Trump Threatens China

Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun totem Bible. clinging deplorable American. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Stearns.

All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Todd Sterns Radio Program. Three hours of conservative conversation, border to border, coast to coast, across the fruited plain. Tis I. Todd Starnes, your voice of truth and hope. Folks, we don't work off talking points here on this program.

And I know that irritates a lot of people on both sides of the aisle, and I get that. But look, I want to start out talking about these tariffs because I'm getting messages from all sorts of people freaking out. And I've really been surprised by the number of America First MAGA friends who are very concerned about what Trump is doing here. And all I can tell you is: let not your heart be troubled, America. This man knows what he's doing.

Donald Trump knows what he is doing. And let me say this because there are a lot of nervous nellies up on Capitol Hill. I believe the latest is Ted Cruz. And they're warning of potential bloodbaths in the midterms if things go south. And that may happen.

That very Well, it may happen. But, ladies and gentlemen, we have had a major problem in this country for decades. decades going back 50 60 years And it has not been addressed. The can has always been kicked down the road. And Donald Trump is saying, no more.

We're going to fix this problem. We're tired of other countries taking advantage of the United States of America, and those days are over. And the president was very clear that this is going to be a painful process. And by painful, it's going to be painful for a lot of folks who may or may not have, who may have money in the stock market. I get that.

But in the long term, and that's what we have to be looking at here, folks, the long term, don't do anything with, don't pull any money out of the stock market. Leave your money there. All right. By the way, what have we been saying forever on this program? Be sure to diversify your retirement accounts.

And why is that? Because you never know what the stock market is going to do.

Now I don't know about you, but I've driven across a good chunk of this country. I have seen a lot of the small towns that have been turned into ghost towns as a result of manufacturing jobs leaving this country and going overseas. where many American companies are taking full advantage of cheap labor. I have seen with my own eyes what these tariffs have done to small town America. To the blue collar workers of America.

And what Donald Trump is trying to do here is level out the playing field, and it's working. It's working. As a matter of fact, this morning all yesterday, oh, it's going to be a black Monday. The stock market is going to crash. The economy is going to implode.

It'll be we'll have a a depression.

Well, actually, the stock market's doing pretty darn good. Last time I checked, it was up by 400 points. But the economy is not the stock market. By and large, most of you are not invested in the stock market.

Now is it going to be painful? Absolutely. And Donald Trump has been open about that. Maybe the administration can be a little bit more direct and say here's why, here's why you may be paying more in the short term, but this is how it's going to play out in the long term. But Donald Trump is just trying to level the playing field for the American working man and the American working woman.

That's all he's trying to do here. And a lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill are very nervous about all of this. Incredibly nervous. As a matter of fact, there is some reporting out of NBC News. And I want to share this with you.

NBC News reporting that a Senate bill introduced by Democrats. To limit a president's tariff power, now has seven Republican sponsors. I'm going to read those names to you. Chuck Grassley, Jerry Moran, Lisa Murkowski, Tom Tillis, Mitch McConnell, Young out of Todd Young out of what, Indiana, and Susan Collins.

So those are your seven senators. who are now apparently signing on board A Democrat-led effort to limit President Trump's ability to deal with these tariffs. That's what we're dealing with here, folks.

So I hear your concerns, but let's just be patient. Let's let the President do what we elected him to do. And it is going to take a little bit of time. But there's no reason at all. For you to panic, there are some people out there.

I just can't believe I voted for this man. Calm yourself, all right? There are no Karens. Mm-hmm. in the conservative movement.

So just calm down. And don't panic. That's all. And look, if things don't go well, then things don't go well. But we've got to give the man a chance.

And that's all I'm asking on this program: let's give this guy a chance.

Meanwhile, you have all of these You have all of these organizations out there that are actually supporting President Trump and his efforts, chief among them the American Iron and Steel Institute. And all President Trump is after is restoring fairness and international trade and addressing these non-reciprocal trade relationships. By the way, the president coming out, China says, fine, we're going to retaliate and we're going to up the tariff, what, 34%? Trump just came out moments ago and said, oh, okay, you're going to do that? Guess what?

If you don't revoke that, rescind that. By tomorrow, we're going to be slapping an additional 50% tariff on all of your cheap China products. I want to ask some of you old timers out there about something. And by old timers, I'm not going to tell you who that is, but you'll know who you are. Yeah.

But I'm just curious about something. All you old timers, back when they were making refrigerators and stoves and washing machines and automobiles. In the United States of America, and all of those components that you need to build a refrigerator or a car, all of those components were built in the United States of America. Do you remember those days? And do you remember something very interesting about the products you bought?

A lot of those refrigerators that were built by American hands.

Some 40, 50, 60 years ago are still working today.

Okay. Have you noticed that?

Meanwhile, a lot of the stuff that's, and a lot of this stuff is just pure crap, but a lot of this stuff coming out of China. And a lot of these overseas countries When you buy their stuff, you're having to replace it five, ten years down the road. Why do you think that is? Because it's cheap labor. They don't take pride in what they make.

Back in the day, and some of you old timers will remember this, and I hope we get back and I hope that this is what President Trump is trying to restore, this idea of being proud of what you made. Taking ownership in the refrigerators that are made on American soil, built with American hands. I think a lot of people miss those days. But now we're having to go out. It's sort of like, oh, what was it?

The shoe company that went belly up a few years ago. Payless, right? You go in there and you buy the cheap pair of shoes, right? And it'd be like five, ten bucks. Guess what was happening a couple of months later?

You'd have to go back and buy another pair of cheap shoes because your cheap shoes gave out.

So you're literally buying five, six, seven pairs of shoes from a place like you know, a place like Payless. And I'm not picking on Payless, but bear with me for a moment. In the meantime, you go over to a place like back in the day when Brooks Brothers was owned by Americans, you buy a pair of dress shoes from Brooks Brothers. Folks, I kid you not. I still have a pair of dress shoes that I bought.

15 years ago, from Brooks Brothers. They're great shoes because they last. You know why? Because they were made by American hands. Because people in America used to take pride in the craftsmanship.

And then all of a sudden. The rich and the powerful, and we're talking about the super wealthy. What are they doing? They're taking all of their industries and they're moving them overseas. The labor is cheap.

The products are cheap. And the American. taxpayers and the American blue collar workers get screwed.

So I say, stick with it, Mr. President. And I'm going to stand alongside the president here. Yeah. I believe he knows what he's doing.

And I know that there are folks like Ben Shapiro out there. And Ben Shapiro is very upset, even questioning the constitutionality of all of this. My question to Ben Shapiro. Did you grow up in a in a blue collar household, sir? Have you have you seen What happens?

When the job that your dad or your grandfather had for 20, 30 years just gets yanked out from underneath them and those jobs go overseas. This is what Donald Trump is is trying to do here.

So, have a little bit of faith, and shame on all these Republicans. Yeah. having no spines. And I know, I know that we're used to that, but it's really sad to see so many Republicans get bolting for the doors here. And it's r it it's really unfortunate.

And Senator Cruz out of Texas. Here's what he had to say. He says, I'm seeing a lot of Republican cheerleaders. Again, talking about defending the White House. I guess I'm one of them.

I'm seeing a lot of Republican cheerleaders reflexively defending what the White House is doing, said Cruz. He also said that a trade war would destroy jobs here at home and do real damage to the U.S. economy. If we go into a recession, particularly a bad recession, twenty twenty six, in all likelihood politically, would be a bloodbath. You would face a Democrat House, and you might even face a Democrat Senate.

So let me stop here for just a moment.

So, what Cruz is actually saying the private part out loud that he's not concerned about the average American, he's concerned about keeping his seat in Congress. That's what they're concerned about. Cruz admitted that he's not a fan of tariffs. Stop there. Hard stop.

Well, if you're not a fan of tariffs, Senator, by the way, Senator, what have you done about it? What have you been doing during your time in Congress? If you're not a fan of tariffs, what have you done to level the playing field? Cruz said that he hoped Trump's move is merely a negotiating ploy. one hundred years ago, this is a quote from Cruz, one hundred years ago, the OS economy didn't have the leverage to have the kind of impact we do now.

But I worry there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Ted Cruz, very concerned, and there will be others. And don't be surprised if you see. Many, many Republicans. Running for the doors here.

Yeah. So, where do you stand, ladies and gentlemen? Are you supporting President Trump on the terrace? Do you have some concerns? Give us a call.

901-260-5926. Again, our telephone number is 901-260-5926. We have some terrific guests coming up today. Liz Peake is going to be joining us also. Eric Burleson, the congressman from Missouri.

And we're going to be talking to a TPUSA reporter who was at those insane protests over the weekend. This is the Todd Stern Show. Folks, we have some exciting news about my pillow. They're having their first ever mega sale. Oh, that was, we needed some, we needed some sound of mega sale.

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And by the way, just so you understand that all of the hullabaloo out there is mostly political. Years ago, you had Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama, you had Chuck Schumer, and you had Bernie Sanders all advocating for a crackdown on these insane tariffs.

So Donald Trump is just doing what a lot of people have been begging the government to do for ages. As a matter of fact, Greg writing in on our Facebook live stream, what you fail to realize is that President Trump is carrying out the strategy many of us have been screaming for decades. Not the other way around. He's the first president that isn't bought and can't be bought. We are doing what's right for the country, and he's finally the man to deliver.

And Greg is absolutely right there. All right, let's go to the phone lines here: 901-260-5926, Deborah in Statesville, North Carolina. All right, Deborah, what's going on? What's on your mind? Hey, I want you to know we listen to your show every day, and we miss you when you're not there.

Well, thank you, Deborah. You know, I try not to be away too terribly much, Deborah.

Okay. My father-in-law has a freezer. It was made in America. I don't remember what brand it is. It has been running.

So it's nineteen forty-eight. Wow. Wow. That's one impressive freezer. Yes, I'm a company.

Ours, the ones we bought have come and gone. But you know, Deborah, there was a time when I mean, it was very rare. Once you bought your appliances, that was it. You know, maybe there was a problem. They brought the who was it, the frigid air guy, whoever the Maytag man came by to fix them.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not anymore. No, it's and Deborah, isn't that disappointing? There's so much cheap stuff that has flooded the markets.

Yeah, that's true. Wow. What kind of a freezer? Do you know what brand of freezer it is? No, I don't remember.

I do not remember. Wow, Deborah, good for you. That's great. And so it still works just fine. Yeah.

All right. Well, Deborah, thank you. Thanks for calling in, and thank you for listening to us on WSIC. Let's go to Genie in Newburn, North Carolina, the talk station. Hi, Genie, what's going on?

Hi, Todd. You had a pretty good opening there, and I agree that we need to get this manufacturing back in this country. I grew up with lots of relatives and neighbors and so forth that made their livings by working in a factory of some sort. And they were able to make it with one working person. But unfortunately, President Trump has one ball of yarn to get untangled, and if he can do it, God bless them.

But we have a lot of things going on besides the stuff being sent overseas, and that is we have regulations that have been changed So drastically because of the environment. And I mean, I don't I want a good environment too. I think it's a great idea to learn to make things which work more efficiently with less materials and that sort of thing. But I too, I mean, my mother had a Maytag washer that lasted for forty five years, and then she gave it to somebody else. But anyway, my point is, we've got to this is a complex situation.

Because it isn't just it being in China. Because supposedly, most of these companies that are producing things in China. have quality standards and they have to produce them in a certain way.

So we either have negligent companies who are not standing up for it being high quality, or we have regulations, maybe also regulations that prohibit them using more than a certain amount of metal and I mean, I couldn't believe it. I used to work for the government, and you wouldn't believe you know this. Everybody that's conservative or has ever done any research knows. that regulations are strangling us. And a lot of them are necessary, and maybe they do sell excuse me, save materials and so forth.

But there's a price to pay for that. And um I think that That I just hope and pray that That Trump can figure all this out. It's a giant ball of yarn, Genie, and he's untangling it bit by bit. And I think he is. If the Republican leadership in Congress will just back up, stay out of the way, and just have his back.

That's all I'm asking. Let's just have the president's back here. He knows what he's doing. Genie, thanks for that call. Hang tight.

We'll be right back, everybody. Hi everyone, Tom Mustin here for the Legal Help Center. If you or someone you know were diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma, listen up. This could be the result of asbestos exposure and you could be entitled to significant compensation. Call us at 800-260-8700.

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All right, welcome back to the Todd Cerns radio show. You know, it really is shameful that Republican lawmakers in the House and the Senate are starting to head for the doors. They are just more concerned about their reelection campaigns than they are the hardworking American taxpayers. And you heard Ted Cruz actually acknowledge that. Just it was a bridge too far to ask Republicans to get behind the commander-in-chief.

and stand together as one. But that kind of shows you and illustrates again the problems the Republican Party has right now. I want to go right away to our old Glory Bank newsmaker line, and we're just so honored to have former Congressman Dave Bratt joining us, Senior Vice President of Business Relations at Liberty University, and really one of the smartest guys I know when it comes to things like light tariffs. And, Dave, great to have you back with us. Hey, thanks for having me on, John.

So look, I mean, people were predicting it was the end of the economy as we know it. The stock market, they were predicting Black Monday. But right now, stock market's looking pretty good. What guidance do you give the American people, including a lot of conservatives, that are starting to freak out? Yes.

Well, the key word you used that no one is getting straight is the economy, right?

So far, nothing has changed in the economy. The only thing that's changed is in the stock market. And the wealthy 10% own. All the stock market. They the top ten own 90% of all the stock.

So they're freaking out. And of course, they own the media.

So they have a huge dominant position in shaping this narrative that's going across the country. When it comes to the economy, the only news we have on the economy so far is good news. You know, hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of capital are already flowing in because of the tariffs. That's going to put capital in the hands of the American people Uh we'll build factories again. The wage rate will go up again.

People will get jobs again. In the last four years, All net new jobs went to foreignborn workers. In the last year and a half, All jobs created were part-time jobs. This is not good. And so, everybody that's complaining, what's their alternative vision for the economy?

That's what I want to know. Right? And everyone said, Oh, these tariffs are going to kill our economy. Oh really?

Well then maybe you can answer me this one. How did China have a massive tariff regime in place and grow at ten years over a decade at ten percent a year. Unheard of growth. With huge tariffs. And they now make five trillion dollars a year in manufacturing, and we only make two point five trillion dollars.

in manufacturing. And they have $100 trillion in capital. to work with. And the USA only has seventy. And we're an older, richer, more mature economy.

We should be blowing them out of the water. But we've been doing things all wrong with huge trade deficits. Not manufacturing. And so I know the stock market is going to have a reaction for a little bit. But the rest of the world's getting in line.

50 countries have signed up to renegotiate things. Things will stabilize. And also, we've had a bull market forever, right, because Fed kept interest rates at zero for a decade.

So that's artificial.

So the young generation hasn't seen markets go up and markets go down. That's normal. And so right now, we're going through a rough patch for a few months. But we're going to see a new message emerge that this economy, the economy, It's going to be in much better shape as a result of all that. And people need to understand this: the stock market is not the economy.

Right. Yeah. No, that's the big thing that never gets covered, right?

So Jamie Diamond's out. And all these analysts are out. They all make their money on the stock market. Right? None of them are advanced.

Two. The real economy. And that's the problem with the country. Trump comes in and says, I'm going to finally take care of the economy first and the American people first. And now Besson, you got Besson in there.

And so what's really going on is this isn't even about tariffs. And this is my view. I'm not speaking on behalf anyway. This is Dave Bratt. My view is Trump is fed up with a whole elitist class.

And so this is not just the tariff regime. He's going after the entire globalist order. Right. We set up the Bretton Woods system after World War II. We paid other countries to be our friends.

And we kept paying them and paying them and paying them and they took advantage of that. And now we're still the defense system for the entire country. We have the strong dollar because we everybody wants to invest in the dollar.

So these other countries are devaluing. They have weaker currency, so it's easier for them to export. And so Trump is turning the entire global globalist world order on its head. And he's saying, no, no, no, no, no. You want to do business in the U.S., there's going to be a premium.

So, I think they're going to negotiate tariffs quite a way down, but I'll bet he keeps permanent tariffs in place that, you know, say the 10% range or something on that order. Because. We're tired of getting ripped off. And just to help put things in perspective, and you mentioned the super wealthy here, there's been a lot of blowback within the conservative media world. And this needs to be said that a lot of these folks, like Ben Shapiro and a lot of the anchors that you see on Fox News channel, are multimillionaires many times over.

These are not regular Joes here. These are people who may be losing big money in the stock market as well.

So, again, I think we all need to kind of step back and understand: okay, here's the situation in the context. Yeah, right. And I want to hear any of them. come on T V and defend the status quo. Right, we're getting ripped off.

All all the countries, I got charts if you guys want to post a few charts, but I got a chart of the G twenty, that's the richest twenty countries. in the world. They have two hundred percent to three hundred percent higher tariffs and nontariff farriers. The United States is the most free trade country. And so you got the Wall Street Journal and the Economist magazine and all the elitists ripping on these tariffs, and they're saying these eye-popping tariffs.

None of these geniuses in the press ever mention the eye popping tariffs that the rest of the world has had against us. for the past 40 years. Had eye-popping characters against us, and as soon as we reciprocated at half the level, All of a sudden, we have eye-popping tariffs. It's pretty incredible.

So Ted Cruz is out there now, and he's warning this could be a political bloodbath for Republicans. He says tariffs could spark a global trade war and ultimately a recession. And he said that could destroy the Republicans in Congress.

So what do you say to Senator Cruz?

Well, I'd say he's probably correct if you keep doing what you're doing, right? If the Republicans never get together with a unified strategy and execute and then explain it to people, but why we're doing it, why it's good for the country, why it's good for their kids, And that if we don't do this, you're doomed. Right. Also the current status quo, if you stay on it the way it is, The only way for us to compete against China if we allow them to continue to grow and the rest of the world is for the oligarchs, right? The argument is the U.

S., in order to compete and get low cost you have to scale. It's huge, right? We need massive firms to bring the cost down to compete against China.

So then the oligarchs get richer, you become a serf, you're a wage worker making nothing for these oligarchs. And that is the status quo. And the Republicans have a, it's just like the budget, too. They'll never come out and do a contract with America and say, here's what we promised to the American people. that Trump comes out and does this job and wins elections.

The Republicans have not done this stuff, and they keep losing elections. There ought to be a little political lesson somewhere in there. Yeah, I'm with you, Dave. And again, I have driven through so many small towns and communities that have been decimated, decimated by the trade wars. And Trump is actually standing up for those people, the little guy.

And I think you're right. I think there's something more to this than just the tariffs. Yeah. Well, and I I mean, you you you put your finger on it in terms of In economics, prices always have two sides. Right, a high price is good for one set of people and bad for the other set of people, by definition, right?

And so right now, all you're hearing well, the import prices might go up a little bit.

Okay, but what they're ignoring is Okay.

So that's a downside. But have you talked to all the cities, all of our inner cities that have lost all their jobs in industry and the pain that we've inflicted on them? They don't even have a job to be able to pay any prices. Much less higher import prices, right? If you get higher import prices, just substitute away from those goods.

That's what economics is all about. There you go. There'll be some little arguing. But the the American people are very clever. If they see high prices of blueberries coming in, you substitute toward apples or raspberries or something.

It'll work its way out. I love this Warren Buffett quote that's going around today.

Some people should not own stocks at all because they get too upset with price fluctuations. If you're going to do dumb things because the stock goes down, you shouldn't own a stock at all. Warren, when you're a billionaire and retired, you can be more straightforward. There you go. All right, Dave, hey, we really appreciate you phoning in and giving us an update.

We're just trying to calm folks down and say, let's let President Trump do what he's doing here. He's got a plan. Let's let him see it through. Yep, Dodge Dodd, always the voice of reason and a godly voice in the wilderness, too. All right, Dave Bratt, ladies and gentlemen, great man from Liberty University.

And folks, if you want your kids to get a great education and come out an American patriot on the other side, still know their pronouns, send them to Liberty. Great school. All right. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.

Let's go to. Kim in Beaufort, North Carolina. Kim, what's on your mind today? Hey, Todd, thank you for taking my call. Yes, I have three things I would like to point out to people that the reason Donald Trump is on the right track.

When all of the jobs went overseas, Americans lost jobs. with the tariffs is going to put America back on a level playing field. which then means people will have jobs, people will have good paying jobs. when people have good paying jobs, then they will see that he is doing the right thing. The other thing is, I don't know how anybody in Congress or anybody can think it is okay for us to pay countries a higher tariff.

than what they pay us. That would be like me giving you fifty cents For your candy bar, and then pay a new 75 cent for my candy bar. that's inappropriate. It needs to be at level.

So if goods come in America, it cost Americans the same amount as if the goods were produced in America. And I'm a contractor. And I can see a huge difference in material. that comes from China and how items do not last as long as they used to. And therefore, you pay five dollars, five dollars, five dollars.

At the end, you've paid more to replace broken items than if you paid more for American made goods in the beginning. And Kim, that was my point about the payload shoes.

So I may pay a little bit more for a shoe made in America, but you know what? That shoe has lasted me for 12, 15 years. And maybe I've had to have it resold a time or two, but it's still functioning. And yeah. At the end of the day, I actually paid more going to pay less, you know, five or six times a year to buy the same kind of a shoe.

But what nobody seems to keep pointing out to Americans is once the tariffs go up, Then more goods will be produced in America, and then that will create good paying jobs for Americans. That's right. Right now, with all the country companies that have gone overseas, Americans have lost jobs. And you can go through small town America, all over the United States, and see towns and cities that are shut down. And what people don't seem to realize is when people have jobs in small towns, then that creates jobs for restaurants, then that creates jobs for gas stores, that creates jobs for cleaning companies.

So a little bit of industry in a neighborhood creates a wealth of industry for the neighborhood because it starts multiplying itself.

So we've got to get industry brought back to America. And the other thing is, my husband is a physician. When we have everything going on with COVID, you do not want to be in a shutdown where your medicines are coming from overseas. You want to be self-reported and have your medicines and your critical care stuff being produced in the United States so you have ready access to it. America needs to be self-supportive and be able to take care of ourselves as well as our neighbors.

But as long as we're shipping in more than we're shipping out, we're not a self-sufficient country. That's it. And Kim, again, and the President using this illustration, we are in the middle of major surgery, life-saging-saving surgery on this country right now. And it's going to take some time to heal, but we are going to have to go through some difficult times to get to the good times. And it's a great point you raised that if at the end of the day, we will soon see all of these small downtowns and these communities start to thrive once again.

But I want to say something else before we have to go to break here, Kim. The reality is that we've got to start. Buying Local by American. And that is something that I've been trying to be very intentional about. But the reality is, for example, being self-sufficient, I was watching an interview over the weekend with one of the Ford automobile executives.

And yes, their automobiles are being made here in America, but a lot of the components for those vehicles are being made overseas. And we've got to stop that. As President Trump said, we do not need to be reliant on another nation for anything. We should be self-sufficient as a nation. And that is going to be a lot of effort on all of our parts to make that happen.

All right, Kim, thank you for that call. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, let's get to the phones here.

Kathy in Salem, Oregon, K-Y-K-N. Hey, Kathy, what's going on? I mean Good morning.

Well, back to what you were talking about. I've got a I inherited from my mom a Frigidaire refrigerator from the 80s. And it's in my kitchen right now running just fine. Is that right? Oh, yes.

And um I have a repair guy that came out and fixed a couple of things, not my fridge, but other things. And I was in the market for a freezer a couple years ago, and Lowe's was having a sale.

So I called him and I said, Give me a good brand to buy. And the one I wa wanted was an L G. And he said, Well, you can buy it if you want to, but You can't fix them. If something goes wrong with them, you can't fix them.

So Anyway.

So where did you and where did you guys get that refrigerator from the 1980s? Um Well, we lived in Washington near Seattle at the time. I was a kid. I was in my teens when they bought it. Oh, it had to have been Sears.

No, I don't I think Sears only sold Kenmore. I don't think I don't think they sold Frigidaires. Yeah, yeah. My dad was an employee of General Motors, and so um Frigidaire was a General Motors product at one time, and so he was kind of loyal to that.

Well, I know that our family, we got all of our appliances from Sears back in the day. And my mom, I don't know if anybody else remembers this, Kathy, but my mom, there was a time when all the cool kitchens in America were olive green.

So the stoves, the refrigerators, all the appliances were that olive green color.

So was ours. Mom bought it. Mom bought a beige refrigerator, but our washing machine and stove were olive green and so was our carpet. Wow. I drew the line.

You know, we literally, Sears was kind of like Macy's for us growing up. And it was like, you know, the tough skins, I have, but my mom wanted to get the olive green tough skins jeans, and I drew the line there. I said, sorry, mom, can't do that. Even as a 10-year-old, you know. Yeah.

You know how that would go down on the playground. Yeah. All right. Green jeans. That's all.

That's it. Kathy, thank you for that call. What a great memory as well. But yeah, it was back in the day. And once you bought it, that was it because those things would last a lifetime.

I'm telling you. All right, we've got to take a quick break. Don't go anywhere if you're on the phone line.

So we're going to get to your calls in the next hour. 901-260-5926. No, Toughskins, Dieter, those were blue jeans. It was like the HM of the day. 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 right. I love this American ride. Well, hello, everybody.

Welcome to the Todd Sterns Radio Program. And hour two, we have a jam-packed show today. Just a lot going on over the weekend. By the way, I hope the sun is shining where you are. We haven't seen the sun in Memphis in what?

20 days, it's been incredible. The neighbors were actually starting to, they were heading down to the Germantown hardware store, owned by Americans, by the way. And they were, I don't know, was it they were asking about gopher wood. I don't know what the plan was, but we were getting that much rainfall here. Real quick, I want to go to Ed in Germantown, Tennessee, listening to us on KWAM.

And, Ed, I understand you are an old-timer, sir. Todd, I was born in nineteen forty nine, so I guess that would qualify me. That makes you barely an old timer, Ed. You're still a spring chicken. Oh, well, you're you're it's just it's just a number, Todd.

Anyway, I grew I was blessed to have grown up Back then When I grew up in a small farming community in southern Ohio. And everything. I mean, there was nothing. very few things that I can recall were ever imported or considered imported. Everything was manufactured domestically on farm equipment automobiles We used to laugh back then in the fifties If it was made in Japan, we laughed at it.

And of course it. I h the only We're again a small a small community. an hour drive away from Cincinnati. But there were no foreign vehicles to begin with. I remember I think it was in the late fifties or early sixties when those lighting started appearing.

And that was kind of comical back then. And that was the beginning, I guess, of imports. as far as I knew them. But just wanted to say I enjoy the show. Try to listen daily.

Even though I'm seventy six, I still work part time. As does my wife. We live a good life here in a drug in town. I long for the days to come back. when our manufacturing are products that we purchase are made domestically.

like your parents. Uh we shot at Sears. and bought Ken more appliances. stores like Kmart and Woolworth that didn't even even though may they may have existed under different names. Uh It was just better a a better life than I hope to see before I Uh do Go on to a better life up in heaven.

that I will say the country producing our products domestically People going back to work like they did back then. Yeah. People drove 30 miles, 40 miles. before I grew up. It was raised.

into Cincinnati to work at Fisher Body and General Motors And, you know, just anyway, I'm rambling on now. Ed, no, I could hear you. I could hear those stories, and I'm with you 1,000% there, and I miss those days. Ed, I will say this before we let you go. If you're in Germantown on Friday, I'm going to be over at the Rise Biscuits over in the Saddle Creek development.

Ben Dieter is going to be hosting the morning show there. We'd love for you to drop by, you and your wife, if you have time, and maybe share a cup of coffee or a biscuit. I promise you, I will be there. All right. Well, I look forward to seeing you there, Ed, and thank you for calling in, folks.

And that's what this show is all about. One minute we're talking about tariffs, and the next we're talking about Sears and Roebuck. I want to go right away to the Old Glory Bank newsmaker line. Our good friend, Fox News contributor Liz Peake joins us. Liz, I do have to ask: did you ever shop at Sears and Roebuck as a kid growing up?

Of course, that was kind of one of the big names, right? Plus, they had a huge catalog business.

So, if you were in some remote Area of the country where I grew up in northwestern Connecticut. Yeah, Sears is a big deal. Yeah, and of course, Memphis, Tennessee, home of the Sears and Roebuck catalogs. I mean, that was one of the big distribution centers here in Memphis. But all of that tied in, Liz, in the first hour, just talking about what President Trump is trying to do here with these tariffs, which is bringing back those American jobs, you know, where the days when all the appliances and the cars were made right here in the good old US of A.

Yeah. And you know, this is something he's been on for decades, literally. And I really credit Trump with changing. entire conversation about trade. going back to the election in twenty sixteen.

If you remember at the time, the Trans Pacific Partnership was the big deal that was under consideration. thirteen, I think, Asian nations or something like that. Hillary Clinton was all for it. It was after all negotiated by the Obama White House since he was Secretary of State. And then because of Trump, she turned negative on it.

And that was when Really, sort of the water broke. I mean, it was kind of like.

Okay, Americans now understand that these trade deals, including maybe most importantly, NAFTA, which her husband had signed into law. have really disadvantaged American workers. People as disparate as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have railed about this. And the reality is most people, most business leaders benefited from that shipment of jobs overseas because under those trade agreements, They could outsource labor. Labor in the United States was much more costly than it was in China or Mexico, for example.

And so you just had a tremendous loss of manufacturing. But I think So now the question is. Can we rebuild it? Is it worth The pain uh of going through this tariff process to get there. And you know, I gotta say, I think there's really a pretty good rationale for this.

I think because of our energy position, because we have incredibly low cost electricity and power and oil and so forth, We are very competitive now in manufacturing quite a good array of goods and With AI, yes, we're going to be substituting a lot of technology for workers. will there be jobs created by a resurgence of manufacturing? Yes, of course there will. But will it be as many jobs as would have been twenty, thirty years ago? No.

But the answer is, Todd, I think At the end of the day, one of the rationales that the Trump administration has talked about And there's several. One is revenues. But another is national security. And I was reading a column in the Financial Times yesterday where the guy is like: why do we want to have people sewing sneakers? Why not just go for the service economy?

I don't know that flipping burgers is any more productive and fulfilling than selling sneakers, but the answer is you can't fight a war. with movies and Uh good food You know, and financial services. I mean, a service economy is great up to a point, but I think we have to have the bones. Of a manufacturing economy in case ever we're at war with China or whoever. and we have to provide for our own defense.

I think that's common sense. Liz, it goes back to the concerns a lot of people had when COVID first broke out, and people didn't realize that most of the medicines we needed were actually being manufactured there, at least the components. And that gave me pause for concern saying, wait a second. And I see what the President is doing here, and he wants our nation to be self-sufficient. And I think that makes us a stronger nation, and I think a more prosperous nation, too.

Well, I think so. I mean, I'm not Obviously, there's been tremendous controversy about the way this thing has been rolled out, about the way it's being implemented. I think there perhaps was a more measured approach that you could take. For example, I do think reciprocal tariffs make a lot of sense. If the EU, by the way, I've never understood why this is true, that the EU charges us a 10% tariff on cars that we send there, and we only charge them 2.5%.

If someone can explain the rationale of that to me, I'd be very grateful. But there is none, right? I mean, what's the, I don't get that.

So why don't we, it would have been great just to put on 10% tariffs or just to say to the EU, okay, this has to change. Whatever you're charging us, we're going to charge you. And just sort of go down the line with all our major trading partners and get rid of these things.

Now, Peter Navarro is talking about how it's not just tariffs, it's also Non-tariff Trade impediments like the theft of intellectual property theft, subsidized companies that which they do in China. There are other things, currency manipulation, et cetera. But the most important thing, I think, and the most the thing that the American public will get on board with is this tariff disparity. And I kind of wish they had gone about this in a little bit more measured sense. I do, I am in the group that thinks that chart that President Trump held up really didn't make much sense.

But anyway, I'm for the concept. I just hope they kind of get their feet on the ground in terms of implementation because, yes, I think it is good for the country. Liz Peake joining us on the Old Glory Bank newsmaker line. And Liz, you had a terrific column in Fox News a few days ago: Democrats in panic mode as Elon Musk and Doge go public. I was curious to get your take on that interview, the sit-down interview they had with Brett Baer on Fox.

I thought it was spectacular. And mainly it was spectacular because Democrats have been very eager to portray Doge team members as you know, kind of uh teenage hotshots who don't know anything except they're very good at math.

Well, these were very serious and very sober. Business leaders, people who have created major enterprises, and really have walked away from them in most cases in order to do this public service. And it really is an incredible public service. They're getting nothing but hate mail and pilloried in the press. But the reality is, Todd, how can anybody not want to get rid of fraudulent payments?

In Medicare or Social Security, or not be spending money on frivolous. Activities and studies and things in the NIH. But actually, more than anything. Can you imagine the tech Incompetence of our country when you have seven hundred different tech platforms at the National Institutes of Health. 700.

You think that makes any sense whatsoever? Of course not. And Elon Musk and these guys made it very clear that we are working with 1950s, 1960s era. Technology that no business, no competent business in America would be willing to put up with. That's what's behind, that's the architecture.

Upon which rests our federal $6 trillion government. And everybody should be horrified by that.

So I thought it was great. You know, it reminded me of this movie. I don't know if you remember this one, Liz, 1993, the movie Dave, about the fictional president. And who did he bring in to fix the economy and to balance the budget?

Some tax accountant in the middle of the heartland. And that's what it reminded me of when I saw all those guys up there. Oh, I mean, and Elon, I think this is literally a once in a lifetime opportunity for our government to become modernized. That's the word they really should be talking about. It's modernization of systems and procedures They don't, you know, they talked about the Treasury having this one big checking account.

And agencies and people are writing checks on it without any oversight, without any detail. Do you write checks without any record being kept of what it's for? And so you can go back to next year and look at it? Of course not. I mean, everybody has to monitor their spending except for Uncle Sam.

So I mean, honestly, I pray that Elon Musk doesn't get annoyed with the President or get into a battle with Peter Navarro, whatever, and walk out the door because honestly, he is I think in many ways he is the savior of our economy right now and our country. Liz, we're going to have to leave it there. And, folks, I would encourage you to go read her column at FoxNews.com, Democrats in Panic Mode, as Elon Musk and Doge go public. You can also check out all of her other columns at lizpeak.com. I love your slogan: right-headed commentary on politics and economics.

I like that.

Well, I don't want to be wrong-headed, so I guess that's true to the right-headed, right?

Well, there you go. All right, all right, Liz. Good hearing from you. Thank you. Thanks for having me on.

Take care. All right. The great Liz speak, everybody. She is one of my favorite columnists in America and just tells it like it is. All right.

Here's the deal. I'm about to tell you how it is. We've got to take a break. We've got to pay some bills. When we come back, we are going right to your phone calls.

The telephone number, 901-260-5926. Again, that number, 901-260-5926. You just heard Liz on the Old Glory Bank newsmaker line. We love our friends at Old Glory Bank. America is back, and it is time to stand with a bank that shares our values, a bank that supports hardworking Americans and small businesses and your constitutional rights.

How many stories have we been covering about conservative companies and conservatives getting debanked by the big guys?

Well, Old Glory Bank doesn't do that. They believe in faith, freedom, and the flag, and they don't buy into this woke nonsense.

So I want you to go and check them out: oldglorybank.com/slash starns. And you're going to. You can be a part of something bigger. Trust this FDIC insured bank that was created to protect your privacy, security, and liberty. Old GloryBank.com/slash stars.

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Welcome back and let's go to the phone lines 901-260-5926. Gary is listening to us in Daytona Beach, Florida. Hi, Gary. What's on your mind today? Great, great interview with Liz.

Touched on a few things I was going to mention. I was listening to them. financial networks, and it's usually about six to one people uh Trump is uh blowing up the world. And with this and what was amazing, one of the Talking points was they said that this is a man-made disaster, unlike. COVID when it decimated our economy.

And I chuckled when it tells you that you're. Definitely not listening to the right financial network when the majority of the people still believe that. you know, that that uh COVID wasn't man-made.

So that was one of the points I hear them that COVID was entirely different to how it decimated us. This is man made by Trump.

So that was that's one point. And when you mentioned with Liz about the fraud, It reminded me that during COVID, we learned nothing after it because with the PP, all the loans. that went to thirty or forty different countries in the tunes of probably one trillion dollars or close to it. And that should have told us that nothing, none of our communication in Washington was talking to the other. When they could get a bank account, an address, and we, and our government just.

prints out money to be deposited. Gary, it's a great point you bring up there. And again, I'm not surprised that so many conservative talking heads are bolting for the doors right now. And the reason why is these people really in their core are not true conservatives.

So I'm not saying they're bad people. I'm just saying they don't understand conservatism, and they especially don't understand the economy and what Trump is trying to do here.

So we're trying to educate folks as best as we can. And I've talked to a lot of economists over the past couple of weeks, and they are very supportive of the efforts here and what Trump is trying to accomplish. Correct. The gentleman from Robin Hood missed it at the average age of his customers. that are in the stocks.

And they're actually fine. Oh, absolutely. And we are going to see a boom. I know people were laughing. Was that Peter Navarro said by the end of Trump's term, the stock market could be at 50,000?

Yeah, I completely believe that because, again, as Liz Peak just said, this is going to revolutionize the American economy. And that's what Trump is doing here. Gary, got to run. Great call. Thank you for that.

Again, our number 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Want to invite you to head over to ToddSterns.com. Have you been on our website? Love to get your thoughts about it.

We've got so much great content. And the best part, everything is free there. Everything.

Well, except for the store. You got to buy stuff in the store, but everything else is free. Our podcast, our newsletter, our stories, great resources for you as a conservative in America. All right. Hang tight, everybody.

Got to take a quick break. We'll be right back. You know, maybe. Maybe it's just me, but Donald Trump, and I gotta clean this up for the radio. But Donald Trump has now entered the I don't give two hoots stage of his life.

Has anybody else noticed that? Trump is just out there. He's saying what he's going to say. He doesn't mince any words.

Now, earlier today at the White House, he had the Los Angeles Dodgers joining him celebrating their World Series championship. And the president actually declined to recognize the two Democrat senators from California. Here's how that went down. Congratulations, Brian. And others, we have a couple of senators here.

I just don't particularly like them, so I won't introduce them. Over the course of this amazing season, the members of this team. Uh Yeah. I didn't think it was that big a deal, actually. Washington.

It did. He is just having a good time. And I think the, look, his approval ratings continue to go up. And in spite of even his own party turning their backs on this man, he is still beloved by the American people. And you know why?

Because he's the real deal. That's the reason why.

So good for you, Mr. President. All right. Let's go to Don in Fairplay, South Carolina. And Don, I understand that you want to explain the demise of Sears and Roebuck.

Yeah, I was there for Seven years after the Vietnam War, and I worked in the service department. Sears was a company that's been around about a hundred years. And I really, really enjoy working for them.

However, Their demise came to a headhunter. who liquidated all of their stores and forced them to go out of business. And that's really that's how it started, Don. That led to the injury of Sears, his head under Borton. Don't go all over there.

Or at um The stores and equipment. And put them out of business. I was there seven years, right after the Vietnam War, and I loved it. And that's what happened. And he put us all out, he sold everything.

You know, one of the things that was fascinating about Sears, when they went through all of that, they literally divided the company up into 30 different supply chains, which meant mass duplication of everything, right?

So you had to have staff for each one of those, and it was just too much, not to mention the fact that they were very slow to embrace the internet and becoming a digital or e-commerce component, having an e-commerce component of Sears. And eventually, to your point, it just gutted the company. It's really tragic because a lot of families, it really was sort of like the Macy's for the middle class in America. Right. And they had catalof stores.

If you lived in a rural area, you could go to the Sears stores and they would order it and it would come in, washing machine, sewing machine or anything. It was fantastic. I was sad to see them go. Me too. I always enjoyed it.

It was sort of a tradition in our family. I grew up in a neighborhood where we had a mall, the Southland Mall. It's in the White Haven community of Memphis. And I remember we would go there for church on Sundays, and they had a Sears store anchoring one end of the mall and a Goldsmiths, which was sort of our local version of Macy's. The Goldsmiths was on the other end.

And of course, that was the high-dollar side.

So we never went shopping over there, Don. We always went to the Sears. But it was always fun. And I remember as a kid, you know, being able to run around in the, they had all the hardware store. If you wanted to get a tractor, trailer, or whatever, they had all of that stuff there, lawnmowers, and of course, the toy stores.

That was always a lot of fun. And they had all the tools. Remember, the Sears tools all the time. Oh, that's true. Remember that?

They did have, were those the tools that had like a lifetime warranty? Yeah, yeah, all of their screwdrivers, wrenches, everything. You could bring them back if they broke. I remember that. I remember that.

And I completely had forgotten about it until you brought it up, Don. Yeah, it's, and it's that kind of, look, if there was, if there was a department store chain that was locally owned and operated, I guarantee you they would be able to make it if they had customer service as good as they had at Sears back in the day. You know, if they were able to replicate that and bring it back. they would do really, really well compared to Lowe's and Home Depot and so forth and so on. And Sears also had mail order.

If they didn't have it, they'd mail it to you to the store and you'd pick it up. Remember You know who I felt bad for, Don? I always felt bad for the mailman on Sears and Robot Catalog Day. Oh, yeah. That was tough.

But that was about a thousand pages, wasn't it? Oh, my goodness. Yeah. I mean, they were bigger than the, and boy, the staff, Don, they're all Gen Zers, and they're looking at us like we're crazy here. Those catalogs were as big as the old yellow pages, if you know what I mean.

They're like, what are yellow pages? Yeah, yeah, they were as big as the yellow pages. You're absolutely right. And everybody did home order, and they delivered everything. I had a washing machine delivered by UPS from Sears.

That's great. It was look, I remember at Christmastime we get those things and especially I remember Star Wars was just coming out and I wanted the Millennial Falcon and I remember going through the the Christmas catalog and you circled what you wanted and you tore out that page and you gave it to your grandma. Yeah, you know, I still have my original. Original Kinmore washer and dryer, over 25 years old, Don. Don, they would survive a nuclear blast.

I just. Shut up. I have no doubt about it. That's right. The only thing we changed was the belt on it.

You know why? Because it's American made, Don. It's American made. You're absolutely right. We are America.

That's it. All right, Don. Thanks for the call and a great, a great walk down memory lane there. Oh my goodness, back in the day. 901-260-5926, our number.

Let's go to Jerry in Little Rock, Arkansas. Hi, Jerry. What's going on? What's on your mind? Good morning, Todd.

All this talk about the old days. Tough skins were the bane of my existence. Until I reached junior high school. Remember, the knees were reinforced. And it was this slip Dealing stuff, and it would stick to your knees, especially if the weather was hot.

Oh my god, I hate tough skin. And all the cool kids had Levi's. Oh, yeah, but and here's how this would normally go. And I used to hate going shopping with my grandma or my mom because it was always for clothes. And the most infamous day at the Sears in Whitehaven, Tennessee, was when my grandmother hollered out across the store, Todd, do you need some new underwear?

That sounds about right. But the reason for my call, Todd, was when we have these hiccups on the stock market and the big sell off, It's always the pearl clutching in old mine. It's the end of the world. It's the end of the economy. Nobody ever talks about the flip side, Pod.

All of these people selling this got to be buyers. Fortunes are being made right now. The people who are buying now in two or three years are going to find themselves substantially richer because of what they're doing today. Which leads me into my question, Todd. What do you think?

Do you think that all of these Democrats, especially Nancy, while they break their necks or hips. trying to get in front of every camera they can. to preach all their doom and gloom. Wonder if Nancy and Paul are buying today or selling? What do you think?

Yeah, you better believe that's the case. And because, Jerry, as much as they're hollering and screaming about all of the losses on Wall Street, you better believe for them it's all about their bottom line. And keep in mind that Doge at this very moment, they're investigating why all of these people like Nancy Pelosi, whose only job has been in Congress, is out there and she is a multi-millionaire many times over.

So, yeah, I hear you on that. And there's a lot of hypocrisy up on Capitol Hill. I wonder if her and Paul could have figured out a way to make money on the whole Musemax deal without it becoming public.

Well, I'll tell you, that was a great stock to buy, and it still is. And it's doing really well. You know, I'm excited about the growth potential for Newsmax, and they've certainly gotten behind my show, and I certainly appreciate that.

So that's a good thought. Jerry, thank you for that call. I've got to take a quick break here, folks. Again, our number, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

Speaking of Newsmax, wow, it's just been an amazing time. Big media, they're all out to stop Trump at any cost. ABC, NBC, CNN, and they're all the same. And President Trump doesn't trust big media, even Fox News. And that's why so many people are turning to Newsmax.

Nielsen reports almost get this. 30 million Americans have tuned into Newsmax in the last quarter. And President Trump is one of those viewers. He watches Newsmax and he loves what he sees.

So tune in tonight. Watch Rod Fennerty's series, The Big Media's War. On Trump every night, Rob is exposing their big lies, and he's going to give you the straight talk that you want. You can find Newsmax on all major cable systems, or you can download the free Newsmax app on your phone, your home TV. You can do that right now, by the way.

Millions are making the switch to Newsmax, and you should too. All right, let's go to Houston, Texas, Patriot Talk, 9.20 a.m. Hi, Glenn, what's on your mind? I dropped Tara. I don't know if you know this or not.

I don't know if you have any lows. They're kind of like a home depot in Tennessee. But they have craftsman tools now in at at uh Uh over at lows. Oh, is that right?

So they're selling those at um at Lowe's? Yes, sir. And the other thing I want to mention, I don't know if you remember the days when they had the SMH green stamps. Oh, I remember those. My mom used to swear by those at every time she went to the grocery store.

Exactly. My mother would go at the grocery store and they would give her a book. And a strip of the SH green stamps, and she would fill that book up with the SH green stamps. And then she could trade that in for you know, some ridiculous product, you know, I don't I don't remember what it all was, but Anyway, I just wanted to mention about Craftsman Tools being sold at Sold at Lowe's. Do you have a Lowe's there in Tennessee?

We do. We have Lowe's and we have Home Depot. I personally prefer to shop at the locally owned places. But yeah, it's wow, Glenn, thank you for the trip down memory lane. I really appreciate that.

And we've got to cut it short, my friend. And I've got to go to the Old Glory Bank newsmaker line and welcome in our good buddy, Art Allie from the Timothy Plan. Hi, Art. How's it going today? I hope I'm coming through clear.

I'm kind of stuck in the car today. Todd, are we okay? Am I. Art, you're coming in loud and clear, my friend. Oh man, now I have to say something we're saying, I guess.

Okay. Yes, you do.

So, Art, real quick here, you know, we've been taking a lot of questions. Every time we have a conversation, we get a lot of calls, a lot of messages from listeners. And we had one from a guy named Brian, and he asked a very simple question: Todd, can you ask Art, should I be investing when stocks are volatile?

Well I don't give investment advice But I will put it this way. I mean, volatile that is an understatement in the last couple of days. But it is you know, a combination Of overdue. You know, the market has been high for sure. and a lot of happy investors And of course, the other guys are trying to blame it on Donald Trump's tariff policies.

Um And that is kind of borders on stupid. Because the policies that Donald Trump is putting in on these tariffs is going to be the best long term thing for our economy that anybody has done in a long, long time.

So I don't get concerned when things are down and they're down again today. And some of that could be manipulation. But here's the deal. If He's invested. Uh And he doesn't have a long term perspective I would say just don't do it.

If you invest in companies that are profitable, well run. low debt, making a good product, making a good profit. It doesn't matter what happens day to day, the ups and the downs and all the gyrations that are short term. Investing is a marathon Not a sprint. And right now, I don't see how people could get go too far wrong by investing even right now.

I might wait another couple of days and see when this shakes out. But You know, trying to time the market is an exercise in foolishness, and that's why the average person. loses money in their investment account.

So I'm long term. It's the only thing that's ever made sense and Lord, I've been in this business way too long. But it works only every time, Todd. Only every time. That's it.

Folks, Art Alley is the founder and president of Timothy Plan. It is the nation's leading biblically based pro-life, pro-family mutual fund group. And, you know, Art, as much as what President Trump is doing, trying to get Americans to buy American, you and the good team at Timothy Plan have been trying to encourage Americans to begin investing using biblical guidelines.

Well, that's true. You know, if you're going to invest, then when you're able to, you really should. Why would you want to invest in companies that are operating absolute contrary to your basic biblical value system. corporate America in way too many cases is funding a lot of evil stuff. And to be a shareholder in those kinds of companies just makes no sense, and that's what sets us apart.

We won't own them. We do the research, and if they're involved in things like abortion, pornography, LGBTQ plus agenda stuff, anti-family entertainment, it goes on and on. We just will not own any of those shares in Timothy. And when we started this, you know, my friends at Wall Street said, Allie, you're nuts. What do you mean?

They said you cannot create an investment program screen out the largest, most profitable companies. in the industry and expect to get good investment returns. Todd, that was thirty-one years ago, and my answer hasn't changed in thirty-one years. You have a value system, especially if you're a Bible-believing Christian. Obedience trumps performance every single time.

However, having said that, and if it would hurt performance, we would still do it because it's the right thing to do. But we've proven over thirty one years you don't give up competitive performance by being a little more biblically obedient in the money God's entrusted to you. The real key is quality money management, and we have some of the best firms in the industry managing our funds. you can't promise what tomorrow is going to bring, but We have proven you can get good competitive returns without compromising your moral values. I just love the Timothy Plan story and the incredible success that you guys have had, and the folks that are investing using the guidance and guidelines that you guys are sharing, all from a biblical point of view.

And, folks, I would encourage you to go check out their website, TimothyPlan.com. That's TimothyPlan.com, or give them a call, 1-800-TIM PLAN. That's 1-800-TIM PLAN. All right, we got to leave it there, my friend. But you came in loud and clear.

All right, man. Keep up the good work for God. All right. God bless my good brother and great friend, Art Alley from Timothy Plan. Folks in the break, go and check them out.

Check out their website. And by the way, when you call, you're actually going to be talking to an American person who speaks English. And that in and of itself is a great blessing. All right, we'll be right back, everybody. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch.

See? That's right. I love this American wrath. Time starts. Oh, yeah.

We are in a fight. We are in a fight for our democracy. Democracy, we are currently living through a president who wants to be a dictator. The authoritarians are never satisfied with the power that they have. They push the limits, they break the law.

If we are quiet, if elected officials are quiet, then we are complicit. And we cannot be complicit.

So we say to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Hands off, hands off science, hands off the Bill of Rights, hands off Greenland, hands off Canada, hands off Panama, hands off the courts. Hands off the courts. All right, so that happened over the weekend, a nationwide hands-off protest. Erupting from border to border, coast to coast, in just about every leftist city in America.

I'm not sure what they were protesting. I want to go to our Old Glory Bank newsmaker line and bring in Monica Page, who is a correspondent for TPUSA Frontlines, and she's the White House correspondent. And Monica, good to have you with us. I understand you were actually covering these protests. Hi, Todd.

Thanks so much for having me. Yes, I was on the ground all afternoon covering. This was a massive, massive protest. This was larger than any women's march that I've been to. This was larger than the first protest ever since President Trump took office yet again back in January.

This was massive on the National Mall. There were tens of thousands of people as far as the eye could see. But it was a very interesting experience, Todd, because you are looking at quite the demographic. I mean, it was a lot of middle-aged white people and older. Very small uh amount of Young people, not many people who really understood what they were talking about.

I tried to speak to some of them, and it was just a very interesting time. A lot of people are very angry. Yeah, you know, that was the weird part about it. Normally, you've got a very diverse crowd, you've got the Black Lives Matter people, Antifa, a lot of young, confused college kids. But this really looked like the Golden Girls.

Yeah, I mean, it was quite baffling because, you know, I had never really seen. a large amount of middle-aged older white people in one space like this before protesting against what they deem is a threat to democracy just because their candidate didn't win in the election. And what was interesting is that just the weekend before that, I was actually at the Georgetown Tesla dealership covering the Tesla dance party, Tesla takeover in Georgetown, and it was the same thing. It wasn't like a Black Lives Matter. It wasn't a pro-Palestine thing.

It was all adult white people who just hate Elon Musk. And that was a whole other interesting experience as well, if I'll tell you. They come back every single Saturday. I'm assuming that this is just the first of many that we'll be able to see over the summertime. But yeah, it was a Golden Girls reunion, to say the least, Todd.

I want to play some audio here. This was actually shared by Elon. Cut number 10, please. And what brings you out here today? What doesn't?

Wow. Can you explain a little bit for our viewers what this means? Go ahead. And they were like, whatever's going on here, cactusocracy. Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state.

Seems to fit, doesn't it? All right, so Monica, that had been pretty cool. I know Elon retweeted this video of you asking this man on the street interview. Clearly, they don't understand why they're out there. Yeah, I was very starstruck when I saw that.

I am a very big fan of Elon Musk, so it's very nice to see he's paying attention to what's been happening. He also sees how idiotic all of this really is at the end of the day. But it was very startling to see people and talk to these people and ask them, you know, why are you here? And to receive those answers. It didn't surprise me.

And then I followed up and I said, you know, what's your number one issue with this administration? What's the number one thing to you? And they said the same thing, Todd. They said everything, everything. I said, please just name me one thing that you are really passionate about that is not going your way.

And they couldn't name a single thing that they dislike.

So, you know, and some of the signs that I saw were very interesting as well. Got to ask about those. And this guy, his wife, said, Hey, where's your handout? Read off of the handout that you were given or that you typed up so you can remember your notes. And that just was the current theme of these things.

It's uh it's pretty funny, to be honest with you. Monica, let me jump in here.

So I want to ask about those signs though. Were they homemade or were many of the signs professionally made? You had a mix of them, I'd say. A lot of them were homemade. You had them that had, you know, written in marker, but then you have a lot of them that looked very familiar, which was a face.

of Elon Musk on a poster and this and the wordage says Elon Musk is stealing from you or Elon Musk is stealing from us. Those are preprinted. Those are obviously not handmade. And you saw a couple of them, like Donald Trump is a fascist, reject fascist authority, et cetera. But then I saw some really elaborate homemade ones.

So people took a lot of time and effort to put into these signs that You know, they really don't know what they even mean at the end of the day. Wow. We have Monica Page with us, White House correspondent, TPUSA Frontlines. Monica, do do we know if any of these protesters were actually paid Oh, without a doubt. I was actually looking into some of the money here.

The Federal Elections Commission page actually shows that this hands-off movement was funded by the Indivisible Project, which I believe is a 501c3. And you can see that the 501c3 has received millions of dollars from anonymous donors that they funneled into a C4, which is the Indivisible Action Committee. And that's a PAC. And you're really not supposed to funnel money from a 501c3 into a PAC, but these people appear to have done so about $2.5 million worth.

So there is no doubt that these people were being paid. And the quarter reports are supposed to be coming out soon.

So within the next week or so, I think we'll be able to see how much money was spent on these buses, how much money was spent on those stages. Everything that you saw at that protest, even throughout the entire country, was spent on these massive protests this weekend. Wow. Well, look, great reporting out there. And the good news here, when you've got that many old people, the protests don't last long because they have to go take a nap.

So at least you didn't have to spend your whole day out there. Yeah, that's another thing. That protest ended at 3:30 on the dot. People got out of there real quick. You got to get down to Bob Evans for the 4 o'clock special.

All right. Monica, great reporting, and we'll get you back on soon. Congrats there on the big retweet from Elon. Thank you so much. Anytime, Todd, thank you.

All right. Monica Page, I like her. White House correspondent with TPUSA. It is true, though. Normally, those protests are like late at night, and the Antifa people, they don't crank them up until what, four or five o'clock in the afternoon, because that's normally what time they're waking up.

And many of them either, you know, went to bed drunk or hungover. They were smoking dope or something. And they always do the protests late in the day. But with the senior citizens, the only downside is you got to get up early because they're early risers. And then they also had to have a lot of those port-a-potties because, you know, every couple of hours, you know, you got to make your calls.

So there you go. All right. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. 901-260-5926. Here is Sarah McBride.

And Ben Dieter, I may need some context on this story. Sarah McBride is the. gentleman from Delaware who claims to be a Oh, a woman? But he still has his God given plumbing. And here's what Mr.

McBride had to say regarding President Trump, cut number seven. And we are here today. Because while we know That Donald Trump thinks That he can place his hands anywhere We're telling him, hell no, hands off our Social Security, hands off our Medicaid, hands off Medicare, hands off SNAP, hands off our kids. Hands off women's rights. Hands off LGBTQ rights.

Oh my. Yeah, I don't think Donald Trump wants to touch that. Yeah, I'm fairly certain of that. I'm just going to say, not his type. No.

No. You know, this. He sounds like a prepurescent boy. You know, like, he's not gone through puberty, right? Right.

We've all been there, and this is what this dude actually sounds like. Wow. The dude Sarah is standing there in stilettos talking about Donald Trump hands off my you-know-what, and everybody's just sitting back looking like. Yeah, read the room. Look at Donald Trump's history.

He's not into you. You dude. Yeah. Put on some pants, sir. Put on some pants.

This story from Utah. The Ogden Nature Center. Dee, are you a bird watcher? Do you like to go birding? No, I'm 26.

Do you, Todd? I'm not a bird watcher. I eat a lot of fried chicken. Does that count? No, Popeyes is not bird watching.

Dog on it. Anyway, the Ogda Nature Center. Yeah. Folks, there in Utah, if you're going to go bird watching, that's where you go bird watching. And it costs six bucks if you're an adult.

So. Can you not just do it in your backyard for free? That's what I don't understand about this. $4 for kids.

However, if you're black, you can actually visit the Nature Center free of charge. It is part of a week-long celebration for black birders. I'm not talking about blackbirds, but actually black people who might want to watch blackbirds. That seems offensive and racist. Yeah, you will not be black birders.

No, well, they're black birders because they're blacks and they're birders, which is, you know, they're bird nerds.

So, my mom's a white birder? Theoretically, yes. But if you're a white or Asian or Hispanic bird nerd, you have to pay money.

So the black birders get in free of charge, but the whites have to pay. This is so racist. I don't know how anybody thought this is a good idea.

However, I mean, if you self-identify, if you pull a Rachel Dolezal, you could identify as a black person. And I suppose theoretically you could get in free of charge.

However, The idea of dividing bird nerds based on skin color is ruffling a lot of feathers in Utah. Senator Mike Lee. says this is racist and illegal. Yeah. So I did a little bit of research this morning on the Ogden Nature Center.

And it turns out they've got a big staff. I guess they got a lot of birds.

So 20, they have 20 full-time staffers. Of the 20 staffers, 19 are female. And I just want to say this, and I don't mean to paint with a broad brush, but all of them have big glasses and purple hair.

So you can tell there's just a woke vibe that they're oozing. A lot of dodo birds and cuckoos. A lot of them, ladies and gentlemen. Dodo birds and cuckoos. I'm not surprised, though.

As they say, Ben Teeter, birds of a feather flock together. All right, we got to take a break here. 901-260-5926. We're going to talk about the weather. I'm rather.

Hesitant about bringing this story up, but there was a lot of anger in Memphis, Tennessee, over the weekend after the local weather guessers interrupted the Final Four game for hours on end to talk about severe weather and has caused this massive conversation and controversy over whether or not people are in the weather guessing community are overblowing. The forecast. 901-260-5926. This is the Tom Stern Show. All right, welcome back to the Todd Starns Radio Show.

We had a lot of severe weather over the past week. And It caused a bit of controversy yesterday or Saturday during the final During the final four game, Dylan, I know you're a big sports guy. Did you watch the game where you wanted the people that was angry? Yeah. Uh slightly annoyed maybe.

Yeah, that's good. You know, the game was bigger than the coverage, so you could see the game. I will say that. But you couldn't hear it. Couldn't hear it.

So we have a CBS affiliate in town, and they. They carried the game. And it was an SEC game, too. This was the um oh, who was it? Um Flor was it, Florida?

It was Auburn in Florida. Auburn, Florida, yeah.

So it there was going to be a massive audience.

So anyway, we were having severe weather, and the professional weather guessers decided to broadcast of their you know, their, you know, Doppler radar and they cut the audio to the game.

So all you could hear was the the weather guessers, you know, telling people, Hey, there may or may not be a tornado coming your way. And I want to play this audio. This is so in the middle of the coverage, this is what one of the weather guys told the people. I guess people were like calling into the station and they were posting messages on the social media feeds. People were enraged over this.

And here's what the weather guy said. I don't want to hear one more comment about why we're covering up the vol the volume of the game. You can hear the- you can see the game. You're gonna have to deal with my voice and just deal with it because again, we lost several people. Several people died Wednesday night and potentially this is saving someone's life in Doomus right now.

Wow. Oh, by the way, I didn't realize that's how you pronounce that town's name. I learned something new. I thought there was an extra S there. I always thought, what a peculiar name for a town.

So, anyway, people are really, so it looks as though the city is divided. 50-50 over whether or not the TV weather guys did the right thing, or was this all overkill? Because at the end of the day, this was all really outside of their viewing area. And there were other TV stations and other markets that could have easily covered the situation. Do you know what I think?

I think it all comes down to what you wanted to watch. Because for me, I wasn't watching the game, but I'm not a sports guy.

So. I was indifferent. I mean, truly, but there are a lot of people that were watching. The final four who are very upset. That being said, you do have people that we've heard from that wrote into us.

I mean, because this story is like the number one story now in Tennessee. It's huge. How dare you? Because I have a kid traveling through Doomis. Or is it Dumas?

No, it's Dumas. I didn't know. I always thought it was the other. And my kid. Is needing these National Weather Service alerts.

They need the tornado warnings, and the meteorologist is doing their job. And they are protecting and they are saving lives. How dare you? Prioritize sports over my kids' life. Can we though, is it safe to say we need to have a conversation about the accuracy of these forecasts?

Because they were calling this generational flooding.

Okay, we had a lot of rainfall And the places in Memphis that normally flood flooded And now the floods have pretty much all receded. And my question is: when does the generational flooding happen? Maybe are we still waiting for it? Or did they say, oops, we just made a mistake here? Are they overhyping weather just nationwide?

And I say that because. there were well over a hundred tornado warnings issued. Over the past couple of days, over a hundred just in Memphis alone. You know how many actual tornadoes there were? And we're very happy there weren't as many.

There were only five. Only five tornadoes.

So, my question is: Is the world-renowned Doppler radar not working, or are they just saying, Oh, this looks like it could be a tornado?

So, my question is: are they over-hyping the weather? And is that coming from the National Weather Service? Are they overhyping this? Because I heard another conversation on the NPR station here in Memphis, and they were talking about this is evidence of climate change. It does make you wonder.

901-260-5926, our number. Curious to hear your thoughts on that. We'll be right back. All right, welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us.

Snowbeddle. I know that some people got a little testy here, but again, There are other ways to get out news and information if you're in the middle of some sort of a severe storm. But the overarching issue is: okay, they issued 109, 110 tornado warnings, but there are only five tornadoes.

So, at some point, are we over-exaggerating the seriousness of these storms? Or is their equipment not working? I mean, it's not like this is a one-time deal. It's just sooner or later, people are going to get tired and they're going to stop listening.

So, when there really is a true threat, then you know, it's sort of like the boy who cried wolf. But there is no mistaking the fact that at least in this modern era of TV meteorology, it's all a big show, right? A lot of this is done for advertisers. They want viewers. And I say that because back in the day, When when I was growing up, We had the same sorts of weather events, but we didn't necessarily have the same level of coverage.

So it's you know, it is what it is. And I feel bad for I'll look, I feel bad for the people whose homes were damaged in the tornadoes. Absolutely. But you do kind of feel bad. I mean, if you're.

A big basketball player, and you tune in for the big game, and you hear some weather guy screaming at you. I'm just saying. It is what it is. 901-260-5926, our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.

All right. I want to play some audio here. So. There is a young lady from Riverside, California. She's a sixteen year old girl, and she's got a lot of courage.

She was actually removed from her cross country team and she was replaced with a boy.

So she had been a longtime member of the cross country team. She'd been a pretty fast runner, but it turns out that this boy who identified as a girl was actually a faster runner.

So the coach replaced her, Taylor, with this boy. And so now there's a big lawsuit. And the reason why there's a lawsuit is that Taylor and a a fellow teammate, they both wore T shirts saying Save Girls Sports. And she also pointed out that boys are boys and girls are girls.

Well, the athletic director told her to take the shirt off because that shirt. was just like a swastika to a Jewish person.

So she testified the other day. At the California General Assembly. Not sure it did much good because they're all Democrats. They're a super majority of Democrats. And they hate biological girls.

They do. The Democrats, if you are a Democrat, You loathe, you despise, girls who were born girls. Cut number three. Good morning, members of the committee. My name is Taylor Starling.

I'm 16 years old, and I attend Martin Luther King High School. I have a 4.0 GPA, serve as vice president of my junior class and lead as volunteer with National Women's Charity League, and lead as captain of my school's cross-country and track and field teams. I was removed from my varsity girls' team and replaced by a newly eligible male transfer student who received favorable treatment. I worked every day during summer with my team. And into the school year six days a week, waking up at 5 a.m.

to attend morning practices and staying at school until 4:45 each day. My goal was to attain a varsity spot on my school's Division I CIF team. uh not an easy feat, but one I accomplished. Since the start of the season in August, I ran in every varsity race. In late October, the male transfer student was given my spot after not being held to the same strict team requirements as me and the rest of the girls.

He did not have to attend practice while my team and I were running seven miles a day together. After having my spot taken away from me that I earned, I missed out on running with my varsity team in one of the top cross country Invitational of the season. As a result of this unfair treatment, my teammate Caitlin and I wore shirts that said Save Girls Sports and stated that boys and girls are different. It's common sense. xx does not equal xy.

This is not hateful or unkind. This is reality.

However, our athletic director made me remove my shirt and told me it was like wearing a swastika. In front of a Jewish person, and said that I would face disciplinary action if I wore it again. My Title nine in free speech rights as a female matter too. Why are girls being told that we must sit down and be quiet while boys unfairly get ahead of us in life? Why do boys not have to attend practice and make the sacrifices that us girls make in order to be scholar athletes?

Just because those boys believe they are transgender. Girls matter too. Please protect us. Thank you. Yeah, wow, so well spoken and so well said.

The Transgender Athlete Talking to ABC News. And here's what he had to say. I understand my teammates' disappointment in not getting the spot they hoped for, but I hope they can understand my deep pain and disappointment at how they and their families are handling it. It's hateful, it's divisive, and it's not how we should treat one another.

So basically, he's telling the girls: you need to get over it, girls, and you need to suck it up, and you need to understand that you're always going to be in second place because first place belongs to me now. Because I'm a boy and I'm faster than you. I mean, that's what the kid was basically saying.

So we'll see how this goes. Federal lawsuit filed, and let's hope these girls win. By the way, they attend Martin Luther King High School. There you go. All right, let's go to the phones: 901-260-5926, Paula in Ocala, Florida.

Hi, Paula. What's going on? Oh, we have a beautiful sunny day today, but we got some weather coming in. Oh boy.

Well, I I hope it happens before the uh championship game. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you never know. All you gotta do is walk out your front door and look and say, Yep, it's clouds in the sky and it's windy, it's gonna rain.

Fair enough. Common sense has been lost. We live here. We have hurricanes every year. I grew up in St.

Petersburg and the devastation there is amazing. very sad for a lot of people. Even my home that I grew up in is gone. But people didn't use common sense. You see the tides rising, you get out.

You don't wait for somebody to tell you to do it. Paula, I don't mean to offend people here, but the other thing is that over the past, I mean, going back to Hurricane Betsy, you had a lot of people living along the Gulf Coast, but looking at where we are now, where you have just an inundation of people building these homes directly on the beach, and then they're surprised when the hurricanes come and they're blown away. I mean, You know, common sense will tell you you're taking a risk if you're building a home on a beach. Yes, and North Central Florida has had a boom. Ocala has just blown up.

'Cause I've been here since 1991. The flooding has gotten horrible. But it's because they're building homes and condominiums on what used to be horse property. We have aquifers here, you know, and the water sinks down. You build on it, you screw that up.

You wonder why you have flooding?

Well, a lot of folks may not realize this, but Miami Beach was actually man-made.

So there's, you know, it was basically swampland.

So, yeah, again, and this goes back to the common sense, and this is a hard lesson for a lot of folks. But let's just say, you know, you have a hurricane season and your home's been hit multiple times over the years, yet the insurance companies are obligated to build those homes back at the exact same spot and then rebuild them again when they get blown away. That impacts other people who have insurance. If you can get insurance. If you can get that's a fair point.

That's a fair point, Paula. Yeah. Well, do you guys get the wall-to-wall weather coverage down there? I don't know because I don't turn the TV on. Good for you.

Maybe that's the best chance. I'm not sure there's idiots. The alarmists, you know, they're like, oh, it's. You know, I got a weather report this morning, it's gonna be windy today.

Okay, brought my lawn furniture in, no big deal.

Well, here's how we do it, Paula, and at the radio station I own is that we're very careful. You know, if we have, we are part of the emergency alert system, so that will go off automatically. But you've got your warnings, you've got your alerts, you're in and out in 60 seconds, not seven hours. Right. Well, I lived I grew up in Kansas City.

So I know about tornadoes. Do you know about second decisions? Yeah, there you go. And that's it. And that's it.

And be smart, you know, if you anyway, there's not a lot of common sense in America these days.

Well, the one thing that I remember growing up was when you left to go to the fallout shelter, you left everything behind. You left your cats, you left your dogs, you left your purse. You ran for your life because everything else can be replaced. A life cannot.

Well said. And look, I see this. This is one of the reasons when I travel, I always tell my team I need to sit in the front seat because if you're in the back, people are not going to get out of the plane. They're going to get their luggage. They're going to put their shoes back on.

No, I don't have time for that nonsense. Yep. Yep. Well, thank you for the awesome job you do.

Well, thank you. Have a wonderful day. Paula, you do as well. Thank you for calling in. 901-260-5926.

Our number, that's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Starred Show. Um Well, starting to put together the big book tour. Coming up this summer. The latest book, my latest book coming out in June, June 17th, actually.

And it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm excited for you to read this book. It is not a political book, but it does talk about politics. And I say that in the sense that we talk about a lot of political figures who were very instrumental in creating the Christian nation that I believe we have today. The name of the book is called Star-Spangled Blessings.

Devotions for Patriots. And I want you to read this book, folks, and I'm going to encourage you to pre-order it today. You'll be able to get a copy at your favorite bookstore. You can pre-order online or call your favorite bookstore and do a pre-order. You can pre-order on Amazon, and I would encourage you to get the hardcover edition.

It's just a beautifully done book. You're going to love the book cover. And there's also a Kindle version, and I'm going to be recording this week the audio version of the book.

So you'll have a lot of fun hearing me read through the book. We have not only some great stories, but also some pretty incredible recipes as well for some great patriotic dishes. But anyway, Star Spangled Blessings, I wanted to do a deep dive into how God used specific people and characters to advance his plan. And we tell the story, for example, Of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was the first president to actually be baptized while in office, just days after he was inaugurated.

Eisenhower asked to be baptized in Washington, D.C. We also tell the story of Ronald Reagan and the Western White House, and there's just some incredible symbolism there, and Ronald Reagan's deep and abiding faith in God, and also the comparisons between Reagan and his life after the assassination attempt and Donald Trump's life after the assassination attempt on his life.

So it's a fun read. There's really nothing else quite like this out there in the book world, which is why I hope you will take a moment and we'll get a copy of it. Again, go to Amazon. That's what we're kind of encouraging people to do. Go to Amazon and you can pre-order some copies there.

If you bought my last devotional book, our Daily Biscuit Devotions with Addrawal, it is the same size of book.

So it makes a beautiful. Little gift book for a loved one, but also for your kids, because they're going to learn something about American history that they may not have learned before.

So, again, go to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books a Million, wherever you get your books. The name of the book, again, Star-Spangled Blessings: Devotions for Patriots. All right, let's go to the phone lines here: 901-260-5926. Greg listening to us on WTJS. Hi, Greg.

What's on your mind today? I'll try doing great. Hey, a fan of your shows. Love watching it. Also, Grew up in the Memphis area, but moved away about 42 years ago.

But I just call and reminisce about Sears. My father. Worked there for forty years, started when he was nineteen and retired at fifty nine, but He uh I remember uh Every Christmas Two weeks before the Christmas catalog got Coming out, my dad would bring them home. Because he got him early because he worked there, and all the kids in the neighborhood would come to our house to look at the catalog. And that was always a great time around our house.

But also, another thing was we'd go to. The cross down. store there in Memphis. And We would uh uh To go downstairs where they put the toys out just right after Thanksgiving, they didn't have them out all year. And I just remember doing that and it brought back a lot of memories for me.

Uh, with Sears, my dad working there and then just growing up in that in that town. It was such a massive building, and they had a very similar one in Atlanta over in Ponce de Leon is the avenue. And they turned that into sort of a giant food hall, which is pretty much what they've done to the crosstown concourse, is what they call the old Sears catalog building here in Memphis. Yes, yes. My mother My dad moved to Memphis.

uh he met my mother through Sears. My mother worked at Sears also at Crosstown. And my mom's sister worked with my dad in Seattle.

So it Years it's been part of my family all my life. And the craftsman tools, that's how I got all my tools. 'cause they've got bills on craftsmen's tools for all those years and Uh, Sears means a lot to me and meant a lot to my family over the times, but it just brought up a lot of good times when I heard you talking about it earlier. Remember they had what, Kenmore, Craftsman and even All State Insurance was sort of birthed out of uh Sears. He asked and The Kenmore appliances when I got married, then my wife I did.

like I said, got good discounts and they had an a Wholesale. We're down there in Memphis and we went down there, had all Ken Moore appliances in my house in the Kenmore washer and dryer. I just replaced them last year, thirty-seven years later. Uh that's how long they lasted. And and there wasn't some Oh, I think we lost Greg, but Greg, we certainly appreciate your call and taking us down memory lane.

You know what the motto of Sears was? This is Richard Sears when he founded the company in Minneapolis. This is what the motto of Sears was. And if this is your motto as a company, You can't blow it unless you veer from this motto. And here was the motto: we can't afford to lose a customer.

That's brilliant. I mean, we do that here at the radio station, and I have to imagine all the radio stations that carry this program can't afford to lose a listener.

So, we want to make sure that we are always competitive and we're always taking care of folks. And that's why Sears was so successful. Ben Dieter, you're going to be shocked to know this, but the Sears and Robuck catalog, which is about 400 or 500 pages. Do you know that back in the 1920s, you could actually buy a house? in the Sears and Robot catalog.

Really? You could buy a house and it was a kit, and then they would come out and they would assemble the house. And many of those houses are still standing today. From a catalogue. From a catalogue.

Wow. And we're not talking, guess how much? Take a while, guess. How much do you think a house in a Sears catalog would cost? $320,000.

Uh no. No. Um close to six thousand bucks. And that's like the high end, the Grand Magnolia. It's not like one of those mini houses, it's an actual house.

It's an actual two-story house. Not a trailer park? Not a trailer park. Wow. From 1908 to 1940, Sears sold between 70,000 to 75,000 homes in America.

I mean, it's pretty impressive.

So there you go. The good old days. But I'm telling you, and we had a previous caller, and if they could embrace that mindset. The customer comes first. We never want to lose a customer.

I guarantee you, an American-owned, American-run, family-owned department store chain would thrive in this country. I mean, that's the way, you know, Macy's started. You folks in Atlanta, I know you guys had a department store called Rich's back in the day. And of course, here in Memphis, we had one called Goldsmiths. I think in New Orleans, you guys had one called the Bon Marche.

So, I miss those days.

So, maybe who knows what's going to happen once the tariffs get all sorted out. All right, folks, it's been a fun day. We have gone down memory lane today. I like that.

We're going to do it all over again tomorrow, everybody. Tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern. Be sure to watch the Todd Stern Show exclusively on Newsmax. Have a great one, everybody. You be good, America.