it at that. That's where the process has gone. But I do try to warn all of our allies, no matter what side of politics they're on, recalls and impeachments and those things should be last resorts. We need to have normal processes where people focus on getting to the ballot box and voting. That's what I want in America. That's what I want in our friends. These other things, I think, are very disruptive and hard to understand.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, agreed. Steven Yates at Yates comms. You make it very easy, though, for us to understand and follow along. So we appreciate you. We really appreciate you doing that. Yates comms on X. Always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you so much for your time. You're always so generous with us. We appreciate it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you, Dana. Take care. On the go and need a quick news fix with a fun twist? Follow Dana's Absurd Truth Podcast for bite-sized, informative episodes perfect for your busy schedule on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 22 :
So I was watching the video of the fencer that refused to compete against a dude, a female fencer. Now there is a disc golfer video of Abigail Wilson, who is a women's disc golfer, has emerged. She refused to play against a man in a women's league on Friday. Watch this.
SPEAKER 10 :
She refuses to do it.
SPEAKER 20 :
Yeah!
SPEAKER 10 :
Wow, you hear that? Somebody just yelled, enjoy the couch.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, running real women out of women's sporting events. And, I mean, it's just, that's, I mean, good for her for doing that. She would, and this was in Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville, Tennessee. It was at the MVP Music City Open and that's officially sanctioned by the Disc Golf Pro Tour and the Professional Disc Golf Association. And when her name was called, she went up, she did not let go of the disc though. So she picked it up and she wound up her toss And she did not let go of the disc when she flung her arm forward. And that's when she turned around and you saw in the video, she said females must be protected in our division. And good for her. She shared her protest on Instagram. She said she refused to play because women should be protected and it's unfair. She said, I've had to work so hard to get to this point. And now there's men and there's a guy who's competing. And guess what? The guy's dominating because they're treating the women's league like a rec league. They're treating it like JV. It's going to take women doing this in every sport for it to stop. It really is. It's going to take women in every sport doing this, whether it's fencing, whether it's disc golf, all of it. And I know it's hard for them to do, especially when there's awards on the line and scholarships on the line. I mean, it's very difficult. So kudos to these women who are doing this. Now, I will be off air tomorrow. I'm traveling for an affiliate event. We're having an event with WRVA, our affiliate in Richmond, on Wednesday. So I'm traveling Tuesday and Thursday, and then I'm back in this studio on Friday. It resumes. Normalcy resumes. So I'll be off air tomorrow, on air Wednesday, off air Thursday, because that's the travel schedule. So back normal on Friday. In the meantime, today in stupidity came.
SPEAKER 19 :
All right, Juan, this is cut 25. This is a DC protester with that hands off stuff over the weekend. Apparently walking you can do and chewing gum you can do, but you cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. Listen to what he says.
SPEAKER 16 :
You can stand with Doge and Trump and Elon Musk, or you can stand for veterans. You cannot stand for both.
SPEAKER 19 :
I am confused. I'm thoroughly confused because you totally can. And many veterans do.
SPEAKER 22 :
Yeah, they can and they do. Yeah, believe it or not, they do. That guy's not the gatekeeper for all of it.
SPEAKER 19 :
That was, by the way, the baseline intelligence that we got from all of the speakers over the weekend for the hands-off. anti-Trump, anti-Doge protests.
SPEAKER 22 :
It's all so dumb. It's all so incredibly dumb. And there was no, I can't tell you what they were all protesting about. They just don't like Musk and Trump. We know that much. Yeah. I will be on Ingram's, Laura Ingram's show tonight on Fox in the 6 p.m. Central Hour. In the meantime, have a great night. I'll be back behind the mic with you on Wednesday, back behind the mic and camera on Friday.
In this episode, Joey Hudson steps in for Mike Gallagher to tackle some of today's hottest economic topics, including market anxieties and President Trump's controversial tariff strategies. As analysts predict turbulent days ahead for Wall Street, Joey explores the rationale behind Trump's measures to rectify trade imbalances and the dissent among political circles. The episode also highlights public protests nationwide, scrutinizing the motivations and implications of these mass gatherings on policy directions.
SPEAKER 10 :
He's the happy conservative warrior, Mike Gallagher, from your trusted conservative TV network, Salem News Channel, and broadcasting across hundreds of radio stations nationwide. Sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome in and welcome to a new week as we start out a little bit, I guess, maybe anxious. Are you a little anxious today? To see what happens in the markets. Boy, they took a beating on Friday. And some of the analysts are saying that this could be a black Monday. We'll see as the markets are opening. investors, analysts will start reacting here soon. I'm Joey Hudson in for Mike today as he is taking the week off. I'll be with you all week. Mike's celebrating his birthday today. He told you all about it. And if you'd like to wish him a happy birthday, just send me a quick text on the MyPillow text line, 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453, and I will pass some of those along for him. So what are you expecting today? And Did you fall for the trick that the left wants you to over the weekend? Did you look at your 401k statement? Did you look at your IRA statement? Because that's exactly what the left wants us to do. They want us to panic. And that's what happened on Friday. And that's what some of the stock market analysts are predicting will happen again today. And the whole idea, I think they're actually hoping that happens. I think they're encouraging that response to Trump's tariffs because they want you and me to put pressure on Donald Trump and his administration to stop, to stop the tariffs, to drop back and rethink this. It's almost like we don't have the stomach to do what we know is necessary to get our country back on track, to bring jobs back to America, to have these companies building manufacturing plants all across our great country. We know that Trump is right. We know that if we stick to this and stay the course, that that will be the outcome. that these companies will bring the American jobs back. But boy, it gets a little bit scary, doesn't it, when you see your 401K balance dropping literally before your eyes. And that's what they want. They want us upset. They want us telling the pollsters that we don't have the confidence in the president anymore. Folks, we're just over two months into this. Nobody said it was going to be easy. President Trump, reacting to some questions on Air Force One as he was returning to the nation's capital over the weekend, used the analogy that, you know, sometimes you have to take corrective measures. Sometimes you have to take medicine to get better in cut number one.
SPEAKER 01 :
tolerate this idea of a Trump. But is there a threshold? I think your question is so stupid. I mean, I think it's a I don't want anything to go down. But sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something. And we have such a horrible we have been treated so badly. by other countries because we had stupid leadership that allowed this to happen. They took our businesses. They took our money. They took our jobs. They moved it to Mexico. They moved it to Canada. They moved a lot of it to China. And it's not sustainable. We're not going to do it. Now we have hundreds of billions of dollars is pouring into our country. On a monthly basis, it's already started because they put tariffs on it. And eventually it's going to straighten out and our country will be solid and strong again.
SPEAKER 06 :
And he's right. Sometimes you do have to take medicine. Sometimes it doesn't taste very good. But you have to take corrective action to correct a wrong that has happened. And that's what Donald Trump is doing. And look, you know, he is the author of The Art of the Deal. Go back and read it. If you don't have a copy, find a copy somewhere on eBay or somewhere. Because we have to trust the president to do what we elected him to do and not have the knee-jerk reaction that so many people have had over the weekend after Friday. And it's almost like they're just hoping it happens again today, that we will have this Black Monday that so many analysts are predicting. It's kind of interesting, some of the people who were out on the front taking the lead on this narrative. CNBC host and market commentator Jim Cramer, for one. He was sort of leading the doom and gloom message over the weekend. He warned that America is in store for what he called another Black Monday. He is equating it to potentially being as bad as what we saw back in 1987 when the market just plunged. Now, what you have to remember is we recovered from that. The market grew stronger. And quite often, or actually every time, that's what happens. It's just a matter of the timing. How long does it take? So Jim Cramer, and by the way, Cramer has the reputation of if he tells you to buy something, sell it. If he tells you to sell it, buy it. He's really not that good when it comes to predicting stocks. In fact, there is a fund that is set up. to counteract his recommendations. So, in other words, if you invest in this fund, it's going to do the opposite of what Kramer suggests. But in cut number nine, Kramer throws his warning out there that, hey, you know, because keep in mind, too, Kramer was supportive of these tariffs. He's always been supportive of tariffs. And he expressed his support of Donald Trump taking this action last week. But then when the market took a turn for the worse on Friday, he seemed to be second-guessing his thoughts. So he says, I'm going to be patient. And here's his warning to President Trump. Jim Cramer.
SPEAKER 02 :
If the president doesn't try to reach out and reward these countries and companies that play by the rules in the 1987 scenario, the one where we went down three days and then down 22 percent on Monday has the most cogency. We will not have to wait out too long, will we? We'll know by Monday. Fortunately, we had an excellent set of employment numbers today. At least it makes it less likely a crash will necessarily lead to a recession. But if President Trump stays intransigent and does nothing to ameliorate the damage that I saw these last few days, I'm not going to be constructive here. I will contain my anger, but only because I lived through 87, and in the end, I came out okay. I was in cash for the crash. I know what this feels like.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yep, we all know what this feels like, Mr. Kramer. But again, if Kramer says buy it, you probably should sell it. If Kramer says sell it, you probably should buy it. I'm not sure that I have a whole lot of confidence in what Jim Kramer is suggesting. 800-655-MIKE, 1-800-655-6453. Joey Hudson in for Mike on his birthday. Love for you to join the conversation. Does the tariff situation scare you? Are you concerned about what potentially could happen today if, in fact, we do have a Black Monday, as some of the analysts are predicting? Did you look at your 401k statement over the weekend and panic? I'm not a financial planner. But here's my advice. Don't look at your statement. Just put it in the drawer, leave it there, and check back in about six months. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike today.
SPEAKER 04 :
PhD weight loss has changed my life, and I've got a little secret for you. You know Big Pharma and semaglutide and the shots in the belly. You've seen the story recently about the study that shows that a lot of people that are getting this are going blind. You don't want to do this. You want a program to lose weight that's centered around science and nutrition, a proven roadmap that has helped over 8,000 clients lose weight and keep it off, like me. I lost 53 pounds a few years ago, and I've kept it off. I know what to eat and when. I know how to quiet any of the cravings I might get and finally release that unhealthy belly fat that I carried along for so long. Make the phone call that can change your life in the way it changed mine. It's called PhD Weight Loss. PhD Weight Loss, Dr. Ashley Lucas' program is brilliant. And how do I know? Well, 53 pounds later, here I am. 864-644-1900 is their number. Call and schedule your consultation. You can do this program from anywhere in America. Call 864-644-1900, 864-644-1900, or visit MyPhDWeightLoss.com.
SPEAKER 05 :
the mike gallagher show is there anything that you think trump has done right Yeah. I mean, I think cracking down on fentanyl, making sure our borders are stronger. Look, nobody thinks illegal immigration is appropriate. You know, illegal immigration, it exploded under Biden and it had been high for times under Trump as well. But it exploded under Biden. Nothing was really done until his last year in office when he was. Should have done much better. No argument.
SPEAKER 10 :
In the relief factor dot com studios. Here's Mike.
SPEAKER 06 :
Joey Hudson in for Mike on his birthday today. Hey, be sure and get your daily dose of Dennis Prager at pragertopia.com. Become a Pragertopia member today and listen to full episodes of the Dennis Prager Show anytime you want. Just go to pragertopia.com and join now. Victor David Hanson, I think, probably summed this whole situation up with the tariffs better than anybody over the weekend. He talked about the fact that tariffs are great for the other countries. China loves tariffs. The European Union loves tariffs. But when the United States suddenly decides that we're going to impose some tariffs of our own, they're bad. They're bad for the economy. I'm going to share more of... of what Victor David Hanson had to say about this in just a moment. First, let's take some phone calls. Let's go to Columbus, Ohio. John, you're on the Mike Gallagher show.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yes, first I'd say that to the Democrats, their semantic excursions are terminally pointless, like a bunch of talking heads in a peanut gallery. I wanted to go back to early United States, the colonies. Our coins in our printed paper said, To counterfeit is death, or to death is to counterfeit, because they didn't want people interrupting the money of the United States. We're doing these tariffs, and tariffs are terrifying. Oh, my goodness. We're doing these tariffs to protect our economy. And I wouldn't say anything about the Democratic Party is just bad behavior, deceit, dishonesty, corruption. and actually a tinge of mental illness. They're just wanting the demise of the United States. So when I say that they don't know what they're doing, these Democrats, they're the others who are trying to counter the United States' success.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and John, I agree with everything you just said, but let me add, it's not just Democrats. I mean, it has surprised me, maybe it shouldn't have, of some Republicans and some so-called conservatives who have been a little hesitant to support this as well.
SPEAKER 07 :
They're not looking at the big picture. I'm looking at the 400-year picture. And some of these same people are like Kasich, some of these off-the-boards Republicans, with a lot of problems, who don't know anything about anything. They're just a talking head for the demonic party.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and they hate Trump. I mean, that's the bottom line. So many of those, they just hate Donald Trump. They would probably enjoy seeing our markets tank again today just to show or to say to Donald Trump, I told you so.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and you also have a lot of people in professional settings where you think they're so bright. How did they get to be a professional? But they're still carrying that baggage of the mental illness, which is just the opposite of bright.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, if you are a Democrat, there has to be a mental component there for sure, John. Hey, appreciate your phone call. Thank you for listening in Columbus, Ohio. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Your phone calls are welcome. You can text me a quick note. You can email me directly, Joey. at joeyhudson.com. Let me invite you to join me on my daily podcast, Just the Truth. Just search for Joey Hudson, Just the Truth, on the Odyssey app or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, so back to Victor David Hanson, because I think he summed this up the best of anybody. He talks about how tariffs have always been good for other countries. And quite honestly, until this This conversation really came to the forefront these past couple weeks. I didn't realize just how much our products are being tariffed by other countries, like the European Union, like China, like India, like just about every country. Vietnam. I was amazed at the tariffs that Vietnam charged us. And Victor David Hanson makes a good point when he says these tariffs of United States products didn't destroy their economy. In fact, it helped them build their country, build their economy. Let's take a moment and let me share with you what Victor David Hanson had to say over the weekend.
SPEAKER 11 :
Donald Trump announced Liberation Day. By that he meant we were going to be liberated from asymmetrical tariffs of the last 50 years. And yet the world seemed to erupt in anger. It was very strange. Which brings up another question. Are our tariffs really tariffs? That is, were they preemptive? Were they punitive? No. They're almost leveled on autopilot. Whatever a particular country tariffs us, we reciprocate. In other words, it's their choice, not ours. China has prohibitive tariffs. So does Vietnam. So does Mexico. So does Europe. So do a lot of countries. If tariffs are so destructive of their economies, why is China booming? How is the EU even functioning? I thought tariffs destroyed an economy, but they seem to like them. Why would you get angry at the person who is reacting to the asymmetrical tariff and not the people who inaugurated the tariffs? Sort of like Ukraine and Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine. Do we blame Ukraine for defending itself and trying to reciprocate? No, we don't.
SPEAKER 06 :
Victor Davis Hanson. I think I said David a minute ago. Victor Davis Hanson. He makes a good point, doesn't he? And in his column, he expands on that, and he talks about the fact that, for example, he uses Canada. He says, why is Canada mad at us when it's running a $63 billion surplus and it has tariffs on some American products at 250%? Did you ever realize that some American-made products... have tariffs of 250% going into Canada? Is that not just crazy? And then they're upset with us because we're looking to start tariffs on their products? But again, it's not about the tariffs. Not about the tariffs at all. It's about rebuilding our manufacturing. It's about bringing back good-paying jobs for Americans. It's about quality. It's about getting better products. We've gotten so accustomed to the cheap, China-made products, let's get, yeah, we may pay a little more. But by doing so, we're going to get a better product. We're going to provide good-paying American jobs to our fellow citizens. And this is what we have to keep in mind. We can't let the left and the mainstream media's narrative on this get us into a panic situation to where we start selling off our stock and our 401ks. We'll see. We'll see what happens today. But as President Trump said, sometimes you have to take a little medicine to get better. 800-655-6453. Let's go to Don in Columbus, Ohio. Welcome, Don.
SPEAKER 08 :
Hey, Joey. How you doing?
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm wonderful. Hope you are.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes. On the tariff situation, it's amazing how the left can talk about both sides of their mouth so often and so easily. Just last night, I saw a video of Nancy Pelosi in 1995, of course.
SPEAKER 09 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 08 :
Talking about tariffs and the deficit that China has. We have a deficit trade with China. This is 1995, and she was begging. She was calling for the need for tariffs. And what we're seeing today is just a knee-jerk reaction on the market. Like you said before today, if people just relax, let the tariffs take effect, let the playing field level out, I think they will see good results at the end and the We do know tariffs work because if tariffs were so bad, why do 170 countries have tariffs against us?
SPEAKER 06 :
Bingo. And that was the whole point that Victor Davis Hanson was making and did a great job of it. You know, if tariffs are so bad and if tariffs will wreck your economy, why does China charge us tariffs? China's economy seems to be doing pretty good.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think they are. And if you look at some of the videos online, they're in different places. On the website, you see Obama calling for terrorists. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
And, Don, you make a good point. I mean, I saw the video you were referencing on Nancy Pelosi some years back. She seemed to think terrorists were a great idea. What changed her mind?
SPEAKER 08 :
The thing that comes to mind was Donald Trump recommended it. That's what comes to mind.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, there you go. Yep, Trump derangement syndrome. Appreciate your phone call. Thank you for listening in Columbus, Ohio. And that's what is just so crazy about this. People just can't get out of their own way because of their hatred for Trump. I didn't realize until just kind of doing some research over the weekend. Do you know that we haven't run a trade surplus yet? in 50 years since 1975. Think about that for a minute. So it wasn't suddenly that we woke up or suddenly that Donald Trump's back in the oval office that we decided, well, you know, maybe that needs to change. Maybe that's unfair. This has been building for years. And as, um, as a number of people over the weekend, have talked about and from the Trump administration because Scott Bessette was out, the whole team, the Trump team were on all the news shows yesterday, making the point that we're only doing what's fair to us. Trump is protecting our interest. No president, no administration in recent times. Joe Biden certainly was not going to do this. has had the stomach and the courage to step up and say, hey, look, folks, you're going to charge us tariffs, we're going to charge you tariffs. We're going to have a reciprocal tariff policy in the United States of America going forward, starting today. So let's talk. And guess what? According to reports over the weekend, over 50 countries, 50 countries already have reached out wanting an appointment to talk. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is first on the list. He'll be in Washington meeting with President Trump today. Now, Israel, you know, the numbers are low when it comes to Israel. But I was surprised to see that Israel even charged us tariffs on our products, as good as our country has been in supporting Israel. So it's time. That we step up and we say to these countries, and it's exactly what Donald Trump has said, that we're going to do what's fair to our people. America first. That's what we voted for, right? America first. Speaking of Donald Trump, coming up. We're going to talk about some of the protests all around the country over the weekend. Some of the protesters, and this just kind of shows you the level of those protesting, they didn't know what they were protesting. They had words on their signs that they didn't know what the words meant. Somebody just handed them signs. They were walking up and down, you know, Fifth Avenue protesting. That's coming up. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike Gallagher today. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453 is how you join the conversation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Spring is here, and my pillow is ready to meet the moment with the Spring Sheet Sale. Got to be careful with the way I say that. The Spring Sheet Sale. Say that three times fast. You know the Giza Dream Sheets that I've been telling you about? These and the percale sheets, holy cow, check out this offer. Just in time for spring, you can get your very own set of Queen Giza Dream bed sheets from MyPillow. You'll save 50% or more. You can get the queen size. Queen-sized Giza Dream or percale bedsheets for as low as $29.98 with the promo code MikeG. That's an extraordinary offer. And when you go to the website, check out the pillows, the slippers, the doggy beds, the loungewear. and more. MyPillow.com. Look for the Mike Gallagher Special Square. Click on that box, and then with anything you order, enter the promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG. MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG, or call 800-928-6034. 800-928-6034. Sing along with me. For the best night's sleep in the whole wide world, visit MyPillow.com. Promo code MikeG.
SPEAKER 10 :
He's the happy conservative warrior, Mike Gallagher, from your trusted conservative TV network, Salem News Channel, and broadcasting across hundreds of radio stations nationwide. Sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome in to this Mike Gallagher show, this Monday edition. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike as he celebrates his birthday this week. I'll be with you all week. Hope you'll join the conversation. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. You can give me a quick call. Teresa will... We'll put you in queue. We'll talk as time permits. You can also text me on the MyPillow text line. You can email me directly, joey at joeyhudson.com. It's going to be an interesting day as all eyes are on Wall Street. We'll be watching it throughout the morning as the market is open. And it took a beating on Friday. A lot of panic in the air. President Trump posting on Truth just a minute ago saying the United States has a chance to do something that should have been done decades ago. Don't be weak, he says. Don't be stupid. Don't be a panicking. He says, a panicking is a new party based on weak and stupid people. Be strong, courageous, and patient, and greatness will be the result. That's the message from Donald Trump today. Again, as all eyes are on the markets. You know, it was a tough Friday. As we saw overall last week, over $6 trillion in market value go away. Now to come back. And that's what you need to understand. It will come back. But it certainly has people talking, and it has us right where the left wants us, in a panicked state. And they want us ready to turn on President Trump. They want us to apply pressure to members of Congress to try to get them to intervene and to stop the tariffs. We're going to take a deep dive into tariffs. I learned a lot over the weekend as I really focused on the history of tariffs in our country. And I was quite surprised that a lot of countries I'd never even heard of or thought of They have tariffs on our products, on American-made products coming into their country, but yet we don't have tariffs on their products, and that's what this is all about. The president wants it fair, and he wants to bring these jobs back. Love to get your comments, 800-655-6453. If you had some time over the weekend to digest what happened. Did you look at your 401k statement? Don't, if you didn't. That's my advice. I'm not a financial advisor. Big disclaimer there, but don't worry about your statement. It's going to come back. It's going to come back around, bigger and better than ever. Also, over the weekend, thousands and thousands of people showed up to protest Donald Trump, showed up to protest Doge, showed up to protest immigration. A whole list of things. And in some cases, some of the ones interviewed, they didn't know what they were protesting. They were just there, marching around with signs, anti-Trump signs. They don't know what's wrong. They just sense something's wrong. We're going to jump into that, too. And more wasteful spending being uncovered by does. This time, federal workers who are responsible for delivering benefits to veterans... spent over 87,000 hours, man hours, and $3.3 million in order to renegotiate their union benefits. So rather than processing the benefits to the veterans whom they were there to serve, they're concerned about their union contract. So they're spending hours and hours and hours with us paying them to do this, to renegotiate that union contract. We're going to jump into that as well. These protests, did you happen to catch any of them? Was there a protest in your hometown? We saw some in upstate South Carolina where I live, not as big as some of the bigger blue cities like New York City, Chicago. One particular protester, though, her name is Grisha Martinez-Roses. She's become a national immigration activist, and she's been out there for years, evidently. First time I'd ever heard of her. This was at a hands-off rally. That's what they were called, hands-off rally. She declared Saturday, and I'm quoting, I am an immigrant. I am undocumented. I'm unafraid. I'm queer and unashamed. In cut number 12, here's Ms. Rosa.
SPEAKER 11 :
My name is Greisa Martinez-Rosa. I am an immigrant. I am undocumented, unacclaimed, queer, and unashamed.
SPEAKER 06 :
Wow. Now, the response that this young lady received on social media was, all right, she just announced to the world that she's undocumented. So why not make a quick call? Why not send this video to Tom Holman and his buddies at ICE and pick her up? Ship her out. One post on X, deport her now. Another wrote, lock her up now. Several people sought to notify ICE, saying that she's right there in front of us. She's announcing this to the world. This video has received over a million views. So it's out there now. She can't hide. Should ICE pay her a visit? Now, that's going to make the left stand on their heads if this young lady is picked up and deported. But should she be? I mean, she's leading this rally in very... Very outspoken that she's undocumented. She's kind of daring the Trump administration to do something about it, right? One ex-user wrote, the only thing she didn't tell ICE is her home address. I'm confident they can look that up. Another said, I guess we'll see her arrested later this week. Thanks for coming forward to let ICE know where you are. The problem is she probably won't be. The left will protect her. Now, Tom Holman may not care. Tom Holman may have her picked up. What do you think? 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Is Holman and Ice just asking for trouble picking up someone outspoken like this lady? Rosa's statements were made at this rally. It was an estimated tens of thousands in the nation's capital. This was in Washington on Saturday. Representative Jamie Raskin, the Democrat minority leader, was there as well speaking. These protests were held at primarily larger cities, but again, there were 1,200 supposedly, so they came to a city near you most likely. But that's how they operate. And if she is picked up, They'll complain that it's unfair that she was targeted because she was at this anti-Trump rally. When it has nothing to do with her being anti-Trump. Honestly, I don't care how she feels about Trump. She doesn't get a say in how she feels about Trump. She can talk about it. She doesn't get to vote. Should Ms. Rosa be picked up? Send me a quick text on the MyPillow text line, 800-655-6453. You can give me a quick call, too. We'll talk about this. And, again, the markets are open. We're going to be watching that all morning to see if, in fact, this so-called Black Monday that some of the analysts have predicted for today. Let's hope they're wrong. It's almost like they want to be right, though. I mean, who in their right mind wants to wish... this type of news on so many financial investors around the country. But it's like they're just giddy that it might happen so they can tell Trump, I told you so. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. I'm Joey Hudson. In for Mike on his birthday.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hi everyone, Tom Mustin here for the Legal Help Center. If you or someone you know were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma within the past 20 years, listen up, you could be entitled to significant compensation. For years, the weed killer Roundup was used in homes, farms, and gardens, and now studies have proved a direct link between Roundup and this deadly cancer. So, if you or someone you know have been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma within Call us and find out if you qualify for a cash settlement. Call 800-220-3800. That's 800-220-3800. Time to file a claim is running out, so don't delay. The call is free, the consultation is free, and you can find out if you qualify for a monetary reward. Call 800-220-3800. Call now. Advertisement sponsored by Legal Help Center. May not be available in all states.
SPEAKER 10 :
He's the happy conservative warrior, Mike Gallagher, from your trusted conservative TV network, Salem News Channel, and broadcasting across hundreds of radio stations nationwide. Sitting in for Mike today, here's Joey Hudson.
SPEAKER 06 :
Welcome in on this Monday edition of the Mike Gallagher Show. Appreciate you spending a few minutes of your day with me. Yes, Joey Hudson in for Mike on his birthday. He's taking some time off this week. If you want to wish him a happy birthday, just send me a quick text on the MyPillow text line, 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. I'll pass them along to him as today is his 65th birthday. Bet you didn't know that, did you? He didn't happen to mention that last week, did he? But we wish Mike a great week off. I'm happy to be sitting in for him. Boy, do we have a lot to cover today. The financial markets, of course, all eyes are on Wall Street today. As we saw a really tough day on Friday, analysts over the weekends projecting a black Monday. Will today live up to some of the analysts' expectations? We'll see. We're following that. And protesters all across the nation. Over 1,200 organized protests in primarily the larger cities, but maybe a nearer city near you. We saw some here in the upstate of South Carolina where I live over the weekend. Some of the protesters, not sure what they're protesting, but hey, they're out protesting. They didn't have anything better to do on a Saturday. And more wasteful spending has been uncovered by Doge, this time concerning veterans. We learned that employees who were supposed to be processing benefits for veterans were spending a lot of their time, thousands of hours, to the tune of over $3 million renegotiating their union contract rather than fulfilling the benefits of these veterans. So if you're a veteran and maybe you had a question you had emailed or you had called and you're waiting for some type of determination or information, it may have been delayed because the rep who was supposed to be helping you was too busy working on his or her union contract. Can you believe that? The story was in the New York Post. Federal workers who were supposed to be taking care of men and women in the military spent 87,000 hours. That's not a typo. You didn't misunderstand me. 87,000 hours, and they spent over $3.3 million taking care of their own union benefits. And you and I paid them to do it. we footed the bill, our tax dollars. During the fiscal years 2023 and 2024, union staffers at the Defense Health Agency, which oversees the TRICARE health benefits for U.S. troops, charged the federal government for the time they spent working on contract negotiations, eking out Friends benefits and other union duties, according to a report obtained by Senator Joni Ernst's office and published by the New York Post over the weekend. Of the $3.3 million spent on union time, The report says about $190,000 was spent on negotiating a labor contract for workers at the agency since 2023. DHA said when asked about the large expense, during this period our agency was undergoing a significant transition aimed at stabilizing and enhancing our labor relations process. At the time, only about 36% of seats at the agency's headquarters were occupied. Nobody was there. Nobody was working there. DHA's multi-million expenses on taxpayer-funded union time is the largest figure that Senator Ernst's office has released during its investigation. Now, Senator Ernst is chairman of the Senate Doge Caucus. The House and the Senate have both set up their own Doge committees to supplement what Elon Musk is doing. Ernst told the New York Post this report on the Defense Health Agency highlights everything that's wrong with the federal workforce. She said taxpayers were subsidizing more than $3 million of union activities while the D.C. headquarters sat at just 36% occupancy. Bureaucrats should serve the American people, not themselves. Other agencies had significantly lower spending on taxpayer-funded union time. NASA spent about $400,000. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission spent about $420,000, both of these in 2024. Look, I don't think we should be footing the bill for any of these employees to negotiate or renegotiate their union contract. If they have concerns about their union contract, let them do it on their time, nights and weekends. You agree? Do you like the idea that your tax dollars were paying these people to renegotiate their union contract? Are you good with that? 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. I'm not a big fan of unions. You may have figured that out by now. But really, I mean, am I missing something here? According to the New York Post, federal unions are restricted from negotiating benefits and pay by the Federal Service Labor Management Relations Statute. Instead, benefits and pay are determined by the law set by Congress and federal regulations. It says, but federal unions can negotiate over more minor aspects of working conditions and the places that they work, what they can wear to work, those types of things. But again, does it concern you that these federal employees feel like it's okay for them to spend money their time, in this case, rather than serving veterans whom they're being paid to serve, they're out negotiating their union contract. That's their priority. Some veteran out there may have needed services, health services. Some veteran out there probably had to wait weeks to get an answer on a specific question because their rep was too busy with their union negotiation. These are the types of things that Doge is uncovering. So how you can not agree with what Doge is doing, and for those thousands of people over the weekend during these hands-off protests, and Doge was part of what they were protesting. They weren't just protesting Trump himself. Many of them think that Doge has overreached its authority. That Doge is a bad thing. And quite often what they have cited is the federal employees who have lost their jobs. Now, I don't like for anyone to lose their job. That's hard for anyone. But we have to start somewhere, right? We elected Donald Trump last November to decrease the size of the federal government. To... balance our budget eventually, to erase our debt. How are you going to do that if some of these agencies aren't closed, like the Department of Education? And in order to close these agencies, there's going to be some bureaucrats who are going to lose their job. Now, maybe they can go to work for one of these new companies or one of these new manufacturing facilities that's going to be opening as a result of Donald Trump's tariffs because we're going to see more jobs created because of the tariffs. I get back to my original question. Are you okay with your tax dollars being spent to pay a federal employee to negotiate their union contract? Call me. Text me. 800-655-MIKE. 800-655-6453 is the MyPillow text line. Be sure and always use promo code MikeG when you go to MyPillow.com and you look at all the great deals. Mike Lindell is passing on Giza Dream Sheets at wholesale cost because the big box stores have once again canceled the order. So go to MyPillow.com, click on the Mike Gallagher Show box, and see all the great deals that you get when you use promo code MikeG. I'm Joey Hudson, in for Mike today.
As the U.S. grapples with the economic implications of rising tariffs, we discuss what it means for domestic production and global trade warfare. Expert guests weigh in on how these developments might accelerate a recession and what families can do to prepare. Additionally, this episode touches upon the significant challenges in military strategy as the U.S. and Israel align their forces around joint operations against Iranian nuclear sites. This week's discussion is a compelling blend of economic policies, military preparations, and strategic international relations.
SPEAKER 08 :
from the heart of our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation's leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
SPEAKER 12 :
Welcome to this April 7th edition of Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins. Thanks for tuning in. President Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today in the Oval Office. The talks covered a wide range of topics, tariffs, hostages, Iran and Gaza. But what brought the prime minister back to the U.S. so soon after his February visit? We'll be joined by CBN's Chris Mitchell from Jerusalem with a readout on the Oval Office meeting. Also over the weekend, the Senate passed its budget resolution. House Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington blasted the measure as unserious and disappointing. Speaker Johnson says the resolution doesn't define the final outcome, but it does allow reconciliation to begin in earnest. The House is expected to vote on this Wednesday. We'll talk with Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Maryland Congressman Andy Harris, a little later. And on the tariff front, China responded to President Trump's tariffs with a 34% increase on U.S. goods. Now, President Trump is pledging another 50% tariff hike if China doesn't roll back on their retaliation.
SPEAKER 10 :
They're very confident in many ways, except in their economy. When you look at the inside working of their economy, they're very, very dependent on exports. If they don't have large quantities of exports, their economy doesn't work at all. So this is a direct challenge to them to say, we're going to try to push more manufacturing in the United States to bring jobs here. So I think that's why China has reacted so fast.
SPEAKER 12 :
That was Senate Republican Conference Vice Chair James Langford on Meet the Press yesterday. We'll unpack this with Asian expert Gordon Chang. Also joining me, economist David Bonson. Will the tariffs, will it create a trade war? And could it accelerate a recession? And what should families be doing to prepare? We're going to talk about all of that and more on this Monday edition of Washington Watch. And speaking of Monday, today brings a new episode of FRC's God and Government. In episode eight, I explore what the Bible says about economics, wealth, inflation, and the proper role of civil government in the economy. I can tell you it's a very timely and important discussion. God and Government is available exclusively on the StandFirm app. You can go to the app store and download the StandFirm app or simply text the word course, that's course, to 67742. Course to 67742 and I will send you a link. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Trump at the White House earlier today after arriving in Washington on Sunday. The meeting comes on the heels of President Trump's new tariff policy in Israel's dramatic expansion of its footprint in Gaza Strip since it resumed its war against Hamas. The meeting is attracting a lot of attention as Prime Minister Netanyahu was just in Washington in February for President Trump's first meeting with the foreign head of state as he began his second term. Joining me now to unpack all of this is Chris Mitchell, the Middle East Bureau chief at CBN News, who joins us from Jerusalem. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. And as always, thanks for staying up late for us.
SPEAKER 11 :
Sure. Glad to do it, Tony. Important things happening here in Jerusalem and certainly where you are in Washington.
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, according to reports, this visit was scheduled with only a few days notice. My sense and what I'm hearing from others that I'm having conversations with is that since the prime minister was just here in February, for him returning so soon would suggest that this is a very significant conversation taking place.
SPEAKER 11 :
I would agree, Tony, and I think it's very sensitive and significant and likely revolving around what the U.S. and Israel will do with Iran and its nuclear sites. Will they attack or will they delay it or will they actually be direct or indirect talks with Iran over its nuclear program? The U.S. is making it clear that Iran has to eliminate its nuclear program, whether that does it voluntarily or through a military strike remains to be seen. It's unlikely, it seems, after the long history of Iran and its nuclear program, that they would do so voluntarily. So perhaps this meeting has to do with plans to have a joint U.S.-Israeli strike, and or maybe it's the Israelis who really want to make sure that President Trump doesn't get bogged down in endless negotiations, and there's a date certain to when these talks may end. We know, Tony, that President Trump sent a letter to the Ayatollah Khomeini, you know, talking about the negotiations, but he put a two-month limit on it, which is going to expire not too far away.
SPEAKER 12 :
The conversations that I've been having on both sides, Israel, the United States, by those that are kind of in the mix, is this is the time. I don't think anyone disagrees over the timing that this is the moment in which this threat has to be removed, whether that's voluntarily, as you pointed to. And I think the analogy there or the way forward with the voluntary is like what we saw with Libya, where there is a voluntary dismantlement of their nuclear plan that is overseen by other countries, including the United States. the there's only one other option. And it looks like both countries could be prepared to take that other option if necessary.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. And if you look at all the military assets that are being brought here to the region, Tony, it looks like the military option is the way that it's going to go. If you look at Diego Garcia there in the Indian Ocean, they are B-2 bombers, B-52 bombers. You have two carrier strike groups in the region, a third on its way. So the military assets are just, you know, getting more and more assets here into the region. And you would think that this is going to be a joint strike. For the Israeli perspective, Tony, to have the B-2s and where they can have a 30,000-pound bomb called the MOP, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, that really is what probably can really make a difference in some of these sites in Iran right now that are buried deep underground areas. CONCRETE HARDENED, AND IRAN HAS DONE THAT BECAUSE THEY KNOW THAT, SO WE TRY TO MAKE IT INVULNERABLE TO ANY AIR ATTACK, BUT WITH THE B-2s, THE B-52s ADDED TO WHAT ISRAEL CAN BRING WITH ITS F-35s, IT LOOKS LIKE A PRETTY FORMIDABLE ATTACK AGAINST THESE NUCLEAR SITES WHICH ARE SPREAD THROUGHOUT IRAN PURPOSELY TO AVOID, YOU KNOW, LIKE A SINGLE STRIKE THAT HAPPENED IN 1981 IN THE IRAQI reactor, and then 2007 against a Syrian reactor. So Iran knows what it's doing, but they're facing right now the possibility that their nuclear program might get hit very hard.
SPEAKER 12 :
So Chris, talking about the military, let's talk about Gaza, because it does appear that Israel is accelerating their activity there in Gaza. I would interpret that as wanting to bring this to a conclusion pretty quickly, allowing them to turn their attention elsewhere.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, what they're doing is setting up security zones. So they're actually eliminating all Gazans out of certain areas within Gaza, like in Rafah, areas between Rafah and Qanunis. They're shrinking the territory that Hamas is able to control. They're also cutting it into different security zones throughout the Gaza Strip. So, yes, it seems like they want to bring it to a conclusion, put more pressure on Hamas. hopefully be able to put the pressure on so that more hostages would be released. But I think this idea of a security zones is really a bit of a game changer here right now. And in the battle, the year and a half now against Hamas. And I think Israel is taking a much more determined stance against Hamas with this new military operations in the last few weeks.
SPEAKER 12 :
And Chris Mitchell, more evidence coming out as documentation found among the rubble there of Hamas controlled areas in the tunnels of this collaboration between Iran and Hamas and how October 7th may have in fact been funded by Iran.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it was released by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, where some of the documents were from Yahya Sinwar and his number two man, Mohammad Deif, where they were getting $20 million a month, up to half a billion dollars, to prepare for annihilating, as they say, the, quote, Zionist entity. And part of that translation, Tony, they said that, you know, Allah willing, we will actually meet in a liberated Jerusalem. So the idea was that they could actually defeat Israel and not only that, but also come here to Jerusalem, which is the goal not only of Hamas, but also Iran as well, to liberate Jerusalem, to destroy the Jewish state. and all part of the documentation that they're finding right now to show the financial connection between the Islamic Republic and the Hamas leadership all before October 7th.
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, wasn't that at the same time that the Biden administration was releasing funds to making funds accessible to Iran?
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, it's such a tragedy, Tony, that actually the U.S. was easing sanctions on Iran. For four years, the Trump administration had the maximum pressure policy that was nearly bankrupting the Islamic Republic. And when lifting the sanctions, it literally gave billions of dollars back into Iran's coffers, and they were able to use that to actually fund not only October 7th, but the Houthis down in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and all designed at the time to have this ring of fire around Israel and really eventually destroy the state of Israel. But here we are over a year and a half after October 7th. Hezbollah is nearly gone, so is Hamas and the Houthis as well.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, you cannot deny the impact of America's foreign policy and how we engage. I mean, here we are, here we were, we're not doing it now, but making it easier for Iran to have the excess revenue to fund terrorist activity and attacks on Israel that we in turn helped fund them to defend against. Tell me that makes sense.
SPEAKER 11 :
It makes no sense, Tony. And I remember being with you and a group of other Christian leaders that repented at the site of the Nova Music Festival for funding UNRWA, which was part of, you know, allied with Hamas there in the Gaza Strip and helped facilitate that massacre that we were there and saw the many victims. signs of many of the people that were murdered on that day. And so I think that was a moving time to actually repent for what the U.S. was culpable for, not only with UNRWA, but also helping to fund the Islamic Republic.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, it is certainly something that Americans, Christians here in America, need to be praying because we were complicit, not directly but indirectly, by allowing Iran to have the capacity and the capability to inspire and fund these attacks on Israel. We just have about a minute and a half left, Chris, but more information coming out of Hamas. The Jerusalem Post reporting. that what most of us realize Hamas was lying about the numbers when it came to facilities. It was not children and women. The vast majority was in fact those that fell in the age category of terrorists and warriors.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, thousands. Hamas itself has taken off these roles of those who have died. You know, at the very beginning of the war, it was the Hamas health ministry that started promoting these numbers, all in a way to exaggerate what Israel was doing and all the way to demonize Israel. It's all part of their propaganda war for those. that had been covering this for 20 years or so. It was a movie that we've seen before. Hamas typically exaggerates the death count. They talk about more women and children than actually men. So this is something that finally is coming out to the light. And the major media, including even the Biden administration and other nations, just took these numbers by Hamas at face value and just ran with them.
SPEAKER 12 :
And I haven't seen them correct it either. Chris Mitchell, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us tonight.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thanks, Tony.
SPEAKER 12 :
Chris Mitchell with CBN from Jerusalem. All right, when we come back, we're going to talk budget with the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Dr. Andy Harris of Maryland joins us next. Don't go away. A lot more Washington Watch straight ahead.
SPEAKER 02 :
At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. That's why FRC President Tony Perkins went to Capitol Hill to testify on behalf of persecuted Christians in Nigeria. Islamist terror groups target Christians and other religious minorities in Nigeria with brutal violence. Representative Chris Smith, who chaired the hearing, said 55,000 people have been killed and 21,000 abducted in the last five years alone. The congressman also stressed that 89% of Christians in the world who are martyred are from Nigeria.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yet the government of Nigeria has failed to make progress against religiously motivated persecution of Christians despite religious freedom being enshrined as an essential human right in their constitution.
SPEAKER 02 :
Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
SPEAKER 12 :
This is systematic religious violence. Nigeria must be redesignated a country of particular concern. The Biden administration's removal of this designation was a reckless mistake that emboldened the very terrorists who are slaughtering Christians.
SPEAKER 02 :
Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
SPEAKER 12 :
These are not just numbers. These are fathers, their mothers, their children, their families.
SPEAKER 02 :
Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
SPEAKER 01 :
We live in fear because at any point it can be our turn to be killed. But to remain silent is to die twice. So I have chosen to speak.
SPEAKER 02 :
FRC is calling on President Trump to act now to promote religious freedom around the globe and speak up on behalf of Christians in Nigeria.
SPEAKER 04 :
Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
SPEAKER 07 :
Download the new Stand Firm app for Apple and Android phones today and join a wonderful community of fellow believers. We've created a special place for you to access news from a biblical perspective, read and listen to daily devotionals, pray for current events and more. Share the Stand Firm app with your friends, family and church members and stand firm everywhere you go.
SPEAKER 12 :
This is Washington Watch. I'm your host, Tony Perkins. Thanks for joining us. All right, Republicans in Congress are working to pass President Trump's America First budget as quickly as possible. Over the weekend, the Senate passed another budget resolution, this one in line with the One Big Beautiful Bill approach. But some House members, GOP members, believe it pales in comparison to the House-passed version from over a month ago. So what are the differences? What's causing concern? And will it have the necessary votes for the scheduled vote to take place on Wednesday? We're here to discuss this. Congressman Andy Harris, he serves as a member of the House Appropriations Committee. He's also the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. He represents the 1st Congressional District of Maryland. Dr. Harris, welcome back to Washington Watch. It's always good to see you.
SPEAKER 14 :
Good to be with you, Tony.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. So not surprisingly, the Senate Republicans fell a little bit short of expectations for House members. Break that down for us.
SPEAKER 14 :
So the Senate bill is a little more complicated than the House bill. So what it does, it sets an aspirational budget goal for next year of six point five trillion total spending. But that's completely unenforceable. The only thing that's enforceable are the instructions to the four committees for deficit reduction, and those sit at only $4 billion with a B, whereas the House version was $1.5 to $2.5 trillion with a T. So we think that in order to get meaningful deficit reduction, we'd have to go with something much closer to the House version or see what the Senate intends to do with their language.
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, the speaker says that this sets up the serious phase of this budget reconciliation, that this provides the framework and doesn't necessarily dictate the outcome. Is that accurate?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, we don't need to set up the next phase. We could go right to the committees and ask them to begin writing the reconciliation bill. That's actually what we did in 2017. We didn't pass the unified budget resolution, which is what we're talking about now, until actually we had put some meat on the bones in terms of what was going to be the final product. That's what we should do now because there are some of us in the House who just feel this is not an adequate amount of debt reduction when we're looking at a $2 trillion federal deficit. And again, if the Senate stays true to their word and they do deliver a reconciliation bill that begins to look like that, that's fine. We can pass that budget resolution at that time. But, you know, I'm a believer in trust but verify. We need some verification from the Senate that they're actually going to have meaningful deficit reduction.
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, the Republican conference in the House had a conference call yesterday. And I understand that there were there were a lot of concerns expressed in that call. A vote has tentatively been scheduled for Wednesday. It doesn't sound like there's going to be the Republican votes to pass what's currently on the table here.
SPEAKER 14 :
I don't think there will be, and I think the Speaker should put it off because it's not necessary to pass this at this time. We should get to work. Again, put pen to paper. Let's see what the Senate means when they're talking about deficit reduction. And if it's in line with what the House has suggested, then we'll be good to go at that time. But I would advise the Speaker not to do it, not to put it to a vote this week. because he doesn't want to come up short on this, because we can continue with drafting those reconciliation bills without this budget resolution at this point.
SPEAKER 12 :
So what do you envision would be the time frame for that consolidated approach between the House and the Senate? Because it obviously has to go through both chambers. And the economy is getting kind of antsy with the tariffs. The tax cuts are contained in this reconciliation, I think, which I would think are going to be essential in stabilizing the economy.
SPEAKER 14 :
Again, Tony, I think the most important thing is let's start talking the brass tacks. Where is the deficit going to be reduced? And we can do that right now. We don't need this budget resolution. We will need it at some point in the future. And if the Senate, again, is in line, if their idea of deficit reduction is in line with the House's idea, then we can pass it at any time and then move the reconciliation bills forward. The only thing we can't do is bring a reconciliation bill to the floor without these budget resolutions being passed by both houses. But we're still far away from that. And again, I trust would verify. I mean, let's go ahead and see what the Senate means by deficit.
SPEAKER 12 :
So what you're proposing, if I understand it correctly, Dr. Harris, is that the House should go ahead and put pen to paper and not just use the top line numbers, but actually put forward these deficit reduction measures, put that into a package and then tell the Senate, hey, this is what we've got.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah. And most importantly, we need to see what the Senate's got, because we know that we have to have at least a trillion and a half and up to two and a half trillion dollars in cuts over the next 10 years. Their instructions are only for four billion over the next 10 years. We need. But they say, oh, trust us, we're going to have a larger deficit reduction. Good. Let's see what that deficit reduction is like. And at that point, we'll pass the budget resolution. And this this will go proceed very rapidly after that.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean, I kind of see the committee, Budget Committee Chairman Jody Arrington saying this is not even serious. $4 billion in enforceable cuts. I mean, what do you think the Senate's thinking here?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, look, they claim they're going to be serious about deficit reduction. I just say, let's see where it is. You know, show us the money. Show us where your deficit reduction plans are. And if they come again, if they come near the House's deficit reduction plans, then let's go to town. Let's give the president his tax cuts. Let's put that deficit reduction in place. And we can do that in fairly rapid order. But again, it's not on the promise of the Senate because it's not enforceable. The only thing enforceable in the Senate is $4 billion. And I think Jody Arrington is right. It's not serious until we see exactly what their idea of deficit reduction is.
SPEAKER 12 :
We just have about a minute and a half left, Dr. Harris, but I do think it's important when we talk about deficit, we talk about debt, you know, a lot of folks get lost in all these D.C. terms, but we've been talking about the imbalance between trade and why it's important to do the tough decisions about tariffs and trying to balance out our trade. Getting a handle on the deficit and our debt is just as critical, if not more so.
SPEAKER 14 :
That's absolutely right, and the two are intertwined. You know, as we bring American industry back through tariff policy, if we bring industries back into the United States, we grow our GDP, we help our debt and our deficit. So they are intertwined, but right now we have to deal with the federal debt and the federal deficit because these, in the end, could be crippling to the American economy if it goes too far.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and I tend to agree that the Senate's not really grasping the urgency of the moment when it comes to the deficit and the debt. Dr. Harris, always great to see you. Thank you so much for joining us and appreciate you and the Freedom Caucus. Thank you. Dr. Andy Harris of Maryland, also, as I mentioned, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. I think I'd be surprised if there is a vote this Wednesday. I think it's going to be very difficult. Remember, you only have like a couple of votes now to spare on the Republican side in order to pass something. And I do think the Senate needs to get aggressive on cutting spending. All right. Don't go away. We're back with more after this.
SPEAKER 05 :
Everything we do begins as an idea. Before there can be acts of courage, there must be the belief that some things are worth sacrificing for. Before there can be marriage, there is the idea that man should not be alone. Before there was freedom, there was the idea that individuals are created equal. It's true that all ideas have consequences, but we're less aware that all consequences are the fruit of ideas. Before there was murder, there was hate. Before there was a Holocaust, there was the belief by some people that other people are undesirable. Our beliefs determine our behavior, and our beliefs about life's biggest questions determine our worldview. Where did I come from? Who decides what is right and wrong? What happens when I die? Our answers to these questions explain why people see the world so differently. Debates about abortion are really disagreements about where life gets its value. Debates over sexuality and gender and marriage are really disagreements about whether the rules are made by us or for us. What we think of as political debates are often much more than that. They are disagreements about the purpose of our lives and the source of truth. As Christians, our goal must be to think biblically about everything. Our goal is to help you see beyond red and blue, left and right, to see the battle of ideas at the root of it all. Our goal is to equip Christians with a biblical worldview and help them advance and defend the faith in their families, communities, and the public square. Cultural renewal doesn't begin with campaigns and elections. It begins with individuals turning from lies to truth. But that won't happen if people can't recognize a lie and don't believe truth exists. We want to help you see the spiritual war behind the political war, the truth claims behind the press release, and the forest and the trees.
SPEAKER 12 :
Welcome back to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. Well, shortly following President Trump's Liberation Day, which culminated in a host of new tariffs, China responded by raising a matching percentage of tariffs against the United States. The move was criticized by many, including President Trump, as hasty and unnecessary. President Trump is pledging to raise tariffs even higher on China if they don't remove the 34 percent increase they placed on U.S. goods. We're here to discuss this. Gordon Chang, distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute. He is a author of several books, including Plan Red, China's Project to Destroy America. You can follow him on X under the handle at Gordon G. Chang. Gordon, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. Thank you Tony. So China has responded to President Trump's 34 percent tariffs with their own 34 percent additional tariffs against the United States. Are we on the verge of a trade war. What's going to happen here.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, it certainly looks like one, and it's escalating. As you point out, President Trump today said that he would impose an additional 50% tariff. That would take tariff rates on China to over 100% if China did not take back its 34% tariff. And this is important because China right now is really out of ammunition. They're the smaller economy. Their economy, even with their inflated reporting, is less than two-thirds the size of ours. And China is the trade surplus trader. It last year had a $295.4 billion merchandise trade surplus with the U.S. Trade surplus countries can't really do much in a trade war. And the only thing they can try and do is intimidate President Trump to back down. But President Trump is not backing down. And so I think Xi Jinping is in a very difficult position right now.
SPEAKER 12 :
I mean their economy needs America to buy their products, right?
SPEAKER 13 :
Especially now, because Xi Jinping has turned his back on consumption as the fundamental basis of the Chinese economy, which means his only way out of an increasingly serious situation is to export more. And he can't replace the U.S. market, the largest in the world. And President Trump is just closing it off. So right now, Xi Jinping just does not have any options.
SPEAKER 12 :
This is double edged sword, though, for and we're going to talk more about this a little bit later for President Trump, because America has in many ways become a consumption nation. We consume. We've become really almost addicted to these cheaper products coming out of China. So how long can the American economy, you think, hold out without the cheaper products coming from China until there's some type of resolution?
SPEAKER 13 :
We can hold out for a long time now. Politically it would be difficult for President Trump but he doesn't face something until let's say the midterms. So he's got a lot of time in which to have his moves bear fruit. And by the way this has got to be done because we're in an unsustainable situation. America accounts for almost half of the world's merchandise trade deficits. China accounts for almost half of the world's merchandise trade surpluses. This just is not acceptable from any number of different viewpoints. And so I think President Trump gets high marks, whatever happens, he gets high marks for trying to deal with this, something that his predecessors let slide for decades.
SPEAKER 12 :
So it's something that at some point in time, if we want to have a sustainable economy of our own, we have to address this trade deficit.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. I mean, and, you know, I understand Wall Street's reaction. But, you know, we got to as Americans, we've got to ask ourselves, you know, do we really think that we could get out of decades of misguided really horrible trade policy and not bear some cost of course we're going to have to do that and president trump has decided i think on the best way which is to make sure that china doesn't take over the american economy and take over the economies around the rest of the world so yes this is the right move it may look really ugly right now but it's absolutely necessary
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. When you've been apathetic to situations like this and I would I would throw in. Obviously it's not a part of this tariffs but the deficit and the debt that America has right now at some point we're going to have to take on that issue as well. And it's not going to be pleasant all the way around. But long term it's absolutely essential. I want to go beyond the economic impact here for just a moment Gordon. And I want to get your thoughts on how the tariffs might impact China's plans toward Taiwan.
SPEAKER 13 :
This we ought to be concerned about because Xi Jinping right now has an economy that's not growing at the 5.0% pace that they reported for last year. It's probably about zero. And with the actions that we have seen over the last couple weeks, it's probably heading to deep contraction territory. That means Xi Jinping may decide whether it's Taiwan, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, India, he very well may decide to use it rather than lose it. But also we know that there are signs of instability at the top of the Communist Party. The infighting is getting intense. Xi Jinping may decide that war is in his interest, not to rally the Chinese people, because Xi Jinping knows the Chinese people do not want war. But he might decide a war is in his personal interest to prevent other Communist Party figures from challenging or maybe even deposing him. So right now, I think the situation is extremely tense across China's periphery.
SPEAKER 12 :
So given the political instability, economic instability growing, this may prompt him to take military action to, in some ways, distract, right?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yes. I'm actually more concerned about something. Not that Xi Jinping wakes up some morning and says, I'm invading the Philippines. But we've seen some very dangerous provocations in the last couple of weeks against South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines and Australia. And if one of those escalations goes wrong, I don't think Xi Jinping will be able to control escalation because right now he has configured China's political system so that only the most hostile answers are considered to be acceptable, which means if something starts, it's going to continue.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, Gordon, we'll have to leave it there and we'll continue it on another time at another date. Thanks so much for joining us. Always great to see you, my friend. Alright folks, stick with us. We're coming back with more discussion about the tariffs after the break.
SPEAKER 06 :
What is God's role in government? What does the separation of church and state really mean? And how does morality shape a nation? President John Adams said our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other Join Family Research Council for God and Government, a powerful 13-part series that equips you with biblical truth to engage in today's most pressing debates. From the Ten Commandments in classrooms to the immigration crisis of America, we'll uncover the foundations of our nation's history and why it's relevant for today. Defend God's plan for government because faith and freedom were never meant to be separate. New episodes available each Monday. To view the series on the Stand Firm app, text COURSE to 67742.
SPEAKER 05 :
The world is hurting. Streets are filled with crime. Families are broken. Sin is celebrated. And God is mocked. Everywhere we look, the wages of our sin are on full display. As Christians, we know that surrender to God's will is the solution to our biggest problems, but not everyone agrees. Even in church, we hear people say the most important thing is to be tolerant, that we shouldn't impose a morality on other people, and that loving our neighbor means celebrating what they do. But you can't do that. It's not that you don't love your neighbor. You do. But you care about God's opinion more than your neighbor's opinion, and this makes you different. In fact, sometimes it makes you feel alone, like you're the only one. But there is good news. You are not alone, not even close. Research has found that there are 59 million American adults who are a lot like you. There are millions of people around the country who are born again, deeply committed to practicing their faith, and believe the Bible is the reliable Word of God. But that's not all. They're also engaged in our government. They're voters. They're more likely to be involved in their community, and they're making a difference in elections. The problem is that a lot of them feel alone, too. We want to change that. FRC wants to connect these 59 million Americans to speak the truth together, no matter the cost. If you want to learn more about this group and what it means to be a spiritually active, governance-engaged conservative, or if you want to find out if you are one of these SageCons yourself, go to frc.org slash SageCon and take the quiz to find out. The world is hurting, and we have the solution. We can't do it alone, but we can do it if we work together. That's what we're working toward every day. Join us. Go to FRC.org slash S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more. That's S-A-G-E-C-O-N, SageCon, to learn more.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, before we continue our conversation about the tariffs, let me remind you of a new episode of God and Government. It's out today, episode eight. And in this episode, I explore what the Bible has to say about economics, wealth, inflation, and the proper role of civil government in the economy. Tell you what, it's a timely and important discussion. God and Government is available exclusively on the Stand Firm app. So you're going to have to have the app in order to watch the God and Government series. And guess what? I'll provide it to you. Just text the word COURSE to 67742. That's COURSE to 67742. And I'll send you a link. Our word today comes from Ezekiel 24. Utter a parable to the rebellious house, the Lord says. Say to them, thus says the Lord God, set on the pot, set it on, pour in water also, put in the pieces of meat, all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder, fill it with choice bones, take the choices of the flock, pile the logs under it, boil it well, seethe also its bones in it. i am the lord i have spoken it shall come to pass i will do it i will not go back i will not spare i will not relent according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged declares the lord god for decades god had called his people to repentance through his prophets warning came not with cruelty but with patience offering a chance to turn He even allowed seasons of chastisement, refining fires meant to purify and restore, but the people refused, choosing the soothing lies of false prophets over the truth. Now the pot boils, not to cleanse, but to consume. Judgment, once delayed by mercy, is now inevitable. God's word always comes to pass. The question is whether we will respond in time. To join our journey through the Bible, text the word Bible to 67742. The stock market fallout since the White House tariffs announcement last week continues. This morning, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index, surged to the 50 level. On Friday, it closed above 40, its highest closing level in five years. Is this temporary pain for long-term gain, or is there more to brace for? Here now to unpack this is financial advisor David Bonson. He is a founder of the Private Wealth Group from the Bonson Group. He is also the senior fellow of economics for the Center for Cultural Leadership. David, welcome to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks for having me, Tony.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, so been a pretty rough week since the president announced these tariffs, and it doesn't appear that it's over yet.
SPEAKER 03 :
No. When you get this kind of economic scare, there can be some volatility that's quite prolonged. It's really more than just markets. You definitely have risk assets that have sold off substantially. And yet there's also the bigger fear as to what ends up happening in the economy and where the fundamentals will be throughout the second quarter and going into the third quarter of this year.
SPEAKER 12 :
Is this possibly Wall Street big business kind of bowing up to the to the president saying we're not going to go along with this. We're going to we're going to show you and we're going to rattle the stock market.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, I've heard some theories like that. And I would tell you and our listeners out of hand that that isn't what's happening here. Wall Street is really a euphemism for capital markets. It's people who have investments in all different aspects of risk assets from debt to equity, stocks, bonds. Real estate, private companies, big companies, small companies. When we're talking about the stock market, you have a substantial amount of the market owned by individual retirees, by pension funds, by a lot of small investors. But then there's also big hedge funds as well. The idea that investors are willing to go sell things at a loss and sell into a loss to try to teach the administration a lesson, I don't think it speaks to a good understanding of what these guys' incentives really are. This is capital in pursuit of a return, not a particular agenda. It's capital being driven by fear right now, Tony, that perhaps we're going to see a decline in profits, a decline in wages, a decline in economic growth. And so from my vantage point running over $7 billion wealth management firm, I get to see the optics to both the stock market but also regular business because so many of our clients are business owners. And I got 100 calls on Thursday, Friday, and over the weekend, 83% of whom voted for President Trump. absolutely petrified about what these tariffs represent to their business and concern for their outlook in the months ahead. So I think it's both a stock market and a real economy and small business impact that right now there's just a lot of uncertainty.
SPEAKER 12 :
So, David, let's talk a little bit about fear for a moment. And I want to put this in a broader context than just economic fear, although that's obviously what we're focused on right now. But fear is something we've been warned against, and there's a reason for that. And I step back to use an analogy with the economy where we have the consumer price and the consumer confidence index. We look to see what the confidence level is of consumers. Is not our economy built a lot just on confidence and trust? And when there's fear, can that not fuel kind of a stampede?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, on one hand, my answer is yes, it can. But on the other hand, it's not to me about the consumer. It's about the producer. And this is something that's very important to me theologically, but also economically. I think the self-fulfilling prophecy you get where when there's a lot of fear, you end up not having a certain activity is not that people get afraid and say, I'm not going to go to the mall. Candidly, if people are really afraid of their job right now, they shouldn't be going to the mall. Where you get a self-fulfilling prophecy is when there's a decline in production, a decline in capital goods, a decline in capital investment that make and build and do the things that lead to real economic output. Consumption takes away wealth. With this idea that our economy is built on people spending money is just not true. Our economy is built on us producing things. Now, of course, we produce things so people will enjoy them, but it becomes wealth additive. And it's the most important Christian tenet in all of economics. Our belief in economics is one of addition and multiplication. Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. That's what Christians believe in about the economy. The Keynesian notion, the statist notion, the central planning idea from the 20th century was an economics of subtraction. And this idea that mankind is just built to go spend money and gratify themselves, and that's where you get economic growth, it's just not true. So I really believe that the fear issue is true, but it's more on the production side than consumption.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and we look at that consumption side. That's also what is driving our idea that the world's overpopulated and this idea that we don't need children is because they're consumers rather than producers. So when you have this uncertainty, what it does cause are those who would invest money in capital projects are going to sit on that money out of fear of the unknown. Is that an accurate assessment?
SPEAKER 03 :
They're going to sit on it. They're going to delay. They're going to cancel. They might diminish like they were going to do something that was a 10 and now they're going to do a 5. There's all those types of things. And so then that leads to a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy of a downturn in economic activity and growth.
SPEAKER 12 :
But you would agree I think that America needs to once again become more of a producer when we've seen a lot of our manufacturing has moved offshore moved south. Is this the way to get it back through the tariffs mechanism.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, let's start with what we can't manufacture onshore, coffee, bananas, certain spices and consumer goods. Adam Smith, the great Christian economist of the 18th century who wrote The Wealth of Nations, taught us that there is a comparative advantage sometimes that makes nations wealthier by trading with one another. Now, you start bringing up communist China. We start looking at some of the more complexity of globalization and offshoring. And I'm not suggesting that all of that fits into the category I use with coffee and bananas. But that's one of my criticisms of the current policy is it equally paints with a broad brush. I think we have to distinguish between what we're doing to really bring certain productive activities onshore that America can competitively do and not punishing in those areas where we simply can't. You know, we're going to get better chocolate from Switzerland, right? I mean, so there's certain advantages that we can't get rid of. But the other factor, Tony, is even where there are issues like certain auto parts manufacturing that over a long period of time went down to Mexico, it can't come back to America in one month. These are going to take years to rebuild and reprep factories. Most of our manufacturing, our job market is tailored to more high-tech manufacturing. So I don't think that we've gone about it the right way to really carefully analyze what America's strengths are, where we need to invest to the future. And I really believe we have to understand that our labor force, we need more able-bodied men that want to work. And they talk all the time like our only problem is a decline of jobs. But we had a decline of workers. And those are two different things.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, not only a decline of workers, but a decline of skilled workers. When you look at what we're training, I mean, we just have been in the process of building a house. You know, when you look for bricklayers, you know, we're not training people to do that anymore. That's why there's so many people coming into this country to provide that manual labor, which is a technical skill. I mean, you want your house to stand up when it's built. So there is multiple factors, I agree with you, that comes into this. That said, David, what would be your advice in how this should have been approached as a policy decision?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I would have separated China from the rest of the world. I think not only just politically, was there already a little more acceptance that we're dealing with something adversarial with China? And I think the president did go about treating our friends and our foes the same. And I think that was personally a mistake, both economically and politically. But again, this economic idea that we are being ripped off or being stolen from merely because other countries sell us more things than we sell them, I think that's problematic. I think we need to approach it by looking at China for their particular issues and how we want to solve A lot of it, by the way, could be getting it out of China now to South Korea, Mexico, Vietnam, and then over time looking for things that can come back to America. But ultimately, I think they painted with too broad a brush. And then they said they wanted to do it on fairness and reciprocity, and they didn't. They ended up doing it more on just who simply sells us more than we sell them. And that's why countries like Vietnam, Switzerland, and South Korea are being punished the most when they don't have barely any tariffs on us at all.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, well, I definitely agree on on China. And it's hard to compete with someone using using slave labor, which they do in many cases. But I think moving it to to other countries as an interim before it comes back to our shores is a good idea. So let's talk. We have about three and a half minutes left. David, I want to talk practically here other than having to pay more for bananas. How should people be prepared for what's ahead?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I still, even though I am critical of this particular administration policy, I still hold out confidence that President Trump has been a very good negotiator throughout his career. He has a style that's very different than mine. And I think right now the risk reward of this negotiation is very frightening. But I do hope. that we get to a place where we get some better deals, but we back off from some of the more problematic elements. I think people should be prepared for some higher prices. And I think people have to understand that even if we get better trade deals in the next month or so, you're going to see a decline in the economy here over the next quarter or two for the reasons you and I talked about earlier, companies that have already pulled back on certain activities. So I would expect a bit of a slowdown, and I'm continuing to pray for wisdom in the administration. He happens to have a lot of advisors around him that I like, and he happens to have a few advisors I don't care for. So I would be praying for the advisors that I like to win the argument.
SPEAKER 12 :
I do think the president and I've known him since his first term and watched him and he's made some decisions and taken actions that I just thought, oh, this is the end. He just pulled the pin. When in fact, it turns out this is a way of his negotiations where it's kind of shock getting people's attention. And in most cases, he's able to work out a good deal. So I still remain optimistic, although when you look at the, as you pointed out at the beginning of this discussion, how much capital has been lost in the stock market, there's a lot of ground to retake.
SPEAKER 03 :
A lot of ground to retake. And just remember, in 2018, he did it in the second year after in the first year. They had built the political capital and economic capital of passing tax reform. And I think the sequence this time was probably backwards from what they did before and had success with. They may have been better off getting the tax reform done first, letting Doge do some effective things with deregulation and cost saving first. then approaching this more complicated tariff issue. And I would have done the tariff issue by putting the warning out to countries first and having all those meetings, then coming back. But again, to your point, he prefers shock and awe negotiations, so it's just a stylistic difference, I guess.
SPEAKER 12 :
David, 30 seconds left, but you mentioned the tax cuts. That's essential now, I would think, in extending these tax cuts, or else we're going to get a double whammy on our economy.
SPEAKER 03 :
No question. It's absolutely essential. And the only thing I would say is you probably have to do even more than that. The markets did not price in just an extension of tax cuts. They priced in that plus some additional tax cuts. That's what the voters are expecting as well. So that's a big question mark over us as well, Tony.
SPEAKER 12 :
David Bonson, always great to talk with you. Thanks so much for joining us and providing some insight to this very, very important issue.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. And folks, something else to pray about. As David said, praying for the president, for this administration, his advisors, that they're making the right decision. Scripture tells us to pray for them, that we might live peacefully. And obviously having a strong economy, a safe country is a part of that. All right. Out of time for today. Thanks so much for joining us. Until next time, you know what to do. Keep praying and keep standing.
SPEAKER 08 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council and is entirely listener supported. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information on anything you heard today or to find out how you can partner with us in our ongoing efforts to promote faith, family, and freedom, visit TonyPerkins.com.
Join Logan Sekulow as he tackles the intricacies of trade tariffs, a dominant topic impacting international relations today. With countries rushing to the negotiation table, the episode delves into President Trump's strategic tariff implementations and their implications for the global economy. Insightful discussions with Will Haynes and Secretary Pompeo offer listeners a window into the political and economic facets of these changes. As the team also highlights the ACLJ's ongoing domestic and international efforts in legal advocacy, this episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of sovereignty, trade, and economic resilience.
SPEAKER 04 :
we've got breaking news over 50 countries rush to make tariff deals keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever this is seculo we want to hear from you share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110 And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Will Haynes is joining me in studio. We've got a packed show. And of course, there is a breaking news item. A lot of debate, obviously, this weekend over the tariffs. Because as the tariffs went in place, we saw a pretty volatile economy. We saw a pretty volatile stock market. Now we're going to break down what it means. The goods and the bads. Look, we're not going to be here and just sugarcoat everything here and say, you know, because President Trump said that means it has to be good. But we are going to give you more of the reality than the media would like you to see, because there's a lot more nuance to what it could mean for you, the individual who may not be a stock market investor. maybe you are and what does that look like as we have seen even an upturn today we also have bb netanyahu visiting washington dc today so we'll discuss a little bit of that as well as israel said hey we're thinking no tariffs and that's maybe the conversation that is going to be happening with a lot of countries because look you have someone like elon musk coming out saying hey Our goal here is actually to get to free trade, to get to zero and zero, no tariffs overall between any countries, and we're going to have a society built on that. So knowing that that's the goal, I think that does change the way you need to look at the tariff situation. Phone lines are open for you, like I said, at 1-800-684-3110. But Will, the breaking news item that's coming out is about these 50 countries, more than 50 countries, who have said, hey, we've already at least given a call to the White House.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And this isn't a simple issue. This isn't something you can just look at and be like, I'm for it, I'm against it. There's so many nuances and areas of explanation that can go on that, I mean, I'm sure there will be books written about this and courses taught in econ classes across the country about this. But one thing that we know is that... That's if you think that college will still exist in a few years. That's a good point, Logan. It's a very good point. They may put tariffs on colleges at this point, but when you look at this and you see that more than 50 countries have approached the administration about lowering their non-tariff trade barriers. So that's even just being able to do business in the country, lowering their tariffs or stopping currency manipulation. This is coming from the treasury secretary. And we also know that the European Union Late last night, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that they are seeking to avoid a back and forth trade war, that they are offering zero for zero tariffs on industrial goods. This is the EU. This is the European Union, which is actually...
SPEAKER 05 :
As you said earlier to me in the meeting, I said, hey, so who is this saying this? Does this person have the influence, the control to actually say this? And the answer to that is yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. It is the president of the European Commission. So when you look at this and you also know the history of President Trump trying to make a deal, get people to the negotiating table. That is working, regardless of what anyone is telling you about how it's going to send America into a death spiral of economic doldrums. Look, it wasn't a good weekend. It was not. But I would at least say the bringing people to the table to negotiate is working. And there's some other factors that we need to talk about as well. And just to keep people informed about what is happening as we go forward.
SPEAKER 05 :
That's right. And phone lines, like I said, are open for you. If you have a question or comment related to this, we're going to keep this conversation going as well as move into some other topics throughout the show, including some great work the ACLJ team is doing. And you're going to hear from some of our top team leaders later on. Again, phone lines for you are open, but I want to encourage you right now. If you have been considering supporting the ACLJ, as we said, we extended our life and liberty drive for this month. I want you to go to ACLJ.org because your religious liberties are really being under attack here in the United States, but really around the world. And we are working on some of these huge moments around the world. We're going to be talking about that and what happened in the Congo and how we're getting involved. But also, as simple as, it sounds simple, but it's not. It takes hours and hours and hours of our team. Things like a lawsuit against a homeowners association who said, hey, you can't have home Bible studies. So we're there for you, and we're there for the world. And that's only because people like you support it. Have your donations doubled. Keep us in this critical fight right now. Go to ACLJ.org. Scan the QR code that's on your screen. We'll be right back with more on Seculo. Once again, phone lines are open for you. Give us a call. Get your comments in. Also, if you're watching on YouTube or Rumble, hit that thumbs up. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Seculo. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Continue to talk about, well, that deal that is coming up as 50 countries have reached out and say, hey, we want to renegotiate our tariff situation as President Trump put in place reciprocal mutual tariffs. which a lot of people have issues with. It did hurt the stock market. There was a lot of panic over what this could mean. And look, we're not going to sugarcoat when things happen like this. We know people are worried. I see you in the comments. You're worried about this. I'm not saying you shouldn't be, but we're only a couple of days in. Let's see what happens when you have people like the European Union coming out and saying, hey, on industrial goods, we're thinking 0%. And if you're thinking zero and you're thinking zero, all of a sudden you have a free trade agreement with really one of the top areas you need to. Now we got to get to China. We got to get to Asia in general, Vietnam, a lot of these countries. But it's still a massive move forward. So remember, as we've always said, And look, I don't I'm not here just as an apologist for President Trump and his plans, because a lot of times, look, as everyone, everyone has differences of opinion. And I think this one's OK to have a difference of opinion. But what I've said is that this was going to be a negotiation tactic. This wasn't just a blanket here. The tariffs, nothing's ever going to change. It was going to be something that brought people to the table. And 50 countries have already shown up.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And one thing that I think with this whole situation, I was asked by a family member, what do you think of the tariffs over the weekend? You know, with the whole situation, the world is on fire, freaking out about this. And I, as a traditional conservative, don't typically think towards tariff policy like the conservatives traditionally are more free trade. But when you have a situation of what's been going on, one, we didn't have free trade because we just weren't putting tariffs on. Everyone else was. And when you get to a situation where they start talking about, oh... You know, it could cost $60,000 to buy an iPhone if it was exclusively manufactured here. These absurd things where you're like, well, that's part of the problem. That is part of the America last foreign policy and economic policy that we have seen for decades from both parties. Where our manufacturing base isn't here, we are completely reliant on foreign nations to get our most basic things and to have our most basic needs filled. That's not okay. That is actually a national security problem. So as someone who is tariff averse in my political or economic philosophy, I understand the goal here. And I think to some degree, that goal of getting people to the table to try to fix this problem is the positive best outcome. Now, when you have an entrenched economic policy like we've had, There is no way that you can change course without it being disruptive. A little scary. Right. You said the world's on fire, which is the way I like it because I never get bored. That's right. But what you also have to remember is that there are thousands of people right now. that are making tons and tons of money off the stock market panic, that are actually fueling the drop in prices because of the way options market work. Very little risk to them to sell put options, to make large profits off of this. So don't think that it's just, oh, all these people are losing money. Most people that would be losing equity value are people that are not the big Wall Street types on a panic like this. I think that the panic will be short run in the market.
SPEAKER 05 :
because i think it will start to play out and it will level off but i also think there are other positive economic factors and we'll play the treasury secretary in a moment that can be seen that the media is not telling you about that's the thing is the media controls the narrative social media controls the narrative all your favorite liberal you know influences are going to share what they think right now because this is a moment of what you'd say quote unquote weakness as the economy did take a hit let's not pretend it didn't But as Will said, you're also giving us two days. You haven't had a play out. You have people who are in control of that narrative that don't necessarily want it to be successful in general. So what do you have to do? You have to stay tuned to places like us here at the ACLJ, us here on the Sekulow Show. Maybe you're watching Salem News Channel. Maybe you're watching on YouTube or Rumble. Finding those alternative media options because we are not going to force feed you any sort of fake. This is the truth. We're telling you the truth. That's what we always do here at the ACLJ. That's what we always do here on Seculo, even if you don't like to hear it. And like I said, it is okay to look at this and say, man, I've got some concerns. I'm worried about the economy. That is okay. But that is why we'll come in and we're not just going to gloss over that and say everything is fine. We're going to tell you what we think and what some of the leading experts also believe. And as Will said, there's a lot of people still making money. There's a lot of other ways people are going to be making money. As I said, we've seen gas prices drop. What affects the average American more, the stock market dropping or gas prices dropping? I mean, I think that's a pretty simple answer. Let's go take a call. Can we take a call? Let's go to Nadine, who's calling from the state of Maryland. Nadine, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yes, gas prices actually went up. 314 now. What now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Gas prices went up. It was $2.89 last week. It's $3.14 now.
SPEAKER 05 :
We're talking about on a global scale here. We've seen some decline here. But what was your comment overall?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, I think Trump is a failure. I think it's an economic failure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay. I'm giving you an opportunity to speak here. Give me a little bit more info here.
SPEAKER 09 :
The man has had six bankruptcies.
SPEAKER 05 :
OK. All right. I don't think we're going to get anywhere with Nadine. It's OK, Nadine. You have your bullet point facts. But I was hoping to get into some more in-depth conversation because you put to our phone screener that you are a little worried about the economy. And, you know, this is supposed to bring countries negotiation table. But you are feeling a little less optimistic. And that was maybe a more well-rounded version of what she was getting at.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. And once again, I don't think that Nadine is alone in her thoughts about this. Obviously, whenever you see the market going down quickly, as we saw for two days last week, that is kind of the most readily available economic indicator people look to, even if they're not directly connected to it. And maybe they have retirement that's in 401ks. But that's what you kind of think of as the number. um one i think it was a very quick sell-off there was more sell-off today it went back up it's bouncing around we'll see how that plays out but i do also think that and i want to play the treasury secretary's comment about um the oil prices and things of that nature now also i can't speak to every location in the country every gas station in the country where the prices are also that's not what we're talking about when you're seeing the cost of oil drop right that then does translate not necessarily that moment but to lower gas prices on the whole so when we look at this and i think we should play this from the treasury secretary but also not discount people like nadine who have very real concerns And especially if you are if you are nearing a retirement age and you're looking, OK, we've got this drop right now. How does it look a week, six weeks, a month from now or even a year from now? I think that those aren't necessarily unfounded fears. That is a situation where you have to look at and figure out where the economy is going. When you see people coming to the table, that is where you start to think this could potentially be a short-lived panic, as people on Wall Street love to do, and that it's not necessarily a long-term concern, but it's also very early. We're a couple days into this, but let's play what the Treasury Secretary had to say. This is bite one. both talking about tariffs from the first Trump administration, as well as some other data points on pricing. Let's go ahead and run that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Chris, what I like is data. And if we look at data from President Trump's first term, and there's a big study that just came out from a group of economists, mostly at MIT, that showed that a 20% tariff on China led to a 0.7% tax increase. our price level increase over four years i think that's pretty good if we can take in 20 in tariffs and it's a 0.7 increase and kristen the little publicized story this week everyone wants to look at the the stock market going down you know what else went down oil prices went down almost 15 in two days which impacts working americans much more than the stock market does Interest rates hit their low for the year, so I'm expecting the mortgage applications to pick up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, and that is the Secretary of Treasury. I want to make sure people know that.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. Yeah, Scott Besant. And what he's pointing out there is that other numbers, such as the price for a barrel of oil, has gone down almost 15%, which will translate into lower gas prices, which not only affect you at the pump, but also the cost of your goods as they're being transported across the country, because that fuel cost is baked into the price. Also, the interest rates. Everyone... In many areas across the country have been priced out of housing, not just because of the prices going up, but because of during the early 2020s, you were at two percent, two and a quarter, three percent interest rate up to seven and a half under the Biden administration. That's that prices you out of housing really fast.
SPEAKER 05 :
My house has doubled in value over the last decade, but we cannot move. Right. We cannot afford to move because the interest rates are so high that our payment would be like, you know, 10 times. I mean, I'm not even joking. Like 10 times what we're paying right now. But you know what? Good for Secretary Bessette coming out and making that statement. We're going to take more calls. Like all he's saying is it'll work out just fine. All we need is just a little patience. 1-800-684-3110. Have your voice heard on the air. The ACLJ, we're at work right now. You may just hear us talking about tariffs. You may just hear talking about the economy. But of course, the ACLJ team is really on the move right now to protect your religious liberties. And we need your support. We have extended our Life and Liberty Drive through this month. That means all donations are doubled because amazing ACLJ supporters and champions are ready to unlock their donations right now. So have your donation doubled. We have sent a demand on behalf of our client, a New York public defender. We've got so much, I'm just going to get to you next segment. Welcome back to Secular. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I do want to talk to you a bit about some of the work the ACLJ is doing, but before that, I want to get to one of these calls, just so we can go ahead and take one. Let's go to Lisa, who is calling, watching on Facebook. Lisa in North Carolina, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, I just wanted to say, and another comment to the other caller, We have gas in North Carolina at $2.54. And Dave Ramsey's crew says, don't look at your portfolio right now. Just kind of look. Don't look and take advantage of buying low. Don't panic.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, I mean, we don't give out financial advice, so I don't want to say that your words speak for us. But I think a lot of people feel that way because right now, much like any dip in the economy, in the dip of the stock market, is not really the time to freak out. It's the time, like he said, I think Dave is probably right. Just take a break from looking at it for a couple days and then see where we're at. You know what? In the comments, everyone's putting in what their gas prices is, and I kind of love that. Put that in. If you know your gas prices and where you live, that's a fun comment. And if it went up or down.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think that's good. Yeah, sure.
SPEAKER 02 :
Go ahead. Add to it. Lisa, thank you, though. I think a lot of people are feeling that way. Yeah, and once again, whenever there is a dramatic change, what the bureaucratic state and what the more big government-minded, more liberal-minded folks want is no change from what happens in America. They have, okay, presidents can come and go, but we will maintain what we are doing regardless. They don't like when a president or an administration comes in as a disruptor, or has a different philosophy, they want the same. That's why I think they get excited when conservatives and Democrats fight over social issues, because at the end of the day, they can keep their agenda moving forward. Now, we do think that social issues are very important and worth fighting for, But at the other end of that is that when things like this happen, it is going to cause disruption. It is going to cause some people to try and make it fail. That's why you will hear stories of people that made a vast fortune off of this dip in the market because they know how to play that game.
SPEAKER 05 :
Steve Carell will make a movie about it in a few years.
SPEAKER 02 :
It'll be great. Box office hit if there are still box offices. That's true. You know, the movie industry as a whole.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, I don't know. Minecraft opened 350 mils. You know what? That's pretty big. Big deal, that Minecraft movie. I'm sure a bunch of your kids went and saw that. But yeah, change is hard. Change hurts for a lot of people. You get nervous.
SPEAKER 02 :
You're doing a lot of song lyrics today. That was a song lyric? I don't know. It felt like it. I heard a couple earlier, and then that felt like you looked at me very intently. Well, you laughed. I mean, time may change me, but I can't trace time.
SPEAKER 05 :
So let's move on a little bit and talk about the work of the ACLJ, important work that we're doing. And look. You have heard on the big picture what we're doing. You've heard some of the big scale stuff we're doing. We are currently working on a really important moment for Congo. You've heard about the hundreds of Christians that are being brutally attacked, many murdered in barbaric ways. And that's happening for real. But there's also still things happening in this country that feels like the ACLJ from the 1980s and the 1990s. It feels like the origins of the organization. And these instances still have to be called out. Whether you saw the win for the church on the beach or you saw the win or the temporary win, we'll see what happens, for the teacher who could not pray in public, could not pray where her students or faculty may see her, including in her car. Of course, we at least got to the next step of that. But this one is happening right now. And this is a government attorney, a government lawyer. Like, I know that's not a great way to start. A lot of you are going to go, ugh. Logan, don't even continue. But you know what they got rights to? The government lawyer, among a smattering of things on his desk, including a Grogu, a Baby Yoda, and a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger, he happened to have a Bible open on his desk that he could reflect to during his break times. And of course, that was enough for not only complaints, but to get reprimanded.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And this is a public defender in New York for a county. And we've had to send a legal demand on his behalf because here's what happened. He had this Bible on his desk. There's no issue with that legally, constitutionally. However... A supervisor actually orchestrated an entire situation where had another individual go and cause a scene about complaining about this. So the supervisor had a fellow employee barge into our client's office and loudly demand the Bible be removed. Our client respectfully requested that any directive come in writing. And that request did not lead to a civil discussion about the law. Instead, the supervisor then escalated it, stormed into the office, picked up the Bible, demanded it need to go, cited vague concerns about clients seeing it. even though it wasn't in view of the clients. And in an effort to comply and deescalate, our client actually moved it to a less visible place, but didn't remove the Bible. And then when he reiterated to the supervisor, the willingness to accommodate reasonable concerns, but formally requested a religious accommodation to keep his Bible there under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Now, remember, this is a lawyer they're dealing with and he's citing law. Well, that didn't solve it. They actually did a formal reprimand that goes into our client's file permanently, citing vague performance deficiencies and claiming that his conduct had been unduly disruptive. And they warned in the directive to refrain from having any Bible or religious text open and visible when meeting with clients or even fellow staff members. So, reaches out to the ACLJ. We have sent this formal demand saying that we want them to remove this from his file, this issue, this reprimand.
SPEAKER 05 :
You can tell this is not going to be fun. These are people who are hostile to his beliefs, to his faith. By just having a Bible on his desk, that was somehow too much for people to handle. You couldn't, yeah, I'm sure if you walked past it, what, you felt something? I'm sure you did. Sure you did, because that is what happens when you have the power of the word of God when you walk past it. You may look at it and go, okay, I can't take this anymore. We've seen that with a lot of these atheist groups. I can feel the presence of a cross in here, and therefore, because I'm an atheist, it shouldn't be here. Well, I have a feeling you know why you're feeling the presence of that cross, and I feel like it's probably the same for this guy's Bible. You ever walked into any hotel room, any hospital, whatever, you feeling that same way? I'm sure you are. Look, the ACLJ is taking action right now. Will said, we filed a demand right now, said you take care of this right now. And if you don't, by the way, we're suing you, we're going to court. And guess who's probably going to win? Probably us, unless you have some sort of crazy court system. Because most people understand, normal, decent human people understand that your religious rights are not given up. Your religious freedom is not given up because of where you work or who you work for. There are rules and regulations, sure. There are things you can and can't do at work, of course. Is one of those on your break time, read the Bible? i don't think so i don't think the government can say that and we're going to make sure that that is true phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110 this is the end of the first half hour we got a second half hour coming up and we want you to join us and if you don't get us on your local station number one they should so demand them just like we're demanding this you demand that they carry our full hour at no additional cost and Support the work of the ACLJ while you're at it because you can get this show for absolutely free by going to ACLJ.org, by going to YouTube, Rumble, the Salem News Channel, which is available on Pluto. It's available on a lot of other free TV options, streaming options. You should take a look at it. Of course, you can find it later on on all your favorite podcast players. Later on, you can listen to it. You can go back. You can send it to your friends. We encourage you to do because we are almost to 470,000 YouTube subscribers. I'd love to get that. That's just one of the small outlets we are on. We have radio around the country. We have other outlets, digital outlets around the world. And that is because of people like you who can support this broadcast and keep this broadcast absolutely free and keep all that legal help absolutely free because we do it with you as you support the work of the ACLJ. All your gifts are doubled for the rest of this month. So do it today. Don't wait until the last day. We'll be right back with the second half hour coming up.
SPEAKER 04 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 05 :
Welcome to the second half hour of Sekulow. If you missed any of this, by the way, when we're all done and the live show is over, go back and listen to the first half hour. It was a great first half hour. You hear about all the work of the ACLJ. You can hear more about the tariff situation as we're going to reset a little bit because many of you are just tuning in now and you're hearing about the breaking news that over 50 countries have come to the table. Like we said, that this was going to be a negotiation in terms of the tariffs that were going in place. Some of these may be long term. Some may not. We even have the EU saying, hey, we'd like a 0% tariff. You have Israel saying, most important things, we're going to 0%. We've got 50 other countries saying, let's get to the table. So, Will, this is happening. The idea of it becoming a negotiation tactic is working. Sometimes we need to just take a breath, take a pause, and see how this all will play out. Of course, this is the Trump administration. Of course, it caused a little chaos, and it changes the way people are thinking about these situations. Because, again, they're thinking creatively, even if you disagree with them. They're thinking creatively and going a different way. But President Trump said there would be tariffs. Maybe people didn't expect it to be this broad, but here we are.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And once again, this is a different way of thinking. This is not something that President Trump hid, though. He had always run on the fact of trying to bring things like manufacturing back, trying to figure out the situation with the trade imbalances across the world with the United States, trying to really champion the rights of working class Americans and not just the Wall Street corporate interests. that profit greatly when things are made very cheaply in China and then able to be sold here for profit. So I think that when you see any sort of disruptor, there is going to be disruptions. I think that is one of the things that needs to be taken into account. We don't know how this plays out, though. We don't know because it is now President Trump's issues uh and things that he is fighting for are not just clashing with other nations but also with big corporations that may not be on board with this type of deal here's what i'll tell you if this is not working this goes south we're going to tell you here at the acl we're going to tell you here through the secular broadcast i'm not afraid of telling you the truth i'm not only going to give you what you want to hear that would makes our show a little bit different than a lot of people
SPEAKER 05 :
a lot of different news sources, a lot of different media broadcasts and podcasts. It's because I'm not just going to tell you what you want to hear. Now, I will tell you, if you're going to do something this extreme, you're going to give it a little patience. You're going to see where this ends up. I'm not going to give you my decision this week on how the tariffs went into place. I saw some of these things that get a little verbose, get a little ridiculous when you saw a statement a friend shared that was like, did you know if an iphone was made in the united states it would cost between sixty thousand and a hundred thousand dollars number one that's probably not true number two if it is true if that's true then that is precisely the problem because for some reason for some reason democrats and the left is all about human rights except when it comes to the price of their goods You know, at that point you're like, I can't live without my iPhone. So of course we have to have essentially you know, child labor happening or very underpaid for, you know, China. I'm not saying this directly to Apple. I'm just saying in general, we know, okay, it's the quiet secret. We all know how things are done. We all know how it exists in these nations where you have a very underpaid, very highly worked society.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And when you look at that and you think it's been going on for so long in that way, No wonder there is such a discrepancy if you try to immediately bring it back. One, I don't believe that figure that it would be that much.
SPEAKER 05 :
It may be $3,000 instead of $1,200.
SPEAKER 02 :
But when you start to look at it and be like, are you really okay with that? Because that's what they've set up. I don't think anyone, if you really knew the conditions, would be okay with that just to get something cheaper.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yep. All right. Phone lines are open for you. Three are taken right now, so those three, stay on hold. We've got a guest coming in the next segment, so it's going to be a minute, but stay on hold if you're already on hold. Candy, Ryan, Dan. And then we got three lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Once again, I want to tell you to support the work of the ACLJ during this life in Liberty Drive. I know you hear me say it. You've heard now me saying it for months and months. It feels like, but you know what? It's an important time. We have some incredible members, ACLJ champions, who said, you know what? We want to keep it going. Keep it rolling. Keep the double donations. So right now, those donations are matching. We need your help. Okay, we're a little down. As everyone is right now, when everything's going crazy, this is the time to step up. ACLJ.org. Welcome back to Secula. We are going to take your phone calls in the next segment at 1-800-684-3110. There's one line open right now. It may go to two. But we are joined now by Mike Pompeo, Senior Counsel for Global Affairs. Secretary Pompeo, I wanted to start off, obviously, the conversation at hand that a lot of people are talking about are the tariffs right now, Trump's tariffs, that has kind of rattled the world, if you will, in terms of whether people feel that it's good or bad. However... You've worked on the global scale stage, maybe more than anyone. How do you think China's feeling this morning dealing with these tariffs?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I saw a statement just from the last 20 or 30 minutes. The president said he's may well even increase the tariffs from 34 to 50, or maybe he said an additional 50 on top of the 34. I actually think that makes really good sense. The Chinese Communist Party has been hard at stealing American jobs, American intellectual property. threatening our friends and allies around the world, conducting espionage against the United States. I think going after that particular target makes enormous amount of sense. I hope I must say my disagreement with this broad tariff policy is if it's about collecting revenue, I think that's a mistake. I'm a limited government, small government, free trade guy at my core. If there are other objectives, if the idea is to get everybody's tariffs down, let's go compete in the world on an equal basis. It makes perfect sense. I hope we're not doing this so that we can grow government.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I think that is one of the concerns or kind of conflicts that we're seeing break out even amongst the Republican Party is that sometimes it's hard to wrap your head around a tariff policy as a small government conservative minded philosophy. That's not historically really the position of conservatives of broad tariff policy. But when you are looking at nations like china that have been using economic warfare against the united states for decades and using it to their advantage to enrich and empower the party there i think that it makes a lot of sense to fight that and not just let it be and then tell the american people look you get cheap goods you should be happy is that kind of the way the american people should be looking at this
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, I completely agree with you. You're precisely right. It is not enough to say, hey, we're just going to let this continue to roll as it has been and let the Chinese Communist Party steal our stuff. But I think you can hold those two thoughts together at the same time. China is, in that sense, a very unique case. There are others that fit into the same bucket as well. But I think I think if you I think if you're justifying this saying, hey, we're going to we're going to go do this without reducing the total government burden. That's a drag on the American economy. It'll hurt people in my home state of Kansas. It'll hurt people all across the Midwest who are dependent on the capacity to to, you know, use global supply chains from our friends and allies in ways that really make sense for them. We should encourage that. We should want more of that trade as amongst in between. But it should absolutely be done on a way where whether it's whether it's tariffs or sanctions or other non-trade barriers to entry of American product regulatory stuff, we should level the playing field and we should be very clear it is unacceptable to treat America unfairly.
SPEAKER 05 :
I think a lot of people are in favor of that sort of free trade concept if we can get there. And we're seeing some countries react that way. I did want to pivot a little bit to talk about a new article you just posted on ACLJ.org. And it is about the border, of course, and the Trump administration's plan to secure the border and make America safer. But you made a very interesting point. You say it's not just about security. It's about being sovereign and serenity. Can you expound upon that? Because I think a lot of people see this and look, you even have a Bernie Sanders coming out and saying, hey, I don't agree with anything President Trump has done except for that border stuff and what he's doing because none of us really like what's happening there. So when you have even people like Bernie coming to your defense, clearly something's working.
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, goodness. You put me on dangerous ground agreeing with Bernie Sanders, so I'm going to be really careful here. Look, my point here was this. You can't have a nation with porous borders that allow just anyone who decides to come into your country, enter the country. It's certainly unsafe. But more than that, we should, the American people, American U.S. citizens should get to decide who gets the privilege of being an American. And that means having a secure border. And You know, all the focus this last week or so has been on tariffs, but this is part of a larger idea, right? That President Trump is trying to deliver against this central idea of America as a sovereign, independent nation who is treated fairly on the global stage and who treats its own citizens fairly. We need to get back there. The fact that they've now demonstrated that what Joe Biden did was a fraud, right? Joe Biden said, without some more laws, we can't fix this. We have demonstrated again, just as we did in the first four years, that a serious border policy can secure America and keep it sovereign.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, and to your point that the fraud that was said by, you know, we we can't do it. I've done everything I can do as president. Congress needs to pass more laws. There was one hundred and sixty thousand illegal crossings a month under President Biden at some time. And then it's dropped to just seven thousand in March of last year of this year, rather last month. That is such a. crazy dramatic contrast of with no new law being passed even though there is a republican house and senate that may be one of the biggest presidential lies that we've seen in our lifetime
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes, that and the fact that he was qualified to run another four years. Those may be twin frauds. Look, what it does demonstrate, you've got it right. What it demonstrates is this. With real leadership and making clear that the benefit of coming here is only going to accrue to people who come here legally, it just changes everything. It changes behavior. They call their friends back home, whether that's in China or Africa or in El Salvador or Guatemala, and say, this is not the right time to come. And that is really good for the United States. And it's good for those who want to come, just as my ancestors did. They want to come here. They want to come here legally. It's really good for them, too. This is this is a decent, humane policy. The president has demonstrated it is possible to do. I'm confident that while that number is really low, whether they can keep that number, that'll be hard to do. But they have demonstrated you can fundamentally shift the nation in a direction that provides for the sovereignty and safety and security of the American people.
SPEAKER 02 :
We got one final question here and it kind of ties in with you mentioned how the media was focusing on the tariffs and they've been focusing on any number of things except for successes like drawing down this border security issue. But there was an analysis done that the media gave 10 times more coverage to the arrest of an alleged Hamas supporter at Tufts University rather than the coverage they gave of the arrest of an actual MS-13 gang leader in Virginia that was just minutes outside of the nation's capital. Why? I mean, I know this is almost rhetorical at this point, but why is the media so focused on still parroting the left's narrative about what the president's doing instead of showcasing actual victories that keep people safe?
SPEAKER 03 :
yeah it's indecent uh but it is what we've come to expect from the uh the left media which is most of the historic media outlets it reminds me of the narrative that was spun back in the summer of 2020 when the writing was taking place somehow this was just protesting and then of course they flipped the script completely sometime later i i wish only that they would report factually It's important to know that this administration is taking down MS-13. That really matters to the safety and security of families in places like Kansas. We have to tell that story because it discourages bad behavior. It makes terrorists think twice. It makes gang members think twice. And importantly, it is delivering precisely on what President Trump said he would deliver on when he was running for president. It's a promise that he had made and it's a promise that he is in work keeping.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much for joining us, Secretary Pompeo. I did want to encourage our audience, obviously, to go check out that new article on ACLJ.org and all the great content, by the way. It's available not behind a paywall. It's available absolutely for free for you. And only because you support the work of the ACLJ are we able to provide this incredible content for absolutely no cost. And you get to hear from experts like Secretary Pompeo, as well as our great staff of lawyers, our team, Rick Grinnell, so many people who join our broadcasts. Before she took her position, we had Tulsa Gabbard on this show for many years, of course. So we got a lot of great people, and that's only because of you. And look, I'd love to know, who would you like to see join the Sekulow team? Who would you like to see join the broadcast team? Let me know in the comments. I'd love to hear from you. Obviously, if they're currently in the administration, that's something we can't probably do. But think about some other voices that you like. Maybe a Sean Spicer or someone who is friendly. We've had on this show multiple times. I'd love to hear your thoughts. 684-3110. Also, if you want to be on the air, we have three lines open because we lost a call during there. So 1-800-684-3110. Someone just commented they want Tim Walls to join the show. Well, you know, I think that would stir up the comments. Like Tim Walls as a commentator?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Oh, interesting. I don't know if you'd agree with his hot takes. No, but they'll give us a jumping off point.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah. All right. Phone lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. Put in the comments who you think. This is still our life in Liberty Drive. I'm not just going to keep beating you over the head with it and just keep talking about it, but I am going to talk about it for the next 58 seconds. Because when you've heard this broadcast, understand there's two kind of big arms of the ACLJ. There is a media side, and that's what we do here. That's what I'm looking at right now, this incredible media team. And then right upstairs, there's the legal team. And some of them are deployed around the world. And we have offices in Strasbourg, France, which is part of the European Union. That's the European Center for Law and Justice. We have the ACLJ Jerusalem, for those of you who support the work that we do in Israel, making sure American values are spread everywhere. And there's places we can't even talk about that the ACLJ does work in. You can take a look at all that. Of course, we're here in America helping you if you need it. So I encourage you to go to ACLJ.org, check out all the great content. Scan that QR code, though, and have your donation doubled. We'll be right back. One line's open, 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Sekulow. Now it's time to hear from the most important voice in the room, and that's you, of course. Let's take these. Actually, we're not going to take it in order because Dan's calling, and Dan is an ACLJ champion. And if you're an ACLJ champion, you get bumped to the front of the line. Dan, in Maryland, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, I've been listening to... Mr. Pompeo, a big supporter. What I believe we as a nation, for the most part, are stuck in is we're in the weeds. We're looking at all this stuff happening at a very low level. But imagine yourself, you decide you want to take over a country. I mean, the overall divide and conquer. I'm also a big follower for General Michael Flynn. And And I actually bought many of his books and actually passed them around to different members. But if you wanted to take over a nation, you cause division. You do basically what the United States has been doing in foreign governments for the past hundred years. Get operatives in there, cause division, mess with the elections. Yeah, of course.
SPEAKER 05 :
Dan, I'm only cutting off because we have a lot of calls and I want to get to as many, but I think a lot of people feel that way, which is this is how things have changed so rapidly in the last decade.
SPEAKER 02 :
That's right. And even if you look at the issues surrounding the Department of Government Efficiency and things of that nature, that the big government agenda, the bureaucratic deep state agenda, is to keep their work going in perpetuity and let the American public fight about petty political issues nonstop. And what is different now is that that's why you're also seeing people like the members of the Doge team seem like they come across the ideological spectrum. But what they all believe in is that the government shouldn't be continuing to become this behemoth that doesn't need to be reined in, be used efficiently and not waste money. And that's what Dan talks about is that when you start to try to do change, it actually can bring people together. But the problem is those that are so entrenched, whether it be the way that our tariff scheme and our foreign trade works or whether it be internal government issues, when you start to rattle that. They've been using the long strategy, letting the frog boil, slowly turn up the heat, and then you don't even realize what's happened. When you try to quickly reverse that or do something, it causes these entrenched bureaucrats or quasi-government officials to freak out and to try to disrupt that and cause panic.
SPEAKER 05 :
All right, we're going to continue on. Let's go to Candy in Georgia, watching on YouTube. You're on the air.
SPEAKER 07 :
Okay, I think President Trump is doing a great job, and I'm pro-tariff. He said things like the stock market, metals, et cetera, would go down, but it would be temporary. But it will go back up. It's not an overnight thing, but we will see a positive outcome overall. We just have to be patient.
SPEAKER 05 :
Candy, I think a lot of people feel that way. You just got to be patient, see how this all plays out. Like I told you and I told our audience, we're going to be honest with you and honest brokers here. If it doesn't work out, we'll let you know. We'll tell you how we feel. We are not just going to play by one party's rule here. So look, I think a lot of people feel that way. It's not going to be an overnight fix. This isn't something that gets changed in two or three days. But what is, is the media cycle. The media cycle gets turned over every couple of days with some brand new story. Okay? You remember the signal text messages? No? Maybe you've forgotten about that. Why? Because it was the end of the world, the end of democracy, like a week and a half ago, and nobody's talking about it anymore. People have moved on because the news cycle is very short. So right now it's tariffs. And right now that's what people are going to share. And that's what your liberal friends are going to post. And that's what's going to happen. It's going to be the protests that happened over the weekend. Those are the things that are going to spur conversation. And then the ratings are going to dip. shares are going to go lower and they're going to come up with something else and if the economy bounces back guess what is not going to be reported very much on the mainstream media the success of this campaign now again we will see it's pending success but we know 50 countries are at the table we know some of them are some major players and we know negotiations are pretty hot right now Let's go ahead and continue on and take a couple more calls. We've got four minutes here. We've got enough for two calls left. Elizabeth in Texas, go ahead.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I'm in ground zero of the border crossings of McAllen, Texas. So the things that I've seen and experienced with my own eyes would just shock you. To give you a perfect example, as a teacher, we had a lockdown lockout about two years ago when they found a stash house of over 80 human beings in a house. That were being trafficked. The things that are happening at that border, people just don't even talk about, yet they champion themselves as these human rights activists. I've got friends who were going and stopping these traffickers at these Catholic charities that were overrun. They were showing up in vans with this little vest on that says staff. they walked in and they would get people like children and women and put them in this van and these citizens were stopping them by themselves asking them where's your credentials where are you taking them and they would get these women and children out of the van and save their lives because the trafficking is just outrageous i wish i was surprised elizabeth i wish i was surprised by your comments because this is the truth of what's happening
SPEAKER 05 :
Okay, whether that's trafficking, whether it's drug trafficking, human trafficking, a lot of it is happening. And of course you're going to be painted. And look, I feel, I have a lot of compassion for people who are wanting to seek a better life, especially in our country, in the United States of America. But you can't let that go past the fact that there is a horrible crime happening because of the border situation. but we're supposed to pretend to ignore that because you can't both be compassionate for people who are looking for a better life and also want to end illegal immigration. And not because it's people who are trying to get here because there's stories like this that happened over and over again. If you go to any major sporting event, if you go to any of these places that are happening, there is trafficking happening around the corner. There's trafficking happening around the corner from you probably right now. If you live in any sort of market, any sort of major market, mid-level market, and I'm sure in rural areas as well. It's happening. We're supposed to turn a blind eye to it, pretend it's not happening. But the real compassionate are the people who care and know that you're probably one of those people. And you're going to be painted as some sort of a person who doesn't want immigrants to come into our country. And that's absolutely absurd. We're a nation built on it. But without it, without any sort of protection, Trouble runs wild and it runs wild like Elizabeth said, where there are places that are just horrifying and you can hear those stories over and over again. Let's go to Mildred who's calling in Texas. Mildred, you'll probably be our last call for the day. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yes, I'm very happy to see these tariffs, to see a president who will bring the other countries to the table and deal with them as they need to be dealt with as our America has been great in the past and it can be great again. I own a small business. And before Obama took office, before the recession, we could buy parts that lasted. We put a front end under a truck because we rent portable toilets and clean them out, and so we're hauling water weights, so it tears the front ends out from under them. So we could buy these parts that go in the front ends, and they would last, in which they don't last forever because of what it is, but they would last more than two months. Now whenever we buy parts, because it's so hard to find American-made parts, because the other companies can get them shipped in out of China and wherever. They just practically mush. You can take a ball-peen hammer and hit one of them, a ball joint, and it will go sideways.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mildred, I wanted to let you talk because I think that you're the exact person who should be speaking to this because you are dealing with it on a day-to-day basis with your business. Whether it's a small business, a big business... It is a business that is being hurt by the way we have devalued manufacturing in the country. So what we're hoping is that this turns around some of that. Now, again, that's long-term, but you're willing to take that hit. That's pretty interesting to understand that long-term, this could be better for your business. We're going to keep an eye on it. Speaking of which, though, I really want you to take the next 20 seconds here. Think about supporting our work, whether that is for incredible people, Like that lawyer who just wanted to have a Bible on his desk. Government lawyer, they're telling him, no, the church is being shut down at the beach. We're able to support and get that quickly fixed. I want you to scan the QR code right now. It's not that I don't want you to see my pretty face. Of course I do. You got to scan that code.
In this episode, Bill Gundersen offers a detailed analysis of the current market landscape, highlighting key moments when investment opportunities arise amidst economic uncertainties. Joined by chartered financial analyst Barry Kite, Bill revisits his bold buy signals from past market downturns, emphasizing the resilience of sound economic strategies despite prevailing challenges. This episode dives into complex economic policies, particularly around tariffs, and provides a unique perspective on how these impact both domestic and global markets.
SPEAKER 03 :
He's been seen on CNBC, the Fox News Channel, and the Fox Business Channel. His articles can be found on MarketWatch, Seeking Alpha, TheStreet.com, and many other places. He's the author of the weekly Best Stocks Now newsletter and the inventor of the Best Stocks Now app. He's president of Gundersen Capital Management. Here is professional money manager, Bill Gundersen.
SPEAKER 01 :
And welcome to the Monday morning. It is the April 7th, 2025 edition of the Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson. And I'm here with Barry Kite, our chartered financial analyst. That's going to come in handy when we look back. in history at times like this in the market and what the market has done after that. And I'm going to begin a little bit differently today. As my introduction says, and his articles can be found on Seeking Alpha. Well, that's true. And most thought I was crazy when I put out a strong buy article back in March of 2020. Oh, that's when the morgue trucks were pulling up to New York City and the bodies were being stacked. I hate to sound morbid, but the market figured that there would never be good news in the market again. And I put out a buy signal in the darkest days of COVID in March of 2020. Few agreed with me in January of 2023 when I put out a strong buy article on the NASDAQ. The NASDAQ was down 30% the prior year, and the Fed was on the march with their interest rate hikes. And I'm sure that many question my judgment now with my belief that the market is going to rebound. We have the upper hand in the tariff negotiations. I think educating yourself on what they're doing and what the plan is is better than anything you could possibly do. I'm going to elaborate a little bit more on that soon. And I think that it's just a matter of time before the good news starts flowing in. And I would not want to own inverse funds at this current time. So welcome to today's Best Stocks Now show with professional money manager Bill Gunderson, president of Gunderson Capital Management. I'm here with Barry Kite, our chartered financial analyst. I have to admit, I'm not an expert on tariffs, Barry. I mean, tariffs have really not played a big part. That's all I knew from Econ 101. Tariffs bad. Okay, that's all I've ever known. And even I have to question this current strategy that is being deployed by the Trump administration and whether it's going to work or not. And somehow, you know, I was as much confused on Thursday and Friday as anybody else. And somehow I found the interview that was done on Thursday with Scott Besant, our new Treasury Secretary, and Charleston. He has a home in Charleston. Yes, and Tucker Carlson. And I watched a lot of people, believe me. And when I got done watching that for one hour, i watched it twice i watched it again early saturday morning in the wee hours of the morn and i became convinced in my gut whether my gut is right or wrong that they're doing the right thing you know you have to ask yourself were we on a sustainable course in our economy You know what the market would love to have, Barry? The market would love to have the printing machines rolling 24-7, right, and stimulus for the market until it all comes crashing down, all right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Cheap money.
SPEAKER 01 :
Cheap money, yes, okay, and destroying our dollar, okay? And instead, we were headed, according to Besson, and I agree with this, we were on an unsustainable course. You can't spend $2 trillion more than you take in year after year and expect things to end up well.
SPEAKER 02 :
And it's one of the reasons why he wanted to become the Treasury Secretary, too. I like how he said, you know, I had a pretty comfortable gig beforehand. It's not like he needed this job. He's a billionaire. Selling his house here, selling the pink house for what, would you say, was listed for?
SPEAKER 01 :
And he said, I could come in here and just keep printing money and keep the market happy. All right. Okay, so now let's get to the market. We were not on a sustainable course. Something had to give. Job number one was to cut government spending. You can't spend $2 trillion more than you've taken. That's just logic. I mean, you don't have to be a genius to figure that out. That's just common sense, okay? The auto worker in Detroit can tell you that. The farmer in Iowa can tell you that. The family in Colorado can tell you that. It's not sustainable. So that was job number one. In comes Doge, uncovers all kinds of... of wasteful spending, basically pushing one party's agenda around the world with our tax dollars. I don't know how anybody can argue with the fact that you had to get government spending under control. That was job number one. And that's the job they attacked, number one, was doing that. And they're not done yet. And, oh, the crying and the belly aching. And, oh, we've got to march. We've got to stop Musk now. It wasn't just Elon Musk. He was just the guy that was kind of the one to figure it out. Where are we going to cut? What are we going to do? Who's got to go? Those are tough decisions. to be made but obviously it's underway it's like a not popular decision not popular and the easy thing to do is to print money at all times absolutely grow budgets and that's the course the previous administration kept us on in fact they threw uh they threw steroids on it all right number two the rest of the country or the rest of the world charges tariffs We are the only country in the world that doesn't charge tariffs, okay? So we were being taken advantage of. If tariffs are so bad, then why did the others use them? Every country in the world, I listed in my newsletter, every country in the world that's a trading partner, the tariffs that they charge against us, number two. Okay, number three, I liked when Besant said, you know, the coast of America have been doing fine, right? which is basically the financial centers. We've become more of a financial economy with Wall Street, with M&A, with the Silicon Valley, with venture capital, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But he says while the edges of America have been doing well, the center of America, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, they've been left behind. And he thinks that it's about time. And, you know, obviously, Trump feels that way. And some say, Bill, you're tainted by politics. No, I'm tainted by what I think is right and what I think is wrong and what I feel in my gut. I don't care who came up with the plan that they came up with. I don't care who was a Democrat, a libertarian. Or whatever, the Green Party. You follow the money, right? Yes. Who has the upper hand in this tariff war? Okay, the market, it's the same as COVID. When COVID hit and the morgue trucks and the media throws gasoline on the fires, Oh, they love to see things going down. That sells newspapers. That gets viewers. Headlines sell. Anybody knows that. And they've got headlines again. Like these tariffs are going to remain the same. They're never going to change. There's never going to be a negotiation. We've already had the first country cave. Vietnam caved on Friday and said, we're not going to charge any tariffs. That's how badly Vietnam needs us and the world buying their products. And then over the weekend, two more. I mean, if you look at the label on your shirts that you wear to church or the shoes that you wear, everything made in Malaysia. Made in Indonesia. Made in Pakistan. I'm wearing socks from Pakistan today, darn it. And we have the upper hand, okay, over the weekend. Malaysia and Indonesia. Hey, we're going to back down on our tariffs that we're charging. And according to Trump's, let's see, Kevin Hassett, he says that 50 countries have already called and said we want to sit down and negotiate. Okay, so let the negotiations begin. The market reacts like they always do. The CNBCs of the world, the Wall Street journals, the Dow just turned positive, by the way. Did you read my article over the weekend? Bill's crazy again. Bill's crazy again. The Dow just turned positive. Sometimes it's just a little bit of logic. And what did I say in my newsletter? I would not want to be short this market right now. Wait until the short covering starts to unravel, Barry. Do you know what the level of short interest is in the market right now? And what are they doing right now with the market just going positive? I felt strongly this morning, I'm just going to tell you this, as I looked at my initial round of charts, I should have been buying this morning, I said, the market just bottomed. As I looked at the chart of Apple, I started an alphabetical order. I got through about 25. I saw buying coming into every one. I saw this plunge in the morning, plunge in the morning, and here comes the buying. I said, the market has just bottomed. How many bottoms do I have to call before you start to believe in Bill Gunderson? And quit listening. to the CNBC pundits and the Wall Street Journal haters. We'll be right back. And welcome back here to the second quarter of today's Best Docs Now show. Well, you know, I spent 18 hours on my newsletter this weekend, Barry. 18 hours, counting Friday, most of the day Saturday, and several hours Sunday morning in the wee hours of the morning. trying to get my point across. And I watched the Besson interview one more time, just to make sure I was on the right track. And you can come at me, if you're out there, with any argument you want to come at me with on why the tariffs won't work, why the economy is going to collapse, and why the global economy is doomed. If you want to hear that, you can go read the Wall Street Journal You can listen to Jamie Dimon. You can listen to the guys on CNBC who are almost never right. They were wrong during COVID. They were wrong during the 08-09 crisis telling you that, oh, this is just going to pass. There's nothing to worry about here as they told you to buy Bear Stearns and all of the other, the debt, the Lehman Brothers, etc., Well, you know what? You have to use some common sense sometimes. And I would say if you want to know what this whole plan is all about, spend one hour. My son-in-law, he drives about 45 minutes to work. He's a dentist. And he listens to YouTube interviews at twice the speed, Barry. I don't know if he drives at twice the speed, but he speeds up.
SPEAKER 02 :
They sound a little different.
SPEAKER 01 :
Okay. I told him yesterday, I said, listen to the Besant interview with Tucker Carlson. Number one, I think Tucker Carlson is pretty good. I think he's one of the best journalists out there. He asks the right questions. He's not out to trap you, to try to catch you like the NBC or Face the Nation or Meet the Depressed, whatever else. I feel like he's just trying to get to the bottom and find out where the truth lies. After watching Besson, I said, this man is brilliant. I told someone else to watch it, and they wrote back to me on a text just saying, wow, with like three exclamation points.
SPEAKER 02 :
He's always the person. I mean, when he wasn't in this role, he was always the person that I wanted to hear talk, right? Yeah. Usually... And you're the same way. You've got one of the financial channels on, if not all of them on mute in the background.
SPEAKER 01 :
That's what I do.
SPEAKER 02 :
When his face would pop up, right, it'd be unmute, right? It's like, oh, let me hear what he says.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I'll tell you, the hardest headline for CNBC to send out today was the Dow goes positive. They don't want you to see that one. They want you to see Dow down 1,500 points as Trump planned for. Look, okay, like I say, the plan, I don't care who hatched the plan. If it's a Libertarian, a Democrat, a Green Party, I don't really care. But as I listened to the plan, I said, you know what, that's logical. That's logical. I mean, Apple would be the perfect example to use, I think. Apple decided to offshore the building of their iPhones. A smart man at Harvard once said, You don't want to offshore a disruptive product because you're going to give up your trade secrets. They're going to figure out how you make what you make. And obviously the iPhone is one of the most disruptive products in history. And there was a guy, the late Clay Christensen from Harvard. My nephew was his right-hand man. And I talk with my nephew all the time. He was a professor at the Harvard Business School for many years. Now he's at the University of Virginia. And I said, Rory, he's a Stanford Ph.D., Okay. And I said, Roy, what would Christensen have said about the offshoring of products? He said, oh, that was number one. Never offshore your product because they'll steal your ideas. What did China do with the iPhone? Have you ever heard of Huawei? Yeah, I was about to say.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
You know, and Huawei now has a bigger market share on iPhones. And Apple stock is not doing well. They made a decision to offer. You mean to tell me we can't build iPhones in Kansas or in Texas or in Indiana? Okay, now here's the second. Here's another argument that comes up. Do we have the will in America? to work hard, to work in a factory, and here was Bess, do we have the labor force? Besson's answer was, do you realize what kind of factories we have today with the robotics? Yeah, smart factories. With the AI? Yeah. I mean, I want to visit an Amazon factory. When I can order something on Saturday morning and get it Monday morning at my door, think of the technology, think of the robotics, think of the artificial intelligence. These are smart factories now. This isn't a labor sweatshop like they have in Malaysia and Indonesia and Vietnam and Cambodia and Pakistan where they basically have slave labor companies But we're okay with that somehow. We're okay with them treating their workers that way. But we treat our workers much better, okay? And you say, well, aren't things going to get more expensive? Well, the tariffs are going to come off. You say, well, Apple can't start making iPhones tomorrow here in America. No, they can't. It's going to take time to bring the production back to America. But it's all they've got to do is announce plans. to bring it home pharmaceuticals whatever case may be and they're immediately going to get a tariff break i think you're going to see good news piled on top of good news i've already i've i've highlighted four stories that i sent out on x this morning one was the vietnam story Okay, what's being built in Vietnam right now? Hoka shoes. What happened on Friday, Gary? Yeah, anything that you wear on your feet. What happened with Deckers on Friday? Deckers was down 12%, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. One of the great buying opportunities of all time. But even I was too afraid to do that one. Later that morning, Vietnam says, bang, no tariffs. That's what I'm reading now. And Hoka ended up positive for the day. I said, that's the first shot fired over the bow. During the next several weeks, months, whatever, one by one, one by one, these companies, there's going to be good news. I think it's more, and I think Besson, he made a very good point. He said, Tucker, I would watch more what the companies do than what the countries do. Because when these companies announce, these countries are going to panic with all of these factories leaving China and coming to America. And he also talked about how unbalanced the Chinese economy is. They totally depend on manufacturing companies. If these freighters aren't unloaded here in the Charleston Harbor and end up in consumers' hands, they're toast. They are totally reliant upon a manufacturing economy. They consume very little. They don't have a high standard of living there. They're consumers. And they manufacture a lot. We consume a lot and manufacture a little. And Besson said, wouldn't it be a great world if the two of us can work together and we manufacture more? and they consume more, and we have a happy balance between us, that would be great. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is Bill Gunderson. Thank you for tuning in to today's Best Stocks Now, Best Inverse Funds Now show.
SPEAKER 01 :
I put several hours of research in during the wee hours of the morning each day to bring you the very best cutting-edge stories that I can. To get two free weeks of my newsletter, go to GundersenCapital.com. To talk to us about our fee-based only money management services, call us at 855-611-BEST. Now, back to the second half of the show. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 05 :
And welcome back here to the second half of today's Best Stocks Now show.
SPEAKER 01 :
We'll call it the tug-of-war version of the Best Stocks Now show today. The tug-of-war is going on between those that would love to see the markets sink, the country sink, the current administration sink, and those that are fighting, you know, to try to get us back on the right course. That's the tug of war that's taking place in the world, in the nation, in countries and states today. Usually when I see this back and forth like we're seeing today in these wild swings, Barry, that's how a bottom is put in. That's just my opinion. I think the bottom is forming. I think this is a pretty good week to be looking for bargains. But at the same time, I think you have to be very, very picky. and demand the best at the cheapest price and at the right time. So, you know, the way I do it is one stock at a time. I don't make a big blanket. I'm going to go through there and look at them one stock at a time. Okay, now let's measure the damage here. Ah, the NASDAQ this morning hit down 20% for the year, all right? We wiped $4 trillion from the S&P 500's market value. Well, I think $1 trillion alone was NVIDIA, wasn't it? And a few others out there. Yeah, a third of NVIDIA, basically. Yep. The Thursday and Friday, and I said this, I felt in my heart and in my stomach, that that was the worst two-day period of time during my entire career in the market. That's saying something. Now, your dad was around in 87 when 23% was taken out in one day. But I was right because the statistics say that that was the largest two-day decline in the last 40 years.
SPEAKER 02 :
And the market was a lot – obviously the market value wasn't near as much back then in 87.
SPEAKER 01 :
No. So I was back in my early days in the business world and just out of college when the last two-day route like that. And I said to myself, I think this is the worst two days I've seen. And if you look at the charts – I sent out the charts over the weekend. You can't even really read a chart when it's panic-driven like it was on Friday where you see those big plunges. That's an anomaly. It's like an income statement where there's a one-time thing that won't be recurring. I just don't see us heading into this giant which others are predicting. I don't see that happening. I see instead, I see the scales being tipped towards the U.S. of A in all of this, okay? So anyways, the futures were down 1,500 points last night. It opened up way down. It went positive. Now I think we're down six. I'm not even going to watch the market. That's another piece of advice I would give you. Don't even watch the index. You could sit there and watch that all day. vacillate back and forth, and just get sicker and sicker and sicker. That's that percentage I was talking about. Give them that.
SPEAKER 02 :
You were telling me that. Yeah, where we're at in terms of market drawdown and plus where the VIX being over, I believe, over 40.
SPEAKER 01 :
We hit 50 on Friday.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. So when that happens, historically, for the next 12 months from that period, I think it's 96% or 98% of the time the market's positive. Yes. Of course, that's someone with obviously a 12-month outlook. Of course, we all look at our portfolios and markets some more than others. Daily. On average, I think on average every four hours, which is across a lot of people.
SPEAKER 01 :
I mean, Buffett looks at his every three months, right? So anyways, the other factor here, and I addressed this in the newsletter on Friday, and you said it on Thursday, I wonder what the earnings estimates are going to look like on Friday, Bill. So, okay, I opened up the earnings estimates, the consensus out there. No change from last week. But that's a one-off, too. You could say, well, how can you even come up? Here's where the earnings estimates are. How can you even predict the damage when Vietnam turns around within a 24-hour period of time on Hoka, right, or on Decker's Outdoor? It's impossible. Right now, it's really impossible in my business right now to put out my projections for 2025 because there's a lot in flux right now. But I'm not as much on the front lines as an apple is, as a, you know, oil all of a sudden is under $60 a barrel, which is a silver lining, right? I mean, that's not inflationary for sure.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, except for a lot of the frackers.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, and the oil companies are crying right now. But is there really going to be this devastating demand drop in oil? I don't see that. I see more panic-driven selling right now that eventually will work its way out. Okay, Asia, panic selling this morning. They're on the wrong side of this. We hold the cards, okay? China is in a very, very weak position. You heard Besant. What did Besant say about the position that China's in? He said, they can't survive without us. He claims that they're already in a deep recession, and he said, slash depression. Okay? Chairman Xi, you know, is in trouble with his people. He cannot not negotiate here. He's got an economy to keep going. And it's totally dependent. They're not balanced. We're not balanced. Both sides need to balance. And he has to come to the negotiating table. He has no choice. I think a TikTok deal would probably buy him some time. I think that would give him a delay on the tariffs. I think there would be an immediate reward if there was a TikTok deal. Apparently there was one. And he backed off just out of spite on Thursday and Friday when he got hit with those tariffs. Okay, the other thing that Besson brought up, what about their relationship between Trump and Xi? Aren't they these massive adversaries hating each other? And Besson said that's not at all the case. They have a pretty good relationship, and they respect each other, and they talk all the time. In other words, there is a constant line of communication between Trump and and between Xi. And that's one of the things that bothered me about the last administration. There was no line of communication between Putin and Biden, or maybe there couldn't have been a line of communication. I don't know. And Xi and Biden, I don't know that he had any line of communication with China at all. And certainly not the respect portion. No. And I think Europe doesn't have the cards here. Their economy is not exactly booming. uh... they just came out of a rough bout of uh... inflation and uh... you know all those german cars i mean germany is basically the engine that drives the EU economy and uh... they've got expensive they made a bad decision they made a horrible decision they have expensive energy and uh... you know that was another thing Besson said look If we can keep taxes reasonable, if we can make regulations reasonable and free up companies, if we can bring back manufacturing to the United States, he says the economy and the stock market are going to do just fine. And bring down government spending. Because you know that government spending, where does it come from? It takes it away from the private sector. It's competing with the private sector. No, government spending should be lowered and the private sector should be unleashed. And that's what they are going to do. Germany has a record trade surplus this morning. Surplus. Have you ever heard that before? That's all we ever hear is a trade deficit. Trade deficit grows. $200 billion this month. Germany has a surplus of $17.7 billion in February, but now all of a sudden they're threatened because they've got these tariffs on them and they're going to have to come to the bargaining table. Now, in the best of all worlds, I mean, I like what Musk is calling for, the creation of a tariff-free trade zone between the United States and Europe. Both sides eliminate their duties in favor of a greater economic cooperation. I mean, at the end of the day, that's the absolute best solution. Right now, we're at the absolute worst solution, and there's going to be a happy medium in there somewhere. The two sides have to come together. But I agree, in a perfect world, you would have kind of all things in common and share alike. We're good at this. We're good at this. And the two come together, and they complement each other. But right now, you know, we're at the worst case scenario with a lot of negotiations to come along the way. And I believe a lot of good news that is going to crush these short sellers and naysayers. We'll be right back with the final segment. And welcome back here to the final segment of today's Best Stocks National. I've got three major points left that I want to make here. Number one, if you disagree with me, go buy SQQQ, right, Barry? I mean, that's three times short the NASDAQ. triple your pleasure there and uh you know listen to cnbc listen to the wall street journal listen to bill ackman listen to others by the way he has a huge position in nike why would you ever own nike i i've never i mean i like the guy but his stock picks have been terrible over the years okay so go ahead short the market That's what a market's all about. Get on the other side of the tug-of-war, right?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and the interesting thing is, I mean, you know, the beautiful thing, as you know, as you always say, stocks follow earnings. We're going to get what Delta, I think, reports on Wednesday, and then we start getting some banks on Friday.
SPEAKER 01 :
I'm sure there's going to be a lot of warnings and whatnot. But at the end of the day, there was no change to earnings estimates this week. But I can see why. I mean, there's going to be. I changed my earnings estimates. Now, number two. This is a hard one to figure out. And if you watch the Besson, it sounds like you watch the Besson interview, Barry. Did you hear his comments on who bears the brunt of the tariff? Oh, yeah. MIT study. Did you hear the MIT study?
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it was only, what, 2% passed through?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, 0.7. Okay, of a 20% tariff imposed on a good coming in from South Korea, the consumer in the MIT study, because they went back and looked at Trump's original round tariffs, which are still in place in China. With China, yeah.
SPEAKER 1 :
20%.
SPEAKER 01 :
And they found that the consumer paid about 2%. It was 0.7%, so not even quite 2% of that 20% tariff. The rest of the tariff was made up in currency. Okay, that's kind of hard to explain in the time I have here. But the real one that bears the brunt of it is the producer. of it, right? Because they kind of have to bear the brunt of the cost of that. They've got to get their cost down. Their profit margin has to shrink in order for them to have a competitive product out there on the market. So no, it's not true that we here are going to be paying 20% more for everything that we buy that comes from overseas, which we obviously buy a lot of things that are made in China, made in Malaysia, made in Pakistan, wherever the case may be. But if the MIT guys are right, the study that they did showed that the consumers paying a very small percentage of that, the biggest beneficiary would be America. Because number one, the factories would be opened in America. Jobs are good for the economy. If people are employed and have a good job, they're spending at restaurants. They're going to Kohl's. They're going to the movie theater. They're going on vacations, etc., etc., etc.
SPEAKER 02 :
And not industry, and the whole, you know, other problem, I think, is especially from a media standpoint, right, is, you know, you get, you know, tariffs or what have you. They get, you know, they're painted with a broad brush, right? Yeah. And instead, you know, you think about, you know, we were talking about, you know, shoes being, you know, Vietnam. I don't believe that we're ever going to be making hokas right here. The differences on that particular product, right, doesn't matter if it's at the whole country or not. At that particular product... they're going to end up not charging a tariff, right? It doesn't mean we have to tariff them. It didn't have to move here. It just means maybe they quit charging you a tariff on that particular product, right, or textiles.
SPEAKER 01 :
I also like Besson's point that in the past, tariffs have been used for two purposes. Number one, to protect an industry like our car industry or whatever. We did. I mean, we didn't allow in. uh you know japanese cars until yeah i was in high school when that happened okay the other purpose for a tariff and this would be my last point if you could collect tariffs guess what that balances your budget those are revenues coming into the country And you can actually keep taxes low because a big percentage of what is coming in is coming in from foreign countries into your coffers and not from the American taxpayers. So there's another big benefit that most people do not realize. is that, you know, I mean, they've taken in hundreds of millions of dollars from China, right? And then he adds a third. And now Trump has added a third dimension. Negotiations. Instead of pointing guns and missiles and, you know, China buzzes Taiwan all the time with bombers and whatnot and Navy ships and whatnot. And Trump has decided to do it a different way. I'm going to just impose tariffs on them. They depend on us. We have a big clout in the world. And I think for 40 years, I mean, when I saw an interview with Trump 40 years ago, where he said, why is it that these companies charge us these huge tariffs on stuff that we send to them, and we don't charge them any tariff, okay? And he says, we're in the catbird seat. And Besson also made the point that in this tug of war, it's the buyer of the goods that holds the upper hand as opposed to the producer and the manufacturer of the goods. We are in the catbird seat. We hold the cards. Remember when he said to Zelinsky, you don't have any cards. Well, in the tariff war, whatever you want to call it, tug of war, I'm going to call it a tug of war, because it's going to go back, it's going to go back and forth. One side is going to pull and the other side is going to pull, and eventually there's going to be a happy medium that is reached somewhere in the middle. But in the tariff tug of war, we have many more people on our side pulling. than they have on their side so i would just say this you know there's been some great buying opportunities in the market in my lifetime i saw the worst two days of my career to two days on on thursday and friday i can't say that today's the day But I'm going to go through individual stocks. Forget the indexes. We're going to go through individual stocks. Someone asked, what kind of stock would you be looking at? I want the best stocks now at the cheapest price. And I think that the best stocks now are the same stocks that we had before all of this happened. Maybe there will be some new. But I don't want to own Apple. I don't want to own Nike. I don't want to own companies like Starbucks. Maybe there will be a break for coffee. I don't know. But let's buy clean companies that are pretty much unaffected by the tariff and were best stocks before and will be best stocks again. So anyways, if there was ever a good time to start a relative value fund, that's underway. I made five purchases last week. I plan on making 40 in that. There's never been a better time to get a four-week trial. at GundersenCapital.com. There's never been a better time to set up an appointment with one of us and talk to us about the serious investing that we do here at Gundersen Capital Management. 855-611-BEST. 855-611-BEST. Have a great day, everybody.
SPEAKER 04 :
This show is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. Bill Gunderson or clients of Gunderson Capital Management may have long or short positions in stocks mentioned during the show. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Gunderson Capital Management is a fee-based registered investment advisory firm. All accounts are held at Charles Schwab. Schwab is a member of SIPC and FINRA.
HR1 Dems Vs. Conservatives: Radical Trans Bill. Protests over Trump & Musk’s Gov. Overhaul 4-7-25 by John Rush
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, roughly right now.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
So it doesn't take a whole lot to add up to some decent numbers.
SPEAKER 12 :
Very true.
SPEAKER 13 :
So silver, you know, it takes a little bit of it to, you know, add up. But, you know, you throw a silverware set in there and you're talking real money.
SPEAKER 12 :
And some of this, you know, you guys may look at and think, well, you know, that's a jewelry piece that was, you know, passed down to me from so-and-so. And by the way, I honor that. I get that. And I got some of those same things. But then at some point, you have to ask yourself, okay... Am I going to actually pass this on to somebody? Or when I do, are they just going to take it and do the very same thing I could do and I could actually enjoy the benefits of that item? In other words, David, if you're not going to wear it and use it, and it may be something to where it's just not your thing, not your style, whatever, well, guess what? Chances of it being the next generation's thing in style is probably even less than you. So why not turn that into cash?
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing. Jewelry represents a moment in time, an occasion, a relationship, an anniversary, a birthday. And, you know, the jewelry business is very cyclical. So, yeah, when they sell it, they can most certainly end up with a few bucks in their pocket. But the next generation doesn't want it. They just don't want it. And then you go another generation, and it's... Maybe they do. They just, yeah.
SPEAKER 12 :
It really, no, it's very cyclical, and there's a few, as you all know, there are some things that are timeless, and they were there for a while. People were even saying, well, but diamonds are kind of losing their... Flare, yeah, well, not really. I mean, diamonds are one of those things that, you know, no offense, David, a several carat diamond ring doesn't really ever lose its flare no matter what generation it is. Kind of like high-end watches, they're kind of a similar situation as well. There's enough people out there that are looking for those types of pieces that they don't really use their flare. But you get into some of the other... Types of stones and emeralds and rubies and so on. Yeah, they can definitely be cyclical. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, going back to the watches, people will come in with an old vintage Rolex, and they don't realize that it's worth five times more than what they paid for it.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
And it's 40 years old. Yeah. Some of that stuff can really add up.
SPEAKER 12 :
And that's another one of those where, for those of you listening, if you're going to take that piece and wear it because there's some sentimental value to it, okay, great. But if it's just sentimental value and it's sitting in a drawer someplace or it's sitting in your safe or a safe deposit box or whatever the case, well, then you've got to ask yourself, okay, wait a minute. Who's really getting some joy, quote-unquote, out of this particular piece? And if I can turn that into something else that, by the way, you could make a memory of. For example, you take that watch, and you know what? Maybe that could be your 40th anniversary getaway where you go take a nice cruise and go do something along those lines. Well, no offense. You're going to have a lot more memories out of that 40th anniversary cruise. And frankly, whoever left you that,
SPEAKER 13 :
problem no offense they don't care because they're gone but even if they did they would prefer you go do that than hang on to that piece absolutely yeah and again i've said this a number of different times it's you know just to get your things looked at to know what you have and i you can't really make a decision unless you know what it is you got 500 bucks sitting in the drawer okay no big deal but what is it five grand or five grand and all of a sudden or in some cases 50 yeah and In my case, I'm educating three kids, college educations, man. That kind of money can really come in handy.
SPEAKER 12 :
Some of that, Dave, depending on how much pieces you've got and what you've built up over time. What I mean by that, folks, is some of you might have several one-ounce coins. Okay, well, we already know what an ounce of gold is, and that doesn't count the coin value. We're just talking pure, straight. If it's a pure gold one-ounce coin, well, and you've got four of those, you've got 12 grand. Right off the top right there. That doesn't count any value to the coin itself. And then you add a few other jewelry pieces to it. And, yeah, before you know it, David, you might have 20, 25 grand kicking around that you don't even realize you've got. Well, I had a lady last week.
SPEAKER 13 :
No, it was two weeks ago. Came in. She knew that she had some value. She had a fair amount of gold coins. She just didn't realize how much value she had. So she comes in and, you know, took us a few hours to go through it, figure out what was what, and ended up writing her a check for a quarter million dollars. Wow. And it was a game changer.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's huge. That's a huge change. I mean, there was very few people out there that that would not be a major game changer. Even folks that have a lot of money, that's still a game changer in a lot of ways and allows you to do things you wouldn't do otherwise. Some of it was sentimental.
SPEAKER 13 :
You know, you could tell she was having a little bit of a harder time.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, that changes the sentiment. Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
I'm just telling you, that kind of money changes the sentiment real quick.
SPEAKER 12 :
It does. And I'm not saying that to be rude to people that have sentimental value for things, but man alive, when you get to that number, yeah, some of that sentimental, it's like an old car that somebody keeps around. You know, that was so-and-so's car in the family. That was my dad's car. That was my grandmother's car, whatever the case may be. Yep. And pretty soon that thing starts to roll around to where every year it just keeps going up and up and up. And by the way, this is something to remind everybody of, and David can construct you with this with the pieces that you may or may not have. But the reality, as you know too, David, is some things level off. I mean, you can also get to this tipping point, if you would, in any item where it may be worth X today. And you know what? You may be thinking, well, yeah, but in 10 years it's going to be worth this much more. Maybe not.
SPEAKER 13 :
Maybe not. Yeah, maybe not. Yeah, it is interesting. This lady, you know, she knew she had some decent value. But what she's going to do with it, she's giving that to nine grandchildren. So it's great. I think one was putting a down payment on a house. Great.
SPEAKER 12 :
And those are life changing events for them.
SPEAKER 13 :
Oh, just to be, you know, to be rid of student debt. Correct. You know, your student loans.
SPEAKER 12 :
I have a roof over your head that you now are building equity in versus paying somebody else to rent every month. Absolutely. Oh, man. Yeah. These things are life changing. And again, does everybody have that sitting in their drawer? Probably not, although I would venture to guess, and I don't think I'm too far off in this. A lot of you that are listening, you probably have more kicking around than you really realize. Absolutely. It's just in there's some in this jewelry box, there's some in that jewelry box, there's a few gold coins out in the safe, and you've got it kind of spread around, and you've never really even in your own world collectively laid all that out on the counter table and sent it to a kitchen table and said, oh, gosh. i guess we have a lot more here than what we really thought and then what i would do by the way for all of you listening is you know the pieces that you wear all the time husband wife whatever if it's something you're wearing regularly okay put that off to the side okay these are pieces that we definitely want to keep no matter what we're wearing these we like them we love them whatever but you know these other pieces yeah you know i'm not super fond of those and by the way don't don't get mad at one another even if they were gifts to you each other because guess what you can take that cash and go do something else with it that makes it all the more momentous once again so don't worry about that side of it so we set up um last year at the colorado home show
SPEAKER 13 :
And as an experiment, and it's a nine-day show for home improvements, right? We got mobbed for nine days straight. We had people coming up. When we first signed up to set up a booth there, the gal was like, why would you want to be here? You know, this is all about home improvement. And my comment to her was, well, how are those people going to pay for the home improvements? What I'm going to do is I'm going to show them how to – Yeah, how to shake their own money tree.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 13 :
In the old jewelry boxes.
SPEAKER 12 :
Give them a roadmap to doing so.
SPEAKER 13 :
That's right. So, yeah, whatever that money is used for. And, you know, even to put it into something that's going to earn some interest. So it might be, you know, adding to your investment portfolio with that liquidation.
SPEAKER 12 :
So, again, for a lot of you that are listening, you might be surprised at what you actually have kicking around. Point being is... Call David. Set up an appointment. Round all those items up. And I want to make sure we're very clear on this as well, David, for all of you listening. This isn't like going to your local corner pawn shop. No, no, no. This is an appointment behind locked doors. Nobody else is going to be there with you. This is something that's just between you guys and David, and you're not doing this in any kind of an open environment. you know like like even you see some of the auctions where people are bringing items to no this is not that at all this is a appraisal type setting where you're literally sitting down one-on-one going through all these pieces in some cases david even you've got to do a little bit of research after the fact even determine what some pieces might be worth
SPEAKER 13 :
Indeed. So, yeah, you'll come into our conference room. It's a business environment. It's professional. We don't charge KLZ listeners for that appraisal. So, yeah, just come on in. And, you know, people get a good gut feel when they walk into our office. But we've never had a complaint. I'll knock on wood. We've just never had a complaint. So the goal is to be. I can see that. The goal is to educate you, help you understand what you have, and then you decide what you want to do when you want to do it. But come in. Check it out. Love to meet you and love to have you in the office.
SPEAKER 12 :
For a lot of you that listen to me on Saturdays on Drive Radio, we talk about cars and values and the differences of and watching the market trends and so on. Keep in mind that I stay up on that pretty well, and I can usually get pretty close to what a lot of values are on certain cars. Well, this is what David does only on the watch, jewelry, the expensive side of that aisle, where I'm doing it on the car side, David's doing it on the other side. And I'm not a certified appraisal, so for all of you listening, that's BP appraisals. There's other folks out there that are doing things along those lines. I can get pretty close just because I watch the market. But, David, there is no way one person can watch the market and all the different little things in your world that are there because there's too many.
SPEAKER 13 :
Absolutely.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's even worse than the car end of things. There's just far too many.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, I mean, and that's kind of the fun of the business for me is every day is a little bit different. You never know what's going to walk in.
SPEAKER 12 :
You get to see a different piece every day. Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
no idea sometimes and you know it's it's fun to get people's reactions to um what they have and whether it's value or just getting information about it they've had this coin collection forever inherited it 10 years ago and they just never pulled it out of the closet never pulled it out of the safe right so yeah i just i encourage people just to get the info
SPEAKER 12 :
Now, one last thing before you leave is I know we talked about this last time, and I think it's another reminder for a lot of folks that are listening because these are other things that get handed down, and there may be some real value there even though you don't see it that way because it's something that, you know, you may have had a family member that passed and all you got was the pocket watch. Well... in some cases depending upon what the pocket watch actually is it might be more valuable than you think if it's a gold railroad watch yes it could have significant value and um again you just you just want to learn about what you have and then and personally me that's one of those things again david you could you could lay five watches out i might be able to tell you which one is that but most likely probably wouldn't because i don't have that eye like you have
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, one of the distinctions is that the railroad watches have what they call ball movements, so made by the Ball Corporation. If you've ever heard the term, he's really on the ball.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's what that comes from?
SPEAKER 13 :
They're very accurate. So, yeah, and those are highly, highly collectible. But the gold alone in a gold pocket watch could be several thousand dollars, just the gold alone.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 13 :
So, yeah.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay, so those of you guys listening, again, you've ever wondered, hey, I've got this collection of stuff. I have no idea what it's worth. Round all of that up. Make an appointment. Call David. Get dialed in. And then from there, and this is something else, too, remember, in a lot of cases, if you want to turn that to cash, talk to David, and you guys can figure out how to make that happen, right? Absolutely. It's not just the appraisal side of it. You will help them turn that into cash.
SPEAKER 13 :
We will purchase. Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay. MyLightCoin, again, 720-370-3400. Also go to coinbuyers.co. And, David, I always learn something when you're here, so I look forward to this. This is great. I love it because there's just so many things that go on in that world. And I think so much opportunity, folks, to turn what they might just have kicking around in a drawer into cash that they don't even know the value of. Absolutely. So appreciate you very much. Have a good day. All right, guys, Golden Eagle Financial. Speaking of finances, make sure you're dialed in for your retirement future as well. Talk to Al today. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
Retirement planning with Golden Eagle Financial isn't about products or spreadsheets. It's about you. Al Smith spends more time listening than talking when he meets with clients. He understands that before he can build a strategy, he must understand the person for whom it's designed, fears, dreams, wants, needs, and comfort with risk. That's why clients trust Al Smith with comprehensive retirement planning, from pensions and Social Security to owning property or donating time and money. Al wants to know the things you really want to do with your money in retirement. Once he understands you, he will use tools to help you understand different scenarios to fine-tune your plan. Al Smith says it's easy. Once he knows someone, the planning is simple. Call Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial if you're ready to make your dream a reality. No pressure, no upfront cost. Just a conversation and a unique plan crafted for you. Find Golden Eagle Financial on the KLZ Advertiser's page to start the relationship your nest egg deserves. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Investment LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, roofing. Talked to Dave Hart this morning, and man alive, it is that time of the year where if you want something done, commercial roof, residential roof, it's all under one roof. 303-710-6916. That is Roof Max, which is Roof Savers of Colorado.
SPEAKER 01 :
At Roof Savers Colorado, we are about more than roofs. We are about helping you make the best decisions with the right information. Being a homeowner isn't getting any easier or cheaper, and neither is getting your roof the solution it needs. Deductibles are going through the roof, and with every passing year, insurance covers less than the one before. Due to a record amount of hailstorms recently, insurance companies have started limiting your coverage and pulling out of states entirely. We know the industry. With over 3,000 roofs under our belts and 23 years of experience, Dave Hart and his team are ready to complete a free roof inspection and discuss the option that is best for you. Don't wait. Policy renewals are increasing by as much as 50%. Now is the time to get the solution you need. Call Roof Savers Colorado today at 303- 710-6916 or go to roofsaversco.com. That's 303-710-6916 or go to roofsaversco.com to schedule your free inspection and start saving your roof today.
SPEAKER 11 :
You inherited a coin collection, some beautiful jewelry or sterling flatware, and you're not quite sure who to trust with it. You need Mile High Coin. Owner David Gonzalez has 36 years working in precious metals, knows the market extremely well, and he has over 285 star reviews. Unlike any pawn or coin shop, Mile High Coin prides themselves on building trust first through educating you and through relationship building, because he understands this business better than most. David will explain the value of what you have and then discuss all your options so you can decide what's best for you. Mile High Coin is open six days a week by appointment only for your privacy and security. David has a solid, outstanding reputation. And with honesty and transparency above all else, David will always do right by you and your family. Mention you're a KLZ listener and receive a no-charge appraisal when you connect with Mile High Coin by going to klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 03 :
God, country, reason. Now back to John Rush.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Thanks for tuning in. David Gonzalez, by the way, who was with us, Mile High Coin. Somebody asked a moment ago, too, can he tell me what the value of a particular gold piece might be based upon? Is it 12 carat, 14 carat, and so on? Yes, that's a lot of what he does. So if you've got a piece or even just a piece of gold and you're wondering what is the value of that, Yes, he can do all of that for you. So please, by all means, reach out to him. He'd love to sit down, have a chat. You just heard him a moment ago say for all the KLZ listeners out there, there is no charge for those appraisals. And I know I say this a lot, but I want to make sure I'm clear on this. You want to turn that into cash. I want to make sure I'm crystal clear. He can do that. So you decide that here's a collection, here's a piece, here's something, whatever, it's five grand. And you want to turn that five grand right then and there into cash. He will do that for you. So that's the plus side to him versus a lot of the other folks that are out there, the local corner pawn shop, whatever. A, you're getting a true evaluation. B, if you want to turn it right into cash, he can do it right then and there. And then lastly, if you decide that, you know, maybe I want to keep a few pieces, maybe I want to sell a few pieces. Whatever you want to do, David will accommodate you accordingly, and you can handle it just like that. So somebody also asked, will an ultrasonic... Mouse deterrent have an effect upon car electronics. This came from the text line. No, it will not. So if you're wanting to use that to get rid of rodents and so on, no, it will not affect your car's electronics. And thank you for the text messages, by the way. I get these literally all throughout the day, sometimes throughout the night. Sometimes I wake up to them in the mornings, and I appreciate each and every one of them. Do my best to answer those as quickly as I can. Okay. Got to beat up on the Democrats now for just a little bit. Why? Because I have to. And this is another text message I got over the weekend asking if I had seen this particular bill that was now being put through our legislature in Colorado. And this is a headline coming out of Daily Wire, so this isn't even local. This is national. Don't ask the KKK. Colorado Democrats appear to smear parent groups that oppose the radical trans bill that's now here in Colorado. They appear to smear parental rights groups who oppose the radical new transgender bill, comparing the bill's critics to the KKK. During a, this is last Tuesday, week from tomorrow, or week from tomorrow, committee hearing. The Kelly Loving Act targets parents who do not affirm their child's new gender identity. Key word, by the way, child. Second key word, gender identity. There's only two. And no, you can't switch. Yes, I said that. Whoever's putting this bill through, you're a moron. You are a woke moron. I'll say it just as it is. You evidently don't know there's only two genders as well, or you might know there's only two, but you're one of these that think you can switch. You can't switch. Now, this particular bill, and I haven't read through every bit of wording, but I've read the cliff notes of it, and essentially it's going to punish parents who don't align with and or affirm what their child, key word, child, wants to do when it comes to their gender. So your 12-year-old boy, all of a sudden through whatever, peer pressure, coercion at school, you name it, has decided that he wants to be a she, that Peter wants to become Pauline or whatever. If you as a parent don't affirm, and this is the proposed law, If you as a parent don't affirm that change and basically go along with it, you can be punished. You can have your parental rights revoked even. That's what this bill that's now going through wants to do. Coercive control is what they're against. So in child custody decisions, a court shall consider deadnaming, misgendering, or threatening to publish material related to an individual's gender-affirming health care services as a type of coercive control, the bill reads. Coercive control also includes things like threatening to kill someone or forcing someone to commit crimes under Colorado law. Okay, that's already a law that doesn't even need to be there. You can't do that anyways. The bill was introduced late, not last Friday, but the previous Friday evening. And on Tuesday, it passed the Colorado Assembly's Judiciary Committee in a 7-4 vote. It now heads to the Assembly floor for a second reading. During Tuesday's hearing, Representative Jairus Caldwell A Republican told Democrats that he was up until 1 a.m. reading the bill. Republicans had less than 24 hours to mount a response, despite Democrats apparently having the bill in the works for over a year. I really am curious as to how much stakeholding went on both sides of the issue and not just one side, Caldwell said in the hearing, and apparent groups that are not a part of the LGBT community, if they were even involved. Two Democrats on the committee dismissed the idea that they had left parent groups or other critics out of the discussion, saying lawmakers do not have to discuss the bill with hate groups or people using hateful rhetoric. We don't get to have a difference of opinion over somebody's basic rights, said Democrat State Representative Yara Zokei. We've heard a lot about stakeholding and who was left out of stakeholding, and this process is important for us to understand the implications of the bills that we are passing. But a well-stakeholded bill does not need to be discussed with hate groups. By the way, I'm not hating on anybody. They would consider me a part of one of these hate groups. I'm not hating on anybody. I've just got common sense. And I know where a parent needs to be a parent. And where a kid needs to be a kid. And I can tell you straight up, if any of my kids had come to me and said, I'm going to change genders, we would have had a real problem in my house. I can tell you that right now. A real problem. First of all, it wouldn't have happened. Because I would have sat down and said, okay, time out. Time out. Who made you? And, of course, my kids being raised in a Christian home would have known the answer. Well, of course, you know, God made me. Okay, so you're telling me God made a mistake. And their answer back would be, well, I guess that's what I'm saying. Well, wait a minute. I thought I've raised you to believe that God doesn't make mistakes. Which to their, you know, on their side, they would have to come back and answer that particular question, which they would not have an answer for. You see where I'm going with this? There's ways to handle this. in your family with your kid that may, because of something they've watched on television, something they saw in a movie, something one of their peers is doing, something they've seen from another group of individuals, where all of a sudden now they've got this grandiose idea that I'm in the wrong body. You know, I need to switch. Which, by the way, a lot of this, and I'm going to say this straight up, A lot of this is becoming the vogue thing, quote unquote, to do. A lot of Hollywood parents take pride in the fact that their kids are changing genders. Hollywood parents are whack jobs. They're anti-God, by the way, as well. Because, again, when you think that you're in the wrong body, you're going against what God Almighty said. I'll stand by that till I go to the grave. And I challenge anybody to prove me wrong. And the only way they could prove me wrong is if you don't believe in an almighty God in the first place, which in that case, you've got your own issues to deal with. That's not my problem. You have your own things you need to deal with in your own life. I believe in an almighty creator. I believe he doesn't make mistakes. Some would come back and say, well, then what about that child that has a learning disability? What about that child that might have Down syndrome? What about that child that might have autism? What about that child that may have whatever? God doesn't make mistakes. And I can tell you from having family members of my own that have issues, that every one of those kids is special in their own way. And yes, God made them that way. And they have a unique perspective and a uniqueness upon their own family that, frankly, other people don't have. So I can't question God as to why that happened. Nor will I. Not my place to do so. It's not my place to question him on anything, by the way. So at the end of the day, this is a parent issue. This is 100% a parenting issue. And anybody down at the statehouse that thinks otherwise, you're a loon. Flat out, you're a loon. You don't understand even basic psychology. I hate to say that, but you don't. You think that by pandering to these things, it's somehow making it better. It's not. I can tell you straight up, these kids on down the road that you are now pandering to, that you are going to allow to go through all of this transition, most likely one of two things happens. And the statistics show this to be correct, and I'm not wrong. Either they commit suicide because they're so screwed up they don't know what else to do, or they detransition. Typically, it's one of the two. Rarely do they make it all through life transitioning. Just that the statistics aren't in your favor. I know for a lot of you listening, a lot of you on the left, you want that transition to be effective and to last. Problem is, it doesn't. It doesn't because it's not natural. It's not right. It's not how things should work. It's become a thing that all of you on the woke left want to be cool and you want it to happen. But the reality is you're wrong. Flat out wrong. You're screwing up kids. It's child abuse, not even borderline. It is straight up child abuse. You should be the ones arrested and going to jail for child abuse, not the parents. This is backwards. I don't know where this bill's going to go. I'm fearful that it probably will pass, and we have a crazy enough loon governor that believes in this crap. He'll probably pass it. He'll probably sign it. And then it'll be interesting to see what happens from there. But these people are literally making fun of people like me, which, by the way, I have an issue with. I'm not the crazy one here. You are. I'm not the loon. You are. Once again, showing how mental illness really works. I say that a lot and I mean it. Those that are hardcore on the left in that world, they are mentally ill, period. I'll talk about this when I come back. All of the demonstrations that went on over the weekend, the anti-whatever they're actually, I don't know even what they're anti, anti-Trump, anti-Musk, I mean, these people are whacked. I watched some of the men on the streets' interviews with some of these individuals. Oh, my word. Not only are most of them paid protesters, but they are loons to boot. And I mean loons. Like, these people, I don't know how they cross the street on their own. They're that loony. And again, folks, I am not exaggerating when I say watch any of these men on the street interviews. And if you're somebody from the left, and again, you approve of this nonsense... You're as loony as they are. So I'll talk about that here in a moment. Don't go anywhere. Dr. Scott's coming up next. He is not only my doctor, but would love to be yours. And I know for a lot of you listening, he is your doctor, but he would love to help you out with all the things you have going on, medically speaking, in your life. And he looks at things completely different than the medical community does because he's not bound by big health or big pharma. Call him at 303-663-6990.
SPEAKER 08 :
Are you tired of crisis care and instead want true health care? Do you want to improve your overall fitness and beauty? Do you have a chronic medical condition that no one has taken the time to understand? Are you trying to meet a health or weight goal? Or maybe you're just looking for a great doctor who thinks the way you do. Dr. Scott is a board certified internal medicine specialist, bringing decades of experience and expertise to the table. Dr. Scott is a true advocate of the latest advancements in health care. That's why he uses umbilical derived stem cells, which have been clinically proven to be the most potent stem cells available. Worried about being lost in the crowd of impersonal health care? Fear not. Dr. Scott is a big picture doctor, not beholden to big pharma or big insurance like some other providers. He takes the time to understand your unique needs and will customize your health care to fit you, your body, and your lifestyle. Reach your full potential and achieve your goals. Call Dr. Scott today at 303-663-6990 or visit him online at castlerockregenerativehealth.com or find him at rushtoreason.com. Dr. Scott Faulkner and Castle Rock Regenerative Health Care is your path to a healthier tomorrow.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, safe box deposits. $15 a month is where they start. They can customize a box to do whatever it is you need to have done. Whatever you want to store, I should say, call 303-771-8000.
SPEAKER 16 :
With the Colorado gun laws changing rapidly, you need to secure a place to store your guns. And that place is Safebox. Safebox is Denver's most secure private vault designed to protect your firearms and valuables against displacement, loss, burglary, and fire. Safebox is a confidential storage solution within a bank-grade vault combined with the highest levels of modern security. At Safebox, we don't have limitations, so you can have peace of mind when storing your gold, cash, firearms, or other precious belongings. Whether you've inherited or purchased gold coins, jewelry, firearms, or need a place for your important documents, we are exactly what you have been searching for. If you're tired of lugging your guns or valuables back and forth when traveling to Colorado, come pay us a visit and we'll help you find your perfect storage solution. We make it convenient for you to schedule an appointment online or feel free to call us anytime. Feel relieved when using Safebox and find them at klzradio.com. Safebox, your own private vault.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, Michael Bailey Law, he is our mobile estate planner. Book now because his schedule is full about halfway through summer already. Go to klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 14 :
When it comes to your estate, you really don't want to leave things up to luck. Michael Bailey doesn't rely on chance. He relies on solid, thorough planning and getting to know you as you develop your plan together. That's because a good estate plan isn't about luck. It's about wisdom, preparation, and making sure your family is protected no matter what. Think about it. When you pass on, will you leave your family to guess what to do with your possessions, investments, and other assets? Or would you want to make those instructions very clear so your family can know your final wishes in detail? That's what an estate plan does. It's not about luck. It's about making sure what you want to happen is followed, your assets are protected, and your family isn't left searching for answers. Rely on solid planning from Michael Bailey, not good luck charms. Find the mobile estate planner Michael Bailey on the klzradio.com advertisers page to make sure your last wishes are followed.
SPEAKER 03 :
The best export we have is common sense. You're listening to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. From Fort Collins to the Capitol, hands-off protesters shriek over Trump and Musk's government overall. By the way, of all the protests, I mean, there are some where, okay, I get people that believe in abortion versus people that don't believe in abortion. Okay, I can understand some of those protests. Not fully, but I get at least the basic premise of why people protest in some areas. This one, though, I got to be the first to tell you. I don't understand the mentality behind not wanting Elon Musk and Doge to do what they're doing. And then I know a lot of this is from the left. It's being fed to these individuals. A lot of these are paid protesters. They're even paid by George Soros. There was some proof of that over the weekend that a lot of these protesters just go from protest to protest to protest. They're on his payroll. Look, I get that. There's also a lot of knuckleheads that just show up. for whatever reason, because they believe whatever narrative that's being pushed out there, media-wise or whatever, that all Donald Trump does is bad, all Elon Musk is doing is bad, it's why they're lighting up Teslas and scratching them and writing swastikas on them and all sorts of stupid things, because these are just insane individuals. You can call them protesters. You can call them being upset. You can call them all the things you want to. But outside of the paid people, they're the smartest ones of the bunch, by the way. They're making money off of this. The rest of them are loons. There was over 1,200 of these hands-off demonstrations. Now, I'm thinking hands-off, hands-off what? Hands-off what? Hands-off not spending as much government money? hands off letting go of government employees that are no longer productive hands off of agencies like the department of education that in this entire existence hasn't improved one test score when it comes to kids graduating from high school or any grade for that matter hands off of deregulation hands off of i got on the list Hands, is that what we're talking about? Hands off everything I just talked about? Again, this whole hands off, it's like hands off of what that, the purpose of what they're doing is to be more hands off. Less hands in the pot, if you would. I am literally dumbfounded, and I get it. The left's mantra is that they're going to destroy Medicaid, they're going to destroy Social Security, which, by the way, if anything, when it's all said and done, they will shore up, not tear apart. But the mantra from the left, which is a lie, I know, before anybody tells me that it's a lie, I know, I know it's a lie. I get that. Unfortunately, there are people that believe in these lies, i.e. these protesters that were out protesting, which, by the way, they're nuts all in and of themselves. So these were civil rights organizations, labor unions, which, again, with tariffs and so on, I don't know why the labor unions would even be marching. LGBTQ plus advocates, I don't know what they're marching about. Trump and Musk, neither one have done anything regarding LGBTQ plus individuals, so I don't know why they're marching. Veterans and elections activists. Now, on the veterans side, I don't think Trump's done anything on the veterans end of things. There's been a few veterans that have complained that they started a, quote unquote, new or temporary job in the federal government, and that position was eliminated. It was temporary. It's now been proven to be temporary. And it's not that I don't like vets, I do, but... And I'm going to say this in the nicest way I possibly can, and I think a lot of you vets listening to me will understand what I'm saying. I have a son that's a vet, and he would understand this. It's not our job as a country, while we're very thankful for what you did and the sacrifice you made and the fact that you, in some cases, lost limb and had other issues, we are very, very thankful for that. On the same token, because of that doesn't mean I have to employ you the rest of your life. That wasn't the arrangement. That wasn't the agreement. Now, I believe we should take care of your medical needs, which we are, albeit slowly. That's a whole other conversation that needs revamped, which I'm sure Trump and Musk will get to at some point. I'm sure there's waste, fraud, and abuse in the VA as well, and it takes forever to get things done. That one I will admit to. And we need to do a better job of taking care of our vets in that way. But nowhere out there was it stated that we should give you a job for life. And if that's what you're expecting as a vet, you have the wrong expectations. And I love you. And I like the fact that you're a vet and that you went to, you know, did your service and supported our country. And in some cases, some families gave it all. I get that. But that doesn't mean that I, as a taxpayer, am here to employ you the rest of your life through whatever government program there is. That wasn't part of the deal, nor has it ever been a part of the deal. And it doesn't need to be a continuing part of the deal. Now, if you get disabled, there's disability and things like that, and that's a whole other conversation. And we do do those things. We as a country do that. We take care of that. And I get there's a lot of cases where we don't do enough for vets, but that's outside of the job market. So why are these veteran groups protesting? I have no idea. Election activists, I get that. They think just by asking for ID, we're doing something wrong. even though we ask ID for every other thing in life, darn near, but we can't ask it to vote. So in Colorado, thousands gathered at several locations across the state, including the steps of the state capitol. It's about the overreach of the current administration, and that we're demanding that they keep their hands off our rights. Everybody's rights, said Jennifer Bradley, one of the organizers for the Denver rally. Well, Jennifer... I would have to ask you straight up, what rights are you referring to? I know she's not listening, but what rights are you referring to? What could they possibly be doing to take any of your rights away? If anything, at the end of the day, you're going to have more rights when this is all said and done, not less. So, Jennifer, again, I know you're not listening, but I'd have to ask you straight up, what rights, quote-unquote, are you referring to? Joe, you're next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 07 :
John, I just want to point out that the GI Bill is still in full force in effect today. which means a service person, if they want to go to college and become an engineer, a lawyer, a doctor, not only does it cover your tuition, it covers housing and food. And there's all sorts of stories about people came out of the military or the high school education and went on to get a college degree and, you know, wound up in... And that was our agreement with them going in, right, Joe?
SPEAKER 12 :
Yep. So really quick, though, Joe, where was that agreement that we're supposed to employ them for life?
SPEAKER 07 :
Nowhere. No, but we're giving them the tools. Give a man a fish, you feed him every day. Thank you. And teach him how to fish. Well, we have given them the tool to feed themselves and live quite comfortably. All it takes is motivation. And again, it even covers food and housing, John. So there's no reason for them to be homeless. They can go to college. They can enroll in a school. They can live in the dorm, and they have a food allowance. And again, I think that's fantastic, and I don't know why more Military vets don't take advantage of the GI Bill.
SPEAKER 12 :
You know, that's a great question. And, Joe, I can't answer that. I don't know. And I get it. Joe, I understand that coming right out of the military, if you take advantage or don't take advantage, you've still got a long row ahead of you. You're trying to put your life back together. You've got a lot of things going on, which, by the way, Joe, so do a lot of young people. So did you and I at that same age. And the reality is it's, in my opinion, it's some of those tough times that make us the men that we are today. Am I correct?
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely correct. I won't try to dredge it up. There's a saying about tough times make tough men. And by the way, the GI Bill, John, also covers trade schools. So if you want to become a diesel mechanic and knock down, what, $90,000 to $100,000 a year, you want to go to a trade school, the GI Bill covers trade schools.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yep. Yep, great point. And again, Joe, you know me. I love vets. I have one. I have a son that's a vet. So believe me, I love them dearly. I mean, I'm as close to one, I think, Joe, as I could get to one without being one myself. I know exactly how that is for the families and so on. And by no means am I trying to shortchange those vets. But I can tell you right now, my son did not come home expecting to be employed by me as a taxpayer.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, and nobody should. But again, there's all sorts of opportunities made available. And I'm happy, and John, I'm more than happy that my tax dollars go to pay. If you're a vet and you want to go to a college, you want to go to a trade school, you're not going to hear me complain for one second about my tax dollars being spent.
SPEAKER 12 :
Joe, just like I don't complain my son has a VA loan on his house, a mortgage, I don't complain about that. In fact, that's the least we can do, and I feel happy to do so.
SPEAKER 07 :
You and me both, John. All right. Take care.
SPEAKER 12 :
Joe, appreciate you very much. Thanks for chiming in. And again, folks, that my only point was, I don't understand why a veterans, you know, group of any kind would be protesting what's going on right now, because at the end of the day, all of what's going on, including, and I'll get into this maybe a little bit later, the tariffs and other things that are happening right now, the reality is every one of these things will do nothing but strengthen us as a country, meaning that you as a vet will be strengthened as well. This whole hands-off thing idea it's utter nonsense it's what's been filled into your head by the left and the news media and quite frankly it's 100 false cub creek eating and air conditioning coming up next gonna be ac season this week folks gonna be almost 80 degrees if not over 80 this coming weekend if you need something done to your air conditioning unit give them a call today find them at klz radio.com
SPEAKER 15 :
Cub Creek will give you confidence that your HVAC system is not going to fail. Heating and AC systems need checkups every now and again, and they need to be maintained so that they work efficiently. When they fail during extreme weather, it can be a big inconvenience. That's why you should have Rheem Pro Partner Cub Creek come out to see if your HVAC is performing as it should, so you don't wind up needing expensive emergency service. Cub Creek won't upsell you. Their techs don't work on commission, and they will provide creative options so you can make an educated decision for your unique home. They can navigate incentives and rebates with you to save you as much as $4,500 and make sure you maximize the savings you get. They offer warranties above manufacturer guarantees. And Cub Creek takes pride in their work, as you can see in their five-star Google reviews. Don't wait to get your HVAC looked at. Contact Cub Creek Heating and AC. Find them on the klzradio.com advertisers page.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right. Good amount of inventory, by the way. Ridgeline Auto Brokers. And if there's something that you would like to have they don't have, they'll do their very best to find that for you as well. Find them at RidgelineAutoBrokers.com.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are you in the market for a reliable car that won't break the bank? DriveRadio's sponsor, Ridgeline Auto Brokers, specializes in quality used cars that cost between $15,000 to $25,000, making them a great option for first-time drivers or anyone looking for a good deal. They pride themselves on providing a transparent and hassle-free car buying experience. That's why at Ridgeline, they never charge a dealer fee. Plus, all vehicles are inspected by Legacy Automotive, a Colorado Select member and sponsor of Drive Radio. For a limited time, they are offering first-time customers the first oil change for only $1. Every car comes with a 30-day warranty, with the option to purchase a service contract. And at Ridgeline Auto Brokers, there are competitive financing options to fit your budget. If you cannot make it to the dealership in person, there are videos of all Ridgeline cars for sale on their website at RidgelineAutoBrokers.com. Call today at 303-442-4141 to schedule a test drive or visit RidgelineAutoBrokers.com. Ridgeline Auto Brokers, the smartest way to buy a car.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, teaching young people to read, by the way. That way they can decipher things on their own as they get older. Adventures of Jimmy and Andrew, that's American Stonehenge by Mike Goldstein. Just go to jimmyandandrew.com, type in code KLZ to get 10% off.
SPEAKER 14 :
American Stonehenge by Mike Goldstein is perfect for your middle grade reader. Just ask Dorothy.
SPEAKER 10 :
What I really liked about American Stonehenge was that it had everything that a kid will like to read. A little bit of fantasy and the talking dog. A lot of history. And it goes about it in a roundabout way so the kid doesn't really know they're actually getting a history lesson.
SPEAKER 14 :
It's beautifully illustrated.
SPEAKER 10 :
But having the illustrations gives the kids an idea because they're so used to seeing everything presented to them in a digital way.
SPEAKER 14 :
But it's a lot more than just a story.
SPEAKER 10 :
I thought it would help young readers because they can follow the story. They may or may not have to look up a word. It teaches them how people talk. It was down to earth. Here to interest kids and teach them something without them really realizing.
SPEAKER 14 :
Mike Goldstein wants to get kids off their phones and into books.
SPEAKER 10 :
American Stonehenge will interest my grandkids that maybe they'll get off their video games and telephones.
SPEAKER 14 :
Check out Mike Goldstein's American Stonehenge, the adventures of Jimmy and Andrew to help your kids, grandkids, students, or other kiddos to break out of the digital world and read. Just go to klzradio.com slash read and get 10% off with the promo code KLZ.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 12 :
Some of you on the text line have asked me, by the way, if I have seen the GoFundMe page for the black young man that murdered the white athlete at the track meet last week. Yes, I have, and those are loons as well. I'll throw them into the same group of individuals I was talking about in the last segment. Go ahead, John.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey, John, how are you today?
SPEAKER 12 :
Good, sir.
SPEAKER 06 :
All right, I've been to the VA and used the VA, and the problem is they are laying people off at the VA. The people that walk around with a coffee cup in their hand all day, and there's some I've seen a bunch of times that never do a lick of work. So they are using the Doge efficiency to say, all right, what are these people actually doing? And you know what?
SPEAKER 12 :
I'm okay with that as well, John. If they're not efficient, not doing anything, they need to be gone.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right, but the other thing is they're supposed to be doing stuff to make our lives, when we go to the VA for whatever services, easier, but they make it harder because they're all so obnoxious most of the time, and they think that because they're at the VA, they could just tell veterans what to do, and some of them might be vets, but some of them never serve, but they're going to tell us how to treat us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 06 :
Not to – I don't know if you ever saw the Born on the Fourth of July.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, man, that's been a long time.
SPEAKER 06 :
The way they treated Tom Cruise's character at the VA when he was paralyzed. There's a lot of guys I know that don't get great treatment at the VA. And it's not that they don't – you know, they try, but there's a lot of people there that just don't care. It's a government job and a paycheck. Yeah, and that's wrong.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's wrong. Shouldn't be that way.
SPEAKER 06 :
And if you – Especially at the VA. If you're going to go work for the VA, you should want to care a little bit. I agree, John.
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely. Fully agree.
SPEAKER 06 :
But these people are just protesting because they were paid to do it. That's right.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 06 :
You're right. If you go to X and look up paid protesters, there's hundreds of people that took pictures of them. So they're just doing it for money. You know, everybody picks on Musk. Oh, he's an unelected billionaire. He's no different on the Republican side than what George Soros does.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. Well, I would say that it's worse on Soros' side because he's the one paying these protesters.
SPEAKER 06 :
He's also paying all this money to get these DAs elected like the one you guys have in Denver. That will, you know, just not really. They will prosecute. The cops could go out and arrest every single person. But if they're not being prosecuted, the cops are wasting their time. But going back to the government protests, I mean, they have to have something to protest. Like somebody said, Trump could announce a cure for cancer and they would protest that he's putting cancer researchers out of business.
SPEAKER 12 :
Very true.
SPEAKER 06 :
John, have a good day.
SPEAKER 12 :
You too, John. Appreciate you very much. And really quick, back to the whole tariff end of things. And Charlie and I were talking about this through the break. I believe there's now up to 70 countries, the number continues to grow, that are awaiting... In other words, they have contacted the White House and they are awaiting their time to where they can actually have a conversation on tariffs. All right, let's take a break. We'll come back. Paul Leuenberger, my good friend. He is my insurance agent. Would love to help you with all of your insurance needs as well. And all you got to do is give him a call and he'll take care of the rest. 303-662-0789.
SPEAKER 02 :
Looking for top-notch home, auto, classic car, and business insurance? Look no further than Paul Leuenberger. Paul is now an insurance broker with access to industry leaders like Hartford, Travelers, Safeco, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Allstate, AIG, Chubb, Pure, Berkeley, Grundy, and Hagerty. Paul has you covered. Paul is also proud to continue his work with American National for all non-property insurance needs as well. Paul Leuenberger now serves Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas with more states on the way. Paul's mission is simple, to connect you with the right coverage at the best value. Are you ready to protect what matters most? Call Paul Leuenberger today at 303-662-0789. That's 303-662-0789. The best export we have is common sense. You're listening to Rush to Reason. All right, got a couple minutes left. Dale, go ahead, sir.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, John, in reference to VA. Yes.
SPEAKER 05 :
As you know, I've been dealing with them for quite a while.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Since I had the sub-cancer, you know, I have nothing bad to say about the doctors.
SPEAKER 12 :
Good.
SPEAKER 05 :
They're doctors and medical personnel and all and all and all. The problem is, like the fellow just before us is, you go in to check out or check in, And you've got four people behind the counter. One of them is taking care of patients, and the other ones are doing their fingernails or whatever.
SPEAKER 12 :
So it's not the doctors and medical staff themselves. It's the admin side of it that stinks. Exactly. Gotcha.
SPEAKER 05 :
And the – I lost my train of thought for a second. But, yeah, I mean, they've treated me good. You know, when they can't do something, they send it up for me to go to outside source to have it done. And I have the only doctor I ever had problems with was a. She was a Japanese lady, and she talked 900 miles an hour, and I'd have to keep telling her to slow down. Other than that, she was a fine doctor. Okay.
SPEAKER 12 :
Very good. You know, no, no, I appreciate that. That's a great update. And thank you, by the way. And yeah, and by the way, I experienced that, you know, I have heard firsthand from my son who's had some things that he's had to deal with coming back from Afghanistan, being in war and so on. I will tell you that I think he would say the same thing. It's not the doctors and the people that you actually see when it's all said and done much to Dell's point. It's getting there that's the problem. Even in the VA, just getting all the different hoops and jumping through them and the red tape and all of what it takes to even finally actually see somebody to help you with whatever your medical need is. And I think some of you that are vets could attest to what I'm saying or could expand on that. But the reality is it's not, to Del's point, it's not the doctor's. that we're so critical of, and I think the doctors would even agree. It's all of the support staff and the red tape that you have to get through to actually get there. In my opinion, the entire VA needs a complete Doge revamp on how it even works, and I've got my own ideas on that whole topic. I could probably talk about it at a later date. We'll be back, though. Hour number two is next. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Bye.
SPEAKER 04 :
Average guys. Average guys.
In this episode of Rush to Reason, host John Rush welcomes Jay Bieber, Executive Director of Policy at the National Motorist Association, for an engaging discussion on the controversial policy of income-based speeding tickets being rolled out in San Francisco. The episode delves into how this policy attempts to circumvent the equal protection clause, offering insights on the discounts given to low-income individuals and the ensuing legal and economic implications. Jay explains the complexity of these programs, their constitutional challenges, and their spreading popularity across the United States, highlighting the National Motorist Association's ongoing efforts to address these issues.
SPEAKER 06 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 03 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you're scared. And you're scared because if you try and fail, there's only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes.
SPEAKER 05 :
With your host, John Rush.
SPEAKER 08 :
My advice to you is to do what your parents did.
SPEAKER 15 :
Get a job, sir. You haven't made everybody equal. You've made them the same and there's a big difference.
SPEAKER 13 :
Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 09 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 16 :
It's Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 17 :
Welcome back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Jay Bieber joining me now, Executive Director of Policy at the National Motorist Association. Jay, welcome back. Always a pleasure to be with you. I appreciate it. San Francisco launching a new program that is backed by, of course, Gavin Newsom, that will issue speeding tickets based on income.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, well, I mean, they're trying to get around the equal protection clause here, which is that you can't technically say, hey, we're going to charge you this price depending on what your income is. So what they're doing is they have a price for the ticket, and then they're giving discounts to people who claim that they have less money.
SPEAKER 17 :
So if you're a quote-unquote low-income individual, you get a better discount than somebody that can quote-unquote pay the fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
Exactly. So basically, you know, people who have done well in their lives and can make money and can support themselves, those folks will have to pay a higher fine than those people who, whether it's their own fault or not, they have less income, they have less money, so they get a pass.
SPEAKER 17 :
Dumb question on my part. How is that equal law to equal individuals?
SPEAKER 04 :
It isn't, but it's how they're getting around it. Whether or not it's legal or not, or whether it passes constitutional muster in California or anywhere else, plenty of other places do this. They do give discounts for people who are low income. And until somebody challenges it in court, then you have to have resources to do that. You have to find a public interest law firm to do it.
SPEAKER 17 :
This is a load of crap, by the way. Somebody needs to take this on. This is a load of crap.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. Well, that's why we try to do this. But, you know, you're absolutely right. But we try to do this and, you know, we only have so many resources. Of course. That's why our membership is so important.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, thank you. Yes, it is. But I would ask you this question. You say other places are doing this. I mean, to me, this sounds like very much a California type thing. But I was shocked at what you said a moment ago that there's other places that do this. I was not aware. I mean, I guess, A, I haven't. I shouldn't say this because I'll have one on the way home. I haven't paid, quote unquote, a speeding ticket in quite some time. So I didn't really, I didn't understand that there was any kind of a discount program available. Is this like in a lot of places around the country or is it hit and miss?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, it's hit and miss. They're starting to try to roll this out because once they see it in one place, here's what they're doing and here's why they're doing it. It's because we have made the argument that high-priced traffic tickets like in California, which are $200, $300, $500 for a red light camera ticket that's a slow rolling right turn or a fraction of a second violation, they're $500 tickets. So one of the ways we've been able to fight these things is we've been able to show how they affect people who don't make as much money and say, look, you're crushing the people that you claim to care about. So they said, okay, well, you know what, we'll just crush the wealthy people and we'll give a discount to the other people. That's how they're able to run these programs and how they're able to get people to vote for them who would otherwise care about people and their due process rights and all of these things, which, by the way, go all out the window with all these kinds of tickets. So, you know, it's ways of getting around the arguments that we've been making and successfully making that these are very punitive for poor people, and you shouldn't be putting in cameras everywhere where everybody who passes by gets a ticket. So basically they said, well, we'll just give a discount to the poor people. That's the logic here.
SPEAKER 17 :
And I guess, again, being dumb on my end, what's the proof of I don't make any money?
SPEAKER 04 :
You know what? Some of them say the income has to be, like, shown that they make less than a certain amount of the poverty limit in the country. Some, they have to be honest. If they're already qualified for some kind of assistance program, each of these places, each of these rules are somewhat different. I forget what it is for the speed camera program, but it's something similar to that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Interesting.
SPEAKER 04 :
There's a lot of other legal problems with the speed camera program, by the way, as well. Oh, yeah. Including a lot of due process issues and a lot of... other equal protection issue. I mean, think about this. You get a ticket from a live police officer for exactly the same crime, which is, you know, traveling, you know, what actually is considered not above the speed limit, but what is considered, quote unquote, an unsafe speed. It's just assumed that if you're going above the speed limit. It's an unsafe speech, but you're supposed to be able to challenge that. And with a camera and only the owner of the vehicle being responsible for the ticket, then you can't challenge it. You have no way of challenging it. So you lose all your due process rights, and you don't go to court. You go to a hearing. It's a kangaroo court. The owner's responsible. The ticket is private with facial evidence against you, which means that all they have to do is present the ticket, and you have to prove that you didn't do it. Yep.
SPEAKER 17 :
It's a cash cow for a lot of states, cities, counties. We did have one here. I thought you might enjoy this one. I didn't talk about this last week. I was going to. It was in my notes and I never got around to it. We have toll violation issues here in Colorado. There's not a Jersey barrier. It's kind of an honor system when you get in and out of the toll lane. It's double-striped where you're not allowed to go in and out. It's dotted where you're allowed to go in and out. And we've got this high-tech camera system now in Colorado on a couple of different toll areas that we've got whereby if you violate that, Enter in where you're not supposed to. For example, Jay, they give you a hefty fine. It's like 150 bucks and can go up to 250 bucks. Well, we actually had an attorney that made the news here about a week or so ago that actually fought entering in an area where he wasn't supposed to, but still paid the toll. So his point was, wait a minute, time out. You're penalizing me for entering where, quote unquote, I'm not supposed to. But I didn't violate any laws because I still paid the toll when it was all said and done. And he read through all the statutes and everything in the state and so on. Basically got that particular ticket thrown out because the judge did come back and basically say that, you know what? You're right. There's nothing that says you can't. Enter. Now, you can't weave in and out and avoid the camera, which this guy didn't do. He just entered in a spot that, quote unquote, he wasn't supposed to. Or frankly, Jay, you can enter in. I've gotten a ticket before for this where I've entered. I'm not exaggerating. The left rear tire hit the double stripe, but the rest of the vehicle was in. I was just that far off and still had to pay a fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
That's because they want your money. Because they want the money. That's right. It's only about the money. And here's the thing. We try as hard as we can. I'm incredibly frustrated today because I'm fighting a lot of these. There's a bill right now in California to make red light camera tickets. similar to what they're doing for the speeding tickets because they're like hammer tickets are actually have to identify the driver and you go to court you least have a chance to defend yourself they're not trying to change that because they're not getting enough of people's money i cannot get anybody to to help us in terms of in terms of fighting these things every other organization We're too busy. We've got too much on our plate right now. So basically, they're going to pass this. They'll turn it into law, and then everybody's going to suffer. And then people will come back and complain about it, especially the people. I talked to the social justice groups. They should be all over this. Nothing. Teamsters, nothing. Triple A, nothing. The police groups who actually don't like these things, nothing. It's ridiculous. We're out here all alone. trying to fight these things. It's frustrating.
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, and I got another text message, and basically, in other words, your answer to the proof of income is there's not a distinct answer that it sounds like it's going to vary by quote-unquote applicant or person that's had each ticket. In other words, it's not a blanket statement.
SPEAKER 04 :
Generally, yeah. That's generally the way that these are set up. And, you know, it just depends on, you know, not even the judge. There's not even a judge. No, that's right. There's a hearing officer. That's right. It's a hearing. Somebody hired by the city gets to decide this.
SPEAKER 17 :
That's right. National Motors Association. It's a 501c3 nonprofit. How do folks find you, Jay?
SPEAKER 04 :
Find us at motorists.org. Motorists is plural, .org. Look, we've got a couple of things you can do. Join as a member. It's $42 a year. It's basically nothing. You can also, if you go to motorists.org forward slash RRT for Rapid Response Team, you can sign up and say, hey, if you let me know about something like this is happening, I'll take action on it. So sign up for that. And you know what? We're 501c3. If you want to donate to us, It's tax deductible.
SPEAKER 17 :
Awesome. Jay, I always appreciate you coming on. You always give us a wealth of information, and we'll continue to help you out, sir.
SPEAKER 04 :
I wish we had less of this to talk about.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, well, unfortunately, it's going to get worse, not better.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, exactly.
SPEAKER 17 :
Thanks, man. Appreciate you, Jay. And yes, these are just... Sometimes we shake our head even at the laws we have here in Colorado. And, yeah, that was a story that I forgot to bring to you and didn't forget. Just didn't get enough time to get around to it. There was an actual attorney here in Colorado that I think it was even similar to the ticket that I got, where it wasn't like he was entering in, like, the middle of the HOV lane. He happened to just cross over the stripes. I did that. I actually got a ticket, 75 bucks. The left rear tire crossed over. Nothing else did. It was on the camera. I couldn't disprove it because, yes, the left tire did, in fact, cross over in that particular area where I wasn't quite dotted yet. I was just a little quick to make that change into the HOV lane. Wasn't cutting anybody off. There wasn't anybody behind me. That wasn't the issue. The issue is these cameras are extremely, extremely sophisticated. And they will send you a ticket. And the law in Colorado now is you pay it because the old days of because it's on a camera and they have to serve you and all of that. Those things went out the window. Now, in this particular case, this attorney read through the statute and everything well enough that said, wait a minute. There's nothing in here that says I can't enter. anywhere i want i can't weave in and out and avoid the toll which this person did not do and he had proof that he had paid the toll and fortunately for him the judge ruled in his favor it'll be interesting to see what happens down the road and how many other people try to fight the same situation and i didn't fight mine i just i don't know honestly didn't have time didn't have any other means to mess with it at that point in time so you pay it and move on but i hate camera tickets of any kind because it's literally nothing more than a revenue generation it doesn't do anything to help out traffic in my opinion i don't care what study you bring me prove to me that it actually helps at the end of the day because chances are it's not veteran windows and doors 35 off three windows or more or sorry, up to three windows, and then 40% off if you do 40 or more with free labor. Find veterans today at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 08 :
Veteran Windows and Doors knows that other companies only care about getting the sale. Those companies sell you on emotions, pressuring you to sign today to get the best price, but they don't even know about the critical energy codes and ratings of the windows. Dave Bancroft, owner of Veteran Windows and Doors, guarantees he will get you the right windows and doors designed specifically for your home. without the ridiculous sales tactics and needless pressuring. Dave is passionate about educating you so that you can make an informed decision on your timeline and wants to protect you as a consumer. And Dave has seen other companies' prices appear cheaper initially, but once the door you bought doesn't fit or it's the wrong door, they must structurally change the door frame to create the opening. You've lost thousands of dollars. Don't deal with just a sales rep. Work with Dave. For the month of April, when you buy up to three windows, enjoy 35% off. Buy four or more windows, you'll receive 40% off, all with free installation. Just go to klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, we had David Gonzalez on earlier, by the way, owner of Mile High Coin. And if you've got a collection kicking around, things you've been collecting, that you've inherited, that have been given to you, whatever the case may be, give him a call, make an appointment, find out what it's worth. And then if you want to turn in a cash, he can help you with that as well. 720-370-3400.
SPEAKER 16 :
You inherited a coin collection, some beautiful jewelry or sterling flatware, and you're not quite sure who to trust with it. You need Mile High Coin. Owner David Gonzalez has 36 years working in precious metals, knows the market extremely well, and he has over 285 star reviews. Unlike any pawn or coin shop, Mile High Coin prides themselves on building trust first through educating you and through relationship building because he understands this business better than most. David will explain the value of what you have and then discuss all your options so you can decide what's best for you. Mile High Coin is open six days a week by appointment only for your privacy and security. David has a solid, outstanding reputation. And with honesty and transparency above all else, David will always do right by you and your family. Mention you're a KLZ listener and receive a no-charge appraisal when you connect with Mile High Coin by going to klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 12 :
putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, staying on the car topic, there is a new bill that's being debated, HB 25-1277. It is a bill that would require gasoline stations to put a sticker on the pump, a sign, telling you about climate and health impacts And this is what it would read exactly. Warning. Use of this product releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts and global heating, respectively, pursuant to Section 25-5-1603-CRS. Tampering with this label is a violation of Section 18-4-510-CRS. Number one, that can't be proved. That statement can't be proved. Use of this product releases air pollutants and greenhouse gases. Now, the air pollutants, well, of course, it's a carbon product. It's gasoline. Yes, it's going to have air pollutants in it. Anything like that will. But the greenhouse gases is the part I'm talking about. And it goes on to say, known by the state of Colorado to be linked to significant health impacts in global heating. Again, key word, significant. No, there's not. That's a lie. That whole sticker is a lie. Not true. Unproven. I don't know whether this will actually make it through or not if it passes. This would take effect July 1st of 2026. The labels must be printed in black ink on a white background in a type no smaller than 16 points displayed in a conspicuous location. Any violations of the labels would need to be cured within 45 days. More bureaucracy, folks. Bottom line, more bureaucracy. Not going to lower the price of fuel, by the way. Not going to help you fill up your tank. Not going to help out anything economically speaking. More bureaucracy. More literal red tape. In this case, I guess, white tape. So the primary bill sponsor is Representative June Joseph. June, do you not have anything better to do? You know, I pick on a lot of folks down at the Golden Dome, but I'm going to pick on this one. It's June. I don't know you, but do you not have anything better to do? She said that her caucus, she's Colorado State lead for the National Caucus of Environmental Legislatures. Again, useless caucus, by the way. It's aimed at creating legislative change combating environmental challenges. So I guess I'm answering my own question. June, you have nothing better to do. You have nothing better to do. This is not going to affect anything, any way, any time, any how. If you think for one second this is going to keep somebody from topping off their gas, filling up, deciding to drive something different, it's not. It's not. I mean, this is like a warning label for dummies, other than you're the dummy. Literally, you're the author of, you're the dummy here. This is going to do nothing but add cost to every single thing that an owner-operator does in regards to a fueling station, gas station, call it whatever you want. It's not a gas station because they sell other products as well, but you get where I'm going with this. reality is this isn't going to change anything at the end of the day it is not going to lower the amount of fuel that is pumped in the state of colorado at all not one bit in fact i will go as far as to tell you well maybe you're maybe you're like me i don't even pay any attention to the things on the pump in fact just really quick a side note my biggest irritation at the pump is the stupid digital screen that asks me 15 dozen questions. I want to pump the fuel now. I don't need a car wash. I don't need your loyalty program. I don't want to sign up for anything. I just want my gas or diesel, whatever it happens to be. I don't want to go through a litany of questions. Just give me the gas. I have limited time, and I'm not going to screw around at the pump. Give me my gas. And by the way, I'd love a receipt at the end, which half the time you get, half the time you don't get. That one I'd like to make as a law. I want a receipt, and I don't want to go inside. I hate going inside. I will not go inside. In fact, I'm one of those people where if I go to swipe my card and nothing works, I'm going to the next station. I am not going to go inside. I'm not thinking around with that. I'm not buying a candy bar. I'm not in there to screw around, get in a drink, or whatever else other people do. I don't do that. I want my gas. I want to go. Maybe some of you are like me. Maybe some of you are different. Maybe some of you go inside and hang out. I don't. I am not a hang out in the gas station kind of guy. Unless it's gas station sushi, then I might actually get some of that, but Yes, I've been known to eat gas station sushi. I'll eat anything. You guys all know that. But no, it's a rarity. It's got to be a road trip or something like that for me to go inside. Not exaggerating. I'm not going in the station. I don't care if it's cold. I don't care if it's hot. I just want my gas, and I want to go. I don't want to have to mess around. And my biggest complaint at the gas station is the 50 questions that are played on the screen before I get my gas. I just want my gas. I don't want anything else. Get rid of all that junk. So I'm one where I don't even pay attention to the stickers. I know there's three choices of gas, one choice of diesel if I'm getting that. That's all I care about. I'm going to push the right button to get my fuel and I'm gone. That's it. I don't need anything else. I don't need the car wash. I don't need any extra additives, which I don't fill up at those places because they're crap gas. But I don't need anything else. I just want the gas. That's it. Nothing else. Now, I am one that is... I'm very particular, and I do pay close attention, is there a skimming device on the pump? Yes, I do watch for that. So for some of you, you may be asking, what in the world are you talking about, John? Skimmers, they're called, will place what looks like the exact same componentry over the top of the existing card scanner that's there, and it enables then that thief to pick up your number and steal your stuff. You'll still slide it. It's working on top of what's already there that the pump needs to read your card so that you can pump gas, get charged, and so on. And it's not taking your payment or anything along those lines. It's just simply stealing your card number. That's all it's doing. It's a skimmer. So, yes, I do watch for those. You can typically see if there's a skimmer there. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go look it up. Go Google it. You'll see what skimmers look like. They're all over the Internet. By the way, they're not just on gas pumps. They're on anything that you would slide a card into, including some of those things that are at state. You know, you pay at the counter. Sometimes they get stuck on there when somebody's not looking. They can be on ATM machines, by the way. You can find them in a lot of different places, so really watch for the skimming devices. I know I took a path down a different area here, but yeah, make sure you're not getting skimmed. But as far as this particular bill goes and adding another layer of garbage to what an owner already needs to do that's required to record all sorts of other things when it comes to pumping fuel, they don't need any extra layer of bureaucracy, which is all this is. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to read what's on that pump. I would highly doubt that anybody even reads the last time the pump was calibrated and inspected and signed off on, which they're supposed to be done annually. I highly doubt anybody even reads that sticker. I do because I'm weird. But that's about it. I don't look at anything else. And again, going back to the whole digital screen thing, I just want my fuel and I want to move on. Now, I know there's other ways to do that. John from Cheyenne, he's got an app that he uses to wherever he goes in. He can just use his app. He goes and off he runs and so on. It might make things easier. I don't typically frequent the exact same stations all the time, so I'm not sure how well that would work for me. I know some of you are going to think, well, why don't you, John? Because I'm in all sorts of different places in town. And because I am, I am frugal enough to where if I can save, you know, 10 cents a gallon going here versus there, I will. And yes, I do watch that. And I tend to pay attention to those things and so on. And yes, I will fill up accordingly. So, yeah, I do pay attention to that. But this whole climate activism nonsense of putting this sticker on the pump and the climate activists are thrilled about this. Labeling is critical to ensuring consumers receive accurate information about the environmental impacts of their fuel choices. Folks, they don't have any choices. In a lot of cases, that's near their house or it's near where they work, and they're going to fill up and they're going to leave, and where else are they going to buy fuel? Like they have a choice? I guess what you're really trying to do is get them to drive something other than a gasoline-powered vehicle, but good luck with that. You've already tried shoving that down people's throats, and that doesn't work either. That one backfired. Didn't work out very well. Nothing that's pushed on someone by law works. People revolt. In some cases, they will not do it just because you're trying to shove it down their throat. It's sort of like giving your dog a pill. Even though the pill might taste good, the dog's not going to eat it. You've got to hide it. You've got to put it in a piece of bread. You've got to put it in a piece of cheese. You've got to do something else to get your dog to eat a dang pill. Why? Because they don't want to eat it. Because it's not the norm for them. Well, guess what? People are no different. It's exactly the same thing. They're not going to take the pill either. You have to hide it, disguise it, subsidize it, do whatever else to get them to eat it, because that's the only way you're going to get them to buy that product. And that's the way it is with EVs. It's no different. So I'll leave it at that. But, yeah, don't be surprised if this bill passes. It's one more layer that will add extra cost to your fuel because that's what the stations will do. It's dumb. It's not going to change anything at the end of the day. It's a feel-good measure by this particular representative, June Joseph. It is not going to do anything at the end of the day. And, June, I challenge you to call in and debate me on this because it's not going to change a single thing. We'll be back. Golden Eagle Financial is next. Al Smith, he wants to help with all of your future financial plans. Talk to Al today. Find him at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 10 :
Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial isn't just another financial advisor with a system to plug into. He's a counselor, an advisor, a relational advocate. Whether you're a lifetime worker with a pension and no plan, or a spreadsheet warrior with every penny accounted for, Al meets you where you are and can find ways to improve your situation with no pressure, no obligation, and of course, no charge for a consultation. Al asks questions that other advisors might skip and he puts himself in your shoes. What makes you tick? What motivates you? What brings you peace? And how can your money best serve you? That's why so many KLZ listeners trust Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial because he tailors every strategy to your comfort with risk. Your lifestyle and your goals, not an AI system. So if you're ready to get intentional with your retirement plan, call Al Smith of Golden Eagle Financial for a no-obligation conversation by going to klzradio.com slash money. Investment advisory services offered through Brookstone Capital Investment LLC, a registered investment advisor. BCM and Golden Eagle Financial Limited are independent of each other. Insurance products and services are not offered through BCM, but are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, Roof Savers of Colorado, Dave has a way to extend the life of your roof. He can actually replace your entire roof as well and do that at a substantial discount from what others out there are pricing right now. Call Dave today, 303-710-6916.
SPEAKER 02 :
Have you recently received a letter saying that your roof is no longer covered under your insurance due to its age? The insurance industry is changing the face of roof replacements, but we want to ensure that you can keep your roof alive and out of the landfills. With over 4 million square feet treated every week... We here at Roof Savers Colorado strive to maximize the life of your residential or flat roof. Up to 90% of older or damaged roofs do not require a full replacement. Extreme weather conditions here in Colorado lead to the drying, cracking, and granule loss that slowly kills your roof. Dave and his team are here to save it. With the rejuvenation treatment, we can put critical oils that bind your roof together back into the asphalt shingles, adding up to 15 years of life to your existing roof. And it's 100% people, pet, and plant friendly. For your commercial or flat roof needs, we provide a silicone-based coating with up to 95% UV reflectivity and a 50-year ponding warranty. Call the Roof Savers team today to set a free roof inspection at 303-710-6916 or go to roofsaversco.com.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, safe box deposits. They can customize a safe deposit box to fit you. That's why they are better than a bank. Talk to them today, 303-771-8000.
SPEAKER 15 :
With the Colorado gun laws changing rapidly, you need to secure a place to store your guns. And that place is Safebox. Safebox is Denver's most secure private vault designed to protect your firearms and valuables against displacement, loss, burglary, and fire. Safebox is a confidential storage solution. within a bank-grade vault combined with the highest levels of modern security. At Safebox, we don't have limitations, so you can have peace of mind when storing your gold, cash, firearms, or other precious belongings. Whether you've inherited or purchased gold coins, jewelry, firearms, or need a place for your important documents, we are exactly what you have been searching for. If you're tired of lugging your guns or valuables back and forth when traveling to Colorado, come pay us a visit and we'll help you find your perfect storage solution. We make it convenient for you to schedule an appointment online or feel free to call us anytime. Feel relieved when using Safebox and find them at klzradio.com. Safebox, your own private vault.
SPEAKER 05 :
Call in to the KLZ studio line, 303-477-5600. Now, back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, my son Richard should be joining me here in a moment. Before that, though, I got a great reminder from somebody. John, by the way, thank you for this. Those of you that don't drive a diesel vehicle, Please, for the love of God, unless it's the only pump open, do not go to the pump with the green handle. Okay? That's for diesel. And it never fails. Anytime I'm driving a diesel vehicle and I'm looking for a pump, some knucklehead has parked and then gone inside to get their Coke or candy bar or whatever else they're dinking around doing. And they're parked in front of the only diesel pump available. Sometimes, for whatever reason, some of the other ones might be down or they're gloved off or whatever the case may be. And it never fails. That person that's not driving a diesel, and yes, you can tell by looking at the car whether it's a diesel or not, they're parked in front of the only diesel pump on the island. Drives me crazy. So, unless you're driving a diesel, do not go to the green-handled pump ever unless it's the only thing open. I don't care. There's no excuse. If it's not open, okay, I'll give you a pass. But if any of the rest of them are open and there's no green handle there, go there. Even when I'm driving one of my gas vehicles, not a diesel vehicle, and I need to fill up, I don't go to the green handle. Why? Because of everything I just mentioned. So, John from Centennial, thank you for that reminder. That is one of my big pet peeves as well, is people that are not driving a diesel truck that are at the diesel pump, blocking it up for all the people that actually have a diesel truck or car or whatever. car or truck, that need to be using it. Everybody else, by the way, that's asking about the tickets from cameras. Yes, there has been a change. It happened beginning of 2024, not 2025, but 2024. Prior to 2024, you could ignore any of those red light speeding tickets, whatever that came in the mail. You could ignore those unless you were served You could ignore those. Well, because it's a Democrat state, in 2023, they passed a law. whereby you couldn't ignore those any longer. They did some things legislatively whereby you now would have to fight that in court if you didn't want to pay either the red light camera or the speeding ticket, camera, you know, ticket. So some of you have been asking me along those lines whether you have to pay those tickets that you may have received here of late. And yes, you do because of the legislative change that I mentioned a moment ago Yes, you have to pay those tickets now. That has changed. Again, that changed early. January 1 of 2024, I believe, was the date. And it's all the way through now. So, yes, we're in 2025. And, yes, you have to pay those. So it used to be, and even on this program, I had Kevin Flesch on. We talked about it numerous times. And prior to that, and I've been on air for a very, very long time, and those tickets have been around for a very long time. You used to be able to just ignore those, not even worry about fighting them. Now, what I will tell you is if you have got a legitimate case to fight those, you're not the driver. You can prove you're not the driver. You can prove it wasn't your car. Sometimes those things are not foolproof. They can make mistakes. And if you can tell for sure that there's been a mistake that has been made, you can fight that in the same way. And again, not pay that ticket, but fight it instead. All right, Richard, you joining us now? Go ahead.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, that I am. Sorry. Was involved with some things there.
SPEAKER 17 :
That's all right. Not a problem. All right. We've got a few minutes here before we go to our next break. Come back and do a couple reviews. Talk to us about the Final Four and how things are shaping up.
SPEAKER 06 :
Final Four, Duke had a mini-collapse over the weekend. You and I kind of talked about that earlier. They were playing well, and it just goes to show you, Houston, I think there was something Walt was telling me that I think their guys run like all of their guys can run a mile under six minutes or something like that. And it showed late in that game. They were a more conditioned team. They did. Duke got tired. They kind of let the lead slip away. Overall, it was to Houston's benefit. Honestly, I don't even know if Houston's the more talented team. I think that Duke's really talented. They've got the Likely number one overall pick in the NBA draft coming up on their team. I'll tell you what, this is my opinion.
SPEAKER 17 :
I think what happened, and again, others might argue with me on that one. I think that happened to be a situation where Duke got outcoached.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, and that could be that. John Shire is a, I think it's his third year coaching. He took over for Coach K a few years ago. And Calvin Sampson is a very accomplished coach. He's been coaching for a long time.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah. Again, not watching the entire game, but I did get a chance to watch kind of the end of that, and I was watching everything you talked about, and I was watching, you know, keep in mind, too, and this is not necessarily always, well, it is the coach's fault because everything rises and falls on leadership. I think Duke got a little cocky as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, they did. I think they were up big throughout the whole game. They were up big late, and I'm with you. I think that you sort of saw them crack a little bit, and I think you also saw a result of they played in a little bit, even though the ACC is traditionally a really strong basketball conference. It was a little weaker this year, and so I think that you saw sort of the results of that as well, to where they weren't as battle-tested as Houston, which played in the Big 12, same conference as CU. A lot of good teams in there, a lot of close games throughout the year, and I think you kind of saw that. So it should be entertaining tonight to have Florida in Houston SEC versus Big 12. We'll see who pulls that out. You also have the Masters starting this week, Dad, which will look different for folks because for those that remember, it was a while ago, but back in October when one of the hurricanes kind of rolled through Florida and those parts of it actually rolled into Florida, into the Masters and into Augusta, and it ended up actually taking out quite a few trees on the Masters course. And so it doesn't look any worse for the wear, but from what I've been reading, people will be able to tell the difference on TV of just fewer trees. You know, maybe not lots fewer, you know, not massive changes to holes, but fewer trees, which is... You know, unfortunately, it's one of those things where Mother Nature shall do her thing for sure. But obviously, you do get used to seeing those big, beautiful trees, especially down there and kind of the sign of spring. So it'll be interesting there, Dad.
SPEAKER 17 :
Really quick, before we move on from the Masters, one thing I did notice, I want to check with you on this, because I didn't know if this was just an Internet rumor or if it's really true. Do they still sell the same food for the same prices they always have?
SPEAKER 06 :
Dad, you can buy one of everything on the food menu. I think it's for $41, and I believe they have like 20 items.
SPEAKER 17 :
Okay, so it hasn't changed. What I read was correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
No, it actually is what I was going to get into. So they have adopted the mentality of basically the food and the beverage on site is relatively inexpensive. You can get a pimento and cheese sandwich for like $2. You can get a beer for like $4. Right. And they bought into the idea that you're there, you're there to watch golf. They don't really need to make a bunch of money on the concession. They do make their money on their merchandise, right? You know, the average, I think ticket, you know, we've talked about this a little bit, you know, the business of the masters. I think the average sales ticket of merchandise, and I want to say it's about $500. And I think they make, I think it's like $10 million. No, they make a lot more than that. They make a gazillion dollars just in the pro store every Masters. They buy polos. They buy all sorts of things. There's really no limit to how much you can buy. But they've taken the approach, Dad, that people will buy more concessions if they're cheaper. And actually, the Atlanta Falcons in their new stadium, a few years ago, took a similar approach, and they priced their concessions more affordably as well. And the idea is that we will get people to show up earlier and stay later and make more frequent trips.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, you know what? I would agree with that. I think that's a great strategy. I think a lot of people make one trip, if that. Some even pack things in or sneak things in, even though they're not allowed to actually, quote-unquote, take things in. You see people do it all the time. You would avoid that if you had reasonably priced concessions.
SPEAKER 06 :
And that's the mentality of the Masters and what the Falcons have done and what actually several pro sports franchises are trying to. Honestly, it's something I wish the Broncos and the Rockies and even the Nuggets and Avs would do is make it more affordable. And you'll get people that go back and they will more than make up for the lack of your profit margin on the items. There's no reason that a tub of popcorn needs to cost you $20. Correct. Or a beer needs to cost you $12, or a hot dog, for crying out loud, needs to cost you $8. Again, I think you can go to the Falcons game and get a hot dog for like $1.50. And like I said, at the Masters, you can get the pimento and cheese sandwich. They have a really good peach dessert that they have there. Even their azalea cocktail. that they have. They make, I think it's $3.50 or something like that. Again, really cheap, and they make a killing on it. We talk about this every year. CBS doesn't pay any money to broadcast it. Basically, they get the rights because they have agreed to give all control to Augusta National. They decide how many sponsorships they have, how many commercial breaks they have, and there's not that many. You'll notice that. They've also been criticized because they only do certain pairings on thursday and friday they only kind of broadcast the premier groups um and then on saturday and sunday you know cbs takes over and but but they've got it down to an art and they've got it down to a science dad um and they've done a really really good job on it and so yeah so that's coming up this week i guess the the the nfl draft is in two weeks um see you had their pro day last week with shadur sanders and travis hunter and lots of people up in boulder and That was exciting. Obviously, we talked about the Final Four tonight. Oh, and talking about the Rockies already out of contention already, Major League Baseball started up. Actually, you had the Dodgers, the World Series champions. meet President Trump today. It's been an interesting reversal, Dad, because when his first term, it sort of became the cool thing to decline an invite. You had several players, and I think the Philadelphia Eagles declined the invite, or maybe that was the rumor. But now, I think three teams in four weeks, you've got the The Dodgers are visiting him today. I believe Ohio State, the college football champions, are visiting next week. And I believe the week after that is the Eagles are finally making their White House. Because here's the deal, Dad. It doesn't matter who's in the White House. It is a cool thing to be able to go to the White House and meet the president, no matter if you agree with the guy or not. I agree. Didn't get to at this point in time, but there's only so many people that have ever been president. That's right. And there's only, what, at this point in time, you've got, you know, you've got George W., Clinton, Barack, Biden, and then Trump. So you've only got five living presidents at this point in time?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
I mean, it's kind of an opportunity. So, but I'm, you know what, Dad, and I will leave with this. I'm excited because, again, it's sports, as we always talk about. It should not be politicized. It should be the time to come across the aisle. And I can guarantee you every person on the Dodgers doesn't agree with them, maybe even their manager or whatever it might be. But it's still cool to be able to meet, shake hands with the president, have a few nice words said about you, get a tour of the White House, and just enjoy it. So I'm glad for them and glad for everyone else that gets to do it.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, we'll come back here in a moment. Ridgeland Auto Brokers coming up next. If you're looking for a new used car, they've got you covered. There's plenty of inventory right now, and if there's something that you would like to have they don't have, they're happy to find that for you as well. RidgelandAutoBrokers.com.
SPEAKER 11 :
Are you in the market for a reliable car, truck, or SUV that won't break the bank? Does your vehicle need high-quality auto repair? Then look no further. Ridgeline Auto Brokers and Legacy Auto Repair specialize in quality used cars that cost between $15,000 and $25,000, making them a great option for first-time drivers or anyone looking for a great deal. At Ridgeline, we pride ourselves on providing a transparent and healthy hassle-free car buying experience. That's why we never charge any dealer fees. Plus, all of our vehicles are inspected by our team of ASE-certified technicians. You can trust that the car you're buying is in excellent condition. And remember, we can also service your vehicle after the sale. At Ridgeline, we can take your current vehicle on trade, and we also offer competitive financing options for vehicle purchases and also for vehicle repairs. Ridgeline now has two locations, one in Boulder and now a second location in Fort Collins located at 1101 North College Avenue. Both locations offer full-service auto repair and a host of off-road accessories. Check out all their services at RidgelineAutobrokers.com. Ridgeline, the smart way to buy or service or accessorize your car, truck, or SUV.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, affordable interest mortgage. Yes, mortgage rates are changing. They were down this morning. Find out exactly how much. Talk to Kurt today, 720-895-0500.
SPEAKER 01 :
Interested in buying a new home? Well, the cost may have just gone down. It's been a seller's market for years, and buyers are regaining some authority. Want to cut your cost when you buy? Take AIM, Affordable Interest Mortgage, 720-895-0500. Recent changes to buyer's agent compensation now helps the buyer spend less. Sellers no longer need to raise the price to cover compensation for both sides. Your pre-approval now gives you more control in pricing and compensation. Make sure you work with a knowledgeable mortgage broker that will save you money. Take AIM 720-895-0500. AIM has a team of broker agents willing to negotiate their compensation and save you thousands. They know the new law. They're experienced and professional. Before you sign with an agent, protect yourself with a real pre-approval letter that puts you in charge. Take AIM. Affordable Interest Mortgage, 720-895-0500. We have that team willing to work for you. That's 720-895-0500. Regulated by Dora and MLS, 217-147, Equal Credit Lender.
SPEAKER 14 :
Is your office ready for a new copier? Business Equipment Service has you covered. Whether you're a small business or a large corporation, Business Equipment Service has current model Konica Minolta and Canon copiers on sale right now. Our models have very minimal usage at a fraction of the cost of buying new. We stand behind our equipment with a 90-day parts and labor warranty, as well as a one-year or 100,000-page performance warranty. giving you the reliability you need to keep things running smoothly. Right now, get free delivery and installation when you mention this ad. Why choose us? Aside from saving thousands on high-performance copiers, we have lease options starting at $100 per month, we service and supply what we sell, we offer full-service maintenance plans, fast on-site service, and remote support. For over 20 years, Business Equipment Service has helped hundreds of Colorado businesses find affordable, reliable office solutions. Visit us at besofcolorado.com or call 303-825-5664. We don't yell at you. We inform you. Now back to Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 17 :
And we are back, Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. This is the point on Mondays where we combine a little bit of drive radio with Rush to Reason, do some car reviews at the same time. Richard, you recently drove a 2025 Mazda CX-70.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes, Dad, we did. It was a really fun car to drive. It is an all-new model, actually, for 2025. Therefore, it's basically, we actually did the CX-90, the Mazda CX-90, a few weeks back for folks who want to check that one out. That's basically the seven-passenger version of the CX-70. Really, when you look at the car, folks, where the third row goes is just more cargo space. They've removed, basically, they still have cup holders and charging ports and some other stuff back there, which you can use for tailgating or some other things. So I don't know the exact dimensions, Dad, so I don't want to comment 100% on it. But to me, the car looked and felt exactly like the CX-90, just without the third row. Now, the only thing I would like to see with that is they could have maybe scooted that second row back.
SPEAKER 17 :
Give a little more leg room for the second seat.
SPEAKER 06 :
Exactly. Give me a little bit more. Now, granted, I didn't have any adults in there. I just had the kiddos in the back with their booster seats, and they fit just fine. But it would have been nice, especially as you know, Dad, my oldest, a little bit taller. He hits the seat a little bit at times, right? So it's definitely something that I would like to see. And I looked it up.
SPEAKER 17 :
It is exactly a CX-90 with that third seat out, giving you a lot more cargo capacity than what the 90 has. That's really what they did. You're 100% correct.
SPEAKER 06 :
A lot more. And at the same time, it's actually brilliant because they're saying, you know, I think you save a little money on it. You don't save a lot. So if you are thinking, oh, I could maybe use that, you know, that third row at some point in time, I would still consider the CX-90, Dad. But if you're like, I really don't need that. I just want that extra cargo room. I want all of the capabilities of the 90, but I really don't. I don't want to have to be the carpool mom, right? Right. This is definitely a car that I would consider, right? Because you don't have that third row. You don't even have that option. As far as price-wise go, Dad, you can get this from the 3.3 turbo preferred for about $42,000 all the way up to the plug-in hybrid for just under $60,000. We talked about the engine choice. We had the 3.3 liter turbo in here that worked really, really well. The 3.3 turbo, I should say, worked really well for our model, Dad, especially up here at our altitude. It got up and went. It really did. It did what it was supposed to do, and again, especially at our altitude, just having that extra bit of power is really, really nice. We'd love to get our hands on the plug-in hybrid, but again, all-new model for this year, so we'll just kind of have to wait on that. Overall, we're really impressed. If folks want to learn more, they can kind of go back to our review of the CX-90. Almost all of it carries over, you know, updated infotainment, updated tech on the inside, lots of really nice apportionments, soft-touch materials throughout it to add heated, you know, heated ventilated seats, all that good stuff. So I would encourage folks to check it out. Head to your local Mazda dealer. Again, this is all new for 2025, and if you're in that market for a very roomy, at least, you know, kind of overall speaking, for a five-row SUV, the 2025 Mazda CX-70, tell them that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, we did a review, or I'm going to do a review. I drove a 2025 Yukon. It's a four-wheel drive version, AT4 Ultimate. So some of you are thinking, okay, what's the AT4? That's more of their quote-unquote rugged slash off-road version. It's been in a lot of the pickup trucks for quite some time. There's been some AT4s even on the Yukon end of things, although... I believe, Richard, 2025 is the first year for the AT4 Ultimate, meaning they're combining kind of that AT4 with the Ultimate trim package together. Retail price of this is $100,285. Yes, that's a lot. Actually, sorry, with destination $102,000. 280 that is sticker price on this particular vehicle the at4 in this particular case gives you the electronic limited slip rear differential which gives you more traction in those particular scenarios where you'd want it you get all of the air ride adaptive suspension of course extra skid plates things along those lines you get the red tow hooks so if you see the red hooks running around you know that's the at4 version on the gmc end of things this by the way is a refresh for 2025 as far as how the grille and front end look, and how the interior, the dash, it's got a huge center stack screen now, which I'll just say straight up, GMC, beautiful. Yes, there's other vehicles out there with a huge center stack, although, Richard, I will tell you the clarity, the functionality, how everything works, where the button layouts are, and so on. It is a wonderful setup, 6.2 liter engine, which I believe, don't quote me, I think it's the same as my truck because I've got a 6.2 in the truck. I think... I think it's 420 horse, is that correct? I think that sounds right, yep. I think it's 420. Runs extremely well. I mean, even at our altitude, no turbocharger, no nothing. It works very well, and surprisingly enough, and I know because I own one in my truck, and it's exactly the same engine. If you drive this vehicle correctly... You can get 19 to 20 miles to the gallon even with the 6.2. Now, if you get your foot in it quite a bit and you're a little bit heavy on that end of things, it'll drop all the way down to the 15, 16 miles to the gallon range. But if you drive this thing correctly, and they even state highway miles at 18, I can always exceed the highway mile end of things on my truck or this vehicle, and I did driving this. But I'll tell you, Richard, they've done a very nice job. I can see why. They continue to sell these things, even though the sticker price is what it is. They sell these things year after year after year after year because versatility wise. And for those of you that are like me where you've got a I've got a crew cab short box truck versus the Yukon. This isn't the Suburban because the Suburban is more my length of vehicle when you take a crew cab truck. The Yukon is shorter. Think more of a short box truck with maybe just an extra cab, and it's even probably a little shorter than that. I will tell you, after driving the truck, which I do on a daily basis versus driving the Yukon, Yukon is more comfortable to drive. It's got less noise interior-wise. It's more nimble because it's shorter, easier to park, easier to make a U-turn, all of those different things, Richard, I will tell you that. Personally, minus the price, and that one is, yeah, it is a hard pill to swallow, but that's the going rate for that particular type of vehicle. Is this a vehicle I would own? Absolutely 100%.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, yeah, and we own several others just because of all the things that we do. And if you've got a large family, Dad, we grew up in similarly sized vehicles, right? And they serve a purpose. They are great for what they do. You're driving an enclosed truck in a lot of cases. And, yeah, like you said, the AT4, definitely much more off-road oriented, but they're kind of trying to blend the off-road with the luxury with that AT4 Ultimate. But like you said, sort of second to none, folks. And, yes, there's other cars in this segment. But if you go out and do a little bit of research, even on the resale side, which you and I have done, there's a reason that there's a very long waiting list for the EM product that is out today. Yeah.
SPEAKER 17 :
By the way, in closing, this one also came with a lot of extra options to get up to that 100K, like night vision and illuminated door sill plates, and it even says GMC when you open the door, it shines down from the mirror. Again, really, really cool features that do set this apart from other vehicles out there like it. And I will tell you, if you're in the market for that type of a full-size SUV, one thing I'll also say really quick in closing, these things hold their value extremely well. So it's one of the few vehicles out there that actually does well on the secondary market. Go check one out at your local GMC dealer. You may or may not find one on the lot. They can always order you one if need be. Tell them that John and Richard Rush both from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you. And with that, Richard, I'll let you go. Sounds good to see you. All right, appreciate it. All right, up next, Cup Creek heating and air conditioning. Find them at klzradio.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
Cub Creek will give you confidence that your HVAC system is not going to fail. Heating and AC systems need checkups every now and again, and they need to be maintained so that they work efficiently. When they fail during extreme weather, it can be a big inconvenience. That's why you should have Rheem Pro Partner Cub Creek come out to see if your HVAC is performing as it should, so you don't wind up needing expensive emergency service. Cub Creek won't upsell you. Their techs don't work on commission, and they will provide creative options so you can make an educated decision for your unique home. They can navigate incentives and rebates with you to save you as much as $4,500 and make sure you maximize the savings you get. They offer warranties above manufacturer guarantees, and Cub Creek takes pride in their work, as you can see in their five-star Google reviews. Don't wait to get your HVAC looked at. Contact Cub Creek Heating and AC. Find them on the klzradio.com advertisers page.
SPEAKER 05 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 17 :
All right, that's it for Hour 2. Hour 3 is next. Rush to Reason, Denver's Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
