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Join Jody Heiss as he hosts an enlightening session featuring Congressman Pat Harrigan that navigates the intricate complexities of global peacekeeping efforts and local disaster relief. Uncover the dynamic confrontation post-ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and dig into a broader global conflict analysis. With Congressman Harrigan’s military expertise, gain an in-depth view of the Trump administration’s strategic moves with other significant actors on the global stage. Also, get the latest updates from Samaritan’s Purse detailing their efforts in response to the recent severe storms affecting multiple U.S. states. This riveting segment tests the global and local intersections of governance,
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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. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, good afternoon. Welcome to this Tuesday edition of Washington Watch. Hope you’re having a fantastic day. I am Jody Heiss, Senior Vice President here at the Family Research Council and President of FRC Action. An honor as always to be filling in for Tony and so glad to have you joining us as well. All right, we’ve got a lot coming your way. Here’s some of the headlines we’ll be covering.
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We’re going to have a very important call. You know, we’ve had calls, but we’re getting down to a very critical stage. And we want to get the whole Russia-Ukraine thing done. And I think Ukraine wants it. I know they want it. Everybody wants it.
SPEAKER 07 :
That, of course, was President Trump. It was yesterday when he was speaking with reporters. In regard to the high-stakes phone call that took place earlier today with Russian President Vladimir Putin, so how’d the phone call go? Well, I’ll be discussing this in just a moment when I’m joined by Congressman Pat Harrigan, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. And in other international news, a nearly two-month-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came to an abrupt end early this morning after Hamas refused repeatedly to release hostages and rejected proposals to extend the ceasefire.
SPEAKER 01 :
Hamas refused offer after offer to release our hostages. In the past two weeks, Israel did not initiate any military action in the hope that Hamas would change course. Well, that didn’t happen. This is why I authorized yesterday the renewal of military action against Hamas.
SPEAKER 07 :
That was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier today. And so I’ll be discussing this also with Congressman Harrigan. And then later in the program, we’ll take a deeper dive with Joel Rosenberg, who’s the founder and editor-in-chief of All Israel News and All Arab News. We’ll also talk about his brand new book, The Beijing Betrayal. It came out last week, so you’ll want to be sure to catch that. And then in domestic news, as we all know by now, severe storm systems swept across our nation over the weekend, killing at least 42 people. The state of Missouri reported the most deaths, with at least 12 who were lost to tornadoes.
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Last night’s storms had a horrific path. Over 27 counties were affected significantly. And at one time last night, between midnight and 4 a.m., we had 150 fires. We had over 150,000 people out of electricity, multiple tornadoes, fatalities, looting, auto accidents, just you name it, kind of an on-again situation for emergency response.
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That was Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe yesterday speaking to reporters how devastating the storms were. And I’ll be joined a little bit later in the program by Edward Graham of Samaritan’s Purse to get an update from him on the aftermath of the storm system and what the needs are right now. So as usual, we have a lot coming your way. If you happen to miss any portion of it, the website, of course, is TonyPerkins.com, where you can find this edition of Washington Watch as well as past editions. We’ve also got lots and lots of resources there available. So be sure to bookmark that web page and check it out frequently. And speaking of resources, I just real quickly want to remind you of the brand new 13-week training course, God and Government, It’s on our Stand Firm app, and this is a video series that’s Bible-based. It’s all for people like you and me who want to make an impact for biblical truth. And each Monday for the last several weeks, we’ve been releasing a new session. Well, yesterday we released Session 5, which is the relationship between church and state. Folks, this is so critically important. I encourage you, if you don’t yet have the Stand Firm app, go get it and then access this God and Government course. You can do so by texting the word COURSE to 67742. 67742. All right, let’s jump into the headlines for today. Following the conclusion of a highly anticipated phone call that took place earlier today between President Trump and Vladimir Putin, the White House announced that the two leaders agreed that the first step toward peace would be a limited ceasefire. And the Kremlin announced that Putin has ordered a temporary halt to strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Furthermore, the White House said that negotiations for a full ceasefire and permanent peace will begin immediately in the Middle East. So it’s off to a good start, it seems. What else do we know about the phone call that took place today? And what can we draw from it? Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is Congressman Pat Harrigan. He’s a member of the House Armed Services Committee, as well as the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. And just for you all to know, he is a combat decorated Green Beret. He led operations in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, and now he represents the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina. Congressman Harrigan, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always an honor to have you.
SPEAKER 17 :
Hey, Jody. Thanks for having me today. I really appreciate being here.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it is our honor, and thank you for taking time. I know you’ve got a lot of place spinning in your world right now, so we appreciate you coming on with us. So let’s go to the talk between Putin and Trump today. What were some other key takeaways from the phone call that maybe we need to know about?
SPEAKER 17 :
You know, look, I think very clearly we’re making progress towards bringing this conflict to a conclusion. I think President Trump has spearheaded this effort. You’ve seen his leadership step up when the rest of the world has kind of pushed off the ideas that that President Trump is bringing forward to end this conflict. And I think with agreeing to a limited and temporary ceasefire, this is a first step in the right direction towards getting to a permanent peace that President Trump has talked about. I think we all know that this war has gone on for more than three years. It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. And at the end of the day, it is not in the United States of America’s key strategic interests in order to continue this war where we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars and not actually achieving our strategic interests. There’s not an end state that’s achievable. There’s not one that is in sight. And I think President Trump is right. to bring this war to a drawdown. And I think today was a very good first step in that direction.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, it really seems that way. And just for clarity’s sake, of course, we all know that Ukraine, Zelensky, the president there, tried to have a meeting here recently. But just for clarity’s sake, the limited ceasefire that Trump and Putin have agreed to now is a first step, obviously, towards peace, as you mentioned. But we’re not talking about necessarily the same ceasefire agreement that was discussed with Ukraine, are we?
SPEAKER 17 :
Right, I think you’ve got the United States and President Trump and his envoy are playing the role of mediator in this conflict. And I think some of the things that are worth noting that were discussed today, we’re talking about broad economic agreements. When we wanna talk about what’s in our strategic interests in Ukraine, Look, it’s very simple. It is not aligned with Ukraine’s strategic interests. Ukraine wants Russia expelled from its borders immediately. That has been its strategic interest from day one of this conflict. Our strategic interest has always been from the outset of this conflict, the bifurcation of the relationship between Russia and China, preventing Russia from working with China to mass military power against our interests around the world. The very best way that we can accomplish that is not endless conflict that spends hundreds of billions of American dollars to a conflict we can’t win because we’re upside down on the economics of that conflict. We’re shooting million-dollar missiles at $50,000 drones. That’s a great way to bleed this country to death, much like Ronald Reagan bled the Soviet Union to death. And so if we can focus on an economic relationship with Russia, bifurcating that relationship and dependency it has with China, that is in the United States of America’s key strategic interests.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, that’s an excellent point that you bring up there. OK, so as we have it at this point, as it currently stands, Russia appears to have made this move toward a limited ceasefire. But Ukraine also is going to have to make a move at some point. Do we have any understanding yet as to the reaction or any news from the Ukrainian side to this point?
SPEAKER 17 :
You know, I think there has been a broad understanding that this war needs to come to closure. I don’t think that President Zelensky is too favorable to the way that this has gone on. But I think that President Trump has been very clear. The American people are exhausted in their endless and significant support that they have made. that is not achieving the strategic interests of the United States. And so I think that there’s going to be some pushback to this process. I think that’s to be expected. But at the end of the day, if we want to maintain a free world, the best way that we can do that is end this conflict, separate the forces that are truly a threat to us and our future as freedom-loving Americans and folks that love freedom around the world. We cannot go to anyone’s rescue if we are broke. We’ve got to understand that. We’ve got to pick our battles very, very wisely. And drawing this fight to a close is our number one strategic interest right now as we reset for future strategic interests that are much more pressing to us than this.
SPEAKER 07 :
So how would you, just broadly speaking, what’s your assessment of how President Trump has approached this Russian-Ukraine war?
SPEAKER 17 :
Look, I think I don’t want to get ahead of the president on policy. That is not my job. What I will tell you is I think he’s taken a very sober perspective to what I talked about very briefly earlier, which is we’re losing the economics of this conflict. You have to understand, our military is built for shock and awe and to provide overwhelming military capability in a very short period of time that overwhelms our enemies. If our fights go beyond five, six, seven, eight days, We’re going to lose the economics of that conflict. And by extension, we’re going to lose the conflict because we’re so upside down on really high cost exquisite capabilities that we are really, really good at. But we are not good at long sustained conflict, particularly that features unconventional or irregular warfare, where our enemies are producing the low cost solutions to our high cost problems. President Trump understands this. And until we flip the equation on the economics within our defense industrial base and actually can create the low-cost solutions to our enemy’s high-cost problems, we’re gonna continue to lose any type of long-term conflict. And so we actually need to set back We need to refit our defense industrial base, and we need to do some things very differently. That’s what I’m very focused on on the House Armed Services Committee, is making sure that not only do we maintain that edge on the exquisite, high-tech, high-cost platforms that can allow us to deliver decisive blows against our adversaries, protecting the American people and American interests, but can also sustain conflict over the long term and win a protracted war, which we have not been able to do. since World War II. We’ve got to stop that. That’s why we need to push pause on the Ukrainian conflict and restart our defense industrial base and our allies’ defense industrial bases for China.
SPEAKER 07 :
Excellent comments there, Congressman Pat Harrigan of North Carolina. I’m so glad that you are on the Armed Services Committee. Your expertise and your experience alone is of extreme value and importance to that committee. And we appreciate all that you’re doing there. Listen, if you can hang on after the break, I’ve got some more questions I want to run your way. We’ve got so much to cover and appreciate if you can hang on for a few more minutes.
SPEAKER 17 :
I’d be happy to do it, Jody.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, friends. Well, hang on. We’re going to continue this conversation with Congressman Pat Harrigan of North Carolina right after the break and so much more to cover with him. So stick around. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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During these challenging times for our nation, Family Research Council continues to serve as a watchman on the wall for faith, family, and freedom. And together, thanks to your support, we’re making an eternal impact. 2024 was a year of shining the light for biblical truth in Washington, DC. Last fall, over 1,000 spiritually active, governance-engaged conservatives gathered for the Pray, Vote, Stand Summit to pray for our nation and ensure that the issues impacting sage cons were understood and advanced. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins marked a major milestone this year, its 900th episode, and added the Washington Watch News Desk, a new production that presents the top news each day from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand published 2,000 articles of news, commentary, and podcasts in 2024, garnering over 5 million views. FRC’s outlet for news and commentary continues to pursue the truth on the issues that matter most to you and your family. And with the launch of the Stand Firm app, you can listen to, watch, and read our content in one simple place. Pray for current issues, stay rooted in the scriptures, and engage the political sphere with the community of believers on our new platform. In 2024, FRC shaped public policy and culture, organizing the National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, where members of Congress and Christian leaders came together to seek God’s intervention in America. In May, FRC called upon believers to pray for and stand with Israel by dedicating a portion of their worship services to pray for Israel’s peace, prosperity, and protection. With Pray, Vote, Stand Decision 2024, FRC and Real Life Network led a powerful evening of election night coverage to analyze the election results and pray that our nation would turn back to God. We also filmed a transformative educational course, God and Government. Available now on the Stand Firm app, this series will explore the biblical and historical foundations of our government, empowering you to stand confidently in your role as a citizen of heaven and earth. Family Research Council thanks you for partnering with us in standing for faith, family, and freedom.
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Looking for a trusted source of news that shares your Christian values? Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m your host today, Jody Heiss, filling in for Tony. And so glad to have you with us as well. I’m continuing my conversation now from our last segment with Congressman Pat Harrigan, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, as well as the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. And he’s a combat decorated Green Beret. He led operations in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, and he now represents Congress from the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina. Congressman Harrigan, thanks for staying with us. Really appreciate it.
SPEAKER 17 :
Sure, Jody. Absolutely.
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Let me get your thoughts as we kind of shift gears over towards the Middle East. The two-month-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came to an abrupt end. Give me your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Look, I think President Benjamin Netanyahu laid it out. Every effort by Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump to end this conflict has been just not agreed to by Hamas. They systematically have killed both American and Israeli hostages. They have continued to plan large-scale attacks against Israeli sovereignty and the Israeli people. And now President Netanyahu has decided to move forward with conflict. And I think this is an unfortunate development, but one that Israel is absolutely within their right to take this action. And so I think we’ve got to keep in mind, we’re dealing with terrorists. We’re dealing with people that believe that it is pleasing to God to kill folks who are non-Muslims. and to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. That is not something that we stand for out here in the West, despite all the voices coming from our crazy, woke leftist universities and the Democratic side, the extreme left side of the Democratic Party. We support Israel. I hope that this conflict can come to a close here very soon because, look, the world’s on fire. And right now, it is not in our best interest to tune up the heat. We’ve got to turn the heat down, but we’ve got to have the proper conditions set for that to happen. President Benjamin Netanyahu is taking the lead on making sure that that happens for the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and I’m glad you brought up the left. I mean, there’s no question there’s a lot of criticism against Israel coming from those who overall have not been supportive of the Jewish state. And many in those camps obviously believe the Hamas propaganda, and they believe Israel’s wartime crimes, so to speak, that they’re guilty of that type of thing. As someone who knows firsthand about war and warfare, what would you say to those critics?
SPEAKER 17 :
Hamas has earned this. They’ve earned it. They earned it on October 7th. They earned it when they mercilessly killed these Israeli hostages. They earned it when they paraded the Bibas family through the streets of Gaza. And they’ve earned it with their systemic decisions to choose terror and murder instead of acting like a civilized society. They’ve given Israel absolutely no choice. And it’s unfortunate, but in this world, people do make choices and they have to live with those consequences.
SPEAKER 07 :
And now add to that, it’s a great statement because they have earned it. Now you have coming on board with this, the Yemen-based Houthi terror group targeting Israel as well and kind of getting in a conflict with the United States. It’s a pretty bold move from them, a terrorist group that the Trump administration has set its sight on, isn’t it?
SPEAKER 17 :
Well, that’s exactly right. I think a lot of people with everything else that President Trump has inherited with this world on fire from President Biden, the inaction against the Houthis has been something that I think is truly a strategic error by the Biden administration. You have a terrorist organization, a set of thugs, pirates, really, that are impacting 75% of the US ships that move through the Red Sea. That is totally intolerable to our interests. President Biden did very little. President Trump has said, you know what? We’re gonna take decisive action against these folks. They are not gonna push the United States of America and our key strategic interests around. And not only are we going to hold the Houthis accountable, we are also going to hold Iran accountable, who’s actually backing these rogue third-party terrorist nation states. And I think President Trump is doing exactly what he should be doing. And those are serving the best interests of the American people, not just at home, but very clearly abroad.
SPEAKER 07 :
Two more really quick questions for you. We’ve only got literally two minutes, but just overall 30,000-foot perspectives. We dealt with this a little bit on the program yesterday, but the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. Real quickly, your thoughts on that.
SPEAKER 17 :
Yeah, I think it’s fantastic. I actually made a post earlier today. I said, you know, President Biden, he paid $6 billion to Iran to free five American hostages, and President Trump has spent $6 million to send 300 Trans-Iraq members back to El Salvador. And President Biden put a price on Americans’ heads. President Trump is now putting a price on terrorists and gang members and violent criminals’ heads. I like the new math. And look, we talk about all these different circumstances where across the world, the world’s burning. And as I have always said, when America fails to lead, the world burns. And that’s exactly what we found during President Biden’s administration. When that passed to President Trump, we have to understand that undoing all of this is a monumental challenge. I actually don’t think at any time in our nation’s history, certainly within the generations that are alive today, that we have faced the number of threats with the severity that each one comes with stacked on top of one another all at the same time. And so to take the temperature down on all of this is not going to be something that’s easy. It’s not going to be quick. But President Trump is being decisive about it. He’s keeping the big picture in mind. And we are notching incremental wins. The purchase by BlackRock of the property along the Panama Canal was absolutely decisive. And that was due to President Trump’s leadership. That is something that China cannot undo. And they actually took the last couple of days they’ve spent just… throwing the name of Hutchinson, the company that sold the property to the United States. They have been throwing that CEO’s name through the mud, calling him a traitor to China. We are winning incrementally, and I want the American people to know that.
SPEAKER 07 :
Thank you so much, Pat Harrigan of North Carolina. Great to talk with you. Appreciate so much you coming on and staying on during the break, after the break with us. God bless you. All right, friends, coming up, we’ve had a severe storm over the weekend, as you well know, and Edward Graham of Samaritan’s Purse will join me with the latest. Don’t go away. We’ll be back.
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Oh, beautiful
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For spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. At the 2025 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance, hundreds gathered with Christian and government leaders at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., to pray for the nation and ask God to forgive us of our sins.
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The fruit is plain.
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We gather here not to appeal to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We are appealing to heaven. Today we make our appeal not in the authority of a political party or in the name of a denomination. We come in the name and the authority of Jesus Christ. who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and we have been commissioned to operate in that authority.
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Father, we pray in Jesus’ name for our complacency, our greed, our pride, our gluttony, our sloth, and tolerance of sin.
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Lord, your word is the food that can make America healthy again. May your word be exalted and believed in our nation again. Lord, we ask that you allow us to become that shining city on the hill once more for your love, your grace, and your mercy.
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We thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy, for the opportunity that you have provided us to heal our land. We ask you to do it, Lord. We ask you for the wisdom, discernment, and stamina to do the thing that you have called each one of us, all of us here, to do. May we be found faithful. We trust it, pray it, believe it all. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SPEAKER 07 :
Good afternoon. Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. I’m your host, Jody Heiss, filling in for Tony. Great to have you on board with us. All right, you’re aware of it by now. Over the weekend, severe storm systems swept across the country, unleashing one disaster after another. Included everything from tornadoes to dust storms to wildfires, even blizzards. And according to officials, there were at least… 42 people who died during that, through various storm related incidents, let me put it that way, across eight different states. And as with many of these natural disasters that occur here at home, Our friends at Samaritan’s Purse stood ready to offer disaster relief and the love of Christ to those who are hurting in the midst of enormous devastation. And here now to share more about the relief efforts in the region is Edward Graham. He’s the chief operating officer at Samaritan’s Purse. Edward, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always great to have you.
SPEAKER 15 :
Hey, Jody. Thanks for having us on this evening. I appreciate it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, listen, give us an update. Just what have you heard so far regarding the situation in these various states that have been so powerfully affected by the storm system? I’ve heard that Missouri probably lost the most lives, I think 12 lives in Missouri, but Oklahoma probably the most damage from the wildfires. What are you hearing? What do we need to know about right now?
SPEAKER 15 :
And what you said is accurate. That’s pretty much what I understand from our assessment teams. We sent teams out to several states, but Samaritan’s Purse has already deployed and sent equipment to Missouri. We’re in Popular Bluff, Missouri, and that is where most of the people were killed in this horrible, horrific storm system, just incredible, and all that it brought with tornadoes and, as you said, the fire. But there in Oklahoma, just incredible destruction with fires. And so we’re in Stillwater, Oklahoma. working out of a church there soon. And so the equipment’s there. We’re finishing up the assessment. And then in these areas when the local authorities allow us to go in and begin work, we send the volunteers. Usually after a fire there in Oklahoma, it will help sift, go through home because most of it’s destroyed. But really what you’re doing is help bring closure. They find a brooch or a wedding ring. And usually it’s the first time that homeowner will even talk to and begin speaking because they’re in such shock. And some of our most incredible ministry happens during that, just so they know they’re not forgotten, they’re not forsaken. These volunteers go in, listen to them, and then help them find the remains of artifacts or something that’s important to them, to that homeowner that at least creates the conversation. And in the case of where we had here with the tornadoes, there’s usually complete destruction there. And so either we’re tarping roofs, helping clean up debris and bring it to the roadside so the government can come by and take it to the fields. But again, it’s to work with that homeowner to know their love. The volunteers come from all over. So it’s the best way to show someone they’re not forsaken, they’re not forgotten, they’re loved so much that God sent his only son to die on a cross. And that’s why we go, to let people know they’re not forgotten.
SPEAKER 07 :
And that is such a powerful, powerful ministry. Samaritan’s Purse is always there, always. And I don’t know how you guys are everywhere where disasters are occurring, but right now it seems like it’s one after another after another. So it’s not just the result of the storms, but Samaritan’s Purse is also continuing recovery efforts elsewhere. So long after When newscasts and news cameras leave, Americans First stays there, where are you right now? What are some of the major areas that you continue serving?
SPEAKER 15 :
We’re still in California after the fires there. We’re still completing work orders, helping people go through and sift there, but we’ll also do a rebuild there. Most people think California is wealthy. There is a lot of wealth there, but there’s also people that didn’t have insurance, were underinsured just because they inherited that house from three generations. There are very underprivileged communities there that were devastated by these fires, so we are doing a rebuild there. And that will take years. California is a difficult place to build in, a lot of bureaucracy there. We’re in Kentucky right now following horrific floods there for a few weeks. We’re helping people muck out and clean up homes there. And then we’re still here in Western North Carolina. Hurricane Helene is a devastation like I’ve never seen before. And we’re in places here, my hometown of in Boone, North Carolina, all the way to Asheville and three different locations. And we’re starting our rebuild program. And this is where we build homes for the uninsured and noninsured and also mobile homes. We build high, high structured, high quality homes. Mobile homes are overbuilt and we bring those in for people because if they lost a mobile home and I was to build you a stick built home, taxes would take your house later on. And so that’s why we do the mobile home project. But we’re not going anywhere in North Carolina anytime soon. This is where I’m from and this will take years to recover. And so we’re doing everything from bridge work, culvert work, stuff we normally don’t do. But the state’s allowing us to do it because they’re overwhelmed. There’s so much need. And so we’re redoing culverts and bridges just so we can get to other work orders. We can’t even get to certain homes to work on them because the culverts and bridges are still out.
SPEAKER 07 :
Edward Graham, real quickly, we’ve only got about 30 seconds or so. How can our audience be praying for those affected by these disasters, and is there any way people can volunteer?
SPEAKER 15 :
Prayer is so important. You think of those families that lost loved ones. They’re hurting. They’re broken right now. These storms were horrific, and it meant something to them. They lost their home. They lost family members. Pray for them. Let them know they’re not forsaken. Pray for the local church. And if you want to volunteer, especially through local church, you can go to SamaritansPurse.org. It’ll say how to get involved, and there’ll be locations where you can sign up and go get a little dirty. Anyone can do this and do it in the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 07 :
Amen. Thank you so, so much, Andrew Graham, Chief Operating Officer at Samaritans Purse. Thank you for sharing your ministry’s incredibly vital work to those who are affected by these disasters. And thank you for joining us again here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 15 :
Appreciate it, Jody.
SPEAKER 07 :
All right, friends. Powerful, powerful stories. Man, we’re all part of it. Praying together, working together. Coming up on the other side of the break, Joel Rosenberg will join me to highlight his newest book, The Beijing Betrayal. We’ll also be talking with him about his assessment on the latest developments in the war between Israel and Hamas. So we’ve got much more to cover. Stay with us. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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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. The world is hurting, streets are filled with crime, families are broken, sin is celebrated, and God is mocked.
SPEAKER 10 :
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 are 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 07 :
Thank you so much for joining us today on Washington Watch. Happy Tuesday to you. I’m your host, Jody Heiss, filling in today for Tony and glad to have you with us as well. Before I get to our next guest, a couple of real quick things. Again, I mentioned this earlier in the program, just want to mention it again. Our brand new 13-week training course, the newest session, God and Government, is now available on our Stand Firm app. I strongly encourage you to get that Stand Firm app and also to check out the new release at Session 5, The Relationship Between Church and State. If you don’t yet have the Stand Firm app, go get it and get the God and Government Course on the Relationship Between Church and State. Text the word COURSE to 67742. Then I want to just say real quickly, here in about 15 minutes, The two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station since June of last year are scheduled to return here in just about 15 minutes. So that will actually happen perhaps while we’re still on the air. And I just encourage you to be praying for them even right now as they are about to come back to Earth. All right. There’s been a lot of international news in the headlines today and in recent weeks from Israel to Russia, Yemen to Venezuela. And while it may not be on the front pages today, it’s no secret that China has also expanded its power and its influence far beyond their own borders. Look, they’ve asserted control over Hong Kong, over Taiwan. They’ve used their financial incentives from their Belt and Road Initiative to try to gain favor with foreign nations across the world. And the United States remains their primary adversary. But for how long? What if China actually tried to take on the United States? How would that play out? Would they even be able to succeed? Well, these are questions that are tackled in a brand new political thriller novel titled The Beijing Betrayal. The Beijing Betrayal. The author, the great Joel Rosenberg, joins me today to discuss this book and more. Joel, of course, is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the news organizations All Israel News and All Arab News. He also hosts the Rosenberg Report on TBN. Joel, as always, welcome back to Washington Watch. Great honor to have you again.
SPEAKER 05 :
Thank you, Jody. Great to be with you. I appreciate it very much.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, listen, before we dive into your book, which I absolutely want to, I did want to get your thoughts, your insights on the latest developments in the Israel-Hamas war. Two-month-long ceasefire is over. Your thoughts on all of this?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, well, we’ve been warning about this for weeks now on All Israel News at allisrael.com because my sense of it was, and I live in Israel, I live in Jerusalem, I’m in Indianapolis right now. I was interviewing and having lunch today with former Vice President Mike Pence. So I’m not home and I’m on this book tour for the Beijing betrayal. But I’ve been warning that we were going back to war. And the reason is because Hamas does not want to give us back all the remaining hostages. There’s 59 hostages. We believe that 24 of them or so are still alive. The rest are dead bodies killed by Hamas. The problem is we always knew we were going to get to a point where Hamas would not deal. Why? Because once they give us all the final hostages back, They know we are going to destroy them unless they negotiate some pathway to leave Gaza forever and never come back. So this is a challenge. Now, Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government wants every hostage back. And we have been very grateful for President Trump and his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, who negotiated the deal that has gotten all the first phase hostages out. We’re very grateful to the president and to Steve Witkoff. for this. But Trump and Witkoff have been trying now for weeks to get a new deal, to extend this deal, to get all the rest of the hostages back. And Hamas has said no twice. And Netanyahu said, you know, look, I’m not going to sit around and just not fight them while we continue negotiating. And they keep saying no. I thought, Jody, that This might not happen for another month or so after Ramadan, maybe after Passover. But Netanyahu decided to take the gloves off and strike when Hamas least expected it.
SPEAKER 07 :
Which is not surprising coming from Netanyahu. He’s just a brilliant thinker in terms of always seemingly getting the other side off guard. So let me ask you, Joel, how do you see this latest turn of events impacting the negotiations for peace in the region? You talked about the process moving towards phase two, and now we have this interruption. What kind of impact is this going to have, you think?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Jody, it’s a little bit hard to say for certain right now. Why? Because Netanyahu is right, I think. Well, let’s be clear. You know, he’s a brilliant strategist in many ways, sees himself as the Winston Churchill of Israel up against the Iran threat. But let’s admit it, Prime Minister Netanyahu was completely blindsided on October 7th, 2023, as was all of the Israeli security and intelligence establishment. So he, you know— he’s got a serious blemish on his record, but he is trying to fight this war and win it. And President Biden was trying to tie his hands behind, you know, Netanyahu’s hands behind his back. But here’s the thing. By striking now when nobody expected it, including Hamas, that was a brilliant move. The question is whether Netanyahu is trying in partnership with President Trump, to get Hamas to come back and give up more hostages, and that Netanyahu would say, OK, I’ll pause fighting if you’re going to start letting people out, or if Netanyahu has decided there’s really no other option. You know, Hamas has essentially given up any possibility of giving any more hostages back. So I don’t know the answer to that question. I do believe at some point, whether it’s right now or in a few weeks, we’re going back to war to finish Hamas off to vanquish them forever and ever and ever. And then, as you know, Jody, President Trump surprised us all a few weeks ago by saying, we’re going to make Gaza great again. We’re going to take it. We’re going to own it. It’s going to be fantastic. But first, Bibi’s got to win. And so we’re thinking, wow, the president’s made a huge commitment to helping us get Gaza right. But it is our responsibility in Israel to win. And President Trump is giving us all the tools that we need. But we haven’t asked Trump to send American ground forces, and we won’t. We’re going to do this on our own. And I’ve got two sons that have already served in the Israeli military, and I know the commitment that it takes.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I’ve got to tell you, that was an incredible impersonation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Terrific job. That’s true. And you know, Judy, that your ratings are going to be higher than Tony’s now because it’s fantastic that you had me on. But I’ll come on with Tony, too.
SPEAKER 07 :
And then that’ll bump him over me right back where he belongs. All right. If we can now, Joel Rosenberg, great insights that you’ve just given on Israel-Hamas war. Let’s shift gears, if we can, to your new book, fascinating book, The Beijing Betrayal. It’s listed as a fictional military thriller. Give us the rundown on this story. I think all of us kind of have in the back of our mind why this has come out. But from your perspective, give us the rundown.
SPEAKER 05 :
Sure. And let me just make a note, a shout out to Tony, and really grateful that he was just in Israel. It’s, you know, as much as it’s important to stand with Israel, it’s really important to stand in Israel. And I really am grateful that he and several other evangelical leaders were just over there. So that’s fantastic. Look, You know that as a political thriller writer, as well as a journalist, I’ve dealt with the Iran issue, radical Islam, Russia, Ukraine, North Korea. But I have never actually written a political thriller that has dealt with the communist China threat. And as one of my sons has who served in Israeli military intelligence, he said, you know, Dad, look, we get it. You get the threats from other places, but if you’re not dealing with a communist China threat, you’re missing a major element. And it took me several years to spend time with major intelligence officials, former CIA directors, and so forth to figure out what’s the right angle, what’s the right story. The Beijing betrayal tells the story of communist China being not years away from invading our democratic ally of Taiwan, but just hours away, days away. At the same time, my main character, Marcus Riker, a former Marine, former Secret Service agent, turned elite CIA operative, he not only comes across this plot, of Communist China attacking and trying to devour Taiwan and thus unravel the entire American supremacy doctrine and alliance in the Pacific. But Communist China is also about to unleash a horrific Ebola-like virus inside the United States before the attack on Taiwan. Why? To paralyze the United States to kill millions of Americans and make us unable or unwilling to defend not just Taiwan, but our other allies, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Singapore, and so forth. So thank God this has not actually happened yet. And I’m not predicting that it will. But the Beijing betrayal is a worst-case scenario thriller about what could happen if America gets our eye off the ball or political leaders inside Washington, certainly inside the White House, Pentagon, State, Capitol Hill, decide, yeah, Taiwan is a nice country, but it’s not necessary. We’re talking about a total catastrophe if communist China were to get China. Taiwan, because it really unravels our entire alliance in the Pacific. No one will believe us, not just in the Pacific, but in Europe or in Israel, that you’re going to defend an ally if we don’t defend Taiwan. But we’d rather figure out a strategy of deterrence against Communist China than actually have to go into war with Communist China because that would likely lead to nuclear war. And that’s the scenario that the Beijing betrayal worries about and envisions.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and not just the Beijing betrayal, but many of us have been looking at this for a long, long time, recognizing fully that China is a major, major threat, not only to the United States, but globally. So what do you think, is there a way now, as you said, preemptively, to prevent, to stop an invasion of Taiwan from the Chinese government?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, absolutely. And I would say that nobody’s been tougher on communist China than President Trump. That was a conversation I was actually having over lunch today and in my interview for my Rosenberg Report show on TBN with the former vice president, Mike Pence. Now, obviously, Trump and Pence see the world a little differently today, but on China, they’re unified. It was very interesting and refreshing to hear Pence praising Trump that Trump gets the threat from China. The challenge is that last year during the campaign, Trump said several things like, well, Taiwan’s a long way away, and I don’t know if it, I mean, so it suggested that maybe he was softening his defense and support of Taiwan. I don’t know if that’s really true, and neither does Pence. I mean, the one theory is that Trump is trying to get Taiwan to pay attention and start spending more on its own defense. It was under 3% until recently. Now Taiwan has agreed to move it up to 3%. But Elbridge Colby, who’s being nominated to be the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy for Trump and is a great China expert— is telling, told the Senate confirmation hearing, they need to be at 10%. We can’t be more supportive of Taiwanese defense than the people of Taiwan, right? So whether it has to be 10%, 5%, 7%, I can’t tell you for certain. But we do have to persuade the people of Taiwan and all of our allies in the Pacific, it’s cheaper to invest in your defense Now, then to create a perception of weakness and where you’re totally depending on the United States and you’re not doing your own hard work and spending your own money to defend yourself. We’re with you, but we’re not going to just let you be freeloaders off the American taxpayer and the American military. So I absolutely think that we’ve got to help the Taiwanese and others in the region step up their game, just like J.D. Vance went to Europe and told the Europeans and NATO, guys, we’re going to be with you unless you won’t be with yourself. Step it up. And I think that is the right message.
SPEAKER 07 :
I do, too. So what do you think about China, not only the threats to Taiwan and so forth, but their attempts to cozy up, if you will, with other American adversaries like Russia, like Iran? What is the underlying reason that China is making these moves with other U.S. adversaries?
SPEAKER 05 :
Jody, that’s a great question. I think that’s the heart of the right question to ask, which is – and then that’s really the premise of the Beijing betrayal, which is it’s not just communist China as a threat to a specific island, a specific region. It’s the fact that communist China wants to, A, supplant the United States as the world’s superpower, B – just ultimately destroy the United States. That’s part of their central doctrine. They’re atheists. They’re communists. They hate God. They hate Christians. They hate anybody that loves Jesus, even though there’s a great spiritual awakening going on inside China. But at the Because Xi Jinping has this ambition of first dominating the Pacific and then dominating the Middle East and then dominating the world over time, he’s making strong alliances with the Russians and with the Iranians because they hate us too. Just a few years ago— Communist China formed a 25-year strategic and very dangerous alliance with Iran, the most dangerous terror sponsor on the planet, against Israel and against our Sunni Arab allies. This is dangerous. It’s not just China by itself. It’s the evil empire alliance that they’re building. Literally just Friday, on Friday, Jody, the leaders, not quite at the top, but just below the top of Russia, Iran, and China, met where? In Beijing, in China, to strengthen this anti-American, anti-freedom alliance. And this is, I call it the evil empire summit. And it’s incredibly dangerous. The Beijing betrayal is about what happens if we don’t pay attention.
SPEAKER 07 :
I encourage everybody, get a copy of The Beijing Betrayal. Thank you so much, Joel Rosenberg, co-founder and editor-in-chief of All Israel News and All Arab News, as well as host of The Rosenberg Report. And I will tell everyone, the astronauts just splashed down. Amazing news. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hope you have a fantastic day. God bless you. We will see you tomorrow right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 14 :
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.
