Congressional Job Performance Review Due

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Granger for the ones who get it done. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starn. That's right. I love Love is American.

Well, hello, Americans. I'm Todd Stearns. Happy Friday to you, and welcome to the Todd Stearns Show. We are in for a great three hours of conversation today.

However, I will not be behind the microphone. I have a few things, meetings that I've got to attend to on this Friday.

So, I've asked my great friend, Jeff Stein from radio station KXEL, our great affiliate there in Iowa, to fill in today. He has a wonderful show lined up for you, ladies and gentlemen. The great Jeff Stein. The studio audience is on its feet. Starnes, it is always a privilege to join you from the Liberty University studio at my home base.

News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids in Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views. America's anchorman, well, you've got to pay the bills. He's got business meetings today. He'll be back with you on Monday, and it is my privilege to join you on an open line Friday, so please. Why not dial 901-260-5926, same number as always, and you can join our coast-to-coast conversation at 901-260-5926.

We'll take your calls this half hour. At the bottom of the hour, we'll be joined by the presidential historian and author Craig Shirley. He has a brand new book on the 2024 election called Upheaval, a Clash of Cultures. It will be released soon. And again, Mr.

Shirley, the Reagan biographer, worked for Mr. Reagan as well. We'll talk with him about things going on in Trump World and that new book called Upheaval. Craig Shirley joins us in about a half hour. Your calls in and around all that at 901-260-5926.

I was with you two weeks ago. And I leaned on Congress a little bit, and some of you were kind enough to send me email messages. And I still have to get back to a few of you, so I apologize for that. Saying that maybe we shouldn't be quite so hard on some of them, maybe we shouldn't toss them out. I'm likening an election, and it's always this way, but this year in particular, I'm likening the election to a performance review.

Now when I first started work as a lawyer, I would go in once a year for a yearly performance review, and they would go through the things that you did during the year, and at the end then they'd decide if you got a raise or whatever the situation was. And part of the problem I had And a lot of it is because I was all of 25 years old and knew everything, like most 25-year-olds. But I would go into the meeting, and instead of having regular or periodic reviews. There would just be this one review once a year. And you'd be thinking everything's going well because nobody had said anything to you all along during the year.

And then you get there at that meeting and Maybe because the bosses were a little cheap and didn't want to uh give you a raise, they'd uh just start mentioning every little picky thing that they didn't like. And it was an odd situation because you're feeling good going in, then they kind of knock you down with these little picky things, and they say, But you're doing a great job, and here's your 3% raise if you were lucky, or whatever it is. That was not a satisfying experience. Because it did not give you a real sense of how things were going.

Well, I think we have a responsibility. to Congress, our members of Congress, to let them know how they're doing short of the November election. In other words, you have a chance to fire folks. Think about a business. Let's say you ran a business.

And these members of Congress We're your employees. Are they doing? What you said? If not, you'd toss em, you'd fire them. I would suggest that if members of Congress Mm-hmm.

were employees of your business, you'd have been done with them long ago.

So here we come with an election here. And rather than it just being up or out with no rationale, give them a chance. That's also part of an employment review. As I understand it, you bring the employee in if they're not performing well, and you say, here are some areas. where we need to see some improvement.

Here are some things that you need to do. And if you do them in the appropriate time frame, great. And if not, Action may need to be taken.

So here we are speaking on the radio on Friday, January 16th of this still new year, 2026. Two weeks from today. Unless something happens, At least some portions of the Federal Government will shut down due to lack of funding. Four months into the fiscal year, Four months out of twelve. in the fiscal year.

So we've got two weeks. The House has been nursing along some spending bills, quite bloated, it would appear. but at least moving along some spending bills. I don't know what the Senate is doing. But the bottom line is, there's a deadline coming up.

Where's the action? It seems that it's our responsibility because contrary to what members of Congress may believe, they work for us. We put them there. Our money pays their salaries? We are the boss?

So, and every election year they point out that they work for us.

Okay, first let's start with work. How about you do some of that? 'Cause I'm not feeling an awful lot of productivity. I'll come back to that in a moment. But it's the people's work that they're supposed to be doing.

So how about You show us that you want to retain your job. You want to keep working for us. How about you take action to oh, I don't know Do the thing that's four months overdue. But instead Here we come with a national holiday on Monday. Good luck finding members of Congress.

They're busy on fact-finding tours and home district meetings and. All manner of other things, anything short of actually making tough decisions. And again, as I have pointed out, and I know Todd has been. preaching from uh from the pulpit on this as well. Don't tell me you're a big supporter of Donald Trump.

Don't tell me that you're America first. Don't tell me all of these things. Show me Through your action Show me. We are running into a situation again where it is every man or woman for themselves. which is always the case to a degree in an election year.

But we are really seeing it. It reminds me of the last Trump midterm, so that would be 2018. And I've told you this before, but I'll be brief. Paul Ryan was the Speaker of the House, and he was going all around the country saying, Don't blame the House. We've passed 400 bills.

They're sitting at the door of the Senate. It's not our fault. Don't hold it against our members. Starting to hear that same thing come out of Washington. All the House has passed this.

Can't can't control the Senate.

Sorry. Here's the thing that they miss. We, as the voters, look at them, and I think with good reason, we look at them as all in it together. If the House is doing its job and the Senate is not doing its job, Are we going to be really nuanced and only blame the Senate when we go to the polling place? No, we're going to be angry.

We're going to say we've tried it with you people and you don't seem to be doing the job.

So maybe we need to get people who will do the job. There is plenty of time for this to be turned around. But just as I might bring an employee of my business into the office and say, Things are not working out really well, but I think you have potential. I hired you for a reason. We've invested a lot of time and money in your training.

I'd sure like to think we could make this work. Here's what you need to do and here's your deadline. Ultimately, the deadline is either a primary election, if that happens to be an issue, or the general election. First deadline, though. is two weeks from today.

So, if you're the voter, you're the boss, how about letting them know? Ah, they never listen to me. They never listen if you don't try. We have staff members at all of these offices who read emails, who take notes, who take the phone calls. And you do it in a polite and respectful manner.

but you let them know how you feel. Fewer and fewer of them are doing town meetings or public appearances for fear of stunts, and I get that, but even at the state and local level. You know, the weekend coffees with lawmakers in your state legislative district. Show up and politely Tell them how you feel about pieces of legislation. It is the only way to get them to act the way you.

that you want. And you are the boss of them. As you'll point out on Election Day. Love to hear your thoughts on this. 901-260-5926.

901-260-5926. Join the coast-to-coast conversation from the Liberty University studio. Short break now. Your calls on the other side. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

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That's 864-644-1900 or visit myphdweightloss.com. Tell them Todd sent you. Welcome back to the Todd Stern Show from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday at 901-260-5926. Just after the bottom of the hour we'll talk with the Presidential historian Craig Shirley.

To pick up where I left off before the break, I was suggesting that Congress maybe needed to work a little bit, needed to do some things. I'm looking at the calendar right now, and I want to be fair to the members of the U.S. Senate. They are in session today. But they are taking the entire next week off.

The house will be off for the is off today, so they can get an extended holiday, including the national holiday on Monday. The House will be in session next week. But it's uh it's an odd Odd combination of things. If you look at when they assume they will be in session. No Senate next week.

No house the final week of the month. You heard me correctly. Two weeks from today, is a deadline. For Government funding. No more funding for nine-twelfths of the government.

Remember, they passed. Three spending bills, three. as part of reopening the last time. Still have nine bills to get through both chambers. Senate is there today.

House is there four days next week, no Senate. and then near as I can tell the last week of the month when all the deadlines come up, No house But the Senate'll be there. The has worked more in the last year than they did under the uh Schumer days. But just because you show up doesn't mean you're working. Again, go back to a workplace you're familiar with.

Who's the guy with his feet on the desk? Yeah, he's there. But that doesn't mean he's working.

So I simply point out That for Most of us, there's a sense of urgency when a deadline comes up. Apparently not for members of Congress. It's the same thing when we start talking about taxation, especially at local and state levels. There's no need for them to consolidate services. There's no need to cut spending as long as they've got taxpayers that they can soak.

at an ever-increasing amount. It's just mind-boggling that they set a deadline. Of the end of January, and it seemed like forever, and boy, we'll get things done. Yesterday was the last day both the House and Senate would be in session until February, according to the calendars that I see. The last day, both would be in session.

Until February. I would like a job like that. that kind of work schedule. And I know They're on call all the time. They've got to go tour the district, etcetera, etcetera.

I get it. But I have to tell you, I'm not feeling that there's enough productivity. coming out of Washington. I'm sure there are conversations behind the scenes. That's the optimistic side of me that says I'm sure of it.

I have no idea what they're doing. But there's sure no sense of urgency. There's absolutely no sense of urgency. And if you think, well, that's just kind of an aberration. No, they're taking a full week off both.

Chambers of Congress taking a full week off in February around George Washington's birthday national holiday. Which shows you just again how ineffective Congress is. Their own calendar calls it President's Day. But they've never enacted legislation to call it that. The last legislation calls it Washington's birthday.

which frankly I'm fine with.

So they're going to take a week off in February. They'll work a fair amount of march. Senate much more than the House, it looks like and then two weeks off week before Easter, week after Easter. We'll see you around tax uh time in mid-April. I just have to tell you, I don't feel like they're serious.

about things.

However, You miss a deadline? Good luck. I was just noticing with the taxes. You can start filing your twenty twenty five Federal income taxes. on Monday the twenty sixth.

House won't be there to see it happen. Government might be shutting down a few days after. But the IRS supposedly will open the gates to receive your tax forms and, of course, your money. Don't you dare be late in paying those taxes, though? because there will be a penalty, and, heaven knows, perhaps an investigation You can't Turn this around.

One day, one week. You can't do it with just one member. But you start with one. You start with an intention to at least try. And again, I will be as fair as I can.

Just because they're not in session does not mean they're not working. Similarly, just because they are in session does not mean they are working. And we have a lot of trouble spots around the world. We need Congress to be ready to act.

Well, we'll call them back. Oh, great. I feel the money flying out of my pocket now. Any day you could get a Supreme Court ruling on tariffs. Congress could have acted to prevent a potential disaster.

But there's no political conviction to do it. There's no political conviction to support the President. All they have to do is pass a bill declaring a national emergency and transferring their powers to the President for tariffs for a limited period of time. They can do that. We know they can do it because Congress transfers its authority to agencies via legislation all the time.

Congress sets up these agencies. that are within the executive branch of the government. And various things that Congress should decide. They Abdicate the responsibility. They transfer, let's be more neutral, transfer the responsibility to these agencies.

for rule making purposes, etcetera. All right, five. The Constitution says that tariffs can only be issued by Congress. Transfer that authority to this president. If you really want to support his agenda and you don't want an economic disaster, do that.

Oh, but not till February, because both chambers aren't back in session. Until then. Liberty University Studio. That's where the Todd Starn show is coming from. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

Short break now. Craig Shirley on the other side. Stay with us, folks. Candles were lit on Bondi Beach by families, children, people of faith to celebrate a festival of light, a festival from Bible times, ones that Jesus himself celebrated. But instead of light, there was darkness, violence, fear, hatred showing itself at a time meant for prayer and rejoicing.

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That's one word, urgent. Ifcj.org or call now 866-338-IFCJ. That's 866-338-4325. U Welcome back to the Liberty University Studio and the Todd Stern Show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd 901-260-5926. That's how you can join us on this Open Line Friday.

We'll take your calls in the next segment. But we go now to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Pleased to welcome a returned guest to the program. He is Craig Shirley, the noted presidential historian and New York Times best-selling author. His new book is called Upheaval: A Clash of Cultures.

It comes out a little later this year. Craig Shirley, thanks so much for taking the time. Happy New Year. Jeff, how are you? Happy New Year.

Happy Friday. Happy upheaval, in fact. This book comes out, is it June through Humanics Books? Yeah, it's supposed to come out early June, just in time for the summer reading season. All right, so talk about the access that you had to the Trump campaign as 2024 went along.

Oh, I had John McLaughlin, who is Donald Trump's favorite pollster. was my primary source. And is my primary source on the writing of this book. I didn't go, I didn't, you know, most of my books in the past I interviewed. Half of Western civilization, right?

And I decided this time. Uh I I didn't need to interview everybody. I I I knew the story. I knew the inside story from talking to McLaughlin. Uh and uh i it it it wasn't necessary.

You know, I learned after eleven books. Jeff, is that is that is that people Don't always tell the truth, A. They spin, they inflate their role.

So you got to be very, very guarded when you're doing these books against being you know b b being s given a uh you know given a line. uh of uh of uh malarkey.

So, yeah, I remember when I was working on my uh one of my Reagan books. This guy tried to tell me that he was both Ronald Reagan's campaign manager in 1980 and George Bush's also in 1980, which I was a neat trick. And I said, Well, how'd you do that? He says, Well, I managed Bush's campaign until he got out, and then I went over and managed Reagan's campaign. And of course, it was all you know, it was all BS.

It was all malarkey.

So you got to be very, very careful. And I didn't really need them because, you know, this isn't a TikTok. This isn't about the personnel. Uh this is about stopping Uh you know. Because you're in the heartland, and I'm in the heartland.

And I think I know that this is a. there were there were two really important elections which were cultural clashes. With Andrew Jackson versus Martin Van Buren, I mean, versus John Quincy Adams, and 1980 with Jimmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan. We were just two different worlds colliding. like this this 2024 election.

You know, Biden and Harris represented one world and Donald Trump represented another world. And I want to talk about how that is impacting what we know today in terms of ongoing news cycle. But it strikes me to your point about not needing to interview folks in an age where everybody is a broadcaster, if they have a social media platform, they were all out there. It's not like some of these other books where we didn't know what people thought. Folks are not afraid to share these days, so it's right out there for us all.

So you need a different analytical pivot point. That reminds me of something Tom Brokaw once said. He said, you know, in the old days, back before Watergate. You couldn't get anybody to talk. And he said, and now you can't get anybody to shut up.

And you're absolutely right. Look, is that Trump's chief of staff? Just did 11 interviews with Vanity Fair. I mean, we can debate the wisdom of doing an interview with Vanity Fair in the future, but Vanity Fair is not of our world. It is of that elite.

That bubble elite world which Kamala and Biden represented, which has contempt for. Common sense Americans, which has contempt for us, for your listeners, for me, for you. They are not part of. our world. They're a part of of the the the elite world that is uh that uh i it's it's completely out of touch.

with real Americans. Upheaval: A Clash of Cultures: The Untold Story of One of the Most Consequential Campaigns in American History. The forthcoming book by Craig Shirley, released June 2nd. Humanics Books, the publisher. Get it wherever you get your good books these days.

You can pre-order right now and then enjoy it in the summer reading season. And Mr. Shirley joins us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. This clash of cultures that you accurately note. That is shaping public perception of contemporary events, is it not?

Because again, absolutely. Yeah. Go ahead, go ahead.

Well, I was just going to say, because it's so disingenuous, and I know hypocrisy in politics, that's not a breaking news alert, but to see topics like Venezuela or some of these other topics, the let's get rid of illegal immigrants. These folks, I mean, you get whiplash playing their past comments against today. No, you hit the nail right on the head. Is that Donald Trump and it's not just Trump, it's it's the the American people. They've gone through this cultural upheaval, and we see it every day in big ways and small ways.

some ways that aren't reported, like the explosion of parochial schools The explosion of pr of uh private schools, the explosion of home schooling. Because people are sick and tired of what they're what public schools are not teaching, but the garbage is shoving down the throats of. Of Americans is that the rejection of men in girls' locker rooms. The rejection down in Florida. They're tearing up streets.

that had the gay pride I you know, put quote marks around gay pride. Gay Pride flags on the on the on the on the crosswalks. They're tearing that up. Patriotism has made a big comeback. is that there are so many ways that you can measure.

how the culture is changing. under the upheaval of twenty twenty four, And and Donald Trump. being the tip of the spear of the uh of the cultural upheaval. There are many different ways how people are questioning politicians. that they just accepted before.

how people are turning away from. the mainline religions like uh Catholicism or United Methodist Church or whatever, and they're turning to evangelical churches. Their evangelical churches are ex experiencing and megachurches an explosion of of membership. And meanwhile, the Catholic Church, the UMC, the DFC, they're all seeing their their pew pews the number of people shrinking. See that.

So does the Trump movement Does that extend beyond Trump? And I asked that as a comparative question because you worked for Mr. Reagan. The trick was, how do you have the Reagan revolution continue on? A lot of people, and I'm not trying to get to the next election by any stretch, but again, how sustainable is the movement, especially if it is, as you know, a clash of cultures?

That is an excellent question. I think first of all, is that is Donald Trump has to stay in motion. And he understands, he's studying motion. Politics, Reagan's old campaign manager, John Sears. once coined the phrase, politics is motion.

And Donald Trump is always in motion on Venezuela and spending on credit card limits on interest on credit cards. There's always Things coming out of Donald Trump and out of the White House that makes it hard for him to hit because he's moving so quickly. The Democrats can't gather together enough forces to take him on.

So that's number one. Number two is it depends, of course, on the success. If the economy continues to grow, if the stock market continues to grow, if he continues to act as the agent of peace, I mean. Think of this, just this one Jeff, this one piece of information. The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

This wonderful woman from Venezuela. gave her Peace Prize to Donald Trump. That just speaks volumes to us. Is that what the winner of the Nobel Futures Prize thinks of what Donald Trump did? in Venezuela and getting rid of Madura and bringing peace and freedom and restoring free market to Venezuela.

I mean, it it's a monumental thing what he did. And it's a monumental thing what she did in recognizing what he did. I noted this previously on the radio. But Think of a time when you've got both the Stanley Cup and the Nobel Peace Prize in the White House at the same time. How about that?

Yeah, different points of the culture, aren't they? And it just shows. I thought that was just a great example of. This is Trump world, where both can coexist and it makes sense and it's within the same day part for crying out loud. Absolutely, absolutely.

And you know what? It's is that he's going to get Bonifides off of off of both off of both actions, off of both hits. He's going to get, you know, this and again. just the example of the Nobel Peace Prize and her awarding it is first of all, the bubble elites, what I call the bubble elites, the Kamala Harrises of the world, the Opras of the World, the college universities, All those people, the Elizabeth Warrens of the World, all the people that we know are don't have our best interests at heart. They have the elite's interest at heart, which is power and money.

That's all they care about. is that is that there's such a flashpoint that she gives the Nobel Peace Prize and it's so it's so gladdening to the hearts of common sense Americans And it's so infuriating to the hearts of the elites of America. It's just, again, it crystallizes the difference between what I write about in this book, Upheaval, which is the the clash of the two cultures. The book is released on June 2nd. Do yourself a favor, order now.

Humanics Books the Publisher, Upheaval, A Clash of Cultures Forthcoming by Craig Shirley. Mr. Shirley, it's always a privilege. Thank you so much for taking the time, and I always look forward to talking to you soon. Likewise.

Have a good weekend. You as well. And Craig Shirley, the presidential historian and New York Times best-selling author, joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Happy to hear what you thought of that conversation. I have a few thoughts to mention as well in the next segment.

So call 901-260-5926. Same number as always. Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. Calls on the other side of this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starnes Show. Hi, this is Todd Starns. This past year has been one of the hardest in MyPellow's history, and it's because of loyal listeners like you. They're still standing strong. To show their appreciation, they're offering special Christmas savings exclusively for our listeners.

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901-260-5926, just after the top of the hour. The great Newsmax correspondent James Rosen will be here. He's the chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax, and he was at the news conference today. where Maria Carina Machado was speaking. We'll hear about that.

What's the latest in Iran? And he has a new book coming out as well next month. James Rosen of Newsmax, scheduled to join us just after the top of the hour. You know, as Craig Shirley was talking in the last segment and talking about the bubble elites, and I do like that term because, again, these are folks who just exist within their bubbles. and they cannot imagine what it's like out here in the rest of the world.

Now, as you know, most likely because of the times I've been here, I'm here in the state of Iowa. And Kamala Harris flamed out in a major way before the 2020. Iowa Presidential Precinct Caucasus. She had all the wind at her sails, big, fluffy, Profiles in the Washington Post, money. And she could not connect with an audience to save her life.

Certainly didn't save her campaign. She didn't even make it to the caucuses. Ostensibly, she needed to be in Washington to see if she could get Donald Trump impeached and thrown fr out from office. But the bottom line was the campaign was a shambles. because she just didn't connect with people.

She didn't know how to. And in a state, and this is why I love having Iowa, New Hampshire, these places go first, you got to actually meet the people. And you have to talk to the people, and you can't hide the fact that you don't like people. or that you think they're less than you are.

Sorry, we're the American people here. And as mister Shirley pointed out, the heartland is the heartbeat of the country. And so these bubble elites who think they know better. than anybody else. There's no way they're going to understand the appeal of a Trump.

Because there is a huge irony. Trump has money. You know that, right? I mean, he did pretty well for himself. in business.

He's got money. Yet He connects much. Better. With the rank and file worker. with the person at McDonald's, the construction worker, whoever it is in a group, that's who he gravitates toward.

You bring in the big shots, he can do it. But what's so impressive is that someone with his upbringing has the connection with The regular human, the regular person. That is what's so cool about And it's the ironic thing about him. He can sit there in the Oval Office, can be dripping in gold. but yet his connection is with you.

And he understands it because he likes people.

So the fact that he's the rich guy connecting with the workers They don't know the the bubble elite folks don't know what to do with that. Because they don't know how to connect with workers. They're just aspiring to be the rich people. over the course of time. And again, it's that sense of We know much more than you do.

And it drives most of us to distraction. And here's the problem: to draw a loop on something I mentioned at the beginning of the hour. Really tired of Congress, in essence, not doing anything. And they just seem to think that if they. Outlast Trump.

They'll stay in power. I know Todd has talked about this. These folks who have R by their names They're not really supporting this president. They're kind of hoping A lot of 'em. That uh yeah, he's there, that's fine.

If we can just Pacify him well enough, bump along, then we'll be back to the old times. The old country club Republicans can return. I don't think the voters are going to go along with that. Nor should they, frankly. The fury of activity, the the flurry that goes on.

It's amazing. And it has to do with a Pivotal generational figure. And I think history will show who's on the right side of the issue. And it's not a lot of these folks. who are business as usual Republicans.

Now, I don't agree with everything that the President advocates. I don't agree with every way he goes about things. But again from the Hypocrisy Department I'm tired of hearing these Republicans Talk about they're going to be the best friend Trump ever had with nothing to. Back that up other than their words. Similarly, those affected by Trump derangement syndrome.

Nothing that Trump does is right in their view.

Well, that's not right either. I would like to hope that the American people in twenty twenty six, as we celebrate the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of when fifty six brave souls signed a Declaration of Independence, that led to their own harm financially, physically, etcetera. I'd like to think that in that election year Where we have the semi-quincentennial? I've been practicing semi-quincentennial. that we would wake up and let them know That Government is by of and for the people.

Not those that we represent or we elect to represent us. No, it's it's about us. All right, think about them and then dial up in the next hour of Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. James Rosen of Newsmax from the Liberty University Studio after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd, hour one done of this edition of the Todd Starns Show.

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Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's us! That's right! Yeah. I love this American.

Yeah, right. Todd. Stars.

Well, hello, Americans. I'm Todd Stearns. Happy Friday to you, and welcome to the Todd Stearns Show. We are in for a great three hours of conversation today.

However, I will not be behind the microphone. I have a few things, meetings that I've got to attend to on this Friday.

So I've asked my great friend, Jeff Stein, from radio station KXEL, our great affiliate there in Iowa, to fill in today. He has a wonderful show lined up for you, ladies and gentlemen. The great Jeff Stein. And once again, the crowd goes wild. Hello, fellow Patriots.

Good to be with you from the Liberty University studio, today based at my home base in Iowa at KXEL. 901-260-5926. That's the number you use to join this coast-to-coast conversation on Open Line Friday. We will take your calls in the next segment. But now, let's go right to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

And it is always a privilege to welcome the Chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax, the great James Rosen, to the program. Mr. Rosen, happy new year to you, sir. And to you, Jeff, thanks for bringing me back on.

Well, never a dull moment in the life of James Rosen. You've spent the morning with one of the most popular figures in Washington, D.C. this week. Tell us about this. That's right.

I know you're not resp referring to the Newsmax assignment desk, folks.

So yes, in fact. Just moments ago, I was at a news conference at the Heritage Foundation headquarters on Capitol Hill. with Maria Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who just yesterday presented to President Trump as a gift her Nobel Prize. Uh that she won. the Nobel Peace Prize for her opposition efforts in Venezuela, where she is widely regarded as having Won last year's elections against the strongman Nicolas Maduro, since ousted by the Trump administration and brought to Brooklyn to face American justice.

Um and uh it was she was in good form. Uh it was a packed crowd at the Heritage Foundation, uh and mostly um uh Hispanic uh uh reporters, Latin uh reporters from Latin America. Uh a lot of the question and answers took place in Spanish, which I could only dimly comprehend. Uh but she said at one point that she is profoundly confident that there will be a transition to democracy in Venezuela in the not too distant future. All she said about her meeting yesterday with President Trump, aside from the detail of having given him the Nobel and he having accepted it, Despite the fact, by the way, that the Nobel Peace Prize, the folks over in Oslo have stated publicly that the prize is not transferable.

So the gift really was just symbolic. The only thing she said about that meeting this morning was that President Trump asked her to convey to everybody that she is in touch with. And everyone who listens to her, that he cares about Venezuela and he cares about the Venezuelan people. And she says that's the message she will bring forward. Yeah.

It's a tricky situation for the White House because you've got someone who is president now elevated when Maduro was arrested. But yet you also have the popularity of the opposition movement. It's a difficult needle for the administration to thread, I would trust, at this point.

Well, the administration, once it settled on the plan of capturing Maduro and executing his rendition to New York City. Once that decision was settled on, The administration had only bad options, and their options effectively amounted to. A, a kind of a full-scale invasion and occupation, which obviously was not palatable from any point of view. B, to try and install opposition leaders as the new head of the government there. or see to work with the remnants of the Maduro regime.

following the decapitation of that regime, if you will. According to published reporting, the U.S. intelligence community advised President Trump. that in its assessment, Maria Clarina Machado the lady I heard speak at the Heritage Foundation this morning. was not equipped to be installed as the new leader and to take the reins of government swiftly and effectively.

So that meant that really the President's only option was to um allow a transition of power inside of Venezuela. uh that would effectively keep the uh the Maduro regime in power without its leader. And the question that's been raised ever since about Del C. Rodriguez, a former vice president, for seven and a half years under. Nicholas Maduro, who is now the President, and who met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Caracas yesterday.

The questions that have been raised about Del C. Rodriguez have centered on one fundamental concern, which is What if she doesn't play ball? What if she does not work cooperatively with the Trump administration to evict Russian, Chinese and Iranian interests from the country? What if she does not to work with the Trump administration to renovate the oil industry there. And I think the more profound question, Jeff, is what if she can't?

Because, after all, we are asking of Delcia Rodriguez, and the President reports that she has been compliant, but nonetheless, we are asking of her. that she work uh swiftly and effectively to unravel the exact partnerships and networks by which she and her boss propped themselves up in power for the past decade or more. Um and it's not clear that any uh any political leader in Del C. Rodriguez's position. um could pull that off necessarily.

It also doesn't require, Jeff, a robust imagination. to conjure readily a number of scenarios by which this entire adventure could go haywire and bring President Trump and his party real grief as the midterm elections approach.

So for example, what happens we know that with so much of the Maduro infrastructure left in place, that, that will provide the seed bed, if you will, for an insurgency of some kind. What will happen when the first act of sabotage strikes a major oil installation in the country? What will happen if that claims the lives of Americans? What will happen if American oil executives or others that we send down to participate in this transition are harmed, taken hostage. And if you've watched Black Mirror, what happens when the first this is grisly, but the first finger is sent back to the United States from an American hostage.

All this would create any one of these scenarios would create enormous pressure, political pressure, on President Trump to respond. And this could become a much stickier set of circumstances than it even is right now. James Rosen is Chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax. He joins us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in.

Well, as if all that weren't thorny enough, you've got Iran. What should we be watching over the next, I don't know, seventy two hours with regard to the Iran situation? I suspect that That we will all have our eyes glued to social media, as we more or less do every minute of our day to begin with. But there you will find. the evidence or the developments that, if they occur, would tip the President's hand toward following through on this bread of military action.

the President had made clear in a number of different venues that if the Iranians Responded to the latest uprisings in the streets of Tehran and around the country with the kind of brutality that they have employed. To quash past rebellions, most notably in 2009 and 2022. then he, the President, would order military action against Iran. And we even went so far as to say, in all caps on Truth Social, help is on the way. But the President appears, at least for the moment, to have drawn back from that intention.

Uh and by way of explanation for that uh Slightly amended posture. The White House press secretary, Caroline Levitt, said at yesterday's White House press briefing. that the President had received assurances from a very credible source inside Iran that the regime has now halted the planned executions of eight hundred people.

Now the death toll from the response to these uprisings, this recent wave of uprisings over the past two to three weeks, has varied in different estimates from five hundred to five thousand to twenty five thousand merely the assertion by the regime that they will not commit another eight hundred or at least not immediately commit another eight hundred executions. strikes me as a dubious basis on which to Um presidential decision making. It was Wendy Sherman, who was a top State Department official under President Obama and one of the chief negotiators of the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. who famously testified before the Senate That deception is in the Iranian DNA. And of course, she was referring to the regime and not the people.

So I'm not sure how seriously we should be taking. These kinds of proclamations from inside the regime. But be that as it may, I think if we see on social media over the weekend, Some truly horrifying images of Iranian repression in the streets, I think that would have a significant impact on President Trump's decision making. I've only got about a minute left, and you've got another fantastic volume in the Antonin Scalia biographies. You started with Rise to Greatness.

And the first volume about the Supreme Court years, that's coming out in just a few weeks. You're very kind to mention it, Jeff. Yes. Volume two in my three volume biography of the late Justice Anton and Sculia will come out february tenth. You can pre-order it right now on Amazon and everywhere else you go.

The name of the book is Scalia. Supreme Court years, 1986 to 2001. And the first volume, which was published three years ago, took us all the way up to the moment he sat down in his chair on the Supreme Court. The new volume coming out February 10, packed with interviews and new documents and lots of revelations about Antonin Scalia's life and career and his facing. This new volume covers the first half of his 30 years on the Supreme Court.

So it starts with him being sworn in. and it takes us up right up through the national trauma of Bush v. Gore. which neatly bisects the and ends the first half of Justice Scalia's tenure. There sits today, I should point out to you, Jeff, on the Supreme Court only one justice.

I'm sat on the the Bush v. Gore case, and that is Clarence Thomas. And gosh, that was a bracing realization for this reporter. I like to think of Bush v. Gore as modern history, but maybe that's a luxury you and I can't afford anymore, Jeff.

I look in the mirror every day and agree with you, sir.

Now, here's what you do, folks. Wherever you get your good books, you pre-order Scalia Supreme Court years at the same time you order, if you've not already purchased a copy of Scalia Rise to Greatness, so you can read Volume 1 and you'll have that finished as Volume 2 arrives. This is very good planning on your part, sir. I like the way you think, Jeff. And also I want to point out these books are available on in audio versions on chirp and wherever you get audio books as well.

James Rosen, it is always a privilege. I know you've been missing the assignment desk at Newsmax and the fun that ensues there, so I'll let you get back to it. Great appreciation for your work and your time, and thanks for joining us here today. Back at you, Jeff. Thank you.

James Rosen is Chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax and And again, the second volume in his three-volume series, Biography of Antonin Scalia, Supreme Court Years. That is released February 10th. Get it now wherever you get your good books these days. 901-260-5926. Your call's on the other side of this break.

Mr. Rosen, by the way, joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. We'll return to the Liberty University studio in just a moment. Jeff Stein, and for Todd, this is the Todd Starn Show. If you're an HVAC technician and a call comes in, Granger knows that you need a partner that helps you find the right product, fast and hassle-free.

And you know that when the first problem of the day is a clanking blower motor, there's no need to break a sweat. With Granger's easy-to-use website and product details, you're confident you'll soon have everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRA, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He's taking care of some business meetings. He'll be back behind the mic on Monday, 901-260-5926. That's how you join our coast-to-coast conversation on this open line Friday. I could talk a long time with James Rosen.

He is uh So good as a reporter, but he's able to put things into context. And if you follow him on the Twitter X Machine, well, if not, you should. James Rosen TV is where you find him, in addition to the reporting on Newsmax. James Rosen TV and volume two of his three-volume set of books on Antonin Scalia released next month. Uh if you want to follow Craig Shirley, he's also pretty good with the uh Shall we say, pithy comments?

It's Craig SMPA. His company is Shirley and McVicker Public Affairs. That's the acronym SMPA. But just search for Craig Shirley on Twitter X, Craig SMPA. Those are both very good follows, as the kids say.

You can find me on the social media platforms at Iowa Politics, IOWA Politics. That's Twitterx and Instagram and Truth Social, et cetera, et cetera. I don't do the Facebook. You gotta draw the line somewhere. I don't do Facebook, but you can find me everywhere else at Iowa Politics.

And my radio station is at KXEL 1540 on all the socials. And yes, that does include Facebook because the boss said We need to. nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. Washington, D.C. has got to be a fascinating place these days.

because you have so many entrenched people whose heads are exploding on a daily basis. Because of Donald Trump. And I just love that. I love stirring it up just a little bit in that respect. And nobody can get too comfortable for too long.

uh but as I mentioned in the last hour, The Stanley Cup and the Nobel Peace Prize, both under the same roof on the same day, and we just look at it as another day in Trump two point zero. And the Florida Panthers were the incumbent Stanley Cup champs.

So they were there and did the normal presentation of a hockey sweater with 47 on it, etc. But it sure looked like there was a bunch of guys happy to be there. You know, there's a difference between we were drug here and we're going to be moderately respectful. Difference between that and It's really cool to talk to this guy. And that's what the the hockey players seem to be expressing.

So many of them wearing bright red neckties. On the day the president didn't, I found that interesting. But red is one of the team colors and It uh it's it's just different. and this is not to say better, worse, whatever. I do find that um on virtually a daily basis, Even if it's something that I don't agree with that Mr.

Trump has done. I can't help but compare. And think What predecessor would have done it this way. What predecessor would have held court with the press multiple times a day in the Oval Office like he does. What president would do any manner of these things?

And again, some of them you look and say, oh my gosh, what president would have done some of this? But it's it's part of the whole and it's part of what is shaking up what needs to be shaken up. And again, to my friends on the far left, and I do have some. Ah, they're just beside themselves. I have a a long time professional acquaintance who uh Does radio on the far left side of the spectrum, and to him everything comes back to the Epstein files.

And I have said to him, privately and on air. You know, I respect what you think, but holy cow There's nothing there. And if there is, I'll admit that I was wrong, but there's nothing there. You keep going back to everything that Mr. Trump is doing now is to avoid anyone paying attention to.

The Epstein files. I just don't see it. But again, it feeds into a narrative of what they want. They want to have him. Hauled out the door, they want to have his people abandon him for some heinous offence, etcetera.

And it really gets in the way, frankly, it colors their judgment. And that's how we get the craziness that we have out there. 901-260-5926. You're not crazy. You've got good thoughts, and I'd love to hear them on this Open Line Friday from the Liberty University Studio.

Short break now, back on the other side with your calls. I'm Jeff Stein, and this is the Todd Starn Show. And welcome back to the Liberty University studio and an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He'll be back.

on Monday.

So this is twenty twenty six, and that means we have radio shows that you hear on the radio, but there are also so many other ways that you can consume a radio show these days. Cameron is listening in Dallas, Texas. By Rumble, that wonderful outlet. Cameron, thanks so much for calling into the program. How are you today?

I'm good, Jeff. Yeah, Rumble is a wonderful outlet. I wanted to call about election integrity, but you jogged my memory talking about. Vachado's Nobel Peace Prize yesterday. Vachado is a true, she is a true hero.

She literally risked her life. To promote democracy in her country. I believe she even had to flee the country. She really is a true hero.

So what could be more pathetic than our five-year-old president He wants a trophy or an award, and she's got to give it to him to try to curry save her with that piece of garbage. I mean, what's more pathetic? That? Or are you cheering it on?

Well, I think what's more pathetic Is you misunderstanding the situation? And thanks for calling. I do appreciate it. She had the thing framed and said she was presenting it to President Trump and the American people.

So, if you, Cameron, if that is your name, and if you really are calling from Dallas, if you want to disavow your ownership interest. You're one 320 millionth. ownership interest in that plaque. that someday will hang in a Trump library. Go ahead.

I'll take your part. What I'm cheering on is the fact that there's somebody in there who's trying to do something.

Now you may not agree with it. And that's great. Um you know. She hands him the the the medal.

Okay. And the fact that the Nobel folk said, well, you cannot transfer it, nobody transferred anything. You can hand an award to anybody. It's just, again. Distraction.

And uh I hope some day that uh You can collect the rent that Mr. Trump owes you for living in your head. nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. Let's talk a little bit.

about uh schools. Because this is something that has uh really affected me Uh in my state. We have Finally, turn some public education things around. And I'd be interested in hearing legitimately what's going on in some of your parts of the world. Few years ago, my state Uh enacted Um Educational saving accounts, ESAs.

They're not vouchers. They have the same basic impact, but it's not a voucher program. The bottom line is. School funding, K-12 school funding, is based on the number of students. Right, the more students you have, the more money you get.

There is a formula in these states where you You get a certain amount of state money. based upon how many students you have. The more students you have, the more money you get. The fewer students you have, the less money you get.

Okay, that's how the public school model works.

So, in my state, we had a lot of people who said, We don't like how public schools are handling things.

So, We're going to allow the dollars to move with the student. Not 100%. But a significant number of the dollars move with the student.

So if the student Open enrolls from a public school in City A. Over to a public school in City B, the money goes to the new school. The money follows the student. That's what's been going on all along. Because the education lobby made sure that they had this completely.

Roped up. Right? Or or roped in, if you will.

So now we have educational savings accounts in my state.

So if you want to send your kid. to something other than the public school, you can do it. Make application, they put the money in the account, you then use that to help defray the cost of the private school.

Now when this was coming up These public schools all just went ballistic, as you might imagine, because they said, if you do this, We're going to lose a ton of money.

Well, guess what happened? They did it, and yes, they did lose a ton of money. Because when you're given a choice between the corrupt indoctrination public school system that we have now in many places, I'm talking about the hierarchy, not necessarily dedicated teachers. When you've got an option. You're gonna take it.

And COVID is what led to all of this. Because there was schooling from home, and parents got to see actually what their kids were, quote, learning. Or if you're in Minnesota leaning. Or leering, I guess it is.

So Parents started saying, wait a second, we don't like all of this. We're seeing everything that's happening.

So now you have students. who are going to private education outlets, and taking the state money with them. Here's the thing. that I'm I can't get a good answer from people about. people in public education.

They were saying we're going to lose, in one school district in my state, they were going to lose $5 million. A year.

Now, if you're so darn smart as these education union supporting people like to claim. If you're so darn smart and you warned us that you'd lose $5 million and they passed the legislation, Wouldn't you take steps to adjust your budget? You're the ones, school people, who told us, Oh my god, if you pass this bill. We're going to lose five million dollars. They passed the bill.

Why didn't you adjust your budget?

So now they're all claiming poverty. But here's what's an even better exposure of mismanagement. A lot of these same schools Are showing deficits well above the amount of money they lost in school funding. Again, second largest district in my state. We lost $5 million of state funding.

Our deficit is ten million.

Well, how did that happen? How in the world are you running such a huge deficit? And it's all the big city school districts in my state. 8 million here, 10 million there, 13 million there. That's the deficit that the public school is running.

It is not all. On account of these educational savings accounts and public dollars moving with students. They got fewer students. Shouldn't be quite as costly. But yet not only are they whining about the money they lost, In many cases, the deficit is now double what they claimed they lost.

How does that work? And in one district, They admitted the superintendent admitted publicly that she knew in October they would be down five million dollars. But she did not say anything publicly or to the Board of Education. In October. Why?

'Cause they had a bond issue on the ballot in November. and they wanted your tax money. They wanted your hard-earned money, so they did not tell you that they were going to be in the hole by five million dollars. because they didn't want to adversely affect their ability to take more money out of your pocket.

Now, after the bond issue fails, thank you very much. They're saying, oh, deficit's 10 million. We're going to have to close schools. We're going to have to. Nobody's laying off administrators, by the way.

But we're going to have to do these terrible things I have a feeling they didn't say anything. about the deficit Because they figured, oh, we're going to get a bond issue passed. We'll just kind of move money around. I just have to assume that's what they were thinking of doing. In other words, Friends, it's a Ponzi scheme, an awful lot of this stuff, flat-out Ponzi scheme.

Now, I gave you those examples from a state. that historically has valued education. A state that continues to put more public money into education every year. than the year prior. Never as much as the union folks want.

There's support for education where I'm at. There always has been. I cannot imagine. What's going on in some of these big blue cities? I don't know what's going on where you're at.

But I share it with you. as a bit of a cautionary tale to say, Those school board meetings are pretty darn important, aren't they? Not only is it the education of the next generation, Look where all your tax money's going, your property taxes How viable is your community if you've got a failing school? That's not good for attracting business and attracting people. The fact that all of this is happening at this time.

Shows The failure of some of these institutions that we used to take for granted as being neutral, That are being run in the shadow of and often in conjunction with. These big blue cities and their bad policies. and again the We Know More Than You Do Philosophy. Think about it in your own local district. And that brings us to the overarching thing that we talk about here a lot.

How do you make a difference? I don't know. How do you? because each one of us is different. But how about paying attention at the local level?

How about paying attention at city council, school board, etc.? Can have the biggest impact right there. It's great that we talk about these global issues. But each one of us can do something. I'll talk more about that after we take this break.

901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. That's how you can join the Coast to Coast Conversation from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show.

Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show, 901-260-5926. Join the Coast to Coast Conversation if you like. In the next hour, we're going to talk about health care costs, and we're going to tie it in. With the President's proposed health care reform bill that was announced yesterday. And you've heard me, if you've listened to the program when Todd has been kind enough to invite me to join, you've heard me before whine about the fact that we've heard for a decade now more than that.

That Republicans were going to repeal and replace Obamacare. We've got our own ideas. We're going to fix everything, and we got nothing. And so, if this helps guide the conversation towards some sort of meaningful resolution. Fantastic.

We'll find out, and we'll talk with a guest on that topic. That is coming up at the bottom of the next hour.

So speaking of health care. I try to avoid doctors, and I have been very blessed in my life that I have had very little issues. And I thank God for that every single day. But I do go for an annual physical. Just did uh mine right before Christmas.

I don't take care of myself. I don't eat like I should. I don't exercise. I sit here and talk for a living. That is not conducive to robust health.

And if you're like me, you probably don't look forward to the physical because you don't want to have to answer some of those questions. You wait and see what the blood test shows. You don't know what they're going to find, etc.

Okay, so. You could. eat right for the week before the doctor's appointment. Or you could all of a sudden use the treadmill that you have sitting in a corner that you just pile laundry on because nobody ever uses it. You could do all those things for the week ahead of time.

Won't matter. You should do something, though, that does matter. before your next checkup.

Now I already know mine is like fifty weeks away. Before your next checkup. Make the one health change that your doctor will notice in a positive way. And your doctor will notice it or you get your money back. We're talking here about Field of Greens.

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So go into your next physical confident. It's one scoop. Once a day, and you're done. I like that approach. And we'll see what it does in fifty weeks when I go back.

Make Field of Greens your one smart change this new year. Check out the university study. And Get 20% off. Let me look at that again. Yep, 20% off at fieldofgreens.com.

but you have to use promo code STARNS. All right, that's fieldofgreens.com, promo code STARNS for 20% off from Field of Greens. You'll feel better. The doctor'll notice it. Tell me how that's a bad deal.

Well, it's not. It's a great deal. 901-260-5926 to join our conversation on this Open Line Friday. I noticed something in the news, and this is something that those of us who work in media have been concerned about, and that's AI, artificial intelligence. why would they need me to sit behind the microphone when they can just generate it through AI?

Why do you have to pay actors and actresses when you can just generate it via AI?

So Matthew McConaughey.

well known actor. He's one of those who's concerned about AI fakes. I don't think, I don't know if this has been talked about on the program or if you saw this, but he's trademarking himself. With the federal government, Federal Trademark Office. Over recent months, mister McConaughey has secured eight different trademarks from the U.

S. Patent and Trademark Off Office covering various video and audio clips of his face and voice, including Catch phrases. Remember there was the movie where he said All right, all right, all right something like that?

Well He's now trademarked that.

So that he has the weight of federal law to go after. People who design apps or whatever protocols that clone his likeness or voice. without his approval. You know, it's characters can be trademarked. Cartoon characters can be trademarked, uh etcetera.

you cannot use them without permission. If you want to find out how quickly Uh they'll jump on you. Pick your favorite college or university and start selling shirts with that school's mascot on it. Oh, you're going to get a nasty letter. because those are all trademarked.

So that the trademark holder can control the use of the image or likeness. Mr. McConaughey's attorneys say they are not aware of any AI deep fakes, but. In the absence of other federal law to help protect this intellectual property. Filing the trademark gives you the weight of Federal law.

So actually, it's a great test case. Others have done this same thing over the course of time. I cannot imagine anybody wants my voice. And after all the talking I've done today, I'm a little sick of hearing it myself. But if you have a strong stomach, stick around.

It's hour three of the Todd Starn Show coming up after this short break. Jeff Stein in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun totem, Bible-clanging, deplorable American. That's us!

That's right! I love Love is American Todd.

Well, hello, Americans. I'm Todd Starns. Happy Friday to you, and welcome to the Todd Starns Show. We are in for a great three hours of conversation today.

However, I will not be behind the microphone. I have a few things, meetings that I've got to attend to on this Friday.

So I've asked my great friend, Jeff Stein, from radio station KXEL, our great affiliate there in Iowa, to fill in today. He has a wonderful show lined up for you, ladies and gentlemen. The great Jeff Stein. It is always a privilege to speak to Starnes Nation and fill in for America's Anchorman. Thank you, Mr.

Starnes, and a good day to you on this Open Line Friday from the Liberty University studio. I am Jeff Stein, 901-260-5926. That's how you can join our coast-to-coast conversation. 901-260-5926. We'll be talking about health insurance plans, health insurance costs.

That's coming up with a guest at the bottom of the hour. But now let's go to the phone lines and Talk to John from Bowling Green. Listens on the app. John, thanks so much for calling the Star and Show. Jeff Stein filling in.

How are you? Hello, Mr. Stein, and to all my brothers and sisters of the Jewish Faith, Shabbat Shalom today. I'm practicing one too, Ms. Annix.

But I wanted to talk to you about the upcoming midterms and our economy. Yes. If the American people vote the controlling of the House to the Democrats and the Senate, We're going to lose all the progress. Let me tell I want to explain something to you. Since this administration came into office, Our family alone has been getting more bang for our buck.

And if the gas prices l uh get lower, Our grocery prices are getting lower. Like I said, from what we had four years ago, we put $200, we're able to double that.

Okay, we've been getting 10%, 20% more. for our dollar. And it got as low as one dollar ninety nine a gallon out here where I live.

Okay, depending on where you're at. And all that progress that this President and the administration has made We're going to lose all that because they're going to try to impeach this president. And to all those Republicans that decide they're going to jump ship, and I'm going to call them rats because they're just scared of the upcoming midterms. They're the ones at fault. The American people are not giving them a chance to explain.

why and what they're trying to do for the American people. And so the farmers are upset because all the illegals look, we have prisons with honor farms. Put the prisoners to work on these farms so they can learn to trade. Seriously, mister Stein. You have honor you have these honorees and they they can put them to work and they can learn to trade.

But If the American people and I'm going to be very sincere about this, okay, because My wife and I served this country. We fought in the war. If the American people are ignorant and stupid enough to get rid of the control of the House to the Republicans, even though they're stupid for extending Obamacare, we're going to lose everything we've worked for.

Okay. And to me, this midterm is critical, very critical, because we need Let them continue to do the job that they were voted to do for. And those Republicans that are jumping ship. How dare you? You're abandoning the American people when they need you the most.

If this were in a war, you'd be shot in front of a firing squad for abandoning them. That's all I wanted to say, Mr. Stein. No, no, no, no, no, and again, I'm sorry because it's really upsetting me because President Trump is exactly right. We lose the midterms, we lose all the progress.

You're absolutely right, and thank you so much for calling in from Bowling Green. I have kin from Monticello, which is south of you there in Kentucky. John made some very good points, but I want to start first of all. With tone. He's frustrated.

Aren't you? And it's okay to be frustrated. I think we need to show a bit of that. Because again, I have talked about the fact that We have people who claim to be Republicans who are not supporting the President or an agenda. And that is the thing that I'm calling them out about: the hypocrisy of it.

And we began the program. If you were kind enough to be along in hour one, you heard me say, look. This is uh job review time. You've got time for us to give you what you want, which is another term. But it starts now Started yesterday, started months ago.

But what I I'm so tired of, and and John is exactly right, As the President Oates, you lose the majority? Forget it. We've lost everything. They're going to spend their time to try to get rid of him. Good luck, but it's a distraction.

It takes us away from the gains that have been made. Think about it this way. How bad were things? One year ago Tuesday's the anniversary of inauguration. Trump presidency will be twenty-five percent over.

He had to spend all that time just trying. to undo All of the auto-pen things. It's the hypocrisy, though, of these Republicans, and I hear it all the time, where they say, elect me, I'll be the best friend Donald Trump ever had. You haven't been so far, have you? What have you done?

To actually, well, you know, I voted. Come on, that's the minimum. I just I just think some of them are just way too complacent.

So if you want to be an independent-minded Republican, okay. It's the hypocrisy that just drives me crazy. One of the things that John mentioned was the gas prices. They are lower. Where I live, they're not as low as some other areas of my state.

But they are lower, and here's how that impacts the grocery prices.

Sometimes it has to be pointed out. How do groceries get to your store? They don't just magically appear there. They're brought in on trucks. If the overall Price of gas is lower.

then the cost of bringing goods to the grocery store is lower. And if the costs are lower, I don't have to charge as much, and your prices go down. That's why energy independence was such an important focus of the first Trump administration and why it needs to be again. Because if you have energy independence, if you can keep the cost of fuel down. That not only helps the soccer mom and the minivan and the guy commuting and all of that, but it means that your grocery prices are lower because it does not cost as much to transmit the goods to the store.

Another thing that John mentioned was farmers being upset. I'll tell you why farmers are upset. Because we are years behind the five-year farm bill.

Now this should be important to anybody who eats. Anybody in this audience who eats food. You should hope that we have a robust farm bill. They set them up every five years so that we have some certainty in the market. and so that you can make plans.

You don't just show up one day and say, I'm going to farm. Right now, you've got farmers who are trying to figure out their financing for what they'll plant. Going forward. We have in this year, we have a problem with beef in this country because there's been too much conspiracy with the packing houses. And a lot of folks have not.

enhance their herds. And if you say to somebody, hey, we're going to change the market forces, now you can go back to raising and selling beef. That doesn't happen overnight. It takes a while to get the herd up to numbers. And the problem is, we are now more than two years behind the five-year farm bill.

All the reference prices are at least five years, if not seven or eight years old. And yes, most of a farm bill is tied to SNAP benefits, something like 80%, 85% of money in the farm bill. has nothing to do with farmers, has to do with food distribution. And so when they reopened the government last month, They made sure that the Department of Agriculture was fully funded. Through the end of the fiscal year, September 30, 2026.

They also made sure that the SNAP benefits were there. All of that was helpful to keep farm programs going. The problem is they lost a bit of leverage in getting a five-year farm bill across the finish line. Honest to goodness, folks, they should be talking now. about how to put together things for the Next farm bill.

They're so far behind they're almost meeting themselves on the other side.

So, if you care about eating, and I think you do, and if you care about having control of our own destiny through the growth of food. and through energy. Need to be paying closer attention to what the President's policies are and what Congress is not doing. If you've noticed a theme that I'm not thrilled with, Congress. You're paying attention.

Because I'm not. I just don't understand why. It is so difficult. The answer is it's not. It shouldn't be.

It just needs leadership, and I'm not feeling it right now. John from Bowling Green, thanks for starting the hour off. Your right cannot lose the majority. Your right need to actually enhance the majority. That's hard to do historically, but it needs to be done.

And it starts with every person listening to this program. 901-260-5926. Your calls. Welcome in the next segment. Let's take a short break now.

Take your calls on the other side. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show.

Okay. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday. 901-260-5926. number to call so you can join this coast to coast conversation.

We've been talking about some economic issues this hour, how we spend our money and uh The economy is going to be one of the key issues. in this midterm election. And Because of the political polarization out there, I'm paying a lot more attention, and I know you are too. as to where our money is going, how we're spending our money. Am I spending my money with businesses That feel the same way I do about the world.

Or do they make a profit off me and then they go use that money on causes I don't believe it. I want to make sure that I'm dealing with like-minded individuals. We all make these choices each and every day. Right down to what cell phone provider we may support.

Now, it's important for you to understand because you hear a lot of these ads, right? Patriot Mobile is not just a wireless provider. They are that, yes, but they are also an activist organization funded by selling top tier cellphone service. They've been on the front lines defending freedoms long before it was fashionable or cool. They were there when others were not.

Now, here's the best part about Patriot Mobile. They deliver prioritized premium service on all three major U.S. networks. This is not like the old days where, oh gosh, I want to make sure I have a good network. You get the same or even better coverage now with Premium Mobile, with Patriot Mobile on these Premium services.

Patriot Mobile is on these major networks. 100% US-based customer support. Nuff said on that. You can get unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, I like that for my plan, international roaming if you need it, and much more. And what's even more important, when you switch to Patriot Mobile, you'll help grow a movement that fuels the Christian conservative cause.

Every bill you pay to Patriot Mobile helps advance the values of faith, family, and freedom. And that sums it all up right there. By the way, switching, easier than ever. You can activate in mere minutes. You can keep your number, keep your phone, you can upgrade.

Whatever works for you works for them.

So it's time to take a stand. Do it today. Take a stand by going to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd. or you can call 972 PATRIOT. Be sure to use promo code TOD for a free month of service.

My favorite four-letter word, free. That's patriotmobile.com slash Todd. Patriotmobile.com slash Todd. Or call 972 Patriot. That's 972 Patriot.

Make the switch today to Patriot Mobile. Promo code TOD gets you a free. That's free month of service. You've heard of Scott Rasmussen, no doubt. Mr.

Rasmussen and his father were the founders of ESPN back in the late 70s. He then founded Rasmussen Reports. He's not affiliated with them anymore, but he is still a pollster with his own company, the Rasmussen Media Group, founded the Napolitan Institute. And I did a TV show once with Scott Rasmussen when he was in Iowa. I've had great respect for his work and his polling.

And this is an interesting poll that he has done now. through Rasmussen Media Group Research for the Napolitan Institute. 53% of voters in America, 53% consider Israel an ally of the United States. A bare majority of Americans say Israel is an ally of this country. And as you might expect, it breaks down along party lines.

66% of Republicans. Say Israel is an ally of the U.S. Only 43% of Democrats say so. Let's think about that for a moment. What party?

took the Jewish vote for granted. For decades. If you were to just go and paint with a broad brush, which you should never have done, but you certainly can't these days, but if you were to have done so and you'd say, okay, how do Jewish people vote?

Well, Democrat. Yeah, they vote Democrat. What President has done more? for the people of Israel. Just throw that out there.

But then you get the numbers. A majority, two-thirds of Republicans say Israel is one of our allies. Not even a majority of Democrats think that. That's just That's just stunning to me. Twenty six percent of Democrats say Israel is an enemy.

of this country. Are you kidding me?

So I'll say this again. Sixty six percent of Republicans say Israel is our ally, only forty three percent of Democrats say that. 26% of Democrats say Israel is our enemy. It is so important to break. Through These preconceived notions And to do it with Facts.

So, again, as we're coming toward this very important midterm election. It's pretty important. What the election in this country, how that turns out for the people of Israel. Four Jews across this country I've railed so many times. about support for Hamas.

On college campuses in this country, it's abhorrent. It is absolutely unconscionable. And it's so hard for us to believe.

Well, there are numbers that would tend to suggest where some of this comes from. I saw another. Oh, something came through my email and I want to share it.

Okay, here we go. There was a recent study, and this makes the same point. Yale University Faculty. All right, the Yaleys. Yale University faculty now sends ninety eight percent of its political donations to Democrats.

As a faculty, ninety eight percent of Yale faculty members. Send money to Democrats. Zero. Give to Republicans. literally not a single faculty member at Yale.

Would go on record, or the public record show, that they donated to a single Republican candidate. Democrats or even further to the left. That's Yale. That's the colleges. That's what's leading to the indoctrination.

Unless you, as a parent or a grandparent, have worked very hard with your young person. We'll talk about healthcare costs on the other side of this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starring Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. We'll take your calls in the next segment at 901-260-5926. But now let's go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line and welcome Gerard Simica. Mr. Simica is Chairman and General Counsel with Consumer Action for a Strong Economy.

They go by the acronym CACE, and you learn more online, caseforconsumers.org. Mr. Simica, thanks so much for taking the time. Jeff Stey filling in for Todd. How are you?

I'm doing great, Jeff. Thank you for having me. I've not had the privilege of speaking to you on the radio before, so give us a sense. Consumer action for a strong economy. Who are you, folks, and what do you do?

Well, we focused on the free market aspects of the economy that really benefit consumers. Those consumer groups are usually aligned from the they pedigree of Ralph Nader that saw more and more government control, more regulation. Consumers are victims, they're uneducated, they don't know what they're doing, they need the government to protect them. We come from the other side where we think that competition, free market, And investment, innovation, low taxes, smaller government. Are what benefit consumers the most, and what benefit businesses, employers, and the entire economy.

Next week, Congress and in this case, it's the House because as I understand it, the Senate is not even in session at all next week, but the House is going to have some hearings on lowering health care costs. What's the context of that? And given that nobody in Congress has figured this out yet, I'm just wondering what your level of optimism is about how productive these hearings will be. I thought we solved this with the Affordable Care Act. Sure we did.

Affordable for who?

Well, healthcare costs continue rising more and more. And healthcare is a very strange industry in the sense that consumers really have no control over what they're paying. Imagine how much more dinner would be if you ate it and then the waiter brought you the bill to tell you about how much everything costs.

So today when people go into a facility or hospital, you know, to have a procedure done or to be checked, you know, they have no earthly idea of what it's going to cost them. And um So when you have that kind of opaqueness, transparency is really the big driver behind the lack of affordability because especially with hospitals who are make up one third of all health care spending in the country, their prices are going up three times faster than inflation. They're consolidating. They're abusing their non nonprofit status So if we want to start with addressing health care costs, that is you look to where the problem is the biggest, and that's where we need to start is just looking at hospital billings, surprise billing and the total lack of transparency that is rampant through the industry. Yeah.

This thing, as we now know, and you mentioned the quote Affordable Care Act. Even those who were proponents of that back in the day, what, almost 11 years ago. They conceded after the fact that it would never work unless you took the next step and had full government control of health care.

Okay, so if we don't want to go to that degree, and gosh, I hope we don't, how do we right this? How do we roll this back in a meaningful way? Yeah, a little bit of arsenic is bad for you, but a full dose is good for you. It makes absolutely no sense. Um That, of course, is their goal all along.

But we roll it back through, I think what the President is not really a health care plan so far. It's more of an outline, and it has some really good things in it. And it starts with of making healthcare more like other Consumer products and consumer services, which is transparency, more competition, more consumers. direct to consumer pharmaceuticals, cutting out the middlemen, the PBMs, who claw back rebates. are the price centers.

Nobody really knows when the pharmaceutical makers sell their have their formularies with the PBMs. They don't know what they'll be charging on the other end, and the pharmacies and the people that, and the insured. the insurance companies have gobbled up all the PBMs now.

So all the major insurance companies have their own PBMs, which are the benefit managers. They don't know what the PBMs paid to the to the pharmaceutical makers.

So they're the only ones that have all the information And there are some rules from Trump's first administration on transparency. They're largely being ignored.

So cutting out the middlemen, the consolidation with the hospitals, they basically have monopolies in many areas, which of course gives you tremendous power to set the price on everything. Just like any other industry, it works better when there is more competition. Um he's less I'd say government setting the rules like these certificates of need that hospitals get to control their areas and communities. They say if somebody else wants to create a facility or a clinic in the area, they say how many beds they can have. these are all just monopoly protection programs.

We need to cut out the unnecessary waste in these middlemen and really give consumers a clear view of what things cost. And um options. Portability, for example, would be a great um Um Idea for insurance, that would cut out the certificates of need, and states would compete for having the most favorable. insurance laws for consumers, that's where consumers would gravitate and then other states would and companies would have to follow suit in order to compete. You want government to compete just like you want the free market to compete.

But again, starting with the hospitals, it would be would be a major leap forward in addressing the affordability problem just because of total, total opaqueness of the prices. And again, pharmacy benefit managers, PBMs, that's that middleman that's gotten in the way, et cetera, et cetera. You know, when. When I I've been very blessed to have great health. And I thank God for that.

But about a year ago, they thought they saw something, so I had to do tests.

Okay, everything's fine. But that's when I was introduced to the concept of Well, if you have this test done in your doctor's office, it's covered. But if it's at the hospital, it's not. But nobody will tell you that till after the fact, etcetera, etcetera, etc. I mean, it is maddening.

to try to keep Track of these things, and because these hospitals, first of all, they at least where I'm at, they bought up the doctors' practices, bring them in under the auspices of the hospital, and then when you get a referral, it's obviously to one of their doctors. And yes, you have the free choice to go somewhere else, but you've got to be.

Well enough informed, and when your doctor, your general practitioner you trust says, go to this specialist, you tend to do it, etc. I mean, we've got a lot of problems here. And none of it is addressing proper care for individuals or enhanced care for individuals. Absolutely. And it it goes to the Obamacare mandates too.

It's like no fault insurance. Where a lot of people are paying for things on their insurance. I mean, I think I'm paying for. prenatal care, which I'm pretty sure I'm not going to need. But or if you you're elderly and you're paying for juvenile dentistry and all these things.

And to get rid of those mandates, which were just killing everybody. But like you said, there was a rule years ago. The idea was that hospitals provided better care than clinics. And that may have made sense, you know, maybe in the seventies. where you're covering somebody and you want to make sure they're not going to some You know, a carnival barker somewhere that is offering to do a procedure on you.

But today, that's not the case. I mean, outpatient clinics and many facilities provide. just as good, if not better, care, than your local hospital can.

So but this rule that you're facing where it will cost more and or it'll be covered or not covered. Ag again, those are the kind of um stupid regulations that are in place that have just you know, like giant bulbs have not been able to d be budged. And they they need to be dynamited. You're exactly right. If it doesn't make sense.

If it if it doesn't um There's no distinction in really the actual care you're getting. It shouldn't matter where it happens as long as you get the care.

So the President yesterday came up with a plan. Since Congress apparently is not able to, obviously, you've taken a look at that. Give us a sense. Is that on the right track? What's your instant analysis of the President's health care reform plan?

Yes. And I guess I would call it more of an outline at this point because the specifics are really what are going to have to be filled in. But as far as the general outline, you know, we think it's great because it does address competition. It does address Transparency, and those are the kind of things that you need where. If again, if we have direct to consumer services and pharmaceuticals, that's going to kill a lot of what the subsidies in Obamacare, which we keep fighting over.

W mean, when in there's a another deadline, budget deadline coming in the thirties. You saw the shutdown Um a few months ago And that was over subsidies that were, of course, only supposed to last through COVID. And so the Democrats did not keep their word and insisted on that they be included and shut down the government over it. The only area that we'd really like to see the President address is on pharmaceutical pricing. We're not fans of most favored nation, which are price caps, where he would set prices based upon what other nations.

with socialist um you know socialized medicine. what what they pay for the guns. Two problems with that is, first of all, the drugs plans you have in other countries, whether it's Canada, Japan, or Europe. They have access to far fewer drugs than American patients do. And we know people aren't like cars where a carburetor will go and whatever bottle it's it's made for.

People are different. They respond to different treatments and different types of medications and different dosages and everything.

So we want to make sure that patients here have access to the widest range of drugs that might Um you'd be useful to them. But secondly, what he did with NATO, he made them pay their fair share. And he made them step up to you know, he said they weren't contributing and now they're contributing up to 5% for their own defense.

Well, these countries are free loading off of Americans because American companies do a tremendous amount of the innovation and research and development. It takes billions of dollars to bring a drug to market over eight years. And over clinical testing and all this, it's not an easy thing to actually get a drug to market. And that takes billions of dollars in research. And so if we want to keep, you know, we're on the edge of a lot of breakthrough technologies that might really start addressing Some of our most pernicious healthcare problems, like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and cancer's and heart disease.

we're very close on a lot of those things. We're making tremendous strides. If you go with most favorite nation and price cap, that's going to cut into the amount of money that um you know our research and development can can Can produce for we don't want the best healthcare system of 1977, in other words. You know, it's inexpensive, but uh. You don't want you know, you might not make it to your we're seeing a longer longevity as well.

So even so Americans do have a lot of issues and there's problems with nutrition and heart disease and even o overweight. of people are living longer and tend to have a better quality of life, stay into their sixties and seventies. But make those other countries pay up. Don't soak us. And So we'd like to see him maybe pivot on that.

But otherwise, we think it's a great plan that empowers consumers and brings greater competition where it's needed. CaseforConsumers.org, CaseforConsumers.org, all the good information on this and so many other topics. mister Semica, thanks so much for taking the time. Have a good weekend, sir. Appreciate it.

You too. Thank you, Jeff. Gerard Simica is Chairman and General Counsel of Case Consumer Action for a Strong Economy. He joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. We'll continue from the Liberty University studio in just a moment.

Short break now, more on the other side, on the Todd Starn Show. And we welcome you back to the Liberty University studio. And the final segment of this Openline Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. He'll be back on Monday.

Thanks to Team Todd in Memphis, Helen and Dylan taking care of everything, and Mr. Starnes for giving me the keys to the Cadillac once again. Hopefully, we've kept it out of the ditch for you. Let's close with something. We've been talking about a lot of serious stuff, and the world is a serious place, and we have all sorts of things that we need to be concerned about.

All very much true. But sometimes we need to have a little a little levity, a little fun.

So I was going, I was at the store the other day, and it was one of these big chain stores. It was the one that was founded in Bentonville, Arkansas. If that helps you put a marker on it. And they've got this is kind of odd.

So here we are in mid January. Here's one aisle of discounted Christmas items that they haven't gotten rid of. Then you've got your Valentine's Day items. And already Easter. And in keeping with that, Peeps.

You know what peeps are, right? These are these little marshmallow treats.

Now, I. We did not have these in my house growing up. But I know for some people it was like, oh my gosh. Peeps. That's the big thing about Easter.

The big thing about Easter should be resurrection. But the point for those who treat it as an Easter bunny type thing. You got peeps, these little things that look like chicks, and then they make them that look like bunnies. I'm not a big fan. You know, I'll take my sugar straight.

But in any event, The folks who make peeps know that Easter is the the big time for them. and they announced some new flavors. For this Easter.

Now I gotta tell you. You know, I haven't had lunch yet because I've done the show. I'm not sure after reading this to you that I'm going to. and I have an appetite. Um Peeps announced this week.

That it will be You can get them now some places. Pop-tart frosted strawberry-flavored marshmallow chicks. In other words, The Peeps Chicks. Taste like a strawberry Pop Tart. Then they also have Sunny D flavored marshmallow chicks.

That's the beverage, right? That is like orange juice and that kind of thing.

Now Can you say marketing? Partnership here. They're not just strawberry flavored chicks, they're Pop-Tart strawberry-flavored chicks. They also have.

Now, this is the one that I don't think I can have lunch after. They have chili lime mango flavored marshmallow chicks. The whole point of peeps is that they just have no taste, right? It's just sugar and it's sticky and I mean that's that's the whole the whole point of it, isn't it? Chili lime mango flavored marshmallow.

Checks. I went to the Peeps website, which is peepsbrand.com, because I care about you and the audience, and I'm doing research. They have chocolate pudding flavored bunnies. And rice krispy treat flavored marshmallow chicks.

Well that's just wrong. But there's a whole list. I'll hold this piece of paper very close to the microphone so you can see it. They have Dr. Pepper-flavored marshmallow chicks.

Now that's sacrilegious. I mean, I know I drink Dr. Pepper cherry-flavored, which I once had a student when I was teaching college say, no, just stop, stop. Dr. Pepper flavored marshmallow chicks.

Cotton candy flavored.

Sour watermelon flavored marshmallow chicks. No. No, no, not so much. S'mores flavored. And some of these stores have an exclusive For example, apparently you can only get sunny D peeps at Target.

You folks there in the mid-south, pay attention. You can only get chili lime mango peeps at the Kroger. Starnes is going to be going to the Kroger tonight, I can just tell, to get his peeps. Sam's Club has a variety 10-pack.

Well, of course it does. It's a 10-pack, and it's Sam's Club. Where else? I think there was. Oh yeah, tropical punch flavored bunnies, only get those at the Dollar Tree.

So there you go, kids. Peeps in every flavor for Easter. That's not gonna help you with the you know you're you're better off with the You know. You're better off with the grains and the fruits and the other things. It has been a privilege, as always.

Thank you so much for being along. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on the Todd Starring Show.