In this episode of Washington Watch, host Tony Perkins delves deep into the latest moves of President Trump’s administration regarding national security appointments. With seasoned politicians and experts, Tony unravels the implications of these changes on military leadership and the broader defense strategy. The episode also navigates through the contentious debates surrounding USAID budget cuts, highlighting differing perspectives on federal spending and accountability. Join us for an enlightening conversation that takes you beyond headlines, providing biblical insights into policy decisions affecting the nation today.
SPEAKER 02 :
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 17 :
This is a reflection of the president wanting the right people around him to execute the national security approach we want to take. And I have a lot of respect for C.Q. Brown. I got to know him over the course of a month. He’s an honorable man, not the right man for the moment. And ultimately, the president made that call. And Dan Raising Cain is going to be a fantastic chairman.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was Secretary of Defense Pete Hickseth yesterday on Fox News Sunday discussing President Trump’s choice for chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Welcome to this Monday edition of Washington Watch. Thanks for joining us. We’ll discuss the Department of Defense and USAID, both of which are facing budget cuts and personnel changes. Democrats are dismayed in particular over the changes to USAID.
SPEAKER 01 :
Look, all this talk about USAID. I have visited people on the front line stopping infectious diseases from coming here to have scientists in dangerous areas like Kampala suddenly not be able to get their access to their cell phone, their emails and be cut off. by a president and Elon Musk who are in a ham-handed, incompetent way cutting funding that makes no sense and ultimately won’t make a difference on our deficit because the president wants to rack it up to give tax cuts to the wealthiest and create even bigger deficits in our country.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was New Jersey Senator Cory Booker on NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday. We’ll be joined by Florida Senator Rick Scott, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee. President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House today, where President Trump commented on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.
SPEAKER 09 :
I think the war could end soon. How soon? Within weeks. I think we could end it within weeks if we’re smart. If we’re not smart, it’ll keep going and we’ll keep losing young, beautiful people that shouldn’t be dying. And we don’t want that. And remember what I said. This could escalate into a third world war. And we don’t want that either.
SPEAKER 08 :
We’ll get insights on the war between Ukraine and Russia from Dr. A.J. Nolte, Director of the Master’s Program in International Development at Regent University. And finally, the Trump administration is supporting Israel’s decision to delay the release of over 600 terrorists and prisoners after Hamas’s latest degrading display that took place as hostages and the bodies of hostages were released over the weekend.
SPEAKER 12 :
Let me make this clear on behalf of the state of Israel. Israel will not overlook the inhumane, the degrading ceremonies that humiliate our hostages for propaganda.
SPEAKER 08 :
That was Israeli government spokesman David Mincer earlier today. David Mincer will join us later here on Washington Watch. Well, a new episode of God and Government is out today. God and Government is our new video-driven Bible-based training course designed for anyone wanting to impact the world around them with biblical truth. In this latest session, we look at the Bible’s sanctioned institutions of government. Can you name the four of them? Well, tune in to this week’s episode and you can find out. You can access the God and Government course on the Stand Firm app by texting COURSE to 67742. That’s COURSE to 67742. On Friday night, President Trump said he is retiring a select few senior officers in the Pentagon. That includes Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr., who has been serving as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the move was made to focus on the military’s core mission of deterring, fighting, and winning wars. Now, General Brown was known for his embrace of DEI. So this is not a major surprise. But how deep in the officer ranks could this course correction go? Joining us now is Florida Senator Rick Scott. He is a member of several Senate committees, including the Armed Services Committee, Homeland Security, and Foreign Relations. Senator Scott, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always good to see you.
SPEAKER 14 :
Tony, it’s always great to see you. Well, here, the President Trump got elected. He’s a commander-in-chief. He gets to put together his team. So that’s exactly what a president should do. He’s got his agenda. He got elected. He was very clear what he’s going to do. And so I think this is absolutely appropriate what he’s doing with regard to picking the military leaders that he believes will help defend this country.
SPEAKER 08 :
He didn’t do this last time, and it became a problem for him his entire four years.
SPEAKER 14 :
I think Milley was a disaster as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I never understood why, after Trump left, that he went and gave interviews for books about President Trump. So, yeah, he’s doing the right thing. It’s no different than what you should be doing if you build a business. You build your own team of people. Whatever you’re going to run, you build a team that believes in your mission, and that’s what he’s doing right here.
SPEAKER 08 :
So how deep into the ranks, the officer ranks, do you think the president’s going to have to go to make sure there’s this core correction when it comes to the mission of the military?
SPEAKER 14 :
I don’t know. I’m concerned. I’m concerned that he’s going to have to go deep to make sure he has dedicated. Look, it’s not that these people aren’t competent. It’s not that these people aren’t dedicated. It’s not that these individuals didn’t serve with honor. But you have to put the team that believes in President Trump’s agenda. That’s what he has to do.
SPEAKER 08 :
So as a as a United States senator, general officers, they’re nominated by the president, but they’re confirmed by the Senate. And so they have to come. Their names come before the Senate and the Senate can say yay or nay. I mean, will this criteria be considered when these general officers come before the Congress, before the Senate?
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely. I mean, I think what we want to do is we know the commander in chief was elected to lead our troops. And so it’s something that we’re going to take in consideration when we approve or not approve officers.
SPEAKER 08 :
Let’s talk, Senator Scott, about USAID that has had a mission since JFK of supposedly supporting our foreign policy. But it looks like over the last 50 years, it’s taken on a life of its own and not necessarily the priorities of the American people.
SPEAKER 14 :
Absolutely. I mean, they gave money for a cement factory in Gaza to help build tunnels for Hamas. They’re sending terrorists to the college on a full ride. They funded terrorist organizations. And what you find up here is that there’s so many of these federal agencies that have no focus on America. They think they have a separate mission, that they’re not accountable, because no one’s held them accountable before. So President Trump is doing the right thing.
SPEAKER 08 :
You know, you’ve run some pretty large businesses. And when something gets to a certain size, I mean, when you’re talking a federal government that’s spending trillions of dollars a year, $2 trillion in deficits a year, it’s hard to track, you know, $15 million in condoms to the Taliban through USAID, a million dollars to boost French-speaking LGBTQ2— GBTQ’d groups in West and Central Africa, you know, $50,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, and the list goes on. And there’s no oversight, and they can get away with it. But I think that this is about the only way that you can get a handle on federal spending is basically zero it out and start over.
SPEAKER 14 :
You know, first off, that’s what you do in business. I ran some very large companies. One of my companies had almost 300,000 employees. And every year we said, okay, so are we going to continue to spend money this way? Every program we’re doing, we’re going to say, is it worth it? Are we getting a return? Is it doing what we want it to do? And that’s what your federal government should be doing. So what you have to do is, and I had to do this as governor, you have to go through line by line by line. There are 4,000 lines of the budget in Florida. Every year in the budget, I went through line by line. We had a written purpose, and if it didn’t meet the purpose, we stopped spending the money. That’s what we have to do at the federal level. But unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that’s been done. So all of our agency heads, everybody involved, OMB, everybody, they’re going to have to start looking line by line to find out what’s going on. And by the way, what Elon Musk put out about you need to tell people what you did that week, That’s what you do in business. I can tell you what I did last week. I sent out a newsletter to all my constituents exactly what I did. I give my list of way more than five things that I’ve done. So what they’re doing, what Trump is doing, what Musk is doing, what our federal government is doing is creating the accountability that the Americans demand. They’re expected of it in their jobs and they’re expected out of their government now.
SPEAKER 08 :
Senator Scott, there’s few people, I think, in the Senate that have a better handle on numbers than you do. I mean, as you pointed out, you’ve run some fairly large businesses and you’re focused on the numbers. With the president’s approach to the federal government cutting wasteful spending, Elon Musk, who’s actually using algorithms to ferret out wasteful and fraudulent spending, Do you think the American people will be able to see a shrinking of the size of government and that this can go toward reducing our deficit and ultimately the debt that this nation has?
SPEAKER 14 :
We don’t really have a choice. As you know, where inflation is and where interest rates are is 100% caused by federal spending, massive federal spending. We’ve had a 2% increase in our population in the last five years and a 53% increase in spending, 53%. Are you getting 53% more out of your federal government? No, you’re not. You’re probably getting less out of your federal government. So we actually don’t have a choice if we want to get interest rates down and we want to get inflation under control. Now, who’s it hurt? The poor do fine. They own assets. They go up faster than probably inflation of value. Who gets hurt is the poor families, like my mom, that had to struggle to put food on the table. We lived in public housing. Those families are the ones that get hurt. So we have to balance this budget. President Trump is committed to balance the budget. You can balance the budget. I balanced the budget every year I was governor. Florida had not balanced its budget in 20 years before it became governor. The way you do it is you say, this is what we’re going to collect. We’re not going to spend more money than we collect. Congress just has not had the willpower to do that. We have to do that now.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, that last word is the key here. Congress has not done it because they’ve not had the will to do this. In fact, in the last Trump administration, I think it was his last budget, his budget was actually a pretty… pretty thin-line budget, reduced budget, but Congress beefed it up. He struck certain things out. Congress put it back in. Do you think there’s the intestinal fortitude among your colleagues to take this opportunity and get our fiscal house in order?
SPEAKER 14 :
I’m optimistic. We passed a budget resolution on last Thursday night. It set a top line for the 26th budget that will get us very close to a balanced budget. I like it to be balanced. But it was a trillion dollars less than what we’re spending right now. So now is it hard to get there? Yeah. But that’s what you do. That’s what every American has to do with their personal life. There are a lot of nice-to-haves. Maybe you could have it before, but things have changed. You can’t have it now. That’s exactly the way the federal government has. We have to think about the budget. We have to live with it. Our means to get inflation under control and get interest rates lower.
SPEAKER 08 :
Senator Scott, last question for you. As you look, and again, I respect your handle on the numbers because you’re serious about these things. You’ve been sounding the alarm on this for quite some time. Realistically, as we move toward that balanced budget, reducing the deficit and ultimately going after the debt, what’s the timeline there? How much time do we have and how long do you think it’ll take to happen?
SPEAKER 14 :
It should happen this year. It should happen next week. It’s just when are we going to decide it’s that important to us to do it? You know, we have a spending deadline of March 14th, or government gets shut down. Now, the Democrats want to shut down government right now, but I don’t want to shut down government, but I want to balance the budget. You could do it in a week. So it just depends on when we have the willpower to go do it. So I’m hoping it’s going to be soon. If not, it’s going to get worse and worse and worse. Inflation and interest rates are not going to come down.
SPEAKER 08 :
Right, right. Senator Scott, always great to see you. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today.
SPEAKER 14 :
It’s always great to be with you. Have a good day.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Florida Senator Rick Scott. All right. Don’t go away, because when we come back, Dr. A.J. Nolte from Regent University joins me to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and what will it take to bring peace to that region? That’s next. Don’t go away.
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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.
SPEAKER 07 :
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SPEAKER 08 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Good to have you with us. All right. Today marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. You may recall the invasion happened under the Biden administration’s watch while the conflict between the two nations had been simmering and occasionally flaring up for nearly a decade. Last week, President Trump said Ukrainian President Zelensky was responsible for the conflict. Now, how is the actually the question we should be asking is how so? Who is the real aggressor here and what will be required to see this conflict ended? Joining me now to discuss this, Dr. A.J. Nolte, Chair of the Government Graduate Program and Director of the International Development Master’s Program at Regent University, and he is also the Director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent. Dr. Nolte, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always good to have you on the program.
SPEAKER 03 :
Tony, always good to be here.
SPEAKER 08 :
So President Trump recently said this war was started by Ukraine. Help us understand the context for this statement and how this war developed as we see it today.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think President Trump may have been alluding to a line of argumentation that the Russians, as well as some scholars in academia, have made, which is that essentially the war was provoked by Ukraine taking a more Western orientation, potentially the possibility that they might join NATO, the possibility that they might join Russia. the European Union. And the argument is that because Russia views Ukraine as part of its sphere of influence and as a buffer against the West, that this was provocative. Now, That argument makes a couple of assumptions, one of which is that Ukraine is not a sovereign nation. My understanding, at least, is that a lot of the folks in Trump’s orbit and sometimes Trump have referred to themselves as nationalists. Nationalism at its core is the idea that sovereign countries get to make their own decisions. And certainly we wouldn’t want somebody else Canada, for example, having a veto on treaties that we as the United States could make. And so what Russia is saying is Ukraine is being aggressive because they, as a sovereign country, are considering joining organizations that we, the Russians, find threatening. And so it’s sort of a bizarre argument, but that certainly is the perspective that the Russians are retailing, at least publicly.
SPEAKER 08 :
I mean, but under what… I mean, under what framework would that justify an invasion?
SPEAKER 03 :
It doesn’t. To be very blunt, this is a justification. And it’s been a justification that the Russians have made for many of their aggressive moves against their neighbors, whether it’s Ukraine, whether it’s Georgia. whether it’s making threatening noises toward the Baltics. I mean, I think you have to understand the worldview and the ideology of Vladimir Putin, which is that he believes wholeheartedly that the collapse of the Soviet Union was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th century. Let me say that again. Putin believes the collapse of the Soviet Union was a tragedy. And so when he sees this as aggressive, he sees a lot of these countries that are now sovereign, independent countries as Russian territory. Now, that’s not supported under international law. That’s not something that anybody else believes. But it’s part of Putin’s narrative of how the world is supposed to work. Who’s the antagonist in that? It’s the United States. And what is so frustrating is that, time and time again, American presidents have said, maybe we’re to blame. Maybe we’re the reason that we just can’t have better relationships with Putin. Obama sent him the reset button, talked about having more flexibility after the election in 2012. We’ve heard this from early, early on. Trump said he could deal with him. Even President Biden allowed for the passage of the Nord Stream pipeline, which is a major gas pipeline, to soften the policies of the Trump administration. President Bush said he looked into Putin’s eyes and saw his soul. Every single time one of those American presidents has done that, Putin has responded with some form of aggression against his neighbors. And so the reality is, in many ways, President Trump is very innovative in terms of foreign policy. He likes to think outside the box. But his rhetoric about Russia and Ukraine is essentially doing the same thing that every administration has tried with Putin in the past and expecting a different result.
SPEAKER 08 :
So let me draw kind of a parallel here, something you’d be familiar with. When we look at Israel and what happened there after October the 7th, one of the arguments pushing back against the international community saying, well, we need to give Hamas land that they wanted. We need to move forward with a two-state solution. And of course, Israel and even the United States saying that, well, that would be rewarding the terrorist for what they did. Are we not doing something very similar here in the discussion with Russia after invading Ukraine? We’re kind of siding with them, saying, well, you can keep this land as we’re understanding the negotiations as they’re being proposed.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes. So I want to make a distinction here between some of the rhetoric that’s coming out and some of the proposals. In terms of the proposals, I think a lot of the proposals about allowing for annexation have more to do with a recognition of exhaustion on both the part of the Russians and Ukrainians than with an idea that this is a just outcome. It’s more along the lines of There’s a concern that there’s not realistically enough capacity on the Ukrainian or the Western Allied side to allow Ukraine to retake that territory. So that is a pragmatic kind of realpolitik. This is the best we can get. Putin wanted to take the entire country, and so survival is some sort of victory type of argument. I don’t necessarily know if I buy it, but I think that’s a reasonable position. Where I’m a little bit more skeptical is this idea that in the course of these negotiations, we need to pretend as though Russia didn’t invade a sovereign neighbor because it was taking actions that, as a sovereign nation, it’s allowed to do, and because of an idea that in some sense, as Putin said in Russian language, that Ukraine was a historical mistake. Now, if somebody invades your country and says your country is a historical mistake, I would think as a good nationalist, somebody would say, well, no, that you have a right to defend yourself.
SPEAKER 08 :
So as you point out, the rhetoric, one thing, what we actually, the resolution that we come out with is another. My concern is in some of this rhetoric that words matter. And when we say certain things, tyrants and terrorists around the world are listening to these things and they’re taking their cues off of them. And so we’re up against a break, Dr. Nolte. I want to talk on the other side of the break Some of the, again, the rhetoric about how Zelensky, and I’m not, I’m agnostic. I’m not a big fan. I don’t think we should have been involved there. to the degree that we were anyway. But I’m just concerned about some of the rhetoric. And I want to talk about the issue of him being a dictator, not holding elections. I mean, who’s the real dictator here between Ukraine and Russia? So we’re going to talk about that next when we come back from the break. Folks, Dr. A.J. Nolte, my guest, talking about the war in its third year there in Russia, between Russia and Ukraine. We’re going to continue that conversation on the other side of the break. So don’t go away.
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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.
SPEAKER 08 :
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.
SPEAKER 10 :
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.
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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.
SPEAKER 13 :
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 08 :
Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us. If you’ve not downloaded the FRC StandFirm app, I encourage you to do so. That way you can watch Washington Watch no matter where you go. So you can go to the App Store, download the StandFirm app. My guest, Dr. A.J. Nolte, Chair of the Government Graduate Program and Director of the International Development Master’s Program at Regent University. All right, Dr. Nolte. The end of this, where the president ends up, I may be completely in agreement with. But I want to focus for just a moment, again, as we were talking about the rhetoric, the things that are being said, that I think… I guess I place a high priority on words. Words matter, and they literally shape the course of behavior and action. And I’m not here to defend… Vladimir Zelensky, but I certainly know the record of President Putin in Russia. Let’s talk a little bit about his record and who the real dictator is here.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. So the argument that Zelensky is a dictator is based on the fact that after the invasion of Ukraine, in which major cities were being bombed on a regular basis and all sorts of military action was happening rapidly, the Ukrainian president and parliament jointly declared martial law. And the martial law decree has been in effect since 2022. It would require both the president and parliament to remove that martial law decree. There are some people that have argued that the martial law decree should be removed. I think if you want pretty good evidence that Zelensky is not a dictator, look at the fact that he offered to resign this weekend and said, if you guarantee the security of – if I’m the problem, and if you need to get rid of me to guarantee the security of Ukraine, then I’m happy to resign. That’s not a thing that dictators do. We can contrast that with Vladimir Putin, who has essentially either rigged or severely harassed, intimidated any opposition, rigged elections, done everything that you would expect from a dictator, changed the unilaterally change of the Constitution so he could run for more terms. Briefly, he, quote, unquote, stepped aside, but he was still the prime minister. He put in one of his close allies, Dmitri Medvedev, as president for a few minutes. But Medvedev basically did everything that Putin told him to do. So I think it’s very clear at this point that the guy who’s been in power since 1999 and has a constitutional remit to stay president until 2036 is probably the dictator.
SPEAKER 08 :
So let’s talk about how he’ll respond if there is a peace agreement. Can we trust him to abide by the terms of any peace agreement?
SPEAKER 03 :
I would say past performance is indicative that the answer is no. He has generally, if given any opportunity to take more, he has done that in the past. You could look at Georgia in 2008. You could look at Ukraine in 2014. This isn’t the first time that Putin has invaded Ukraine and taken territory. In 2014, it was Crimea and parts of the Donbas, which are the areas where often the war is still going on now. it doesn’t seem like he has really had any respect for any past peace agreement. And so the danger that you have with the Trump administration, with the course that the president is taking right now, is, you know, you surrender the high ground, you get a peace. And then a couple of years down the line, when you’re in your final year of office, potentially, which is when Trump likes to do your Putin likes to do things like this, then all of a sudden he decides to go again. And then, you know, as a lame duck president with a presidential election in the background, you’ve got to make a very difficult decision I would say a tough line with Putin now is probably going to get you a better outcome than a more conciliatory approach, particularly given that every administration that’s tried conciliation with Putin in the past, it hasn’t worked. Trump won. The first Trump administration was very good, very tough on Russia in terms of policy. And I would encourage President Trump to look back at the successes vis-a-vis Russia of his first administration and take that posture, and not the failures of Obama and Biden, because, unfortunately, conciliation with Putin has a lot more to do with the strategy of the Obama administration than it does with his first – Trump’s first administration.
SPEAKER 08 :
I think, Dr. Noosley, we all want to see peace. As the president said, young people are dying there. The cost, both in human lives and material, has been exorbitant. But is the administration, is the Trump administration too focused on getting to a deal and overlooking what you just laid out as the possible long-term consequences of a quick deal?
SPEAKER 03 :
I would encourage the folks in the Trump administration to look at what recently happened with the Israel hostage deal, where it was like, we need to get a deal. We need to start getting the hostages out. We need to set things up in such a way that we can get to some sort of agreement. And then you got an agreement. And it has been such a horrific experience for Israel. And it just created all these Hobson’s choices for Israel and for supporters. And I would be very much concerned about a quick push for a deal that doesn’t have teeth and doesn’t have a real way of making sure that Putin is going to comply, putting the United States and our allies in the exact same position.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, Dr. Nelty, just one minute left. So what does a good deal look like?
SPEAKER 03 :
think a good deal would require some sort of guarantees for Ukraine that would protect its national sovereignty and its right to exist as a nation, guarantees that would be provided by the U.S. and our allies. I do think the president is right. The Europeans need to step up more. But the United States is going to have to be involved to a certain extent. And I think ultimately, one of the things the Trump administration is doing that is very good is domestic energy production will weaken Russia’s energy weapon. And so we can hope that with those things combined, there can be a positive outcome in the future. But ultimately, a good deal right now, I think, is going to be very hard to find.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right. Dr. Nolte, always great to have you on the program. Thanks so much for joining us today, my friend.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 08 :
Glad to be here. All right, Dr. A.J. Nolte of Regent University. Don’t go anywhere, because when we come back, Israeli government spokesman David Mincer joins me to unpack the latest developments in the ceasefire and the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas. So don’t go anywhere. We’re back after this.
SPEAKER 04 :
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.
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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.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us on this Monday. All right, a new episode of God in Government is out today. God in Government is our new video-driven, Bible-based training course that’s designed for anyone and everyone wanting to make an impact on the world around them with biblical truth. Now, in this new session, we look at the Bible’s sanctioned institutions of government. Now, let me ask you a question. Can you name the four institutions ordained by God to govern? Well, if you tune into this week’s God and Government episode, you’ll be able to answer that question. You can access the God and Government course on the Stand Firm app. If you don’t have the Stand Firm app, well, you need to. You can go to the App Store and get the Stand Firm app or simply text COURSE to 67742. That’s COURSE to 67742, and I’ll send you a link. Our word for today comes from Jeremiah 29, as the Lord warns the people not to follow the false prophets. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them, says the Lord. So here’s a question. How do we discern the truth and detect a lie? Well, Jeremiah offers two key tests. First, does the prophecy come to pass? Now, this criterion may require patience, as predictions sometimes take time to unfold. However, consistent fulfillment is a hallmark of divine revelation. Second, does the prophecy align with God’s Word? A true message from the Lord will never contradict Scripture. For centuries, genuine prophets, including Jeremiah, had warned about impending judgment. As events began to unfold, the people had to decide whom they would believe. To find out more about our journey through the Bible, text BIBLE to 67742. That’s BIBLE to 67742. Well, in the latest developments in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces yesterday carried out orders that tanks be deployed into Judea and Samaria for the first time in over two decades. The IDF is potentially looking at an extended stay in the region so it can eradicate terrorist activity that has continued to threaten security and stability within Israel since Hamas launched its attack on Israel in October of 2023. Now, this followed three bus explosions outside of Tel Aviv last week. Here now with all the latest developments is David Mincer. He is the Israeli government spokesman for the National Public Diplomacy Directorate in the office of the prime minister. David, it’s an honor to have you with us. Thanks so much for joining us here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 12 :
Tony, the honor is all mine. As you know, we recently met in Washington, D.C., and I can’t tell you how moved we were from the prime minister to all of the team in his office to meet with you, together with other pastors, together with other Christians. You know, we met you on the night before we went into the White House to meet with President Trump and his team. And the strength which you gave us, the love which you showed us, the support which you shared with us that Monday evening, just before that Tuesday when we went in to see President Trump, was tear-jerking for me personally. And a real boost because in so many parts of the world, we are criticized. And around that table, Tony, as you know, with Christian pastors and other supporters, friends of Israel from the Christian evangelical community, we only felt love. And for that, we are supremely grateful.
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Well, David, I can just say one word. It’s genuine. It is certainly genuine. And we were actually I was thrilled to get a chance to talk to you. I watch your briefings each day. And so it was good to visit with you and get a little bit of your background and how you came into your present role there with the prime minister, with the government of Israel. Before we get into current events, and there’s always a lot happening in Israel, there was – Uncertainty going into that first meeting. This was President Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader as he has returned to the White House. Did that meeting the following day exceed the expectations that you all had?
SPEAKER 12 :
I think you could say it met our expectations and it exceeded our expectations because when President Trump said the things that he did, I was in the Oval Office and I can tell you a gasp went out amongst those cynical journalists who have heard it all before. a gasp went out on President Trump’s ideas to move this region forward, to blast aside what are considered to be the established truisms, which aren’t true. The parameters which we’ve worked under for so many years, President Trump blew those aside. And his out-of-the-box thinking was so welcomed by the Israeli delegation from the prime minister, together with the other ministers which joined us in the Oval Office. And then following that, in the East Room, President Trump wowed us all with his out-of-the-box thinking. No one, no president has ever been as forward-thinking to try and suggest the things which he’s done. And Israel is extremely grateful You know, let me just say this, Tony. The purpose of what Hamas did to Israel on October the 7th was to tear apart, one of the purposes which they tried to do of that terrorism was to tear apart the relationship between Israel and the United States. They wanted to do that by sacrificing their own people, by hiding amongst their own civilians, and they wanted to do that by means of the protests on US media, on European media, on international media to tear apart the relationship between Israel and the United States. But what occurred to me as the prime minister’s car went down that drive towards the entrance of the White House, on this, the first visit of an international leader to the White House for President Trump’s second term, What occurred to me is how badly Hamas had failed. They had failed miserably because here was President Trump in the first week or two of his second term. And the first international leader which he came to the door to welcome was Prime Minister Netanyahu. He welcomed us. We felt the love from his administration as well. And it’s something so important because When terror knows that there’s no daylight between Israel and the US, then they will retreat. When they see that daylight, which is what they wanted, then they get stronger. There is no daylight now. Our prime minister and your president are in regular contact, as with every single layer of this government and your administration. And that means that terror is retreating and the forces of democracy, truth, and justice are winning.
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It’s clearly a sea change from what we had a year ago in the previous administration, and I’ve seen this repeated since that joint press conference. Our president, as late as of this past weekend, once again stating what… quite frankly, I prefer to hear, and that is, it’s Israel’s decision, we’ll back them up. I don’t think America should be dictating one way or the other what Israel does. I think we should certainly be open, and I think we are, to consult and to help in any way we can, but basically it’s to back up. And that was the word that came out of the White House this weekend as it pertained to delaying the release of these prisoners because of the humiliating treatment that has taken place in the exchange of the hostages. So give us the latest on that, David, where it stands with the delay of the release of this latest batch of terrorist prisoners that have been held by Israel.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, let me share with you, this has been a very difficult few days here in Israel. We, of course, welcomed back, you know, the human face has two eyes. And I think Israel showed that it’s possible to cry out of one eye and at the same time have some hope. welcome news. We welcomed back the Bebass family, those two boys, Ariel and Kafir Bebass, four years old and 10 months old. We welcomed back their body. So in one sense, It was good to get them back, even though, of course, they have been murdered. Our forensic specialists here in Israel, who unfortunately have had too much practice dealing with the outcomes of Palestinian terror. were able to ascertain that these were indeed the two Bebas boys, those two redheaded boys whose posters have warmed the hearts and really enlightened the hearts of so many people around the world. But of course, their mother in a last devilish action by Hamas. Their mother, their body was not in that, was not in that. We did not welcome her back. It was a Gazan woman whose body Hamas had replaced her with. But then on Friday night, that body did come home. And on Wednesday, that family, Shiri Bibas and her two children, will be laid to rest. Now, our president, our prime minister has said from the very beginning of this war that our war aims have been absolutely clear since the October 7th massacre when Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. We said clearly that we’re going to destroy Hamas’s governing and military capability, we’re going to release all of our hostages, and we’re going to ensure that Gaza does not become a threat to Israel again. Now, these objectives remain true today, as when the prime minister said them, and our prime minister and your president and Mr. Witkoff are speaking extremely regularly about our hostages, and we will not rest until we get them all out. I must say to you, Tony, that we’ve become sadly jaded with the evil of Hamas. But the last few days watching them use babies, bodies, Jewish babies, bodies from propaganda, it shook all of us here in Israel. An outrageous spectacle with Palestinian children jeering at those caskets with mothers and fathers bringing garlands out to cheer at those caskets. The most appalling spectacle. Our prime minister has made clear that this is cannot be business as usual. Yes, we want to get every single one of our hostages home. But these outrageous displays of propaganda, these cannot be allowed to pass. And for that reason, excuse me, the prime minister and the government said that the next release of 600 Palestinian terrorists will be delayed until such time as we can be sure that we end these appalling propaganda displays against not only the Jewish people, these are displays against humanity. The appalling use of children in this terrorism is outrageous.
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I can’t imagine any civilized society tolerating that. I want to go back to the forensic scientists that have taken and had the unfortunate responsibility of identifying these bodies. But more evidence was uncovered on how these children died. Can you speak to that?
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Yes. Unfortunately, our forensic pathologists determined that the children had been strangled by hand. And then in the most appalling defilement of human children’s bodies, some sort of subterfuge had been made to make it look as if they had been killed, as Hamas said, in an Israeli airstrike. That was not true. That was a lie. Our scientists conclusively determined that. They were strangled by this evil, evil terrorist organization, together with an 84-year-old man, And those four bodies have now been recovered by Israel. We didn’t need any reminding. Indeed, the Jewish people don’t need any reminding of what evil looks like. But this weekend, we saw that evil in the face. But I’ll tell you, Tony, this country is determined. We are resolute that we will not allow this evil organization to live or to rule over Gaza anymore. Our priority is to bring our people home. Yes, of course, we will try to get the living home and the dead for a decent burial. But as the Prime Minister has made clear, there is no circumstance where this evil organisation of Hamas can remain in power in any way, shape or form in Gaza. It simply won’t happen.
SPEAKER 08 :
David, we just have about a minute left, and I’m not going to have time to fully unpack this, but I made a reference at the top of this segment that tanks have gone into Judea and Samaria, linked to the bus bombings last week. We’re not getting international news coverage of what’s really happening in Judea and Samaria. That is a hotbed of terrorist activity, is it not?
SPEAKER 12 :
Absolutely right. This operation, this expanded operation against terror in northern Samaria has been made bigger, expanded. Dozens of terrorists have been eliminated. Hundreds of wanted terrorists have been arrested. And there have been many terror infrastructures which have been attacked from the air and the ground. Look, I’ll make this simple. We were surprised on October the 7th by Iran and their proxy Hezbollah. They’re trying to do it again. in Judea and Samaria, we will not let that happen. There will be no safe havens for terrorists in Judea and Samaria. We’ve sent our tanks in, and we’re putting them there for as long as necessary to ensure that we will not be surprised again.
SPEAKER 08 :
All right, David Minzer, we’re going to have to leave it there, but I look forward to talking to you again real soon. Thanks so much for taking time to join us today.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s a pleasure to be with you, Tony, and thank you very much for your support and for, indeed, the support of all Christians across the U.S.
SPEAKER 08 :
Absolutely, without question. Folks, I want to thank you for joining us as well. And until next time, you know what to do. Just keep standing.
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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.
