Senate Republicans May Stop Trump’s DOGE Cuts

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See ya. That's right. I love this American ride. Todd Stars.

Well, hello, everybody. Welcome to the Todd Stars Radio Show. Great to have you with us today. We have a lot to talk about. And this Epstein thing, it's just not going away.

As I know, the president. Would love for this to go away, but for whatever reason, the president does not want the Epstein file to be released. What I find fascinating is we were told that the Epstein file did not exist, right? That was the latest coming out of the Justice Department, but now apparently it does exist after all. And there's been a lot of hullabaloo over whether or not this thing ought to be released.

Now, how I was talking about this last night on Newsmax. And caused a bit of controversy because I basically took everybody to task. I think this is one of those rare moments where everybody needs to be taken to the woodshed because this is a mess. And it doesn't need to be a mess, but it's a mess. And I'm not sure why it's a mess or why somebody wants it to be a mess, but it's a mess.

Anyway, last night the mess got a little worse because the Democrats, and you know how they love to play politics here, the Democrats smell blood in the water and they made a motion to release the Epstein file, which House Republicans immediately shut down. Again, it's just a bad look.

So here's where we're at on this. And there are a lot of theories around what's happening with this Epstein situation, which, by the way, is over 20 years old. And I've been pretty clear, at least on this program, that we do need to know if there were powerful people that were abusing children. If we have pedophiles in positions of power, we need to know who those people are, and they need to be put away. And that is something that I've been pretty clear about.

But there are a couple of things that could be going on here. And President Trump pointed this out. He said it's very clear that the Democrats may have been playing politics. Maybe they added names to the list or they did things to the list that are going to make Republicans look bad or what. We don't know.

It's conjecture at this point. But what is clear is that for some reason, the president does not want this. List released. Period.

Now say what you will, because there are a lot of folks on both sides of this who are very vocal about their opinions. I do not believe that President Trump's name is on that list. I just don't. It doesn't make any sense. If it was, the Democrats would have already released it.

This would have been done during the Biden administration or it would have been done as soon as Trump declared his candidacy again.

So I don't think Trump's name is actually, I'm pretty confident to say Trump's name is not on the list. But clearly, he's got a reason why he doesn't want this list to come out. He's been told something. And again, going back to the campaign trail, the President was he was talking about releasing it or at least looking at the possibility of releasing it. But for me, this was not why I went to the ballot box on Election Day.

For some of you, it was. For some of you, the only reason you wanted to elect Donald Trump is to have the Epstein file released. And okay, fine. You're going to be disappointed, but okay, I get that. That's kind of a weird reason to go to the ballot box.

But okay, if that's what got you out there, that's what got you out there.

So anyway, a little bit of news involving Dan Bongino. And Bongino said that it was either Pambondi or him.

Somebody had to go.

Well, the reporting is now, and there are a lot of people leaking out of the White House and the Justice Department on this. But the latest reporting is that Bongino has really rethought things, and he's back to work.

Okay. Tucker Carlson is out there saying that Dan Bongino got completely shafted in the Epstein mess. Cut number 12. As we're recording this, Dan Bongino is threatening to resign if Pam Bondi does not resign as AG. What does that tell us, in your opinion?

Well, it tells us that Dan Bongino got shafted, completely shafted. And I'm saying this as a friend of his and someone who respects and likes him, but also just as an observer, an informed observer of it.

So Pambondi, who's, by the way, I don't hate Pambondi, she's a totally nice person. She was here, you would enjoy. I don't know if you know her, but she's a very nice person. I'm not against Pambondi in the slightest. But the fact is, she got on television on Fox News and started saying stuff like, I've got the client list on my desk.

And actually, no, you don't. And I've got thousands of videos of Epstein having sex with kids.

Well, actually, no, you don't. Most of the material was commercial porn taken off his computer. Like, that's just not true. Why did she say that? Probably because she's insecure and she's trying to please the audience, I would expect.

Do you think Dan is upset because his integrity is being questioned now over her mistakes? Oh my gosh.

So you're Dan and you're a media figure, and you've got one of the biggest podcasts in the country, and you're making tons of money and you're having a great time, which he was. You just built this brand new studio in Florida. You work with your wife who you really like, what she does. And you get the call saying you'd be deputy FBI director, and you're like, I love Donald Trump. I love this country.

I will, you know, come. Cut my pay by into a tenth of what it was, and I will leave my house and move to DC, which is a kind of prison sentence itself, and I will do this because I love the president, I love the country, and you've you're there a few months and all of a sudden everybody thinks you're covering up Epstein's crimes. And it kind of wrecks Dan's career. Like, he can't go back. It's going to be very hard at this point.

I mean, things may change, but as of today, Pretty hard for Dan to go back to his podcast audience and be like, I'm telling you the truth when they all think that he's covering up for Epstein. Yes. I mean, it raises Tucker raises a great point. And look, I know Pampondi, she is a very nice person. I don't know what's going on now that she's in charge of the Justice Department.

I don't get that at all. It it doesn't make any sense.

So Again, ladies and gentlemen, there's that part of the story. And by the way, I've known Dan Bongino. He and I are cordial. But Bongino, if you say something that Bongino doesn't like, then you get holy, you know, what thrown at you. But that's just Bongino's personality.

That's who he is. And a lot of people love him for that. But to Tucker's point, it puts Bongino in a tough spot. Because this is pretty much how he built his media career on these conspiracy theories surrounding, for example, Jeffrey Epstein.

So then you have Charlie Kirk over the weekend, and that entire weekend was very bizarre and very troubling because there was a lot of anti-Semitic stuff being said from the platform at the Turning Point USA conference, and you had thousands of very young people, many of them teenagers, that were just soaking all of this in. This anti-Israel, anti-Jewish nonsense. And by the way, I want to give you the clue here why I'm using the term anti-Semitism. They were going after billionaires who support Israel, but the billionaires happen to be Jewish. They weren't going after the Christian billionaires who support Israel, only the Jewish billionaires.

So they showed their cards. All right.

So, and I don't know what's going on there, and I don't care. That is their shtick, and they can do whatever they want to. But the entire weekend was attacking Pam Bondi over the Jeffrey Epstein thing.

So, clearly, Charlie Kirk got a telephone call from somebody because this is what he said yesterday. And again, after a whole weekend of Pam Bondi and DOJ bashing, he. Here's the version that Charlie's going with now, cut 14. Plenty was said this last weekend at our event about Epstein. Honestly, I'm done talking about Epstein for the time being.

I'm going to trust my friends in the administration. I'm going to trust my friends in the government to do what needs to be done, solve it. Ball's in their hands. I've said plenty this last weekend.

So if you guys want to see my commentary on it, that's fine. We have... Escalatory action potentially being taken in Ukraine and Russia. We have tons of announcements happening when it comes to NATO. But let me just say this again.

Everyone knows my opinion about the Epstein thing, the messaging fumble. I would love to see the DOJ move to unseal the grand jury testimony. I think that would be a big win. I would love to see that. And I'm going to trust my friends, Cash Patel, Dan Bongino, my friend Pam Bondi, all these guys.

I'm going to, Todd Blanche, I'm going to trust them to solve it. Ball's in their court. I think that there was plenty of Let's say speeches that were directed towards this topic this last weekend.

So we don't need to spend our valuable time on this program relitigating it.

So that was less than 24 hours after they were urging all the people in the audience to vote on whether or not Pam, you know, they stood with Pam Bondi or they stood with whoever. It's the craziest thing.

So all this tells, and again, ladies and gentlemen, we talked about this yesterday on the program. There are a lot of people out there in the conservative world. Who really don't have core values, they basically go where the money goes.

Now, I'm not saying that that is Charlie. I'm not saying that's anybody else. I'm just telling you, these are people that don't have core values. And these individuals out there, and they're the social media influencers that are turning on Donald Trump, they're turning on the administration. And that bothers me.

Because a lot of people get sucked into all of this. With me, what I believe is what I believe. You can either agree or disagree, and you get to call in, and you can agree or disagree on air. But Steve Bannon is out there now saying that this is going to cost the Republicans. the control of Congress.

And he says that the the House the Republicans could lose twenty or thirty seats if the Epstein files are not released. I don't think that's going to happen. Because I'm not sure the average conservative, the average Republican. Really cares that deeply about this. I know it is a heinous thing that's happened here, and I believe that if you've done something to a child, you deserve the death penalty.

I mean, it's really clear, and I've been pretty clear about that on the show. But it just seems to me at this point. It's a mess. It's a great big mess. And unless Trump finally says, okay, fine, let's release everything, I'm not even sure it would be resolved then, because then you do have this idea that maybe the Democrats fiddled with the list.

And that's a fair that is a fair argument to make. Anyway, we've got a lot to talk about today. 901 260 5926, our telephone number. That's 9012605926.

Now I want to tell you about something we're doing for our friends in the Texas Hill Country, and I need your help on this. We are raising emergency relief money for the good people in the Hill Country.

So many people lost everything, everything. Others, their homes were devastated. And if you have been through a flood, You know, you know that it it it destroys everything. With the mold and the mill, too.

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So, we're urging you at the very least to donate $50. If you've got more money to donate, that would be great. It's all tax-deductible, by the way. And we are partnering with our friends at Food for the Poor.

So, I want you to go right away to our website, ToddSterns.com. You'll see the big red banner there, Help Texas Disaster Relief. Click on that, and you'll be taken to the links, and you'll be able to donate. You can also call if you would like to talk to somebody, 855-348-4673. Again, that's 855-348-4673.

You can also text the word Todd, T-O-D-D, to 51-555, and we will send you a link to make that tax-deductible gift. Again, ladies and gentlemen, this is a real crisis. And we have seen it unfold, it is very bad, and the need is incredibly urgent. And only you can make emergency relief happen. And you can do that by stepping up to help our friends in the Texas Hill Country.

Again, ToddSterns.com. Click on the Help Texas banner. We're going to be giving a shout out to our donors coming up a little bit later on in the show. We'll be right back, America. America was built on stories of courage, sacrifice, faith, and freedom.

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Man, it was one of those insane mornings. Had a doctor's appointment. Then I had to go and get the driver's license thing taken care of.

So, get this: when you move from New York to Tennessee, you have to, it's just, you can't just get the driver's license. You got to go through the whole driver's test.

So, I had to do the driver's test this morning. And Dylan, I got to tell you, Dylan, I was a little nervous. I felt like I was back in high school again, getting ready for final exams. How did the car do? The car did great.

Were you able to use your rear view camera? Oh, I used it all. And I don't, you know, it's that a cheat code nowadays. I guess it is.

So here's what got me, though. This was great.

So you get there at the appointed time.

So I actually got an appointment. There was a line. There must have been 75 people in a line outside. And you know, it's super hot here in Tennessee.

So outside, people were sitting on the grass because we have the real ID, right?

So everybody has to turn in their old IDs, which are not good.

So now you have to pay more money to get. The real ID. It's insane. You're just waiting out there with everybody else. It's like a ride to Disney.

No, no, no, no, no. Because I had the appointment. People were giving me the stink eye. Yeah, but hey, I did my due diligence.

So I walked in. It took me all of like, it was like 10 minutes, I guess, maybe 15. But, you know, you had to do the driving test. I'm glad you passed, Todd.

Well, thank you. I have a lot of experience. I am a legal driver now in Tennessee. Congratulations. The bad part was that I didn't.

I was concerned about parallel parking because in New York, that's like the only thing they require you to do. Everybody else drives like maniacs. But you have to parallel park, and that's the hardest thing. For some reason, that's like the hardest thing for me. Parallel parking.

So, anyway, as I was getting ready, there was an issue with the car. I inadvertently put it in a weird gear.

So, I had to pull off to the side and get that fixed and then resume. And as we were coming, when we came back, the lady, it was a lady person who did the test. And she said, you know, technically you did Parallel Park, you voluntarily Parallel Park. Did she count that on the test? She said, I asked, I said, is this extra credit do I get?

But I got 100. I got 100 on the driving test. And I, you know, because Dalton, Dalton Glascock, the CEO of my company, he refuses to let me drive. He says I'm the worst driver he knows. Wow.

I would have to dispute that. You've driven me places and it's been felt pretty sick. I'm a good. The worst driver is Caleb Park, who is now at Newsmax. He doesn't have to drive.

He was trying to. We were in Houston, Texas. I'll never forget this. We were in Houston, Texas, going to an event, and he was trying to merge on the interstate, and he came to a complete stop. I'm like, what are you doing?

Hit the gas. I said, you can't drive anymore. You can't stop on the interstate. Good golly. Oh, I probably shouldn't have told that story.

We love you, Caleb. We love you. We just don't want to drive with you. All that to say, geez a loo, mercy. Anyway, a shout out to all the folks there at the DMV.

Nice people. And they said I took a very nice mug shot for my driver's license.

So there you go. All right, 901-260-5926. If you've got a good driver's ed story, I'd love to hear that. That's 901-260-5926. We'll be right back.

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So, Dylan, I got to finish telling you the rest of the story here this morning.

So, it was me and, I don't know, maybe 50, 16-year-olds, and they were all waiting. They all had to do their driver's test too, right?

So, I was the only grown adult there in the gathering.

So, when you have to go out to your car, and then they come out to you, and you have to turn your blinkers on, and then you got to press your brake, you know, light, and they got to make sure they're inspecting your car. And I guess, you know, whether or not I know what a, you know, my left hand from my right hand.

So, anyway. The lady gets in the car. She's very nice. Her name is Ginger. I give her a shout out.

And great lady.

So anyway, she gets in and she sits down. And you know, I keep it at about 65 degrees in my car. And it's, you know, 98 degrees. It's going to be 100 degrees here, right? And it's very humid.

So she got in and she said, I mean, she let out a sigh, and I knew, oh, I just passed my driver's test. She said, You don't know how many times we have to tell the 16-year-olds to turn on the air conditioning. No way. I'm honest to goodness. Oh my God.

So, so anyway, and I didn't think anything of it until we do the test. And you know, it was about a 15-minute drive. And so we get back, and I just said, I'm really sorry if it was too cold in your car. And she laughs and she hollers out at another driver's instructor who was just getting out. And she goes, You're not going to believe what he just said.

She goes, What? She goes, He apologized for it being too cold. And she says, You don't apologize for that. And then the other lady says, Well, you know, those 16-year-olds, they never turn on the air conditioner. Oh, wow.

You know, it is one of the more terrifying moments in your life when you're growing up is having to take that driving test.

So, yeah, when the instructor asks you to turn on the AC, you're like, Is that the brake pedal or the gas pedal? It's true. But we got a good laugh. She says, you know, when people hit a certain age, it's all about the AC, and it really is. Yeah.

She was so happy to see you. She really was. I think we even drove a little bit further just because the Cadillac, it's a pretty nice ride. Not going to lie, it's a pretty good job. You can vouch for that, yeah.

Oh, geez, but then we were talking about it's really funny in that area, and everybody, everybody in Memphis goes out to this, is way out in the country, otherwise, you're waiting in line for days, you know, in Memphis. And so, anyway, there is a speed trap, and I was very clear to ask: are there speed traps? And what is the speed limit? And she She said, Oh, yeah. And then she said, Where are you from?

I said, Germantown. And she said, Oh, I get it because we do have speed traffic. You drive five miles over the speed limit in my town, they'll pull you over. Yeah. I've learned that now since I've moved there.

That's how they do it. And then it's like 180, they're driving 180 miles an hour. That's the Dodge Chargers on the Interstate. Let's go to Jessica in North Carolina. Jessica, I understand you have a parking suggestion for me.

Yeah, when it comes to that parallel parking, the biggest mistake people make is they're trying to roll and aim at the same time. You got to turn your wheels and then roll.

So you aim the car and then you roll. But if you're rolling While you're aiming, you lose the ground, that makes it so you can be precise about getting into the spot. Does that make sense? No, it doesn't make any sense, Jessica. I'm telling you.

And then there's a special spot that you have to start at. You have to have like the driver's door at the at the car in front of where you're going to park wheel at the driver's door before you start the hold. There's a physics. But the biggest deal is that if you don't roll while you're turning your wheels, First, you aim, then you roll. That's how you parallel park.

And yeah. That's I could tell you my horror story from my first driver's test, but it's okay. I didn't have Jessica, I didn't I didn't have to parallel park. I did it inadvertently and I think I w well, I would have gotten extra credit, but I aced the test. I'm a good driver.

I have been vindicated by the DMV, Jessica. My entire staff thinks I'm a horrible driver.

Well, let's reduce everybody, and we need to get a cell phone license now because the reason we have to get a driver's license is because cars can do harm, and people are doing great with those cell phones too.

So let's start with a cell phone. Cell phone license. All right, Jessica. Thank you for calling in. Oh, my goodness.

901-260-5926. You know what's interesting, Dylan? I made a series of left-hand turns. I don't think I turned right at all.

So I'm so we she said, turn left at the McDonald's, and I thought we're going to the drive-through. I immediately had a flashback to high school drivers that Miss Robiski. Should have got the the new snack from McDonald's. Right, exactly. Is that the uh the chicken strip?

Yes, that's it. And the ram. That makes it healthy.

Well, it's got lettuce, so that that. It's healthy. Makes it extra healthy. That's right. I love to hear that.

So, anyway, but we didn't go through the drive-thru. I was disappointed. But Miss Robisky, who was our driver's ed teacher back in high school, she was also the girls' softball coach. And she made sure that we knew how to go through the drive-through at Popeye's Fried Chicken. She always ordered a three-piece, extra spicy.

Miss Robiski. I wonder what she's doing these days. She's got to be retired by now. All right.

901-260-5926. Let's go to Moorhead City, North Carolina. Tim wants to weigh in on Jeffrey Epstein. All right, Tim, have you seen the files? Don't have the answer.

Sorry, wish you did.

Well, I thought I'd ask. You never know. You never know. Well. You know, I'm I hope I'm like a lot of folks.

This has just been bugging me to death. It's like you watch your. You watch your team step. to sort of unravel at the Yeah. And it's just troubling.

And you mentioned something as you were going off for the break. About Something on the order, some tainted evidence might be in the files. Has that been out for some time or is it fairly new? What's that the the files? Or Well, the well, the the the fact that there may be some of the Some of the things contained in the files may be sort of planted or tainted.

Well, that was I think that's a fairly new suggestion. Fairly new. And here's the thing. I mean, this is just the way my thought process worked. I thought from the very start, I thought And I'm trying to take a little heat off of Pam Bondi, I guess, by saying this.

Why would you promise? And then knowing that you don't really have anything and then suddenly you're not going to deliver. Why would you do that? I don't think you would do that. No, I don't think you would either.

Go ahead, Tim. I think I know where you're going. And I know and I know she gets kind of picked on about she loves the limelight and this, that, the other. But. I think that they all got blindsided.

And I think that I think that Dan Bongino is signaling that his Folks, you might say. that this is tearing him out of the frame. He can't hardly stand it. even though it seems like he's going to remain, and I think he's probably remaining because he feels an obligation to serve. But I think they all kind of got blindsided for some reason.

I don't have the answer to that. I think there was new information that came out And then it was like, oh my gosh. What are we going to do with this? They might have done better at that point, I think, but I think they were all kind of blindsided, and I think that the. the little tidbit about the well, maybe the evidence here is going to infigate people and it's not solid that somebody has planted some stuff here.

We can't count on it. I don't know whether that is Legitimate or just the excuse for somebody, but somebody spoke up, Todd. At the last minute, because they've been quiet. Because this just came up. This happened just too fast.

Well, it did. And I think there's a lot of truth to that. Yeah, I think Bondi has been making a lot of mistakes, and these are rookie mistakes. I think summoning the social media influencers to the White House that day and giving them the binders that were supposed to contain new information but really only had old information was a big, big mistake. And I think it really.

It really cheapened the seriousness of the moment here. And I do think that once they started looking at the files, for whatever reason, there is stuff in there that they do not want the American people to see. And at this point, it's just conjecture because nobody knows. Nobody knows except for the people who've actually seen it. I can't believe that they didn't understand what the look would be.

You know what I mean about the look? How that would all appear to people. I mean, they gotta know people are, they have paid enough attention. And they're trying to understand how it looks. You just can't do this.

You just can't. And I think that's what, as Karen up, Yeah. He is signaling to all of us, I think. You guys don't realize how much I'm ready to just. The plug and it closed everything I know.

you have to leave it with these folks that we have trusted. to say, okay, we'll give you some more time and. We hope you do the right thing. Let's see what happens. But Bongino is basically doing what is the clinical term here, CYA, is what he's doing, because he built his entire career on doing away with all of this stuff and all about he was all about transparency.

So this goes against the brand image that he very carefully created for himself and cultivated over the years. And that's why he's in a tizzy right now. I don't blame him one bit, but here's the deal: he should have just. He should have just resigned and he should have just done a clean break because now it doesn't look good for him.

So, if I were him, I'd call it a day and spill the beans and be done with it and move on with his podcasting career. Tim, I got to run. Thank you for that call. 901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926.

All right.

Um, I want to play this. This audio, and this is This is Mike Lawler. He is the congressman out of New York. And here's these are the talking points that the Republicans are now getting on all of this. And I'll just leave it here and put a bow in this story.

Cut number eight, please. Right there, this morning there is new criticism from the right on the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Politico is now reporting that conservative activist Laurel Loomer is calling for the appointment of a special counsel. To look into this. With us now, Congressman Mike Lawler, a Republican from New York.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. What do you think a special counsel would accomplish, and how do you feel about it? Look, as I've said, I'm not exactly one to subscribe to conspiracy theories.

So, from my vantage point, if somebody committed a crime, if somebody affiliated with Jeffrey Epstein committed a crime, they should be prosecuted. In the absence of that, frankly, this seems like a colossal waste of time and effort and, frankly, a lot of nonsense. There are a lot of issues facing this country right now. A dead pedophile ain't one of them. And from my vantage point, you know, The world is a lot better off with Jeffrey Epstein no longer part of it.

And as I said, if somebody did something, if there is evidence of a crime committed, then prosecute them. In the absence of that, what are we talking about? Yep, there you go.

So that's where things are. I will say this: the good news, I think this does not have any impact in the midterms. I really don't think it does. What will have an impact in the midterms is whether or not the Senate moves forward with all of these doge cuts. And there's reporting out of Politico, and we shared some reports with you a few days ago about this.

It looks as though there are not enough Senate Republicans. President Trump's Doge cuts.

So the effort to remove funding for NPR, PBS, USAID, all Jon Thu needs is 51 votes. That's it. 51 votes to start debate. On the rescissions package. But so far they don't have it, and there is a looming deadline.

Congress has until Friday, ladies and gentlemen, Friday night. To clear this request. And by the way, President Trump sent this last month. Last month And if they miss this deadline, President Trump will be forced to spend the money as Congress had intended. This is a great big mess, ladies and gentlemen, a great big mess.

And if the Republicans in the Senate, many of them rhinos, if they do not move this forward, then I think that is going to hurt President Trump in the midterms. All right, got to take a break here. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Just a reminder, coming up, we're going to be giving some shout-outs here to a number of our listeners.

Many of you have already joined our cause. Our goal is $20,000. We're well over $1,000 now, but we need your help. We are raising money to provide emergency supplies to our friends in the Texas Hill Country. And we need your help, ladies and gentlemen.

And we've made it very simple for you. Just go to ToddSterns.com, click on the Help Texas red banner. Will see it as soon as you hit the website. Please click on that and you can donate either $50 and $50 will provide one family with one of these great emergency relief kits. $500, you're going to be helping 10 families.

And 50 families, if you donate $2,500, but you can donate any amount, but $50 will provide for at least one family. We're partnering with our friends at Food for the Poor, and they did such an amazing job helping our friends in North Carolina. And that's why I know they're going to be great at helping the good people in the Texas Hill Country.

So again, go right now to ToddSterns.com and click on that banner, and you'll be able to make an immediate one-time gift. We also have information there for you to call in your donation or text in your donation. Got to take a break. We'll be right back, America. Hello, it is Ryan, and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacasino.com.

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And mere seconds ago, our good friend Congressman Andy Biggs out of Arizona sent a letter and it is signed by a number of Republicans in the House urging, begging Senate Majority Leader John Thune to preserve the $9.4 billion in spending cuts which the House passed in the rescission package. I just want to put all of this in perspective for you. It was Elon and the Doge team that promised us $2 trillion in spending cuts, right? $2 trillion. We're looking at Senate Republicans having an issue with $9.4 billion in spending cuts.

And again, right now, Senate Republicans do not want to defund NPR or PBS. They also want to maintain nearly $1 billion that will provide abortion pills and gay activism abroad. This is insanity. Insanity. And if it doesn't happen by Friday, it's too late.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I would be urging you to call your senators, actually, call all of them on the Republican side, and give them a good piece of your mind. All right, as promised, many of you have already donated to our big cause, our big disaster relief effort, and our goal is $20,000. We just started yesterday, and we're already well over $1,000. And I want to give a couple of shout-outs if we could here. First, I want to say hello to Janet from Marietta, Georgia, made a one-time gift of $100.

Thank you for that, Janet. Marlene in Henrico. I'm not sure where Henrico is. Is that Virginia? Anyway, $150.

God bless you for that, Marlene. Janet in Hendersonville, North Carolina, $50. Dina from Beaverton, Oregon, giving us $50 as well. Polly, Giving us a one-time donation of $50. Mary in Winchester, Virginia.

Giving us a $50 donation. Thank you for that, Mary. Julie in Atlanta, giving us a $100 donation. And Christopher in Gray's Lake. I'm not sure where Gray's Lake is, but Christopher, thank you very much for that.

And we'll be giving shout-outs to many more of our donors throughout the program and really throughout the week. And again, go to ToddSterns.com. You'll see the red disaster relief help Texas banner, and you'll be able to donate and help us purchase emergency supplies for the good people in the Texas Hill Country. All right, hang tight, everybody. Got to take a quick break.

This is the Todd Stearns Radio Show. Bubba Wallace here from 2311 Racing. Funny thing about being fast? You end up waiting. A lot.

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That's it! That's right. I love this American ride. Stars will yell! I'm a practicing Catholic.

I got married in the church two plus years. I don't see what we're doing in terms of advancing the bond of love and monogamy and extending that to families, families of same sex, in any way, shape, or form, takes away anything from the church or the sanctity of the union that my wife and I have. I would just like to ask the mayor as a practicing Catholic: do you believe the Bible is the Word of God? Yeah, look, Pastor, I'm not going to get into a theological debate with you that way.

Well, that's not a theological debate. That's just a straight question. Do you believe the Bible is the authoritative word of God? Yeah, with respect, I guess I do.

Now the response.

Well, then the Bible says when God created man, He said, one man, one woman cleave together for life. That's a family. Jesus in the New Testament reaffirms that. All the writers of the Old and the New Testament affirm it. Adultery, bestiality, homosexuality was punishable by death according to the Old Testament law because it was so serious in those early years because it literally shattered the hope of civilization.

The New Testament offers us, of course, grace. Those sins are sins. They are forgivable. Jesus died to redeem us from those sins. We're all sinners.

You don't want to categorize.

So, what does the state have to do with that? But the point at this juncture is: well, he's representing the state. He's coming back and saying, I'm a Catholic, and I'm a Catholic, and somehow this fits into my Catholicism. And I'm saying, well, what's your authority then? Wow.

John MacArthur back on the old Larry King live show on CNN debating Gavin Newsome over the same-sex marriage initiative. I believe that was back during Prop 8. John MacArthur probably was the most consequential pastor, Bible teacher. Of our lifetime. And he was a man who stood on the word of God and did not waver, not once.

Even during the China virus pandemic, when churches were being ordered to shut down, John MacArthur kept his church open and declared it a peaceful protest. It was a pretty brilliant move. John MacArthur passed away last night, and a lot of people are remembering his life and legacy. And one of those individuals is a good friend of this program and mine personally. He also knew John MacArthur quite well.

I'm talking about Dr. Paul Chapel, who is the pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church in California and also president of West Coast Baptist College. Dr. Chapel, good to have you with us today.

Well, thank you for having me, Todd. I appreciate being with you and Certainly understand that we need to be in prayer for John MacArthur's church family and his immediate family today as well. it's it's just heartbreaking. And at the same time, we celebrate because we know John MacArthur is is in heaven. But how do you I mean, how do you square those those two things?

Well, the Bible is clear that for a believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so whenever we have a time like this in the life of believers, we Find comfort in that truth. But we also have to deal with the personal sense of loss. And I know that some of the statements that have come from Grace Community Church over the last month have really shown that a mixture of faith and yet grief. The statement that was made at their church by one of the elders Sunday, I I noticed that the elder Began weeping as he closed his statement.

Recognizing that hours were drawing near. And so that's why I mentioned just to be in prayer for God's comfort on that church family. You know, Dr. Chappell, when you look at John MacArthur, I think just the international influence that this man had, but I want to focus on what's happening nationally because he really did influence a lot of pastors around the nation. You know, it's amazing.

Even those pastors such as myself who may have had areas of doctrinal difference, We still were influenced by various writings, and nearly every pastor that I know would cite a book or two that doctor MacArthur wrote that was helpful to them. And I know that he had given me several books over the years that he had personally signed and wanted to share some truth. And he had that heart towards his church and towards pastors across the country. And I believe one of his great strengths was his approachability. whenever we discussed theology, he was approachable.

And I just appreciated that. I really, really appreciated, though, his stand during COVID because I remember very vividly the county inspectors coming into our church and giving us citations for having church and telling us that they were instructed to go to Grace Community Church and Lancaster Baptist Church and to deal these to give these various citations out. And he stood so firmly during that time, and he was criticized. Uh sadly By some of the left-leaning I don't know if they would be classified completely as woke, but we'll just say left-leaning pastors in the nation just for having church. It still blows my mind.

That they criticized him for that. And yet, he stood so firmly. And I think that was something as a local pastor that I appreciated about his. standing as a lion in those days. One other thought.

that really came to my mind was There was a bill. being pushed through Sacramento a few years ago, by the supermajority there. And the bill was requiring that every college would have a club for homosexual students. And the bill was something that was quite alarming. There was no exception given for private colleges.

And so a number of us in the college work began to have conference calls, and doctor MacArthur was on a few of those. And on one occasion, As we were talking, I mentioned the fact that West Coast Baptist College takes no government funding. And this is one of the reasons we just we see these things coming down the pipe. But doctor MacArthur said, we will cease taking funding and just revert back to having a Bible Institute for our theological students before we will ever have this type of a club on our campus. You said this is like the days of the Reformation where the state is trying to tell the church How to operate.

And while other colleges represented on those phone calls within a month started. the gay clubs so that they wouldn't lose funding. MacArthur made it clear that he would rather lose funding than the blessing of God. That's the type of man that he was. And again, it was just that impact with the Masters College.

And I remember, was it 2014? I had to go back and do some research on this. I got a call one day from John MacArthur. And for first, I thought I was being pranked. And so I took the call and he said, Hey, I want you to come and speak at Grace Community Church.

I had never been more terrified in my entire life. It was an amazing event. It was me and Dr. Vodi Bacham and a NASA astronaut. And I'm like, one of these things is not like the other.

But just, you know, just in the fellowship and having dinner and spending, I spent several days with Pastor MacArthur, and he was just an authentic human being. What you see behind the pulpit is what you see when he's not in front of the pulpit or behind the pulpit. And I think that's. Going to be missed, and especially from a journalism standpoint, because he was one of those guys, just like you, Dr. Chappell, we could call and he was willing to talk about whatever issues and even debate those issues like he did with Gavin Newsom.

Absolutely. I mean, that debate with Gavin Newsom, I hope, will be played again and again should Newsom continue to pursue higher office. And MacArthur pinned him twenty five years ago as truly a compromiser and someone who just flips and flops. And so he was willing to take those things on. But his great heart was his own local church.

And One of the things that I saw over the past few years was just his heart for the church. And I was going back and looking this morning at some of his texts to me. And one of them, when he was ill last year, he said, I just long for the opportunity to preach a few more sermons to our church family. And that shows that someone is called. It's not a job, it's not something they did because there wasn't something else to do.

He was a man called of God. and he he longed to serve the the local flock. And that was I'm confident his first love after the Lord Jesus Christ and his family. uh more than the national influence and such was just being a good Uh a shepherd there. And I felt that.

You know, when you're on that church campus and you're meeting people and you sense that, I sense the exact same thing whenever I'm at Lancaster Baptist Church or West Coast Baptist College. It's just a really sweet, fun, hospitable spirit, which some churches do not have, Dr. Charles.

Well, and I'll tell you, and when he took his stand during COVID and he said, I believe that we're commanded to assemble, and we're going to I shared with him everything we were doing to assemble safely, and he shared with me. Todd, he was one of the very first men to share with me His suspicions about the virus. He may have been the first one. And things that are now coming out, and scientists are now allowed to say, and we all know. that there was censorship going on during COVID.

And MacArthur saw through that and he said, we're going to meet And his people rallied to him And to the Word of God, and that auditorium was packed every single Sunday. LA County took away a parking lot that he had been leasing for decades for a dollar a year. They took it away from them, and those people parked miles away and still walked into church. when a pastor loves God and loves people, They can sense the genuineness. And I know that.

people around the country love to judge the motives and they love to judge You know, mega church ministries as being weaker. And I can see that at times, but I would just say that, that is a group of people truly committed. I'm curious, and I was watching a reading last night on social media, and someone said, all right, who are the next generation of those John MacArthurs and Chuck Swindahls and Charles Danleys and Adrian Rogers? I would count you in my list, my personal list, Dr. Chappell.

But who are those folks, and why is it important that we have people like John MacArthurs in our nation?

Well, I'm honored that you would say that. I don't know that that's true. And I hope God uses my life to its fullest. But I would say that. We do need these men.

I look back in my lifetime and I can see great men of God that stood, like you just mentioned, and And they would be able to speak into the issues of the day. We're seeing those men slowly pass off the scene, and we're seeing. Younger men with larger ministries who are reluctant to speak into the issues. And that's also concerning to me. And so I believe that there are men out there who are standing.

They don't have yet that national voice. And it will be up to God to tap their shoulder and bring them into those positions of influence. And I pray that they'll use that position of influence to speak the truth into our culture. And of course, the truth of the gospel is first and foremost. But then to speak what the Bible says pertaining to whether it's life or marriage or any of these other important topics.

All right.

Well, Dr. Chappell, we're going to have to leave it there, and we always appreciate your great words. And folks, I want to encourage you: there's so many conferences out there for you to attend and to be encouraged by and equipped by. But my favorite conference, and I make a point of going to this conference every year, and I want to encourage you to check it out as well: the Spiritual Leadership Conference there at West Coast Baptist College and the website slconference.com. That's slconference.com.

You're going to want to get to California for this incredible event, September 21st through the 24th. I will be there and hope to see you as well. Dr. Chappell, always good hearing from you. Good talking to you, and look forward to having you with us the last weekend of September, Todd.

And thank you for all you're doing. All right.

Dr. Paul Chapel, everybody, the pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church. That's in northern Los Angeles County. If you're in the neighborhood and you want to go to a great church, that is an incredible, incredible congregation. And I'm telling you, this conference they put on, it will just knock your socks off.

It really will. slconference.com. All right, we've got to take a quick break. I know many of you were so encouraged and enriched by the ministry of John MacArthur. We're going to be taking your calls, 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. In the break, head over to the website. If you haven't already done so, make a donation. We are raising money for our friends and listeners in the Texas Hill Country. $50 takes care of one family.

So whatever you can do to help us out, we would love that. Again, Todd Stern. And you'll see our big Help Texas banner. We'll be right back, everybody. Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest.

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Welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us. Oh, I do have a funny John MacArthur story to share with you. When I was invited to this conference, oh, Kirk Cameron. I knew there was somebody else in the mix.

Kirk Cameron was invited. This was right as he was coming out with the, you know, on his faith and being very outspoken.

So, anyway, We uh I was flying into Los Angeles uh International Airport, LAX, and it was a um a red eye flight from JFK to LAX.

So I I land, get my luggage, and they said they were going to send somebody to pick me up. And for the conference. And I'm like, great, that's no problem. And normally they send over an intern or somebody that is pretty low on the pecking order, right? And they're the guy or the gal that picks people up at the airport.

So anyway, I get there, and there's a guy holding a sign. With my name on it.

So I get my luggage, and I'm one of these guys. You know, the guy grabs for my luggage. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, I got it. It's, you know, I'm good. Thank you, though.

And I just like carry my luggage. I don't, you know, I don't like people carrying my luggage. I like to do that myself.

So, anyway, we get to the car, and you can't get the church is not terribly far from the airport, but it takes forever to get there because of the traffic in Los Angeles. This was pre-ICE raids, so it was bumper to bumper traffic there.

So, anyway, we're stuck in traffic. And I just, we just having some small talk. And I said, oh, so what do you do? And he was asking me first about what I did. And I was anchoring at Fox News at the time.

And I said, well, how about yourself? What do you do? Because he was sort of like an older guy, which kind of surprised me because normally they send a young person to do the pickups and the drop-offs.

So I said, well, what about you? What do you do? He goes, oh, yeah, you know, he goes, I'm a pilot. I said, really? I said, that's, man, that's great.

Do you fly a commercial? What do you, you know, are you a private pilot? Do you fly? He says, oh, no, no, no, I fly the space shuttle. They sent a NASA astronaut to pick me up at the airport.

And I'm like, wait, what? And it turned out the guy, what a great guy. And we just had a wonderful time and just hearing his story. And he was a devout believer. In the Lord, Colonel Jeff Williams is his name.

I could not remember his name, but he was a NASA astronaut. He was a commander at NASA and shared his personal testimony. And just really a remarkable man. All that to say, you just never know who you're going to meet when you go to these conferences. And, you know, for me, I'm always, I don't, it doesn't matter what I do in life.

I think I'm always going to be that guy that's thinking to himself, what in the world am I doing here? But it was a fun conference. John MacArthur, wow, what a great man. What a great man. And he will be missed.

All right, got to take a break. 901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926. Don't forget, head over to the website, help us out, and help the good people of Texas. Hello, it is Ryan, and I was on a flight the other day playing one of my favorite social spin slot games on chumbacasino.com.

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All right.

We just a few moments ago, we were telling you Congressman Andy Biggs sending a letter to the Senate, the Senate Majority Leader John Thune, urging them. To move forward on what are really, I mean, when you look at it, it's not all that much considering that Doge was. They were supposed to cut, what, $2 trillion. We're looking at $9.4 billion in spending cuts. That's a drop in the bucket.

I want to go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. The author of this letter joins us from the great state of Arizona, Congressman Andy Biggs. Congressman, good to have you back with us. Thanks, Todd. Great to be with you.

I'm just curious, why did you have to write this letter? You would think that this is uh just uh not necessary but We are hearing that there are members of the Senate, Republicans in the Senate, that want to pare down that rescission bill. And uh they really want to go to something like more in the neighborhood of three or four billion instead of nine point four billion dollars. But Todd, I mean, Goodread, this the mandate was given to President Trump, and President Trump You know, his administration said. Let's do this recision.

uh with regard to NPR and and some of these AID uh funds, USAID funds. It's easy. It should be easy, but the Senate is waffling on it. What's going on here? Are we talking about legitimate concerns?

I mean, are there really Republican senators who want to fund drag queen shows in Columbia or wherever? I mean, do we really have senators that want to support NPR and PBS? I think some of them might want to support NPR and PBS. I think some of them. uh are are saying well we got to get pepfars we got to give more money to pepfarz and which is the the uh AIDS drug in Far-flung places around the world.

Um even though this this rescissions package doesn't really address that.

So they're trying to muddy the waters a little bit. I don't really understand their motivations. But that's why we felt we had to write the letter. This looks so bad. I mean, it just is so infuriating that the President is basically they're going to force him to grovel here.

And I just find that so insulting, and especially to the voters who have demanded that we get our financial house in order. Yeah, I mean look look Todd, you know this. We overspend by over $2 trillion a year. We've got a deficit of over $2 trillion a year. And the President just gave us this.

This is really a trial balloon because we've asked them to give us more rescions. I mean, some of us in the House, give us more rescions. And they said, well, let's see what can happen on the l the lowest hanging of fruit. NPR, which is hopelessly biased. USAID where they're taking our money and abusing it around the world.

I mean, if you can't get this through, That will explain everything you need to know about why we're moving so slowly on the President's agenda.

So let's talk about formatics here, because there is a deadline coming on Friday. What happens if Friday comes and goes and the Senate does not act on this? Then it is as if it was just vapor. they would have to try to redo it again. And see if they could do it.

There's also There's a hope. That the President and his team will do what we call pocket rescissions. That's basically saying forty five minutes before the end of the term, the financial year, fiscal year. then he could put some stuff in his pocket and say, well, we're not going to fund this. But Yeah, I'm I I really am afraid that this is going to Be an embarrassment to the President if the Senate doesn't do this.

But moreover, It'll be a repudiation of the mandate that he was given. It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing that we had to write the letter, but We started hearing these rumblings, and it's like, oh my gosh, we better We better get something out there and push on this. And this is just a simple majority, is that right? That's all we need to get these three.

So we're looking at what there are: 53 Republicans in the Senate. And we can't get a simple majority? Yeah, problem. real huge problem and and that's uh That's That's why we were saying, look, you know, we're talking about the lowest-hanging fruit. We're talking about the easiest things that.

But that are eighty, twenty issues, maybe eighty, five, fifteen issues. You've got to do this. And it's not hard. It should shouldn't be hard. But somehow they're making it hard.

They kind of screwed up on the big, beautiful bill. They reduced the they gave us more of the Green New Deal back into it. I mean, that's that's the problem that we have dealing with the Senate. I mean, and the BBB was a mess because of what the Senate did here, but we needed to get it through. The President needed that victory.

It is just concerning to me, Congressman, and I'm curious, how concerned are you that this could come back and bite all of us in the backside in the midterm elections? I'm really concerned. I'm very concerned. I mean, Because I don't think you're going to see people who voted for Donald Trump say, Okay, I'm going to vote for Democrats. I think what they're going to say is, I think we'll stay home.

That's the bigger fear. Instead of and they'll say It's obvious that the Republicans are only slightly better than the the Democrats. They don't really want to stop spending. They don't really want to balance the budget. They don't really want to take care of our fiscal house.

And and I'm afraid they'll stay home. And And we can't do that because if that happens and the Democrats take it back, Todd, you and I both know. From day one, they're going to try to impeach Donald Trump every day for two years. Every day. I was warning people about this last night on my Newsmax show.

We you're we cannot mess around here because if we do, that's what we're going to get for two years. Investigations and impeachments around the clock. Yeah, that's exactly right. We and you and I lived through it before because I came in when President Trump did, so the first two years We got some stuff done, not enough good stuff. And we lost a big majority.

We had a pretty good sized majority, and then we ended up losing it. And the result? Impeachment one over the Ukraine perfect phone call, then the Mueller investigation, a series, a whole series of investigations, and then even after. He ostensibly lost the election. and Biden was getting ready to come in.

What did they do? They impeached him again. That's That's how relentless they are. And we can't even get our guys. To say, well, you know, maybe we could cut $9 billion out.

Maybe we could do that. That's the frustrating thing about being in Congress today. All right, Congressman Andy Biggs joining us on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. And real quick here, Congressman, so if they pass it as is, does it still have to go back to the House, or is that a done deal? That's a done deal if they pass it the way it is.

But if they make a change, it has to go back to you guys. Yeah, I would roll on back and and come back.

So that's why that's one more reason. You should just do it. Get it done. Put it on the president's desk. And you know what?

It drives me crazy. When conservatives are asking to make more cuts, We get pressured as being obstructionist. But when you have people in the Senate that won't even do this simple thing right here. that we passed out of the House already. There's no pressure on them.

This is nuts, just nuts. Do we know how many Republican senators are on the fence right now? We heard there's about seven or eight.

So I am so disgusted by what you just said, Congressman, that it just enrages me. This is a no-brainer for Republican. And by the way, if you can't be at the very least a fiscal conservative, then you have no business being a Republican. That's the way I'm looking at it.

Well, I mean, isn't that one of the fundamental tenets of the Republican Party is to try to balance the budget? I mean, this is why people like Elon Musk walked out of there saying, hey, you know, really do much. We ended up taught on the big beautiful bill at what is it, $600 to $800 billion over 10 years. uh out of a twenty five but twenty two and a half to twenty five trillion Overspend. I mean, this is the type of thing that just A rational person like yourself, you're going to step back and say, This is this is nutty.

This is crazy.

Well, it is. Congressman, we're going to leave it there. Appreciate the intel. And I'm I hate that you had to send the letter, but I'm glad you did. And let's hope it lights a fire under some of these folks on the fence.

That's my plan. That's my plan. How's the governor's race going, by the way? Going pretty well. I'm still up 30 points or so for the primary, and I'm the only Republican that's.

That's uh out outpaced the current Democrat governor now. You're a busy man. I don't know how you do it all. I don't know. I'm tired, Todd.

I know you are. All right.

Congressman, good luck to you out there on the campaign trail. Thanks, Todd. Good talk. All right, Congressman Andy Biggs, soon to be Governor Andy Biggs, running for governor back in Arizona. This is insanity, ladies.

Seven or eight Republicans in the Senate. And they can't come to terms on roughly $9 billion in cuts. And we're going to find out. We've got a pretty good idea of who these individuals are. We're going to be naming names here, but we need to be calling all of them.

Every single Republican senator needs to hear from you, and they need to understand they're about to commit political suicide. Unbelievable. All right, I've got to take a break here, folks. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

Don't forget, in the break, head over to the website, ToddSterns.com, click on that red banner, help our good friends in Texas with our disaster relief campaign. We'll be right back. Chin fans of Chip and Joanna Gaines are wondering what the shiplap. America's favorite fixer-uppers are facing massive nationwide backlash after they chose a same-sex couple to appear in their new reality TV series. It's called Back to the Frontier.

The show puts three families in the wilderness to experience life in the 1880s. One pro-gay publication called the program a gay version of Little House on the Prairie. Queer T said Chip and Joanna, quote, serve queer Laura Ingalls' wilder vibes for gay dads stepping back in time. For gen Xers who grew up fantasizing about Michael Landon as Daddy Charles Ingalls, Disgusting. Taking you into the barn for a roll in the hay, your time has come.

Jeez a lou.

Well, Christians say they feel betrayed. The American Family Association said the show promotes an unbiblical view of human sexuality, marriage, and family. Conservative writer Katie Faust, writing on X, took Chip Gaines to task. You are promoting a household where two men custom-ordered two motherless boys. Maybe you thought you were being kind or inclusive to the adults.

You're actually complicit in causing these little ones to stumble. Pull the show.

Well, joining me now is Katie Faust, the founder and president of Them Before Us, and Walker Wildman, vice president of American Family Association. Welcome to you both. Katie, I want to start with you. What does this say about the core values of Chip and Joanna Gaines? Have they been gaslighting their fans?

Well, it looks like they have been sliding into complicity for years. Megan Basham uncovered over the The weekend that they've got a photographer that is still in their employ who has welcomed another male partner into his heterosexual relationship, and their five children are now under the same roof and this gay thruple. It looks like they have been signaling for a while that this is the direction that they are going in, but this definitely hit the fan base. Like a smack in the face. And you can see that from the comments after Chip tried to promote the show on X.

I didn't see one supportive remark from the people that typically love what they do. And for good reason, because this absolutely is a step away from what they said that they always were, which is people that love God and revere His Word. Yeah, Walker Chip Gaines responding to all the backlash on his X account. Here's what he said: Talk, ask questions, listen, maybe even learn. Too much to ask of modern American Christian culture.

Judge first. Understand later or never. It seems as though he's upset that there's all this backlash out there, Walker. What do you make of that? Yeah, the problem, Todd, is that there's nothing else to understand unless there's something about the show like it's not going to air or that Chip and Joanna Gaines aren't the executive producers.

But he's not refuting the facts. And the facts are that Chip and Joanna Gaines built their entire empire on the back of evangelical Christians around the country to a multi-million dollar business, very successful business, the Magnolia brand. And then over a decade later, they decide, oh, by the way, our faith and our Christianity, eh, it's not that really big of a deal. And we're going to promote homosexuality, sodomy. And motherless children in the form of this TV show in this specific episode.

And so it's just a slap in the face, it's demoralizing. And here's the thing. Don't claim to be a Christian and tout your faith and tweet out Bible verses if you're not going to adhere to the entire teachings of the Bible and Christianity. Katie, I was watching an interview with the two guys and they were very clear about what this was all about. As a matter of fact, the production company, Chip and Joanna, were recruiting specifically a same-sex couple.

I mean, that was in the promotional materials here.

So what do you think Chip and Joanna were ultimately trying to do here with this show? I think they're caught up in the same distorted mentality that an awful lot of Christians around the world, pastors around the country and definitely Christian celebrities have fallen into, which is that Christianity is about nice. Be nice to adults. That your chief interaction with the outside world should be to be welcoming and affirming, and to not make adults feel uncomfortable. Because you're exactly right.

This wasn't some oopsie on behalf of the production crew or even the gains themselves. They were asking for same-sex couples to participate. And the two men stepped up. Why?

Well, they told us because they want to normalize gay relationships and, in this situation, normalize motherless homes. That is not an option for Christians who believe, who know that causing little ones to stumble is actually an offense not just to children, but to our Lord. And so we, as the church, celebrities or just normies in the pews, need to get very, very straight that our job is not to be inoffensive to adults. It is to create a firewall of protection around children. And unfortunately, Chip and Joanna did the opposite here.

Walker, you have to feel bad for moms and dads who thought, oh, this looks like a terrific show for the you sit the whole family down, you're about to watch, and then boom, right there in the living room, you have to imagine kids have questions. What does it say that moms and dads just cannot watch Chip and Joanna Gaines programs, assuming that it's going to be family-friendly programming? Yeah, this is what the LGBTQ agenda has done over the decades is they've poisoned the well of entertainment. And oftentimes what you find out is you watch these shows and you get three series, three seasons in and then boom, they drop either a homosexual couple or somebody who's transgender or somebody who's woke.

So this is the MO of the entertainment industry is to have a mostly good storyline, but then they drop in the wokeness and in this case the LGBTQ agenda that makes people just not want to watch it. And so I think the ratings here are going to bottom. I don't think it's going to do well. And I think that the fan base is going to speak loud and clear that we don't want this woke television. We don't want this woke entertainment.

We want wholesome, family-friendly television and entertainment that encourages and inspires and teaches people the true definition of family, and that is one man and one woman within the confines of marriage rearing children. Need anybody rolling in the hay. We're good. We're good there. Katie Faust, Walker Wildman, thank you both very much.

Appreciate your great analysis. By the way, Franklin Graham now coming out and condemning a Chip and Joanna Gaines for this reality TV show that features a same-sex couple. And now we know that Chip and Joanna and the couple meant for all of this to happen because they want this conversation to happen and they believe that Christians need to stop judging. We'll be taking your calls on this coming up in the next hour. 901-260-5926.

Is this much ado about nothing, as they say? 901-260-5926. And don't forget to head over, make a donation during the break at ToddSterns.com. Let's help our friends out in Texas. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr.

Shattered. That's why I love this American.

Well, moments ago, President Trump went before the cameras there on the White House lawn. and took some questions.

So The president was asked if he was told by Pam Blondie whether or not his name was mentioned in the Epstein files. Wow, that's uh it's a loaded question there. Uh cut number 19, please.

Now she's uh she's given us Just a very quick briefing. And in terms of the credibility of the different things that they've seen, And I would say that, you know, these files were made up by Comey, they were made up by Obama, they were made up by the Biden information, you know, and we went through years of that. with the Russia, Russia, Russia hugs. With all of the different things that we had to go through, we've gone through years of it. But she's handled it very well, and it's going to be up to her.

Whatever she thinks is credible, she should release. Uh All right. I will let you interpret that the way you choose to, ladies and gentlemen. But President Trump there says he's leaving it up to Pam Blondie, and it'll be her decision to make. Also, ladies and gentlemen, I didn't think we would have a Jasmine Crockett moment right there on the White House lawn today.

No. Shuck in! Yeah. Mm-hmm. Shook it and job it.

Good, you got him. Yeah, that's right, ladies and gentlemen. President Trump weighing in on AOC and Jasmine Crockett, cut number 20. You know, AOC, look. I think she's very nice.

But she's very low IQ. And we really don't need low IQ. Between her and Crockett, we're gonna give them both an IQ test. To see who comes out best.

Now, I took my test, I took a real test at Walter Reed Medical Center, and I aced it. I got every one of all those questions right.

Now it's time for them to take a test. Anyway, have a good time. You too, Mr. President. Have a good day.

Have a pleasant day. You know, it's interesting about AOC because she is easy on the eyes, ladies and gentlemen, but she's dumb as a brick. And I was interviewing Matt Gates many years ago. This was when AOC first came onto the scene and actually had Matt Gaetz in the studio back during my Fox days. And I asked him about AOC, and without even taking a breath, he says, Yeah, I date her.

I did. There you go.

So it's always good when Republicans can find common ground with the other side of the aisle. 901-260-5926, our telephone number, that's 901-260-5926. You know, I was talking to our good friend, our dearly departed colleague. Ben Teeter the other day. You know, he's up in Washington, Dylan.

They gave the guy the literal keys to the Capitol building. It's a dangerous thing. I'm telling you, I don't get it, but okay. But he's doing a great job, trying to keep everybody in line up there. But you know, Dieter was a big runner.

I don't know if you knew this, but the guy could run. I mean, it was and it wasn't like, oh, I'm going to run to the supermarket. He would literally run to the supermarket. That's all he did was run. It was like what's it, twenty, thirty miles a day was just a piece of cake for this kid.

I mean, and he was like I mean, literally one of the fastest runners I've seen. And you know why? You know why he ran so fast? Because he's white. He's a white guy.

He's got a power fro, though, so that kind of throws people. They're like, wait a sec. It's confusing. Yeah, he's got the fro going. And it's a good look for the guy.

It's a good look. It really is. I'm not sure, though. I mean, if you're jogging or running in a race, does that create the wind resistance? You know, because Dieter with the f power throw is like 6'1.

He's a tall drink of water, that one.

So I think one of the reasons he's fast is we would just drop him off in very dangerous parts of Memphis at dark and say, All right, good luck. We will see you in the morning. And that's I think that's how he became such a fast runner. And I bring this up because there is a bit of controversy. Surrounding How can I say this?

White runners. No, I I kid you not.

So we're going to play some audio, and then there's a story out of the New York Times that I want to bring to your attention. This is Hope Waltz. She is the daughter of Minnesota governor Tim Jazzhands. And Governor Jazzhands, who was a football coach and spent time in the locker room. With the youngsters, his daughter went on this tirade about running, and apparently a running influencer.

And as soon as she said running influencer, I immediately thought about Ben Dieter. And I thought, I wonder if this is who she's talking about. Anyway, this running influencer was invited. To go to the Trump White House the other day, and Hope Waltz was enraged over all of this. Take a listen.

Running as an act is political, and you know who taught me that? Tim Walls, the first thing he told me when I was first getting into it in high school, granted, I don't really do it as much anymore. I go in spurts, but when I was first getting into it in high school, the first thing he told me was that running is a privilege and being a part of the running community is a privilege that not all people have access to. Whether you do it recreationally or you race a lot or you are, you know, at the elite level, it is a privilege. Whether it be you just having the time to run, access like to funds to buy the gear, access to healthy quality foods that fuel you as you're training and as you're running, access to a safe, stable situation that allows you to be in a good mental state to be able to run.

All of those things are hard to come by. And if you have them and are a part of the running community, that is a privilege. And that, again, was the first thing he taught me.

So I don't really understand how platforming and administration. Administration that cuts mental health services, cuts funding and literal shipments to food banks is entirely hurting the climate because you can get into running in the climate. That's a whole nother thing. But is Cunda Cutting funds to climate initiatives and actively hurting the planet in that way, sending people away without due process, villainizing. villainizing minorities.

All of those things are preventing people from getting into the running community, which is what I thought Kate's platform was for. But it's also just damaging to society as a whole. We should not be normalizing these people. What the hell is she talking about? This woman here, Hope Waltz, this is the daughter of Governor Tim Waltz.

And I mean this in the clinical actual clinical definition. This is an idiot child. Ladies and gentlemen, she actually someone told her, Oh, yes, running is a privilege, and she took that to mean that that's a bad thing. That means that only white people can run. And I don't know what she's talking about.

Running hurts the climate.

Now, I will say this, and I only know this because back before my love affair with. I used to be a runner and I used to run a lot. As a matter of fact, I ran multiple marathons until I broke my ankle and I convalesced next to a barbecue joint. It's a very sad story, tragic story. Delicious, but tragic.

And I used to run half marathons, full marathons, a whole nine yards. I will say this: that if you run for any extended amount of time, you could have an incident on the course, which would, I guess, could create methane that could, you know, endanger the atmosphere. But I. I doubt it seriously. I doubt that much methane is being, you know, I guess.

Emitted, if you will, during a race that would cause, I don't know, a hole in the ozone. But I was doing a little bit of research as I heard what Hopwaltz was saying, and I came across this story. This is an actual. Column in the New York Times. Here's the headline: jogging has always excluded black people.

What are they talking about? Have you seen any of the races? Everybody who wins is from Kenya. Very rarely do you see a white guy winning any of these races. Yeah.

And Dylan, the reason why, you know, why the guys from Kenya, why they. they win these races because they're trying to outrun the freaking Pumas. Right. And you bet I think, honestly, if there were white folk in Kenya, I think they would run just as fast because nobody wants to get eaten by a puma. But this is the New York Times story.

Jonking has always excluded black people. Born in lilywhite, Oregon oh you racist state you.

So now Oregon is apparently a racist state. You bunch of lily white people. It's a sport that's long claimed to be for everyone, even as African American joggers have been persistently subjected to harassment and worse. What are they talking about here?

Well, I was just jogging down the street with a flat screen television of my hands and the counts pulled me over.

Well, yeah. Yes, if you're running down the street and you're carrying a flat screen TV, you're going to get pulled over by the Popo. I don't care what color you are.

So the You can't make this up, ladies. This is insanity. So, according to the New York Times and the governor of Minnesota's daughter, jonking and running is now considered to be racist. According to the Times, running has been a pastime marketed primarily to white people ever since the jonking craze. Or, as Will Farrell pronounced it in Anchorman, yogging.

The yogging craze was born in the lily white Oregon track and field world of the late 1960s. Black people have not only been excluded from the sport, it's not even a sport. You know what? Hey, Dylan, you know what I feel like doing in just a few minutes? I'm going to go out jogging.

Okay, well, that's really not going to happen. But let's just suspend reality for a moment. Hey, Dylan, what do you think? Let's go run a little bit after the show. Let's do it.

Let's do it. All right.

Well, crap, that doesn't work because you and I are both white.

So we're privileged. It's qualified. I want to know who is telling a black person they can't walk outside their house and go for a jog? Who is doing that? Black people have not only been excluded from the sport, one survey by Running USA found under 10% of frequent runners identify as African American.

They've also been relentlessly depicted as a threat to legitimate white joggers. What are you talking about? May I just say something? One of the most. discouraging things as a runner.

When I was starting out as a runner, one of the most discouraging things is I thought I was running my heart out only to be passed by an eighty year old speedwalker in Central Park. I actually wanted to hit the guy.

Okay, it was a woman. That made it worse. I'm just saying.

So there you have it. Maybe that's why Dieter grew the fro so that he wouldn't be, you know. He's trying to. I don't know. There you go.

Ladies and gentlemen, jockeying is racist. Gonna take a break. We're going to the phone line, so hang tight. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. Uh Uh oh. Um hey, Dylan. I forgot you can actually hear this show in the U.S. Capitol building.

I'm getting text messages from Ben Dieter. It is a national show. I keep forgetting about that. He said, Oh my God. Oh, my God.

This is wild. He says that was the most exciting thing in my day, perhaps even my week. He's never going to get a haircut. We got to get Dieter back. We got to figure out a way.

We have to conspire with our audience to get Dieter back.

Well, if he's still on the meat diet, then I'm sure it won't be too hard. No, we'll just go out and get a cow or something. Exactly. Yeah. We'll buy him a heifer.

Yes. That kind of came out wrong. Let's go to the phone lines here. Moorhead City, North Carolina. Suzanne, you're upset.

Are you upset with me, Suzanne? Oh no. Oh no. No, not at all. Thank God.

But I am so upset to hear about Chip and Joanna Gain. I probably started following them when the first house she ever renovated. And I thought they were such a cute couple and then the the kids would come in and bring cupcakes. and just all about family and zippity doo dah. And then when they got really successful, I started buying her magazine and then she created paint.

And I said, yay, I'll use that too. And now you couldn't give it to me. Do you feel betrayed, Suzanne? I mean, it's a lot of people feel like they've been let on. Yes, absolutely.

I just can't believe that two people that have beautiful children would even consider. doing what you just told us that they're going to do. It is disgusting and you're right. to get into a program that you like, and then they start throwing in transgenders and gays and queers and LGBTQs and all this, and then you have to stop watching the program Because you're revolted by all of this. And those of us who are Christians are like.

Did you not read the Bible and hear that abomination in the eyes of God is the worst thing you can do? It's it I I just I don't get it, Todd. I mean, what is wrong with the people that think that it's okay to keep throwing this in front of people when we don't want it?

Well, it's a fair question you're asking, Suzanne. And there are some people, and we've seen this play out in Hollywood, especially. That these people see the Christian community as, and I don't mean this in a bad way at all, but they see us as suckers, right? Because we're a very forgiving and very accepting community of people. And so when somebody says that they're a person of faith and they demonstrate that, you know, initially, then we go all in.

And it's an exciting thing to see because there aren't many evangelicals that are in Hollywood or in the reality TV world. And then when they get to a certain point, we all of a sudden get to see who they really are. And, you know, it's a big disappointment to a lot of folks.

Well, and it's not just the shows, it's what they're doing to children in schools. If I had a child that was school age right now, there is no way that I would send that child to school. And I am all for Trump being able to get rid of the Department of Education. Because if it's not put back so that the parents are the ones that make the decisions about what their children are taught and what they hear and what they're being exposed to in school, then our nation is just over. The children that are coming up are are are our features.

And our future is being fed The air. Suzanne, we got to leave it there. And I'm sure you're not alone. And I'm sure a lot of other folks feel the same way. Are you disappointed, ladies and gentlemen?

901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Hey, don't forget 5 o'clock Eastern tonight, the Todd Stern show on Newsmax. By the way, Newsmax on the New York Stock Exchange. Millions joining our news revolution.

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Help out our good friends, our fellow listeners in the Texas Hill Country. We're raising money at ToddSterns.com. Click on the disaster relief button. We'll be right back. Oh, I got to give a big shout out to our good friends over at AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens.

They're a lot of fun, by the way. AMAC is the conservative alternative to AARP, and they're fighting every single day to protect the values that make this country great. I think that's why I really love them. Not only that, it's not just for seniors, right? It doesn't matter if you're 18 years old or 80 years old.

AMAC is for anybody who loves America and wants to see it protected for generations to come. And you got to go check them out and get a membership. It's just a few bucks, and you're going to get that back in the incredible discounts, exclusive discounts, on hotels, travel, food, restaurants. And you're also going to get a great magazine as well.

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All the great resources there at AMAC. All right, um, where is that story? All right, I was looking at this story here, ladies and gentlemen. Pardon me. Yeah.

The headline for the New York Times, PBS and NPR's last ditch fight to save funding.

Now, I don't want to out any of you conservatives that listen to NPR, but I know some of you probably do. Is there any value? For the American taxpayer, and keeping funding for PBS and NPR. The vote is looming. We have Senate Republicans that do not want to cut funding to NPR or PBS.

And a lot of people are wondering: all right, how is this going to play out? And it seems to me, and I just want to talk to you as of the owner of a commercial radio station here. If you're going to give $500 million a year to NPR, then don't you also, to be fair about it, have to give money to all of the commercial radio stations operating, the folks who are actually paying the bills in this country? It's not my fault that NPR can't pay its bills. They need a handout from the government.

The same with PBS. If they need a handout from the government, that's a problem.

Now if Todd Starnes, the owner of KWAM in Memphis, Tennessee, if I was unable to pay the bills for my radio station and I needed to do something, you know what I would do? I would cut the budget. We would live within our means. And for the record, we don't give our listeners free tote bags. If you want a tote bag and you listen to K-Wim, you can go down to Walmart or Target and buy your own tote bag.

That doesn't mean we don't like you. It means we don't want to spend a lot of money to buy tote bags. And that's the problem with NPR. They're giving away too many free umbrellas and tote bags. But for NPR to turn around and say, well, you know what, we can't pay our bills because, yeah, we gave away a lot of tote packs and swag.

So we're going to have to ask. K Wham to pay some of our bills. That's exactly what's happening. When you're taking hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money and giving it to PBS and NPR, you're hurting every commercial radio station out there. I'm just telling you, that's the way it goes.

So, anyway, I'm curious: do any of you see a reason why PBS and NPR? Need to be found. Funded and propped up by the American taxpayers. 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-2650-06505.

260-5926. Where is that other story? I've got to get myself organized today, ladies and gentlemen. All right.

I. I want to play some audio here. This is from Micro. And man, Mike Rowe and I have been on the same page on this issue for a very long time. And he is really excited about President Trump and the work the president's doing to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States of America.

Cut number 16. I'm rooting for President Trump, too. If he reshores and we reindustrialize, you're talking about two or three million jobs in manufacturing that currently don't exist. You probably have the numbers better than me, sir, but I think in five million. Five million.

Okay, well. Open jobs in manufacturing right now. We've got to train them. We've got to train them. We have to train that is fundamental.

Every community college. Yep. Right. We've got to bring it back to high schools. Yep.

They've got to train, they've got to teach, they've got to show people that a great technician's job starts at $75,000, ends at $200,000. You don't need to go to college. You're working in the coolest factory in the world. You know, HVAC is not. Fixing your air conditioning.

It's a closed-loop system on the coolest technology system you've ever seen in your life. And the people who work in the factories. He gets it.

Okay. He absolutely gets it. Look, it's only a matter of national security. Right. And I would say, you mentioned, I read 70, then I heard 90 billion.

It's going to be 100 billion by the end of the day, a lot of money. A lot of money is going to come flying into this state. What I would propose, with all humility, is that somebody somewhere carve just a little sliver out of that. A fraction of a percent. And allocate it for better storytelling.

Our country needs a national resource. Pennsylvania can lead this charge where any parent, any guidance counselor, any kid. Who is curious enough to explore the opportunities we're talking about can go to a destination and see people who look like them and talk like them. and remind them of them prospering as a result of mastering a skill that's in demand. I love this.

And by the way, all of this coming as there's a huge announcement that $90 billion in new manufacturing companies are coming to Pennsylvania. This is huge. And this is happening all over America thanks to the president's incredible negotiating skills. And let me tell you something. These tariffs, this is going to revolutionize.

A lot of people were really freaking out about the tariffs, but the tariffs are going to revolutionize this country. And keep in mind, the end game here is that none of us have to pay any more income tax. And trust me on that, I look forward to that day. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926.

Now, then, there is still a lot of scuttlebutt about whether or not farm workers, the illegals who are working on farms, should be. Given some sort of amnesty. Tucker Carlson talking about this just over the weekend, cut 11. What do I think about amnesty for farm workers? I think it's the most grotesque thing I've ever heard.

Are you joking? Amnesty performer? We are. We have like 60 million illegal aliens in the country. The country bears no resemblance to the country I grew up in, and it's not better, it's worse.

So I'm not going to sit for another lecture from anybody telling me we need to import more people to write code or pick grapes or any other task. Period, it hasn't worked. The country hasn't gotten richer. It hasn't become more unified. Those words should burn on the tongue of anyone who utters them.

How dare you talk like that? Amnesty. How about deportation? It's What about that? Yeah, I'm all for that actually.

Deport every single illegal alien.

So now, as a result of all of this, a lot of the illegals are staying home.

So they're not going to their jobs. They're not going out in the community. And Mayor Karen Bass. Has announced that she's going to be providing taxpayer money to the illegals who are not going to work.

So, this is sort of like COVID-201 now, where Karen Bass is going to be taking money from the hardworking people of Los Angeles, and she's going to be giving that to the illegals who are stuck inside their homes. Take a listen. We also are going to have a reinstitution of the Angelino Card, something that Mayor Garcetti started during COVID that will actually provide cash assistance to people. Because, you know, you have people who don't want to leave their homes who are not going to work, and they are in need of cash. We're organizing food deliveries.

I mean, there's all sorts of things that we are having to do now to protect people from the federal government. Wow, this is insane.

Somebody needs to go and have this woman arrested. She is breaking the law right now. And she I mean, if you want to talk about a charge, let's talk about aiding and abetting. Let's start there. Every single elected leader who is out there Standing in front of ICE, preventing them from doing their jobs, those people need to be arrested and they need to face charges.

It's really that simple, right? There's no wiggle room. There's no gray area. It's a black and white issue for me, ladies and gentlemen. A black and white issue.

All right.

We've got to take a quick break here. 901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926. Coming back, we're going to be naming some of the great folks that have already donated to our big fund. We are raising money to help our friends over in Texas and sure would appreciate it if you, during the break, would head over, make a donation, no matter how big or small.

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So, for every one of you that donates $100 to our effort, I will send you a signed copy of my brand new book, Star Spangled Blessings.

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So, you can again make those donations by going to ToddSterns.com and clicking on the red disaster relief button at the very top of the page. All right, welcome back, everybody. Happy to have you with us. A bit of breaking news. Breaking news now on the Todd Starn Show.

Thank you, Dylan. I forgot to alert you to that.

So, Speaker Mike Johnson just poured a little gasoline on the whole Jeffrey Epstein situation. The speaker doing an interview and says that Pam Bondi needs to come forward. We don't know what that means, but he says that, and I want to read this quote to you directly here. Again, this is happening in the past few moments. He said.

We're intellectually consistent in this. Reagan used to tell us that we should trust the American people, and I believe in that principle. I know President Trump does as well, and I trust him. He put together a team of his choosing. They're doing a great job.

It's a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide. I mean, the White House and the White House team are privy to facts that I don't know. This is not my lane. I haven't been involved in that, but I agree with the sentiment that we need to put it out there.

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen. This coming from the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. He also said, Pam Bondi, he says I think she's done a good job, but he says she needs to come forward and explain all of this. Yeah, I'm he also says he is anxious to get this behind us. I think we all are, Mr.

Speaker. I really do. I think a lot of folks are very frustrated over the handling of all of this. This was an amateur hour in the Justice Department, and we've got to move on, and we've got to be better than this. This story out of Phoenix, Arizona, and I just love it.

Because, as much as we are holding the illegals accountable, we ought to start holding the people hiring them accountable. Cut 15. I imagine these are cases we are going to see more with a new administration in place. And the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona says 42-year-old Vladimir Ongulo has operated his business, El Taco Loco, on the backs of illegal immigrants for the past eight years.

Court documents claim Ongulo knew what he was doing is illegal. And after a four months-long investigation by Homeland Security investigations, it's landed both him and his employers behind bars. Since March, federal agents have been keeping a watchful eye over this property in Levine, near 63rd Avenue in Baseline, and this home near 16th Avenue in Southern in Phoenix. They were surveilling the owner and employees of El Taco Loco. It's a taco shop with a brick-and-mortar storefront, a food truck, and a food bus.

Last week, investigators executed coordinated search warrants on both properties. They arrested the shop owner and his employees, all of whom, the feds claim, are not U.S. citizens. The owner of the shop is accused of smuggling and hiring people who are not American citizens. And by that, under the federal government law, that's illegal.

Phoenix Defense Attorney Ben Taylor reviewed the four-count federal complaint against the shop's owner, Vladimir Angulo. In it, investigators say Angulo employed 12 illegal immigrants in total, all of whom were seen working at his businesses. Many of them paid in cash on a weekly basis. At Angulo's Levine property, federal agents observed his employees living in recreational vehicles or trailers on his property. In one instance, an illegal immigrant told investigators he owed Angulo 12,000 for being smuggled into the United States.

Angulo is now tasked with defending against an accusation he knowingly transported, employed, and protected his employees, who he knew had no legal way to work in the United States. Defending these types of cases are very hard because it's a very strict law. If you're here, In the country. And you're here not with any sort of work visa or a citizenship. You can be deported back.

And found guilty in the court of law. The punishment for a guilty verdict at trial up to 10 years in federal prison and deportation back to Mexico, where Angulo and his employees were born. This kind of immigration enforcement a priority for the Trump administration as they zero in on other businesses who may be trying to skirt federal laws in favor of cheaper labor. This is definitely a warning and a deterrent for other business owners who might be doing similar acts as this current employee. Because if you are doing this type of illegal hiring or human smuggling, it shows that ICE might come and raid your business.

All right.

You know what? I say lock them all up. I mean, if you are a business owner and you're knowingly hiring illegals, then you deserve whatever is coming at you. Quite frankly, we ought to deport them too. That's what I say.

But again, that's just me. That's just me, ladies and gentlemen. All right.

By the way, Vladimir, so. That sounds like a Russian dude.

So a Russian dude owned a taco joint, and I guess what he hired the Mexicans to make the tacos. All right.

Unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen. Just unbelievable. But again, this is what we're dealing with, and we've got to play hardball. And one of the best ways to crack down on all these folks that are out there and they're getting these jobs is to go after the people giving them the jobs. I mean, it really is that simple, in my estimation.

It truly is. All right, 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. That's 901-260-5926. Don't forget, 5 o'clock Eastern tonight, we're going to have a great conversation with Pastor Jack Graham. From Prestonwood Baptist Church.

Also, Pastor Jack Hibbs from Calvary Chapel, Chino Hills. Both of them are going to be joining us talking about the life and the legacy of John MacArthur. We're also going to have an update on this rescissions package, which is a complete mess. Congressman Self from Texas is going to be joining us on Newsmax. All of that starting at 5 o'clock Eastern tonight.

And in the meantime, folks, tomorrow, we're going to get around. We'll start releasing all the names of the great donors. Anybody who gives $100 or more, you will be receiving a personally signed copy of my new book. It's called Star Spangle Blessings, just a way of saying thank you for being a part of our effort to help our friends over in Texas. And again, head over to the website and you'll find all the information on how to give there.

It has been a great day, folks. Again, get out there. Have a good one. Be safe and cool wherever you might be. This is the Todd Starn Show.