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In an engaging session, Michael shares his personal and professional experiences to highlight the importance of balancing family expectations with effective estate planning. From understanding the nuances between trusts and wills to appreciating the diversity of family dynamics, this episode provides valuable guidance on how to prepare a comprehensive estate plan. Michael’s anecdotes bring clarity to the language of law, empowering you to make informed decisions for your future.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey. Over a decade ago, attorney Michael Bailey turned his attention to estate law after he recognized the unacceptable number of adults without proper end of life planning. Michael recognizes that many of his clients have difficulty finding the time for making a proper estate plan. That's why he became the Mobile Estate Planner. He will go to wherever you are to assist you with your estate planning, including writing wills, trusts, and giving you the information you need to avoid probate. Now, ATX, Ask the Experts, presents Mobile Estate Planning with your host, Michael Bailey.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good afternoon. Welcome to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. So we can do something besides just leave your family alone. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. That is the line for the KLZ studios because you're listening to KLZ 560 AM, possibly 100.7 FM or on the KLZ 560 radio app. Again, the phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. And once again, that's 720-394-6887. So as we go about estate planning, we're trying to figure out how to get your assets from you to whomever you want once you pass away. But I got a call from someone this morning who said, well, gee, I was talking with my neighbors and I just want to make sure that this, this, this, this, and this. Because apparently their neighbors are now experts on estate planning. And their neighbors know everything there is to know about estate planning. And anything that the neighbors say should in fact be run by me as the attorney to see if I believe or I think that their neighbors have things right. Or that they should be doing something different based on what their neighbors told them. Now, most of the time I'm a-okay with that. And I'm like, okay, we can answer that. But then they'll be like, oh, but my neighbor said we need to do this and this. And how come we didn't do this? And I'm like, because your situations are different or because there's not just one approach that does everything. And I think sometimes people forget that not everything is the same for everybody. And not everybody who has an opinion is somebody that we necessarily need to listen to. And I'm not saying don't listen to your neighbors. I'm not saying don't have discussions with your neighbors. But I'm saying that not everything is exactly the same. Sometimes I have my clients who will ask me, like, oh, what would you do in this situation? I said, well, I really need to, you know. My situations are like, well, what have you done? I'm like, well, I put together a trust to hold my house and my RV campsites that I own in Idaho. I have minor children, so it makes sense for me to do a trust, so that's why I did that. And they're like, well, what would you do if you were us? And I'm like, I would do what you choose. Sometimes people want to try to, you know, almost if they want me to decide for them. And I'm not big on deciding for people. I'm big on giving people options and letting them decide for themselves. But it's kind of... Everybody seems to have an opinion on what they should, what should or should not be done. And a lot of times their opinion is based on whatever their attorney has told them to do. So, you know, some attorneys that I know, I mean, I know plenty of attorneys who believe that everybody should have a trust because, you know, then the trust doesn't have to go through the, then when somebody dies, trust does not need to go through probate because it's a trust. And trusts don't have to go through probate for the most part. If there's a dispute over a trust, it's heard in probate court. There are also attorneys who believe that everybody should have a will and that nobody should or needs to have a trust. Well, neither extreme is necessarily the way that it needs to be. But, you know, so sometimes when people are like, oh, you know, you have to have a trust because of this, this, this, and this. I'm like, okay, cool. And, you know, sometimes some of the trust planning that was done however many years ago, you know, becomes different than what it needs to be. I had somebody who came in the other day and they were worried about their trust and did they need to update it and whatever. They wanted to change the distribution pattern, and as I read through the trust, I'm like, okay. So this trust was probably set up, what, mid to late 90s? They're like, well, how do you know that? They hadn't given me the date on it. I said, well, it's what we call an AB trust or a marital deduction trust planning. And so that was kind of the type of estate planning that was the – very popular and in vogue and you know worked really well when the estate tax limits were very different from what they are now and so you look at it go okay well you know that makes sense for that the tax rules are very different now so you know the in their 60 page trust 15 pages were dedicated to the to planning for the tax stuff and i said well you know we don't necessarily need these we can do something different And they're like, okay, cool. Most people get all excited when you can do something simple and simpler and simplify things. And so there's just less there. Now, you still want to do the correct amount of simple or complex things. And so sometimes people are, I mean, I'll have clients be like, oh, well, you know, this section is very confusing to a non-lawyer. Why don't you rewrite it so that it's, you know, it can be understood by a non-lawyer? And I'm like, well, see, part of the reason that we... write it that way is because those are the words and that's the phraseology that we're supposed to use and that we know will work for the courts. And the Supreme Court has approved that language and told us that that's the favored way to do it. And people are like, well, but you need to do this because that's what I want. And this is always a fun one. If you were a good attorney, then you would be able to do this. I'm like, okay, we're going to pause for just a moment there. Part of the reason that I do things and I practice law is because I sometimes maintain that I speak English, I speak law, and I speak Russian. And English and law use the same words, but sometimes they're as different as English and Russian. I feel like that sometimes when I'm talking to my brother-in-law, who's a doctor, and he'll be describing a case, and he kind of gets into all the medical things that were going on, and I'm like, okay, I understand what you're saying, and that probably makes perfect sense to you, but that's not a place where I play all the time. So, you know, if someone, you know, so, I mean, we could probably do this with Luke. Luke, if someone said to you, I had a myocardial infarction, what would you think? Do you know what happened? No. Are you sure? Maybe. Yeah. Do you want to take a guess? Will I look like an idiot if I get it wrong? No. Most people don't know what a myocardial infarction is. I'm going to guess that it's a disease. It's a heart attack. Okay. More or less. I mean, I wasn't too wrong. No, no. You weren't that far off. But, you know, that's one that, you know, there's a scene in, like, Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home, where they're trying to get in the hospital and... You know, they're running through the hospital and there's a lady on a gurney and she's moaning. And, you know, there's two police officers like, I don't know, we need to get in there. It's like, we can't let you in there. Like, my goodness, man, don't you know? And he lists off, it's like 40 different medical words. You know, she has an acute case of, you know, whatever. I can't even repeat it. And the police officers look at her like, okay, let her in. And they go through the door and Captain Kirk looks at Bones and says, what did you tell her she has? And he says, cramps. So, you know, it's a whole different language. And as an attorney, I'm not trying to make things more complicated. But I'm also probably not, if you're going to get mad at me for using the language that attorneys are given and the language that the Supreme Court tells us to use, that seems like a silly thing to be upset with me about. And no, I didn't expect you to necessarily know what that one was, unless like your grandmother or your relative had had a heart attack, Mr... That's all right. My ignorance helped prove your point better. That's all I was trying to do was say, you know, it's a different language. It is. I mean, I didn't know it. I mean, so here's a fun one. So in English, it's the myocardial infarction. Do you know what the Russian word for it is?
SPEAKER 01 :
No.
SPEAKER 02 :
Infarction. It's the same word. All right, well. So now you know how to say heart attack in Russian. Woo-hoo! Not that it matters, but silliness. Fun party trick, I suppose. Fun fact, yeah. I learned it when I was there. I was like, huh, interesting. Despite the fact that we're talking about random things, this is Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey here on 560 KLZ, also heard on 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And again, that's 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. And once again, 720-394-6887. So, part of what I was taught and what we talked about in law school was was how there's a very big move to writing more and more things in plain English instead of in kind of law language. And we do the best we can, and we try to do that. But sometimes in the seeking of simplicity, we can lose a little bit of doing things the right way too. Because I would love to have everything. I mean, my favorite will that I've ever heard, It comes from the movie Secondhand Lions, where there's the plot of Secondhand Lions. There's two uncles who end up raising their nephew, and they've had all sorts of adventures and do all sorts of things. But at the end, the two uncles die, and the sheriff's like, well, I found their will. And it reads, and I quote, the kid gets everything. Just plant us in the damn garden next to the stupid lion. That's the entirety of the will. I'm like, that would be great. I would love to write something like that. But I don't know that that would quite be what we want. Now, if you only have one kid, you can say, hey, the kid gets everything. Which kid? Well, your kid. Are you sure about that? Or is it Billy the Kid? Or Kid Rock? Or, I don't know, some other kid that's out there. Maybe you had a favorite goat that's a kid. There's any number of, I mean, we'd probably interpret it as being your kid. But it might be a little bit better to say, when I die, my children die. Caitlin Bailey, Alison Bailey, and Carter Bailey will split everything equally, one-third to each. Now, there are people who will be like, oh, the equally and one-third to each is redundant. You don't need to do that. I'm like, eh, see, the law is a little bit understanding of redundancies and builds those redundancies in because we don't want to have to redo everything every time something might change. Now, I mean, when, just because it's the first one that came to mind, When Kobe Bryant died, Kobe Bryant had a whole trust, and his widow, Vanessa, had to go to the probate court in California and request that his youngest daughter be added to the trust to receive an equal portion to her other siblings. Because of all the things that had happened, he had not updated his trust. Well, in many of the trusts that I write for people who have younger children and are still in kind of the childbearing ages, I say, okay, without telling you how many members of your family you should have or without telling you you should or should not have children, if you have one child who's two and another one that is a newborn, Are you thinking about or is there a possibility you will have more? People say, well, you know, I might have more. Okay, cool. Then when we write a will, we'll write it so that it says we'll have the additional, we'll say, okay, it'll be, you know, assets will go to the two kids and to any future born children. So now we're anticipating that they might have future-born children. And so if they might have future-born children, that they'll be covered under the will and trust so that we're not saying, oh my goodness, what are we possibly going to do? How could we possibly, you know, it accounts for there might be future-born children so that every time you have a child, you don't necessarily need to update a will or a trust, but it's put in there. Now, you might want to do things differently if you have more children, or you might want to split them up differently, or as your children get older, and maybe you helped one more pay for college, or you helped one more to buy a house, and so you say, well, I want to treat all the kids equally, but if I spent $100,000 on my child's college education... And then for another child, I gave them $50,000 for a down payment on a house. Then maybe I want the child that got the $50,000 down payment on a house to get $50,000 more than the other sibling who got $100,000 for college. Because then it all evens itself out. You say, okay, we'll give the first $50,000 here. And then the rest of it, we can split up evenly. Okay, well, that sounds like a plan. Sounds like a good thing to do. And so you could move ahead with doing that. And that may or may not be what you want. You may also say, hey, we've given our kids enough and we haven't kept track. We haven't kept a ledger of how much we spent on this kid versus that kid. So we're just going to split things up evenly. We're going to call it equal. We'll call it even. We're like, all right, that'll be fine. That's cool. And... I mean, because in my experience, it's very difficult to keep track of the total amount of dollars spent on each kid for different things. Each of my children is involved in different activities. My oldest daughter, she played basketball and was involved with basketball and we did that. And then she hit high school. And when she hit high school, her freshman year was the COVID year. So she was doing classes remotely. And then when they went back, it was like, you know, two days remote, two days in school. And so there was only half as many kids in the school. And then eventually got to having everybody be at the school. And in high school, she got into doing Knowledge Bowl and Battle of the Books and things like that. And we support her in all of that. Well, my middle child is a volleyball player. And volleyball is a sport that is played at the high school level, but there's also club volleyball, where you go and you play for club teams, and they do traveling tournaments. Not this weekend, but the previous weekend, I was in Spokane, Washington for a volleyball tournament. And everybody's like, oh, Spokane, that's eastern Washington. It's so dry. It's so this. I'm like, well, it rained all the days we were there, and it was really green and pretty. And we actually drove across the state border into Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and saw Lake Coeur d'Alene, and that was kind of cool. And when we got there, there was a little bit of a mist. So you had the lake and then the shores of the lake and then kind of the mountains, and then there was a mist in it. It looked really cool. People were always apologizing. They're like, oh no, this seems like such a terrible, you know, we're sorry for the horrible weather. It's so much better. Other times we're like, we kind of like it. It's kind of neat. And as we were walking around Coeur d'Alene, you know, my wife and I had gone, my daughter had stayed to hang out with her volleyball friends, but we'd gone to Coeur d'Alene and we were there around dinnertime and it was fantastic. A little bit, it got a little bit cold and a little bit rainy. We're like, you know what, this seems like, you know, some warm food weather. And we found a place where we could go that served us clam chowder in a bread bowl and some fish and chips and things like that. We were like, okay, yeah, we can live with that. That's cool. We're good. And, you know, had it been a... Hot July day, we might not have wanted clam chowder in a bread bowl. We would have opted for something else. In an odd coincidence, all of the ice cream shops were closed on a drizzly, rainy, kind of cold day in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. So we didn't get any ice cream. Oh, well, that's fine. But the club volleyball experience and paying for being involved in club volleyball and the travel and all of that is more expensive than my daughter, my oldest daughter going to a knowledge bowl tournament. and we're not keeping track of, oh, well, we spent this many dollars on your club volleyball and we spent this many dollars on your Knowledge Bowl or Battle of the Books or Science Bowl. We're not keeping track of all of that because we're not trying to even it all out to make sure that we're giving the exact same dollar amount to each child. That isn't really how we do things, but we've made sure that all of our children have had their needs met to the best we can. Now, Some of the players on my daughter's club volleyball team, they're significantly richer than we are. You know, one up until recently had access to the corporate jet for the company he worked for. I'm like, well, that would be cool. I mean, apparently the. The way that we know he no longer has access to the corporate jet is the flights into Spokane where there weren't a whole lot of them and there wasn't a great, you know, they were a little expensive. Like this would have been the tournament to have him fly us all in. We could have all taken the corporate jet, but it didn't work out and that's fine. But you know, if you, if you have access to the corporate jet, that means you're probably pretty high on the corporate food chain, so to speak. And you probably make more than well, what I do. And so, you know, we're, we're not necessarily rich. We're not necessarily poor. We're kind of in the middle, but you know, it's kind of fun to go with some of these people who are much richer and see how. They live and are like, hey, well, we can kind of tag along, but we may not be quite as apt to buy all the things that everybody else does. So you are listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey here on 560 AM KLZ, also heard on 100.7 FM or the KLZ 560 radio app. Phone number to talk to me on the air is 303-477-5600. And again, that's 303-477-5600. And my direct line is 720-394-6887. And once again, 720-394-6887. So we're trying to treat our children equally. We're trying to help them. But equally doesn't mean everything's exactly the same down to the dollar or the penny or whatever we want it to be. It's just kind of... kind of one of those things that we say, okay, you know, we've, we took, uh, you know, the same way that my, when we've, we've gone on vacations more recently to Cabo San Lucas and to Hawaii. And, you know, those are the Cabo trip was cheaper than the Hawaii trip. You know, knowing going on a Hawaii trip, we know full well, it's going to be more expensive because it's Hawaii. Um, but yeah, And a couple of years ago, we took a cruise with my wife's family. We all went on a Thanksgiving cruise. And so we all went on a Thanksgiving cruise when my son was like 10 or 11. Well, when my oldest daughter was 10 or 11, we didn't quite have the money to just go on a cruise. I was still in the midst of... building a practice and you know always building a practice but it was a little bit smaller than it was it was smaller back then than it is right now and so you know my my youngest son has been on more kind of flying and cool vacations at a younger age than my oldest daughter has now my oldest daughter it's not like she missed out on anything you know we'd go visit grandpa and grandma or things like that and We still do that as vacations, but it hasn't been a 100% equal, we've done everything all the same all the time. Last year, after my daughter graduated from high school, we sent her on a European vacation with her uncle, so my sister's brother and our sister-in-law. They had a daughter that graduated too, and They had booked a two-week vacation to go. They went to France, and they went to Spain, and they went to Italy, and they were on a cruise ship. They would travel overnight, and then they'd be in Florence, Italy for the day, or they'd be in Rome for the day, so they could go visit all the cool sights in Rome that my daughters wanted to see for her entire life, and so she was super excited about that. But when she got back from that vacation, two or three days later, we all went off to the sand dunes in St. Anthony, Idaho, where we frequently, at least usually on a yearly basis, meet up with my wife's family and they do vacation there. While my daughter was like, you know, I just took two weeks off. I need to start, you know, I need to go back to work. I need to be... working to earn money for college and all those type of things. So that's what she did. She stayed home from the family vacation to St. Anthony, Idaho so that she could work. And we're like, okay, so not every single family vacation is going to work. And my 16-year-old, who was 15 at the time, she's like, oh, I made the wrong choice. I should have gone. And we're like, I think you were actually invited, kiddo. It wasn't a, you know, oh, I didn't want to go. It was like, no, this was a vacation for those who are graduating. It was like my, you know, the schools, however they set up their vacations. senior trips my daughter didn't necessarily want to go on the senior trip with her senior class because although she's friends with some of her senior class she's like yeah most of it i don't necessarily know don't necessarily need or want to go on the senior trip so we sent her on her own senior trip with uh aunt and uncle and her two cousins uh not her two the Even there, the reason that she could go was because she had two younger cousins who were like 10 and 8, and they would have been very bored going to go see the historical sites like the Colosseum or the Circus Circus or any of the other, you know, something in Florence and, you know, Italy. It just wasn't that appealed to my 18-year-old daughter who was super excited about all the architecture and all those type of things and seeing the, I think it's SPQR or whatever the things were for the Roman Legion. And so she was super excited about all of that stuff and architecture. And the 10-year-old and the 8-year-old weren't going to be super excited about the architecture. They would be the ones who were like, we're hot, we're thirsty, we're hungry, we don't want to be here, we want to go back on the boat, we want to go swimming, or we want to go on the water slide. And there's nothing wrong with being on the boat and going swimming or going on a water slide or getting, you know, more of the soft serve ice cream that is always available on a cruise ship. My personal favorite was always getting like a, we had a drink package and we had the non-alcoholic drink package, but you get a little virgin strawberry daiquiri thing. And it's like, we've got strawberry here. I get the ice cream put in there. Like, look, it's like a strawberry, strawberry float, strawberry ice cream thing. Strawberry shake. It was pretty awesome. But there's a place for that. But if you're going to visit the architectural wonders of ancient Rome, the two kids weren't... As we learned on the Thanksgiving cruise, when we wanted to go do things that weren't the play in the water or go on a water slide, they were not super interested. And they were... They were definitely not silent about their, what they wanted to do. So it made sense to send the 18 year old on that type of trip and you know, she enjoyed it, but that's not the exact same as what we did for the 16 year old. You know, this last fall we had a German exchange student come over and we hosted an exchange student for a couple of weeks. And then they're supposed to go in July to go visit Germany. It doesn't work out for my daughter's schedule to go visit in July, but maybe next year we'll figure out a time to get her over there so that she can go visit her friend in Germany and be in Germany. So we don't have to treat everybody equally all the time down to the penny, but in an estate plan, if we want to true that up, we can, or you just say, Hey, we've treated everybody taking care of them the best we can. And now we're just going to split everything up so that everybody's happy and satisfied with an estate plan and we're all good. So the music tells me that my time is up. So thank you so much for listening to Mobile Estate Planning with Michael Bailey. My phone number is 720-394-6887. And once again, that's 720-394-6887. I will be back next week, but please stay tuned. John Rush and Rush Reasons are up next, and we'll talk to you later. Thanks and bye.
Join Al Smith as he explores the inspirations from Atul Gawande's insightful books, 'Being Mortal' and 'The Checklist Manifesto'. This episode underscores the necessity of long-term planning and the practical use of checklists to navigate the intricacies of retirement. With examples from real-world scenarios, Al highlights the importance of structured planning to ensure a joyful and secure future while offering valuable insights into comprehensive retirement preparation.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Retirement Unpacked with Al Smith, owner of Golden Eagle Financial. You want a retirement plan that alleviates your fears about the future so you know your money will last. As a chartered financial consultant, Al Smith will help you find a balance between the risk and reward of the market and the safety of your retirement income. And now, here's your host, Al Smith.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to another program of Retirement Unpacked. I want to thank you for tuning in. I'm sure there's other things you could be doing. There's a lot going on in the world. It's the big announcement of President Trump's tariffs, and there's some uncertainty in the markets as a result of that, but I think the best thing is to wait and see what happens. As far as your own circumstances, that we need to look beyond certain events that are taking place over short periods of time and look for the long haul. look for what's going to happen in the future not because of economic circumstances or political circumstances but what are you going to do to plan to make your future a little bit better Create a future so that it's not dependent on financial resources, but it's dependent on what you choose to do to make your life a bit more fulfilling, a bit more full of joy. There's an author whom I really like to read. I've read a couple of his books, and I found that actually two of his books are tremendously helpful to people as they get closer to retirement. One of them is especially helpful to people who may be caring for an aged parent, or maybe providing a place for an aged parent. The author is named Atul Gawande. He is a cardiologist who lives in Boston, and he is second generation from India. His father was born in India. Their family moved to the United States. And when Atul Gawande's father began to age, He began that search to look for what's the best arrangement for him. Where should he live? How can we make certain that his needs will be taken care of? And it's in the form of this search that Dr. Atul Gawande began to realize that for all of the wonderful things that our country has done, the tremendous things in technology and growth of the economy and education, all the wonderful things we've done in our country, we don't do a great job caring for our elderly, which is what he discovered. And his book called Being Immortal is a story about the path that he went on when he learned of the difficulties finding a suitable place for his father when his father began to not be able to take care of himself very well at about age 85 and so forth and the book is full of amazing examples including one example of like the leader of the village in India and and how he was highly regarded, even though he was like 100 years old or something like that. But this book I highly recommend if you are either a caregiver or if you have parents for whom you may be looking for a suitable arrangement, either have someone to come in and help with them, or you may have a parent who's transitioning from living in a retirement community independently to a more appropriate arrangement where there can be certain services that they used to provide for themselves or perhaps you used to provide it. And so I believe you'd find it tremendously interesting. Anyone who has worked in that field would find it tremendously interesting also. And again, the name of that book is Being Mortal by Dr. Atul Gawande. But what I was going to talk about today on today's program is another book that he has written, which I find tremendously helpful for many folks, not just people who are planning for retirement, But this book is called The Checklist Manifesto. It's also written by Atul Gawande. Obviously, that's what I made mention of. And he, as a cardiac surgeon, obviously had to go through certain checklists, and he began to realize that the life that most of us live is very complex. We do extraordinary things, and we can predict storms, explore distant planets, and save people from life-threatening diseases. And yet, in spite of that, People make very avoidable mistakes. People who are highly skilled. Biggest example I can think of recently is when President Trump and his cabinet members were meeting in what they thought was a... A secret, a clandestine chat, a text chat on the app Signal, and yet there was a journalist present. And he was certainly not entitled to be there, but he was there anyway. And people make mistakes. But the whole point of his book is that the reason that knowledge and complexity in many fields, it's exceeded the capacity of everybody to get everything right. And we, when I say we, I mean people who have certain complexities as part of what they do in their occupations. We're under pressure to get things right. And sometimes it becomes difficult to get things right. And in his book, he really dives deeply into how checklists work and why they can be important. And I think the bottom line of the book is that things that we do that require a great amount of skill are also, because of all the steps and everything else about that, in that nature, because of those complexities, a checklist almost becomes mandatory. I have one of my channels that I watch on television is the Smithsonian Channel, and it has some very interesting programs. It has some programs about flying over all 50 states and some of the interesting things historically about each state. I find that interesting, especially with the aerial flyovers of various states. But they also have a show about air disasters. Now air travel is extremely safe there are literally millions and millions of people who travel by air every day and serious accidents are rare but they are often the result of human failure and in watching the smithsonian channel and also referring to atul gawande's um book the importance of checklists is incredible there are so many minuscule things that can go wrong with an aircraft that pilots and co-pilots they have a manual and each manual has a checklist for anything that could possibly go wrong and these aren't obviously things that they can memorize but they're things that need they need to go through in the event something goes wrong with the aircraft. And some of the episodes that I have seen, the crash was the result of skipping some items on a checklist. And in spite of how negligent that may seem, that's occasionally the result of a very serious air crash. But I think what's incredibly important is that we can draw lessons from things that have happened in the past where a checklist perhaps should have been used, but for one reason or another, it wasn't. In medicine, for example, an Israeli study showed that the average ICU patient, ICU in the hospital, of course, required 178 actions or procedures each day. And I can only imagine of... the potential for errors when there's 178 actions, all that would be necessary for something to go wrong or for the patient to get sick or something of that nature is for one of those tasks to be either skipped or done improperly or something like that. And the reason checklists are important is our memory, we can only remember about six or seven things. If you really train your memory, you can learn more if you learn certain tricks and so forth. In order to take the complex and break it down into things that are simple, that's where checklists become incredibly important. And that's one of the few ways that we can manage complexity. And that's a great deal of... What the book covers, managing complexity and using checklists isn't the only thing, but I think one of the more important things also is who designs the checklists, who creates the checklists. The three major components that Atul Gawande talks about in his book, the three areas, are medicine, aviation, and construction. And in the case of aviation, we talked about the checklists a little bit and how important they are. And I think one of the main ones that I recall from watching one of their episodes is when flaps and strats, those are things that attach to the wings that raise and lower in order to give aircraft more lift so that they can take off and land at a slower speed. And there is clearly a checklist for every takeoff that those be lowered. Flaps and slats are lowered. And one of the episodes I saw, they weren't lowered. And under those circumstances, a plane can never take off. And in the ensuing investigation, there was chatter in the cockpit and there were distractions and the checklist didn't go through. So rather than being 100% on task, they were distracted. They avoided the checklist. and the plane crashed. More about checklists after the break, and we can also take a look at how they can work to make your retirement or your preparation for retirement work a little bit better on your behalf.
SPEAKER 02 :
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 01 :
welcome back to retirement unpacked we were talking about atul gawande's book the checklist manifesto i read it and i've read it more than once and i found it incredibly interesting and there's quite a few reasons that checklists are important the obvious reason is the example I was giving in aviation. Aviation is so complex that when something goes wrong, the only way to troubleshoot that problem, whatever it is, is by using a checklist. And also checklists are extremely important in every flight because the procedures they go through are complex. There's a lot of those procedures. And if even one is skipped, that can result in disaster. Now, some other reasons besides complexity that checklists are important is that people have a tendency to become distracted. and people can often be forgetful. And sometimes when people are doing things over and over, it's easy to skip a step of something. Now, depending on what your work involves, that may not be disastrous, but in the fields of aviation, construction, and medicine, they're obviously extremely important. important. One of the things that they offer or one of the things that's done in aviation is for nearly everything, there is redundancy. So that means if some particular step is forgotten and it creates a danger to the aircraft, there's often an alarm that goes on. But if you're baking a cake, there's really no alarms that go off. And if the cake has 14 ingredients, but you relied on your memory, let's say, and you only used 13 ingredients, and you don't understand why the cake has not risen. It's kind of like a brick in the oven. Well, you may have forgotten to add the baking powder or the baking soda, which causes it to rise. Now, that's not a disaster when it comes to baking a cake, but if your task is sending a rocket into space in order to rescue astronauts, that involves a great deal of complexity. And the way that can be done with NASA or with Lockheed Martin or any of those if it's broken down further into its component parts so that each task is broken down into its own checklist so that there are checks and balances so that those complex tasks can be accomplished. And I think if we look at our own successes or failures, those things that worked out best would be where we had a specific structure. And you may not have thought to yourself that you did create a checklist, but you probably did create some kind of a checklist or a to-do list or something like that. Now, if we break this down and see, well, how does that work for retirement? Well, if you're 15 years from retirement, a checklist is not necessarily a bad thing, but it's less urgent than an overall general plan. I think the time at which a checklist could be Extremely important is if someone is making a transition from work to retirement because there are certain time crunches that are involved there. People have certain time frames during which they need to make a change in their company's retirement plan. Any other changes that people make when making that transition from work to retirement, that would be a good time for a more specific checklist. And the checklist can include a timeline. Some things have a certain amount of urgency and other things not so much. So as we sit back and think about checklists, how can they benefit us? well if you have a longer period to prepare for retirement i think what would make sense is to crunch some numbers sit down with your advisor and take a look at what's it going to look like if i save this amount of money every month and if i do that for 30 years How much will my nest egg be? Well, these are computations that you can certainly do. But I think what would be good is to put those into context. In other words, that might amount to a significant sum, maybe $1.2 million or something like that. But to put that into context, let's take a look at what your expenses are now. and add an inflation factor, and then you may realize that $1.2 million may be adequate, but if you want to do some extensive traveling or anything of that nature, you may want to readjust that because 30 years from now, that may be adequate for a certain standard of living. But if your standard of living includes travel and some other things, you may want to readjust your level of savings. So what other ways can we benefit from checklists? Well, let's say if you want to improve your health, what I would do is I would create my own checklists with what things that I want to do to improve my health. If there are certain supplements that you believe you should be taking and you're not, check with your physician or your doctor. whoever provides your care. And ask him or her about that. If you're trying to lose a little bit of weight, use a checklist for that. And that may include a little more exercise, a little bit fewer sweets, things of that nature. But my whole point is that Atul Gawande's book, and I would highly recommend it. There's one chapter about how Walmart did a fantastic job helping right after Katrina took place when the government hadn't hardly stepped in at all. They did some enormous things for the folks who were suffering from Katrina long before FEMA and any of the federal government assistance was there to help out. And in that case, it wasn't an example of a checklist, but it was an example of helping right at the very base tactical ground level rather than from 30,000 feet where the bureaucracies often reside. So what does that mean for all of us who are listening today? How can we benefit from a checklist? Well, sit back and think about some things that you've done in the past that went really well. and contrast that to some things in your past that you think about maybe didn't go too well. And what I think you'll find is that the things that didn't go as well as you wanted may have not included enough planning maybe there wasn't enough thinking about what if this happens or what if that happens some alternative to scenarios to the one that you were hoping to plan i've heard some stories of people wanting to get certain projects done and they hadn't allowed for certain contingencies and sometimes a checklist if it's everything is within your power to do everything on the checklist then success is far more likely but if the checklist includes the cooperation of others or some governmental entities or something of that nature, then the checklist can become a guideline rather than something that can really work solid to help your project get going. Now, if you're concerned about your own retirement because with the things that are going on in the world with economic uncertainty, with how long the medical community is keeping us alive, I think it's really important to sit down and take a look at your own retirement, your own plan, and see if you are on track. And we can use in part a checklist for that, but we can also run some numbers to see if you were on track. And I know a lot of the people who come into my office when we have a conversation, we'll find out that maybe 80% of the things that People were hoping to prepare for retirement are all completed, but there are some things that are left undone. That might include thinking about an alternative location to live. It may be thinking about, well, how would we pay if I or my wife needed care For a couple of years, do we have adequate resources for that? So there's a lot of things to think about as we make that transition toward retirement. I want to thank everybody for listening. And if you would like any more information about the checklist manifesto, I have a copy and I have a summary. We can create a checklist for your own retirement. Call my office at 303-744-1128 and we can have a conversation. There's never a fee for that. And we can find out if you are on track and if there are some things that I might be able to do to make your retirement a little more joyful and fulfilling. God bless you. Thank you for tuning in. And let's continue to pray for peace in the Middle East. Bye now.
SPEAKER 03 :
But are offered and sold through individually licensed and appointed agents.
In today's episode, we unravel the latest absurdities from Florida, where bizarre acts continue to baffle and amuse. Listen in as we dissect two mind-bending tales that defy logic, raising eyebrows and questions along the way. In stark contrast, we shift gears to a poignant discussion about the storm in Congress over proxy voting rights for new parents, highlighting the tensions and consequences as lawmakers wrestle with tradition and innovation.
SPEAKER 01 :
Llegó Black Friday en primavera a The Home Depot. ¿Y tú? ¿En qué estás trabajando? ¿Qué tal si ahorras en un nuevo set de patio? Agrega una tira de luces y crea el mejor ambiente para tus reuniones. ¿Y qué es una carne asada sin el asador ideal? Encuentra el tuyo dentro de una amplia selección de asadores por menos de $300, como el asador Next Grill con 4 quemadores por solo $229. No te pierdas Black Friday en primavera hasta el 16 de abril en The Home Depot.
SPEAKER 07 :
Dana Lash's Absurd Truth Podcast, sponsored by Kel-Tec.
SPEAKER 05 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 02 :
I don't know what's happening here. All right. So we were talking about the, hang on, my whole thing froze because of course it did. We were talking about the rule of three real quick. And I just realized, I don't know that we actually have a time frame. For the rule of three.
SPEAKER 05 :
I thought it was like within three weeks or within like just a couple few weeks.
SPEAKER 02 :
We're going to have to devote a segment next hour to figuring this out. Because I can't like dig up my granny and be like, hey, lady, you forgot to tell us. Along with your chicken dumpling recipe.
SPEAKER 05 :
Why are you even thinking about doing that?
SPEAKER 02 :
Because I really want to know. Like, you know, I'm fascinated by this. All right. Let's get to the meat and taties here. All right. So. Oh, no. No. Okay. Hang on. This is not a real story. It says that the link is probably broken. I don't know. A guy. No, it is. No, it is. A Florida man shows his munchkins at the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, you're right. The link is broken.
SPEAKER 02 :
Auburndale. This is Tampa Bay. He was arrested because he showed off his munchkins in the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru line, according to the police. Yeah, not his kids. Not like that anyway. So they filed, Paul Ring is 60. He has charges filed against him because he was exposing his sexual, S-E-C-K-S-H-U-L, his sexual organs. They said the incident happened on March 19th. He looks so pleased with himself. In the mugshot, it's really weird. He was in a red pickup truck in the drive-thru lane waiting for his order. The victim was working the drive-thru orders. Then Mr. Ring pulls up and she asked for the card to pay for the order. And that's when she noticed his munchkins were out. And then he drove off. So she had to call the police. And apparently he's done this before. And they found him from his vehicle tag. They identified him and they took him into custody. And he just looks as happy as a clam in the... His mugshot, it's so... Oh, Juan right in... Look, Juan coming in clutch. That's so... He looks like a drunk-shaven Santa.
SPEAKER 05 :
He's definitely pleased.
SPEAKER 02 :
Showing off them munchkins in the Dunkin' line. Let's not. Let's not do that. OK, I don't understand the story at all. A Florida woman uses an air vent to get pregnant and gives birth to a miracle baby. She says it's like the Virgin Mary. There's so many things wrong with us. So she was supposedly in solitary confinement. She says. OK, I can't. This this is. Well, she apparently used, I don't know how to say this. Kane, why did you give me this story? She used something passed by a fellow male inmate through an air conditioning vent to inseminate herself. I'll just put it like that. And that's as far as I'm going. There it is. Really don't think that that's how it happened, but now she's further in trouble. And apparently the other, the dude's in trouble. And yeah, I don't know. This is, oh my gosh, I'm going to jump off my roof. 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 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.
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SPEAKER 03 :
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SPEAKER 06 :
Republicans hold on to two critical House seats in Florida, but badly lose a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. President Trump ends collective bargaining for federal employees connected to national security. And Trump successfully trolls the media again, this time about running for a third term. I'm Greg Karumbas. Join Jim Garrity of National Review and me each weekday for the 3 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 3 Martini Lunch on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 02 :
So in August or sorry, in Augusta, Georgia, this is March is like in like last week. A guy named Chris Lewis, he was arrested after he left his three children unattended at a McDonald's. Right. And he he had three kids. He had a job interview. And the Augusta Press has the story. He left his kids there to go to a job interview, but then a customer noticed that the kids aged 10, 6 and 1, excuse me, were left alone. And he had his kids there. the play place and he went to go do his job interview a responding deputy found the children unattended a witness reported seeing lewis with the children around 4 30 the witness then observed lewis leave the restaurant and returned later before leaving again he arrived back at the mcdonald's so they were he was there at 4 30 here right back at 6 18 he was detained by officers He said he had walked to the restaurant with his children from his apartment. He did not want to make them walk back while he attended a nearby job interview. He said he did not own a vehicle. The children's mother arrived shortly, took the children from the restaurant. He was arrested and taken into custody. The children, they went to go back with their mom. And I got to say, because now this guy is going to have to fight this legal stuff. I think it's really easy to judge. But this is a dad. He's taking care of his kids. Maybe not in the way you would take care of your kids. And he's trying to get a job. And from everything that I had read, he took his kids there. They ate. They played in the play place. And he went to go do his job interview. This is where... I get aggravated in society at large. Because society at large, even in our day-to-day interactions, so many people have a progressive mindset. And I say progressive mindset because they didn't want to bother really too much themselves in seeing if this dad needed help. They called the police to come and do it. Without knowing the guy's circumstances, they made a judgment call. I don't know that I would have done that same thing. I think I would have. And what I think this, you know, person should have done is, you know, maybe maybe, you know, kind of keep an eye on the kids and talk to the dad when he came back. I don't know. It reminded me, and Cain brought this up too, of the kids that there was a story of, what was it, an 11-year-old and a 9-year-old that walked down the road, not even a block, walked down the road because they had a park on their street, like a neighborhood park. And they walked down the road to the park and some busybody saw and called the cops. Mom was home. Mom got arrested. She's like, my kids are walking to the park. There's tons of stories like this. They have the free-range kid movement. So it was a 10-year-old, 6-year-old, and 1-year-old. I just feel like this is not the time to respond with the cops. This is a dad who's trying to do the right thing and he needs help. And now he's got to deal with all of this, this legal stuff. Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown heard about the case. He stepped in. And he's apparently trying to help. They set up a GoFundMe for the dad. And he said it reminded him about the pursuit of happiness, the life of Chris Gardner, who spent a year homeless in San Francisco before he found a job. And Brown said, you know, I know he shouldn't just leave his kids, but some people don't have the means. We're going to do a GoFundMe, said that he always does. And it looks like he's helping with some of the legal stuff. I feel bad for this dad because he's a dad. Look, I grew up poor. I know the position. I mean, when I say I grew up poor, you guys, I couldn't afford basic necessities for school. I lived on the generosity of other people for a while. I had a single mom and after she was getting on her feet and we were fighting from not being statistics. So I get it. That's why I think he wasn't doing drugs. He wasn't drinking. He wasn't goofing around. He was trying to get a job. And Now he's got to deal with all of this, and I'm happy that other people are stepping in, but it's like, you know, in the story that I saw, an elderly neighbor, their grass got real tall, and somebody called, what is it, the city on the neighbor, and they started finding the neighbor. Instead of just walking over and saying, do you need help? Can I mow your grass? Being good stewards of your fellow man literally means being good stewards of your fellow man. That's what people are called to do. And calling the cops on somebody isn't necessarily the thing that's always required. I hope this dad gets on his feet, and I hope that he's able to preserve some grace in his heart that wasn't shown to him by the person who called the cops. I'm sure the person was looking out for the well-being of the kids, but is this the best way to go about it? Give the dad a break, man. Our friends over at Caltech, the Caltech... PR 57. It is a new build from Kel-Tec. It's a 5.7. 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SPEAKER 05 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 02 :
So first up, a North Carolina man is giving a Florida man a run for his money. He wore a bear costume to scare off a real black bear. He literally dressed up as a bear and stood out. It's hysterical in North Carolina. Sounds like it's a bold strategy, Cotton. Did he survive? And yeah, well, he put it on, there's a video of it. And most people would, you know, maybe use a different tactic, but he put on, I don't know if it worked or not, because the article doesn't actually say it over at WIRF, because the person who wrote it apparently has one single brain cell and they don't know how to properly write a piece. So between that and the, you know, pop up ads that just are on the site like an STD, I just don't, you know.
SPEAKER 05 :
I feel like if he died, it'd be in the headline.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I feel like it would, too. But I'm not going to go through all of their stuff just to get that. Saved you a click. Screen time is blamed for cross-cultural drop in birth rates because everybody's doom scrolling. I don't know. They said over half of 18 to 34-year-olds are not in a steady relationship nor are they living with someone. They said most people don't feel pressure to find a partner. Most half say they're not even looking. And they said a lot of people say it's the library of entertainment at our fingertips. No, I don't think so. I think it's more than that. I do think that the way people gather has changed, but I think that society has become so insufferable. It is a minefield to try to go and date someone because you don't know if they're going to be a giant woke scold and accuse you if you're a man of rape. Or if you're a girl, you have no idea if they're going to be like a progressive, you know, patriarch wannabe. You have no idea. So I think that's honestly what contributes to it. And everyone wants to blame the screen time instead of looking deep within their souls and realizing the call is coming from inside the house. Also, let's see. We've got a narco sub located with Hunter. Was he driving? Six and a half tons of cocaine was seized in the Atlantic. Hunter went down there with a package of straws to just snort it out of the ocean. They had a lot of help. Portugal police, they were involved. DEA was involved. Wow, crazy. What would you do if you woke up during your flight and found someone braided your hair? Someone on an American Airlines flight fell asleep and woke up with a braid on her hair. I would braid their face. I would. A man braided her hair while she was asleep on a plane, apparently. And it was a long haul flight. And it is a woman, I will just say, who has processes under her hair to make her hair straight. And that is one thing you do not do. Look, we have an understanding. I don't mess with your power tools. You don't mess with my hair. Okay. That is the understanding. You know what I mean? Like you kill the spiders and I won't touch the thermostat. That is the understanding. This man did not get that understanding. He broke the code. Brothers, you need to beat down. He broke the code. All right. We got more on the way. Stick with us.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, it's a very disappointing result on the floor there. A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule that's rarely done. It's very unfortunate in this case. 96% of House Republicans voted against proxy voting because they believe it's unconstitutional and they agreed that it would open a Pandora's box. And so that's what we just saw. Let me just make this clear. That rule being brought down means that we can't have any further action on the floor this week. That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act. for election integrity. We will not be voting on the rogue judges who are attacking President Trump's agenda. We will not be taking down these terrible Biden policies with the CRA votes. All that was just wiped off the table. It's very unfortunate. We'll regroup and come back and we'll have to do this again.
SPEAKER 02 :
All right. So I'm about to get really mean. Which is really why you all watch. And you just wait. In the days that I'm not, you're just like Dana. So I don't say this coming from a place of animus. First off, welcome back. Dana Lash, bottom of this first hour. Chats at Rumble. If you don't like what I'm saying, you can go and tell those people. They'll beat you to death. Kidding. They're very sweet, lovable people. But also Facebook, X, all that good stuff. So like I said, I don't say this as a place of dislike for anyone because I actually like the people that are involved in this. I don't like Mike Johnson. I like the people that are involved in this. But I know it's very difficult for some drive-bys to understand. You can like someone and then think that what that person that you like is doing is stupid. I think what Anna Paulina Luna is doing with this is one of the stupidest, most attention-seeking things that I've seen in quite some time. And I like her. I've defended her before. I mean, hell, I've raised money for her. Now, let me just preface this. Let me set the stage so you understand. So what ended up happening yesterday is basically you have Anna Paulina Luna working with AOC, and they wanted to introduce this bill for new moms so that they could vote remotely. And... When that didn't happen, she had a fit and left the Freedom Caucus and then ended up creating this like theater. We're in fighting with House leadership to essentially, you know, change the they they they wanted to stop bills from going up to a vote for this. And even though Mike Johnson is not helpless here, I don't know what he's doing either. This is the thing where I don't get it. I mean, he chose to cancel votes for the rest of the week for no reason. And there's literally nothing that's stopping him. from putting up things for a vote. You have to have a new rule for it, and you can just do a new rule for it at any time, right? They're mad over this proxy vote fight. That's what this all comes down to, and it all stems from this situation with Anna Paulina Luna out of Florida. And she quit the Freedom Caucus because the Republicans would not back her push to allow a rules change for new congressional parents to vote by proxy. I'm going to tell you something. Sean Duffy, who's the secretary of the transportation department. I know I know him and his wife very well. And when they had their youngest little girl and she was born with a heart issue, she she had some complications when she was born. He didn't want to vote by proxy. So he resigned his seat. Because he felt that that wasn't a constitutional thing. They have like eight kids. And he didn't feel that that was a constitutional thing to do. That's not what voters sent him to D.C. to do is just to vote by proxy. So he resigned and spent time with his family. Don't tell me that your family first when you want to water down congressional action. And change every if you're a family first, then why are you? I'm going to say it. Why are you in Congress? If you're family first, you need to prioritize the order at which you're creating your family and then going to Congress. This is not like any other regular job. Right. Things happen and you have to be there for it. So spare me the whole it's not equal. You're damn right. It's not. It's government. You're going there on behalf of the people. I don't care if I've had babies, too. So have women all throughout history. I mean, it's a great, wonderful thing, but stop. Stop this. Stop this victimhood mentality. Stop the victim Olympics. Dear God, that's not what we sent people like you to D.C. for. I'm so tired of Republicans doing these self-owned. Stop it. So, no, I think that they were right. She got mad at the Freedom Caucus because she wanted to do something that was pretty much antithetical to a purpose of gathering in D.C. and also the whole position of the right. And they're trying to make it an argument that Republicans don't like new moms, which I think that if you're trying to set your own party up for stuff like that, I question your allegiance. So she resigned. She sent a letter. They've been fighting about it. And she said, I have consistently supported you even in moments of disagreement, etc. This respect was shattered last week. She wanted to force a mechanism and she worked with Democrats to do it. She wanted to force a mechanism that allows new parents in the House to vote remotely for 12 weeks around their baby's birth. I'm pretty hardcore in this. And I think it's a cop out for people to say that. That you are not being family first or that the Republicans need to prioritize kids by diminishing the constitutional importance of how our Congress acts. I think that's a cop out. If you're family first, then get your priorities about putting your family first first. I didn't have a radio career until my kids were a lot older. I did not have a newborn at home and was I wasn't doing show prep and I'm pretty damn old school. I mean, a lot of people think they're traditional. Hi, meet me. I didn't do any of that because that wasn't where my rightful place was. Oh, yes, I also believe in the Deppers and the Ruths and all that stuff. But for my particular position, this is how it was laid out for me. So I didn't do all of that. I wasn't getting on air and I wasn't doing all of that. I actually put my family first and I stayed home and I raised my kids. Not everyone has that option. So I don't need victimhood mentality theater if that doesn't describe a drive-by's particular situation. I'm giving you an example. My lived experience. Everybody has babies. Everybody raises kids. OK, but here's the thing. When you choose to go to Congress, you choose it. No one forces you. There are certain things that you have to realize. One of those is that you need to make sure you're servicing the voters and we're not doing proxy voting. That is not what we're doing. I find it ironic to sit here and say we can't do proxy voting for America. We're not going to do mail in ballots and all that stuff, but we're going to do the equivalent of that for Congress. No, we're not. We're going to be consistent. And if you have a problem with that, then maybe your position shouldn't be in the House. I don't begrudge anyone for for wanting to focus on their family. But you can't demand that Congress change process to something less than what we as conservatives and constitutionalists expect to accommodate you because you want to play a progressive card. And try to set something up more advantageous for yourself. It's not a family first position. It's not an America first position. And it's not a common sense position. And it's unfortunate that now we have another week because of this theater. Another week when the clock is ticking and we don't have the time that we're sending everybody home again and we're not going to do anything. I throw something but I actually want to eat my yogurt, so I'm not going to throw it. And my coffee's real hot. You see what I'm saying? Can you let me know if I'm being too old school here?
SPEAKER 05 :
No, this is actually pretty spot on. I don't see an actual legitimate reason why Johnson... I mean, both of them are dumb. Yes, it's both dumb. Like, somehow they think two dumbs make a nut dumb because it's not working that way.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it's like two grapes don't make a strawberry. Right? Was that a bad? They just died. I don't know. But still. Still. Come on. So this is goofy. So I'm, yeah, I'm a little, I'm a little verklempt this morning. To quote Mike Myers from SNL before he turned into a giant jack wagon.
SPEAKER 07 :
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.
The political landscape is fraught with challenges as we analyze recent losses and wins from Wisconsin's Supreme Court race to Florida's congressional districts. We discuss the obsession some have with high-profile figures like Elon Musk and dissect whether this affects political outcomes. With an insider's view, we tackle the growing frustration among grassroots activists and critique the RNC's apparent lack of direction. Our host shares insights into why some solidly conservative districts in Florida are showing worrying signs of turning purple. From voter apathy to candidate selection woes, this episode sheds light on the broader implications of these political maneuvers for 2024 and beyond. Join us for an engaging dissection of current events that highlights where Republicans need to shift focus to reclaim their political stronghold.
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SPEAKER 07 :
So do you think that was compelling?
SPEAKER 20 :
I think it's an interesting tactic. It's a little Saul Alinsky-ish in the sense that you've got George Soros and J.D. Pritzker and Reid Hoffman and all these billionaires who've spent far more than Musk did in this and now pointing and saying, wait a minute.
SPEAKER 07 :
I don't think they spent. On this, they didn't.
SPEAKER 20 :
Well, collectively, if you look at all the money from outside that was given to her, again, 77% of it came from out of state. Only 15% came from Schimel. And collectively... A number of the analysis.
SPEAKER 07 :
I'm just saying, like in terms of the money from individually, if you look at the whole outside money that came from out of the state, it's clearly you don't think it was a referendum on Musk at all, though.
SPEAKER 23 :
Oh, I think it had a part of it. I think a lot of such a fetish for Musk. My gosh, they act like they like hold themselves up in their house and have romantical self-personal reflection time with to Musk's image on the phone. It's well, that's what they act like. They act like a bunch of weirdos.
SPEAKER 15 :
You paint pictures. Well, I didn't need that.
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, I can paint him even well-er, if you want. It's just, it's so stupid. This is so stupid. It wasn't a reflection of Musk. It wasn't a reflection of Musk. How was it a reflection of Musk? First off, welcome to the show. Greetings and salutations. I'll get to all that later. How in the world, in what world is this a reflection of Musk? First off, he can I be real? He let me just set the stage here. He got into the race late in the game. All right. He wasn't there. And I'm not saying that is like a negative. I'm just saying that, you know, for them to sit here and act like, oh, well, it's a referendum on Elon Musk. But the but the 2024 mandate wasn't a mandate. That's asinine. They're obsessed with it. Now, I noticed because that's Scott Walker, who is a former governor of Wisconsin, talking to Jake Tapper here. I did notice that that Tapper failed or maybe wasn't a failure so much as it was a purposeful omission. He he declined to also in that same comparison mention, you know, like the Soros and all this stuff. The Pritzker, Soros, all these people. I mean, Walker had to bring this up. But they're like, well, it wasn't a reflection of of Musk because that Supreme Court race, as you are well aware, is a race that Republicans didn't win. And Republicans didn't win it because of it's like some sentiment of Elon Musk or they didn't win it because for any other reason than Republicans didn't turn out to vote. And the RNC has its thumb up its ass and is literally doing nothing. No one knows what the RNC is doing. Nobody knows. They're not doing a single thing. I mean, you wonder why I'm always so hostile, hostile towards the GOP. I've been hostile towards the GOP since before Reince Priebus was the RNC chair. I remember sitting in a restaurant getting into an argument with Reince Priebus, and it was at a CPAC, and we happened to find ourselves and our respective families sitting at nearby tables. Now, the interesting thing is we got along fine after it, but I'm like, what are you doing? What are you guys even doing? And we just had this fun little discussion. But I don't know what the RNC is doing right now. I really don't know. And I'm not the only person who's been asking this. You know, even Scott Pressler, who's been up there in Wisconsin and has been going door to door and doing all of this, was asking, well, what's going on? You got to have a get out the vote mechanism. And I talked to so many. I have so many friends in Wisconsin. I have so many friends in Wisconsin because I was going back and forth up there during the whole recall of the man that you just happened to watch. in in that video with jake tapper and i went up there quite a bit and got to know a lot of the activists a lot of the activists a lot of the uh organizers you know a lot of these really good hard-working people and you know i heard also from a lot of them during this whole uh lead up in the supreme court race and like it's just they were frustrated they're frustrated because it's you know the rnc always falls apart they fell apart in 2012. And I know a lot of people, and I've had some of my friends say, oh, Dana, you can't go on air today and be mad at the Republicans because, you know, the Republicans, they won a couple of things. Did they, though? Seriously? See, when I win, I want the souls of my enemies to expire into the ether because the meat case in which they subsided has been completely deconstructed into ash. That is what I want my victory to look like. I don't take free shots. Like in pool, I don't take sloppy shots. So I'm saying this was sloppy. It was sloppy for a Republican Party that had such a big mandate, right? It's sloppy. And I'm always – Republicans do not play the long game. And they get mad at other Republicans when they do. Democrats play the long game. Republicans don't. So like I said, I had friends who were like, Dana, like – You know, you can't be so mad because, you know, there's like some great there's some great victories here. You know, we had some great victories last night. There's two seats in Florida. And I mean, then there was, you know, the the one ballot issue there. That's great again. But I don't like weak wins. Now, let me tell you with Wisconsin. Because we started with talking with Scott Walker here and all this talking about Scott Walker, the soundbite from him. So in Wisconsin, it did come to an issue of voter turnout. You had multimillion dollars. I mean, 10 million, I think, that the Republicans spent. And I mean, it was that was a big that was a big loss. That was a pretty big loss because we're probably going to lose two House seats now. You got that Supreme Court justice, the state Supreme Court justice, because that's what this was. You had this Supreme Court race in which you had the far left lady who who also had money being put in by Pritzker and George Soros and all the big, super, you know, rich lefties. They all put money in here and. They wanted to make sure. I mean, they did that for a reason. There's a reason why they did it like that. And the reason why they did it like that is because they want to be able to control these seats. They want to be able to determine and gerrymander these seats away. So you could say, well, we won two seats. Yeah, but we're going to give up two seats. So this was a wash. This wasn't anything. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't like it when bad news. commentators give you a false sense of the land because it, it betters their bottom line to do it for clicks. I've met, we don't operate that way, which is why we last longer than everybody else and have a better audience than everybody else. And why we are number one in the afternoon. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I do because we are very consistent with this. When I tell you when I'm like over the top and, you know, celebratory, it's for good reason. But at the same time, this is not one of those things. Because we're probably going to end up losing, like I said, these two house seats. In addition, let's look at Florida real quick. We're going to come back to this a little bit more micro level. So Petronas won. That was the gate seat. That was always expected because it's a solid red seat. And Petronas is a good dude. So I don't have any objections there. But that was that was not a pickup. We didn't flip anything. We just maintained it. The scary thing is what happened in Florida's 6th congressional district. So in Florida, apparently, you don't have to live in the district to run for the district. The guy who won the district lives 150 miles away. He was on the show, Randy Fine. He's a big-time moderate. He's not a conservative. He is not America first, although he kisses Trump's ass to hide the fact that he's not America first. If you go back and look at this dude's record on the most important issues that you would define as MAGA, the guy falls so... abysmally short on every single one but bottom line if you know the people behind the scenes in florida who can make endorsements based on emotional recklessness while pretending they're hard ass and calling themselves ice then you know if you can convince those people to get those endorsements then you can skate on through um but lives 150 miles outside of the district uh has a Tries to use Trump as a veneer. We'll see how this plays out. But here's the problem with this. Florida was a purple state before Scott Rick Scott left up until the moment he left the governor's office. It took a good five, six years of new Republicans coming into the state legislature, a new governor to make all that happen, to get Republicans registered, outpacing Democrats three to one. to be able to flip counties like Palm Beach and Miami-Dade. That's insane. And so this congressional district, 6, Mike Waltz won it by plus 33. That's the predecessor who was tapped to fill into the Trump administration. Trump won it by plus 30. DeSantis won it by plus 35. And then this guy barely won it by plus 11. And another reason, Republicans didn't turn out to vote. But I don't blame them because they didn't even get a chance to recruit one of their own. They had the party machine that said, this is the person that we're going to be running, a guy who doesn't even live in your district, who lives 150 miles away. Now, you don't go from plus 33 to barely plus 11 easily. That is you picking an abysmal candidate. And the millions of dollars that were spent and the Democrat outspent the Republican. But I see some people saying that this was a massive victory. Were you dropped on your head? Did you accidentally come across Hunter Biden's crack rock? Because the only way that is described as a massive victory is if someone slipped and fell and busted their head open all over the pavement. That's the only way that I would give somebody a pass for thinking that this is a massive victory. And again, I say this because this is a stupid, unforced error. What do you think is going to happen when this state starts sliding towards purple, which is what I'm saying is going to happen right now? I think after DeSantis is out of office, there are so many rhinos because what ends up happening, same thing that happens in Texas. You've got these Republicans that can't win as Democrats. They're really Democrats, and they got money, but they can't run as Democrats and win elections. So what they end up doing is running as Republicans, and then they get the establishment behind them. They make some deals, all this stuff, and they end up getting in these seats. And that's what happened in Florida. And that's what's happened in Texas. But then look what happens. When voters give you a supermajority, they expect supermajority results. And what we're seeing is not supermajority results. They're fighting conservatives on property taxes. These rhinos in the state legislature there, they don't want to give property tax relief. Hell, they don't even want to give you your gun rights. They didn't want to even step up and protect infants in the battle of life. They didn't want to do any of this stuff. So they're being dragged along, kicking and screaming because they're really Democrats. When voters see this, I'm going to tell you something. If voters can choose between a real Democrat and a fake one, they're going to choose the real one. These people are playing with fire in a state that we have to have because the firewall is not holding up in Wisconsin. Democrats outperformed. Republicans didn't show up. And we spent millions of dollars on that. For what? Now we're going to lose probably two House seats after the gerrymandering is all said and done. And then this test of the, you know, in the panhandle there in Gates's district or in the Gulf side, that's, I mean, solid red. So that wasn't anything to worry about. The fine district, though, that's incredibly disappointing. And so, like I said, these wins that happened yesterday, you know, And the losses, it's it's a fear of victory. And that was a that was a decent loss in Wisconsin. And you can't tell me that. Well, you know, Republicans don't play well there. Trump took that damn state. Stop it. But Republican voters have a problem with showing up in any other election other than a general election. Now, I know politicians won't tell you this stuff, but I don't need you to vote for me. So I will. This is a problem that's got to be rectified, guys. Otherwise, 2028, I'm telling you, Democrats are playing the long game right now. And they don't mind if you think that they're in disarray and crazy. What's the other hand doing while they're distracting you with this? We've got a lot more on the way as we roll towards the bottom of this hour. Our partners, the non-firearm firearm, it's a burner gun. I mean, look, I am always going to tell you to carry. I have no problem with carrying. I am confident and empowered, and I have zero issue with using lethal force to protect myself or my family. If you want to diversify your weapons array, because maybe you have to go to places where, you know, municipal or private property laws, you get it, you know, gun-free zone signs. 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SPEAKER 21 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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SPEAKER 15 :
And now all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's quick five.
SPEAKER 23 :
Target can't get its footing because nobody wanted to go be surprised in the women's bathroom by seeing a schlong. So they've got they had their D.I. Well, it's true that their D.I. program ending. And after the 40 day boycott against them, their foot traffic at stores is down for the eight consecutive week. Look, it's real easy. Quit slapping rainbows on every damn thing. Like, oh my gosh, I don't know if I can eat this bag of potato chips unless it affirms the genitals that I want to get it on with. I mean, for crying out loud, it's a potato chip. Just eat the damn thing. But for real, like, just put your store, offer products, and shut up. Right? It's that easy. Do you want a product? Go in the store and buy it. If you don't want to go in the store and buy the product... Don't. But don't demand that the store stock its shelves with things that validate how you have sexy times. Because that makes you the freak. Shut up. Just go buy some stuff. Target wouldn't have this problem. Let's see. In Germany... Oh, this is interesting. They launched their very, very first, what, permanent foreign deployment since World War II. I don't like it when Germany puts troops anywhere. Too soon. Too soon. They launched their first deployment abroad since World War II. They're sending them to eastern Lithuania, which is NATO's eastern flank. It's going to be fully operational by 2027. Again, the last time... Second World War. Just saying. I get weirded out when leftists make lists and Germany puts soldiers somewhere. Just maybe don't. Let's see. Bondi says the DOJ is seeking the death penalty in that Mario Brothers case. The Mangione, that guy.
SPEAKER 15 :
The Mario Brothers case?
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, because his name is Luigi. I'm not saying his name, so I'm just calling him the Mario Brother. All these bored, desperate women that can't get dates have been sending him letters and they love him. They've been sending him mail in jail. It's so weird. But anyway, he's become like a cause celeb for all the kooky murderers on the left. And he was federally charged, so they're seeking... I think they should. I mean, he walked up to a dude on the sidewalk and popped him. He hasn't said he's like mentally impaired or anything. He's just evil. So yeah, kill him. You know, do you want to get a clean needle? I mean, you know, you're going to the grave regardless. Let's see if you're selling your house this spring. Oh, wait, no, not that headline. Don't do that. I got to do this one. John Wick 5. If anyone sits here and says, stop, it's getting like Fast and the Furious, you should be excommunicated from the human race. Just saying. John Wick 5 is officially happening with Keanu Reeves. And I don't know anything else about it, but Lionsgate announced it yesterday at CinemaCon, which is the theater owner convention. We don't know anything about it except Reeves is locked in. All right. Stick with us. We got a lot more in store. I love all family pharmacy. First off, they made me well and they made me well fast. And that's all that you care about when you're sick. Look, you know, when you're getting sinus infections or if you're getting strep throat, you know what that's like. I mean, especially you get up for like 30, 40 years, you understand what it's like. And, you know, a lot of times if I'm going to big events, I want to take some ivermectin. you know just as my doctor prescribes because they work with the doctor i work with the doctor all family pharmacy bypasses a lot of the red tape infrastructure and they don't gatekeep with the medicines that the actual government tried to keep from you for several years They have the ivermectin, the hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotics. They have over 200 different types of medicines. And you can get it simple. It's simple to get fast and affordable. If you don't have insurance, no problem. They have straightforward pricing, online ordering. Shipping on average is literally like in two to four days. If you need it overnight, you can get it overnighted in a pinch always. Your health is within reach. And you can even get your everyday maintenance medications. They make it so easy. Fast shipping, no hassle. And again, No gatekeepers, but the best part, all made in the USA. There are no inputs from India or China. It's all made in the USA, so you don't have to worry about quality and safety. They have the highest standards. Visit allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana for 10% off using promo code Dana10. Don't wait. Be prepared. Protect yourself and your family today. That's allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana. Coupon code Dana10 to save 10%.
SPEAKER 27 :
Republicans hold on to two critical House seats in Florida, but badly lose a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. President Trump ends collective bargaining for federal employees connected to national security. And Trump successfully trolls the media again, this time about running for a third term. I'm Greg Karumbas. 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 09 :
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 01 :
Well, it's a very disappointing result on the floor there. A handful of Republicans joined with all the Democrats to take down a rule that's rarely done. It's very unfortunate in this case. 96% of House Republicans voted against proxy voting because they believe it's unconstitutional and they agreed that it would open a Pandora's box. And so that's what we just saw. Let me just make this clear. That rule being brought down means that we can't have any further action on the floor this week. That means we will not be voting on the SAVE Act. for election integrity. We will not be voting on the rogue judges who are attacking President Trump's agenda. We will not be taking down these terrible Biden policies with the CRA votes. All that was just wiped off the table. It's very unfortunate. We'll regroup and come back and we'll have to do this again.
SPEAKER 23 :
All right, so I'm about to get really mean. Which is really why you all watch. And you just wait. In the days that I'm not, you're just like Dana. So I don't say this coming from a place of animus. First off, welcome back. Dana Lash, bottom of this first hour. Chats at Rumble. If you don't like what I'm saying, you can go and tell those people. They'll beat you to death. Kidding. They're very sweet, lovable people. But also Facebook X, all that good stuff. So like I said, I don't say this as a place of dislike for anyone because I actually like the people that are involved in this. I don't like Mike Johnson. I like the people that are involved in this. But here's I know it's very difficult for some drive bys to understand. You can like someone and then think that what they're what that person that you like is doing is stupid. I think what Anna Paulina Luna is doing with this is one of the stupidest, most attention-seeking things that I've seen in quite some time. And I like her. I've defended her before. I mean, hell, I've raised money for her. Now, let me just preface this. Let me set the stage so you understand. So what ended up happening yesterday is basically you have Anna Paulina Luna working with AOC, and they wanted to introduce this bill for new moms so that they could vote remotely. And... When that didn't happen, she had a fit and left the Freedom Caucus and then ended up creating this like theater. We're in fighting with House leadership to essentially, you know, change the day they they wanted to stop bills from going up to a vote for this. And even though Mike Johnson is not helpless here, I don't know what he's doing either. This is the thing where I don't get it. I mean, he chose to cancel votes for the rest of the week for no reason. And there's literally nothing that's stopping him. from putting up things for a vote. You have to have a new rule for it. And you can just do a new rule for it at any time, right? They're mad over this proxy vote fight. That's what this all comes down to. And it all stems from this situation with Anna Paulina Luna out of Florida. And she quit the Freedom Caucus because the Republicans would not back her push to allow a rules change for new congressional parents to vote by proxy. I'm going to tell you something. Sean Duffy, who's the secretary of the transportation department. I know I know him and his wife very well. And when they had their youngest little girl and she was born with a heart issue, she she had some complications when she was born. He didn't want to vote by proxy. So he resigned his seat. Because he felt that that wasn't a constitutional thing. They have like eight kids. And he didn't feel that that was a constitutional thing to do. That's not what voters sent him to D.C. to do is just to vote by proxy. So he resigned and spent time with his family. Don't tell me that your family first when you want to water down congressional action. And change every if you're a family first, then why are you? I'm going to say it. Why are you in Congress? If you're family first, you need to prioritize the order at which you're creating your family and then going to Congress. This is not like any other regular job. Right. Things happen and you have to be there for it. So spare me the whole it's not equal. You're damn right. It's not. It's government. You're going there on behalf of the people. I don't care if I've had babies, too. So have women all throughout history. I mean, it's a great, wonderful thing, but stop. Stop this. Stop this victimhood mentality. Stop the victim Olympics. Dear God, that's not what we sent people like you to D.C. for. I'm so tired of Republicans doing these self-owned. Stop it. So, no, I think that they were right. She got mad at the Freedom Caucus because she wanted to do something that was pretty much antithetical to a purpose of gathering in D.C. and also the whole position of the right. And they're trying to make it an argument that Republicans don't like new moms, which I think that if you're trying to set your own party up for stuff like that, I question your allegiance. So she resigned. She sent a letter. They've been fighting about it. And she said, I have consistently supported you even in moments of disagreement, etc. This respect was shattered last week. She wanted to force a mechanism and she worked with Democrats to do it. She wanted to force a mechanism that allows new parents in the House to vote remotely for 12 weeks around their baby's birth. I'm pretty hardcore in this. And I think it's a cop out for people to say. that you are not being family first or that the Republicans need to prioritize kids by diminishing the constitutional importance of how our Congress acts. I think that's a cop out. If you're family first, then get your priorities about putting your family first first. I didn't have a radio career until my kids were a lot older. I did not have a newborn at home and was I wasn't doing show prep and I'm pretty damn old school. I mean, a lot of people think they're traditional. Hi, meet me. I didn't do any of that because that wasn't where my rightful place was. Oh, yes, I also believe in the Deppers and the Ruths and all that stuff. But for my particular position, this is how it was laid out for me. So I didn't do all of that. I wasn't getting on air and I wasn't doing all of that. I actually put my family first and I stayed home and I raised my kids. Not everyone has that option. So I don't need victimhood mentality theater if that doesn't describe a drive-by's particular situation. I'm giving you an example. My lived experience. Everybody has babies. Everybody raises kids. OK, but here's the thing. When you choose to go to Congress, you choose it. No one forces you. There are certain things that you have to realize. One of those is that you need to make sure you're servicing the voters and we're not doing proxy voting. That is not what we're doing. I find it ironic to sit here and say we can't do proxy voting for America. We're not going to do mail in ballots and all that stuff, but we're going to do the equivalent of that for Congress. No, we're not. We're going to be consistent. And if you have a problem with that, then maybe your position shouldn't be in the House. I don't begrudge anyone for for wanting to focus on their family. But you can't demand that Congress change process to something less than what we as conservatives and constitutionalists expect to accommodate you because you want to play a progressive card. And try to set something up more advantageous for yourself. It's not a family first position. It's not an America first position. And it's not a common sense position. And it's unfortunate that now we have another week because of this theater. Another week when the clock is ticking and we don't have the time that we're sending everybody home again and we're not going to do anything. I throw something but I actually want to eat my yogurt, so I'm not going to throw it. And my coffee's real hot. You see what I'm saying? Can you let me know if I'm being too old school here?
SPEAKER 15 :
No, this is actually pretty spot on. I don't see an actual legitimate reason why Johnson... I mean, both of them are dumb. Yes, it's both dumb. Like somehow they think two dumbs make a nut dumb because it's not working that way.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, it's like two grapes don't make a strawberry. Right? Was that a bad? They just died. I don't know. But still. Still. Come on. So this is goofy. So I'm... Yeah, I'm a little... I'm a little verklempt this morning. To quote Mike Myers from SNL before he turned into a giant jack wagon. So now we're going to come back to this. We got Liberation Day as well. So Israel... They removed all remaining tariffs yesterday. They did it right after the show. So helpful. They removed all remaining tariffs from U.S. products, U.S. everything. So there's no tariffs now. In Italy, they're moving to do the same thing. from what I was reading. I don't know if that's official yet. But it's Liberation Day. And then we got the TikTok sale. That's in days. Jeez, everything's just hitting at once. Great job, Republicans in Congress. I'm sorry, I'm mad about it. And I'm going to come back to it repeatedly throughout the show. Okay. So I'm waiting to see the gains. You know, like I said, we talked about this yesterday, the issue with the tariffs. I am not at all against using this as a tactic to secure a more advantageous or an actual equal position. Right? That's what reciprocal means.
SPEAKER 15 :
And Mexican President Claudia Sanz.
SPEAKER 23 :
No, they don't know what that means. There are literally people who don't know what that means.
SPEAKER 15 :
That's a shame.
SPEAKER 23 :
I've watched someone who has a column in a publication not understand what that meant all last night on X, and I just closed the app.
SPEAKER 15 :
That's sad.
SPEAKER 23 :
I know.
SPEAKER 15 :
It's a shame.
SPEAKER 23 :
I know.
SPEAKER 15 :
But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also conceded to President Trump and has said that she will not impose tit-for-tat tariffs. So there you go. If a country doesn't like tariffs put on by the United States, they just have to lower or eliminate their tariffs. Yeah. It's very, very simple.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah. That's... Yeah, exactly. And that's what it is. I mean, some of the stuff that our... That we were getting... The tariffs against U.S. products were... I mean... Amazing. 200% here and there. You know, 150%. I just... I mean, some of these countries, like China... I mean, we've got some of the highest... They have some of the highest tariffs on our products. The EU. Mexico. Vietnam. Ireland. Germany. Taiwan. Japan. So that's what... That's what all this is. This is to make it actually fair because it isn't fair right now. And there's no reason why if we're sending a product, we're exporting a product to any of these these nations, why we should have like a 200 percent tariff on our products. Now, I'm not against tariffs either, because before we had the ratification, what was it, 16th Amendment? Yeah. For taxes. That's how we were able to raise federal cash was tariffs. when it's applied properly. But now, and I do think it's a little bit ironic that our government's complaining about tariffs on our exports when they basically, I mean, taxes are tariffs on us, essentially. We're just not, there's a whole bunch of stuff. But that's, you know, usually that's how we did it in the past. I'm actually for going back to that model. Raise federal revenue that way instead of taxing the hell out of everybody. That's how it should be done. So I get mad when I see headlines like this from Reuters. Trump's sweeping tariffs will escalate the global trade war. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. Before I set this whole headline on fire. No, that's not how this works. Number one, the global trade war was already escalated by the placement of tariffs on our goods coming into these other countries. So we respond in kind and We're told that that's escalation. That's a bullying tactic. Don't push back because then you're escalating it. You're getting punched in the face by a bully and you're told not to swing back because that would be escalating it. That's the logic. That's the logic that's applied here. So that's why I reject that. Now, you got the Mexican president. Now, Doug Ford said that they were going to eliminate. And it's Doug Ford. I don't know. Take it as what you will. But he had said that they were going to. It's not cut 28. Yes, it is. Oh, it says Ellie Mistel on my rundown. So whatever the Doug Ford one was.
SPEAKER 15 :
Let's go.
SPEAKER 23 :
Let's go into it's 29. Let's play 29. That's it.
SPEAKER 18 :
Again, he believes he's supporting Americans. He said he was going to create jobs, create wealth, reduce inflation. It's worked the total opposite. But do you think it's fair that you have tariffs on a whole number of products? That's right. And we'd be willing to take those off tomorrow if he took all the tariffs off. We are not the problem. Andrew, do you know the problem is China's the problem. And he's taking a blind eye to China as they continue to build their critical mineral mass. Is he as high as his brother was?
SPEAKER 23 :
Damn, I mean, maybe both Fords were on drugs. Who knows? I think you have to be in order to say that he's not watching China. Seriously. I mean, we got 25 percent tariffs on China as well. So that's that's not even remotely accurate. It's just silly. It's also silly. But it's this is the real, real equalness of it. All right. We've got today days of these United States coming up. Our friends over at Caltech, the Caltech PR 57. It is a new build from Caltech. It's a five seven. It's a rotary barrel pistol. and it's the first of its kind, 40% lighter than the next lightest 5.7. And that innovative rotary barrel makes it so light, so nice. Now, I keep joking about this because I find it funny. The left always says, oh, my gosh, the clips. They call them clips. They can be correct with this one for once because it doesn't use a traditional magazine. This is the other reason why it's so light and slim. The unique top-loading design replaces the traditional mag with a stripper clip, so you have a slimmer carry profile and a 20-plus-1 capacity. Super low recoil. Quickest and easiest field strip out there. The MSRP is only $399. Y'all, this is so affordable. It's crazy. I'm just saying Mother's Day is coming up. Ladies, if you want a nice 5.7 that you actually can realistically carry, this is it. Dudes, if you just want a lighter, thinner one, this is one for you too. Because, you know, Father's Day is after Mother's Day. Visit Caltechweapons.com to learn more. Innovation Performance Caltech. It's the first of its kind. Caltech PR57 Rotary Barrel Pistol Chambered in 5.7. KELTECweapons.com. Tell them Dana sent you.
SPEAKER 09 :
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 14 :
Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of the United States.
SPEAKER 06 :
And boy, you can see now that we are in a pre-Civil War culture now. when they describe things back then politically. There are profound differences, of course, in terms of just history and age and what life was like back then and cotton and slavery and Lincoln and... Don't shoot us, bro. Robert E. Lee and so forth. There's just so many... This incredible story, awful that this country had to go through that.
SPEAKER 23 :
What is his point in talking about this? Don't shoot us. What is his point in talking about this? I mean, Alec Ball, I just, the lack of humility that this guy has.
SPEAKER 15 :
So he wasn't talking about his marriage?
SPEAKER 22 :
How you say cucumber? Oh, I was born in Boston, but I visited Spain on vacation, and I'm Spanish.
SPEAKER 23 :
That's literally what she did. He's saying that there's going to be a civil war. Did he fire the first shot already? It's never going to go away. I always think it's interesting that the people who talk most about civil conflict are the people who have not been in a fight ever. Like the people who've been in fights don't actively, like especially war, don't actively seek it out. They know the true cost. The people who don't, the keyboard warriors, those are the ones that talk great games. The pencil pushers, those are the ones that talk great games. I'm just saying. We have a whole second hour coming up. And we got to talk about Liberation Day, Republican fight. Are we ever going to get a budget? OMG, WTF, barbecue. Back after this. It is our friends over at Gold Coat Precious Metals. And the economy, very slowly getting back on track. It's a mess. It's like untangling Christmas lights and like the old school Christmas lights too, you know. With GoldCo, Goldman Sachs Research, they've raised their gold price forecast to 3,100 by the end of this year. And that's underpinned by higher than expected demand from central banks. So now is the time to buy. And it's easy and transparent to do so. I've partnered with GoldCo to make buying metals simple and hassle-free. And they're a very strong supporter of this program. And they know metals inside and out. Secure your future with Gold Co. Investing in metals, it's straightforward and reliable. And they've got over $3 billion in gold and silver secured for hardworking people all over the country. Top rated company from the start. So act now and request their free 2025 gold and silver kit. And you can learn how to diversify and safeguard your savings today. Diversify your money with time tested safe haven assets. It's physical gold. and silver. Visit danalikesgold.com. Join everybody, thousands who've called Goldco the number one rated gold company. And right now, get that free copy of their 2025 gold and silver kit. And you could also qualify for up to 10% in bonus silver only at danalikesgold.com.
SPEAKER 19 :
A tariff is a beautiful thing, but it's got a bad image. It needs you to fix the image. A tariff, we stop wars with tariffs. I mean, I had cases where I told a country that were being very aggressive with another country. It had nothing to do with us. I just don't like seeing dead people, okay? And they were going to go to war, and I said, if you go to war, And they do a lot of business with the United States. I'm putting 100% tariff on everything you do, any business you do with this. No, no, no, this has nothing to do. I said, it does have. I stopped a war. Will I get Nobel Prizes? Never. I mean, look what we did with the Abraham Accords, how good that was. But you can stop wars with tariffs.
SPEAKER 23 :
You can. He's he's right with this. I mean, there's been a lot of stuff that's like I said, there are good tariffs and bad tariffs. I mean, it's OK to make that differentiation. It's also OK to say, you know what, we're going to use this as a tactic. And I got to be real for the people who have been I'm still. I flinch when I hear tariffs because I think we are used to the examples in history when they've been done very wrong, very poorly, very poorly. But there are instances when, you know, you're using them in the manner that he's using them here when they actually can work. So long as you understand why you're using them, why you're using these, you're articulating the duration. And I think he's gotten better with the messaging on this. I wasn't pleased with his messaging first when this first kicked off. It made me nervous because that's a huge the economy is a huge issue for voters. And I didn't want people to freak out. And, you know, most people I mean, when you sit down with folks, are you sitting down? You know, you're going to Applebee's. You're going to have a beer with your friends. Did Gen Z do that? I don't know. And you sit there. You guys don't sit here and talk about tariffs. You know, you need to be able. So I thought his messaging was too anemic in the beginning. And I think he's finally kind of hit his stride. And also, you know, are people understand when you tell them, look, do you realize the percentage that's levied upon our exports? You realize what this is doing for American manufacturing, American jobs, et cetera. And then they people start to understand a little bit. And so he's right with that. Welcome back to the program. Top of this second hour or second hour of the program. Dana Lash with you. Make sure you go find us on Substack. I got two pieces that will be coming out. One will be coming out probably later tonight. And then also Facebook, YouTube, all that good stuff. The chats at Rumble and Channel 347 Direct TV. There's so much stuff I have to relay to you. You know, I like forget things, right? I'm like forgetting my keys, forgetting stuff everywhere. So... The Liberation Day, as it's happening, I think so far some of these countries, Cain, are coming to the table. Mexico now. Yeah. Ireland looks like they're talking.
SPEAKER 15 :
The ones that have proven to understand what reciprocal tariffs are.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yes. Because, Cain, for the drive-bys, reciprocal, what does that mean?
SPEAKER 15 :
It means whatever happens... That you do, it happens back to you.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, did you ever do that with a sibling or a cousin?
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER 23 :
You hit me, I'm going to hit you back. That's reciprocal. It's a reciprocal slap. See? That's how that works. You know what made me think? Because I had a lot of cousins growing up. Sometimes that's the only way you can protect yourself. You know that? if you had uh you know you had wild rowdy cousins you hit me i'm gonna hit you back now it's not reciprocal reciprocal if you say i'm going to hit you back twice as hard see king that's different that's different or i'm going to also pinch you that's different you know reciprocal means what i'm getting i'm given that's it i'm matching your energy so how is that escalation How dare you react, United States? I mean, I get that all of these European nations that live off the welfare of our military like to dog on the United States. But, you know, they're freaking out now. It's not escalation. It's equalization. See, wrong E there. Wrong E. So we'll see how this goes. And we got the TikTok thing as well. So he's putting, he's lining up buyers. There's a deadline, obviously, which is a couple of days. I don't care. I'm not on TikTok. I have resisted every urge to get on TikTok. I have people telling me, you need to get on TikTok. And I'm like, nope, not going to happen. I'm just not going to do it. Number one, there's too many things, right? Number two, no. Number three, China, huh? Number four. No, I don't... I hate looking at my phone. I used to not have a problem with this. But now, for some reason, I woke up one day. I'm like, I hate doing selfies and I hate talking into the phone. I just hate the whole physical look of it. You're holding your phone and you're talking. It's like an exercise in supreme vanity. And I just... It takes everything I have. And we, you know, the folks on the radio team, I know it kills their soul, but I just... I can't. I don't know what it is. Kane, I went from not having a problem to having a problem with it. And that's honestly the biggest driver. That's why I'm not on TikTok.
SPEAKER 15 :
And I hear there's a sale pending?
SPEAKER 23 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 15 :
This week?
SPEAKER 23 :
Well, maybe. Yeah. They've got a list of investors. You've got, I mean, everybody and their brother that's wanting to buy this now. And POTUS said that he can extend the deadline if he wants. He's finalizing an ownership group. He said we've got a lot of potential buyers. We'll see. I mean, Perplexity AI already presented a proposal. Other bidders, Frank McCourt, Jesse Tinsley, founder of employer.com. And then there's a consortium that includes the CEO of Roblox. I can't even believe that the Roblox CEO has this much money. Good night. So isn't that just like the dumb, what's the other game that's not like Minecraft, but they have guns in it and they're super goofy laser gun Fortnite. Isn't that just like basically a Fortnite? It's like the toddler version of Fortnite. Yeah. Okay. So the, uh, he said he could extend that. Why are you laughing? You don't play it, do you? Okay. So, you know, I mean, he could extend the deadline if he wanted to. I'm not going to be sad if it closes. See, this is also why I'm really worried about any kind of... I think when you're a content creator, you've got to be a little bit more business savvy. In our lives, we always do the, you know, three-legged stool. You have three separate columns that are completely separate so that if one falls, you still have... You know, you still got something. Everything's got to stay separate. So you still got something coming in. These people that do their entire businesses off of TikTok, what did you think was going to happen? I mean, most of these, I think Twitter is a weird one, but most of these social media platforms have a lifespan. And Facebook, I think, has struggled. Instagram's doing well, and Twitter there struggled for a little bit, but everybody still comes back to it because it's the watering hole and everybody wants to play in it. But at some point, a platform, like what was it, Vine beforehand? And then what was before that one? There was another one before that one. There was Kick, Vine. I thought there was another one. It was similar to TikTok. But there were people who would create their whole businesses on it. And then a new thing would emerge. And they'd have to start all over and go to the next thing. So it's not the best business plan to do that. It's something I would expect from David from Schitt's Creek, the show, right? That I would expect him to have a business plan like that. But it's not something that's that's promises any kind of longevity at all. So we'll we'll see. I have this story. I told Ken I was going to get to it. So in August or sorry, in Augusta, Georgia, this is March is like in like last week. A guy named Chris Lewis, he was arrested after he left his three children unattended at a McDonald's, right? And he had three kids. He had a job interview. And the Augusta Press has the story. He left his kids there to go to a job interview. But then a customer noticed that the kids aged 10, 6, and 1, excuse me, were left alone. And he had his kids there. the play place and he went to go do his job interview a responding deputy found the children unattended a witness reported seeing lewis with the children around 4 30 the witness then observed lewis leave the restaurant and returned later before leaving again he arrived back at mcdonald's so they were he was there at 4 30 here right back at 6 18 he was detained by officers He said he had walked to the restaurant with his children from his apartment. He did not want to make them walk back while he attended a nearby job interview. He said he did not own a vehicle. The children's mother arrived shortly, took the children from the restaurant. He was arrested and taken into custody. The children, they went to go back with their mom. And I got to say, because now this guy is going to have to fight this legal stuff. I think it's really easy to judge. But this is a dad. He's taking care of his kids. Maybe not in the way you would take care of your kids. And he's trying to get a job. And from everything that I had read, he took his kids there. They ate. They played in the play place. And he went to go do his job interview. This is where... I get aggravated in society at large. Because society at large, even in our day-to-day interactions, so many people have a progressive mindset. And I say progressive mindset because they didn't want to bother really too much themselves in seeing if this dad needed help. They called the police to come and do it. Without knowing the guy's circumstances, they made a judgment call. I don't know that I would have done that same thing. I think I would have. And what I think this, you know, person should have done is, you know, maybe maybe, you know, kind of keep an eye on the kids and talk to the dad when he came back. I don't know. It reminded me, and Cain brought this up too, of the kids that there was a story of, what was it, an 11-year-old and a 9-year-old that walked down the road, not even a block, walked down the road because they had a park on their street, like a neighborhood park. And they walked down the road to the park and some busybody saw and called the cops. Mom was home. Mom got arrested. She's like, my kids are walking to the park. There's tons of stories like this. They have the free-range kid movement. So it was a 10-year-old, 6-year-old, and 1-year-old. I just feel like this is not the time to respond with the cops. This is a dad who's trying to do the right thing and he needs help. And now he's got to deal with all of this legal stuff. Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown heard about the case. He stepped in and he's apparently trying to Help. They set up a GoFundMe for the dad. And he said it reminded him about the pursuit of happiness, the life of Chris Gardner, who spent a year homeless in San Francisco before he found a job. And Brown said, you know, I know he shouldn't just leave his kids, but some people don't have the means. This is we're going to do a GoFundMe said that he always does. And he's looks like he's helping with some of the legal stuff. I feel bad for this dad because he's a dad. Look, I grew up poor. I know the position. I mean, when I say I grew up poor, you guys, I couldn't afford basic necessities for school. I lived on the generosity of other people for a while. I had a single mom and after she was getting on her feet and we were fighting from not being statistics. So I get it. That's why I think he wasn't doing drugs. He wasn't drinking. He wasn't goofing around. He was trying to get a job. And Now he's got to deal with all of this. And I'm happy that other people are stepping in. But it's like, you know, in the story that I saw, an elderly neighbor, their grass got real tall. And somebody called, what is it, the city on the neighbor. And they started finding the neighbor. Instead of just walking over and saying, do you need help? Can I mow your grass? Being good stewards of your fellow man literally means being good stewards of your fellow man. That's what people are called to do. And calling the cops on somebody isn't necessarily the thing that's always required. I hope this dad gets on his feet and I hope that he's able to preserve some grace in his heart that wasn't shown to him by the person who called the cops. I'm sure the person was looking out for the well-being of the kids. But is this the best way to go about it? Give the dad a break, man. Our friends over at Super Beats, which is great for promoting healthy metabolism and healthy blood sugar levels. And, you know, you're familiar with the Super Beats heart chews. 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SPEAKER 15 :
And now, all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 23 :
Gold maintains a record rally as tariff fears spur demand. This is a great time now to reach out to Gold Co. Gold Co. And make sure you mention Dana. The gold prices rose to touch a new record. New record high on Tuesday. Investors turn to gold. Gold is great. Gold's pretty. It's nice. It's bright. Shiny. I mean, I like it. I like gold. I'm like, you know, basically like a Lord of the Rings dwarf. Or smog. You know, one of the two. So it was up 0.3% at $3,132.43 per ounce earlier today. It hit an all-time high of just, you know, like a couple bucks higher. So all good things. All good things. Also, good heavens. An FAA air traffic controller was charged with assault for an alleged fight inside of D.C. airport's control tower. This is this is how it's listed. Quote unquote, blood spattered. Good night. They got into a blazing argument and started throwing punches. The 38-year-old Damon Marsalis Gaines was apparently placed on administrative leave. He faces assault and battery. And apparently it was within the Politico says Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. They responded and that they got into a big old argument. That's just the last thing that we need to hear about. You know, I mean, we got planes running into each other and stuff and kites and now air traffic controllers fighting. Let's see. A psychedelic church offers free magic mushrooms to its 500 strong congregation. They taste sound and will hear the colors. That sounds bad. Everything you say to Alexa will be sent to Amazon. It starts Sunday. Restarted last Sunday. That's creepy. That's why I don't have these things in my house. We got a lot more on the way. Stick with us. I've seen the amazing changes Relief Factor has made for so many people, and I've seen it firsthand through my husband Chris's pain relief from using Relief Factor. Right now, it's easy to give their product a try because Relief Factor makes it pain-free with their three-week quick start for just $19.95. Get rid of pain and start living better. Relief Factor is a 100% drug-free daily supplement that helps your body fight pain naturally developed by doctors it works by supporting your body's response to inflammation it doesn't just mask pain for a short time it helps reduce or even eliminate it it's safe to take daily and in fact the longer you take relief factor the more effective whether it's neck back joint or muscle pain relief factor can help over 1 million people have turned to relief factor Give Relief Factor a try. With their pain-free trial, you can get a three-week quick start for only $19.95, less than a dollar a day. Call 1-800-4-RELIEF. That's 1-800-4-RELIEF. With their pain-free trial, you can get a three-week quick start for only $19.95. Call 1-800-4-RELIEF or visit relieffactor.com.
SPEAKER 09 :
Not able to catch all three hours of The Dana Show? Subscribe to the full podcast and get news and laughs delivered in short, easy-to-digest episodes. Ideal for your busy lifestyle on YouTube, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.
SPEAKER 23 :
Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you. Bottom of this second hour, we're watching all the tariff, the tariff Liberation Day play out and watching this play out as well. The fight in the House. I was talking to a member of Congress just, you know, back channel just for some background information. There wasn't a single female other another female Republican that actually voted for this rules change campaign. for the House. People are really mad. And this has to do with this fight, Mike Johnson and Paulina Luna, over changing the rules to allow congressional members to vote by proxy if they've had babies. Sorry, but I'm not sorry. We have fought for how many years now to battle... The mail-in ballots, the vote boxes, you know, the ballot boxes that were just randomly placed on streets after COVID. Remember this? We fought so hard against that. The idea that an elected official should be able to vote any other way but in person is offensive and it's anti-America first and it's a betrayal of the voter. I mean, maybe I'm coming at it from a little bit more of a personal perspective because, see, we're in Texas and Kay Granger is also in Texas. Nobody knew where Kay Granger was for such a long time. Kay, where was she? Where was Kay Granger at? They found her. Where was she? Oh, wasn't she in a nursing home? She was. That's right. Voting. You wanted to vote by proxy. We know. No, that's so dumb. So I just and now because Mike Johnson had his feelings hurt in the fight, he decided to send everyone home. We don't have time. They've got we got reconciliation coming up. There's all kinds of things that need to happen before the filing and the midterm elections kick off. And we're wasting our time on this. I think it's a self-serving, attention-seeking move that does nothing to benefit voters. And it actually sets our argument back about mail-in ballots and plus voting by proxy is unconstitutional. End of. End of. If you're mad about juggling a newborn and being in Congress, then wait to plan your family for when you're out of office. That's what smart women do. You don't sit here and make unconstitutional proposals and demand that everyone acquiesce to it. And then when you're a speaker, you don't get your feelings... You don't get butthurt and send everybody home. It's like dealing with the most... Just asinine stuff. This isn't about women at large, by the way. It's just about her. I know her. I don't dislike her. I just think what she's doing here is stupid. I think it's all performative. And I don't know why we're tolerating this stuff. We don't have the time for it. We don't have the time. It's just not... I think some people need to get over themselves. Get back to the business of the voter. But yeah, coming at it from a little bit more of a personal... Because we have Kay Granger here. And you guys, I mean, people were wondering, well, what was going on with Kay Granger for the longest time? They literally, Dallas Express, quote, exclusive, where's Congresswoman Kay Granger? She's been in an assisted living home. They found her wandering around lost and confused. She just stopped going. She just stopped showing up. The Dallas Express ended up breaking it. They found out that she was, I mean, literally in an assisted living home. No one could get a hold of her. Her last vote was on July 24th, 2024. And she had not cast any other votes after that in D.C. Nobody knew what happened or her staff didn't know what was going on. Looks like her office is closed. This is back last year when all this like towards when was this out? Yeah, December 20th, 2024. Nobody knew where she was. And then they got a tip that she was in a local memory care and assisted living home for quite a long time because she had been found out wandering, lost and confused in her former neighborhood. So Dallas Express went to the facility. They confirmed she was there. They wanted to see how she was going to vote on the spending bill. And the nursing home did confirm she was indeed living at the facility. And no, you could not talk to her. You could not ask her how she planned to vote or anything. And one of the assistant executive director of the senior living facility said, quote, this is her home. Now, this is another reason why I know we're not going to have proxy voting in Congress. Do you realize that part of the job of Congress is to get in the same room together? Iron sharpens iron. You debate these ideas. You discuss these ideas. You don't just vote by proxy. It is unconstitutional and it doesn't serve the voter. This isn't about you. This isn't about you and it's not about your baby and it's not about your family. This is about millions and millions of American voters. I don't want to hear from the there's nobody defending it, but I don't want to hear from anybody who would defend it. Another damn thing about mail in ballots and voting boxes and all of that, because you're just arguing the same thing for Congress. I'm mad at this because we don't have the time. We don't have the time for this. We have we do not have the time to deal with this stuff right now. We have got to get this agenda implemented because it's getting harder and harder. Wisconsin, we could lose two seats. Two seats. Now, sad news yesterday. Kane, one of the greats. I didn't have it in my quick five because, lo, tis greater than quick five. It deserves its own piece, its own time in the show. And, of course, I'm talking about the passing of Val Kilmer. Oh, my gosh. The fact that this man did not win an Oscar for his Doc Holliday. I'm telling you. It's shameful, Kane. I mean, it was just he was robbed. He was robbed. He was robbed. But he passed away. What was he, 65 years old? They said he had pneumonia and had some complications with pneumonia. And, I mean, he was in so many... Like, Weird Science was great. Or no, Real Genius. Sorry, it was Real Genius. Real Genius was amazing. Batman Forever, obviously, you know, when he was in Oliver Stone's The Doors. And then there's, you know, the Doc Holliday in Tombstone, which is a movie about how gun control fails. His daughter... confirmed to the new york times that the cause was pneumonia he was 65 years old he had throat cancer so he was battling throat cancer for a long time and i can't imagine how you know having pneumonia and then having to deal with that but uh i watched that documentary that they made on his life back in 2021 his son provided the actor's voice his son oh no i thought it was him And then I only realized at one point when they gave it away that that's actually his son talking. His son sounds exactly. I've never heard anyone sound so. If they wouldn't have told you, I would have thought it was him the whole rest of the documentary. The tone, the pitch, the elocution, everything was him. And he was really good in Batman. I thought George Clooney was bad. I hated George Clooney as Batman. It just blew. But Val Kilmer and Michael Keaton were the best. They were so good. But he was just great. He's been in this, and he was a person of faith. He and his ex-wife were still really good friends. They had two kids together. But I liked him because one of their, and of course, obviously, you know, Iceman and, you know, you got to talk about his iconic role in Iceman or his as Iceman. And then that scene from Top Gun where they did the sequel, right? And he was older and he had passed me. And that hits differently now, doesn't it? Oh, my gosh. But one of the reasons I really liked him is he could play any character. Because I think for an actor, I think acting can be difficult. And here's why I say that. We live in a society that wants you to overshare everything. You are incentivized to overshare everything. You are incentivized and that oversharing is monetized and it is just a whole industry. And even people in acting get drawn into it, which makes it difficult because they have to be able to slip into different identities and convince you, the viewer, sitting in a theater or in your own home, watching them through a screen. They have to convince you with their performance that what you're seeing is real. And so many people, their lives lived outside of a set. It's louder than their work done on the set. And it makes it really hard to have that suspension of disbelief. And it's one of the reasons why I love movies and I hate them. I cannot watch bad movies. I can't even watch mid movies. I can't sit there and watch something unless it's very good and compelling and you're just roped in. I've never seen him in anything bad. And he didn't he didn't constant. I don't know what he thought about political issues. He was just a nice guy. I knew that he was a person of faith. He was raised that way. But he never was a jerk to anyone. He never went told anybody how to vote. He was an old school person. Actor, Hollywood, old school Hollywood. And seemed like the nicest guy when he interacted with his fans in his documentary, that documentary on his life. If you haven't seen it, it's called Val. You should, although you're gonna cry your head off now. But he lived next door to his daughter and he was still going to these different events, like these fan events. And he just, he, and he also did like all kinds of voiceover, voice work. But he lived in New Mexico and he, you know, painted and he helped high schoolers, high school theaters and theater performances and all that stuff. But you could believe him in every role because he could slip into every identity because you didn't know a thing of what he thought about when he wasn't acting. Kane, do you know what he thought about politically? No, I didn't know. Didn't care. Didn't care. because his performances were so good and when he wasn't performing he seemed very nice like keanu reeves i have no idea what keanu reeves thinks about politics and that's why i think he can be anybody you can just be anyone because you know there's enough people like me in the world that tell you all of our opinions all day long it's weird when you get someone who doesn't And really loves the craft enough that they put themselves second and their skill first. It's so rare. I think it's one of the reasons I really liked him. And I really liked his character in Top Gun. I just liked him. So, I don't know. I just, it's just, this one was a hard one, Kane. And now you know. Granny's rule of three starts in again. It's new. So now two more have to die. What's the death pull, dude? What do we got? I mean, it's sad, but I'm also like, okay, who's next? It's never the people you want. You know? I don't mean it like that, but you know what I mean. I just realized how... You know what I mean, though? It's never... When you think of, like, somebody pipes up and you're like, golly, they're still living. It's never those people. I'm not saying you're wishing death on them, but you're just, you know... Maybe you're kind of like, oh, they're alive. Shucks. I don't know. That sounds bad, too. We should probably get moving. We got... We have Florida Man on the way, but rest in peace, Val Kilmer. He was a real one. It is our friends over at Patriot Mobile, the only Christian conservative cell phone service that is out there. You can keep your number, keep your phone. You can upgrade. It's entirely up to you. Patriot Mobile makes it to where your money... doesn't work against you you can switch today you don't sacrifice quality you don't sacrifice service and every dollar you spend either supports your value i mean it supports your values you don't want your money working against you and in this economy where you spend your money matters it's one of the ways that you resume control take back the country visit patreon mobile.com slash dana or call 972 patriot you can get a free month of service using promo code dana They have exceptional nationwide coverage, access to all three major U.S. networks, unlike the big budget providers. They also have an exclusive feature where you can get two numbers on two networks on one phone. Big carriers cannot do this. They also have flexible, unlimited data plans designed to fit your lifestyle and seamless switching. So support what you believe in because it's not just about getting better coverage when you switch to Patriot Mobile. 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SPEAKER 11 :
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 11 :
Subscribe to Culture and Christianity, an Alan Jackson podcast on your favorite podcast app.
SPEAKER 14 :
It's his life mission to make bad decisions. It's time for Florida Man.
SPEAKER 23 :
I don't know what's happening here. All right. So we were talking about the hang on. My whole thing froze because, of course, it did. We were talking about the rule of three real quick. And I just realized I don't know that we actually have a time frame. For the rule of three.
SPEAKER 15 :
I thought it was like within three weeks or within like just a couple few weeks.
SPEAKER 23 :
We're going to have to devote a segment next hour to figuring this out. Because I can't like dig up my granny and be like, hey, lady, you forgot to tell us. Along with your chicken dumpling recipe.
SPEAKER 15 :
Why are you even thinking about doing that?
SPEAKER 23 :
Because I really want to know. Like, you know, I'm fascinated by this. All right. Let's get to the meat and taties here. All right. So. Oh, no. No. Okay. Hang on. This is not a real story. It says that the link is probably broken. I don't know. A guy. No, it is. No, it is. A Florida man shows his munchkins at the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru.
SPEAKER 15 :
Oh, you're right. The link is broken.
SPEAKER 23 :
Auburndale. This is Tampa Bay. He was arrested because he showed off his munchkins in the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru line, according to the police. Yeah, not his kids. Not like that anyway. So they filed, Paul Ring is 60. He has charges filed against him because he was exposing his sexual, S-E-C-K-S-H-U-L, his sexual organs. They said the incident happened on March 19th. He looks so pleased with himself. In the mugshot, it's really weird. He was in a red pickup truck in the drive-thru lane waiting for his order. The victim was working the drive-thru orders. Then Mr. Ring pulls up and she asked for the card to pay for the order. And that's when she noticed his munchkins were out. And then he drove off. So she had to call the police. And apparently he's done this before. And they found him from his vehicle tag. They identified him and they took him into custody. And he just looks as happy as a clam in the... His mugshot, it's so... Oh, Juan right in... Look, Juan coming in clutch. That's so... He looks like a drunk-shaven Santa.
SPEAKER 15 :
He's definitely pleased.
SPEAKER 23 :
Showing off them munchkins in the Dunkin' line. Let's not. Let's not do that. OK, I don't understand the story at all. A Florida woman uses an air vent to get pregnant and gives birth to a miracle baby. She says it's like the Virgin Mary. There's so many things wrong with us. So she was supposedly in solitary confinement. She says. OK, I can't. This this is. Well, she apparently used, I don't know how to say this. Kane, why did you give me this story? She used something passed by a fellow male inmate through an air conditioning vent to inseminate herself. I'll just put it like that. And that's as far as I'm going. There it is. Really don't think that that's how it happened. But now she's further in trouble. And apparently the other, the dude's in trouble. And yeah, I don't know. This is, oh my gosh, I'm going to jump off my roof. Stay with us. I love all family pharmacy. First off, they made me well. And they made me well fast. And that's all that you care about when you're sick. Look, you know when you're getting sinus infections or if you're getting strep throat, you know what that's like. I mean, especially you get it for like 30, 40 years, you understand what it's like. And, you know, a lot of times if I'm going to big events, I want to take some ivermectin, you know, just as my doctor prescribes because they work with a doctor. I work with a doctor. All family pharmacy bypasses a lot of the red tape infrastructure. And they don't gatekeep with the medicines that the actual government tried to keep from you for several years. They have the ivermectin, the hydroxychloroquine, the antibiotics. They have over 200 different types of medicines. And you can get it simple. It's simple to get, fast and affordable. If you don't have insurance, no problem. They have straightforward pricing, online ordering. Shipping on average is literally like in two to four days. If you need it overnight, you can get it overnighted. In a pinch, always. Your health is within reach. And you can even get your everyday maintenance medications. They make it so easy. Fast shipping, no hassle. And again, no gatekeepers. But the best part, all made in the USA. There are no inputs from India or China. It's all made in the USA, so you don't have to worry about quality and safety. They have the highest standards. Visit allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana for 10% off using promo code Dana10. Don't wait. Be prepared. Protect yourself and your family today. That's allfamilypharmacy.com slash Dana. Coupon code Dana10 to save 10%.
SPEAKER 17 :
This result in Wisconsin is a huge, huge defeat for Elon Musk, who, as we saw, personally went there, went full cheesehead, thinking, what, that's how to appeal to people in Wisconsin? And handing out those million-dollar checks, literally trying to buy the election, physically doing the buying.
SPEAKER 23 :
He didn't say anything about Soros, about Pritzker, about all the other big lefties that went in and did donations. But they always come back to, Musk was buying it. He gave donations and he was actually a court ruled he was totally fine to do what he did, cry harder. But he can't do it all by himself. Welcome back to the program. Dana Lash with you. So that's one of the big things. This Wisconsin, I mean, they're going to have to. There was a win. That was a big win for Democrats. And you have Susan Crawford who wins. Democrats really, they came out. And to a greater degree than Republican voters. And we've got to get over this thing where we think that people don't have to. If Trump's not on the ballot, then that's you don't really need to go out. That's this is a very dangerous way to think about stuff. We can't be doing this. So the she wins. So ultimately, it Republicans have spent millions. We lost about 10 percent. although I think that they spent more on the left. And you're going to now see the push for gerrymandering, and there's a potential to lose, actually probably will, two seats because they're going to draw the lines, redistrict everything in a way that Republican strongholds will be weakened. So that's going to be unfortunate, and it's going to be a battle. But that's, you know, elections count. Even these, they count. And then in Florida... You have Petronas who won his seat. That was Matt Gaetz's old seat, and he did pretty well. Fine. And the 6th Congressional District, that was an embarrassing... He dwindled a really red seat that Mike Waltz previously took, plus 33. Trump had it plus 30. DeSantis had it almost plus 35. And he barely won by 11 points, a spread after they... There's just no excuse for that. He didn't live in the district, though. So that's kind of the problem. He underperformed by over 200,000 votes, almost lost Volusia County. That's Daytona. And where you have also other parts of Florida, including Marion County, places that have been red for the past several election cycles. I mean, he just damn near lost them. So Republicans got to get it together. So and I think some of that has to do with the people who are making the endorsements. need to be better at making endorsements. You have to realize the endorsement game is a racket just like anything else. And there are some people that like to present themselves as being hard as nails, but it's very difficult to see someone as being tough as nails or ice cold when they make their stratagems based on emotion. Petty emotion. Can't be doing that. I mean, we got to put the voters first. And a lot of these people with the endorsements that they're suggesting are not doing that. And that's a difficult thing. So a lot of very uncomfortable conversations because this stuff is I mean, we've we've we got to keep pushing through. We have to keep pushing through. And audio sound by 10. This is Musk put it into. I want this is the this is the context. This is why this loss is a bad one for Republicans. He gets it. Listen, audio sound by 10.
SPEAKER 25 :
Well, the reason tonight's elections are so important is that the judge race will decide whether the Wisconsin districts get redrawn. They're going to try to gerrymander Wisconsin to remove two Republican seats. And as you know, the House is currently Republican by a razor-thin margin, which means that losing this judge race has a good chance of causing Republicans to lose control of the House. If you lose control of the House, there will be nonstop impeachment hearings. There will be nonstop hearings and subpoenas. They're going to do everything possible to stop the agenda that the American people voted for when they voted for President Trump with the popular vote and the House and the Senate in November. They're going to do everything possible to stop the president's agenda.
SPEAKER 23 :
That is true. We're getting in weird territory. And even if we maintain, we didn't pick up two house seats. We maintained two house seats. So there wasn't any flipping going on. Now we're going to lose two. So it's it isn't it's not a big it wasn't a big win last night. So onward. And we've got to stop messing around with some of the silly stuff that we're seeing, like the stuff that's going on in the House right now. I'm going to have one last word on this. The idea that it's misogynist – and I keep seeing people say that – to ask voters or to ask congressional members who willingly, voluntarily signed up to represent voters – If you think it's misogynist for women in elected office to show up and vote the same as men and many other women who previously have had no issue, then I think those people need to reconsider their futures in elected office because they've lost the plot. And. It is not mean to say this. By demanding special accommodations for women, you are in effect arguing that they be treated in an unequal fashion. It's a progressive push. You sign up to represent voters and that's what you have to do. You know that going in, you know that's the job. You know that you have to be in D.C. This has not been an issue in all of the years that we have had government. There are things called babysitters also that exist. And if you can afford to run for office and the outfits to walk around in D.C. and and the travel and everything else, then you can also afford to have someone help you with your child if you have no one else in your family to do it or if your husband isn't even able to help if you're a woman. I mean, this is the nature of it. To demand a special accommodation is an anti-conservative position. And it's not constitutional to demand that everybody be able to vote from home. We're not turning Congress into some big work-from-home enterprise. And I just gave you the example of Kay Granger last hour. I mean, I live next to the district. that Kay Granger represented. And she was in a nursing home, literally in a nursing home. Nobody had any idea where she was. She hadn't voted in a year. Nobody knew. That's insane, people. We're not doing the whole work from home with Congress. This is a part of the job. And honestly, I'm okay with it being an unappealing part of the job. I think that Congress has gotten too cushy a position for some of these people. You know, going into elected office was supposed to be a consequence of being successful in other endeavors in life. And I say consequence because it was previously viewed as with the same level of fondness as jury duty, right? You're serving the public. It is a public service. But there are people like Nancy Pelosi and others who go into Congress and they get rich, right? rich. And even if they're not insider trading, you get book deals and you get lobbyist offers and you can finagle it into like a TV contributorship when your time in office is done. There is no shortage of opportunities. So I'm okay. with taking away some of the perks of the, of the position. There have been tons of women. I know many mothers who are currently serving and have young kids who are currently serving in Congress. It's not an issue for them. So I can't believe this is the hill that the Republicans are going to die on this week. So stupid. What the hell is happening with this party? It's a progressive position. And I think that, uh, I think that the right needs to be very wary of this stuff. I see people calling for this, like paid family leave and demanding that companies provide paid paternity leave along with paid maternity leave. When I say I am super old school and I am super conservative and when I threaten people I'm more conservative than you probably are, it's because it's true. I think all of that's big government. And I think a government needs to be coming in and telling businesses what they should or shouldn't do. And I don't and I reject the argument that I see many Republicans, not conservatives, make that we have to make these policies in order to create a more pro friendly America. You're literally going back to the well of government to solve a problem that only society can remedy. Tell me again how you're conservative. Why the hell do you have an R after your name? It is a progressive mindset. It is a progressive policy. It's LBJ. It's not LBJ. It's Roosevelt. FDR light is what it is. I don't know why people go back to the big government. Well, when they need to solve a problem in society that only society can solve. And so for Congress, I mean, again, I have kids. I waited to start my radio career because I play into my family around this stuff. And don't tell me you can't play in your family. We all know how babies are made. Stop. I just reject these these weak excuses, weak progressive excuses. Don't we're not making Congress a work from home thing. That's not how Congress was designed. It's supposed to be a collaboration. You're supposed to have people go to D.C. and they they battle out these ideas for the benefit of the voter. And you can't do that when you're ensconced at home for however many weeks. So that's that's just it. I mean, and we didn't even have to do any of this stuff right now. We could have done this rules thing at any other point. But Johnson wanted to tie it to the Save Act. And then he tried to act like there was nothing else that he could do. Which is a lie. So you have two theatrical. It's basically like two theater kids are fighting in Congress right now. And the voters were getting the rough end of it because now we have to wait even more. Nothing's getting done now. But it's there is a there's an attempt to rewrite this on the left. Or on the right, rather, by using. And by the way, the House of Representatives also has a child care center, by the way, they provide full day year round child care. And they've been doing this since 1987. So stop with the whole it's not. It's not family. It's not family friendly. I just, you know, I don't agree with us. And it's, you know, you got to show up and work. And if you don't want to do it, then don't go up for the elected office, right? And I think it's a bad representation on women, especially like with some of the paid family stuff and all of this. You're not going to be able to solve it with big government, guys. You're not going to be able to do it. Now, a few other things to touch on because... Cory Booker, did he ever get to go to the bathroom, Cain? Not that I care, but... I'm not really sure.
SPEAKER 15 :
I didn't find out, nor did I care about the details and whether or not he was wearing Depends.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 15 :
Because you said he couldn't leave the floor, right?
SPEAKER 23 :
No, he couldn't leave the floor.
SPEAKER 15 :
So 25 hours was his total speech time. Have you ever gone that long? No. Without going to the restroom in some way?
SPEAKER 23 :
No, I haven't.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, me neither.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah. We have a lot more on the way, including we have tech issues. We're watching TikTok. Got some culture stuff for you as well, so you don't want to miss anything. 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 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 15 :
And now all of the news you would probably miss. It's time for Dana's Quick Five.
SPEAKER 23 :
So first up, a North Carolina man is giving a Florida man a run for his money. He wore a bear costume to scare off a real black bear. Oh, he literally dressed up as a bear and stood out. It's hysterical in North Carolina. Sounds like it's a bold strategy, Cotton. Did he survive? And yeah, well, he put it on. There's a video of it. And most people would, you know, maybe use a different tactic. But he put on I don't know if it worked or not, because the article doesn't actually say it of our W.I.R.F. Because the person who wrote it apparently has one single brain cell and they don't know how to properly write a piece. So between that and the, you know, pop-up ads that just are on the site like an STD, I just don't, you know.
SPEAKER 15 :
I feel like if he died, it'd be in the headline.
SPEAKER 23 :
Yeah, I feel like it would too. But I'm not going to go through all of their stuff just to get that. Saved you a click. Screen time is blamed for cross-cultural drop in birth rates because everybody's doom scrolling. I don't know. They said over half of 18 to 34-year-olds are not in a steady relationship nor are they living with someone. They said most people don't feel pressure to find a partner. Most half say they're not even looking. And they said a lot of people say it's the library of entertainment at our fingertips. No, I don't think so. I think it's more than that. I do think that the way people gather has changed, but I think that society has become so insufferable. It is a minefield to try to go and date someone because you don't know if they're going to be a giant woke scold and accuse you if you're a man of rape. Or if you're a girl, you have no idea if they're going to be like a progressive, you know, patriarch wannabe. You have no idea. So I think that's honestly what contributes to it. And everyone wants to blame the screen time instead of looking deep within their souls and realizing the call is coming from inside the house. Also, let's see. We've got a narco sub located with Hunter. Was he driving it? Six and a half tons of cocaine was seized in the Atlantic. Hunter went down there with a package of straws to just snort it out of the ocean. They had a lot of help. Portugal police, they were involved. DEA was involved. Wow, crazy. What would you do if you woke up during your flight and found someone braided your hair? Someone on an American Airlines flight fell asleep and woke up with a braid in her hair. I would braid their face. I would. A man braided her hair while she was asleep on a plane, apparently. And it was a long haul flight. And it is a woman, I will just say, who has processes under her hair to make her hair straight. And that is one thing you do not do. Look, we have an understanding. I don't mess with your power tools. You don't mess with my hair. Okay. That is the understanding. You know what I mean? Like you kill the spiders and I won't touch the thermostat. That is the understanding. This man did not get that understanding. He broke the code. Brothers, you need to beat down. He broke the code. All right. We got more on the way. Stick with us.
SPEAKER 09 :
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 13 :
Hi, I was a worker at HHS. I was fired illegally on February 14th. There are many people who are not getting social service programs, especially people with disabilities. Are you going to do anything to stop what's happening?
SPEAKER 26 :
You probably deserved it.
SPEAKER 13 :
I deserved it? I deserved it. Wow. Yeah, that's great to hear. Why did I deserve it?
SPEAKER 26 :
Because you seem like a clown.
SPEAKER 23 :
OK, sir, you shouldn't have said that. Oh, you got him. He's like pleased about it. That's all you have. You should have said it on camera. But he did. So he stole your thunder. Welcome back. Dana Lash with you. Bottom of the third hour. That was Jim Banks, who is not playing. They got this. And it's true. He's a Republican senator. I. gosh, inject that into my veins. That was so satisfying. You know how satisfying it was to watch that video? It's like the same feeling that you get when you have a Swiffer and you're like Swiffing your floor and then you find a spot in your kitchen where the Swiffer perfectly fits horizontally and it's like Tetris and you're like, Oh, is that weird? Cause that's what I feel like satisfied in that way. Anyway, welcome to the show. So the, uh, Fired HHS worker apparently had no problem going to, you know, down, going to Capitol. And, you know, yeah, that's what happens when government gets too big. You downsize. And it's almost like these people didn't pay attention. Voters voted for this. Voters are overburdened and overtaxed. And it is unfair to attack voters and demand that they keep subsidizing large government just because it's more advantageous for you. That's unfair. What about the poor overtaxed taxpayer? After we just saw all of our money, what it was being used for. After we realized that they were giving out Social Security money to who knows who, everybody. And then people actually want to hold the argument that they deserve to have government to be this monstrous size that it is. Have pity for the taxpayer. You're not the priority here. The taxpayer is. So that was he made that the elevator closing with his face right there. He made that his avatar on X and it's hysterical. They're like, wow, that was so mean. Well, no, it's not. It's mean to demand that other people keep subsidizing your life. That's mean it's glorified welfare. Oh, people can get mad at me for thinking it, but it doesn't make it any less true. It's not even constitutional. The government should not even be involved in health care like this. Anything that is not specified in Article 1, Section 8 is relegated to the states. But that's not what's happening here. So, no. I mean, people knew that this was coming. They knew that everyone was going to go. When are the elections held? What month, Kane, are elections held? November. November, right. And everyone knew that last year was going to be a big one, right, Cain? Oh, yeah. Yeah, they did. And Trump promised he was going to reduce the size and scope of government, right?
SPEAKER 15 :
He ran on that.
SPEAKER 23 :
That's right. He ran on it. And Elon Musk was helping him campaign and said, yes, I'm going to help, right? Yeah. So it's not like people didn't see this coming.
SPEAKER 15 :
And then America voted in big numbers. Yeah.
SPEAKER 23 :
And then we got the election results. Did people think that something was going to change? No. So don't act shocked. There is this, it's mostly from the left, but there are some people kind of in the middle that are, and I guess they don't view government jobs the way that we do. We are a super small government. When I say I am super small government, I'm not going to get into it. It'll terrify you. A good government should only be like two levels above anarchy. Maybe two. Maybe not even that. I'm just saying. Maybe and level. A level. But that being said, this idea that you're owed something. This entitlement. Something I'm seeing come up on the left in a number of ways. That's part of this is a problem of a coalition. And a coalition's got to learn how to manage it. As long as we agree on certain principles like leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. We all leave each other alone. Don't touch my guns. I'll leave my money alone, right? That's kind of it, right, Cain? That's pretty much it. That's a platform. I'm never going to run for elected office because I hate everything too much. And that would be my platform, though. Here are my positions. Leave me alone. I'm going to leave you alone. We're all going to leave each other alone. Leave my guns alone. Leave my money alone. That's it. That's my platform. But what about my pet issue? Shut up. Leave me alone. See, right here, it says it. I'm leaving you alone. You're leaving me alone. Gotta say, just wild. I, um... think that this thing on the right, and that's a coalition. A coalition, we'll have to get that figured out. But now is the time not to figure it out. And this is, I think, why a lot of people are a little aggravated. We're talking about some of the Republican stuff because the coalition, we got to achieve that 80% first before we start arguing over that 20%. That's, you know, one of the things that we've got to do. We've got to get that figured out. I want to play a couple of other soundbites for you. A total change of gear here.
SPEAKER 1 :
25.
SPEAKER 23 :
It's the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and he was asked on what he places the blame for violent crime in the UK. Listen.
SPEAKER 02 :
We work together, and what can we do as a society to stop and prevent young boys being dragged into this whirlpool? of hatred and misogyny. And it is young boys predominantly in this particular instance. But also how can we protect young girls that are at risk? Because obviously that's a very strong feature of the documentary, the drama. And that again, as I say, my boy is 16, my girl is 14. So I'm seeing this very much through both sets of eyes. And that's why I think it hits hard.
SPEAKER 23 :
Maybe, I don't know, protect some of the girls from being trafficked on Rotherham like they were. Maybe that's an idea. But he says that they got to stop. They have to prevent young boys from being dragged into hatred and into misogyny. What does it even mean? Is he talking about... Like the British protesters who want to kind of get a control on immigration? What does that have to do with misogyny? I think it's pretty much the irony of him saying that when you had actual misogyny unfolding in not one but two towns in Britain where young girls were trafficked by Pakistani men. And you want to talk about misogyny? What misogyny? led to no one helping those girls. And they were all Keir Starmer's age. Everybody knew about it. Everybody in all the highest levels of government knew. Their law enforcement over there knew. Everyone was aware. And they all looked the other way. If you want to have a discussion about misogyny, why doesn't it begin there? Oh, because that would implicate him. He was one of the people that helped everybody look the other way. Keir Starmer was the guy. He was like actually there. One of the people there drawn attention away from it. He's got a history with who he represented, etc. But If you're going to talk about misogyny, why not there? Why not start and talk about it there? That seems, Cain, like a good spot to start at. How do you say this guy's name? I don't really pay attention to him, but his soundbite is so dumb. Audio Soundbite 24. Is it Eli or Ellie?
SPEAKER 15 :
I thought it was Ellie.
SPEAKER 23 :
It's E-L-I-E. I don't care. This dude. He was on The View and he said this. I can't even deal.
SPEAKER 10 :
One of my premises for the book is that every law passed before the 1965 Voting Rights Act should be presumptively unconstitutional, right? Because before the 1965 Voting Rights Act, we were functionally an apartheid country. Not everybody who lived here could vote here. So why should I give about some law that some old white man passed in the 1920s? We can leave.
SPEAKER 23 :
I feel like that ramen noodle guy. Well, it says that right here. Mr. Cuomo. I mean, you can go. That's just a dumb take. And I don't even want to know what he wrote a book on. But who cares about what laws the old, you mean the laws that old white men, including the Emancipation Proclamation? That too? That one also? Yeah. The one about women voting? That too? I mean, I... In this country, minority males had the right to vote before women. You don't hear us saying this stuff. Just wanted to point that out. That's a fact. So if you want to have a discussion as to who's been more oppressed, I think we're going to win that fallacy measuring contest, at least on that particular issue. But... The, all of the, I just, and it was on The View. I don't watch The View. And I, you know, the, I guess that includes, you know, the Civil Rights Act. Who signed the Civil Rights Act? That was in 64. So he talks about, that was LBJ. And we had the Social Security Act. Oh my goodness. I don't think that he's very well plugged in but this is what we're up against i also want to play one more soundbite touch on this one last because i thought this was a good soundbite from marjorie taylor green where she gets into the house fight listen to this 21
SPEAKER 24 :
And I think that's a really important point to make. And if any member of Congress, for any reason whatsoever, finds them in a situation where they're not able to do the job here, the important job we're elected to do, they should step down because someone else can serve in their place. They're not required to be here. They're not more important than anyone. They're not more important than people in their district. And they shouldn't go across the aisle and work with Democrats while Democrats use a baby
SPEAKER 23 :
propped up around the floor trying to prove their point but instead they're holding a baby proving the point you can be a mother um and serving true you can be and of course that's that one democrat i mean when you're working with a democrat in order to try to like get one over on republicans you need to question what party in which party's interest you're acting in i think that's a big and that was a good soundbite from marjorie taylor green and yes they do the house provides they have on-site daycare So why didn't that – she's just bringing her baby around everywhere, which – going further, if that one Democrat lady is bringing her baby around everywhere, then she can bring her baby around everywhere. What are they complaining about? That's what I want to know. I may have even more questions now.
SPEAKER 15 :
Why is this an issue like all of a sudden?
SPEAKER 23 :
I want to jump off my roof because it's so stupid. If you it's you can't scream about equality and then demand that you get a special accommodation because vagina. Quit. Just stop. That's progressive.
SPEAKER 09 :
Subscribe to the Dana Show podcast because who says you can't make fun of people while staying informed on your own personal time? Subscribe on YouTube, Apple or wherever you get your podcast.
SPEAKER 16 :
I yield for a question while retaining the floor and I thank you for being here. I thank you for being here. Thank you. Senator Booker, I always knew you were a towering intellect and a phenomenal and passionate speaker and advocate, but I did not know your stamina until today.
SPEAKER 23 :
Get a room. You too. That's Cory Booker and Adam Schiff for brains. Schiff is his name. that were fawning all over each other on the floor. So gross. Golly, welcome back to the program. Also, wait, no, we got this too. I got it. I had to hear it. So do you. I'll hear somebody too. Sorry. Sorry in advance.
SPEAKER 03 :
I want to go a little bit past this and then I'm going to, I'm going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I'm feeling.
SPEAKER 23 :
What was the purpose of him doing this? Just a stunt?
SPEAKER 15 :
There was nothing accomplished from his filibuster. Yeah, he didn't do anything.
SPEAKER 23 :
He just got up there and had to go to the bathroom real bad. It's only accomplished.
SPEAKER 15 :
He's like me when those movies are like two hours long. I'm like, dang it. I wish I could hold it during the whole day.
SPEAKER 23 :
That's another reason I could never go And be in elected office. Because you've got to wait for all those people. It's like being in a classroom of preschoolers. You've got to wait for all these people. You know? They've got to get up. This person's got to get up. They've got to get up and talk. I don't care about any of these people's opinions. I am not open to persuasion. When I go in there, my mind's made up. That's it. That ship has sailed. That door's not opening. It's done. The concrete's dry. It's done. There's, like, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So... I don't know. Do they actually? I don't think they. I don't know. Maybe they do convince each other when they're in there. But I just couldn't deal with them all day long. These people that preen self-importance couldn't do it. But he's a towering intellect. I got to kind of just come back to that for a minute.
SPEAKER 15 :
It was April Fool's Day yesterday. You know what, Cain? You are right.
SPEAKER 23 :
I didn't pull any tricks because I'm not allowed.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, you ruined that for a lot of people.
SPEAKER 23 :
I did not ruin it for any... Where is this coming from?
SPEAKER 15 :
You ruined it.
SPEAKER 23 :
That was Orson Welles who did that, sir.
SPEAKER 15 :
The station that we work for in St. Louis. Shut up. You ruined it. I don't recall this. I mean, you wouldn't tell people the truth about it. I don't recall. I mean, it's what we should do.
SPEAKER 23 :
I don't recall ruining anything.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, let's just suffice it to say the manager of the station had to put out a station-wide memo. It wasn't just to one or two people. This memo was station-wide. I remember this. that we cannot do any April Fool's prank.
SPEAKER 23 :
Are you sure it was me and it wasn't somebody else?
SPEAKER 15 :
I'm pretty sure it was you.
SPEAKER 23 :
You'll have to remind me off air because I literally don't even remember.
SPEAKER 15 :
Well, there were several incidents. I think what ended up happening was every year, it was like the third year that this craziness was happening, and then they're like, you know what? Station-wide memo.
SPEAKER 23 :
Station-wide memo. Yeah, I do remember being told, pulled into the office and told no.
SPEAKER 15 :
Yeah, even some of the details escape me now because it was such a long time ago, but yeah, it was you.
SPEAKER 23 :
Lorraine said that Cory Booker didn't eat since last Friday and he hadn't drank anything starting the night before his speech. I bet he had a headache.
SPEAKER 15 :
It still doesn't. You're still going to need.
SPEAKER 23 :
He's like that guy that stood outside and didn't eat anything. And then he sat down and they were wiping his back off like he was Elvis or he was James Brown. You know, like James Brown had people come in like ballots come in to help him. It's like that. I don't know. Maybe it feels like that's what he was doing. What was I don't understand the point of it. He just went up there to yap and then they didn't accomplish anything. But it did allow the Republicans to spear themselves on another dumb fight. So good job there. When Marjorie I don't dislike Marjorie Taylor Greene. Sometimes she's you know, she might be too brawly for certain people, but I'd like her. But when she's out there like being the voice of reason for the party. You should shut up then. Like, stop. All right. Cain, today in stupidity. All right.
SPEAKER 15 :
It's Ellie Mistal. We had played some of his audio last segment. Juan, this is cut 28. He's apparently for gang members of foreign countries. Listen to this.
SPEAKER 10 :
Look at that. nation about their status and just to slightly push back on mark yeah even if you tell me and you prove that they're gang members i'm not so sure that i'm okay with them being sent off to be tortured in a foreign country but i'll leave that aside you have violent gang members here we're sending them off to be tortured yeah they're getting tortured is it just you know consequences of their own actions yeah which is their gang members but you know whatever
SPEAKER 23 :
Folks, that does it for us today. Oh, and make sure you find us on Facebook, YouTube, Substack, Chapter and Verse. Go sign up. Lots of good stuff that comes out there on the reg. Have a great night. I'll be back with you tomorrow.
In this episode of the Mike Gallagher show, we delve into the significant political developments in Wisconsin and Florida. Join us as we dissect the implications of the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, where Susan Crawford, a fiery activist judge, emerged victorious. Dive into the details of how this could potentially reshape the House and impact future elections. Through Gallagher's spirited monologue, we explore the ongoing struggle between conservative values and the Democratic playbook that focuses heavily on judicial influence.
SPEAKER 05 :
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. Here's Mike.
SPEAKER 10 :
You want the good news or the bad news? Where do we begin? Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like that play? It was pretty funny, right? Except for that loud bang. that interrupted the dialogue. Well, let's start with some good news. We got voter integrity in Wisconsin. It's hard for me to say that without cracking up, considering what Wisconsin voters did with the Supreme Court. Two pretty easy victories in Florida. The media is hyperventilating because it wasn't as wide a victory, it wasn't as wide a margin of victory in Florida for those two congressional special elections as they thought it would be. Big deal. I mean, they won. Easy. Double digits. So we held the House in Florida, but that could be upended in terms of the composition of the House of Representatives if Judge Susan Crawford delivers on the promise to redistrict and deliver two, maybe three more Democrats to the House of Representatives in that pesky state of Wisconsin. And, you know, I don't know anything. I'm not as finely attuned to the Wisconsin race as Wisconsin political watchers are. I saw Scott Jennings last night on CNN suggest that Brad Schimel's campaign really wasn't doing all that great. It was kind of floundering until Elon came along, injected some life, some money, some enthusiasm into it. But it wasn't enough. And they get to gloat. They get to spike the football. Susan Crawford won. But a word about Susan Crawford. It came during her acceptance speech last night. I couldn't believe it. And in case you have any doubts that Wisconsin voters just elected a stone-cold activist, I want you to hear what she said in her acceptance speech. This is remarkable. This is actually astounding. This is a Supreme Court justice, not a congresswoman, not a politician, supposed to be neutral, right? Supposed to stick to the Constitution. That's what's expected of our justices, our judiciary. But, of course, we've seen that they now do anything but. You want to really have your blood run cold? Listen to what this woman said last night in her acceptance speech, citing Thurgood Marshall, the late Supreme Court justice, who was talking about segregation and Jim Crow laws and colored people drinking fountains and blacks on the backs of buses. She invokes that imagery in her acceptance speech April 1st, 2025.
SPEAKER 15 :
Tonight, I want to share some words of the great Honorable Thurgood Marshall, which I find fit the unprecedented moment we are living in. Democracy just cannot flourish amid fear. Liberty cannot bloom amid hate. Justice cannot take root amid rage. America must get to work. In the chill climate in which we live, we must go against the prevailing wind. We must dissent from the indifference. We must dissent from the apathy. We must dissent from the fear, the hatred, and the mistrust. We must dissent because America can do better. Because America has no choice but to do better.
SPEAKER 10 :
There you go. Stone-cold activist. She's telling you, Trump supporters, you don't count because you don't agree with her worldview. That's all they got. I mean, Democrats desperately need activist judges right now. And they got one. So congratulations, Wisconsin, but look, no reason to react the way they react on the left when they lose elections. We won't do that. We'll dust ourselves off, and we've got to fight harder next time. A lot can happen in the next year or two. We should know that by now. There's no reason to despair and believe that the doomsday scenario is going to prevail. But we better look at Wisconsin as the wake-up call. We absolutely need to get off our duffs. We have to recognize collectively that right now, Democrats expect a handful of activist judges to run America. That's all they got. Their ideas stink. Their policies are awful. Their... Party is underwater. I think the last approval poll was 21%. I thought that was kind of rich to watch a bunch of social media influencers last night spiking the football, saying that, you know, excited about the win. But I get it because they haven't had anything to be excited about since November the 5th. So now they are, and we've got to let them have their moment. Let's pray it is truly a moment. You know, what the Democrats today realize is that their message, their ideology, their policies, all rejected in a huge way by the electorate. So they've turned all their attention to judges. It's all they got. They want to continue the weaponization of the judiciary. That's all they have. They've got the handful of Susan Crawfords, and we have the majority of Americans who reject that. And look, I saw somebody on social media say, don't hate the player, hate the game. This is all legitimate. They're not breaking any rules or laws to do this. They out-hustled us in Wisconsin. They out-spent us. Crawford, and incidentally, I saw Tampon Tim's tweet, Wisconsin beat the billionaire. As if people don't know how many millions and millions of dollars billionaires like George Soros pumped into Susan Crawford's race. Nice try, Tampon. But look, this is where we are. This is what we got. 14 past the hour. I don't think it's time to despair. I don't think it's time to panic. I don't think it's time to throw in the towel. It's time to wake up. And there was a fantastic response from Charlie Kirk. A terrific reply from Charlie Kirk on social media. And you're going to want to hear every word of it. Charlie Kirk is emerging as one of the most vibrant voices in America today. Just a fantastic, a terrific way to put things in proper perspective. As a parent, I've always tried to teach my kids, perspective, perspective, perspective. Keep it in perspective. Don't go off the rails in the moment we're in. And ultimately... You're going to want to hear Charlie's post last night on social media. We'll share that with you as we kick things off for a Wednesday. We got through April 1st, thank goodness. It was a rough day. Val Kilmer died at the age of 65, a legendary actor, kind of iconic, and he's had a lot of, of course, health issues, throat cancer, and he died at the age of 65. Of all years to die, that's all I needed to hear, 65-year-old dies. as I'm counting down next week. So, great. Couldn't he be 75, 85, 95? We're in the Relief Factor studios. I always want to open up my phone lines for your reaction on a big news-breaking day like this. 800-655-MIKE, 800-655-6453. Call or text, give me your reaction, and stay tuned and stand by for Charlie Kirk's really smart reaction to last night's Wisconsin election. That and more all coming up. Welcome in.
SPEAKER 03 :
We'll be right back.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
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. Here's Mike.
SPEAKER 10 :
Okay, maybe April Fool's Day one day later, the Democrats got a much-coveted win at the Wisconsin Supreme Court last night. And, oh, my gosh, the humanity. They're burning down Subaru dealers. Oh, no, people are scrawling messages all over Priuses, all over America. Holy cow, the humanity. They're breaking windows at a Ben & Jerry's. Oh, no, wait a minute. That's right. That's not how we react. when an election doesn't go our way, that's how they react. Not to worry, nobody's going to take to the streets and commit acts of violence because the activist judge on the left, Susan Crawford, beat Brad Schimel last night. It's too bad. Too bad Wisconsin voters didn't show up once again. what we call the low propensity voter, if Trump's on the ticket, we're all in. We'll make it happen. Trump's not there, people stay home. Charlie Kirk had the perfect perspective. Look, we're the party of plumbers and welders, waitresses. We work. For Democrats, politics is their religion. It's all they got. That and judges. And they have identified the way to try to stop everything that Republicans are trying to do right now. And that is tie as much up as you can in the courts and find enough activist judges who have been installed by billionaire leftist activists and try to run the country that way. What else are you going to do when you've got a popularity rating of 21%? That's the approval rating right now for the Democrats. Last poll I saw, 21%. Their ideas are not popular. Their policies are being rejected by the electorate. So if you lose the people, what do you do? Well, you go around them and try to find the Susan Crawfords of the world who will... Run the show. Get a judge here. Get a Wisconsin Supreme Court that can gerrymander. Deliver a couple of extra Democrat congressional seats. Find a federal judge in D.C. who can stop the mass deportation of illegals. A mass deportation that incidentally is enormously popular with the majority of Americans. Americans have had it with illegal immigration. The Democrats want to keep it going. Spartacus yesterday was on the Senate floor for 25 hours railing against deporting gang members. It's unbelievable. And the takeaway from that was that, I don't know, I mean, I honest to goodness don't know what that accomplished. I saw Frank Luntz claim that it was illegal. Just epic. One of the most significant events in modern political history. I... I am completely mystified at this takeaway. Leland Vitterd on News Nation had Frank Luntz on last night. And here's what the famed pollster said about Cory Booker's stunt. He wanted to set the record and go 25 hours ranting and raving about the evil Republicans. Frank Luntz thought it was one of the most spectacular things he ever saw.
SPEAKER 08 :
But are they energized in running in a circle and fighting with each other? Are they energized in a direction?
SPEAKER 09 :
They're going crazy right now. And they're going crazy because they don't see leadership in their own party. And I want to emphasize what Cory Booker did over the last 24 hours may have changed the course of political history. I watched a lot of it. I listened to words. I listened to phrases, how he presents himself. Did he criticize Donald Trump? Of course he did. But he struck the kind of tone that grassroots Democrats are looking for. He gave them a reason to fight. He gave them a reason to stand up and say, this is my country, too. Of course, every Republican watching will say this is nonsense. But he's not speaking just to Republicans. He's speaking to Americans. And what I saw over the last 25 hours absolutely blew me away. And just as you sometimes make projections or predictions, I'm going to do one right here. That speech puts Cory Booker as one of the leaders for the Democratic Party. I'll go even further. If you ask Democratic senators right now, would they rather have lead them over the next three years? They would choose Cory Booker over Chuck Schumer.
SPEAKER 10 :
I got nothing there. So I guess Frank watched most of the 25 hours and came away convinced it will change the course of political history. And most normal people are saying, what was that all about? What in the world was that? What was the point? To just break the record? Talk a lot without going to the bathroom? That's all I could think of. How can you go 24 hours, 25 hours, without going to the bathroom? And, you know, make no mistake, there was a mixed bag last night. I mean, across the board, there were really four major problems. things that voters had to decide on, four major initiatives, two races in Florida. We won them both. The voter ID law passed in Wisconsin, but Susan Crawford beat Brad Schimel. The best essay I read, the best analysis of the night came from our friend and colleague, Charlie Kirk. And Charlie wrote something that every word of it just rang true. about falling short in Wisconsin. Charlie wrote, we got to realize and appreciate that we are the low propensity party now. You know, got Trump on the ticket, we get excited, we go, we crawl over broken glass. If Trump's not on the ticket, eh, I got a job to do. Special elections and these off-cycle elections continue to be a problem for us unless we change strategy. Charlie writes, Charlie uses this phrase all the time. Chase the vote. Chase the vote. Chase the vote. Democrats have become the college indoctrinated, institutionalized, and government dependent high propensity party. They live for politics. It's their religion. You may hate Trump, but he resurrected a dead GOP back to life. Voters who weren't on anyone's data rolls came out of the woodwork to vote for Donald Trump. Our movement must begin to fully fund the infrastructure to match the Democrat machine. Our ideas are better. They're actually popular. But we need to match like for like, Charlie says. We've got to out-organize the Democrats. We need to match their fundraising advantage. Let Wisconsin be a wake-up call. Let it be a call to return to the front lines. We won in November, but to save the republic, we must string together multiple victories. And that starts in 2026. He's right. He's right. He's right. we're not going to riot, we're not going to burn down things, we're not going to commit violence. We're going to continue to fight hard. And in Wisconsin, the Republicans got out-hustled, got out-spent. I saw it was a two-to-one margin. You know, the billionaire activists poured tons of money into Susan Crawford's campaign. And a lot of people bought it. I want to play the little old lady who was a Trump voter who voted for Susan Crawford. Because you have to ask yourself, why in the world would somebody who supported Donald Trump vote against Brad Schimel? Well, CNN caught up with one such voter, an older lady, a senior white lady, and she explained her reasoning.
SPEAKER 02 :
But I also want to bring you to a voter because I've been speaking to Carol here who's from Elm Grove. And what was interesting, Carol, is you told me you voted for Trump in November. Yes. But then you also now voted for Crawford in this election. Yes. What motivated you for this vote?
SPEAKER 14 :
Well, I just feel like she's the better person and she's more consistent. I don't like that vote. You know, there's going to be no abortions. That really troubles me. And I just feel like Susan Crawford is the person to be.
SPEAKER 10 :
There you go. I don't like that there are no abortions. Here we go again. And Democrats have shrewdly and carefully weaponized abortion. And we lose on that every time. You know that, right? that is politically a losing issue. And the irony of that is, morally, millions of lives are going to be... thousands, or if not millions of lives, will be saved. Millions of babies will come into the world because the Supreme Court got Roe v. Wade right. But what Roe v. Wade does... is allow states like Wisconsin and California and all the blue states to be an abortion haven. You want an abortion? Live in Wisconsin. Abortion was never banned. There was never going to be a federal ban on abortion. There should not be a federal ban on abortion because we'll never win another election. And we have to live with that. We've got to accept that. So we've got people like that lady. Well, you know, I voted for Trump, but I don't want to lose my abortion rights, says the 73-year-old resident of Wisconsin. And I went through this. I remember it like it was yesterday. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Caller after caller were ladies like her calling the show, promising to never vote for another Republican because they couldn't believe that their right to an abortion was being challenged. And then we forget what abortion really is. We forget what's really on the line. So, look, I'm not in despair. You shouldn't be either. We'll live to fight another day. We've got to shake this one off. And like Charlie Kirk put it, may Wisconsin be our wake-up call. 800-655-MIKE. Let's turn the show over to you like I love to do. We're in the Relief Factor studios for a Wednesday, April 2, 2025. 800-655-MIKE. 800-655-6453. Big wins in Florida. Big win in Wisconsin for election integrity. Not a big win on the Supreme Court, and that might spell trouble tomorrow. for the country in the days ahead. Let me get your reaction to all of it. I want to put your voice front and center on the Mike Gallagher Show, 800-655-MIKE. 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 sheets. Queen-sized Giza Dream or percale bed sheets 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 05 :
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. Here's Mike.
SPEAKER 10 :
We've got a ton of breaking news to share with you. Out of New York, a judge dropped the corruption charges against Mayor Eric Adams. Of course, we're still analyzing the results of yesterday's big voting day in the special elections in Florida and Wisconsin. It was really, you look at it, 3-1 for Trump. Republicans in Florida won easily. Voter ID has become enshrined in Wisconsin's state constitution. But in the sole victory for the left, for the Democrats, an activist judge named Susan Crawford got elected. And so, look, it gives the Democrats something to be excited about. during a cycle that they've had very little to be excited about. They are, after all, the party that has, at last count, a 21% approval rating. It's a big day for the country and the world with the so-called Liberation Day finally arriving, the day when Trump is, after the markets close, will reveal what the tariff position is going to look like. Israel yesterday announced no tariffs. on the United States, which is big, but perhaps even bigger is what the Ontario premier said, Doug Ford, on an interview earlier today on CNBC.
SPEAKER 11 :
He believes he's supporting Americans. He said he was going to create jobs, create wealth, reduce inflation. It's worth the total opposite. But do you think it's fair that you have tariffs on a whole number of products? That's right. And we'd be willing to take those off tomorrow if he took all the tariffs off. We are not the problem, Andrew. Do you know what the problem is? China's the problem. And he's taking a blind eye to China as they continue to build their critical mineral mass. We have all the critical minerals that our great neighbors need. We have the energy that our great neighbors need.
SPEAKER 10 :
Did you hear what he said? We will take the tariffs off, all tariffs off, if Trump will take the tariffs off of Canada. That's, of course, what Trump wants. Trump wants an even playing field. Fair trade. Not us shouldering the majority. Now, I'm also intrigued by the, and maybe it's kind of in the weeds here a little bit, Um, but if you, if you haven't heard the house was, uh, Speaker Johnson sent the house home yesterday because Anna Polina Luna sort of, she's a Republican from Florida, began a revolt on the subject of proxy voting. She wants a limited form of proxy voting specifically for new parents. Um, And she argues that new parents should be able to vote remotely. And it's so important that she got eight other Republicans to go along with her and join with the Democrats through a process called, it's a rare procedural tool, called a discharge petition. which forces a vote on a bill if it secures 218 signatures. Well, thanks to Annapolina Luna and eight other Republicans, and those are Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Kevin Kiley from California, Mike Lawler from New York. Nick Lolota from New York, Ryan McKenzie from Pennsylvania, Max Miller from Ohio, Greg Stubbe from Florida, and Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey. Those nine Republicans, well, essentially torpedoed, for now, Trump's agenda. The SAVE Act, reigning in activist judges. It's important. I would suggest, I would humbly submit to you, that's a little more important than proxy voting. People like Marjorie Taylor Greene are real fired up about her colleague from Florida, Annapolina Luna. Here's the Georgia congresswoman's reaction to that.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, Luna's bill is extremely unfortunate.
SPEAKER 10 :
Let's go back to the beginning. Here's Marjorie Taylor Greene. Take two.
SPEAKER 13 :
What we just voted on, this rule, Luna's bill, is extremely unfortunate. You know, being in Congress is a privilege. You don't have to be here. And there's plenty of people in her district that could serve in Congress if she chose for, you know, to. time to be home and be a mother. I'm very much against the bill that she's trying to force to the floor and the way she's going about it. And I think it's wrong. And it's really going to open up the door to proxy voting, which is already unconstitutional. And we shouldn't be doing it. And I think members of Congress need to basically leave their egos at the door and realize that this is an important job.
SPEAKER 10 :
You know, I saw a post from a number of social media influencers, Jack Posobiec and others, who are all on board with... basically thwarting Trump's agenda this week, and I'm confused by that. I follow an election wizard on X who writes, I've got no time for anyone lashing out at Anna Polina Luna. She's been an absolute warrior for MAGA. Elements of the right bashing her over proxy vote position is peak political stupidity. Of course, you can disagree with her, but spreading lies, calling her lazy, or suggesting she's unfit, that's just dumb. It splinters MAGA. You want to know what splinters MAGA? Holding up Trump's agenda. I'm really surprised, and I think, I believe, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, the people who are supporting these nine rogue Republicans, and that's what they are. I mean, they went rogue, and the Democrats are thrilled with them. Did I give you the clip, Christian, of the young Democrat congresswoman from San Diego? I'll send that. I want to play that for you so you can hear how the Democrats are thrilled with Anna Polina Luna and the eight other Republicans. We did it. We did it. We held it up. We beat it. We beat it. I don't know that we have time to mess around right now. And I don't know that I have time for anyone who's not completely devoted to trying to advance the Republican agenda right now. I mean, pet projects, it seems to me, can wait. But the people, I really truly believe that the people who are siding with these nine Republicans, and that seems real surprising to me, because I like a lot of these folks. They don't like Mike Johnson. They don't think he's hard enough and they don't think he's tough enough and they don't think he's forceful. So they don't like him. This is, I'm sorry, this is kind of BS to rally around thwarting Trump's America First agenda. We've got to rein in federal judges. And we've got to rein in the judiciary. And we've got to stop the Democrat strategy. And that's all that Wisconsin was about. That's why 77% of the millions and millions and millions of dollars poured into Susan Crawford's race came from billionaire activists who think that this will shape the country. All they've got right now are Democrats. As my colleague Chris DeGaulle put it, judges right now to Democrats is like water to fish. They desperately need activist judges to try to stop what the American people voted for. That's all they got. All they got is Susan Crawford spewing, you know, activism in her acceptance speech last night. Look, we better be committed to advancing the agenda that the American people voted for. And frankly, with all due respect to those of you who don't like Mike Johnson and think, oh, good, we showed him. This is ridiculous that nine Republicans voted Democrat yesterday. And that's what happened. And it's wrong. Absolutely wrong. And these Republicans better open up their eyes. Every last one of them is going to get voted out of office. If you're not on board with the mandate that Trump received on November the 5th, get out of the way. Lead, follow, or get out of the way. 800-655-MIKE in the Relief Factor studios. Welcome aboard. We made it through April the 1st. Not a great day, but look. Keep and score. Three wins for Trump last night. One for the Democrats. I'll take three to one. And before you panic and you're convinced that the entire House of Representatives will be upended, remember something. A lot can happen in the next year or two. If we haven't learned that by now, we never will. 800-655-6453. I hope you join us. Give me your reaction. Do you agree with Annapolina Luna and the proxy voting? Are you glad that Trump's agenda changed? hit this roadblock yesterday thanks to these nine Republicans? We've got to stop these judges from trying to run the country from the bench. And that's got to be front and center, not a debate or even a vote on proxy voting. I'm sure that to a young mother, that's important. To most Americans, get on with the people's business. And proxy voting ain't one of them. 800-655-6453. Call, text, join us here on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 05 :
Breaking now on the Mike Gallagher Show.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, Liberation Day continues in what's being described as a stunning move. The president of Mexico, Claudia Scheinbaum, has conceded to the United States and President Trump, declaring she won't retaliate with tariffs against President Trump's trade measures. Somebody just pointed out, How Scheinbaum just played a high stakes game and she blinked first. It's a big story. Real big story. It's a real big story. First, Israel, Canada's Doug Ford said we'll lift the tariffs. Mexico, China is left, but this is... This is the golden era. This is where Trump's agenda comes into play mightily. I love the quote, all we needed was a new president. So meanwhile, we've got Republicans pouting and playing hardball over proxy voting. Richard's in Greenville, South Carolina, 24 and a half past the hour. Hope you join us, 800-655-MIKE. Richard, how are you?
SPEAKER 07 :
Fantastic, Mike. Good. The woman is a feminist before she's Christian or Jewish. In the feminist world, there's mother and non-mothers. And she succumbed to that feminism, which is more deleterious to our country than racism or Marxism.
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, whatever her agenda is about staying home and wanting to have a baby in Congress, I mean, here's another mother, Marjorie Taylor Greene, said, look, you're in Congress. Somebody just texted me, Kim Caldwell, the University of Tennessee women's basketball head coach, had a baby. The next night she was out on the floor coaching her team. She's not whining about maternity leave and staying home. They need to get off their butts, do their job, or get out of Congress. And a lot of people are noticing that the eight other Republicans who joined in this revolt against Speaker Johnson are all men. Why didn't any women support it? And here's another text from South Carolina. I don't like Mike Johnson either, but this is about Trump and his promises. They're all nothing but a joke. 800-655-MIKE. Meanwhile, look, we were three for four last night. The Democrats got their radical progressive activist judge they wanted. Michael wants to react to that in Brevard, North Carolina. Hello, Michael. Hello. Hi. Hello. Yeah.
SPEAKER 06 :
Can you hear me? Loud and clear. Well, I'm incensed about those eight Republicans in Congress who went against Trump.
SPEAKER 10 :
They are voting like Democrats. We don't need Democrats. Okay. Appreciate it. Gordon is next. Hi, Gordon. Welcome to the show. Hello. Hi.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yes. I have one question. Why don't the Republicans redistrict into red states and get rid of some of the
SPEAKER 10 :
Well, that's a great question. And the truth of the matter is, this is what I mean about playing the long game. This is why we can't panic. This is why we can't, you know, feel like everything is over. There's a lot of gloom and doom and naysayers. This is a marathon. This is not a sprint. You've got to give this time. But right now, I'm really blown away by what I'm seeing on social media and online and some of these news reports about Canada and Mexico and Israel and the trade, the fair trade. Free trade, fair trade. Trump wants an even playing field. He's tired of the United States. And more importantly, he believes that these tariffs will be the key to America's prosperity. 800-655-MIKE. More coming up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Mike Gallagher. Every day, Mike visits with Mark Davis, morning host on 660 AM, The Answer in Dallas. Here's today's M&M experience.
SPEAKER 12 :
He met an untimely demise, didn't he? That he did in 1984. Shot by his dad. But hey, let's not dwell on that. It is Marvin Gaye's birthday. He would have been 86 today. Oh, boy. But speaking of... Happy Liberation Day.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know. Happy Liberation Day. Well, it's going to be a big day. I mean, but of course, I'm with you. I'm glad April 1st came and went. I mean... And on top of everything else that happened last night with Wisconsin, and I know we want to kind of break all that down, Val Kilmer dies at 65. He's got to die at 65. He can't die at 70. 90, 88, I'd have taken 93. Heck, I would have taken 71. He's got to die at 65. Five days before you turn 65. Right on the eve of my 65th birthday. So, wow, what a crapping day yesterday. Although, you know, there were a lot of bright spots as well. Say what you will about the Wisconsin electorate. At least they got voter ID right. Very important. That is correct. Very important.
SPEAKER 12 :
Did you hear that? Were we talking about this or was it somebody else? Where it was like, hey, the voter ID measure passed and we saw that as a possible positive harbinger. It's like, hey, maybe that means the Republicans have really shown up and that the Republican is going to win. No, you know what it's proof of? Even Democrats have clarity on that. There are tons of people who voted for this Susan Crawford person but wanted voter ID also.
SPEAKER 10 :
Let's talk about Susan Crawford. I was listening to her acceptance speech on your show, driving over the Howard Franklin Bridge. Wow, chills. This is a stone-cold activist. To talk that way as a Supreme Court justice. Yeah. sounding almost like Spartacus on the Senate floor yesterday.
SPEAKER 12 :
Against the hate and the darkness.
SPEAKER 10 :
We've got to go against the prevailing winds. Well, it's the playbook. I mean, look, the Democrats right now, and we can't look. We've got to dust ourselves off. I was praying that there would be a miracle and that Brad Schimel would win. It wasn't particularly close. I saw little old ladies tell CNN, well, I voted for Trump, but I'm worried about abortion rights. Here we go again. And the Democrats, as we always knew they would, putting abortion front and center, scaring little old ladies into thinking that Brad Schimel wants to take their 72-year-old bodies right away from the right to choose. Lady, you don't have to worry about it. You know, you're fine. You know, just calm down, Gertrude. You're not going to lose your right to an abortion, Grandma. But, you know, okay, so that's the game they're going to play. And they need judges desperately. Mark, think about this. If the scenario, the doomsday scenario is true, and I would maintain it's not necessarily true. We don't know about the redistricting in a year or two. We don't know for sure that they're going to take control of the House of Representatives. A lot can happen in the next year or two. So don't panic. Don't despair. But they do need judges to try to run the country. That's all they got.
SPEAKER 12 :
Because they don't have the voters on their side in many cases.
SPEAKER 10 :
They don't have the electorate. Their ideas are horrible. Their ideas, their policies stink. Americans are saying no to their policies. They're being rejected. You see the last popularity rate? 21%. Yeah, I got a real kick out of all these Democrats spiking the football last night on social media over the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
SPEAKER 01 :
They love us now.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, you're a party that is, as John Kennedy put it, a little bit less popular than chlamydia. So just calm down. But they know that to weaponize a branch of government, to force your will upon the people, is the only thing they got. That's all they got. And honestly, I'm so glad you played that Susan Crawford acceptance speech because it does reinforce the strategy. She doesn't even hide it, Mark. No. You know, she's like you said earlier, she sounds like a politician on the stump. We've got to stand up against the darkness of Trump and Trumpers and the Trump movement. This is all they. So, by the way, Wisconsin. Have at it. Sanctuary cities galore. Crime. I mean, you should see her rulings about really bad people. So, look, you got what you got. And Republicans didn't show up like we thought they would.
SPEAKER 12 :
Did you buy my theory that elections are reactive, that one of the reasons Trump won is it was a pendulum swing away from Biden, away from Harris? I was like, ugh, enough of that. Let's try something else. Now in the early months of Trump with so much success, so much energy, so many things that are liberal defeats, it really pumped some activism. I just think that Democrat turnout, we were beaten in the – all elections are a turnout election, but we were really beaten in a – probably a 50 50 state we their energy was more because they've seen what's going on with trump republicans have seen the trump opening couple of months have gone wow this is really cool time to get back to work leftists see the trump stuff and go ah we must take to the streets that's well i i i loved what you read from charlie charlie kirk who is emerging as one of the the most popular vibrant vital voices in america and we're so proud to have him on the salem team
SPEAKER 10 :
And this young man is just doing wonders. And look, Turning Point USA was on the ground in Wisconsin. A lot of good people left it all out on the field last night in Wisconsin. But Charlie said, we're the party of welders, waiters, and plumbers. They're the party that lives for politics. They live for this. This is their religion. And we do have to acknowledge that Trump... resurrected a dead GOP. I mean, everybody's agreeing that without Trump on the ballot Republicans go to my job and I'll do my thing.
SPEAKER 12 :
With him on the ballot, it was barely a 1% win over Kamala. It was one of the swing states that he won, but it was 1%.
SPEAKER 10 :
Wisconsin is truly one of those real purple, purple states. They're down the middle. You've got Madison and Milwaukee. You've got big liberal strongholds. Look, we've got to learn from this. I think Charlie's right. Let this be a wake-up call. And look, I don't mind. This is weird of me. I was thinking this last night when I went to bed. The other side, our loyal opposition has had nothing to cheer about since November 5th. Nothing. So now they do. Now they're excited. Maybe this will restore a little bit of normalcy to people who are keying Teslas and lighting Molotov cocktails.
SPEAKER 01 :
Silly, silly boy.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know, but let me... But I'm thinking that there are people who have been so agitated, maybe this will ramp down the temperature a little bit. Not at all. Not at all? You don't think so? Not at all. Not a chance?
SPEAKER 12 :
Among reasonable people using Earth logic, people who are just more liberal than we are, sort of center-left, they may think, okay, they may have a moment of breathing easier. But if you've got the mindset, if you have the twisted soul to key a swastika into a Tesla... You don't become better overnight because of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
SPEAKER 10 :
Right, and I'm not talking necessarily about the actual vandals, but people who are watching this who think that Elon Musk is the boogeyman. Look, you've got to hand it to the left and their playbook. They have pretty successfully vilified Elon Musk, and he incidentally embraces it. Do you ever notice how he always wears black and the black hat and the black coat and the black shirt? He does that. He thinks he's like a Batman villain or something. Dark MAGA. Yeah, and that's okay. I mean, look, we got a lot of interesting characters. Hey, did you catch him?
SPEAKER 12 :
Did you catch him in the beginning of the five? I did.
SPEAKER 10 :
I saw that.
SPEAKER 12 :
Of course, as they call it in Central Time, the four. So it's four o'clock. Lisa and I are sitting down and firing up some Fox News. And there's Judge Jeanine saying, hey, joining us now, Elon Musk. I said, whoa, what? I know. And they go around the horn. Jesse and Greg and even Jessica Tarloff had to badger him about the doge cuts. But boom. This is the charm of the show. Good. And he took it with grace and goodwill. I'm going to play some of that in a bit. But it was just a really good sit down as the round table on the five peppered Elon with some questions on the fly.
SPEAKER 10 :
He had a really profound bit of advice. One of them asked him, you know, what's advice for young people? He said, you look at fear, you stare fear, and it goes away. Stare it right in the face. You got to conquer your fears. And I love that. I think that's so very important because too many people right now are wallowing in fear.
SPEAKER 12 :
Especially these days, we're growing young people who have no coping skills and no ability to get up and dust themselves off and go, that hurt. Let me get better. Let me get stronger. And my brand new Star-Telegram and across the country in the McClatchy chain, a newspaper column, is about that Walter Isaacson biography of Elon that I just finished shows to write a column about it. This is him. He goes after, whether it's rockets, whether it's cars or robots or SpaceX or whatever, he just says, I'm going to try 100 things. 30 of them may fail. 50 of them may fail. But I just had 50 successes, if that's the case. Correct. And this is what he does, and it's inspiring.
SPEAKER 10 :
And, you know, Scott Jennings last night on CNN made a really compelling argument against this narrative that Elon went there to Wisconsin and threw around the money and everything and he hurt the campaign. Scott said, look, it's not really a secret in Republican circles that Brad Schimel's campaign was fairly floundering. Until Elon went in there and injected a lot of money, a lot of attention. So, I mean, that's okay. Let him do the Elon is the boogeyman narrative. And like you always say, let's let the game come to us. Unfortunately, the game came to us last night on that side. But we did not prevail. Incidentally, speaking of dysfunction. So, Annapolina Luna, here in Florida, leads a revolt of nine Republicans who voted with the Republicans to table a procedure that would have allowed the House to vote against activist judges. Mm-hmm. And because they want to work from home. You see, Annapolina Luna is a new mom.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's not just wanting to work. Yes, it is.
SPEAKER 10 :
Vote for proxy vote. It's working from home.
SPEAKER 12 :
It's her brand new baby. She wants the ability for 12 weeks to be able to proxy vote. However, she's 100% wrong. We cannot do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
dead long and the and shame on and these nine republicans are getting a ton of flack as they should here we go again with the circular firing squad we never we just snatch defeat right out of the jaws of victory every time it makes me nuts i chris de gaulle earlier this morning had one of the funniest i had a spit take when i was brushing my teeth he played a clip of amy klobuchar who was congratulating Spartacus on that stupid 25-hour stunt. I don't know what that did, by the way. Do you?
SPEAKER 12 :
What was the point? As if it's one of these singular moments of legislative courage. All the guy did was prattle and spout for 25 hours to sound and fury signifying nothing.
SPEAKER 10 :
By the way, how do you go 25 hours without going to the bathroom?
SPEAKER 12 :
There's an answer to that. Because if you're doing the real filibuster, you can't leave, you can't eat, you can't do anything.
SPEAKER 10 :
He didn't leave.
SPEAKER 12 :
He went on a sizable fast. He might be kind of semi-dehydrated. It's like, whatever, dude. Oh, and did you catch one of the fangirls? Lisa Murkowski? Exactly. Alaska Republican, air quotes. Lisa Murkowski, you may agree or disagree, but I don't know what the word she was. It's courage and resilience. Shut up.
SPEAKER 10 :
This is Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Lisa Murzkowski is a disgrace. That woman, she just ought to change party affiliation. Just go ahead and get it over with. Just be who you are.
SPEAKER 12 :
You're a Democrat. You're right on these Republicans. They bought into the Anna Paulina Luna. And who's the other one? Brittany, I forget the young lady from Colorado. But there were nine of them. Brand new baby. But they went along with this. Oh, it's anti-motherhood. We're supposed to be pro-family. We are pro-family. We salute all motherhood. But, you know, because you've got a baby, can you flout the Constitution and our system of laws and representative democracy? But, Mark. No.
SPEAKER 10 :
But Mark, what's with some of these social media influencers, the real sharp elbowed, I think maybe Posobiec or others are saying, oh, pay attention to those who are critical of these brave nine Republicans. I don't really get it. I think they're people that are, I think they're anti-Mike Johnson, right? That must be their, and they want him to look bad. Well, good. Which I don't understand.
SPEAKER 12 :
I don't understand that either. Mike Johnson is about 90% awesome.
SPEAKER 10 :
So keep going. Kevin McCarthy was 80% awesome. Yeah, keep bagging on Mike Johnson and let's have House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. Exactly. You know, knock yourself out, dummies. Oh, my gosh.
SPEAKER 12 :
People just listen to us everything.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know. I know. We'd be okay. Just the world would be a lot better. All right. Hang in there. We made it past the first. Onward and upward.
SPEAKER 12 :
Happy Wednesday. Love you. We are ready. Mike Gallagher is set to go as soon as we're done at 10, 660 a.m.
SPEAKER 06 :
For full shows live and on demand, it's Salem News Channel.
SPEAKER 05 :
Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark's conversations at MikeOnline.com for the M&M experience.
The episode also turns its focus to international religious freedom, highlighting the perilous situation faced by Christians in Nigeria. Despite a significant drop in U.S. designation, advocates like Tony Perkins push for stronger action against the systemic religious violence. Additionally, the program reviews a major U.S. Supreme Court case that could redefine states' authority to withhold Medicaid funds from organizations like Planned Parenthood. Chris Chandeville of Alliance Defending Freedom offers an in-depth analysis from inside the courtroom.
SPEAKER 15 :
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 07 :
This is one of the most important days, in my opinion, in American history. It's our declaration of economic independence. For years, hardworking American citizens were forced to sit on the sidelines as other nations got rich and powerful, much of it at our expense. But now it's our turn to prosper, and in so doing, use trillions and trillions of dollars to reduce our taxes and pay down our national debt, and it'll all happen very quickly.
SPEAKER 04 :
That was President Donald Trump just a little over an hour ago announcing new tariffs on a list of foreign countries on what has been dubbed Liberation Day. Welcome to this April 2nd, 2025 edition of Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins, your host. Thanks for tuning in. Well, not everyone is celebrating Liberation Day.
SPEAKER 14 :
Prices will rise on virtually every kind of product. Produce, medicines, cars, homes, appliances, metals, paper products, beer, lumber, fertilizer and more. But is Donald Trump worried? Not even a little bit. In fact, he said the other day he couldn't care less if prices go up. You hear that, America? Life is about to become far more expensive.
SPEAKER 04 :
That was Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier today making his objections clear. We'll explore what today's announcement means for the economy and for the American family with North Carolina Congressman Dr. Greg Murphy, who serves on the Trade Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments this morning in a major case out of South Carolina.
SPEAKER 01 :
Taxpayers should not be compelled to fund an organization that profits from abortion and pushes experimental treatments on vulnerable children. And low-income women are entitled to better treatment than Planned Parenthood provides.
SPEAKER 04 :
That was John Bursch. He is a senior counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom who represented the state of South Carolina at the court today. The outcome could affect whether states can direct Medicaid funds to legitimate health care providers of their choice. We'll get analysis from Chris Shandell, a member of the ADF appellate team who was inside the courtroom this morning. Also this week, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that all physical fitness requirements for combat roles will be sex neutral going forward. As you might imagine, the left is not passive on this one. They're pushing back. We're going to talk with Congressman Pat Harrigan, a combat decorated Green Beret, about the implications for our military and national defense. And finally, the World Health Organization, the WHO, is facing financial troubles. I know many of you are probably reaching for the Kleenexes right now. Well, in a memo to staff last week, WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus warned of looming budget cuts because of the Trump administration's plan to reduce U.S. funding. We're going to discuss that with Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who will also give us the latest on the budget resolution standoff in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats. That's all ahead on today's edition of Washington Watch, so stay with us. By the way, the seventh episode of God and Government is now available on the StandFirm app. This week, we answered the question of how Christians can engage in public policy debates in an environment where right and wrong have become subjective. You can find out how to do it by getting access to the God and Government course on the StandFirm app. To find out more, text the word COURSE to 67742. That's the word COURSE to 67742. Well, I hope this first Liberation Day, as coined by President Trump, finds you well. Just in the last hour, the president unveiled his new reciprocal tariffs at the White House. The theme for the day, make America wealthy again. What will this mean for the U.S. consumer and for the U.S. economy? We'll hear today. Now to share more is Congressman and Dr. Greg Murphy, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, the House Veterans Affairs Committee, as well as the House Administration Committee. He represents the third congressional district of North Carolina. Congressman Murphy, welcome back to the program. Great to see you. Nice to see you. Thank you, Tony. So I want to get your thoughts on the president's new reciprocal tariffs on this first Liberation Day.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, Tony, I think we have to step back and kind of say, why? Why is this all occurring? Because I think, truth be told, I don't know that that message has gone out very well. So if you look at what's happened with trade in the United States, the Biden administration did absolutely nothing over the last four years in American trade. And what President Trump has realized Sadly enough, we haven't had any action upon this, is that we've been treated very, very poorly by a lot of our trade partners, such that we have such a massive trade deficit. And so look at some of these countries, India, some of the other Southeast Asia countries that also put huge tariffs on American goods. He's literally trying to level the playing field. And if you look at what China's doing to us also, so much tariff, we're not allowed to put American products in their markets. So why are they allowed to really flood our markets? It's trying to rebuild what's happened in America, the fact of the fall of manufacturing and so many other industries in the United States. This is what the aim is. The methods are difficult. Sometimes I'll be ready to admit, but this is what the president is aiming to do, also to try to onshore, nearshore, really, so much of our pharmaceutical industry that really is critical for the nation's medicines.
SPEAKER 04 :
But Dr. Murphy, if I could use an analogy here, sometimes when you take that medicine, it doesn't necessarily taste well at first. But if you want to get better, you got to take it.
SPEAKER 17 :
I think that's a very good analogy, Tony. And sadly enough, as with a lot of the other things that the administration is doing as far as hiring freezes, as far as trying to cut things back, the nation really is in a close to being in very close to financial peril where we're going to face a sovereign debt crisis. We're trying to do things to prevent problems in the future. And as you noted with the medicine, it's kind of difficult at times really at the beginning, but we're really trying to solve a huge problem. I wish we messaged better on that, but hopefully moving forward, America really understands not only the end to what this is or why the methods are being done,
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, this has been going on for years, this trade imbalance, where we have a – essentially what it means is that we're giving money to other countries because we're buying their cheaper products. They're not buying our products. In fact, many of them shut the door to our products, which means when we don't produce products, we don't create jobs, and we don't have good-paying jobs. So this is about – creating jobs. It's about bringing more manufacturing back home. In the end, it's about a stronger, more resilient economy, is it not?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, it also is about national security, Tony, and I think we really can't emphasize that enough. We want to bring a manufacturing sector back to the United States that has been killed in the last quarter century. But we also want to make sure that this nation is secure, that we're able to produce products at home that are important for our national defense, be they pharmaceuticals, be they agricultural products, be they manufacturing items that are critical for this nation's survival. So this is also a big picture of what we're trying to do moving forward with some of these tariffs.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that's not a hypothetical. Did we not see that as an issue back during COVID?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, absolutely. Especially, you know, we look at our medicines. There was a point, really, if China decided they'd cut off our medicines, we had two months of critical medicines. Truth be told, as someone who now, because of some surgery last year, has to take medicines on a daily basis, I think this is critical more than anything. I understand its importance more than anything to make sure that we have survival for patients in the United States.
SPEAKER 04 :
So let's talk practical implications here. We talk big picture. What does this mean for our country? What does it mean for national defense? What does it mean for our economy going forward? How is this going to impact the average American family?
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, and I think that's a critical item to say. How is this going to impact? What's it going to do to somebody's daily lives? You know, the whole purpose of these tariffs, you know, people have talked about, well, they'll be a revenue generator for our debt. I don't want them to be. I want them to be a zero revenue generator. That means we're able to actually tell countries that or get countries to act in an interest that is interest to both countries. We get our goods there and they can get our goods here without tariffs. So we'd love to really get to a point where these tariffs are not needed. How does it happen to the average person? There may be a rise, a short-term rise in some prices until manufacturing here in the United States can kick up. Hopefully it's not. Hopefully these countries understand. We've seen pressure. We've seen things change in Mexico. We've seen things change in India. We've seen things change in Vietnam since the president has introduced the whole tariff idea. We want countries really to act well so we don't have to have any of this so there is no effect on the United States.
SPEAKER 04 :
So I want to talk about China for a moment, Dr. Murphy, because you're a member of the Taiwan Caucus. You track what's happening there very closely. Do you think that China is going to adjust their trade relationship with us?
SPEAKER 17 :
I think they will. They're going to talk a good talk. But if you look at what happened with President Reagan in the Soviet Union, how he was able to literally tear the wall down, how that happened in a bellicose time when the Soviet Union was really trying to be the world power over the United States, is he got at their economy. But the same thing's happening with China. China has now tried to have a one world policy where they're taking over the world. But if you look at what China's economy is, they only have about a 30 percent domestic production or rather domestic consumption. If we're able to get back at that where we're not taking in all their goods all the time, it really hinders the ability for China to push force communism across the world. And I think this is all, again, part of national security as we're trying to beat back the Chinese influence. Mal-influence really is what's happening worldwide.
SPEAKER 04 :
And should not human rights be a part of that calculation? We look at what they're doing to religious minorities. And as you said, they're exporting. They're exporting a lot of their totalitarian tactics and even their technology that other repressive governments are using.
SPEAKER 17 :
Sure, and to your point, what they've done to the Uyghurs, forced organ harvesting, so many of these horrible, horrible things that they're doing really to their own people. What would the world look like if they ruled the world? So again, this is all part of a big policy to get American manufacturing back up, but it's also a part of national security and international policy.
SPEAKER 04 :
As you, I want to dwell here for just a moment on China and Taiwan. The State Department sanctioned six Beijing and Hong Kong authorities responsible for abuses in Hong Kong this past week. What are some of the ways you would like to see the Trump administration being more aggressive in countering the Chinese Communist Party's reach and influence beyond just the trade issue?
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, we have to look at where they are. You know, if you go over to Africa, the Belt and Road Initiative, same thing in Central America and in South America, they've gotten in and they're developing all these pathways and all the infrastructure a lot of these countries need. But what they're really trying to do is make sure that the Chinese influence is there to stay. We saw what President Trump did with the Panama Canal. You have to carry a big stick. You know, the last administration had not a big stick but a big whimper is what the rest of the world saw from the United States. So, you know, Trump can be very tough at times, and sometimes people don't like that. But I think that attitude really brings people to stand up and say, okay, we actually have to deal with a strong United States. It's difficult at times. Sometimes the methods don't give you all the touchy-feelyness that some countries want and some liberals across the nation want. But this is really firm policy. So many of the countries of the world don't understand or don't really respect, rather, policies like and policies were put forth by the Biden administration, the tenor of the Biden administration. We're seen as too tough, too mean. But this is how the world stands up and understands that we mean business.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, when you look at the Belt and Road Initiative of the Chinese Communist Party, that's a predatory. They're not helping these other countries. They want the rare earth minerals. They're looking to benefit themselves, not these countries.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah. Look at what's happened in Ukraine. I mean, the president offered Zelensky a very good option to get out of this war where, you know, millions of individuals are dying and it's just totally unnecessarily. It's to say, look, we'll put American influence there. We want something for it. And maybe that pushes Russia and gives Putin another chance to think about what he's doing. But this is all a very, very good policy move for international world peace. Agreed.
SPEAKER 04 :
Dr. Greg Murphy, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us on Washington Watch today.
SPEAKER 17 :
Great. Have a great day.
SPEAKER 04 :
You too. All right. On the other side of the break, we're going to go to a story on the U.S. Supreme Court. They heard oral arguments in a big case out of South Carolina today. We talk about it. Don't go away.
SPEAKER 08 :
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 02 :
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 08 :
Tony Perkins called for the United States to send an unmistakable message.
SPEAKER 04 :
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 08 :
Redesignating Nigeria will enable the U.S. government to pressure Nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable Christians.
SPEAKER 04 :
These are not just numbers. These are fathers, they're mothers, they're children, they're families.
SPEAKER 08 :
Bishop Wilfred Anagabe risked his life to speak out, sharing firsthand accounts of the danger faced in his church district in central Nigeria.
SPEAKER 11 :
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 08 :
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 09 :
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 13 :
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 04 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. All right. Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court heard one of the biggest abortion cases since Dobbs. And the case has the potential to decide whether states can withhold Medicaid funds from abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. Here to share more about what happened at the Supreme Court today is Chris Chandeville, who is one of the Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsels on their appellate advocacy team. ADF represents the petitioner in this case, which is South Carolina's Department of Health and Human Services. Chris, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 12 :
Sure. Thanks so much for having me on.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right. So let me start with this, your overall take of the oral arguments today before the court.
SPEAKER 12 :
Sure. So we feel very good coming out of oral argument today. My boss, John Bursch, argued the case on behalf of South Carolina's director of its health and human services, did a fantastic job as we all knew he would. I was privileged to get to sit second chair. So right by his side there in the courtroom had a front row seat to see all the justices interacting with John and asking him questions, asking really hard questions of the other side. And what became very clear very quickly is that the justices whose votes we need to prevail in this case clearly understand how important it is for the court to speak clearly and issue an opinion that makes clear that If Congress is going to impose requirements on states as a condition for them accepting Medicaid funding, that they could be dragged into federal court and have to defend against these really costly federal lawsuits, that Congress needs to speak with a very clear voice and the justice on the court. seem to understand very well how important that is to the states, how important it is to South Carolina, our client in this case. And so we feel very good about the kinds of questions the justices were asking and how well our arguments were received.
SPEAKER 04 :
Chris, just to put this in context for our viewers and listeners to know the scope of this, this is not just about Planned Parenthood. This case is about them, but the implications of a decision could be far-reaching. You've got probably 9,000 disqualified Medicaid providers out there in the system. Depending on how this case goes, they could each sue to be or they could have a consumer sue saying they've been denied a service from one of these and take a state to court.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's right. And that actually came up during the argument today about how it would really be just absurd to think that any of those 9,000 providers that have been disqualified from Medicaid for a whole host of reasons. So providers that are just providing really low-quality poor care, putting their patients at risk, putting their patients... in danger, committing medical malpractice. And Planned Parenthood's theory is if a state makes that decision that this provider is not qualified and is going to be dangerous to its citizens and disqualifies them as a result of that, that one individual who's been to that provider one time in the past has a federal right to drag the state into federal court and force it to defend its decision to disqualify that provider. That position just doesn't make a lot of sense. Even we heard from Justice Barrett. She questioned the attorneys for Planned Parenthood and really ask them, how does it make sense that the system would be set up that way? And Planned Parenthood's attorneys just didn't have a good answer to that question.
SPEAKER 04 :
You also have the issue, Planned Parenthood has become, I think, the nation's second largest trafficker in transgender facilitating drugs, hormones that they're providing, and in many cases to minors. And you have states like South Carolina that want to protect minors from this. So, I mean, it seems like the state would be forced to do something and support something that's at cross purposes with the laws that they've adopted and passed.
SPEAKER 12 :
That's right. So we've known for years, obviously, that Planned Parenthood performs hundreds of thousands of abortions every year. They're very proud of that. They're very bold about proclaiming that, how many innocent lives they're taking every year. After Dobbs, what we saw from Planned Parenthood is that they doubled down on a radical political agenda. And now they're expanding, like you said, outside of just doing abortions. Now they're also providing these dangerous so-called gender transition drugs. They've become the second largest provider across the country. They've even admitted to providing these drugs to minors, sometimes with parental consent, sometimes finding ways around that. And so we're very concerned. And South Carolina has said, you know, listen, taxpayers in our state should not be forced to fund a radical multi-billion dollar organization that is so fundamentally at odds with the values and the priorities of our citizens. South Carolina is a pro-life state. South Carolina's leadership, Governor McMaster, has said, I want to make sure my citizens are protected and cared for and that they receive the best and the highest quality health care that they can, even and especially those citizens in South Carolina who can't afford to pay for their own medical assistance and who are on Medicaid as a result. And so this case is about whether or not states will be free to redirect limited taxpayer resources away from activist organizations like Planned Parenthood that are advancing an agenda and direct those taxpayer funds to providers offering comprehensive health care services and not performing abortions and not distributing these dangerous drugs to minors.
SPEAKER 04 :
So, Chris, bottom line here is that as we anticipate the Trump administration moving more toward block grants when it comes to programs such as Medicaid, that the states will not be able to discern how to spend those monies in keeping with the values, as you pointed out, like South Carolina has. We'll ultimately have judges actually determining how these Medicaid dollars are spent.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right, and that's what we've seen for decades in this area of the law, unfortunately, is that Congress in passing the Medicaid Act was very intentional that Congress wanted states to have discretion to decide which providers are qualified and which providers are disqualified. But unfortunately, thanks to some bad precedent and some bad lower court decisions, including the case that we're appealing, that discretion that Congress gave to the states, federal courts have been stealing that discretion for themselves. And they've been telling states like South Carolina, no, you have to fund organizations like Planned Parenthood. And South Carolina hasn't really had a say. in that decision as a result of what the lower courts have said. So we're very hopeful and optimistic that the Supreme Court is going to issue a sweeping ruling that will free states across the country to say, no, our taxpayer dollars are not going to fund a radical organization like Planned Parenthood. We're going to fund providers that are actually offering real, comprehensive health care services to the citizens who live in our state.
SPEAKER 04 :
It's a far-reaching decision that the court could come up with. We just have about 30 seconds left. Chris, what's the timeline here? When do we think we'll have an opinion from the court?
SPEAKER 12 :
So typically the Supreme Court releases its opinions by the end of June. So we're expecting an opinion in this case by the end of June. We think, you know, in the meantime, ADF is going to continue to, you know, get the word out that Planned Parenthood really isn't the health care provider that a lot of people out there think it is. It's not offering comprehensive care. It's mainly doubling down on this radical agenda of abortion and contraception and these dangerous so-called gender transition drugs. And states like South Carolina should be free to use their resources to best serve their citizens.
SPEAKER 04 :
And we will pray to that end. Chris, thanks for joining us, folks. Stick with us. We're back after this.
SPEAKER 06 :
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're 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 04 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch, the website TonyPerkins.com. Better yet, get the Stand Firm app where you can have Washington Watch wherever you go. You also will have access to our news and commentary that comes to you from a biblical worldview, the Washington Stand, as well as our daily devotional, Stand on the Word. All that can be found on the Stand Firm app. Go to the App Store and download the Stand Firm app. Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced an order from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mandating that all physical fitness requirements for combat arms positions, that is units who are most likely to see significant fighting in wartime, be sex neutral. All right. It means the Pentagon has effectively eliminated the Biden era's lower physical fitness standards for women in combat roles, returning the military to its intended goal of being prepared to fight and win wars. So what does this mean for our military? What would be the implications upon the fighting force? Well, joining me now to talk about this is Congressman Pat Harrigan from North Carolina's 10th Congressional District. He's a member of the House Armed Services Committee. He's a graduate of West Point and a decorated member of the Green Beret Special Forces in the United States Army. Congressman Harrigan is uniquely qualified, I believe, to discuss this topic with me. Congressman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER 03 :
Hey, Tony, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me back again.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let me ask you this question. What do you think?
SPEAKER 03 :
Look, I would tell all viewers combat is completely and totally unforgiving. It's something that demands physical strength, endurance, mental toughness. The enemy simply does not adjust based on who you are or where you came from. It pushes everybody to their limits. And it simply punishes weakness without hesitation. And so I think that the Pentagon made exactly the right decision this week by ending gender-based physical fitness standards for all combat roles. And I think from now on, every single soldier in a combat unit will be held to the same expectations regardless of sex. And that's exactly how it should be.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, and even female soldiers who have been a part of combat operations have said, this is a good thing because we want to meet the same standards so that we get the same amount of respect.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's exactly right. I mean, Major Kristen Greist, who was the second woman ever to have graduated from Ranger School, has said very clearly that lower standards for women simply reinforce the belief that women can't perform the same job as men. And I think what we've got to understand is this makes it more difficult for women to earn the trust and confidence of their teammates. I think that the Pentagon's new policy simply puts everybody on the same playing field. We know that you're going to hit a certain standard, you're going to have a certain capability, and you're not going to fall below that. We're not going to get substandard performance out of you. That's how you build trust in a military unit.
SPEAKER 04 :
Pat, I have to ask this. Those that are responding, oh, this is horrible. This is such discriminatory tactics and policies. But look what's been happening over the last year and a half, two years, especially in this fall's election when it comes to women's sports. There's a recognition that there is a physical difference between men and women. And if it matters on the basketball court, it certainly should matter on the field of battle.
SPEAKER 03 :
Without a doubt, I mean, a long time ago, West Point, we studied the quote, upon the fields of friendly strife are sown the seeds that upon other fields on other days will bear the fruits of victory. And we've got to understand that sports is simply a testing ground for future abilities in combat and we've got to understand that once you get to combat you can't lose there's no restarting there's no moving on to the next game you have to win and you've got to have everybody on the team up to standards and and up to snuff carrying their own weight you you've gotta uh you gotta understand that if we've got you know 115 120 pound women on a special forces team, they gotta be able to carry and pick up that 220 pound guy if he gets hit and vice versa, right? Everybody on the team's got to pull their weight and the weight of those to their left and to their right, creating even keel level fitness standards is exactly how you prepare our military to be ready to fight and actually win in combat.
SPEAKER 04 :
Congressman, I know there's a new policy just announced this week, but I know there's been some briefings that have taken place. So let me just ask you this question. What do we know about those women that under the previous policy were already in combat positions? What happens if they don't meet these new uniform standards?
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, I don't know exactly what will happen to them. I have not been briefed on what the Pentagon's policy is, but I'll tell you, if you don't meet the standard, from my opinion and my perspective and my experience, you shouldn't be in the military. You certainly should not be in those combat roles. There is a certain element of respect that comes from being able to meet the standard. And when we waver on our standards, when we lower our standards to accommodate folks that can't meet the standard we have fundamentally changed the standard and we've changed the readiness we've changed the capability of that unit wherever those decisions are made and so look if you want to be in combat arms you now have to meet one standard if you are above that threshold you're in the game if you're below that threshold you shouldn't be
SPEAKER 04 :
And that applies to both men and women. And it doesn't matter if you can't meet it because of your age. I mean, it's unforgiving. You either meet the standard or you don't.
SPEAKER 03 :
That's exactly right. And if you don't meet the standard, not only do you put yourself at risk, you also put those to your left and your right that you're fighting with at risk. Because like I said, if that 220-pound guy goes down and you can't get him to safety, not only... Are you putting his life at risk? You're also putting your own life at risk because you can't fundamentally accomplish the basic task that is expected of you. I think that Pete Hegseth has said that that ends today.
SPEAKER 04 :
Congressman, always great to see you. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good to see you, Tony. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. All right, after the break, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin will join us to discuss how America's withdrawal from the World Health Organization, well, has them scrambling. So don't go away, we'll be right back.
SPEAKER 05 :
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 06 :
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 sage cons 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 04 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. Check out the website, TonyPerkins.com, or go to the Stand Firm app. Lots of resources there for you to help you be an engaged citizen, informed and engaged. Our republic was not made for spectators. It was made for participants. We help you do that. Get the Stand Firm app. Well, our word for today comes from Ezekiel 20. And I gave them statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live. Did you catch that? Let me read it again. And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. As with much of Scripture, it has a spiritual, eternal, as well as temporal application. As Paul wrote, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The law of God can't save us. It convicts us, though, of our sin. Our salvation is through the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross. However, the moral law of God established at creation is the quote-unquote secret to successful living. Recently, the Tennessee legislature advanced legislation that would require schools to teach that the keys to a successful life include following a proper sequence of events. Graduate from high school, get a job, or go on to higher education, get married, and then have children. Wow, where did that idea come from? Well, we find life in acknowledging and living by God's truth. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. Well, the United States Senate is gearing up for a key vote on President Trump's America First budget resolution. For the past several weeks, Senate Republicans have been laser focused on unlocking the process that will help them pass the Trump budget blueprint. If they succeed, one of their biggest priorities is making President Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent. But to get there, the GOP leaders have some strategic decisions to make. So what are the obstacles to the path forward? And when will there be a chamber-wide vote on the budget resolution? Well, here to discuss these questions is Senator Ron Johnson, a member of the Senate Budget and Finance Committees. Senator Johnson, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for having me, Tony. Hope you're doing well. I am doing well. Thank you. Before we get into the budget issue, I want to talk about another issue that's near and dear to your heart. It's something we've talked about a lot, the World Health Organization. I want to play a clip from Tedros talking about, well, actually, let me play it and I'll get your response.
SPEAKER 10 :
The US withdrawal from WHO is just one part of a much bigger and much bleaker picture as we witness the demolition of parts of the global health architecture. We have been working hard to assess the impact of US withdrawal from WHO and to consider how we adapt in response.
SPEAKER 04 :
Now, I see, Senator, you're reaching for the tissues there, lamenting along with him the fact that the United States is going to be cutting off funding to the World Health Organization. I mean, this is long overdue, is it not?
SPEAKER 16 :
I think so. I think WHO proved itself to be a corrupt organization really run by Chinese Communist Party and global leftists. It would be nice if we could have some You know, an international organization that literally could manage health crises effectively. The WHO is not it.
SPEAKER 04 :
What's the timeline of the withdrawal of the U.S. in terms of the funding from WHO?
SPEAKER 16 :
I think President Trump has cut it off, so I'm not exactly sure of the exact timing. But in so many other areas, President Trump is acting boldly, swiftly, decisively, and really focusing on the waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer money and the borrowed money that is Morgan & Children's future. So I'm very, very pleased with his swift action here.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it appears that other countries are going to follow suit.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, that I'm not aware of. Again, the first thing we needed to do was cut off the amendments that was really going to threaten our own individual sovereignty. We nipped that in the bud. And again, we don't want to be governed by an international institution. We want our national sovereignty. And who is just part of the one world order group of institutions that would threaten that sovereignty?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I mean, the United States has been paying a large portion of the freight. I mean, we're 18% of their budget is coming from the United States. So they are having to cut their budget from $5.3 billion to $4.2 billion. That's still $4.2 billion too much, I think, for that group. Let's turn our attention now to Congress. Let's talk about the Senate. They've been busy trying to figure out what to do and how to move forward with President Trump's 2017 tax cuts. This week, I think we're still – are we still poised for a voterama coming up as this bill makes its way to the floor?
SPEAKER 16 :
I believe so. Listen, to me, the – The extension of what we did in 2017 should be the easiest part. I mean, I'm not aware of a Republican that wants to see an automatic tax increase. I mean, that was one of the problems with that tax bill is parts of it automatically expired. So let's not make the same mistake. Now, we've had to... you know, go through some internal discussions in terms of using current policy versus current law and those kind of budget wonkiness. But, you know, we've come to an agreement on that between not only the senators, but also with the House. So that should be the easiest component of this. I've always thought it'd be easier to go in, you know, several steps, but... Decisions have been made to go with one big beautiful bill, so that's what we're dealing with. My big sticking point has always been spending, spending, spending. I put together a pretty good video of President Trump saying he wanted a balanced budget, and all of our leaders and members of the administration saying that we don't have a revenue problem, We have a spending problem, so are we willing to fix it? And so I've been focusing on spending. We went from $4.4 trillion in 2019 to probably about $7.3 trillion this year. That's a 63% increase. There's no justification for that. A reasonable pre-pandemic baseline would be no more than $6.5 trillion. And I think we pretty well have... I don't want to put words in President Trump's mouth. Let me put it this way. I think President Trump has committed to working with us to achieve a pre-pandemic level of spending and, I think even more importantly, working with us to develop a detailed and rigorous process to actually achieve it. We've never had a process to control spending. You may be interested to know the appropriation committees were established to control the big spending authorizing committees. Well, that didn't work. The Budget Act didn't work. Simpson-Bowles didn't work. The Budget Control Act didn't work. So I proposed a process very similar to... A private sector budget review process where you literally go line by line. I would recommend involving senators, House members and the administration and bring administration officials with their budget gurus and CFOs and literally go line by line. There's about 2400. individual expenditure lines in the 2025 proposed budget, we have to do that work. Nobody ever wants to do that. 76% of the budget is completely off budget. That's mandatory spending. And by the way, there's $1.3 trillion of other mandatory spending, not Social Security, Medicare, or even Medicaid, that we can take a look at and you see what Doge is uncovering in terms of all the waste, fraud and abuse. So if we actually scrutinize what we spend, I think it'll be easy to get back to a reasonable pre-pandemic level spending.
SPEAKER 04 :
Has the president agreed to that process?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yes, I think that's what we discussed today in the White House with the members of the Budget Committee.
SPEAKER 04 :
And so where does Doge fit into that?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, those can be very useful. Under reconciliation, we can only address mandatory spending, which is bizarre just in and of itself. So that leaves discretionary spending that has to be passed with Senate Democrats' help. They won't. So what we can do with discretionary spending is we can reduce that level of spending through rescissions. So we really did request the president. I think they're going to move forward on this as well. My recommendation was at least one rescission package a month. where Elon and his doge group basically bundles up billions of dollars worth of spending rescissions, headlined by the most egregious examples of wasteful and abusive spending.
SPEAKER 04 :
So rescissions, just for the benefit of our viewers and listeners, this is kind of, if you will, clawing back money that's already been allocated that's out there, correct?
SPEAKER 16 :
Right. And the law allows us to do that without Democrat votes. I mean, we can do that. We can pass this in the Senate's privilege. Just need a majority. Do this without Democrat help. And by the way, it'll just be fun watching Democrats. What are they going to vote to continue some of this grotesquely wasteful spending?
SPEAKER 04 :
And some of this money has been allocated but not spent. So it's out there. It can be brought back. This can be real cuts going forward as well. So you are optimistic that we can get back to this pre-pandemic level of federal spending. Is that shared among your colleagues?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, I think some things could be more difficult. But President Trump, as a business person, as I'm presenting this plan, he thinks it's pretty easy, too. Tony, what we're talking about is take 2019 spending, total outlays. I don't think we were spending too little. We're still probably spending too much. Increase that by inflation and population growth. You leave Social Security and Medicare. You can even leave Medicaid completely off this. Spend what we're going to spend in 2025. Pulse those things up, you'd be spending $6.5 trillion. So that's a $700 billion difference between what we're spending, and that $700 billion is just spending above and beyond 2019 spending fully inflated for population inflation. Again, in business, and this is the way I'd describe it to the president, if you had your manager say, hey, listen, I'll let you grow your budget by the number of customers you're serving and inflation, and you come back six years later and their budget's 10% higher than that, you'd go, what are you doing? Knock it down back to what constraints I told you. That'd be a one-minute conversation, and it would be done. This would be easy. Now, within the $700 billion, there are a few interesting issues. But if you're going line by line, my guess is there will be plenty of expenditures, things like the Doja aren't covering. You go, we're not going to spend that at all. Not just claw back the excess over 2019 spending fully inflated, but, I mean, literally just eliminate that.
SPEAKER 04 :
Mm-hmm. Okay, two issues that have to be addressed. You've got the debt, but in order to get to the $36 trillion plus debt, you've got to begin eliminating the deficit. How soon on this path that you're laying out can we eliminate what's become an annual deficit of somewhere over a trillion dollars?
SPEAKER 16 :
Well, President Trump is very confident that he'll be raising a lot more revenue through tariffs, through his gold card, plus economic growth. I mean, if we get our act together and we return certainty to the economy by saying you're not going to have a massive automatic tax increase. That's why I would have done that three-step process, given border funding. Step two would have just been extend the current tax code, take that massive automatic tax increase off the table, then start working on the big, beautiful bill. We should be at that point right now, but that's not the decision they made, so now we've got to bundle it all together.
SPEAKER 04 :
I mean, when you look at the indecisiveness or the lack of ability of businesses to make decisions based upon the fluctuation or the unknown of the tax structure, that could itself be what's causing the economy to kind of sputter right now, could it not?
SPEAKER 16 :
No, absolutely. I come from the private sector. You want certainty. You want stability. You don't want volatility. And not knowing what our tax structure is going to be, again, that was a big problem with what we did in 2017. We didn't make it permanent. We're not going to make that mistake again. And, of course, the tariffs... Again, I'll give President Trump the benefit of the doubt. I mean, it's pretty convincing as he goes through the list of what countries are charging us versus what we charge them. And, you know, the people with extremely high tariffs, I mean, he's only bringing up our tariffs to half of that rate, trying to entice them to come down. So, again, I think he's trying to use this tariff threat to move toward a tariff-free world. But, again, this is complex.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. But the tax is not. I mean, you've got uncertainty created by it's not just a small tax increase. This could be a huge tax increase. And so people are kind of sitting on their cash because they don't know what's going to come. You know, is this going to happen or not? When you look at what would take place in Washington, D.C., you never know if we can even agree on a good idea.
SPEAKER 16 :
Again, that's why, as Republicans, we should have just given President Trump the certainty that we're not going to increase taxes. We should have done this, taken up literally just a one-sentence bill, extend the current tax code. And again, if we could have done it in 2017, we would have. So we should just do it now, but... Members of the House, and I understand this, I'm sympathetic with it, they want to reduce federal spending. They figure they had to hold the tax permanency hostage for that, which is why they initially went with current law and a big old tax score. There should be no score for this. If we have a spending program that expires and we decide to extend it, there's no score because that's scored based on current policy. That's what we're switching now. Revenue the same way as we treat spending.
SPEAKER 04 :
And that's that's actually an issue right now that you're working with in the Senate. The Democrats are going to be opposed to that.
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah, but again, all we need is 50 votes plus Vice President Vance. I'm sure we'll have it.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the Senate is going to move forward with these tax cuts being permanent, correct?
SPEAKER 16 :
Yeah. And again, by doing that, you just make automatically make them permanent.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 16 :
Because there's no score. We just it's easy to do that. And that's what we'll do.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it provides stability and certainty. And hopefully we'll get our economy roaring going forward. Senator Ron Johnson, always great to see you. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today.
SPEAKER 16 :
Have a great day. Stay well.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, folks, a lot will still be happening this week. We didn't get into it, but a part of this process is what's called a Voterama that will be taking place, I think, tomorrow night or somewhere into the weekend. It got set back a little bit by the. I wouldn't say, it wasn't a filibuster, but where the Democrats held the Senate floor for 24 hours. So we'll be watching that very closely. All right, we're out of time. I want to thank you for joining us. I do want to encourage you to get the Stand Firm app because you can get notifications of when you need to weigh in on issues like this with your senators and members of Congress. All right, until next time, I leave you with the encouraging words of the Apostle Paul. When you've prayed, when you've prepared, and when you've taken your stand, by all means, keep standing.
SPEAKER 15 :
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.
In this episode of the National Crawford Roundtable, hosts Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush engage in a spirited discussion about Donald Trump's newly implemented tariffs and what he calls 'Liberation Day.' The conversation dives into the implications of these tariffs on imported cars and car parts, discussing whether this move is smart or risky, and how it might shift liberal establishment organizations to the center. The team also explores the broader impacts of Trump's policies on international trade and manufacturing, dissecting the fine line between short-term discomfort and long-term economic gain.
SPEAKER 02 :
Welcome to the National Crawford Roundtable podcast, a view of culture, current events, and politics through a biblical lens brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the Preborn logo to donate to save babies now. and buy SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. And now, here are your hosts, Neil Boron, Bob Duco, and John Rush.
SPEAKER 04 :
Back with another week of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast with the guys, Neil Boron, Neil Boron Live out of Buffalo, New York, John Rush, Rush to Reason out of Denver, Colorado, myself, Bob Duco, out of Detroit. Hey, guys, how are you? Good morning. Thank you. Yeah, it's always good talking to you. By the way, do you know, we record this on Wednesday mornings, okay? Guys, here it is. It's Wednesday morning. It's April 2nd. And here in Detroit, I look out the window. It's snowing, just so you know, okay? It's April. It's spring. It's snowing. And I don't know. But both you guys, Denver, Colorado, Buffalo, New York, you know. You guys are not above getting snow at this time of year.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, I have some coming this weekend, so we're like you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. Okay, we've got a few things to talk about. Today, April 2nd, is what Donald Trump is calling Liberation Day. This is when his reciprocal tariffs on other countries kick in. And he got the 25% tariffs on imported cars as well and imported car parts. And what might that mean? Is this smart? Is this not smart? It's a good thing, bad thing, whatever. So we'll dive into that. A few other things as well. The Trump effect, we'll discuss that. Are more liberal establishment organizations sliding to the center because of Trump? And maybe we'll get in a little bit of Bill Maher meeting with Donald Trump at the White House as well. So a lot of things. But let's start with the tariffs issue. Today is today. April 2nd, that Trump's reciprocal tariffs are set to kick in. And this is where he's telling not just our enemies, but our friends and our allies around the world, especially European nations, that, hey, whatever you tariff us, we are going to tariff you. It's that simple, not just on products, but things like automobiles. And this is what people need to understand, at least from my perspective on this. So Look, I would love it if we didn't have to charge tariffs to anybody. But the fact is, when you hear Donald Trump saying that other countries around the world are ripping us off, the world's ripping us off, he hasn't just been saying that in the last few years. He said that decades ago in the private sector. OK, the way that we're getting, quote unquote, ripped off by other countries, take European nations, for example, that are friends of ours. OK. If you go over to Germany or to the U.K. or, for that matter, just about any of the European nations, and you drive down the street, you've got to drive pretty far to find the occasional U.S. auto dealer because there's not that many of them over there. Same thing if you go to a store. And you look for widgets somewhere. Look on the shelves. The overwhelming majority of them are their own country's products. And you've got to look far and wide to find the occasional made in the USA. And that's because these countries are very stingy. They say, U.S. products coming into our country, we're going to limit them. and just allow a small amount of them to come in. And we're also going to charge tariffs on them so that they cost more. What that does is it hurts the US automaker and the US widget manufacturer because they don't get to tap into the full European market. However, Here in America, let's face it, you can drive down any street, any road, oh, hey, there's the US car dealership, but there's the Hyundai, there's the Kia dealership, there's an Audi dealership. I mean, you see these dealerships all over the place because we open our doors wide and allow other countries to completely tap into our markets, but they don't allow our companies to tap into their markets the same way. And all Trump is saying is enough is enough. The gravy train is over. You need to treat us just as fairly as we've been treating you. Trump's not looking for an advantage. He's not looking to get a trade imbalance over top of them. He just wants to narrow the trade imbalance under them. But to do that, it's going to cause disruption. The alternative is we have no disruption, no chaos, and we just keep on allowing the U.S. auto industry and the U.S. manufacturing industry to weaken and weaken and weaken while other nations get rich off of our consumers. So there's got to come a point where somebody has to step up and say enough is enough. And that's why I think the thing to do is let's rip the Band-Aid off and let's take some change. Let's not expect... this whole thing to turn like a jet ski, it's probably going to turn like an ocean liner. But let's allow the process to begin. That's how I tend to look at it. And so let's have this discussion. Let's go around the table a little bit. And Neil, let me start with you if we could, okay? First of all, What are your thoughts on this? Because I know that you are not as pro-tariff as I am, and I know not as pro-tariff as John is. But I get from you, it's not that you're hostile to tariffs, but you really question whether they're the wise thing to do right now. What's your take on all of this, this Liberation Day?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, who knows what he's going to say, because it's apparent that even some of his key economic advisors don't know what he's going to come out with. So I can't really comment on that. I think it's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out later today. By and large, I don't think... You know, messing around with tariffs right now are the best thing to do. I don't think he's adequately explained it to the American people. I'm not even 100% sure. And you can argue with me if you want, but I'm not 100% sure. He knows exactly what he wants to do about it. I think he's been a bully in some ways, the way he talks about it. And you can say, oh, well, you know, grow up. He's just, you know, a little blustery guy. So what? But I mean... one of the things that got him elected was the idea that he was going to be addressing the economy immediately right we're going to make america affordable again give me first day in office prices are coming down ladies and gentlemen well maybe in some ways there's been certain things that have happened like i think gas prices are a little bit lower kind of like that right now but you know there's still a lot of things that are really expensive and the average young person has no chance of buying a home right now so when When there's conversation about like, hey, look, this is going to the prices on foreign cars are going to go up. He says, I couldn't care less. Well, if you own a foreign car or you wanted to buy one, maybe that matters to you. I'm just saying like attitudes matter. And given that that he's got so many other things that he's done that are so clearly positive. I mean, they got the Doge thing going on that I think the vast majority of people are like in shock about. They're finding billions of dollars of waste and fraud. And yeah, give us our money back. We're taxpayers. We don't want to be paying for that kind of stuff. Trim the size of government. Go for it. You got the border situation. There's virtually no illegals. There's just a few, you know, making it here or there across the border. We're shipping out the criminals. These are huge issues. The wokeness thing, which we might actually talk about a little bit later. You know, we're going to call a male a male and a female a female. I think the vast majority of Americans, even some independents or maybe even Democrats who crossed the line and said, I can't do this Biden thing anymore and I'm certainly not voting for Kamala. I'm going to give Trump a shot that they're kind of impressed in this area by what they're seeing. But I don't think tariffs works the same way. And so I don't mean to go on and on. I'm just saying I think it's a really risky thing. I think he's fumbling it. I don't think he's mishandled it per se. Time will tell. But to just say, hey, look at short-term pain, long-term gain, he hasn't explained it adequately, even to his own economic advisors, apparently. And I just think it's not going to bode well. And if he doesn't prove himself on the economy in the next 12 months, and of course, stock markets come down, the whole thing. If he doesn't prove himself on the economy in the next 12 months, he's going to lose the house. Therefore, he'll never get the... All these things, all these executive orders are going to be reversed eventually by the next administration. He'll never get all this stuff codified into law because he's not going to have Congress to do it. I just think it's really dangerous. I'm not a fan of what's happening with tariffs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, let's do this because, you know, John, I want to get your take on this in just a moment. But before we do, I want to remind everybody that this podcast is sponsored. We appreciate our sponsors supporting this podcast, okay, certainly like Preborn and certainly like SunPowerLED. And, Neil, I know you're very knowledgeable on SunPowerLED and the tremendous work that they do helping people get out of pain naturally.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, well, it actually saved my life. There's no question in my mind. You know, I was struggling with COVID, couldn't breathe. My blood oxygen content was extremely low. And the light that God himself created, I believe, healed my lungs. It was a SunPower LED that... and red light therapy that helped reduce the pain and swelling in my chest, and I was all of a sudden able to breathe again. In a matter of just a few days, all of that turned around. I was on my way to the hospital otherwise, and I'd end up on a ventilator. So some pretty shocking stuff, and I think it's important that we realize that sound waves have power. A sonic boom can knock somebody out of bed in the middle of the night. Light waves have power as well, and essentially what we're talking about is certain wavelengths of red or near-infrared light that penetrate the human body, reduce pain and swelling. They help deal with things like arthritis and back and neck pain, knee pain. People have problems healing, vision problems, migraines. amazing stuff. And SunPowerLED is definitely worth looking into. So just go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on SunPowerLED, watch the videos, participate in the free webinar, find out how the light God himself created can help heal your body. And thank God for SunPowerLED and our friends over there at Preborn. Bob, they're also a major sponsor of ours.
SPEAKER 04 :
They are. And they do such great work saving babies' lives all over the country. But you know how they do this? They do it by showing ultrasound images of unborn babies to expectant moms in pro-life centers across the country. Problem is that the demand is higher than the supply. Not all pro-life centers have ultrasound machines in them. And the ones that do, it costs money to show ultrasound images. And so sometimes they don't have the money to do this. And this is why we ask everybody in our audience right now, will you pay for the ultrasound images? Because when you do, you're saving babies' lives. You see, when a mom sees a picture of her baby, statistically, she doesn't go across the street to Planned Parenthood. She lets her baby live. And so when you pay for ultrasound images, you actually really are stopping abortions. So there's two ways you can do this, everybody. Option A, buy an ultrasound machine to be placed in a pro-life center. They're 15 grand a piece. It's a nice tax write-off for you. And your forever legacy is you're stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. Now, for the rest of you, if you can't buy an ultrasound machine, pay for an individual number of ultrasound images. $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby's life. So how many babies' lives will you save? Take $28 times, fill in the blank. And whatever that number is, that's your forever legacy of the number of abortions that you stopped. Maybe you've given to pre-born already, but you haven't for 2025. Would you do that right now, everybody? There's two ways to give, online or on the phone. Online, go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. And if you want to give over the phone, you can call right now, 833-850-BABY. The answer to the phone is 24-7, 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And don't forget, 100% of what you give goes to the ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That's all covered by private donations. So 833-850-BABY. We appreciate you folks doing that. As we talk about the tariffs and what President Trump is calling Liberation Day today, this is when the reciprocal tariffs start kicking in, the tariffs on foreign automobiles coming into this country. And so, John, let me go to you. What's your take on this? We both heard what Neil said about this, about Donald Trump and the tariffs and not really making it clear to the American people. Philosophically, I do believe that this is something that is necessary. It does cause short-term pain. But I don't think the short-term pain is going to be as severe as people assume it is. But the long-term benefit of this is really strong. But what do we do about the fact that Neil did point out he said prices are going to come down day one and this will slow them coming down. So what's your take on all of this?
SPEAKER 01 :
It will in some cases, and it will not in others. And fortunately, automobiles are something that, since that's kind of what we're talking about with Terrace, automobiles aren't something everybody buys every day. And there are lots of choices when it comes to automobiles. And yes, I understand that there are people that like to buy foreign automobiles, even German-made automobiles. That one, I can't ever figure out why, because they're definitely not as good and reliable of a car as some of the other brands that are out there. And I'm a car guy, so that one I can defend completely. all day long, but people love their German cars. I'll just say it. I'll just say it straight up. And the reality though, is that what people don't understand is Germany has been tariffing our cars going in there. So our us made cars going in there at about 20%. And yet we've only been tariffing their cars coming here. at about two and a half percent. That's not a level playing field. So the way I look at tariffs is long term. This is a way to level the playing field. Yes, I know everybody don't don't send me any messages on the fact that, yes, it's a tax that's passed on. I get all of that. I understand how tariffs work. But I also know that we've got to get the field leveled at some point. The other thing that I would caution everybody on and Neil, this is for you as well. The majority of people that are against terrorists are globalists. A lot of the articles that you will see written about terrorists and how bad they are. These are globalists. These are one world order people that that hate anything at all that disrupts what happens on a worldwide basis. This is a huge disruptor when it comes to worldwide things. And I would encourage every single Christian out there even those that maybe don't like our stance on tariffs and what's happening in certain countries and so on. Everything I just said is very true because tariffs and what's being used right now goes against the globalist plan. And that's why you see all sorts of negative things written about it, because globalists hate tariffs.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I couldn't agree with you more on that. I really do. But, Neil, what do we do with the – look, I get what you're saying, Neil, about, well, this slows down the reduction in prices. And so what about the economy part of this? What do we do with the fact that the alternative is let's just leave the trade imbalance in place? And if Trump's not going to do this now, when? OK, and so does he just let that go? You know, no future president is actually going to take on
SPEAKER 01 :
other nations around the world it's like that skin cancer that you've got that you keep putting off putting off putting off pretty soon it grows to the point where now it becomes a big huge deal why not just burn that off early on when it's when it's a lot less painful my feeling on these things is the longer we wait the more painful it gets as well
SPEAKER 04 :
Actually, that is a good point, too, I would argue. But I don't know. What is the alternative? Would you rather then we just leave it alone, don't touch it? Because there's no way that Trump's going to try to do this three years into his four-year last term. So if he's going to do it, it seems like right now is the time to rip the Band-Aid off and maybe set a new precedent. If anything, Neil, we get at least some other countries – that say, all right, we will lower the tariffs on U.S. products and cars coming into our country. And then at least it does generate some more strength for our own manufacturing industry here in America.
SPEAKER 01 :
And I want to add one more thing to that, Bob, before, Neil, you respond, because I see all sorts of of car people even responding to these tariffs and how this really won't have any positive impact upon manufacturing in the United States and so on. Now, I agree there's a lot of robotics and automation and things like that. And building a plant here doesn't put the amount of people to work. that it once did but the thing that these people are also forgetting is all of the ancillary jobs that come from having a plant put in a brand new plant not only the construction of the maintenance of afterwards the maintenance of even the robotics i mean there's still so many jobs that come out of having a manufacturing facility here that we wouldn't otherwise have that the byproducts are still huge and that's what donald trump is looking at
SPEAKER 04 :
Think about Sean Fain, the president of the UAW. He hates Donald Trump with a passion. But he just said this week that I don't agree with Donald Trump on anything except these tariffs. This is the right thing to do for the auto industry. This is a UAW head. But anyway, Neil, your take.
SPEAKER 03 :
Again, and I said on a previous podcast that if you were to ask me to speak on tariffs at a public event, it would take longer to introduce me than for me to explain everything I know about tariffs and or the long-term impact. And I think to some degree, even people who think they understand tariffs aren't exactly sure how it all plays out in the end and which countries we're going to be able to continue having friendly trade relations with, et cetera. I mean, It all has to sift out in the end, and it takes time, which is why he's talking about short-term pain, long-term gain. Okay, so long-term, maybe this helps. And if that's what he's doing, sort of as a sacrificial lamb, putting himself on the altar and saying, look, I'm not concerned about my future. I'm concerned about the well-being of America. I want to do this for the benefit of America long-term. I think the problem is that people have short term memories. They care about what's happening to them today. And I've often been frustrated in past presidential elections when there'd be some huge issue hanging in there in the air, like abortion when Hillary Clinton was running, etc. It was a huge issue. People would look right past it and just say, yeah, but the economy and, you know, she takes care of the little guy and she really cares about people that are hurting. No, the Democrat Party does not care about little people that are hurting. And I think they began to wake up, which is why Donald Trump gained so many votes in minority communities, et cetera. All I'm saying is that attitudes matter. And I think if people don't feel in their own pocketbook that things are turning around economically and they're being told, hey, things may cost more. And, you know, so what if prices of automobiles go up? I could care less. They're hearing that. They're listening with their own ears, and I think it's going to cost him long term. Could he pull a rabbit out of a hat? Yes. Donald Trump is famous for, you know, all odds stacked against him, and somehow he comes out looking like the golden boy. Maybe in a year, all of a sudden, the economy just revives. I mean, by the way, it shrunk from January to March. We'll know more when the March numbers come out. Like, it's a very crucial, tentative time right now, and economically speaking, people want change. If they don't see it, I think he loses the House, and then he's neutered. Then he's got no ability to do anything in the last two years.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. John, I got to tell you, though, to me, there's a way to simplify this. Either we do something, either we end, we begin the end of the trade war against the United States from our friends around the world, or we just stick with the status quo.
SPEAKER 01 :
We have to end it. We really have to decide which one it's going to be. It's been so unfair for so long. And that's the other thing, too, that I think most people don't ever look at. Most people don't realize because you hear about other countries and what they do and so on. And I don't think most people look at the actual GDP numbers. For example, U.S. is this is as of I think this is going back to 2023. So 2023, we were pretty close to $28 trillion as a country. China is the second closest at only $17.7 trillion. The next one after that is Germany at $4.5 trillion. And i'm not saying that to make it sound like you know we're the big big bad guys on the block and it really doesn't matter what other countries are doing but i think bob you have to put this into relation with one another and i think this is what donald trump knows these other countries need us far more than we need them and i think it's something that people don't like hearing because that sounds very egotistical But that's the brass tacks, Bob. That's the bottom line. They need us more than we need them. And the bottom line is we have been far too fair with a lot of these people that, by the way, are not very fair back to us when it comes to the trade that we have going back and forth as countries. And it's high time it stopped.
SPEAKER 03 :
Let me throw another with you more. Let me throw another thought into the mix It's just off the beaten path, but it was kind of rolling around in my brain got plenty of room to do that by the way I just America is arguably the richest country on the planet. I mean, there might be some country somewhere with a median average median income, whatever is higher. Who knows? But we're extremely wealthy country. If you own a home in the United States of America and make like whatever it is, 60,000 a year. I don't know what the number is anymore. You're one of the wealthiest 90 something percent of people on the planet. so okay that's how wealthy america is and on top of it we've been blowing all this waste out you know just so much money that's going to fraudulent things we're cutting back we're trying to reduce the size of government trying to reign all of this in hopefully to the tune of not just billions but in the end maybe a trillion or more dollars uh taking back all this money that was just leaking out so that's going to have an impact on the economy but You know, Trump, during some of his speeches about tariffs, said, you know, we're going to make America great again. We're going to make it so wealthy. We're going to be richer than ever. We're going to be the richest country. To some degree, at what point do we say, look, we're doing pretty good. This tariff thing can wait a little bit. We want to balance this down the road, but this isn't our priority right now. We've got other priorities. I just don't see... overall that america is hurting so bad cut back on the waste will be much better off there and then explain to the american people why this has to happen don't rush into it his own economic advisors aren't entirely sure which way he's going to go on this what he's going to do or what the impact is going to be and we're also just supposed to buy that this is a great thing for america i think it's really dangerous
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, if we wait a little bit, how long are we supposed to wait? 50, 60 years isn't long enough to wait.
SPEAKER 01 :
We're $36.5 trillion in debt. We don't have any choice. We've got to do it now.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, exactly. You're absolutely right. $37 trillion in debt. And if Trump doesn't do this now… It's never going to go. What future president, what future Republican president would do this, let alone Democrat president? He's trying to stop the globalist collectivism mentality that exists. Maybe one of the reasons why the United States is so wealthy is because the United States has had a free market attitude and a we the people attitude for so long. But that doesn't mean that we deserve to then have the rest of the world take advantage of us and pick our pockets and say, you know, we want to tap into the U.S. market, but you're not allowed to tap into our markets.
SPEAKER 03 :
Does anybody know how much foreign aid? I mean, I don't know the number. How much foreign aid do we send to other countries? I think that we probably send every country on the planet money.
SPEAKER 04 :
Nobody sends us any, right? We're massive in foreign aid, outside of just the U.S. aid. Massive, right.
SPEAKER 01 :
So who knows the number? That's roughly $70 billion.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Yeah, that's a lot of money. If we don't care for ourselves, I mean, the Word of God itself says if you don't care for your own family, you're worse than an infidel. At some point, do we really need – can we assess that? Would that be another place we could start? So we're cutting back on the waste and the fraud?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, USAID is one of the areas that Doge is scaling back on, but that was so mismanaged. We should still help people around the country, around the world, I mean, but not through something like USAID. That doesn't change the fact that these tariffs are a way to say, let's take care of our own house first. Let's take care of our own family first. And I think that that's the right thing to do. But anyway, look, we're coming up on the bottom of the hour, and we do want to remind you folks, we're going to be talking about a lot of other things in the second half of this podcast, but we want you to support our advertisers, our sponsors to this podcast, like Preborn, like SunPowerLED, Neal.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and it's been incredible the results people are getting with red light therapy. And by the way, photobiomodulation, which is the technical term, has been around for quite a while. It's not exactly new, but it is being refined. And Kerber USA, the makers of SunPower LED, which oddly enough is based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. So you've got Kerber USA sells their product here, also in our Canadian markets. And they've been able to reduce the cost of individual light units from SunPower LED that allow people to be able to focus on their health in an affordable kind of way. And light therapy is being used to reduce pain and swelling in the human body and promote healing. And the applications are incredible. I mean, yes, joint and knee pain, back pain, et cetera, tinnitus, migraine, headaches, arthritis, pain, uh vision problems spinal stenosis plantar fasciitis it's unbelievable what light therapy can accomplish and i suggest you look into it it's simply using the very light god himself created to heal the body no pharmaceuticals no surgical intervention just light that god created check it out by looking at sunpower led and click on that button at crawfordmediagroup.net
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. And we appreciate you folks supporting them. We appreciate you supporting Preborn. And if you haven't given to Preborn yet, or maybe in a while, now's the time to do it. Let's save some babies' lives together, huh? Pay for ultrasound images. Ultrasound images are the best way to convince a mom to let her baby live. And it takes money, though, to do this. So here's how you give to Preborn, because they're the main group that shows the ultrasound images in pro-life centers across the country. So you can give by paying for an individual number of Just outright buy an ultrasound machine. If you pay for an individual number, $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion to save one baby's life. So pray about a number of abortions you'd be willing to stop. Take $28 times fill in the blank. Whatever that number is, maybe God lays a number on your heart, that's your gift to pre-born. And you know what's great about this? Anything you give to pre-born, every penny, 100%, goes to ultrasounds, nothing for overhead. That's all covered by private donors. Now, if you can afford it, we need some people out there to buy ultrasound machines. They're 15 grand apiece. Nice tax write-off for you. But you know what else? Your forever legacy is you're stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. So what do you think? Will you either buy an ultrasound machine or pay for an individual number of ultrasound images? Either way... Here's how you give. Go online to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn and give right there. Or you can give over the phone, 833-850-BABY. And the answer to the phone is 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And we've got a lot more to get to in the second half. We appreciate you folks listening. We appreciate your five-star reviews wherever you listen to this podcast. And we'll dive into some other things in the second half coming up next.
SPEAKER 02 :
This is a Crawford Media Group production.
SPEAKER 04 :
Continuing the second half of the National Crawford Roundtable podcast with John Rush, Rush to Reason out of Denver, Colorado. Neil Boron, Neil Boron Live out of Buffalo, New York. Myself, Bob Duco, The Bob Duco Show out of Detroit. So the first half, guys, we talked about Trump's tariffs and April 2nd being Liberation Day, the reciprocal tariffs. There's some other things, though, that I want to talk with you guys about. First of all, one of them is what happened in the White House, the meeting with Bill Maher. I'm curious to get you guys' take on this because Bill Maher – look, I'm not a fan of Bill Maher at all. He's a liberal left-wing guy. Okay, fine. He's a Trump basher. No real surprise. It's an HBO show. But there's one thing that I do give Bill Maher credit for. He is somebody who's willing to call out his own side if he sees his own side going off the rails. And he's done that in some various occasions. He said that the Democrat Party needs to get more moderate. They're going to radical left wing and the transgender stuff and some other issues. So he says, knock it off. Well, anyway, Bill Maher and Donald Trump have a mutual friend, Kid Rock. Now, Kid Rock, the singer, Kid Rock is more conservative, but he's friends with both of them. And so Kid Rock called President Trump. How cool is that to just say, let me call my friend Donald Trump and say, you know what, would you be willing for me to broker a meeting between you and Bill Maher and me bring him with me to the White House? Trump said yes. To Bill Maher's credit, Bill Maher said, sure, I'll be happy to meet with him. To Trump's credit, Trump said, sure, I'll be happy to meet with him. And they went out there. They had a meeting. They had dinner with Dana White as well as wrestling. And according to Kid Rock, this is the first time that Bill Maher had ever been there. Trump didn't know that. And he said that Trump was very gracious with him and friendly and gave him a personal tour of the White House, including his own private residence, and was sitting down and asking Bill Maher his opinions about things, even foreign policy questions. Well, what do you think about this? What do you think about that? What are your opinions on our policies? And genuinely wanted to know what he thought. And and to Bill Maher's credit, he was pretty cordial with the president, too. So but it's interesting that some conservatives, not all, but some are griping that Trump is being so friendly with Bill Maher. Bill Maher's got a lot of liberals that have been giving him grief. And Maher's attitude, he said last week on his HBO show, he said, to those of you on the left that are criticizing me for being willing to meet with Donald Trump, he said, blank you. There's nothing wrong with talking with people you disagree with. You know, we want that in America. Isn't that supposed to be healthy? I think Bill Maher is absolutely right. And I say kudos to both of them for being willing to shake hands and have a cordial discussion with each other. So that's my take on this. But I'm kind of curious to go around the table. John, what do you think?
SPEAKER 01 :
I think it's absolutely fabulous and everything you just said, Bob, on both sides of the aisle. I mean, yes, there are conservatives that don't like it. There's Democrats that don't like it. The reality is I think it's a good thing. I think it shows that, you know, two people that, you know, really oppose one another. And like you, I am no fan of Bill Maher, although I'll give the guy credit. He does call his own party out at times. I know he does. that they do and he does very well at that and then you have to wonder when he goes and he meets with donald trump and he realizes that wait a minute this guy that i've been making fun of with you know all of this time and i've been calling him this that and the other i mean basically everything under the sun hum he's really not the way that i anticipated him being i mean to me these are things that build bridges and and there's nothing bad that can come out of this at all in my opinion
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, I'll tell you, Neil, I really see a tremendous amount of maturity from both of them. For all the people who say Donald Trump is so petty and childish, really? Here's a guy who told Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, sure, I'll be happy to meet with you. I'll invite you to my personal residence at Mar-a-Lago, and I'll be happy to talk with you. So I say kudos to both of them. I think that they both deserve a decent amount of credit. But let's face it, the Trump haters are never going to give Donald Trump credit for anything. If he cured cancer, they'd criticize him for putting oncologists out of business. But I don't know. What's your take on this whole meeting? Well, I really like it.
SPEAKER 03 :
I like the idea that it happened. And for, I don't know, maybe different reasons than others, but James 1.19 says, Therefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. It goes on from there. But, you know, it's the old phrase that God gave us, two ears and one mouth. Like, there is something to be learned from one another. And teachability matters. I think all of us should be teachable, including the President of the United States. In other words, maybe Bill Maher learned some things about Donald Trump, but I also think Donald Trump learned some things about Bill Maher. Maybe it's just how to better communicate with people that are political opponents or whatever. But there's something to be gained in those kind of situations. I have a friend, a good friend, who's taught me a lot of life lessons. He's an older man and really is, in many ways, a godly mentor in my life. But he taught me a long time ago, if you have an enemy, move towards them. and why because because number one we're supposed to love all people including our enemies we need to demonstrate that but that there's something to be learned and and sometimes people who look like their enemies at first later become allies and you know so you've got i mean even Donald Trump himself at one point was a Democrat. Today he's a conservative Republican if you think about the transformation in his life. So I applaud it and I'm grateful. And it also boggles my mind. Joe Biden seemed to have so little time for anything. He didn't do any press conferences. where was he he was never around he wasn't out in public he definitely wasn't speaking Donald Trump seems to be everywhere all the time and seems to have time to sit down with people like Bill Maher by the way I know at least two people that have met Donald Trump and I know quite a few people who know someone who met Donald Trump and in every case people said that the private behind the scenes behind closed doors Donald Trump is a warm-hearted kind you know loving human being that's engaging and funny and you know fun to be around which is kind of hard to believe i'm sure for some people listening to me say that but if that's true then that's exactly what bill maher experienced and i bet bill maher is a different person as a result we may see some of that come out in future conversation on air
SPEAKER 04 :
We may. And by the way, the thing that you're saying, Neil, I've heard that anecdotally from a lot of people, even the enemies of conservatives and Republicans, that Donald Trump, when you get behind the scenes with him and the cameras are off, he's so much of a regular guy, not a billionaire type guy at all. He's so much of a regular guy, fun, great sense of humor, affable guy. very generous, very gracious, and this is gonna sound crazy, who uses the word humble to apply to Donald Trump? But a lot of people say he actually has a sense of humility about him when the cameras are off that is way different than the persona that you expect to see. Even though he is a strong, confident person still, But that sense of, hey, you know what? What do you think about these? Give me your opinion about this. Let's shake hands. We can still work together. So give them a lot of credit for that. John, before we throw it back over to you, Neil, one of the things that we've been talking about on the show, obviously, every time we do a podcast, we want our listeners to know that we appreciate our sponsors supporting this podcast. We've got a couple of great sponsors. We've got SunPowerLED. We've got Preborn. And I know a lot of you out there have given a Preborn already. Some of you maybe haven't, or if you have, maybe it's been a while since you have. I'm asking you right now if you would give to preborn today. What you're doing is you're paying for ultrasound images so that babies can be saved in their mother's wombs. You see, in pro-life centers all across the country, preborn partners with them. And they show these ultrasound images. And when a mom sees a picture of her baby, she chooses life. She doesn't go across the street to Planned Parenthood. No, she lets her baby live. Do you know that last year, 2024 alone, pre-born literally stopped 67,000 abortions from happening? 67,000 babies' lives were saved last year. And that's thanks in large part to you folks in this audience because you're paying for ultrasound images. And by the way... thousands and thousands of those moms accepting Jesus Christ along the way. So here's how you give. Either pay for an individual number of ultrasound images or buy an ultrasound machine. If you buy an ultrasound machine, it's 15 grand, it's a nice tax write-off for you, But you get to go to bed every night knowing you are stopping thousands and thousands of abortions year after year. For the rest of you, maybe you can pay for an individual number of ultrasound images. They're $28 a piece to stop one abortion. $28 stops one abortion. How many abortions will you stop? Pray about a number. Take $28 times fill in the blank. And that number is your gift to Preborn. And 100% of what you give to Preborn goes to the ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. So what do you say? Here's how you give. Go online right now to CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on Preborn. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn. Or just call them, 833-850-BABY, and they answer 24-7. So call 833-850-BABY. Mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. We appreciate you folks supporting our sponsors like Preborn. like SunPower LED. And Neil, I got to tell you, the photobiomodulation technology that SunPower LED has, it's so natural. It's God-created. It really is. It's a God-created natural way of healing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, it's God-created because God said, let there be light, and there was. Light was clearly God's creation, and photobiomodulation just takes certain wavelengths of that light and uh uses them to penetrate the human body get to the individual cells excite the mitochondria wake up the cell and cause the cell to do what it was designed to do and that's to provide life and healing and you know the results have been incredible i think i told the story about a guy named uh mark who had knee surgery and was having you know trouble afterwards started using photobiomodulation sun power led palm device and he's running again uh there was a young man named caleb I had a horrible pickaxe accident, can't even imagine, but severed his ankle tendon in the process. Doctors said it was going to be six to eight months before he could walk again. He was walking in just four weeks, didn't need any pain medication, by the way. And, you know, I had horrible plantar fasciitis about a year ago. SunPower LED helped take that away, and I was walking normally again in just about a week. It's unbelievable how it works. You can check it out for yourself. You can watch videos, learn more about it by clicking on SunPowerLED at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Yeah, no drugs, no pharmaceuticals, no surgical intervention. This is as natural as it gets. It's just using the light that God created to heal our human bodies. Again, click on SunPowerLED at CrawfordMediaGroup.net.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. We appreciate you folks doing that. So, John, let me ask you about the Bill Maher meeting with Donald Trump. I'm not a Bill Maher fan. I don't watch his Friday night HBO show. But, of course, we see what happens in the news. And I am curious, though, how he's going to navigate. the rock and the hard place that he's in, because I do believe he probably came out of there at least saying to his people that are with him, boy, I got to admit, Donald Trump is a lot more likable of a guy than I thought. And he's a lot smarter than I thought. And he's a lot more tolerant and welcoming than I thought. But he can't really go on his show and slobber about how great Donald Trump is, or he's going to destroy his base and his audience too. And so I am kind Kind of curious. If there was ever a time I was interested to see him do his Friday show and his commentary, it might be this Friday because I'm curious how he navigates that with his audience.
SPEAKER 01 :
And what's interesting is Kid Rock came out there and said that Bill Maher's mind was blown after meeting with Donald Trump, which that says a lot. So yeah, how does he recover from that coming back to his own audience? And how do you couch all of that, Bob, in a way where he knows he's got an audience, he knows he's got people to sort of pacify, if you would, because he knows his market. On the same token, you got to be honest. I mean, what is he going to say on Friday? Great question.
SPEAKER 03 :
Can I just jump in for a second? I think Bill Maher needs to tell the truth, the bottom line. Tell the truth. Tell what he learned, what he was surprised by, what he was blessed by, or what he didn't like. But either way, truth matters in the end. And what I'm really getting at here, look at what happened in the last election when people came to realize that they've been lied to about Joe Biden. when people saw things like cbs editing the audio of kamala harris editing the interview to make her look like she had some clue what she was talking about and when people realize they've been duped um it doesn't go well you know truth prevails in the end and i think you know it might cost him a couple of viewers but he might gain some as well by taking a more you know reasoned approach to say look at i didn't know what i was going to expect i kind of like the guy Let me tell you what I saw, and then let the chips fall where they may, but I think he's going to benefit in the end if he tells the truth as opposed to trying to act like he had some influence on Trump and he didn't learn anything in the process.
SPEAKER 04 :
You know, John, to switch gears a little bit, with Trump, before the three of us went on the air to start recording, Neil was talking about the Trump effect. And there is an effect that Trump has, not just one-on-one with people, like people like Bill Maher and others that walk away from him going, you know, he left me a little bit changed. Donald Trump does appear to be a rudder on a large ship that can, in fact, cause that ship to slightly turn. And one of the things that we are seeing is a scaling back, a rolling back of wokeness. It's not just Donald Trump issuing executive orders saying we're ending DEI in the public sector. The private sector is saying – Yeah, the winds of change are here. And so you're even seeing places like Disney starting to roll back a little bit now and saying let's – maybe we shouldn't be quite so liberal, left-wing, hardcore. Look, you got people in the media, some of them. I mean some of them are still being stiff-necked like AP. But a lot of the rest of them are saying – the White House Correspondents Association dinner. We're canceling the anti-Trump comedian. We're going to go non-comedy this time. There is a certain sense of people going where we recognize that Trump is slowly turning the tide against liberal leftist Marxist wokeism. And many people are going along with that, at least temporarily.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, and to your point about Trump being a rudder, and this is one of the things that even I've had to learn about Trump, and you guys know, I mean, I call everything the way I see it. If I don't like something, I'll say it. I think that's the one thing about the three of us is we don't mince any words along those lines. But to your point, Bob, about him being a rudder, one of the things that I've had to even at times catch myself saying, okay, you know what? I won't criticize. Let's see how this plays out a little bit because I've realized in the past with Donald Trump that not always, but typically. I bet the guy's got a 9 out of a 10 ratio for wins versus losses when it comes to what he sees going on, the wins that are out there, which way we should actually be sailing, and so on. And the reality, Bob and Neil both are, I'm learning to trust him a little more. Not that he's the Messiah. You guys know my feeling on all that. I'm not following him in that way. But as far as a leader and as president and looking from things differently than we can, because he's on the inside of all of that and he hears and sees things and none of the rest of us can. I'm learning to trust him a little more than I probably did at one time, just because at the end of the day, he's not often wrong. Right, right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Neil, what do you think? You're the one that brought this up when we were off air before we started. Your thoughts on the Trump effect and the incredible influence that he has to move an entire culture, if you will, when it comes to things like wokeness and leftism and such.
SPEAKER 03 :
yeah now you know what I had mentioned about the New York Times over the weekend they they you know published a column written by the editorial board basically saying look at if Democrats ever want to succeed again you better move away from the ledge that you're on right now it's not going to work and so they they said Democrats are in denial about 2024 that was actually the headline of the editorial And and then they went ahead and made some suggestions, basically just saying, look, we made a lot of mistakes. And Democrats, if if they want to regain voters trust or some things they need to look at, they should admit that their party mishandled Biden's age. Leading Democrats insisted, of course, that he had mental acuity for a second term. Many voters believe that Democrats refuse to admit uncomfortable truths on some subjects, including crime, illegal immigration, inflation and covid lockdowns. Mr. Biden's age became a glaring example of all of that, of course, but that that they should recognize that they move too far to the left on social issues, particularly after Obama left office. And then you got Kamala Harris in the last election. you know rejoicing over decriminalizing the border and government-funded gender transition surgery for prisoners it was way too far even today they said the party remains too focused on personal identity and on americans differences by race gender sexuality and religion rather than on shared values etc but point is the new york times and then you got the la times following suit beginning to come back from the radical edge going hey guys like they're waking up this ain't working but then there was also a huge article if you guys saw this harvard's nine billion dollar scramble to avoid becoming the next columbia the ivy league school's president alan garber made a flurry of moves before trump opened federal uh federal before he opens a federal funding review And so obviously we all saw Trump pull funds from Ivy League schools that are anti-Semitic and all of that stuff. Well, this is really having an impact. And apparently Harvard is really nervous about losing federal funds. So they started shifting people around, taking people off boards, looking at the programming they're offering. that's directly related to this administration. That's directly related to what we're seeing coming out of Washington, DC. And I just say, praise God for that. These things need to be looked at. They need to be reviewed and they need to be changed. So yeah, it's good stuff.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, that's, that's good. All right. Now there's one thing I got to bring up here is we're kind of winding down our time together. And John, this is kind of related to you. Uh, I invoked you on my, uh, my show here in Detroit, uh, Yesterday, I was talking about something that I was actually criticizing Donald Trump for because I don't agree with everything that he does. And when he does stuff that I disagree with, I call it out the way that it is. One of the things that I disagreed with him on is this executive order that he's signing to go after secondary ticket sales markets, the scalping thing, if you will, because you do have – You do have individuals and companies that they will block purchase several rows and several tickets of a venue when the ticket sales first come out. And then they'll turn around and they'll mark them up a lot to whatever level the market demand will allow. And if you buy some tickets, in essence, wholesale for $100 and you got people willing to pay $5,000 for those tickets – That's what the free market is about. Exactly. You sell them for what the market will allow. And this idea that Trump is going to step in and have the federal government and the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, try to regulate that philosophically. I'm sorry. I don't see a lot of difference between that and Kamala Harris saying she wanted to control how much of a gallon of milk could be sold for. Now, I can understand if there's a hurricane and people are taking necessities like water and they're gouging for those purposes. That's one thing. But somebody can decide if it's worth it for themselves to pay X amount of money to go see a concert. They can make that decision themselves. I don't think the government has any business involved. But I told my audience, I'm like, oh, no, I'm turning into John Rush. I guess I'm a libertarian now. But I'd love to get your take on that because I totally disagree with Trump on that.
SPEAKER 01 :
You end up with a situation where somebody can come in and buy all the water that guy has at the same price. It's regulated by government. They then just go back out on the black market and sell it at a much higher price. And at the end of the day, the guy that actually thought far enough in advance to have that water on the shelf loses out. The guy that comes in and buys all of it in one shot gains. At the end of the day, you're not fixing anything, nor would this, by the way, fix anything in regards to ticket prices, because those people could do nothing more than what the ticket resellers are doing at the end of the day and go out and resell as well. You're not going to fix anything by doing this. All right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Neil, what do you think? Do you have a problem if somebody goes out and buys 500 tickets to a concert that has a 20,000 ticket sale thing, buys 500 tickets for $100 a piece, and then says, I'm going to turn around and sell these things for $500 a piece, $1,000 a piece, $2,000, whatever the market will demand? I got no problem with that. Call it gouging. Call it whatever you want to. It's what the market will pay. Why is a diamond worth so much more than a piece of coal? Because that's what the public will pay for it. Why does a shot of alcohol, why does it have a 500% markup over top of the wholesale? Because that's what people are willing to pay for it. That's what a free market system does. Your thoughts?
SPEAKER 03 :
My wife went to the movies the other day with a friend, and it was $37 for two tickets. They didn't even buy any popcorn. But they went. They paid it. I don't know. No, I don't have a problem with – I hate that it happens. I've been in the situation before where I wanted to go to some kind of a sporting event or whatever and realized the only tickets were ridiculous. They're $1,500 or something as opposed to $150.
SPEAKER 01 :
I'm quicker. Let's back up a little bit, guys. The answer to this is if you're somebody that really wants that concert, then you know what? You figure out how to be that person that either buys the 500 tickets or the 50 tickets or the 10 tickets or the whatever. I mean, the reality is nobody's saying you can't do that, but a lot of people are late to the game. And then, yes, they're going to pay that higher price because that's what it demands at that point in time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I agree. And I think too bad if you miss out and you end up having to pay the higher prices or just stay home and don't pay the higher prices.
SPEAKER 01 :
Or just don't go to the concert.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because that'll bring the price down. That'll ultimately bring the price down. You can have a role in that.
SPEAKER 01 :
But by the way... Yeah, the other option is nobody buys those 500 tickets and that person, that company, whatever it is, is now out that cash because they don't get all of their tickets sold. Which, by the way, is a risk that they have depending upon... The concert and how things go and so on, they very well may not make all of that back. It depends on how popular that concert becomes. Typically, those guys do well because they know the ones that are going to be successful. But let's say that there's a situation where all of a sudden a singer makes a big stumble and something happens and all of a sudden the popularity just plummets. Well, now that guy's sitting on 500 tickets he can't get rid of.
SPEAKER 04 :
True, very true, very true. Boy, where in the world does the time go? Listen, folks, we want you to support our sponsors of this podcast. Please support SunPowerLED. Please support Preborn. If you haven't given to Preborn yet or maybe in a while, do it now. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Preborn, and you can give right there. Remember, you're paying for ultrasound images so that babies' lives can be saved. Moms choose life when they see a picture of their baby. We've got to show them the pictures of those babies, though, so... $28 is the average ultrasound expense to stop one abortion, to save one baby's life. How many babies' lives will you save? Take $28 times, fill in the blank. And that's your legacy of the amount of abortions that you stopped. And if you can buy an ultrasound machine, do that. They're 15 grand a piece. You have a nice tax write-off for yourself. But then you get to go to bed every night thinking about the thousands and thousands of abortions that you're stopping with that ultrasound machine. Either way, anything you give to Preborn, 100% goes to the ultrasounds, not a penny for overhead. That's all covered by private donors. So here's how you give. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net. Click on Preborn. And if you want to give over the phone, call 833-850-BABY. They answer the phones 24-7, 833-850-BABY. Just mention National Crawford Roundtable when you call. And support Preborn. Support SunPowerLED, especially when you think about what they can do to help you. I mean, Neil, they do help a lot of people.
SPEAKER 03 :
A lot of people. And the number's growing. And by the way, there are videos that you can watch if you go to SunPowerLED. CrawfordMediaGroup.net, then click on the SunPowerLED button. There's all kinds of information there about how this works. And every Tuesday night, they do a free webinar. that you can participate in from anywhere you can get on the internet and ask any questions you want about how light therapy and photobiomodulation work but i actually watched a video just yesterday of a young man a young adult who is struggling with severe autism and he looked to be somewhat non-verbal and the implication was in looking at this video that he struggles with social you know involvement and awareness uh but he sat underneath the um the head unit that uh that you know covers the head And he went through a light therapy session and he began to get much more relaxed, much more willing to address the people around him, to have a human connection with other people. It was fascinating to watch. Now, I don't know where all that's going, but I mean, they've seen positive results on things like epilepsy and seizures. tinnitus, back pain, neck pain, all kinds of things that are being treated, and I suggest you check it out. Go to CrawfordMediaGroup.net, click on Sun Power LED, and see how the very light God himself created can be used to reduce pain and swelling and promote healing in the human body. Last thing, John, were you able to get those Taylor Swift tickets, or were they too expensive?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, actually it was, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great concert.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Excellent. That's very good.
SPEAKER 04 :
And it was worth every penny of the $7,000 per ticket you paid, right?
SPEAKER 01 :
That's right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, look, I would have offered you a cheaper price, but I had other people offering to pay me the same thing. So, John, I don't know what to tell you. There we go. All right. We appreciate you, folks. We appreciate your five-star reviews wherever you listen to the National Crawford Roundtable podcast. Thank you so much. And John Rush, Rush to Reason out of Denver, Colorado. Neil Boron, Neil Boron Live. Or as Neil feels like sometimes a podcast should be called, Boron and the Morons. So I know we don't always agree with you, Neil.
SPEAKER 01 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 04 :
What can we say? Myself, Bob Moronduko out of Detroit. Guys, great talking with you and catching up. Looking forward to next week. Have a great week. Likewise. You bet. You too. We'll see everybody. Thanks for listening. God bless.
SPEAKER 02 :
You've been listening to the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast. A view of today's culture through a biblical lens. Brought to you by Preborn, saving babies and souls. Join us in the fight to save babies from abortion. Your gift provides a free ultrasound for a mother in need. 80% of the time she will choose life. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on their logo to donate. And by SunPower LED light therapy devices. Bring light to your pain. Visit CrawfordMediaGroup.net and click on the SunPower LED logo to get out of pain and improve your overall wellness. You can download this podcast from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and more from your local Crawford Media Group stations website or at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. And please give this podcast a five-star rating on your Apple app. Look for the notification on your app for when the next weekly edition of the National Crawford Roundtable Podcast is ready for you to download. This is a Crawford Media Group production.
Join Mike and Mark on a journey through today's political turbulence, starting with a celebration of Marvin Gaye's legacy and segueing into the heated political arena. From discussions about the significance of voter ID in Wisconsin to the economic strategies deployed by Elon Musk, this episode unpacks how seemingly disparate topics thread together in the broader political narrative. As the hosts dive into proxy voting debates and social media influencers' roles, they provide an engaging analysis that challenges prevailing assumptions about governance and activism.
SPEAKER 03 :
Mike Gallagher. Every day, Mike visits with Mark Davis, morning host on 660 AM, The Answer in Dallas. Here's today's Eminem experience.
SPEAKER 05 :
He met an untimely demise, didn't he? That he did in 1984, shot by his dad. But hey, let's not dwell on that. It is Marvin Gaye's birthday. He would have been 86 today. Oh, boy. But speaking of, you know, this is not a good— Happy Liberation Day.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know. Happy Liberation Day. Well, it's going to be a big day. I mean, but of course, we're—I'm with you. I'm glad April 1st came and went. I mean, and on top of everything else that happened last night with Wisconsin, and I know we want to kind of break all that down, Val Kilmer dies at 65. I know. He's got to die at 65. This is not a good day to tell you. He can't die at 70. No. Uh-huh.
SPEAKER 1 :
90.
SPEAKER 04 :
No. 90, 88, I'd have taken 93. Heck, I would have taken 71. He's got to die at 65. Five days before you turn 65. Right on the eve of my 65th birthday. So, wow, what a crapping day yesterday. Although, you know, there were a lot of bright spots as well. Say what you will about the Wisconsin electorate. At least they got voter ID right. Very important. That is correct. Very important.
SPEAKER 05 :
Did you hear that? Were we talking about this or was it somebody else? Where it was like, hey, the voter ID measure passed and we saw that as a possible positive harbinger. It's like, hey, maybe that means the Republicans have really shown up and that the Republican is going to win. No, you know what it's proof of? Even Democrats have clarity on that. There are tons of people who voted for this Susan Crawford person but wanted voter ID also.
SPEAKER 04 :
Let's talk about Susan Crawford. I was listening to her acceptance speech on your show driving over the Howard Franklin Bridge. Wow. Chills. This is a stone-cold activist. Yep. To talk that way as a Supreme Court justice. Yeah. sounding almost like Spartacus on the Senate floor yesterday.
SPEAKER 05 :
Against the hate and the darkness.
SPEAKER 04 :
We've got to go against the prevailing winds. Well, it's the playbook. I mean, look, the Democrats right now, and we can't look. We've got to dust ourselves off. I was praying that there would be a miracle and that Brad Schimel would win. It wasn't particularly close. I saw little old ladies tell CNN, well, I voted for Trump, but I'm worried about abortion rights. Here we go again. And the Democrats, as we always knew they would, putting abortion front and center, scaring little old ladies into thinking that Brad Schimel wants to take their 72-year-old bodies right away from the right to choose. Lady, you don't have to worry about it. You know, you're fine. You know, just calm down, Gertrude. You're not going to lose your right to an abortion, Grandma. But, you know, okay, so that's the game they're going to play. And they need judges desperately. Mark, think about this. If the scenario, the doomsday scenario is true, and I would maintain it's not necessarily true. We don't know about the redistricting in a year or two. We don't know for sure that they're going to take control of the House of Representatives. A lot can happen in the next year or two. So don't panic. Don't despair. But they do need judges to try to run the country. That's all they got.
SPEAKER 05 :
Because they don't have the voters on their side in many cases.
SPEAKER 04 :
They don't have the electorate. Their ideas are horrible. Their ideas, their policies stink. Americans are saying no to their policies. They're being rejected. You see the last popularity rate? 21%. I got a real kick out of all these Democrats spiking the football last night on social media over the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. They love us now. Yeah, you're a party that is, as John Kennedy put it, a little bit less popular than chlamydia. So just calm down. But they know that to weaponize a branch of government, to force your will upon the people, is the only thing they got. That's all they got. And honestly, I'm so glad you played that Susan Crawford acceptance speech because it does reinforce the strategy. She doesn't even hide it, Mark. No. You know, she's like you said earlier, she sounds like a politician on the stump. We've got to stand up against the darkness of Trump and Trumpers and the Trump movement. This is all they. So, by the way, Wisconsin. Have at it. Sanctuary cities galore. Crime. I mean, you should see her rulings about really bad people. So, look, you got what you got. And Republicans didn't show up like we thought they would.
SPEAKER 05 :
Did you buy my theory that elections are reactive, that one of the reasons Trump won is it was a pendulum swing away from Biden, away from Harris? I was like, ugh, enough of that. Let's try something else. Now in the early months of Trump with so much success, so much energy, so many things that are liberal defeats, it really pumped some activism. I just think that Democrat turnout, we were beaten in the – all elections are a turnout election, but we were really beaten in a – It's probably a 50-50 state. Their energy was more because they've seen what's going on with Trump. Republicans have seen the Trump opening couple of months have gone, wow, this is really cool. Time to get back to work. Leftists see the Trump stuff and go, ah, we must take to the streets.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I loved what you read from Charlie. Charlie Kirk, who is emerging as one of the most popular, vibrant, vital voices in America. And we're so proud to have him on the Salem team today. And this young man is just doing wonders. And look, Turning Point USA was on the ground in Wisconsin. A lot of good people left it all out on the field last night in Wisconsin. But Charlie said, we're the party of welders, waiters, and plumbers. They're the party that lives for politics. They live for this. This is their religion. And we do have to acknowledge that Trump... has resurrected a dead GOP. I mean, everybody's agreeing that without Trump on the ballot, Republicans go to my job and I'll do my thing.
SPEAKER 05 :
With him on the ballot, it was barely a 1% win over Kamala. I mean, it was one of the swing states that he won, but it was 1%.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, Wisconsin is truly one of those real purple, purple states. They're down the middle. You've got Madison.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 01 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Milwaukee got big, got big liberal strongholds. So look, we got to learn from this. And I think Charlie's right. Let this be a wake up call. And look, I don't mind. I really, this is weird of me. I was thinking this last night when I went to bed. The other side, our loyal opposition, has had nothing to cheer about since November 5th. Nothing. So now they do. Now they're excited. Maybe this will restore a little bit of normalcy to people who are keying Teslas and lighting Molotov cocktails. Silly, silly boy. I know, but let me... But I'm thinking that there are people who have been so agitated, maybe this will ramp down the temperature a little bit. Not at all. Not at all? You don't think so? Not at all. Not a chance?
SPEAKER 05 :
Among reasonable people using earth logic, people who are just more liberal than we are, sort of center left, they may think, okay, they may have a moment of breathing easier. But if you've got the mindset, if you have the twisted soul to key a swastika into a Tesla... You don't become better overnight because of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, and I'm not talking necessarily about the actual vandals, but people who are watching this who think that Elon Musk is the boogeyman. Look, you've got to hand it to the left and their playbook. They have pretty successfully vilified Elon Musk, and he incidentally embraces it. Do you ever notice how he always wears black and the black hat and the black coat and the black shirt? He does that. He thinks he's like a Batman villain or something. Dark MAGA. Yeah, and that's okay. I mean, look, we got a lot of interesting characters. Hey, did you catch him? Did you catch him in the beginning of the five? I did. I saw that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Of course, as they call it in Central Time, the four. So it's four o'clock. Lisa and I are sitting down and firing up some Fox News. And there's Judge Jeanine saying, hey, joining us now, Elon Musk. I said, whoa, what?
SPEAKER 04 :
I know.
SPEAKER 05 :
And they go around the horn, Jesse and Greg and even Jessica Tarloff had to badger him about the doge cuts. Boom. This is the charm of the show. Good. And he took it with grace and goodwill. I'm going to play some of that in a bit. But it was just a really good sit down as the round table on the five peppered Elon with some questions on the floor.
SPEAKER 04 :
He had a really profound bit of advice. One of them asked him, you know, what's advice for young people? He said, you look at fear, you stare fear, and it goes away. Stare it right in the face. You got to conquer your fears. And I love that. I think that's so very important because too many people right now are wallowing in fear.
SPEAKER 05 :
Especially these days, we're growing young people who have no coping skills and no ability to get up and dust themselves off and go, that hurt. Let me get better. Let me get stronger. And my brand new Star-Telegram and across the country in the McClatchy chain, a newspaper column, is about that Walter Isaacson biography of Elon that I just finished shows to write a column about it. This is him. He goes after whether it's rockets, whether it's cars or robots or SpaceX or whatever. He just says, I'm going to try 100 things. 30 of them may fail. 50 of them may fail. But I just had 50 successes, if that's the case. Correct. And this is what he does. And it's inspiring.
SPEAKER 04 :
And, you know, Scott Jennings last night on CNN made a really compelling argument against this narrative that Elon went there to Wisconsin and threw around the money and everything and he hurt the campaign. Scott said, look, it's not really a secret in Republican circles that Brad Schimel's campaign was fairly floundering. Until Elon went in there and injected a lot of money, a lot of attention. So, I mean, that's okay. Let him do the Elon is the boogeyman narrative. And like you always say, let's let the game come to us. Unfortunately, the game came to us last night on that side. But we did not prevail. Incidentally, speaking of dysfunction... So Anna Polina Luna here in Florida leads a revolt of nine Republicans who voted with the Republicans to table a procedure that would have allowed the House to vote against activist judges. And because they want to work from home. You see, Anna Polina Luna is a new mom.
SPEAKER 05 :
It's not just wanting to work. I mean, it's.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, it is. Vote for proxy vote. It's working from home.
SPEAKER 05 :
It's her brand new baby. She wants the ability for 12 weeks to be able to vote for proxy vote. However, she's 100% wrong. We cannot do that.
SPEAKER 04 :
She's dead wrong. And these nine Republicans are getting a... ton of flack as they should here we go again with the circular firing squad we never we just snatch defeat right out of the jaws of victory every time it makes me nuts Chris DeGaulle earlier this morning had one of the funniest I had a spit take when I was brushing my teeth he played a clip of Amy Klobuchar who was congratulating Spartacus on that stupid 25 hour stunt I don't know what that did by the way do you?
SPEAKER 05 :
What was the point? As if it's one of these singular moments of legislative courage. All the guy did was prattle and spout for 25 hours to sound and fury signifying nothing.
SPEAKER 04 :
By the way, how do you go 25 hours without going to the bathroom?
SPEAKER 05 :
There's an answer to that. Because I thought, because if you're doing the real filibuster, you can't leave, you can't eat, you can't do anything. He didn't leave. He went on a sizable fast. He might be kind of semi-dehydrated. It's like, whatever, dude. Oh, and did you catch one of the fangirls? Lisa Murkowski? Exactly. Alaska Republican, air quotes. Lisa Murkowski, you may agree or disagree, but I don't know what the word she was. It's courage and resilience.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is Mr. Smith goes to Washington. Lisa Murzkowski is a disgrace. That woman, she just ought to change party affiliation. Just go ahead and get it over with. Just be who you are.
SPEAKER 05 :
You're a Democrat. You're right on these Republicans. They bought into the Anna Paulina Luna. And who's the other one? Brittany, I forget the young lady from Colorado.
SPEAKER 04 :
But there were nine of them.
SPEAKER 05 :
Brand new baby. But they went along with this. Oh, it's it's anti motherhood. It's we're supposed to be pro family. We are pro family. We salute all motherhood. But but, you know, because you got a baby. Can you flout the Constitution and our system of laws and representative democracy? But more. No.
SPEAKER 04 :
But Mark, what's with some of these social media influencers, the real sharp elbowed, I think maybe Posobiec or others are saying, oh, pay attention to those who are critical of these brave nine Republicans. I don't really get it. I think they're people that are, I think they're anti-Mike Johnson, right? That must be their, and they want him to look bad. Well, good. Which I don't understand.
SPEAKER 05 :
understand that either. Mike Johnson is about 90% awesome.
SPEAKER 04 :
Kevin McCarthy was 80% awesome. Keep bagging on Mike Johnson. Let's have House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. Knock yourself out, dummies.
SPEAKER 05 :
If people just listen to us, everything might be fine.
SPEAKER 04 :
I know. We'd be okay. Just the world would be a lot better. All right. Hang in there. We made it past the first.
SPEAKER 05 :
Onward and upward. Happy Wednesday. Love you. We are ready. Mike Gallagher is set to go as soon as we're done at 10, 660 a.m.
SPEAKER 03 :
For full shows live and on demand, it's Salem News Channel. Download the podcast and hear all of Mike and Mark's conversations at MikeOnline.com for the M&M experience.
Join us as we delve into President Trump's declaration of 'Liberation Day,' marking a pivotal moment in U.S. economic policy. With three key tariff options on the table, we break down each strategy's potential impact on international trade and domestic manufacturing. Accompanied by insights from guest experts, this episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the administration's approach to balancing international trade relations. The discussion also touches on the broader implications of these tariffs, such as their effect on American consumers and industries. We consider the historical context of tariffs in U.S. policy while examining contemporary responses from global partners like Israel and India. Tune in to explore how these decisions might reshape the economic landscape and what they mean for your everyday life.
SPEAKER 10 :
Trump declares it Liberation Day as he prepares to announce the tariff plans.
SPEAKER 12 :
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 10 :
Welcome to Sekulow. And according to President Trump, it's Liberation Day. And that means the tariffs are going in place. Now, what's very interesting, Will, and Will Haynes is joining us. By the way, we've got a packed show. CeCe Heil is joining us. Harry Hutchinson is joining us. So stay tuned for all of that. President Trump has declared this Liberation Day. Now, what it means, in typical Trump fashion, we don't really know. There is not a definitive plan. There is three options. that are on the table. So we will have a bit of a cup and ball game. It's almost like the selection draft. It's like I've decided to go to which college. Oh, oh, oh, Auburn. Put on that hat. So we've got three hat options. That's right. Three hat options that are different ways tariffs could apply. You have an option where it's everyone's tariffed. You got some that are selective tariffs.
SPEAKER 11 :
And then you got, what's the third one? That's right. So this is at this event that he's having in the Rose Garden called? Tariff Tuesday.
SPEAKER 10 :
No, not Tariff Tuesday. It's Wednesday.
SPEAKER 11 :
So that would be an April Fool's joke maybe. But this is Make America Wealthy Again event. And here are the three options. It is a 20% universal tariff on virtually any import. So anything coming from another country in the United States, 20% tariff on it. There is a second plan, which is a reciprocal plan, which is more targeted at the countries that have high tariffs on us. And so there are varying options. percentages levied on those nations based off of reciprocity. And then this third one, which actually was brought to him last night. So this is like an 11th hour potential new plan of which he said he is mulling over is that there is an across the board tariff on a subset of nations. So it's almost a hybrid plan. between 20% on every one or varying. It's kind of that subset that have the high tariffs, but it's a flat fee for that subset. So it's interesting. We won't know until 4 o'clock Eastern which one he chooses, but there are three different options out there right now.
SPEAKER 10 :
I think this came up in the meeting with Kid Rock, this third idea. He was having dinner with Kid Rock and with Bill Maher, and they were like, you know, Bob, what do you think about the tariffs? And he was like, I got an option. I got a third plan. I got a third option you haven't even thought about.
SPEAKER 11 :
we call it the cowboy plan i mean they say it was brought to him by trade officials but i don't know that term could be you know generally used uh kid rock could be a trade official under certain circumstances maybe i mean he does international shows international uh hits i don't i mean i'm sure he has at some point yeah right maybe we could look at that information is readily available i was watching sky news and they were talking about kid rock and they weren't that's an american rapper kid rock so i mean i think they had to give you who he is yeah
SPEAKER 10 :
But, all right, hey, phone lines are open for you, and you may have seen the headline, if you're watching on YouTube or Rumble, that was Press Secretary Leavitt saying, hey, it is going to work. Can we tell them what that was about, Will?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, so we actually have the sound from her. This is where she's pushing back against some of the people that are saying it's not going to work. Here's bite one. How long is this bite?
SPEAKER 10 :
It's about 20 seconds. Okay. Can we restart it or are we getting problems? We got some problems. All right. So let's just, we'll play it. You know what? It's called a teaser. Later on, we'll play it for you in the next segment. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. And listen, we really appreciate everyone who supported us during the March Life and Liberty Drive, so much so that we've decided, as you knew, we were a little short of our goal. We decided to extend it and extend that drive into April. Of course, I told you, you know, life was kind of what we spent March talking about. Liberty is really what we're going to be focused on right now. And there's definitely a crossover there of what that looks like. We'll be filing a lot of big lawsuits even this week right now. You may have heard about some of our cases, including an oral argument that's happening today in a major case we filed that will allow states to defund Planned Parenthood. We're going to get into that with CeCe Heil coming up. We filed in another case to defend the Trump administration's executive actions to defund that abortion giant of Planned Parenthood. And we filed a big lawsuit this week against HOA. which everyone loves their HOA, right outside our nation's capital that has banned home Bible studies. We're going to get involved in all of these. Go to ACLJ.org right now to make your donation. Your donation is doubled. You can scan that QR code right now as well. Welcome back to Seculo. Again, we're going to take your calls at 1-800-684-3110. And do we have that bite now? Are we ready? Are we set up? Okay, so let's give people, Will, a bit of a reset here so they understand what's happening today. President Trump is declaring it Liberation Day at his Make America Wealthy Again event. And tonight, we will find out what the tariff situation is going to be. Whether you like the tariffs or not, this is where the Trump administration is going. So it's going to be one of three options right now. And Carolyn Leavitt, our press secretary...
SPEAKER 11 :
said these are going to work and if you look at uh our youtube title or our rumble title you may be wondering what are we talking about here so let's set this back up that's right so this was at yesterday's press briefing and remember president trump originally wanted to do this liberation day on april 1st but i believe it was in the joint session to congress he said it'll be april 2nd because he doesn't want anyone to think that he's joking on april fool's day but But what she was talking about is there's obviously a lot of chatter about this. There's a lot of economic experts and faux economic experts on platforms like X that are saying, this is why it'll work, this is why it won't work, et cetera.
SPEAKER 12 :
You called me a faux economic expert?
SPEAKER 11 :
I see your posts. I see your posts about the economy.
SPEAKER 10 :
I don't think you know much. I don't know. I mean, I try. Right. People say the market is up, and I go, that's good. People say the market is down. I go, that sounds bad.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what we've got here is her explaining about these tariffs and what is going to be coming today and how they'll be implemented. Let's go and play bite one.
SPEAKER 02 :
They will be effective immediately. And the president has been teasing this for quite some time. They're not going to be wrong. It is going to work. And the president has a brilliant team of advisors who have been studying these issues for decades. And we are focused on restoring the golden age of America and making America manufacturing superpower.
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, that part is exciting that maybe this could push America back into getting stuff made here, actually, because I don't know if you've tried and I have tried for different businesses to have products produced in the States. It's very difficult. It's not only difficult financially. Sometimes you just can't physically do it. They don't. There is not the factory that can develop the product you're looking for. And of course, you go to China. And there's 4,000 factories ready to go, ready to create whatever you want. We'll operate on the highest level of customer service, if you will, where in America, I remember we tried to get something done. It was the factory that could do it kind of like brushed us off. We barely would have the conversation, not worth their time, or they want to charge you something absurd. So hopefully, if there is going to be positive with these tariffs, is that it could bring manufacturing. But that's also, I mean, there are some places that it's happening already. That is pretty long-term forecasting.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, there's a lot to unpack about the whole tariff issue. I think first you have to start off, and I'd love to hear from the audience, because traditionally tariffs aren't associated with conservatism, fiscal conservatism. So what are your thoughts on this? Call us at 1-800-684-3110 and tell us what you think about even the concept of using tariffs in this way. Used to be we didn't negotiate with tariffists. Oh, that's not the right word. That's what I've heard. No. But these tariffs, what we're looking at is traditionally, you think of conservatives, people on the right, they're more for free trade. And that's nice in theory. But what we're seeing is a world where we have free trade with them. We send our products, but they put tariffs on theirs coming here. So it's not fair. It's not fair. It's not free. It's not going both ways. That's why the idea of reciprocal tariffs to, one, either try to get them, bring it down, their prices or tariffs down, or at least level the playing field on... On the other side of this is when you see kind of the gamesmanship of getting maybe things done. And with the border issue or with fentanyl trafficking, you can use this tool to try and get other policies. But then there's also the other aspect of this, which is the manufacturing part, where when – Things that we bring in aren't hit with a tariff. They remain low. So the demand for imported goods from another country, the demand here, because they're made more cheaply, is higher. But when we send our goods to another country and they put a tariff on it, that lowers the demand for American goods abroad. So it hurts our companies here that may have an international business.
SPEAKER 10 :
I mean, for China, if you want to think about it this way, the film industry in China, which is something I've worked in the film industry for the last 20 years, so I've had to deal with international sales. They actually have laws on how many productions they can import. And if the movie theater has a certain number of screens, a certain number of them have to be made in China or funded in China. That's why you see a lot of times now a random Chinese production company at the beginning of a movie because... Universal or whoever, I'm using that example, I don't know if it's Universal, will go do a deal with one of those so they can be one of those allocated Chinese films that's happening. I'm not saying that's the right thing, but they're protecting their entertainment business in a weird way. Same way that this would potentially...
SPEAKER 11 :
restart the manufacturing business well that's right because also if the demand uh dries up in some ways for bringing the the tariffed goods now into the united states if if these things we're bringing in now the price is raised because of of these tariffs then the demand for that shrinks and it creates competition here at home it creates the ability for people and yes that is a long-term Maybe there are many companies that may already have facilities. They can make these switchovers. But it does start to plant the seed of rebuilding the manufacturing base here in America.
SPEAKER 10 :
How much is this just to get people to the table, to start kind of renegotiating with different countries? Because we've already seen some countries react to this. Right. Canada. We saw Israel react to it. We've seen a lot of them start. So is this just another President Trump negotiation tactic to quickly get us on the right track by forecasting something that is seemingly, honestly, it feels not impossible to bring manufacturing back to the United States, but it does feel a long way away.
SPEAKER 11 :
I think that it is multifaceted and that there are many outcomes. And I think it may be country dependent as well many times. But using this kind of broad stroke, it's hard to pinpoint one single goal of it. But yes, you mentioned Israel announced yesterday on the eve of this that they are lifting all tariffs on U.S. products that go into Israel.
SPEAKER 10 :
So to explain that, they were tariffing. American made products that were then being imported. Because there are a lot of different things, probably food items, a lot of things that were coming in from America.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. And so when it would get there, they put a tariff on it, a tax. And once it's imported, that then goes forward. But a lot of times what it does is it causes the price to be raised on the product in the country and that lessens demand for it. But they are taking away all their tariffs on U.S. goods ahead of this, which is why you could see something like the more nuanced of reciprocal plan or even the third option where it's the subset of nations of flat fee because you're also seeing India. They're starting to claw back some of their... That's a big one. They have some of the highest tariffs on American goods across the board and some of them 150, 250 percent. And they are starting to draw that down, which will create more demand for those products as prices go down in India, which ultimately benefits American companies.
SPEAKER 10 :
And understand, President Trump has said at 4 p.m. Eastern, he's going to be announcing what this is. We may know beforehand, sometimes you find out a little bit before, of what the decision is being made, but it goes into effect according to their team immediately. So this would be something that is on the books tonight, gets to work. So the time for negotiation in that sense, the damage will have already been done, if you will. So you got to make sure that these countries can actually react, have time to react. But I think the idea of he's been pushing him for the last two months. So now, look, we're actually going to do it. There are some questions and comments coming in about the election yesterday because we talked about that. I want to go to Michael in Florida who's watching on YouTube. He wants to talk about Wisconsin. I will say in Florida, both conservatives, including our friend Jimmy Petronas, took the win. So that's good. It's good news for those. But Michael, go ahead.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I was just kind of wondering because Elon put a lot of effort as well to try and help campaign for this particular Supreme Court justice to be elected. And it went to the other... individual. And, you know, of course, Elon kind of put some pretty heavy consequences that could potentially happen if this person got elected. So I'm just kind of wondering...
SPEAKER 11 :
What happens now? Yeah, so Michael, the media tried to make it be like, oh, Elon's trying to buy this election. So Susan Crawford, who was the liberal choice there and backed by Democrats, did defeat Brad Schimel, who was the choice of conservatives. However... Wisconsin has always been... But she also had the backing of two billionaires that were funneling money. One, the Soros money was behind her, as well as Governor Pritzker from... Illinois, who is a billionaire, that famous moment at the DNC where they had someone bashing billionaires. It was Bernie Sanders, I believe. And then the next speaker was a billionaire that was a governor. He put a lot of money behind this, too. They tried to make it look like it was being bought. The bet was always going to be that she would prevail. She had a lot more money, a lot more backing, and Wisconsin's a tough state. And so it was kind of a last ditch effort to try and cause an upset. But I don't necessarily think it's an indication or a referendum on the Trump policies at this point. She was the favorite and did end up carrying the day. It's not a good thing for the people of Wisconsin if they don't want to lose representation.
SPEAKER 10 :
in the house of representatives but i don't think it's a referendum on trump hey two lines are open for you right now 1-800-684-3110 i want to hear from you i want you to get on the air because we got a lot of great content coming up including next we got cc heil joining us to talk about some new aclj work that's happening right now at the supreme court in terms of the defunding of planned parenthood we'll be right back Welcome back to Sekulow. There are a couple lines open. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. CeCe Hiles joining us, senior attorney here at the ACLJ, to discuss some of the news coming out of the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Maybe give us a bit of an update of where that stands. We've heard a lot of talk within the administration that things were starting to happen. It was starting to go. And, of course, there's always pushback. But today there is a Supreme Court hearing about that. Maybe you can give us a rundown of where we are.
SPEAKER 08 :
Sure. This Supreme Court hearing deals with Medicaid, which was a 1965 plan for federal funds to assist states in providing medical services and assistance to needy persons. So it's basically federal funding. Where we are now in South Carolina, of course, South Carolina has a right to say what their policy is when it comes to protecting human life and they are a pro-life state. And so they have determined that Planned Parenthood is not a qualified health care provider under Medicaid. So they will not reimburse any funds spent there at Planned Parenthood. And the issue is whether a state can do that. And of course, we filed an amicus brief in this case and said, of course they can. And especially after Dobbs, when Dobbs returned that question of abortion and protecting protection of life in the womb. to the states and so that's what well that's what the supreme court's going to decide today whether a state can determine who is a qualified health care provider because actually the medicaid statute doesn't give a definition for qualified and the state can determine that
SPEAKER 11 :
And Cece, I've been following this case. I also, I receive Planned Parenthood's emails to keep an eye on what's going on, and they're very concerned about this. They keep highlighting it for people that subscribe to their email lists and things of that nature about how important this is, how critical it is. In reality, because of returning it to the states, the states can decide, as you mentioned, whether or not that this is a provider in their program. They're arguing whether that this is depriving citizens of the various states their right to choose the provider of their choice. And Planned Parenthood's not a primary care doctor. We know what they do. We know their business. Even though they say abortion is a very small portion of it, They say that if they can't get this Medicaid money, they won't be able to continue to operate, but yet they won't give up maybe the portion of their business that is causing them to. In reality, This is a debate over whether or not Americans, once again, have to fund businesses or practices that perform abortions. This isn't whether or not abortion is legal or illegal in the state. It just comes down to, do the taxpayer dollars have to go to this business? They're arguing before the Supreme Court, if you have Medicaid... You have to give us money. You can't discriminate against us. Effectively, is that what they're arguing?
SPEAKER 08 :
They are. And again, like you said, they make the argument that, oh gosh, we do a lot more than abortion, which we know they do not. That has been proven over and over and over again. I think even when Obama was in a debate, he was saying about the mammograms that they provide. And that was proven absolutely that they do not provide mammograms. So when they say, you know, we do these exams and screenings again, that is a very, very, very, very small percentage of what they do. And and even according to their own numbers, those screenings that they provided have dropped 80 percent. I mean, they don't do that.
SPEAKER 10 :
They're walking in there for one reason. And maybe they are looking for options, but Planned Parenthood is there to provide that one option. And it's so much of their business. I think we've always talked about that, that sure, they could say the funding is only, it doesn't technically go to abortions, but it's like, we know how that works. We know that money goes, is reallocated and that's how they're able to do it. But you can't be And we say it's like a certain number of percentage. Abortion is only 2% of the services we offer, but it's also like 98% of the business that they end up doing. That'd be like you have a store that sells anything. Let's say it sold a gas station and you're like, well, chewing gum is only 2%. But then you looked at it and it's like, well, but all you sell is chewing gum. Very similar in that situation. I know that's a hard thing to kind of wrap your head around. It's like having one item that really is the main deal.
SPEAKER 08 :
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, the other issue in this and this is kind of a legal technical issue is, is there a private right to action to sue? And, you know, that is another thing that we cover in our brief that no, you cannot an individual cannot force what is an agreement between the federal government and the states. They cannot force that right. And again, the state has the right to determine who's a qualified health care provider and And in this case, they have determined that Planned Parenthood, who is an abortion provider, is not a qualified health care provider.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. Phone lines are open for you as well at 1-800-684-3110. We'll keep you updated on this. Look, I think that news could develop pretty fast. It's another situation where we should have some answers fairly soon about how this is all looking. And President Trump has certainly indicated that this is where he's headed in terms of defunding, at least in some ways.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and that's right, and CeCe, the Trump administration also, we had heard rumblings about this about a week or so ago, but now apparently nine Planned Parenthood state affiliates that receive money from Title X... So this is different than the Medicaid portion of the funding that they receive. This is Title 10 funding, which is family planning programs that they receive. Planned Parenthood got a notice that their funding is temporarily being withheld based off of some violations of executive orders. So they are already starting to claw back some of this money.
SPEAKER 08 :
That's right. And Title 10 does not allow for any funds to go to provide for abortions. So they do. Title 10 funding does not provide for abortions. However, it does provide for family planning. So that is how Planned Parenthood still does get some of these funds. But because their executive orders right now. that deal with diversity, equity, and inclusion, DEI, and also taxpayer subsidization of open borders, so illegal immigrants. Those two executive orders, that's what this is about because, of course, Planned Parenthood pushes DEI, and Planned Parenthood also pushes for illegals to get abortions there. And so the government has said, you are violating these two executive orders, and until you can prove that you're not, these funds are going to be withheld.
SPEAKER 10 :
All right. That hopefully gives you a good update of all that's going on. I want to hear from you. Look, in the next half hour, we will take some of your calls. If you can stay on hold, please stay on hold because we will get to you. But we do want to hitch with some really great content coming up because we're going to talk a little bit more about what President Trump is calling Liberation Day. Today, as the tariffs go into place, Harry Hutchins is going to be joining us to give us a bit more of a breakdown. how all this is going to work. Of course, there's still those three options. We're not sure which one he's going to go with, but we'll know the decision today at 4 p.m. Eastern as President Trump makes his statement from the White House at the Make America Wealthy Again event, and these tariffs will go into place immediately. So it's going to be an interesting afternoon, to say the least. We are, though, as CeCe said, taking major cases. We're getting involved heavily in what's going on, including the Supreme Court. Your support is what keeps us in the fight. We had our Life and Liberty Drive for the month of March, and we decided we're going to extend it into the month of April. We're able to continue that match because of people who said, yes, we want to continue on. Again, we were short of our goal. We want to try to make up some of that. So right now, I'm going to encourage you, especially if we lose you here at the end of this first half hour, if you've got to go do something or if you don't get us on your local station. If you don't, you should tell them that you want it. But you can easily just go to ACLJ.org, download the ACLJ app, find us on YouTube, Rumble, whatever it may be. But you can have your gift doubled today through our Life and Liberty Drive at ACLJ.org. You know we have these fights. whether that was for our fight for life and what's going on in Massachusetts. We spent a lot of time on that, but now we're moving into this month, month of April, which is our month of liberty. So we're going to be doing that all month long. Thank you again for supporting the work of the ACLJ. If you already have second half hour coming up right after this, a really short break, just a minute.
SPEAKER 12 :
Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.
SPEAKER 10 :
Welcome to Sekulow. We are talking about today being Liberation Day, as President Trump calls it, and what that means. We're going to find out a little bit later this afternoon as he decides one of the three big options for tariffs, which will go into place immediately. So we're going to keep you updated on that. We got some calls coming in about it. Let's go to D. who is an ACLJ champion, which means she gets bumped up to the front of the line, number one. So she always gets to be first because she's an ACLJ champion. That's something that gives on a monthly recurring basis. But also she's got some really great things to say. Dean Colorado, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 13 :
Hi, sir. Thank you for taking my call. Just a quick comment. I was thinking it can't be Tariff Tuesday, so I'm calling it Wealthy Wednesday. Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
That's good, D, and that is what President Trump has deemed today, which is the Make America Wealthy Again event. Some people say, hey, that's a little simplistic, but exactly. You remember it, you know what it's for, you know what it means, D, and you know what he's talking about, and that's always what President Trump does. He kind of can break it down in a way that you'll easily understand. Tariffs is something that we're all a little apprehensive on a little bit. You have a lot of industries saying this could really hurt us, but... If he's going to be this sort of America first president once again, this is where they feel like it's the best way to go. We can at least give it a chance. It's okay to have feelings one way or the other, by the way, and still support administration. So I do see a lot of people discussing that right now. But I think the proof will be in the pudding. We'll see if this actually does what we think it could.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. And America has a long history of using tariffs as a tool. There used to be no income tax in this country and the government was primarily financed through tariffs. I mean, so there's some people that may be like, yeah, maybe we should go back to that pre Woodrow Wilson and Federal Reserve and income taxes and a different type of economy. Now, whether or not that works in a global world, the way that things are connected now.
SPEAKER 10 :
I like that you're like, we need to go back to that. Pre-Woodrow Wilson era.
SPEAKER 11 :
He did a lot of things that messed up the economy.
SPEAKER 10 :
I know. It's funny to be like, you know, back when my day, Woodrow Wilson messed everything up. That's right.
SPEAKER 11 :
He died in the 20s, I think. Well, I mean, he may have led to the Great Depression because of some things he did. That being said- Makes sense why he died in the 20s. There's a lot of- Concern from, one, businesses and industries and those that have large... I would say legitimate concerns. Yes, especially the short term. Right, that's what I mean. The unexpected, a lot of businesses, especially that have international business that sell their goods abroad, they're concerned about what it looks in the short term. If demand shrinks and then they have supply that they can't move or things of that nature, or if their business dries up overseas... How do you shift if you don't have a large runway of planning? These things go into effect immediately. If it's across the board and your business deals in a country that then strikes back, then you have an issue. Or if you are a business here that uses an imported good to make your business flourish and the prices go up on that, there's a lot of unknowns about how this will play out. But I do think there is a consensus that when you've been doing something for so long and it hasn't been working and you see these trade deficits and you see the way that we are beholden to foreign nations because of the things they make for us that we could make here but don't anymore. There is a big urge within this administration with many people in this country of maybe we need to do something a little differently than we've been doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, I think that has been the MO of President Trump this administration's beginning, which is, you know what, let's try something new. We just keep going. In Washington, D.C., it's very hard to try something new. You go back to the old standards every time. But this administration's trying to mix it up. Look, we see that even what happened in Israel. There's a lot of interesting thoughts, interesting debate, interesting conversation that has come up. Doesn't mean necessarily it's how it's going to go, but the options are on the table. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. If you have a question or comment for Professor Harry Hutchinson, also coming up in the next segment, because he can give us maybe a deeper look into the tariff situation. Not that you can't, Will. I think you could do it, too. But maybe I'll ask the questions. Because I think a lot of us, look, again, as Will said, you hear tariffs, so you're not necessarily like super pumped about it. Or maybe you don't even understand it. We're going to break that down even more. 1-800-684-3110. Support the work of the ACLJ if you can right now as we relaunch our Life and Liberty Drive extended through the month of April. We'll be right back with more. Scan that QR code right now and make your donation doubled. Welcome back to Seculo. In the next segment, we are going to take as many calls as we can. So please stay on hold. If you are Ray, John, David, Roger, Kurt, stay on hold. We're going to try our best to get to as many calls as we possibly can in the next segment. Harry Hutchinson is joining us in studio right now. And I told Will during the break, I'm going to let Will and Professor Hutchinson kick this one around. Because you know what? I need to sit back and learn myself. And maybe we all will. I may have a question or comment to jump in. But if we're talking the economy, we're talking finance. Will has a degree in finance. Just want to make sure people know that. In journalism. That's true. I'm just going to give your whole CV, as they say. Well. I don't know anything in this. I mean, yeah. Yeah. You pretty much exhausted. You acted in a couple movies. Yeah. So there you go. That's Will Haynes. Go check him out on IMDb. Get that star meter up. All right. Let's talk about this. It's tariff day, liberation day, as they're calling it, which may seem a little extreme for people to be like, you know, it does sound very Bostonian. It feels very much like we're, you know, we're throwing tea in the harbor. But in some ways, metaphorically, I guess we are. Well, and Professor Hutchison, what- I wanted you to say, that's exactly right. That's exactly right, Logan.
SPEAKER 11 :
We're throwing tea in the harbor. Well, what we are looking at here is, one, the only thing we truly know is that President Trump is going to declare tariffs and they will go in effect today, according to what the White House has told us. We don't quite know what the plan is. is going to be yet. However, I see the across the board 20% or the reciprocal tariffs or the more hybrid of varying degrees on different countries. I kind of feel like the across the board 20% is the least likely option at this point because President Trump is already seeing positive moves by many nations as a response to The announcement that today is even coming. We talk about Israel repealing tariffs on U.S. goods. So is part of this gamesmanship on the president's part to get more fairness and get towards more free trade, even though using tariffs as a mechanism in the bully pulpit to do it?
SPEAKER 09 :
I think you're precisely correct. So today has been labeled Liberation Day, and arguably that means that the United States for too long has been held hostage to a free trade mantra. And many other countries have taken advantage of us in terms of industrial production, pharmaceutical production, dairy production, and you name it. So it's important to keep in mind that if you look at India, the United States has had, for instance, a trade deficit with India of 40 to 60 billion dollars. The United States has had a trade deficit of $65 billion or thereabouts with Canada. The United States has, at least according to Global Finance magazine, and I have yet to check this against a third party, The trade deficit with China has surged to $1 trillion. That is an astronomical number. If true, that means that the U.S. industry in a wide range of departments has been hollowed out and is in the process of being hollowed out. And Donald Trump is saying this is far enough. And you can go no further.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and for that, a trade deficit for you, Logan, specifically, if there's a trade deficit of a trillion dollars with China. Well, you said you needed to learn.
SPEAKER 10 :
I'm trying to help you out.
SPEAKER 11 :
I knew some of those words. That means that we are buying. We are spending money in China. a trillion dollars more than they are spending on United States goods. So therefore, we are enriching China at a trillion dollars more than they are spending on U.S. goods. That is shocking. That is a shocking figure. And even when you talk about $65 billion deficit with Canada and things of that nature, that shows why, and what President Trump talked about in the first term, that we are beholden to foreign investment, that we cannot operate without buying goods from other nations. And he has been trying in this first term, and now he feels like he really has the mandate to try and resolve this. This is one of those issues that you would think there could be some bipartisan support, and maybe it would even moderate his rhetoric about it some. If People realized, yes, we don't have a manufacturing base here. We do care about the middle class of America that built this country that has been wrecked by shipping all of the manufacturing jobs overseas. That this really could be a good thing for the American people long term to not only depend on foreign goods to make our economy work.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think that's precisely correct. And one of the things that Democrats don't seem to understand because they love billionaires is that the average American household earns about $66,000 per year. And many of these workers have been decimated by losing their jobs or alternatively, if they can find a job, only at lower wages. Also keep in mind that while we have been running these huge trade deficits, what has the Biden administration done? It has imported large numbers of low wage workers who are competing with American workers. And so most of the job growth during the Biden administration went to foreign born workers as opposed to American workers. And so it's really strange to think that it takes a billionaire in office, Donald Trump, to understand that American workers have been hurt massively over the past 15 to 20 years. it made sense to support free trade after world war ii but world war ii ended almost 80 years ago and so there are huge problems uh in terms of international trades
SPEAKER 10 :
I want to take a call during this right now, because there's a lot of calls on the tariffs. I want to make sure that we have someone like Harry in here to discuss this and give us a little bit more background on it. Let's go to John in California, who is watching on ACLJ.org. John, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 06 :
My question is, if Trump's trade issue goes the way he wants it to, what's going to prevent the Americans from escalating his prices if there's no more price war. People like me that are retired, how high is the money going to go if they don't have any competition? What's my protection?
SPEAKER 09 :
I'll let you both decide. That's a great question, but it's imperative to look back at the first Trump term. He imposed significant tariffs during his first administration, and the maximum inflation rate during Trump's first term was around 2.1%, and when he left office, it was around 1.4%. Whereas under the Biden administration, what happened to inflation? Inflation ballooned up almost to 10%. Why? Because government spending exploded under Joe Biden.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, and also to piggyback off of that, while some goods that are imported, the price could naturally go up because there's a tariff and then the individuals or really the price gets passed on to that. So when we bring something in, but there's also the converse of that where goods like dairy, a lot of necessities like poultry, things of that, that are also exported from the United States to Canada. They already have a 250% tariff on many of these things. They're charging that already, that if they raise that, that could decrease the demand in Canada for those goods, meaning that the more supply stays here, which lowers prices because there is more supply to go around. So it... They talk about the inflation. There's also a deflationary side, which for many businesses may not be helpful, but for many Americans could see a shrinking of prices. It's not a general rule. It's only inflationary. I think that's also something that should be pointed out.
SPEAKER 09 :
And just quickly, we should note that egg prices have fallen substantially in the first couple of months of the Trump administration. Gasoline prices are also down. So some prices are already beginning to fall.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, absolutely. Thank you, Professor Hutchinson, for joining us today. Again, I'm going to take your calls coming up in the next segment. I saw someone saying, hey, Logan always says... He always says the most important voice in the room is the callers, and he waits until the end. Why wait until the end? Because this is the fun part. You've now been educated for 55 minutes or 50 minutes, and now you get to speak your mind. I just got educated for the last 11, okay? We're going to learn together here, people. Give me a call, though. We've got two lines open, 1-800-684-3110. We'll try to get to you. If you call in the last second, sometimes I don't get to you. But stay on hold. Ray, Mary, Roger, Kurt, we'll make sure we get to you today. And again, support the work of the ACLJ as we have extended our life and liberty drive because people like you have said, hey, I want to continue matching these donations. So their donations are still doubled as we take on these amazing fights that are going to continue on throughout the year. We really could use your support. You need the ACLJ. You've heard about so many things. Even yesterday, you had that pastor on California who pretty much had his congregation restored because of the quick and decisive action from our ACLJ team at no cost to him, but because of people like you that support us financially. So go to ACLJ.org, scan the QR code. We'll be right back. All right, here we are. We're going to take your calls because a lot of you are calling in right now. The first one gets to go is Mary in Maryland, and that is because she's an ACLJ champion. So we have people on the hold for 40 minutes or so. Maybe you just didn't tell them. Maybe you are an ACLJ champion. Sometimes you don't tell the phone screener, and then there's no way for us to know. But Mary is, so she gets bumped to the front of the line. Mary, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you so much, and I wish I could double what I give already because you are so great. But anyway, if I remember correctly, President Trump tariffs were on food, particularly in the first term that he had. And everyone was horrified. They thought that our farmers would go broke and all this kind of stuff. And it worked out really great. So I just feel like we should have confidence that he knows what he's doing.
SPEAKER 10 :
I think there is that thought with President Trump, which is he's a businessman. He is someone who's worked in the corporate world for so many, so many years. And negotiation tactics are proven successful. He's a billionaire. We can go through all of the different things. And you go, yeah. Sometimes he's thinking outside the box. Sometimes he's doing things that don't traditionally seem conservative. But he has sort of remade what it means to be a conservative, remade what it means to be a Republican, whether you like that or not. It's just sort of the truth. And you've got to live with that. But yeah, I mean, this is not new for him to have tariffs.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. And as it played out in the first term, and they weren't necessarily as aggressive, what happened? The stock market freaked out. The media freaked out. The world is going to end. The sky is falling. And then he ended the term with the stock market reaching all-time highs until the pandemic, which shut down the entire... And the world did kind of end, Will. But that wasn't related to tariff slogan. Then you look at that... where the economy continued to grow post him announcing tariffs. And then what did the Biden administration do? They kept many of them in place. So it wasn't such a bad thing that they immediately had to get in there because they cut a lot of stuff that President Trump did in his first term in the first hundred days in 2021. One thing they didn't start removing was the tariffs, which show you that sometimes what you're hearing from the left is, from their elected officials, from the media they control. It's not always as it seems. And maybe it's not always a bad idea.
SPEAKER 10 :
I want to try to get some more calls. Go to Ray in California. Watch it on YouTube. Ray, you're up.
SPEAKER 05 :
Hi. Thank you. Yeah, we don't really even realize how deep we are for media and education. talking about terrorists, but the tips, growing up, you guys are younger, you got a glimpse of America in Trump's first term, how it was all the time. So growing up, the waitresses never got tipped. And, you know, those are elected, and even Republicans sit around like, how can we yank another piece of skin off their back? And now they get taxed whether they get tipped or not. He's resetting it. He's older, and as older people know, That's how it used to be all the time. Lower middle class. You could buy a house. No problem. You didn't worry about money. I'm in California. We got roads, asphalt paved roads turning into dirt.
SPEAKER 10 :
I was out there this past weekend and there are things happening in California that break my heart someone who loves the state uh has seen what's going on there because of some of these issues like you brought up but you do say that you know we we are younger we are are in our late 30s well i'll say it that way we're in our late 30s we have lived in a world where most things were manufactured outside of this country i always go back to you know we are i was born 1985 the year back to the future came out there's that famous line their famous line where he goes of course it's bad it's made in japan and marty mcfly responds with all the best things are made in japan Because in 1955, that was a very different world. That's usually where my mind always goes to. Back to the Future in general. I think about the trilogy all the time. It's your Roman Empire. It really is. The third one's underrated. People always go to the second Back to the Future. The third one, perfect bookend. All right, let's continue on. Ray, thank you for your call. And I want to make sure I get to somebody who's been a hold for a long time. Kurt in Minnesota. Serious XM listener, you're on the air.
SPEAKER 14 :
Thank you for taking my call. My question has to do with the condom manufactured in the United States, but assembled in a different country. Is there any graduated tariff, or is this just going to be where it's made?
SPEAKER 11 :
I would just say I don't think, one, we know specifically the final outcome yet. But typically, if it's an across-the-board tariff, if something is – once again, when we say that we are announcing tariffs, these are when we import something into the United States. So if parts are made in the United States and assembled in a foreign country, they would be imposing tariffs on the U.S. goods. So this would more be if we are buying parts from a foreign country and then assembling it here. So it's kind of the opposite of what you're asking. But I think what you're saying, what you're seeing, though, is many countries like Hyundai and things that are starting to open more manufacturing here because they are a foreign country. But then the good and the service and the product is all being conducted here. They avoid the tariff that way.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, there you go. All right. Roger is calling in Oregon on line five. You're on the air, Roger.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, thank you for taking my call. The news media is controlling and setting the narrative regarding tariffs and Doge. The lies in this information, especially about Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, are going largely unchallenged or when there is a response. The response is weak. The media machine is on the offensive. So the Republican Party needs to go on the offense. They need to produce ads across the country clearly showing the tariffs imposed by other countries, how those countries are benefiting the costs to the U.S., and why the U.S. is imposing tariffs to address this longstanding problem. Yeah.
SPEAKER 10 :
And I hate to cut you off. We're just running out of time. I look forward to watching President Trump's four o'clock address because I think that he can do a good job at communicating of why this is a positive because you're right. The media is going to spin it as a negative. Now, I can tell you I've overheard. I've talked to people. I've conversations where everyone is kind of, you know, for the Doge side. They're all like, well, none of us really want government waste. But of course, they have to play some sort of media game. But I understand what you mean, Roger. I don't know if they should be taking out ads. I also think the influence of mainstream media has taken a huge hit. So where you may be seeing it that way, the audience may not be. But Roger, I appreciate you calling in. It was a really good question. Maybe there are ways. I think President Trump will be able to explain it a little bit better. Let's go very quickly to Dan, who's watching on the Salem News Channel. Dan, we're running out of time, but go ahead.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, I just wanted to say that, you know, during Trump's first term, there was jobs created and nobody could find help. Wages were going up.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, man, it was stinging like a jellyfish for a lot of people there. It's what was happening, Dan. I appreciate you calling in. I hate to cut you off, but we are just running out of time. But that is the truth. People were going through a lot right then. And I think we had then four years of a global mental reset where you kind of forgot what the first Trump administration, especially in the pre-COVID world, what that looked like.
SPEAKER 11 :
That's right. And as Dan was saying, the wages were going up, jobs were being created, the inflation was in the targeted inflation index, and then everything was reset and topsy-turvy. But it's almost as if the Democrats got away with trying to say, oh, that's all Trump's fault, even though it was not.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yep, absolutely. All right, we're going to wrap up today's show. I appreciate all of you for listening. And hey, look, some people have commented about Val Kilmer, of course, incredible American actor, Val Kilmer. Someone who, you know, is your favorite Batman? Yeah, up there. Yeah? Up there. Pretty good guy? I like Michael Keaton, too. I like the Val Kilmer Batman. I like the Chris O'Donnell Robin, though. That's my favorite. It's a cool suit that he had there. All right. That's going to do it for today's show. I appreciate all of you for listening, all of you for watching. We have extended our Life and Liberty Drive, so if you want to support the work of the ACLJ, the donations are still doubled right now. Again, throw that QR code up on the screen. It's not that I don't want you to see my pretty face. Of course I do. But I need you to scan the QR code so you can donate and have your gifts doubled right now at aclj.org slash lifeandliberty if you're just listening. But if you are watching, real easy, pull out your phone, take a picture. That QR code will take you right to the link. Of course, you can do that on the ACLJ app as well.
This episode features an enlightening conversation with Aaron Rios, an author and pastor passionate about reclaiming genuine worship. Delve into the overarching themes of his book Spirit and Truth, exploring what it means to truly connect with faith beyond the performance aspect of worship music. Gain insights into Aaron's unexpected journey from Florida to Massachusetts, a testament of faith-driven decisions and finding one's path in ministry.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to The Good News with Angie Austin. Now, with The Good News, here's Angie.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, friend. This is Angie Austin and Rachel Maines. Rachel has joined me over the years numerous times on the program. She was a Good News girl, and now she runs one of our stations, KLTT. Welcome, Rachel.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hey, Angie, good to be with you.
SPEAKER 06 :
You know, I know a lot about your testimony from our years and years of friendship working in TV news together. You were my floor director and we were prayer partners before I would do the morning show. I did weather and then later on anchored. And you and I were friends the whole time that we worked together. And I also work with you, obviously, in radio. So that's been really a blessing as well. And now you're running KLTT. But I thought, you know what? I'd love to hear your testimony because we bonded over some similarities we had in our background. So does that sound comfortable to you since you're, you know, running the show now over there to share some of your story?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, thanks, Angie, and thanks for asking me to share my testimony. I know that for sure the Lord connected both you and I, and he planned for us to be lifelong friends. And I just consider you a sister as well. You're like family. But it was so interesting how when I got to learn your life story and my life story, one of the things that was similar is, well, my brother, you know, he got murdered. And so we could bond over that. Now, my brother was an amazing man. He had a young age, a successful company with my dad. However, there's addiction in the family. I'm thankful I never had that. I'm just thankful I don't understand why. But a lot of my family members had to really battle addiction, and my brother was one of those. You know, it's interesting.
SPEAKER 06 :
Not many people bond over a brother being murdered. That's a very rare thing. And your mom, I knew, suffered. dealt with alcoholism throughout, you know, your childhood. And my father did. And I was estranged from him for like 35 years at redheads. You know, you're a redhead. Your brother's a redhead. Your mom's a redhead. Your mom looked exactly like you. She was so beautiful. And I had red hair in my family. It was just little things like we both went to University of Colorado. We both worked in TV news. We both lost a brother. We had difficult childhoods. I mean, it was just a lot. And we loved the Lord. So sisters in Christ as well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I know, and how special and precious. In the Bible it says that the Lord directs our steps, and never would I have imagined a special friend like you in my life, but I'm so thankful that the Lord had planned that out. And I didn't think going into news I would necessarily meet strong Christians, and I was very thankful that there you and I got to bond with our faith and Even pray, which was a surprise to me, too, that we were able to pray in news, which is very special.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, right before the show. I don't know if anyone's familiar with morning TV, but we'd get up at 245 in the morning, and every second is precious because you want to sleep in every extra minute you can. And so you are racing to get your makeup done. You're racing to get dressed, to brush your teeth. I'd even wash my hair in the sink a lot because I wanted my hair to look really fresh and nice. So if I washed it the day before, I'd still want to wash it in the sink. And it was like it was like the Indy 500 to get ready for the show. But you and I would always take a few minutes right before the show to pray in the makeup room.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, I know. And that is so funny in news. I mean, if we had like a three minute break, I was like, wow, you know, what am I going to do? Three minutes. Right. Exactly. Commercial break. Yes. It's like, let's relax, you know. And but yeah. Yeah. So special. And just the similarities as well. And, you know, my mom has since passed and went home to be with the Lord. And she did accept Christ. But yeah, my childhood was a unique one, which now I look back and I'm like, Lord, thank you. You really blessed it in many, many ways. I was raised by my dad and stepmom, and the foundation of my faith came through my dad. My dad is just everything to me. I'm very close to him today. I'm so thankful, and we can bond over our faith and talk about things. I'm very thankful for my dad. He's just a solid rock. And then my mom remarried, and so I had a stepdad. So I had two families, essentially. And what was interesting is so different. So I got to be exposed as a kid to different lifestyles, different mindsets, a lot of different personalities. When I visit my mom, and I want to interject here, I was thankful to have traveled. My mom and stepdad lived in Bolivia. And there they had maids and chauffeurs. So when we went, me and my brother, it was like a whole different kind of lifestyle at a young age to kind of learn, you know, about the culture. And I got to see poverty, you know, firsthand with one day my brother and I, we were young, you know, we wanted to walk the maid home. We wanted to be friends with her. And she was kind of hesitant. We couldn't understand why. We didn't realize until we got to her place that we didn't even think that she may have been embarrassed for us to see where she lived. So just these kind of experiences were just amazing. My mom and stepdad lived in Australia as well, so when I was in high school I'd visit. So I was thankful for the travel and just to be around and exposed to different environments. And then very thankful that I had a solid faith and foundation with my dad and stepmom. So... Uh, but with the addiction stuff, yeah, I was kind of, I was the youngest and typically as the youngest, um, you wouldn't have the dynamic, but for whatever reason, as a little kid, I, uh, became rescuer. I guess I put it upon myself that I'm, I'm going to rescue people. So that would look, look like rescuing my mom, you know, maybe if I was with her and she was drinking, I'd want to, you know, kind of be the mom, if you will, emotionally. So, um, Just an interesting dynamic for sure. And now, though, the Lord can use, I can see, looking back in the past, the Lord can use things for our good. Every experience, if we give it to Him, we can see that, wow, Lord, you know, even though that was rough, you used that for my good now. And one of the things I want to explain with that is, you know, my parents got divorced. And, you know, divorce isn't a good thing. I know that the Lord wants families to stay together. But in my situation, I look back and like, you know, I'm so thankful I got to know a stepdad. And now I have my stepmom. She's just the dearest, sweetest friend to me. And I couldn't imagine my life without these people in my lives and imagine my life different without these amazing experiences. Because now as an adult, having been exposed as a kid to so many different situations, I feel like I'm better prepped to meet different people and different perspectives, even within my faith, which served me well at CU Boulder. And Angie, I know you went there as well. And, you know, it's just to be able to learn and glean from people of different belief systems, yet still hold strong in your faith, I think is priceless.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, when exactly can you talk a little bit about how you became a Christian and the time surrounding that and your experience with that?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so I became a believer at a young age. I grew up in a Lutheran church, and I went through, you know, the, what do you call it, confirmation. And so I was kind of a unique bird at a young age, kind of stronger, I guess, maybe not, I shouldn't say stronger, but my faith was really important to me as a young age. So I think that also probably played into my rescue role, if you will. I mean, I had the Lord with me. He was helping me, you know, with things. And maybe I just wanted to then, you know, show other people, my family members and our friends, you know, the amazingness of having Jesus walk with you. So at a young age, I would talk to my friends in middle school, you know, about the Lord. And we had deep conversations. I remember as a little kid, I'm like, wow, I look back and like, wow, that was a really deep conversation for a little kid there. But, um, yeah. So, and then, you know, just being able to have a dad where we could talk about, you know, our faith and science and how science fits in and, um, just kind of get really theological, uh, we had theological talks about, you know, deep things, so that when I went to CU Boulder, I was grounded enough to even sometimes, you know, challenge my professors, you know, hey, you know, let's talk about this, and, you know, I had one professor at the end of it, I said, so you don't really know? And she goes, no, I don't know. Wow. Yeah, so I was just kind of... a unique bird in that, you know, sense that, um, I was strong in my faith in college. I had an atheist, one of my best friends, Travis in college, he was an atheist and we'd talk about, um, things and, and, uh, you know, I, to this day, he's still an atheist, but, um, I, I, we came to an understanding that even though we think differently, um, we can still be friends and still, you know, love each other. So, um, Yeah, I think we should share our faith. I think sometimes out of our insecurities, we don't want to be friends or stay friends with people who think differently. But I think if we're solid in what we believe, we can then be that solid friend or solid family member and always be there for somebody. They know how we believe. And I do have friends call me from time to time who think or believe differently, but sometimes they reach out because they... They know that my faith is my solid foundation.
SPEAKER 06 :
Exactly. Yeah, and I've always appreciated, like, you're not timid about your faith. You're not secretive about your faith. I would venture to say that for a quiet-ish person, you're not an out there, like, really loud, I want to be the center of attention kind of person person. You are very gregarious, but you're not, you know, like the main center of attention kind of person. With that said, you are not shy about your faith. And so I believe that you're outspoken about that. And I always admire, too, like if people were... gossiping at work or you know something you'd say well i really don't want to you know talk about anybody that makes me feel uncomfortable that's not really it's against my values or that's not something i like to do and so you had no qualms with disagreeing with the surroundings because i found there was a lot of gossip in news probably in any office and uh and if you're standing there listening, they assume you agree with them. And so you'd get this person that'd be like the cancer of the newsroom that want to talk about everybody. And they'd just be like, oh, well, I was talking to Angie and Rachel and we were saying, no, you were saying, but we get lumped in there and we're considered gossips if we're just standing there. So you're really one of the only people I've ever worked with that's just outright said, I don't feel comfortable, you know, gossiping about people.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, well, you know, and I don't even remember saying that, Angie, but thanks for... for bringing that up. I know it's been a pet peeve of mine, gossip. And I always thought, you know, if you're going to be around a friend who gossips about other, well, definitely they're gossiping about you too.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right. Well, you'll join me again and we'll talk more about your testimony and just your experience. I'd love to hear about your career path that I know you love running the station. And Matt was in the position that you're in now running KLTT for many, many years as the station manager of KLTT. And, wow, I mean, it's, I'm sure, been a lot for you to take in over, you know, the last six months or so. I know, you know, you sing and you are very talented and you have your own show. So how do people find you?
SPEAKER 04 :
If they want to reach out, you can go to just RachelMains.com, RachelMains.com. I also have a radio show, CornerCafeRadio.com.
SPEAKER 06 :
And tell us when we can hear your radio show and are the podcasts up as well?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, so they can tune in on KLTT Saturdays at 5 p.m. And then Angie, a friend of ours, is Biff Gore, and he just now started his own radio show at 5.30 on KLTT.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, so he'll be following you.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, so tune in to the 5 p.m. hour on KLTT.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah, he's such a great singer. I'd love to hear him as well. Thank you, Rachel. I'll talk to you soon. Appreciate you. Thanks, Angie.
SPEAKER 02 :
Love you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Love you. Bye. Bye.
SPEAKER 02 :
It's that time of year to start cleaning out your closets, basement, and garage by donating to Arc Thrift. With 34 thrift stores and 15 donation centers across the Front Range, you have almost 50 different locations to donate your gently used clothing and items you don't need anymore or are taking up space in your home. ARC will also take large furniture off your hands by scheduling a pickup through the ARC website. Any soft goods you choose to donate, you can just put in bags, while hard goods need to go into boxes. This helps ARC turn their 5,000 weekly donations per store into resellable items immediately. With spring around the corner, donate the spring and Easter clothing that is too small or just sitting in a closet to help out another family. And while you're there, get your Easter decorations and clothing. To schedule your large furniture pickup or to find the nearest Arc Thrift Donation Center or store location near you, go to arcthrift.com.
SPEAKER 01 :
Denver is dialed in to the mighty 670.
SPEAKER 06 :
Hey there, friend. Angie Austin here with the Good News. And joining me is author and pastor Aaron Rios. His book is Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship. Welcome, Aaron. Thank you so much for having me. What an honor. So give us an overview of your book, Spirit and Truth. Kind of put our toe in the pool.
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. Well, I'm sure as you're aware, church right now and culture is inundated. There's a grand worship movement. Probably it's unprecedented. It's available. I went to a Starbucks, and worship music was playing. So it's out there. And so the intention and the heart behind this book really is to take a step back and to consider, to ask some probing questions, because I really believe that God wants his people to reclaim a heart of true and genuine worship. I'm reminded of an instance visiting the Florida Keys. I was telling you I'm originally from Florida, and I visited the Florida Keys once. Quite a few times, there's a pier down in the Keys, if you've ever been there. It's known as a sunset pier, if I recall. And almost every evening, people will gather if it's a nice night and if the sky is clear, and people will watch the sun just fall off the face of the earth. It's a beautiful, breathtaking sight. And as the sun is setting, it's the most amazing thing I've ever witnessed. People will just collectively just sigh and applaud as the sunset goes down. It's so beautiful. And I sat back and I observed that moment, and I recognized something, is that worship and celebration seems to be an innate response from people. something's built in us. And that really influenced this book because I know it's when I came to church and I began to sit in worship services, sometimes people are very engaged. Other times people are playing on their phones or drifting off. And so my heart behind this book was, God, what are you looking for? What does the Bible have to say about true worship? And I discovered it went far beyond music genre.
SPEAKER 06 :
And so that one, that particular one that you're talking about, that pier, I'm just curious, that's in Key West, right? The one that, Sunset Pier? Yeah.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, that's in the Keys.
SPEAKER 06 :
I'm obsessed with the Keys. So just if you're listening, just so you know, he's not in the Florida Keys anymore or in Florida anymore. He's up towards Boston. And so you're a pastor of a church as well. So just tell us a little bit about you. Give us a little background because you've got an interesting story regarding your kids going right now as well.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, my goodness. Yeah, it's kind of an unusual story. So You know, I gave my life to the Lord back in 2009. And prior to that, I was in a band. I was trying to make it happen in the music industry and all that stuff. And so when I gave my life to the Lord, we had two children. And that quickly grew to five after that. I have five daughters, and we have a sixth one on the way. It's a boy. Very excited about that. Didn't expect that. I began to serve the Lord in Central Florida, really, just right out of the bat. God got a hold of me. It was a pretty miraculous encounter with Jesus, really. It's just incredible. And it happened in my home. And then from there, I felt this just urge to just get involved. I felt like, you know what, I had this encounter with Jesus, and other people need to know about this. And so I took a direction towards missions. It was not expected. I remember Haiti had an earthquake. Yes. And I just felt compelled when I saw that earthquake. I said, I've got to go. So I called my record label up at the time, and I said, I want to go on this mission trip. And they thought I was out of my mind. And they were like, hey, that's great. But God had another plan. And through that, I actually ended up parting ways with my record label and found myself on the mission field. And for several years, yeah, I investigated missions. And little did I know, step by step by step, as I backed away from music entirely and just began to pursue missions and how I can serve in the church, I found myself eventually leaving Florida after 36 years to step in as a worship pastor in western Massachusetts in a town I could not pronounce.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in terms of worship music, why do you think that music has such an ability to reach people's hearts? I see that like the teens, my daughter's going to a Christian camp. One of my, I've got three teenagers in high school, is going to a Christian camp. And I've always wanted that for my kids because I see the worship sessions really get into the hearts of young people, people in general, when they attend these big functions and they're listening to music. Why so much power in that?
SPEAKER 05 :
I mean, I think it goes without saying, music has such an entrancing power over people. I think music does the same thing that good food and good conversation can do. Again, being from Florida, we have a lot of soul food in Florida. Or if anyone's ever been going through a rough time and they say, you know what, I just need to consume a pint of ice cream right now. There's something, I think, intrinsic with things that can stimulate our soul. I think we find comfort. I think we find connection. I think we find relief. And so it goes without saying, I mean, come on, we've got soul music, right? And so if someone is feeling excited, they put on a certain kind of music. If someone's feeling down, on and on. So I think it goes without saying that music has a capacity to reach an inner person. And so I think that's where it starts. And I think God designed us that way. I think he designed us to be able to respond to certain things So that's a great thing, but I think also that could be a challenging thing if we don't really investigate that and really kind of put that through the lens of Scripture.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in your book, Spirit and Truth, talk about what you're teaching us in Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, thank you. Well, I think the first thing I want to say is that I'm not prescribing a worship methodology. I'm not trying to tell people how to play an instrument correctly. I'm not trying to tell people, you should do it this way. I'm actually going back, and I'm looking at a couple of things that I found in Scripture, and this is what I'm really pushing and considering in the book, is that we don't confuse, perhaps even going back on the whole soul stimulation, you know, soul stimulation for the presence of God, you know? I think that worship is really like the design that God has put in us. So I'm looking at A couple of different instances in Scripture, and even where I get the title from Spirit and Truth, that comes from John chapter 4, where Jesus takes a journey into a city, a town called Samaria, and he encounters somewhat of an unlikely person in this journey. He finds a woman sitting by a well. Some of your listeners might be familiar with that story in John chapter 4. It's really fascinating because Jesus is a rabbi. And so he's traveling through a region that most Jewish people, especially rabbis, they would have circumvented. They wouldn't have gone through Samaria because they just didn't really get along with that people group in that time. But Jesus marches right into Samaria, and it's very intentional. It seems like he was intentionally hoping to meet this woman. And when he encounters this woman in John chapter 4, she has a little bit of some scandal in her life, I think. But he has this conversation with her. And the point of that conversation is really interesting. He brings a message to redirect her back to worshiping God. And I found that so fascinating because everything that's in that journey, I believe it's relatable. For instance, how often we take the longer road, like the Jews of that day would have went around Samaria because of kind of some religious preoccupied with some religious rules. And that's a very wearying journey, and I think sometimes if we're not careful, we can actually make our spirituality very wearisome. Jesus goes through unfamiliar territory, and I think sometimes Jesus calls us into unfamiliar territory. But the message, the kind of climax of that message is God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And so that's really the premise of where we're jumping off with this book.
SPEAKER 06 :
I love your enthusiasm for, you know, worship. And I can see why you, you know, took a position and moved across the country to do that. Obviously, that must have been scary for you. Now you've got the sixth kid on the way and you've left, you know, your childhood basically state and where you've always lived. How did you, did you really feel God's prompting you to do that? And how did you face the fear of really just uprooting everything to move? I mean, outside of Boston, it's so different from Florida. I mean, let's be honest. Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Angie, if you want me to be like, really kind of tell you how it was. I wasn't looking for any type of an opportunity. I was just step by step trying to be obedient with those little inner promptings and circumstances that were beginning to unfold. But you know what actually happened is I went into this season of real intense prayer and dedication. I was really wanting to hear from God. I'm like, God, what do you have for me? What's your plan for me? Because I was working a job with a religious organization at that time, and they were gently relieving me of my job. They gave me about a six to eight month window where they said, we're going to be kind of phasing out your position here. but we'll help you find a new job. And I saw that as an opportunity to trust God. Yeah, it was wild. In fact, this happened in October, and I knew we were getting around the holidays. I certainly don't recommend this, but I actually didn't tell my wife until after the holidays because I just wanted to enjoy the holidays. Now, again, I don't recommend it, but I did tell her in January after the holidays kind of weighed down, and I said, okay, listen, we're going to have some changes here. So now we're into 2015. And I told her, I said, but let's pray. I really believe God's going to do something. And then over the course of the next couple of weeks, I got a random call from a pastor that I had crossed paths with. And in a short season, he'd spoken to my life. But he called me. He said, Brother Aaron, I'm calling you from Massachusetts. We're looking for a worship pastor. And I just knew it was this ordained moment that I was like this. It was such a confirmation in my heart. And within 30 days, we packed up. And we moved complete uncertainty of what the future would have. But knowing that I really believed God had ordained my steps. And so here we are.
SPEAKER 06 :
Now, in terms of being a worship pastor, and I love that story, by the way, do you feel like the pressure to entertain? Like, how do you balance that entertainment versus really trying to get people to embrace the Lord and have a relationship with the Lord?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, there's no doubt. I think I could take the liberty and speak for many musicians. Like we take this pleasure in what we do. That's a good thing because I don't think God calls us to be miserable in our labor. So it's great when you can do something out of your gifting or your talent. That's a great thing. I don't think it's wrong to take joy in that. But I also try to navigate, and when I work with teams, I try to encourage teams and have them consider this. Kind of two things. Number one, I say, hey, look at these platforms. And there's so many beautiful churches, and a lot of churches are inundated with glorious and beautiful worship setups. I mean, drums and keyboards and lights and all the bells and whistles. It's a beautiful luxury. But I also like to encourage teams like, hey, about 80% of what you're seeing on this platform is not for the pastor. It's for the worship team. Like the churches have invested this. I realize not all churches look like that, but just kind of in that general sense. Perhaps most pastors could do fine with just a little microphone. So consider this platform. What an honor, what a privilege. And you want to steward this really well. And I don't think a lot of people involved in worship teams really take a moment to consider like, wow, look what's been provided. And then the second thing is, what is the duty of the worship team? Is it important that we get a congregation to sing Absolutely, but I think it's more important that we prepare the hearts of people to receive the Word of God. In other words, the worship team is really working as a conduit to help kind of till hearts, that hearts can receive the seed of the Word. So there has to be this cooperation and intentionality of, I'm here to serve the pastor, if there's a structure like that. But really, I'm here to support this ministry that, honestly, the most important thing that we do is there has to be the ministry of the Word. And so helping worship teams realize really, like, this is really your role, and this is a biblical role that we find as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, I'm excited to have you on again after you have that next kid, because I think your life could probably be in Instagram, you know? Instagram following you could get with that. That is so crazy. Five girls and a boy. What an exciting time in your life. Give us your website, would you, Erin Rios?
SPEAKER 05 :
Absolutely. It's AaronRios.com. And, Angie, just for your show, I put up a promo to anyone that's interested, offering 10% off on Spirit and Truth, Reclaiming the Heart of Worship, just for your listeners.
SPEAKER 06 :
Awesome. Well, thank you, Aaron. It was a real pleasure to have you on the show, and I look forward to having you back.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you so much. God bless you. You too.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you for listening to The Good News with Angie Austin on AM670 KLTT.
