Trump to Name Vice Presidential Running Mate Monday Afternoon

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Get started now at Bluehost.com. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes.

All right.

Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Starnes radio program. It is a breaking news edition of the show, and we do have a lot of breaking news to get to. By the way, we understand that President Trump will be making his vice presidential announcement this afternoon. We will, whatever information we can share with you, we will bring to you.

there are rumblings of course about jd vance and forbes magazine is now reporting that vance and his family are leaving their home in a in a pretty heavily fortified motorcade so you can read into that whatever you will but we'll keep you updated on those developments of course jd vance being mentioned as one of the possible running mates for president trump also glenn yunkin being mentioned as a possible choice as well. If that happens, then Winsome Sears becomes the first black governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

So anyway, we'll keep you updated on those stories as well.

So no doubt it was a strange weekend in American history. And I don't know about you, I'm still sort of processing what all went down, but I can tell you this, I am angry. And I believe that my anger is righteous, but I went to bed over the weekend angry, and I woke up angry. And I watched the president's remarks last night, President Biden's remarks. As a matter of fact, yours truly was anchoring those remarks live on Newsmax.

and as I heard Biden speak I can tell you that I didn't believe a word that was coming out of his mouth you know this is a man who says that we all need to come together that we need to tone down the reticule I say you first you first Joe Biden as a matter of fact it's time for the Democrats to stand up rise up together and tell their followers to stand down but they're not going to do that they're not for years and it started the day donald j trump came down that beautiful golden escalator on fifth avenue inside trump tower it started at that moment the attacks the hate the vitriol they have they have tried to destroy this man and and i've mentioned this a number of times on on the program over the years that i was concerned that they would try and and take out president trump many of you have said the exact same thing and it is uh it's a very dangerous place that the democrat party has put this country in but it's because of their rhetoric they're the ones that are calling president trump and his followers an existential threat to democracy in america they're the ones that are accusing president trump of being a fascist they're the ones who went out there and told president trump that he was a russian asset they're the ones and whenever trump tried to defend himself what did they do they slapped him with a gag order they raided their they raided the trump home and i want you to think about this and we're going to get into the secret service component i've got a lot of things to say and we're going to be taking your calls as well but i want you to i want you to think about something for a moment and you have to go back to the pre-dawn guns drawn raid on mar-a-lago when the secret service and we now know this right the fbi and the secret service the fbi was given orders to shoot to open fire if necessary you see i think they really wanted trump to be home at mar-a-lago when that raid happened that's what i think now you can say oh well it's a conspiracy theory you can say whatever you want to say but there is a genuine hate directed at Donald Trump now just understand this the gunman believed to be 20 years old so for the past at least eight years this kid growing up was was taught if he watched any television at all if he read any newspapers that Donald Trump was the greatest threat to America so it's a little disingenuous for Joe Biden to go out there on national television and say we need to tone down the rhetoric well of course we do but why aren't you telling the Democrats to tone down their rhetoric and with all due respect and by the way CBS News and we got a lot of audio to play as well we I'm telling you folks we're loaded for bear today CBS News coming out over the weekend and saying they're very disappointed because Trump came out with this beautiful statement over the weekend and they were like, well, he didn't tell his supporters to stand down. There wasn't a reconciliation tone.

Well, no kidding, Sherlock. The man just nearly got his head blown off. I mean, good Lord. This is what we're talking about here. And it would have made a lot more sense, and quite frankly, maybe, just maybe, if Joe Biden would have come out and said, oh, you know what?

it needs to start here. You know what? We do need to tone down the rhetoric, and it needs to start right here in this office. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the things I've said about Donald Trump over the years.

I'm sorry for calling him Hitler. I'm sorry for calling him an existential threat to American democracy. I'm sorry for all of that. But he never did. He never did.

And they never will because they're not taking personal responsibility for their actions they're not taking personal responsibility for their behavior none whatsoever this president has been attacked non-stop and it's gotta it's just gotta stop cut number 16 i said no i said if we're in high school i'd take him behind the gym and beat the hell out of him i will go and take trump out tonight Too many see the protests as the problem. Please, show me where it says that protests are supposed to be polite and peaceful. Go to the Hill today. Get up in the face of some Congress people. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, you get up and you create a crowd.

And you push back on them. And you tell them they're not welcome. Running away from Donald Trump, I think you need to go back and punch him in the face. You know, there needs to be unrest in the streets for as long as there's unrest in our lives. They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump.

And that's a fact. That's the rhetoric, ladies and gentlemen.

Now, look, this is a pro-life radio program. We don't celebrate death on this program. We don't go out there and call for people to be killed. That's not what we do here. But you know what?

That's the language coming from the left. There are people out there, Democrats, actually celebrating, celebrating the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Celebrating. All this man wanted to do was make America great again, and they want to kill the man.

Now, I don't know about you, and I'm not quite sure. We don't have all of the facts, but we should have the facts by now. And the reason why, and by the way, where's the Secret Service? Why aren't they out there holding their press conferences? Why is it the Secret Service was not part of the law enforcement lineup in the aftermath, the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt?

Where were they?

Now, I will say this, that there are a lot of weird things coming out from the narrative here. And this is the narrative. This is what they want you to believe. And if you don't believe this, if you don't buy this explanation, then you're some sort of an Alex Jones conspiracy theorist. They want you to believe that a 20-year-old who, according to his friends, could not even join the high school gun club because he had horrible aim.

This 20-year-old kid was able to walk into the perimeter. He was able to walk up onto the roof of this building, 150 feet away from President Trump. you had all of these people out there alerting the authorities and by the way there's plenty of video out there that backs all of this up nobody did anything about it and this kid is able to get off a couple of shots had it not been for Donald Trump turning his head he would be a dead man today and I would contend that we would be in the early stages of a civil war in this country. That's how serious of a situation all of this is. But they want you to believe that a 20-year-old with no experience, with no social media presence at all, with no manifesto, no statement, nothing, they want you to think this 20-year-old just decided that he was going to get up one day, climb onto this building 150 feet away from Donald Trump, and open fire.

That's what they want you to believe, that it was some sort of a random thing. It had nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with anything. The guy just wanted to go and shoot somebody. That's what they want you to believe. My question is, do you believe that to be the case?

Are you buying what they're telling us in the early stages of this investigation? Nobody can find anything about this kid. Do you find that to be odd? or is it possible just remotely possible ladies and gentlemen that maybe just maybe what happened was they didn't want to release any information until they were able to scrub every single social media platform of any reference to this kid maybe just maybe that's what happened but i'm not buying any of it and by the way the uh i don't want to hear the arguments about oh well, he's a registered Republican. No, no, no, no.

You see, in Pennsylvania, you register, by the way, you register to vote Republican, and you can vote in the primaries. But apparently, there's some information out there that this kid apparently gave money to some left-wing groups. But again, there's no information about this guy. They don't want you to know anything about what happened. I got a big problem with that.

A big problem. All right, 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. Here is a CNN guest. And I'm telling you, what's happening and what's coming out of the media is so despicable right now.

Cut 25.

Now, if someone is shot with a bullet that pierces the upper part of your right ear, wouldn't that bullet also continue onto someone's skull and create a much more dangerous situation?

So that's a great question, Wolf. And, you know, what the intent of a shooter with a rifle in an attempted assassination is to get that bullet to go into the head and across. what may have happened here is that either the way the former president turned or the angle that the shooter had on that shot it may have just grazed the outside piercing the skin and carrying on what's going to be really interesting and this is how we're going to know whether it was hit by a ricochet or a fragment or a graze wound is what did they recover from that wound is there a piece of a metal jacket from a round that was fired that they have all right so there's cnn wolf blitzer trying to downplay all of this they're literally trying to downplay what happened to donald trump there's literally a chunk of his ear missing and had it not been for the president turning his head he would be dead today this is where we are so we've got a lot to talk about and i don't know about you, but I am angry. And I hope that you are angry too. We need to be demanding answers.

Now, I will say this, that one of the things we've done is we're flying the Trump banner on our building. And I would encourage all of you to do that. Your building, your home, your car, you say, well, Todd, I don't want people to know that I'm a Trump supporter. They may say something about me. They may, I don't know, egg my house.

Look, I've heard all of these arguments. Look, I hear this all the time in Memphis, Tennessee. People don't even want to put a bumper sticker on their car.

Well, I don't want my car to get broken in. You know what? Forget that. Donald Trump took a bullet for this country. The least you can do is support this president and show your support.

I'm tired of hiding. I hope you are, too. Don't be a coward. You get out there and you be proud of who you are. Be proud of the America First movement.

Be proud of the Republican Party. Be proud of Donald Trump. All right, we got to take a break here. 901-260-5926. We're going to your phone calls.

We'll be right back. Hi, this is Todd Stearns, and I want to update you on my Calitrin journey. I'm still losing weight. I'm also sleeping a lot better, and I've got a lot more energy. Calitrin really is about more than just weight loss.

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That's tofloss.com. And be sure to use that discount code, Todd. All right, folks. Welcome back to the Todd Stearns Radio Program. And, of course, breaking news, Trump getting ready to name his VP.

That will happen today. Forbes magazine showing video footage outside of J.D. Vance's home in Ohio, where a number of police vehicles are and a serious police presence outside the home of J.D. Vance.

So we'll keep you updated there. All right, let's go right to the phones. I'm going to start the day in Maine. WLOB is our great radio affiliate there. Dan on the line.

hi dan what say you hi todd good afternoon good afternoon dan after watching and listening to everything there is absolutely no question that president trump was set up by the secret service when you see the videos of uh people on the ground showing this man climbing up on the roof delivering his way up to getting notifying law enforcement and then the secret service was aware that he was there and they waited for him to take a shot before they take him out there's no there's no doubt in my mind president Trump was set up by the secret service there there are a lot of questions that i have dan about the about the secret service and the sharpshooters now the secret service they're throwing the local police department under the bus. They're saying the local police department was responsible for securing the perimeter. I say that's a load of hooey. The Secret Service, it's their job. Their job is to protect the former president of these great United States, and they failed that job.

I mean, it's really that simple. I agree, because all along through this administration, they deflect whatever they say, accuse Trump of doing. It's what they're doing, and the Secret Service is doing the exact same thing here so uh heads need to roll on this and uh we need to get to the bottom of it well we do and and dan it's you really believe that the secret service allowed president trump to get shot over the weekend i do all right dan appreciate that call uh do you agree with dan ladies and gentlemen, do you believe there was a conspiracy here? 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

You know, what really struck me is you had all of these female agents that were protecting Trump. They were what, 5'5", 5'6"? President Trump is what, 6'3"? I don't see how they could possibly do their job you had one you had one of the agents who couldn't even holster her weapon and then you had the um if you see the image and you'll see it online you you've got the the male agents the men seem to be doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing they literally threw their bodies on top of donald trump and then you've got one of the female agents literally literally in a coward position behind everybody you're supposed to put your life on the line put your life between the president and the bullet. Isn't that what's supposed to happen here?

All right, let's go to Janice in North Carolina. Hi, Janice. What say you? Hey, I was listening to you, and you're right. President Trump took a bullet for us, and we need to display some kind of anything that we can display.

Those banners you're talking about, Where can we get those? You can get them typically if you have a local flag store. In Memphis, Tennessee, I know we have a great flag store over on Summer Avenue, ladies and gentlemen, for all of our Memphis listeners. If you're in Collierville, Tennessee, I know that the Army Depot downtown, they've got them. But, Janice, just call and call your local Republican headquarters.

They may have some flags as well. Janice, got to run. We have full lines. Keep calling, ladies and gentlemen. We're going to get to all of your calls, 901-260-5926.

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Happy to have you with us. And I don't know about you, but I have become more resolved to do whatever I can do to make sure that Donald J. Trump gets back into that White House. They have tried to destroy this man. And again, the reporting is that, well, that the shooter, we don't know why he did it.

There was no footprint there. There were no social media posts. I'm not buying any of it.

Now, one of two things happened with the Secret Service, and it was either an accident or something more nefarious was going on. It was either intentional or incidental. but when you've got people in the audience people in the crowd literally shouting at police as the guy is crawling on his belly across the rooftop and you're telling me nobody saw that you're telling me that they allowed this uh this sick thug to get off shots while they had the guy in their in their sites i i don't believe that but again of late over the past two years uh we know because of the videos coming out from the secret service that the most pressing issue for the secret service was diversity they wanted to make sure they had a bunch of dei hires and quite frankly when you look at whoever was protecting donald trump it looked like you had melissa mccarthy and rosie o'donnell down there let's go to the phones here 901-260-5926 let's go to kathy in memphis tennessee listening to us on kwham hi kathy what say you oh i yeah the the secret service women that are around him pretty much uh went up to about his waist that was funny if somebody's going to take out his knees i guess they would have stood in the way of that i don't think they would have kathy i think no i don't think they would have i think they would have jumped out of the way oh gosh i'll tell you another thing here's something though for you to look into i found this on bit shoot early this morning there was a witness to uh what happened this guy was actually sitting in the bleachers behind donald trump and one of the men who died who was killed was right next to him on his left hand side and he got shot in the head and this man was absolutely positive that the guy that that was killed next to him was shot from underneath the bleachers because he was shot in the back of the head and the man said i guarantee you three shots came from under the bleachers so that the guy that was the guy crawling around on top over there that the secret service then shot you know i think he was sort of like if he got a shot well good enough for him but i think he was their uh decoy and i think they had another shooter up under the bleachers because it turned out now another person has come up this is about an hour ago well yeah yeah kathy i haven't heard any of that uh from any of my sources and i have very good sources i haven't heard any of that um there was i know glenn beck actually shared a photograph of what appeared to be a hole uh in trump's suit coat uh trump was wearing um body armor so he was wearing protection underneath the suit um and and Beck was asking whether or not, you know, was that one of the bullets? I don't think so, only because of the trajectory. The guy was aiming for a kill shot, so he was aiming for Trump's head.

So whether or not there was somebody under the bleachers, we haven't heard anything about that. And we do know that at least two other people were critically injured. We do not know the extent of their injuries, but we understand, at least for one of them it will be a life-changing injury so kathy appreciate that call let's go to gary in daytona beach all right gary what do you what do you think went down i think uh it's intentional incompetence um so figure that one out there is there's no way to they dodged the press conferences afterwards and that's not like them they dodged it the next day They'll put out a written statement. I believe there is plenty enough people there to protect President Trump. I believe the incompetence was that they really didn't, they weren't concerned enough about the outer perimeter, that they call it the outer perimeter.

I heard one of the special agents that was retired say that we should consider it like with a ship's captain. You can be sleeping in your bunk or your quarters, and if they hit a reef, it's still your fault.

So I think the director, but someone said, Biden never fires anybody. You're demoted.

So there's a bad chance on the director of the Secret Service stepping down. But, no, I think it was intentional. The fact that they were nonchalant, lackadaisical, because after the shots were fired, my son and I were watching. there was dozens within seconds not minutes there were dozens of sold like soldier type with armor gear and body armor and all that right near president trump they it's like they unloaded truckloads of uh of protection and you know there's so there's no reason there wasn't protection on that building well and if nothing else and you know again it's not just that you know they show up at these events there are pre-site visits at least there used to be there would be pre-site visits uh they would look at all sorts of landmarks in the area to see where there might be potential threats um and i i'm just curious how is it that you don't look at a rooftop what 150 200 yards away and you don't see that as being an issue why was the building not secured where were the drones Was there any aerial support? I mean, you had thousands of people at that rally, Gary.

So, I mean, a lot of questions. And it very well may lead up to being incompetence, but they should already know that by now. And the Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheadle, ought to be out of a job. As far as the rhetoric goes, it's funny they had to cancel Morning Joe this morning because they weren't positive that the guest lineups wouldn't be offensive. and rightfully so, because that's where all of this hate has been spewing from.

And look, it was one of the best programming decisions MSDNC has made so far. Gary, thank you for the call there. Appreciate that. 901-260-5926. Let's go to Webb in Maine, WLOB.

Hi, Webb. What's on your mind? Hi, Todd. A couple of things. Number one, we ought to hire, Mr.

Trump ought to hire people as a personal protection unit, his own Praetorian Guard, because obviously there's something going on with the government people. And where he might pick them from are all the people who were thrown out of the military because they wouldn't take the clock shot.

Well, that may not be a bad idea there, Webb.

So you think that Trump should have his own personal security? I mean, he was very kind-hearted when it came to the Secret Service and the guys getting him out of there. But I'm not sure if the president saw those women who were surrounding him, those female agents. Quite frankly, they appear to be pretty worthless, if you ask me. Todd, the whole thing smells to high heaven.

First of all as you pointed out they knew he was there They did nothing that not what the Secret Service is supposed to do Second of all if this fellow it turns out that he couldn hit the side of a barn how did he get within a millimeter of Trump's head? It's a great point. And again, President Trump telling the New York Post earlier today that a chunk of his ear was blown off.

So it wasn't as if he was hit by, you know, the original reporting was he was hit by glass from the teleprompter. But now we understand that he was actually shot. There is some more video, and Webb, I don't know if you've seen this, but right just before the shooting, you had agents moving people out of the way.

now my question is all right why were the agents moving those into these specific individuals why were they moved out of the way what was going on there what did they know that would cause them to move those people do we have any comprehensive tape of from from that what you just mentioned the things on the roof that can be oh yes yes and they put it together in real time and web they say there were at least three minutes three minutes and it just seems to me if if you've got the the officer there and the reporting as an officer went up um saw the gunman came back down at that point i would have had some sort of a there has to be some sort of communication there and at that point i'm wondering why did you not have the counter uh the the uh the snipers uh the the secret service snipers take out the bad guy wait a minute Todd he went up there the guy had a gun and he let him stay there that's right and that is the reporting is that a local officer went up the ladder and then came back down the ladder after the guy pointed the gun at him and the reporting is that and then the guy immediately fired off his shot so he was not able to set himself up otherwise we would be talking about a very different story today so the shots were rushed and hurried but again how does a guy who couldn't hit the backside of a barn all of a sudden become um you know a marksman this this tribe is smelling more and more like a setup by the very people who are crying crocodile tears last night and saying how they want to stop the violence oh they don't want to stop no that no they don't want to stop the violence and we know that because look at jack black who was uh do we have that audio of jack black at the um singing happy birthday let's this just happened over the weekend jack black let's listen that's evil right there that's evil web appreciate the call let's go to oregon mike listening to us on KYKN. Hey, Mike, what's going on? Good to talk to you again. I hope you're having a good day. Say, you know, I was watching that footage on that shot, and if you pay close attention to the returned sniper on the roof behind Donald Trump, you can see that his rifle is pointed in the direction of the sniper before he fired his gun, and then he popped his head up from his scope and after he shot that's when the return sniper realigned and shot him mike and based on what you saw what do you think what do you think happened what do you think went down i i think it's i think it's a clear-cut case that that the secret service are in on uh everything that's been going on with donald trump they're all out to get him i think this was all believe that they allowed this to happen and then they killed the sniper so that there would be no way they could question him and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this sniper was somewhere sought out from somewhere and bought and paid for just as much as the the secret service or bought and paid for by the democratic party you know it's interesting when this kid was in high school he was actually in a a photograph from um or a video produced by black rock so it does give you pause i mean some of these may be these it may all be coincidental but i don't believe in coincidences at all mike and i am it's all very strange i just want to know why is it that the secret service didn't have the entire area secured why is it that they didn't have any aerial support why is it that in three minutes warning they couldn't have at least gotten donald trump off of that stage it makes i agree i was listening to another expert this morning on a different show and he was clearly saying that the secret service have all that stuff taken care of two or three days or more before the event ever takes place.

They have all that stuff scoped out. They're supposed to have all that stuff mapped. Any dangerous points are supposed to be guarded and watched and all that thing.

So there's no way this could have been coincidental or an accident. It had to have been let happen. I just want to know how it is that you've got a 20-year-old kid hauling all of that gear up onto the rooftop and nobody in law enforcement. But again, everybody else saw it. There's video.

You can hear the people alerting police. How is it that they allowed that kid to get that shot off? It just doesn't make any sense to me. Mike, got to run, my friend. Good call.

901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Hi, everyone. If you've been injured in an accident that was not your fault, listen up.

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Take advantage of this opportunity and call now. 800-702-5400. Advertisement sponsored by Legal Help Center may not be available in all states. All right, folks, coming up a little bit later, Congressman Tim Burchett joins us, and he's got a lot of questions about the Secret Service in all of this. Let's get to the phone lines.

Elena in Georgia, WDUN. Hi, Elena. What's on your mind today? Hey, Todd. I originally just called to tell you thank you for your opening remarks and about that same thing that I felt that same anger this weekend and still feel that.

And I wanted to hope that President Trump knows that we're standing with him and his family and praying for them. And I've just really enjoyed all the remarks and people calling in and everything, the discussion that's been going on, because everybody, I think, feels like there's something really not right about the whole situation. And this morning I was listening to other shows, and they were talking about the same thing, about how that guy was able to get on that roof. and then all the people that were pointing it out that he was climbing up the building. And there's just a lot wrong.

But I also think that President Trump really, to me, he saved himself. He turned his head and then grabbed his head and immediately dropped. You know they probably have rehearsed this stuff in case something happened. But just thank God that he wasn't killed. And I feel like everybody that got shot took a bullet for us because they were there to support him him and to support you know making america great again that was an attack that was an attack on trump supporters that's that's what happened and it's not the first time you know they've been out there attacking trump supporters beating them in the streets literally since since he first ran for office but elena i don't i'm a pretty battle-hardened guy and i've seen a lot of a lot of mayhem and a lot of destruction and death.

I have covered it all in my years as a journalist. But there is a moment over the weekend after watching this video over and over and over and over again, there was a photograph taken, and I don't know if you folks have seen it. There was a moment when Trump was on the ground and they stamped a photograph. And it was the way the sunlight was beaming in And this man, you just saw the rawness of a man who was nearly killed, a man who nearly had his head blown off. And there was the blood streaming down his face.

And Donald Trump in that moment just looked alone and vulnerable. And I just, I became emotional. I did. because ultimately, and I thought First Lady Melania Trump wrote a beautiful, beautiful essay, a letter about the aftermath of this. And when you think, just think about the humanity of it all, that here was an 18-year-old boy who nearly lost his father.

Here was the former First Lady who almost lost her husband, and they portray this man as a monster. And they've been doing it for almost eight years when, in fact, this is a good and decent man who loves this country. And we saw that profile in courage when he rose up. And in the midst of it all, he thrust that fist in the air and he's shouting, fight, fight, fight. That was the call to arms.

And, folks, we've still got two hours, and we're going to take your calls. I want you to hang on. If you're on hold, we're going to get to your calls. This is an important moment. And again, I say it's an inflection point in history.

It truly is. But I don't know about you, but I am proud to call myself a Donald Trump supporter, and I hope you are as well. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Are you feeling overwhelmed by the increasing cost of health insurance?

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ShareRite is a program of IHS, one of the fastest growing health care sharing organizations in the country. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun-toting, Bible-clinging, deplorable American. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starr.

Well, hello everybody. Welcome to Hour 2 of the big show. Good to have you with us. The RNC underway in Milwaukee. also we're getting uh some new intel on trump's vp pick trump now saying that his vp pick has not been a person the media has been talking about so who could that who could that possibly be everybody's saying it's going to be jd vance i don't know about that i mean it could be but if if trump is uh and you know how trump is he likes to toy with the media so it may not be jadey vance i mean it it could be somebody like a um i don't know a glenn yunkin or a mike pompeo or even a sarah huckabee sanders i mean it's really hard to say which which way you want to go uh let's go to the patriot mobile newsmaker line and say hello to um our guest mark lauder who is the chief comms officer at america first policy institute uh mark where are you now well i'm standing todd right uh above the arena floor uh looking at the beautiful stage and all the people filing in and you know everyone's decked out in their red white and blue finest for the convention so mark i'm curious the the tone and tenor the mood there uh based on what happened over the weekend what is it like you know i think there's still a lot of excitement i think uh you know everybody's obviously horrified by the tragic events uh of what happened on Saturday.

I'm so thankful that the president survived, you know, full of mourning for those who were taken and injured. But I think everyone here knows that this is just another reason why we have to double down on this fight. We are in a philosophical, I won't use fight, but I will say a philosophical battle for the future of our country against radical leftism and people who honestly think that we are bad people because we disagree. And I think there's a lesson there for both sides is that we may disagree, but we're still Americans, we're still neighbors. We'll have our philosophical and political discussions, but just because they're on the other side doesn't make anyone evil.

Mark, I don't mean any disrespect here, but who on our side is going out there and shooting at political candidates? I hear people within the party talking that language, but the reality is only one side here has been castigating Donald Trump and all of his supporters as fascists and Nazis. Oh, completely agree with you. And, I mean, you know, this is the result of calling him a threat to democracy, an existential threat, comparing him to Hitler for eight years. And make no mistake about that.

But I think, you know, we all hear the conversations. It may not be on the radio or in hush or, you know, but it's just always I think it's a good reminder for also for everyone, really, to just remember that these are philosophical discussions. And right now, by the way, we happen to be winning. And I don't mean just winning politically or winning in the Electoral College. We're winning on the policy.

Joe Biden was losing this election before the debate, before the two weeks that we spent deciding whether he was competent to stay, you know, to run for reelection or obviously before the events of last Saturday. and it's because the same reasons that are on display here at the Republican National Convention. People can't afford gas and groceries, which is the topic for tonight. Tomorrow is securing the border. Wednesday is dealing with the wars and rebuilding our military.

These are the reasons why we were winning to begin with, and I think we're going to re-double down on that, and I think the American people can now nod their heads in agreement with us going, we don't like where things are right now. It's time to go back to the policies that worked.

Well, and again here, we do believe that there should be great political discourse in this country. We don't believe that there should be violence. And I think that's something that hopefully both political parties can, or at least the Democrats, can agree with. And ultimately, I would have loved to have heard President Biden last night. You know, we all heard President Biden's call to unify the country and toned down the rhetoric.

I would have liked for him to have said, you know what? And it starts right here at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And I'm really sorry for all the horrible, horrible things I've been saying about President Trump. Oh, absolutely agree. It was a missed opportunity.

And it's something, you know, but I think it's something that we're going to see how they respond. Because when you think about it, Todd, they don't have anything to run on. They can't run on their policies. They can't run on their results. They can't run on how they're going to make the country better because they're the ones who made it worse.

And so the only thing they can do is attack. And so whether they are attacking Donald Trump personally, attacking Donald Trump legally, calling all of us extreme MAGA because, oh, my God, you want to make America great again, or using lawfare and, of course, obviously the most horrific side of it, which was resorted to the violence. they don't have anything to run on now they're attacking everything including like a project 2025 i mean my goodness that's a that's a think tank that's what white that's what think tanks do they write stuff well of course they do and and again president trump has nothing to do with that and and we all know that um this is a project out of the heritage foundation and again when you actually read it yeah there's a lot of stuff i agree with and there's some stuff i disagree with in there.

So again, I think that's just silly for them to try to connect President Trump to that. Mark, we know that President Trump had already written a speech, and we understand it was going to be a barn burner, but now we understand the president wants to portray himself in a more kinder, gentler way. Do you have any intel on what the president's speech is going to look like?

well i mean obviously i'm going off the same reporting that you got that you are todd you know obviously that he's reworking it uh i don't think he's going to like alter the tone of the convention overall so these first three nights i think are going to continue on as they were intended to be but i think when people tune in they're going to see a president who is trying to bring america together and we and so he'll talk about the issues he'll talk about the failures of the current administration. But you can do that in, you know, in kind of a just in a different language where people are nodding along with you and going, you're right, we can do better. Let's do better. And they're going to see the candidate up there who's going to make it make it happen. Mark Lauder is the chief comms officer at America First Policy Institute.

Mark, we understand the president is going to make the the VP announcement later this afternoon. There have been a lot of talk about J.D. Vance and I think Forbes magazine reporting that advance his home was surrounded by a lot of law enforcement a lot of security protection uh but president trump says it's going to be somebody the media is not talking about so what do you know who do you think's got the uh the inside track well i mean i think obviously any of those three people that have been bandied about are obviously uh you know would offer something amazing to the ticket you know obviously i was with governor pence when he was named uh in eight years ago and he picked from those likely nominees.

Now, will he finish that? I don't know, but I would tell you the one thing about all vice presidential nominees, regardless of party, they add something to the ticket. And I'm talking beyond being a heartbeat away and being capable of being president if history calls upon you, but they bring something. And so I think whether it's the names that are being discussed, the other names that are being speculated about, each one of them is gonna offer something to the president, to the campaign, that they may need more of or want more of. And they think that that will help them get past November 5th and on to January 20th.

And so, you know, you never know with the president, but I have a feeling it probably will be one of those names that are at the top of the list. But until we see what he actually decides, you know, he loves to keep us guessing.

Well, he certainly does, and he's very good at that. But we understand the president. and I know Tucker Carlson was talking about this, that getting shot in the head changes a man. And I think a lot of that is true. Even Ronald Reagan, in the aftermath of his attempted assassination, it really opened up Reagan's heart, I think, and he became a lot more reflective and embraced Christianity perhaps in a way that he had not previously embraced it.

And you do wonder, you know, from a psychological impact, what kind of, you know, what that will play on President Trump as he recovers not only physically, but also mentally from what happened. You know, I mean, when you think about it, he came millimeters, centimeters away from this being a much different convention, a much different campaign. And, you know, some will chalk it up to luck. I'm going to chalk it up to a higher power saying he's not done yet. and i think that's probably the the way he views it and so he's been given this gift uh and now the question is what is he going to do with it and you know what what is still planned for him and america in our future well there you go providence uh there you go um all right mark we're going to leave it there real quick security though um they're not taking it they're not taking it lightly is that right no and they never do i mean i was in i was at the convention in 2016.

It was very secure then. I remember seeing the plans for the convention in 2020, obviously prior to COVID. They were intense. But I don't think anyone here worries about it. The men and the women of the Secret Service, and we've got, by the way, local law enforcement, state police from dozens of states, all pitching in, all helping out.

It is one massive effort, and everyone I see here has got a smile on their face. They're ready to get this thing started. Yeah, so a lot of happy people around, a lot of people posting photos with Kid Rock. Have you had a chance to run into Kid Rock? Any celebrities wandering around?

Not yet. I'm mostly surrounded by people like you, Todd, celebrities in the media respect. But if I do get Kid Rock, I'll let you know. Awesome.

Well, we're in Memphis, so there you go.

Okay. All right.

Mark Lauder on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, live from the rnc meeting in milwaukee mark thank you very much great reporting as always coming up congressman tim burchett's going to join us also mehek cook is a gop surrogate and we're going to get some more intel on what is in that speech that president trump is writing all right let me explain what we're about to do we're going to take a quick break when we come back we're going to be going to your phones your phone calls 901-260-5926 again our telephone number is 901-260-5926 now you're also going to want to take advantage of all of our great resources over at toddstearns.com we have lots of stories lots of video from over the weekend including the long-form version of the moment when President Trump was shot. You're going to want to watch that video as well. Also coming up tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern on Newsmax 2. I'll be hosting the Newsmax show live from Memphis. A new Reuters study, by the way, says Newsmax is one of the top news brands in America.

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All right, folks, welcome back to the show. Let's go to the phone lines. 901-260-5926. Let's go to North Carolina. Charles is on the line.

And Charles, what's going on? Hey, Todd. Todd, a couple of things. First off, I really do believe that that was the hand of God that protected Donald Trump this weekend. When you look at the trajectory of that bullet and how he turned his head just at that millisecond, I mean, the odds of that happening again are just non-existent.

But that being said, Todd, and my support for Trump is more resolute now than ever. I flew a flag out on top of my car this weekend after all that happened, and so did a lot of other people. We wore our trunk shirts out in public, and we're at the point, we really don't care what people think. We're going to stand up for this man because he stands up for us. But with that being said, and I've replayed this over in my mind a lot, Todd, I believe that this was an inside job.

There's no way that that shooter was on that building for that long with a gun, and the counter snipers did not see him. I mean, that is the most logical place for an assassin's nest. And the Secret Service, those people are trained to scan, to look. They had their jobs. And I just don't believe that this was a dereliction of duty.

If you listen to Dan Bongino talk about this, he describes the Secret Service protocols in detail. But the deep state has wanted to take Trump out. They hate him. They've said that they're not going to allow him, you know, he does not, never needs to get near the White House again. Like you said, they've tried to bankrupt him.

They've used lawfare. They've done everything possible. And the last thing is political fascination. And I really think that they allowed that guy to take a shot at Trump. And if that's the case, Donald Trump is still in grave danger right now.

And I think he needs to pick his own Secret Service detail from this point.

Well, it's, you know, I've had a chance to meet some of those members of the detail when I was at Mar-a-Lago. And these are rock solid. At least the guys I talk to are rock solid guys. The problem here is that apparently many of the people that were protecting him were not, in fact, Secret Service agents. They were Homeland Security agents, which raises even more questions.

Why would they know the level of threats against Donald Trump? Why would they allow something like this? or at least put him in a position where something like this could have happened. And again, it's either intentional or incidental. Either way, it's unacceptable.

And heads need to be rolling down at the Secret Service.

Well, I totally agree. And it starts with the head of the Secret Service, who's a known Biden supporter and anti-Trumper.

Well, not only that, you talk about her qualifications. She was basically in charge of loss prevention at Pepsi-Cola. and as someone noted on social media i would wish i knew who did it so i could give them credit for this uh they said basically uh she was responsible for tracking down the people who stole the bag of cheetos and she in charge of the secret service it makes no sense yeah no it doesn but uh i there deep division in the government in these agencies including the Secret Service But like I said I just do not believe that this was just an accident. I mean, it would take so many different things to fall in place for this to be an accident. And I just don't think that's what happened.

And I hope they get to the bottom of this. They start looking into this this week. But like I said, I still believe that Donald Trump, even though the hand of God was protecting him on Saturday afternoon, I still think he is in grave danger, grave, grave danger.

Well, Charles, I would concur with that opinion. I do think he is in grave danger. And that's why, again, to your point, he needs to have men around him, surrounding him, that are of the highest caliber. Charles, appreciate that call. I will say this.

keep in mind, and again, Charles pointed out, Charles made an interesting observation here that this is not over yet. And the reason he says that, keep in mind what was supposed to happen on July 11th. That was when Donald Trump was supposed to go to jail, but they moved that. I mean, this is far from over. This is far from over.

All right.

Hang tight. We're going to get to your calls um we've got to take a break coming up here 901-260-5926 we are also following the breaking news developments out of florida where the judge has now dismissed the prosecution in trump's classified documents case the left is going nuts trump by the way said that we would get tired of winning i'm not tired of winning yet but i may need to take a breather this is spectacular all right hang tight everybody and remember this pray for president trump i mean what this man just went through i can't even imagine i just can't even imagine 901-260-5926 this is the todd stern show Did you know that oil, coal, and natural gas are not the climate villains that the legacy media asks us to believe that they are? Did you know that 8 billion people will eat just today because fossil fuels ran the sophisticated machinery that produced all the food necessary to do so? or how they power the complex heating and cooling systems to keep people alive through extreme temperatures? What would you do without AC or heat?

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That's OilFacts.com. These facts are brought to you by Prairie Operating Group, dedicated to safe and responsible production of American energy. All right, folks, welcome back to the Todd Scharnes Radio Program. I'm happy to have you with us today. Let's get right back to the phones here.

Let's go to Keith in North Carolina. Hi, Keith. What's on your mind? Good afternoon, Todd, and thanks for taking the call.

Well, my comment is quite simple. If it wasn't for the Grutter film, we would have never had any evidence of a second shooter in the JFK assassination. and just like then this situation is going to continue to raise more questions than answers what kind of questions do you have keith well a lot of them have already been been brought up but the thing is is how does a 20 year old young man in today's world have absolutely no social media footprint how was he able to get up on that building you're just allowed to get up there And why was it ever left open anyway? And they should have secured that perimeter for another 200 or 300 yards. I mean, too much of it makes no sense whatsoever.

It's just a miracle of God that President Trump turned his head at just the right time and just enough that that bullet only grazed his ear. That's it. otherwise i've fired many of the m16s ar-15 is the same thing it's just a billion it's the civilian version and you get hit in the head with one of those you do not get back up no no you don't keith and again it's they're just a lot of questions and the government is being incredibly coy keep in mind we still don't even have the manifesto from the nashville transgender terrorist so i i don't think we're ever going to get honestly whatever information we have is probably going to be it because they spent all of that time scrubbing the internet they knew who the guy was they knew and all of that information is now gone and this is not the first time they've done this where they will hesitate they will wait to release information on who the criminal is so they can go and either take down or remove all of the social media platforms. But you can't, I mean, and it may be where some 20-year-old just decided, you know what, I'm going to get up this morning and I'm going to go shoot somebody. But I find it very hard to believe that a 20-year-old was able to get up there on that roof on a bright, sunny day.

This was a white roof. Everybody else saw it except for law enforcement. i i'm just not buying that like i said it's going to raise more questions than answers keith i appreciate i appreciate the phone call 901-260-5926 is our number that's 901-260-5926 all right um i want to play some audio here this is uh this is the moment and again this is the um the moment that donald trump was shot this is this is what it sounded like when um when president trump was actually hit by the bullet and went down it's just i'm telling you you you just can't this is going to be one of those moments that will go down in american history cut number 14 something that said take a look what happened Get down! Get down! Get down!

What are you doing! What are you doing? Go to the car! Go to the car! Go to the car!

Go to the car! Go to the car! Go to the car! Move to the car! When you're ready, on to you!

Ready! Move! Up! Hawkeye's here. Hawkeye's here.

Hawkeye's here. Spare, get ready. Spare, get ready. Are we ready? Shooter's down.

Shooter's down. Are we good? Shooter's down. Shooter's down. Are we good to move?

Are we good to move? Are we clear? Let's go. Clear. We're clear.

I hope you make this thing. Come on. Come on. Let me get my shoes. Let me get my shoes.

I got you sir, I got you sir. Let me get my shoes. Sir, we gotta move to the bus. Let me get my shoes. Okay, my shoes are down.

I got the shoe. Watch out. Wait, wait, wait. USA! USA!

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA!

USA! all right that's what it sounded like that's what it what it sounded like and it's interesting when you hear the audio version you you hear the gunfire it's it's very clear but you also heard the female fbi agent and this is one of the more terrifying things when you go back and listen to it again i i want to dylan i i want us to play it you're going to hear the female voice say what are we doing what are we doing all right let's play that again something that said take a look what happened you hear it what are we doing what are we doing that's how do you not know and she was the only person who clearly didn't know because the other agents the male agents the men were literally throwing their bodies over Donald Trump. President Trump was talking about this to the New York Post earlier today, and he said that, I mean, he's a big guy. He's, what, 6'3". They literally pulled him out of his shoes, and Trump said that he's got bruises all over his body from where they shoved him down and held him down.

But one of the images that just is really striking to me, A lot of people are saying, oh, look at the female FBI agent who's crouching down like she's cowering. For me, the other part of that image was the male Secret Service agent who literally draped his body over Donald Trump to cover the body from other gunshots. That's a hero right there. And that's what the Secret Service agents are supposed to be doing. but again it's folks praise god because this could have been a very very different story i want to go to uh jackson tennessee norma is on the line hi norma what's on your mind well i just want to make it fast for you i agree with everything you said earlier in the show and if he can take a bullet for us we can certainly put that flag out i've had my daddy's casket flag and two trump signs out since d-day and he took a lot of bullets too and other people had taken bullets and please get out and put your american flag out get off of your butt and support President Trump.

God bless America. God bless you, Norma, and thank you for that call. And, folks, I would just make a beeline right now to your local flag store, and typically they will have not only American flags but also Trump flags, and I would encourage you to get one out and fly it. That's what every single one of us does. I'm tired of people being ashamed or being scared to show their support for President Trump.

You get out there and you be proud. Be proud. You folks in Memphis, Tennessee, get on down to the American flag store. It's off of Summer Avenue. And get yourself a Trump flag, an American flag.

And you tell them I sent you down there. But I want to see. I don't care where you are in America. We need to be flying our flags, the American flag and the Trump flag. It's a great big F you to these leftist Democrats out there that hate our country.

and it's unacceptable what they've done to donald trump it's unacceptable to what they've done to to conservatives over the years it's just unacceptable cut number seven and i mean this from the bottom of heart trump is a threat to this nation he says if he loses there will be a bloodbath when he loses And the United States Supreme Court said there is virtually no limit on the power of a president. Trump said if he wins, he'll be a dictator on day one. He means it, folks. We're not going to let that happen. Over my dead body will happen.

His own chief of staff said he called POWs and those who died in war losers and suckers. he's evil. What Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans have made clear is that if they get into power, they will dismantle American democracy as we know it.

Someone who suggests we should, quote, terminate our Constitution should never again have the chance to stand behind a microphone and never again have the chance to stand behind the seal of the President of the United States of America. All right.

By the way, here's Rick Wilson from the Lincoln Project, one of the Never Trumper organizations. Cut number five. Just sit back on the sidelines and say, oh, well, don't worry, this will all work itself out. They're still going to have to go out and put a bullet in Donald Trump. There you go.

Rick Wilson, a Never Trumper. Dan Goldman, cut number six. But his rhetoric is really getting dangerous, more and more dangerous. And we saw what happened on January 6th when he uses inflammatory rhetoric now. And his recent true social post is incredibly, incredibly scary for anyone that might be trying to work in government.

And it is just unquestionable at this point that that man cannot see public office again. He is not only unfit, he is destructive to our democracy. and he has to be he has to be eliminated all right uh and by the way and here's president president biden himself uh cut number 15 primetime tv address donald trump and the mega republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic but there's no question that the republican party today is dominated driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country. MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution.

They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards. Backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, No right to marry who you love, Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans, quote a clear and present danger to our democracy. But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can.

We are not powerless in the face of these threats. MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. us.

They live not in the light of truth, but in the shadow of lies. We've told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it's not. We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it, each and every one of us. We're all called by duty and conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else. We must be stronger, more determined, are more committed to saving American democracy than MAGA Republicans are to destroying American democracy.

MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies, lies told for profit and power. The MAGA Republicans believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail. All right.

There's your president of the United States right there, ladies and gentlemen. That's Joe Biden. That's the real Joe Biden. Not that fake, that fake nonsense that was coming out of the White House. That's the real Joe Biden.

That's how those people really feel. And until they stand up in front of the country, and I hope they do, but you know, they're not going to do it. But until they stand up in front of the country and say, you know what? We blew it. We screwed up.

That was over the top. There's one thing to be fighting against your political opponents and their policies, but we really screwed up by smearing Trump and his supporters as Nazis. But they're not going to do it because that's what they believe. That's what they truly believe, and that's a shame. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, folks, welcome back to the Todd Stern's radio program. Happy to have you with us today. We are waiting for President Trump to announce his VP pick.

that will happen later this afternoon uh it's uh who knows we don't know what the president's going to do all right let's get to the phones here uh let's go to memphis tennessee uncle don is on the line hey uncle don how's it going how's aunt sarah doing oh yeah brother it's so good to talk to you tom i'm in person i don't get to contact you as much as i'd like to i do a great job and aunt Sarah's terrific. By the way, I need to tell you, before I get to what I called you about, Aunt Sarah has retired from work, so she's devoting all of her time now to our produce, our pickles, and our peppers, and the tomatoes.

So be watching for some, okay, Bob? I cannot wait. Best pickles in all of America, and those tomatoes are something else. Oh, you're too kind, too kind. Todd, I wanted to share with you a story which may be a tangent to what's going on or not.

Back in 1999, I know you were just a child, but I was a younger person then and working. And you may recall I ran a facility close by here in Arkansas. And in 1999, Bubba made a donation to a local college, and he was coming in to make this announcement and, you know, gain accolades for a Bob and Pony show type thing. I need to tell you, Todd, the Secret Service came in three days in advance. They laid miles and miles and miles of wiring for communications, and they had security everywhere you could think of.

They went over my building, which seated 1,200 people. They went over it for several days, every place you could look. They posted people. And this was an indoor facility, Todd. But they went so far as to line up school buses behind the building where Bubba would come in, you know, and make entry into the building.

They posted sharpshooters on top of the buildings behind mine, which were, I would say, close to 100 yards away. and also to the east and the west. This was just for a little, like I said, dog and poise. They left everything. They didn't bother to take a bit of things out of there, so I copied it back.

We used it for years there at the auditorium where I worked. But the amount of security was such that if I had gone outside of my building while he was present inside, either before the event or after the event, I wouldn't be let back in, and that was mine. That's how tight security used to be when the Democrats were in charge and they were protecting their own.

So, yeah, absolutely. And, Uncle Don, I hate to do this, but we're coming up on the top of the hour, but I think I appreciate you giving us a vivid example of what that security looks like. And, of course, that was during the years of President Bill Clinton when he came to West Memphis, Arkansas. It certainly is night and day difference. Uncle Don, good hearing from you.

Tell Aunt Sarah I said howdy. By the way, President Biden, just a couple of months ago, last month, Donald Trump is a genuine threat to the nation.

Well, there you go. How's that for civility in politics? 901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show.

Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's Common Sense Conservative Commentary from Todd Starr. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. pick today as well so you're going to want to stick around for that i want to go right now though to the patriot mobile newsmaker line say hello to mehek cook a gop surrogate mehek good to have you with us where are you right now todd thanks so much i am actually in media row it's been quite the morning i think i started about 3 a.m and i'm still going strong oh wow so a lot of media there. A lot of folks there.

Describe the mood and the atmosphere. I'm curious. I think it's twofold. I think that there are so many people today that have talked about praying and God and how grateful they are that President Trump survived the assassination attempt. And then with the same token, that same person then looks and says, I am so excited about President Trump's vice presidential choice and the future of our country.

There is so much hope and unity. It's been unbelievable. Are you hearing any names being floated around? You know, the president says it's going to be somebody the media is not talking about. You think that's really the case or you think it might be somebody like J.D.

Vance?

So, you know what? I'm getting tweets and reports right now saying that Rubio was not selected and this is all on social media. I'm not breaking anything for the Trump team. I'm also seeing that TrumpBurgham.com has been redirecting to President Trump's site. That's interesting to me because several of my friends have looked up some of these other candidates.

We're not seeing a redirect. My gut still says, though, if I'm not a betting person, if I was a betting person, I think President Trump is going to surprise us. I don't think he's going to let this secret out until it's showtime. I was told around 3.30 p.m. But I do not think it's somebody that the media is talking about today.

I think it's an outsider. This is fascinating. I mean, you know, we haven't been talking about people like Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley or Glenn Youngkin much lately, Mike Pompeo. The interesting thing, though, is that the Republicans have a very deep bench. And I think that's something that bodes well for the future.

well thank you for saying that because we continue to try and figure out who this vp is but i sit back in awe as i look at the star power of this party because it's not only about president trump's four years it's a legacy todd we're not going to get out of this economic decline in trump hopefully when he if and when he's elected the first hundred days it's going to take us a good 12 years, in my opinion, to unravel the catastrophic open border crisis, devastating economy, and so much more.

So I think if we look at this bench of people, President Trump truly has a treasure trove of individuals to pick, even for cabinet positions, because remember, government has been weaponized against the American people.

So we have to start from the top down and make sure that our agencies are being run effectively. Yeah, on Newsmax Friday night, Dr. Ben Carson was my special guest, and Dr. Carson said he was not on the VP list, but was certainly in talks to be of some use to the administration.

So I think we're probably going to see Dr. Carson in the cabinet again, did a terrific job the last time. You know, the president said he was rewriting his speech and going to be a little bit more conciliatory. I think unity is the word we've heard used. What can you tell us?

You know, Todd, I think this unity message truly started a while ago as Biden abandoned his base from black voters to continuing to pander to Hamas and his anti-Israel stance. He really pushed out a lot of individuals that were traditional Democrat voters. Hispanics have left him. President Trump has been unifying. But after that assassination attempt, I think America saw what President Trump has been saying.

There's been a weaponization of government and we have to get back to prosperity. We have to get back to peace. And I think he's going to deliver a message that's going to be historic, a message that is going to reach Americans. Whether you've been an independent, whether you voted Democrat in the past, President Trump is going to deliver a message that unifies us and brings us hope because today the Democrat Party is dysfunctional. There's deep division and they have peddled so much hatred through mainstream media, might I add.

So I truly believe that President Trump is going to deliver one of the greatest speeches of my lifetime.

Now, Todd, you may say you've heard President Reagan speak and, you know, you may beat me on one of one of these speeches. but I truly believe that this is going to be a historic speech of a lifetime.

Well, yeah, it could very well be. Real quick, before we let you go, Dr. Carson also weighing in on a major issue within the RNC, and that's the party platform. You've got many, many evangelical leaders, Tony Perkins for one, that are really upset over the elimination of language regarding life, among other things. Dr.

Ben Carson on Friday calling for an urgent meeting of the RNC to address all of this. What can you tell us? Look, I think it's really important for us to address life and to be pro-life. And President Trump has a proven track record. He is the most pro-life president of our lifetime.

So for anybody to question that, look at his record. His record speaks for himself. But I do think he has been clear. He has said, let's leave this to the states and let states figure this out. I think that the division is truly being caused by Democrats and the media, because remember, they went from safe, legal, and rare to abortion on demand.

I live in the state of Ohio where they're allowing for abortions up until birth. It's very vague. There's going to be a lot of constitutional challenges. And so I urge people that are in the pro-life movement to remember what President did for us and to remember this fight is the long game and we have to fight every single day. But this is going to be a movement in every state and we have to band together and continue to fight.

But President Trump's record truly speaks for itself. He's always been for life. All right.

Well Mehek we appreciate you coming on It certainly an exciting time I see a lot of smiling faces there People seem to be having a wonderful time And of course I can imagine the electricity in the room later this afternoon when we finally, and I have to tell you, Mehek, this is one of the best kept secrets in Trump world. We finally learn who the VP is going to be. Oh, I can't wait. I think that is going to surprise America. If you think you know, don't bet on this.

Allow the president to truly share where he is and how he's going to move our country forward. And I believe this is going to be the greatest unity ticket. All right.

The greatest unity ticket, ladies and gentlemen. You heard it here first. Mahek Cook, a GOP surrogate. Mahek, have fun. Thanks so much, Todd.

All right.

There you go uh so the rnc officially kicking off and we will keep you updated on any developments as that happens you can watch it live on newsmax too we have a live feed and they are covering all of the uh the the news coming out of milwaukee all right uh we're going to take a quick break full lines and we're going right to the phones as soon as we come back 901-260-5926 this is the ton stars show all right welcome back everybody good to have you with us this is the todd stars radio show uh let's get to some of the calls here 901-260-5926 let's go to dave in corpus christi texas hi dave what's on your mind hi todd thanks for taking my call um i just had a question i i've been watching a lot of the videos on social media and there was a a long trivia at a time where the crowd uh knew about that uh shooter up on the roof and they were all trying to point it out and this was a period of about two minutes and the secret service snipers also saw that guy so my question is why didn't they just have trump hit the desk on the stage until they could figure out what the heck was going on with the guy on the roof yeah that's look this is a great question Dave and one that Bongino raised and Bongino of course longtime secret service agent so he he knows more about this than anybody else in the media right now he said at he said that Trump should not even have been on the stage that he should have been taken off that stage immediately and I'm with you Dave when you look at the videos it's very clear that the the the counter sniper team they saw the guy because they were able to take him out immediately but he was allowed to get off the shots first well and i mean i can understand why he was allowed to do that because they don't know whether he's got a telescope in his hand or a rifle or uh you know or or something else so and that may be and i'm not sure about protocol there as far as engagement protocol but regardless they didn't know what it was trump shouldn't have been on that stage he should have been rushed off the stage at that point they shouldn't have had a shot at him i mean as long as they could have gotten on top of him and taken the angle away from that guy but the fact that anybody was allowed on top of that that route is that's that's a huge red flag there yeah i'm with you i i it doesn't make any sense and we've got to get to the bottom of it i know we're going to be talking to a congressman tim birchett here in just a little while and maybe he'll have some some insight this is the kind of a situation they appreciate that call by the way associated press now reporting trump has selected a running mate so that is the reporting from associated press um so so so look um they're gonna have to get to the bottom of this and it's to the point where government must come to a a grind a halt a stop got to and until we get to the bottom of whatever happened over the weekend nothing comes out of dc that that's what needs to happen here all right let's go to mary in georgia hi mary hi todd how are you i'm well thank you for asking I just had a quick question I've been listening and hearing everybody's comments And thoughts and concerns But I'm thinking about Lee Harvey Oswald And Sirhan Sirhan And this guy from this weekend Where do these people come from? I mean one day they're just Totally into woodwork Nobody knows anything about them. They're just out there. And then the next thing you know, I can't believe they made the decision on their own to pull a stunt like this. But here they are, and they've either assassinated or attempted to assassinate a world leader.

I don't know that anybody has ever gotten to the bottom of the Kennedy assassination, even to this day. and now here we are faced with an attempted assassination of President Trump. Where did these people come from? What motivates this? It's a great question, Mary, and we may never know.

I mean, even going back to John Wilkes Booth, and I think we had a pretty good indication of how all of that went down, But there had been there were actually reports that even that assassination was an inside job.

So and that and that John Wilkes Booth was just a small part of the well, he's that he was the assassin. But it was a vaster conspiracy than than history reports. And I don't want to get into the details of all of that. But, you know, a lot of this stuff, Mary, it's random. You remember John Hinckley was trying to impress Jody Foster when he went and tried to kill Ronald Reagan.

So a lot of times these are just mentally ill people. And that may be what happened here. But I think that the greater storyline coming out of what happened over the weekend, Mary, is that we saw a full breakdown of the Secret Service and the security measures around Donald Trump. That's what I think happened over the weekend.

Well, I would agree with that. I'll go along with that. But you still have – there's always been a breakdown. I mean, there was a breakdown when John Kennedy was shot. I mean, they were all over him.

It still happened. Same thing with Bobby Kennedy. They were all over him, and it still happened.

So I don't, I got to think about that one a little bit before I make a comment on that. But, you know, I'm just sort of in the weeds, I guess, because I cannot figure out where this comes from, what the root of this is. Yeah, it's, well, we're going to hopefully get to the bottom of it, but I don't think we are. And if you believe what the FBI is saying, this kid had absolutely no social media platforms, nothing.

So we know nothing about this person. He had no political affiliations. One of the parents, by the way, it's an upper middle class family. Both parents are counselors. One a registered Democrat, one a registered Libertarian.

and this kid apparently was a part of he may have given money or supported the republicans but he also supported a progressive that's what they're telling us that's what they want us to believe that this kid had no political affiliations at all but here's what gets me they're investigating this as a possible act of domestic terrorism if that's the case then certainly certainly there has to be some sort of a manifesto there was something that would give them cause to suspect that this may have been domestic terrorism and we just don't know mary gotta run let's bring in charlie in tennessee wants to wants to uh take issue with some of you folk out there hey charlie what what's going on hello charlie you're on the air oh i'm sorry i didn't know i was on there no i uh i i I disagree with a lot of what people are calling in. You know, they're acting like this was some kind of plot by the Secret Service and everything and saying things. There's absolutely no evidence of that. We've got to kind of calm down and be rational and think about this. The Secret Service made a mistake when they didn't put somebody on that other building.

but they had turned the outer perimeter over to the local authorities.

Now, there's another mistake they might have made. Butler County, Pennsylvania, population is 18,000. I doubt if they had a sheriff or police department large enough to adequately guard the outer perimeter. But, you know, if you read history and study history, you know, it's the nut. It's the lone nut that kills.

And this guy wasn't even on the radar. This guy wasn't even on the radar. No, but Charlie, that's incorrect. He was on the radar about three and a half to four minutes before those shots rang out.

So he was on the radar. This to me, and again, it can be one of two things. It can either be sheer incompetence or it could be intentional. It's one or the other. And both of them are really bad, one more so than the other.

But, Charlie, I think at the end of the day, we're going to look back and we're going to realize that diversity, equity, and inclusion almost got a former United States president killed. Charlie, I've got to run here. Hang tight, everybody. We'll be right back. All right, Reuters says not going to be Rubio.

Rubio is not going to be the pick, according to Reuters. By the way, the crowd chanting, fight, fight, fight, which is what Trump said just after he got shot.

So also some new information coming out on the platform. And they're playing hardball against the pro-lifers here. I want to share this intel that came in that a letter went out to all the delegates warning them not to vote for a minority report that was submitted by Tony Perkins. They're now saying that the report from Tony Perkins was rejected because it did not comply with the rules. They say the document was given to an official that did not have the required number of signatures and was filed late.

So there you go. Basically, they're telling the evangelical Christians over at RNC, shut up and vote the way we tell you to vote.

So that's the way that's all going down. They're playing hardball with the evangelicals, just so you are aware. 901-260-5926. Let's go to the phones here. Tom in Georgia wants to weigh in on the VP pick.

Hi, Tom. What you got for us? Hi, Todd. Hey, if he's saying that it's not who we all think it's going to be and that this person isn't on radar, it's got to be Nikki Haley. It absolutely has to be.

She wasn't even invited to the convention until the last minute.

Now all of a sudden she's there. And remember how bitter things got between President Trump and Ted Cruz back in 2016? All the name calling and stuff. And yet he mended all of those fences.

So my pick, he's going to go with Nikki Haley. You know, some interesting people, by the way, and we're hearing that it may that Burgum may not be on the may not be the pick. That's not necessarily a bad thing. DeSantis, Huckabee Sanders, Pompeo, Byron Donalds. I sure do like Pompeo, though, Tom.

I just Pompeo has the gravitas and the resume to be president in the event he needs to be president. I like him, too, but I also like Tim Scott. Tim Scott. You sound a little dejected on Haley, though, Tom. Not a big Haley fan.

Well, you know, I'm not really, but that would be the, you know, I mean, that would just floor everybody because nobody would expect that. Does a Nikki Haley pick unify the party, though? That's the question. um i i think it may bring some um i don't know that the party is ever going to be you know unified like it should be um but i don't know i guess we'll find out but you know that would i mean if he picked nicky that would sure for me it it's going to be it'll be interesting i don't think it's going to be nicky haley um again i'm not sure that moves the needle at all but again trump says the the this is all about unity now and whoever his pick is going to be will unify everybody together so uh we're just a couple of hours away from knowing who that person is tom appreciate that call uh let's go to wayne in north carolina hi wayne what's on your mind good evening god thank you for taking my call i am a proud american a proud Trump supporter of a retired state trooper. And I just wanted to comment on the assassination attempt of President Trump.

I think there is something very suspect there that's went on. Like you said, we may never know, but it's certainly suspect at least. If anyone has the doubt that the government, the big state of the government, to attempt to do something, to take out President Trump, they should watch the movie Steater with Mark Wahlberg. That shows exactly how simple and easy that the state government could take out an opponent.

So I just want people to think about that a little bit. Wayne, that's interesting. And you said you're a retired state trooper. Is that right? That's correct.

You know, it's interesting. ABC News is reporting that the rooftop where all of this went down was apparently that building was an officer staging area so how in the world how in the world was that guy able to get up there when in fact that building the building where all of this took place was the actual staging area for law enforcement in my opinion it had to be made possible for him to do that just like in the movie shooter with Mark Wahlberg. They got a local city officer actually that shot Wahlberg in the movie. I remember that. That was a good movie, by the way.

He was supposed to have killed him, but fortunately he didn't. And luckily there was one agent that come to Wahlberg's rescue and was willing to listen to him. They proved that Wahlberg did not have anything to do with it at all. that was a high-ranking senator in the U.S. government, and his minions attempted to assassinate the president and was going to pin it on Wahlberg.

Well, all right. It's very strange.

Now again, the reporting of ABC News, this building was actually the staging area for law enforcement for the Trump rally. All right, Wayne, appreciate that call. 901-260-5926 is our number that's 901-260-5926 also we're now it is abc news is now reporting that rubio and bergam have been told uh they will not be the vice president of the united states so uh that narrows down the list and again trump says that um that it's gonna it's gonna unify the party I want to share this with you. This is from Benny Johnson on X. Quote, I've just heard from a top source that RFK Jr.

is in Milwaukee meeting with Trump right now. You think? No, it can't be. No, it can't be RFK. You think?

RFK Jr.? Would you vote for a Trump RFK Jr. ticket? Again, most people are only voting for the first part of that ticket.

So who knows? It could be. I don't know. Another possibility. And don't be surprised here.

Tulsi Gabbard. Another name that's sort of been out of the mix lately. All right.

Hang tight, folks. We're going to be taking, you know, we'll take a few more calls here. But first, I have to tell you about our friends over at Patriot Mobile. You know, Americans are so tired of supporting companies that hate our values. and a lot of people are just tired of compromise.

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Just a heads up, ladies and gentlemen. We will be providing you live coverage of Trump's VP pick over at ToddStearns.com. That happens after the show.

So head over to our website. By the way, bookmark the page. And if you haven't been over there before, it gives you the option of getting alerts whenever we have new content. Click on that so you'll be up to speed on when breaking news happens. Again, ToddSterns.com will be talking about the president's VP pick.

I want to go to Tom in Georgia.

Now, Tom, I understand you have a Secret Service story going back to the Bush years. That is correct. It was a whistle stop about several decades back, George Bush, Sr. in Gainesville, Georgia. And I had the inspiration to get a lot of photographs of him when he was coming in on the caboose.

And can you imagine that back then? anyway I went through I was there at daybreak and the secret service was everywhere and I went through about 30 to 45 minutes of stuff because I had boot cleaps that you climb a power pole with and I had all kinds of photographic equipment and they finally gave me an okay to go up a power pole and right next to it was a building similar to what I saw Saturday. And I was by myself there until we got the sun to come up and the top of it filled up with Secret Service people.

Now, see, my experience is probably going to create more questions than answers because when I spoke with them, you know, I had plenty of time to talk to them. And I said, how many times have you seen George Bush? And they said, well, there was about five or six of them on there, and they asked around, and they said, none of us have ever seen him. They never laid eyes on him. And I said, why?

And they said, because we're on rotation. We're all trained about the geographic location, and then we're picked randomly. Does that make sense?

Well, it does make sense because, you know, you can't be on 24-7, and, you know, guys have to rotate in and out, and that's pretty normal. That's a pretty normal protocol when it comes to the Secret Service, yeah. Yeah, I would expect that that's probably a good idea anyway. And most of these guys were, you know, they were always looking around, but they looked like they were very stable, no drug users, that kind of thing.

So I do support the Secret Service all the way down the line. And I think that, you know, with what very fractional periods of time we had for that thing, I think maybe they ought to be off the hook about it. I think they ought to be rejoiced for what they did, especially the snipers. Yeah.

Well, I will say this. Once the sniper was allowed to engage, he did his job, and he did it well. All right.

Tom, thank you for that call. Again, 901-260-5926. Donald Trump, the breaking news coming out from Newsmax. Donald Trump has officially been nominated as the RNC nominee, the Republican nominee for president.

So there you go. And the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, now on the podium as he is making introductions. And it's certainly an exciting time for the Republicans there in Milwaukee. NBC News is now reporting this. I want to pass along this information to you.

The FBI has accessed the phone of Thomas Crooks, the alleged Trump shooter, based on the preliminary analysis of the phone, that the information has not helped the FBI determine what Crooks' motive was for shooting at Trump.

So that's coming from NBC News. and it does make you wonder if we will ever learn anything about this guy because they've done a pretty good job of of erasing his digital footprint i want to play some audio for you um this is from let's see here oh cnn you gotta listen to this cut number 25 please now if someone is shot with a bullet that pierces the upper part of your right ear Wouldn't that bullet also continue onto someone's skull and create a much more dangerous situation?

So that's a great question, Wolf. And, you know, what the intent of a shooter with a rifle in an attempted assassination is to get that bullet to go into the head and across. What may have happened here is that either the way the former president turned or the angle that the shooter had on that shot, it may have just grazed the outside piercing the skin and carrying on what's going to be really interesting and this is how we're going to know whether it was hit by a ricochet or a fragment or a graze wound is what did they recover from that wound is there a piece of a metal jacket from around that was fired that they have all right so there you go again cnn trying to minimize what happened over the weekend even though one person is dead two others critically injured here you have cbs anchor margaret brennan i think this is one of the most despicable journalists in american journalism right now margaret brennan is actually attacking donald trump just moments after he was shot cut 17 and he closes with god bless america and we saw him raised his hand in the air defiantly blood on his face as he left the stage he is recovering from these injuries now this was a traumatic event no doubt for him but i did notice there was no call for lowering the temperature condemning all political violence and really trying to signal to his supporters as well uh not to retaliate or to have any kind of escalation here i i just am looking at these there's a belief in his inner circle that he's under siege I understand. They're being attacked at his rally.

So there's a lot of every text message I'm getting. And some people will exactly digest it like you're saying. I mean, every single text message, literally every single one from Trump sources is outraged and shocked. And so that is certainly the mood inside the highest ranks of the Republican Party speaking to CBS News tonight. Oh, my word.

So she goes on to lecture of all people Steve Scalise, who was nearly killed by a Democrat in 2017. Cut number 19. But I wonder what your message is. Have you specifically instructed members in the coming hours to rein in some of the rhetoric that that I will point out some are using online? That is somewhat incendiary in terms of really blaming, blaming this somehow on the administration.

Have you asked them to refrain from that? I've already been very vocal within moments of the shooting that that political violence is not something anybody should tolerate. But also I came out for went further and said that we need to dial the rhetoric down. And there's been a lot of rhetoric for the last few months. And, you know, and I think some of that, you know, this idea and Bob Barr even said it, that Donald Trump's some threat to democracy.

That kind of language doesn't. All it takes is one person to hear that and act on it. And I don't know if that's the case today, but those are the kind of things that shouldn't be said. And, you know, all of us need to do better and dial the language down. Let's focus on the issues.

We have real serious issues that divide us and real serious problems in this country. Let's let the next four months be about how to fix and solve those problems in America and not have the incendiary language that unfortunately we're seeing right now. All right.

There you go. So just so you know where the media is coming from on all of this. By the way, we're getting word now, this is from CNN, that Fiddy is in talks with convention officials to appear at the convention.

So that would be, for you folks in Germantown, Tennessee, that would be 50-cent Fiddy, as we call him affectionately.

So there you go. That could be interesting. We'll have to see whether or not that happens. but again a lot of excitement right now coming out of milwaukee uh people are saying oh it could be rfk jr that could be the vp pick i don't know you don't know none of us knows only trump knows and he'll let the rest of the nation know momentarily in the next hour or so we are expecting the president to make that announcement all right uh folks it's been a lot of fun hey Follow us, ToddStearns.com. We will have live coverage of the RNC, also breaking news developments as well.

You folks get out there. Be good, America.