Build Back Worse?

Ever since I got the new Galaxy Z Flip 4, I've been learning all these new tricks with my dog Finn. Like how to take the best selfies at the park. I just set my phone down, put it in flex mode, and capture hands-free pics from multiple angles. Or how to capture our training sessions for his followers. I simply wave my hand to start recording video.

Good boy! Plus, the Z Flip 4 is compact and fits perfectly in my pocket. Oh, wow! Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Flip 4. Welcome to the Todd Starnes Show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals.

There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit LegacyPMInvestments.com. That's LegacyPMInvestments.com. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, It's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starnes. That's us.

That's right. Our love is American right.

Okay, so the bumper music's the same. The common sense conservatism is the same. The voice is a little different. I'm Steve Gill. I'm filling in for Todd Starnes today.

He's in Dallas for the CPAC conference. We're actually going to touch base with Todd a little bit later in the show, but I'm filling in for him today and encourage you to be a part of the action. Go to our call-in line, toll-free, 844-747-8868. If you want to chime in, we're, of course, coming to you from the Liberty University studios. And it's been a big week politically already.

Earlier in the week, we had Kansas and Missouri, Arkansas having battles. Missouri, we saw Eric Schmidt, the attorney general over there, win the nomination. In the Battle of Eric's, Donald Trump chiming in with an endorsement of Eric with two candidates having the same first name. Eric Schmidt ended up getting the win and will face off to try and make sure the Missouri Senate race stays in Republican hands. And then down in Arizona, Carrie Lake finally gets the final nod that she's the winner in Arizona.

Maricopa County, Phoenix, that screwed up the 2020 election, has done no progress in getting any further along and being able to actually count votes and get through an election process. You know, you've got other countries where they can literally hand out ballots and they can do it in 24 hours. Maricopa County can't even get it done in a few days. And they had chaos. They had confusion, like we saw in 2020, despite all the denials that there was any election problems in Arizona, that it didn't get stolen from Trump.

But a big week there. And then in Tennessee, where we're broadcasting from in Memphis, Andy Ogles wins the Republican primary in the Tennessee 5th Congressional District. Last night, as Republicans redrew that district in Tennessee, it's been a nine-congressional district state for a while. Traditionally, you've had seven Republicans, two Democrats in recent years.

Well, with redistricting, Republicans redrew the lines in Nashville, dividing Nashville up, adding some of the suburban counties to it. And for the first time, for the first time since Reconstruction, the Civil War, Republicans have an actual shot to pick up Nashville and probably do. That new district is about a 12-plus Republican district. Donald Trump carried it by over a dozen points.

So it's a great opportunity for a pickup for Republicans. and we'll talk to Andy Ogles later in this hour, get his take on the win and what comes next. Republicans need to pick up four or five seats in the House to take the gavel from Nancy Pelosi and Andy Ogles will carry that standard in the Nashville area for the Republican side in a hope that he picks up that Republican seat and adds one of the handful that are needed. We'll also talk during the show with Patrick Morrissey. He's the Attorney General for West Virginia.

Talk about getting a gift. Joe Manchin, and we're going to talk a little bit about Build Back Better or Build Back Worse, who's actually the winners and losers in this. Joe Manchin is going to face, likely, Patrick Morrissey, the attorney general in West Virginia, in two years when he runs for re-election. And turning his back on West Virginia voters, turning his back on the coal industry, taxpayers, small business, Patrick Morrissey was just given a gift. And we're going to talk to him as the attorney general in West Virginia of what the impact of Build Back Worse is on West Virginia.

how Manchin is destroying everything, including the goodwill he had built up by blocking some of the Biden prospective issues over the last year and a half. Patrick Morrissey is going to join us, also talk about some of the issues that he's pursuing as an attorney general with litigation to stop the Biden executive orders. And so far, Republican attorney generals have been very successful in doing that. Also, we'll talk with Congressman Dusty Johnson from South Dakota later in the show. U.S.

agriculture is selling out to China, not surprisingly, while Biden's giving them everything they want, getting nothing in return. We're dropping the tariffs on China, getting nothing in return. And in the meantime, they're buying up huge swatches of agricultural property in the U.S., where we're going to be dependent not only on many of our products and manufactured goods and coming from China, now we're going to be up to having to depend on them for what we eat grown on our own soil.

So we'll talk with Dusty Johnson, Republican from South Dakota about that. And then we'll also talk to Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes about, again, why attorney generals are so important. The Biden federal judges have now put the burden on Utah to start giving transgender surgeries under Medicaid. We'll talk to Sean Reyes about that and some of their battles on the border, some of their battles on dealing with the illegal immigrants that are flowing across, I think, what's like two million that have flooded into the country that we're aware of, three tons of fentanyl. We hear often they'll say, oh, it's 6,000, 10,000, 5,000 pounds.

It's actually about five to six tons of fentanyl that have come across our border while the Biden administration continues to claim that the border is secure. But the biggest news of the last two days really comes from Kirsten Sinema from Arizona deciding to join Joe Manchin in giving the Democrats, giving Chuck Schumer the votes they need for their Build Back Better scheme that, again, doesn't build back anything. Even senators that are Democrats in favor of it are admitting that it raises taxes. Chris Coons, Democrat, liberal, admits that it will raise taxes, even though Joe Manchin is trying to explain that it doesn't raise taxes on anybody.

Well, that's just a bunch of baloney, and even Democrats are disagreeing with him. The bottom line is it will hurt small business. It will hurt taxpayers. It will not do anything to deal with inflation as the Congressional Budget Office, nonpartisan, not owing to either party. The nonpartisan CBO says it will not even slow down inflation either immediately over the next two years.

And yet it's being called this inflation buster by the Biden administration. 200 economists, 200 economists who actually know what they're talking about, also point out that this is not going to achieve anything that we're being promised by the Biden administration.

So what's the theme song when you have Democrats rushing in to pass something that claims to be intended to stop inflation, to reduce the inflationary pressures, 9.1 percent, you know, huge increase since Biden took office. What do you explain it when all these Democrats are rushing to vote for something that doesn't do what it says, doesn't mean what the words say?

So as a theme song maybe for the Democrats as they're pushing Build Back Worse, this might work. Yeah, and who's fallen in love with this Build Back Better business? I mean, there's nothing to fall in love with with this thing. I mean, it's an atrocious attempt to deceive the American people into thinking they're getting something for nothing when it's going to cost us about $754 million, three quarters of a billion.

Now, granted, when we're throwing money to Ukraine left and right as fast as the president can issue some executive order and write a check, you know, maybe $750 million, $750 billion doesn't sound like that much. But at the end of the day, it's coming out of our pockets. It's going to come out of the taxpayers' ability to compete both economically, locally, and in the world. And yet Democrats are rushing to push that into play. The worst thing about it is that who raises taxes three-quarters of a billion when you're in a recession?

Who raises taxes, spends more money in an inflationary period when you know it's going to be a disaster?

Well, we know the Democrats know better. The Republican National Committee compiled this clip of different Democrats acknowledging that you don't do this in a recession, and yet now they're doing it. The last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession. When the economy is in decline, you don't want to raise overall taxes. I don't think during a time of recession you mess with any of the taxes or increase any taxes.

No one is going to want to raise taxes when we have a recession. In an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

So they know better. They know better. That means there's an evil intent to what they are doing. They are intentionally trying to cripple the American economy. And to what purpose?

Is it to strengthen the Chinese economy? I mean, after all, the Biden administration and the Biden family has made a ton of money off China. Is it to help further their control over the American people? I mean, it fits that agenda. You've got Pfizer, who just reported making $10 billion last quarter, $10 billion with their vaccine.

Not bad for a free vaccine, $10 billion profit in one quarter.

So what is the purpose of what the Biden administration, the Democrats are doing? Are they intentionally breaking the economy?

Well, you have to look at who wins and who loses. I think you're going to see a lot of Democrats losing at the election box in the fall. But who wins and loses in the short term? Follow the money. Look to the elites.

Look to the big, big taxpayers that are not going to get a tax increase. This tax increase is going to hit the middle income, the people under $400 million that Joe Biden absolutely promised would not see a tax increase under his administration.

So the really rich, wealthy elite that are basically putting money into the pockets of the Nancy Pelosi's and the Joe Biden's, they're winners in this. The rest of us are losers. We'll talk more about who wins and who loses and look a little bit at how Democrats continue to torture the language, spin the words out of proportion, you know, where women aren't women, where recession isn't a recession. And now we're being pro-abortion, pro-baby killer, according to at least one Democrat candidate, is actually being comforting and caring. We'll talk more about that.

This is the Todd Starnes Show. I'm Steve Gill. We'll be back with that in just a moment. My friend Mike Lindell has a passion to help everyone get the best sleep of your life. He didn't stop by simply creating the best pillow.

Mike created the Giza Dream Bed Sheets. They look and feel great, which means an even better night's sleep for me, which is crucial for my busy schedule. Mike found the world's best cotton called Giza. It's ultra soft and breathable, but extremely durable. Mike's Giza Sheets come with a 60-day money-back guarantee and a 10-year warranty.

The first night you sleep on the Giza Sheet, you will never want to sleep on anything else. Giza Dream Sheets come in a variety of sizes and colors. Mike's latest incredible deal is the sale of the year. For a limited time, you get 50% off the Giza Dream Sheets. You receive a set for as low as $49.99.

Go to MyPillow.com and click on the radio list or square and use the promo code STARDS. You'll find not only this amazing offer, but also deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the MyPillow mattress topper, MyPillow towel sets, and so much more. Call 800-839-8506 or go to MyFellow.com and use the promo code STARNS. Hey, welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show.

I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd. He's down at CPAC in Dallas, Texas, enjoying both some hospitality and some conservative camaraderie. and he'll be back on Monday. But in the meantime, hey, are you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?

Well, one of Todd's favorite sponsors is Life Change Tea, and they're having a big summer sale. Right now, you can buy three, get one free. Look, this summer, make the commitment to feel your best. Life Change Tea is an amazing gentle cleanse that you can use daily for optimum gut health. It's a combination of 12 herbs, comes in three delicious flavors, natural peppermint and pomegranate, and it's been around since 2007.

It's made right here in the good old USA. It's easy to brew. You can keep it in your fridge and drink daily. And it's summertime. You always want to have a big glass.

And again, that's why you want to fight that sick and tired feeling if you're finally sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. That's why Todd drinks Life Change Tea daily.

Now go to GetTheTea.com. That's GetTheTea.com to order yours today. You can use the discount code TODD10. That's Todd and the number 10 to get an additional $10 off plus free shipping. That's over $50 in savings.

That's getthetea.com and use discount code TODD and the number 10 for an additional $10 off plus free shipping. Don't miss out. Do it today and you'll start feeling better almost immediately.

Now, we were talking in the last half hour or the last 15 minutes about how the Democrats torture the language. They twist the language. They contort the language. I'm reminded that Mark Twain once said the difference in the right word and the almost right word is the difference in lightning and lightning bug. Obviously, there's a big difference in the two words, and Democrats are torturing words beyond all recognition to sell their ridiculous schemes.

You know, what is a woman? They can't define that. But then all of a sudden they're pro-woman when it serves their purposes unless it's a transgender woman competing in women's sports. Look, I played basketball at the University of Tennessee many years ago. And then after my playing days ended, I helped work with Coach Pat Summitt and the women's team.

Helped work with the women's team as coaching the men's practice team against them.

Now let me point out, first of all, I was fortunate to have played for the men's team because I was not man enough to have played for Pat Summitt. But I did get to work with her closely in the women's team. But there were distinctions between how men play basketball and women play basketball. We had limitations. You couldn't jump.

You couldn't try to block shots because that's not what the women's game was. You've got transgender athletes now, former athletes, like Caitlyn Jenner, that are telling us that even they see the distinction in men and women competing with men trying to be pretending they're women. If you look back at the Olympic records during Bruce Jenner's time as a man, when he was a decathlete, he had 10 events. He wasn't the best in any of the events in the world in terms of athletes, but overall, the 10 sports, the 10 divisions that he played, whether it was track, whether it was high jumping, whether it was pole vault, there were 10 sport activities that he did as a decathlete. If he had competed in those individual sports as a woman instead of a man, he would have set world records in almost all of them.

His 100-meter time, for example, 1976, as Bruce Jenner, would have been a second faster than the fastest woman sprinter in the world at that time.

So Bruce Jenner, now Caitlyn Jenner, recognizes that men and women should not compete. But the Democrats don't get that. They're still trying to destroy women's athletics by putting men pretending to be women, in many cases not even having done any genetic surgery or any genital surgery, to change their physique. And yet they're walking around in locker rooms as guys surrounded by women. And yet Democrats don't see anything wrong with that.

They can't define woman. They can't define when these decisions can be made. You've got some states now that are wanting to force, I think Pennsylvania is saying that the Department of Education that kids can identify as transgender as young as three. They can't tie their shoelaces. They can't identify all the colors, but they're going to identify as some gender distinct from what their genitalia says, according to the brilliant folks at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

So the Democrats are big on torturing and contorting language beyond all recognition. And the latest to do this is Stacey Abrams, who's running for governor down in Georgia. Fortunately, most of the polls are showing her lagging, but Republicans are still pretty split up in the wake of a tough primary. She's now saying that being pro-choice is part of her faith. I don't know what Bible she's reading, but Stacey Abrams says, according to her faith, quote, you protect the vulnerable and you wrap them in your love.

all you're wrapping a dead baby after abortion is to put it into a grave or to cremate it. There's no love being expressed, but pro-choice is part of her faith. She also condemns the folks that are not protecting the vulnerable, not wrapping them in love as they're claiming that the pro-lifers are doing, again, torturing the language to destroy what words mean. It's not pro-choice. It's pro-death.

It's pro-murder. And Stacey Abrams, once again, contorting and twisting the words beyond all recognition. And for me, the decision to be pro-choice is exactly part of my faith. I cannot strike down another person's rights simply because I don't agree. My shield is to say that you have the right to get your own truth.

I think because you protect the vulnerable and you wrap them in your love. And so for me, my faith is a lived experience. You wrap them in a body bag, lady. You wrap them in a body bag. You're killing an unborn child and you're arguing that that's part of your faith.

Now, as if that's not bad enough, the Democrats are also torturing why anybody would question a Biden second term because he's so articulate. Mika gave us this little shred of Democrat brisdom. Do you think President Biden should be running for re-election? Is that even a question in your mind?

Well, look, it's a question people are debating. You're asking me on TV, so it's certainly on the minds of lots of people. I have no special insight, obviously, into what the president is deciding with his family, with his advisors. That's not what I'm asking you. I'm not asking you what his family is debating.

I just was surprised how hard it was for two members of Congress to talk about whether or not their president, if they think he should run again. Look, a sitting president, if he decides to run again, he should run again. I mean, the Democratic Party will support the president as an incumbent running again. I don't personally think that that's a hard debate. But I do think that they're in general.

I think there's a lot of us who want to see new voices rise in the party. And that's not just the presidency, by the way. That's the House, the Senate. Yeah, he's so articulate. You can't make this stuff up.

We'll talk more in a moment. Andy Ogles joins us next. There's no doubt the nation is facing a financial crisis because of the Biden administration's economic policies. Hi, this is Todd Starnes, and no doubt our economy is in trouble, and you need to take steps to protect yourself.

Now, if all your money is tied up in stocks, bonds, and traditional markets, you are vulnerable. Gold is one of the best ways to protect your retirement. No matter what happens, you own your gold. It's real, physical. It's always been valuable since the dawn of time.

Legacy Precious Metals is the company I trust for investing in gold, and they can help you roll your retirement account into a gold-backed IRA where you still own the physical gold. They can also ship the gold and precious metals safely and securely to your house. Did you know a million dollars worth of gold can actually fit inside a shoebox? Call Legacy at 866-528-1903 or visit them online at LegacyPMInvestments.com. That's LegacyPMInvestments.com.

Hey, welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show from Liberty University Studios in Memphis, Tennessee. I'm Steve Gill, filling in for Todd. If you go to Twitter, The Gill Report, you can find my Twitter feed if you want to send me a comment or a thought. And we're going to continue talking about Build Back Better, the impact on the state of West Virginia and the entire country.

Patrick Morrissey, the Attorney General for West Virginia, is going to join us at the top of the hour. But in the meantime, a big winner in the Republican primary in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District, redrawn to divide Nashville to give Republicans a chance to pick up the Nashville-Davidson County District that has been in Democratic Party hands since the Civil War.

Now, I know in some parts of the country people teach the Civil War as history. Here in the South, we teach it as current events. And Andy Ogles, winning a bitterly contested primary over in Nashville, is joining us now. Yeah, some people may still think he's crazy. You know, anybody getting into the political arena, you're about half crazy anyway.

But he's a crazy winner today. Andy, good to have you with us.

Well, I appreciate that. I like that intro music. We were trying to decide last night if you should play that as you went on the stage, and while they didn't, I thought I would. Talk to me a little bit about this race. It was bitterly contested.

You had national super PACs out of Massachusetts spending a million dollars to attack you, and yet you ended up winning, and I think it was about a nine- or ten-person primary, by 12 points, getting about 38% of the vote. How did that happen?

Well, you know, it was a decisive victory. You know, we just outworked our opponents, you know, a lot of great candidates in the field, and I'm grateful for everyone who ran. But at the end of the day, you know, the attack ads were just noise and a distraction. I think what people were wanting was people who had real ideas, who had a track record of getting things done, and substance rule the day. You know, the Republicans need to pick up four or five seats in the House to take the gavel from Nancy Pelosi to put a Republican Speaker of the House in place.

This is one that would be a flip. The Democrats, as I mentioned, have controlled this seat for a long, long time. Congressman Jim Cooper, when they redrew the district, decided not to run for re-election. It's about a 12-point-plus Republican district. Donald Trump carried it by double digits.

do you see this as one that the national Republican Party, that national donors will now jump in? I know you're finding yourself with a lot of new friends having won last night, a lot of folks that are calling now wanting to donate that were kind of closing their checkbook a week ago. Do you think that you're going to see more national impact on this race now that you've won the primary? Yeah, you know, I think it's one of those situations that, you know, I've already been forewarned that the Democrat Party, Keep in mind, you know, on paper, it's a plus 12 district, but the fifth congressional districts never voted for Republican congressmen before.

So I think the Democrats still see this as a potential win for them, an upset, if you will. And that, again, I've been forewarned that the attack ads are only going to continue. And I've had, you know, lots of folks across the country reach out. Steve Steliz just reached out and, you know, they're going to double down on this district. Again, it's a pickup for Republicans, so not only is it an extra seat, but it increases our margins as we move forward historically.

You've been endorsed by the Freedom Caucus. I know that Jim Jordan, Scott Perry, who's the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, who helped found it, who was Donald Trump's chief of staff, they've all weighed in already. They're all already helping. You've also been endorsed, I think, in one of the cooler endorsements, Trace Adkins, who doesn't get involved politically a lot, but he stepped up. How did you get Trace involved?

Well, you know, and we also can't leave out Senator Ted Cruz. I mean, he here at the end when, you know, we felt that the race might be tightening a little bit. He, without hesitation, jumped in. He said, look, you know, I need a fighter. We need more fighters like you up here in Congress.

And it would be an honor to endorse you. And so but, you know, Trace Adkins really goes back to COVID. You know, I refuse to comply with the mandates. I refuse to shut my community down. And, you know, the way I looked at it is if you're a single mom with two kids, your job was essential.

If you're a small business owner and you're leasing your savings, your life's on the line, your business is essential. And how dare the government? How dare the government tell you that you need to shut down? And so I refuse to comply with any of that nonsense. And because of that, Trace had reached out just as a thank you gesture to say, hey, you want to go have dinner?

and we started connecting and we had a concert, you know, that first year of COVID on the square, had over 35,000 people there because, you know, for me, it was about finding a solution. Look, COVID's real. I had a good friend that died from it, but I was unwilling to just cower and hide under my desk. We had to find a way through it. And that was by trusting people to make good decisions for themselves and not relying on the government to run our lives.

Well, as a mayor, you've felt the burden of unfunded federal mandates, whether it's the COVID mandates or anything else. As a member of Congress, you're going to be able to push back more effectively against those. Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, as you said, as someone who's been in that executive role running, we're the fastest growing county in the state of Tennessee, both in a residential and a manufacturing jobs perspective, which means we're like 11th in the country. We're number one net importer for investment for the state of Tennessee.

So we've had a lot of growing pains, but we've managed our way through it. But then on top of that, you get all of these mandates get pushed down from the federal government to the states and ultimately to your county. And so for me, it's about, you know, we're on a precipice in this country. Our budget's out of control. We've got to start cutting this budget.

And that's just not rhetoric. These are things that we have to do. I mean, again, we have inflation for a reason. It's because of government spending. We're going into a recession for a reason.

It's because of government spending. This government broke the economy that was firing on all cylinders despite COVID. And now they're trying to tip us, shove us into a mass recession. This is about control for the Democrats. And if they want to fight, it's a fight they're going to get.

You know, there's a lot of talk about whether Republicans will pick up the necessary seats to retake the House. You know, there's estimates from, I think, Ronna Romney McDaniel, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, says she anticipates that that we could pick up four seats in the House on the Republican side. As you talk to other candidates and other leaders across the country, whether it's Jim Jordan, Perry and others, Ted Cruz in Texas, is it your sense that four would be the low bar, would be a low number? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think you're going to see 30, 35, 40 seats.

as this recession deepens and as people become more and more concerned. I mean, it's just a statistical fact that the general populace trusts Republicans with the economy more than they do Democrats. And so if you're Joe Biden, if you're his administration, you've got to be panicked over inflation and over gas prices because this does not bode well for you in just the next few months. November is going to be a reckoning.

Now, that being said, we are going to win the House, and Republicans are going to have to do their job. There's some high expectation from the American people that the Republicans are going to take control, and they're going to start fixing this mess and move us forward into the next century.

Well, I know you're involved with, again, the Freedom Caucus. They've endorsed you. Jim Jordan and others are supportive. It's not just how many Republicans you elect to take the House. it's the right kind of conservative Republicans that will fight, that will make a difference and not kind of go along and get along.

I think people are sick and tired of the Liz Cheney's of the world, and maybe she'll get her comeuppance in the next week or two. But do you see the right kind of Republicans winning primaries around the country? Obviously, you're one of them.

Well you know the Freedom Caucus has been fairly aggressive recruiting candidates to run to increase the numbers And so that how I connected with them They saw this as an opportunity They looked at the field. I was clearly the one that most fit, you know, the Freedom Caucus mold. And so they set me down. They interviewed me. And clearly, you know, they very quickly endorsed me.

But, yeah, I think there's a huge opportunity here to steer this ship and get us back on track. and it's not going to matter whether you're a Freedom Caucus congressman or just more of the quote-unquote conservative congressman. We have to fix things, and this is based off of math. It's based off of economics, and it's not partisan. It's just math, and I think that's going to cut through a lot of the noise.

I think you're going to see a new contract with America in this next Congress. It's humbling to know that as we move forward in 2022, and obviously I've got to fight. I've got to fight. I've got to win in November. But that being said, to be a part of this next contract with America, where we get America back on track and we move forward with Trump's policies and making America first again.

You've obviously had a bitter primary. I think there were nine candidates or so in the race, three major candidates, you, the former Speaker of the House, a retired National Guard general, millions of dollars spent against you and about a million spent on your behalf. How do you heal that? I mean, you got a decisive victory. It was 11% or 12% victory, a decisive number.

But how do you pull the people back together? The candidates can say, okay, I'm for you. But pulling their workers, their volunteers that get invested emotionally and financially in a candidate, how do you pull them back in at this point?

Well, I think, you know, first off, I have to give a big shout out to Kurt Winstead. He called early in the evening. He was very gracious, immediately offered support and assistance. And, you know, I think that speaks a lot to his integrity. You know, I just got to know him on the campaign trail.

His children are a delight. You know, it's just a good family. But I think it takes leadership, and I think that's what you see for me. You know, I've been very gracious in reaching out to the campaign and saying, hey, let's focus on the real target here. Let's fix this economy.

And what Kurt did last night, he was very quick to reach out. And I'm very appreciative of him. And I look forward to working together. One of the themes of your campaign is it matters who leads. And when you were pushing back against the Biden COVID mandates, you led strongly and another 17 or 18 county mayors across Tennessee followed.

It does matter who leads, but somebody's got to step out. Yeah, you know, that's again, I think that's what cut through the noise is that, you know, during COVID and beyond, I'm very vocal. You know where I stand on the issues. I'm not going to back down. I'm a fighter, not for sale.

And this primary really became kind of a battle of your more establishment Republican Party versus the conservative wing, that Freedom Caucus wing of the party. And the people of the 5th District gave the Freedom Caucus, the conservative wing of the party, a resounding victory last night. We just didn't win by three or six points. We went by 11 points in a nine-person field that's somewhat unheard of. But again, our campaign was built on facts, off of substance, and that's what prevailed at the end of the day.

Murray County Mayor Tennessee Andy Ogles, winner of the Republican primary in Tennessee's fifth congressional district, chance to put Nashville in the Republican column for the first time since Reconstruction. If people want to get involved, find out more, Andy, where do they find you on the web? I'm easy to find. You just go to andyogles.com or go to facebook.com slash andyogles. You know, love to hear from you.

Ask that you join the team. We can take back this country, but it takes all of us getting it done. Andy Ogles, thanks for being with us, and we'll talk with you again soon. We're in the Liberty University studio. Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes, and we'll be back in just a moment.

If you want to join us on the phone lines, talk about congressional races around the country, 844-747-8868 is the number. And we'll catch up with you in a moment. We all know someone who's all work and no chill. Trust me, that used to be me. But then I found Galaxy Z Fold 4, which allows me to do more things at once.

Ah, much better.

Now I can take video calls from my phone and use it to take notes at the same time. Wait, are you at the spa? Or check my shopping list while ordering more scented candles and face masks on the foldable expansive screen. Don't take your to-do list one line at a time. Multitask so you can relax.

Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4. And welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd today as he's cavorting with conservatives down in Dallas, Texas at the CPAC conference. We're in the Liberty University studios.

If you want to join us on the phone lines, 844-747-8868. 888-68, the number that's 844-747-8868. And as always, go to the website for Mighty 990, and you can find links to some of the stories that we're talking about. Go online to Twitter, and we've got all that stuff linked up for you. Coming up at the top of the hour, by the way, we're going to talk to Patrick Morrissey.

He's the Attorney General for West Virginia. He's going to talk a little bit about the impact of Build Back Better or Build Back Worse on West Virginia and how Joe Manchin has basically sold out the state of West Virginia and destroying everything that West Virginia depends on, including coal and energy and, well, small business and jobs and all the rest of it. But we're going to talk with Patrick in just a few minutes. By the way, when you think the Democrats can't go any lower, you had a Republican congresswoman and two of her staffers die in a car wreck earlier this week in Indiana, two aides, and the driver who collided with them head-on crossed the line, hit them head-on, killed two aides and Congresswoman Jackie Walorsky, a Republican from Indiana. And Democrats are slamming the dead Congresswoman in her obituary, making snide comments about her conservative viewpoints, about the fact that she voted against certifying President Biden's victories in Arizona and Pennsylvania after the January 6th attacks on the U.S.

Capitol. Again, what is wrong with these people? Again, they can't even show any compassion with the death of not only a congresswoman, but two young staffers that were killed in the car crash as this driver came across the center line and hit them head on. Let's get to your phone calls, talk a little bit about some of the congressional races, Senate races, and others across the country. We were talking a little bit earlier about Stacey Abrams and her belief that you comfort and care for babies by killing them.

You can't make this stuff up. Joe in L.O.J., Georgia listens on WDUN. Joe, good to have you with us. Steve, great show. You've got the best screener in the United States in Grace Baker.

And Todd Starr has, I think, the best talk show in the country. We've got a big race in Georgia. Herschel Walker, who is a Heisman Trophy winner and a great person, he is running for the Senate against very liberal Raphael Warnick. And Warnick supports the horrible mansion tax bill. You know you've got your man coming up who's going to attack that bill.

It is a terrible bill for the American taxpayers. And down in Georgia, I'm a graduate of Georgia Tech, and I've been going to Tech games all my life, and my daughter was Miss Georgia Tech. But I am strongly endorsing a Georgia person, the great Herschel Walker. I know he'll vote a lot better. He would not vote for that terrible mansion bill that Warnock will vote for.

So I'm urging all my friends in Georgia to call everybody they know and tell them to get behind Herschel Walker. Steve, we must get him elected, and we must stop this horrible, terrible mansion tax bill. You agree? I agree with you 100%. 100%.

And I'm a University of Tennessee guy, and I'm for Herschel 100%. I want him to run through Warnock the way he ran through Bill Bates when he was a freshman and took it into the end zone against the University of Tennessee. Ran over him like he wasn't even there, and we need Herschel to run it that way. I've gotten to know Herschel a little bit over the last year or two, and he is a godly man. He's a strong guy, and he'll represent the people of Georgia a heck of a lot better than Warnock will and Warnock has.

So you guys fight for it down there. I know that the folks in WDUN territory know the right way to do it. You just got to make sure your neighbors all turn out and cast the votes. Joe, thanks for being on with us. Let's go to Memphis on KWAM.

Bill is reflecting on last night's votes here in Memphis where a conservative, strong district attorney got beat by a progressive. Let's look at bail reform district attorney, academic, liberal, progressive. and Memphis has been facing crime problems and unfortunately Bill, I think Memphis is headed down the path of the Detroits and the Philadelphias and the L.A.s I mean if you want to have a crime ridden city the voters in Memphis just cast the right vote to get that done. No doubt we already have a crime ridden city so it's sort of like having a house burned down almost to the end and you show up and throw a whole bunch more gas on there just to make sure you get it all the way down. I mean I've heard a lot of people complain today that the Republican leadership didn't get out and tell the people, the Republican voters, who to vote for necessarily.

I mean, you know, if you don't have enough common sense to vote against Mulroy, I don't know if you, I mean, it was obvious. It's obvious he's one of these progressive, as you say, George Soros back DAs that believe it. Everybody out of jail, they get second, third, fifth, 18 chances. Doesn't matter. It was just a mistake.

They were just fooling around. They didn't mean to shoot you. They didn't mean to steal your car. They just wanted to borrow it to go rob somebody. It's no big deal.

They were bringing it back. And, I mean, it's just absurd this happened. I mean, and here's the thing. If Republicans don't take it for granted that there's going to be this big sweep of the election of everything, instead of going out and voting, we're going to be really regretting the fall here. You've got to turn out and vote.

If you stay home, you lose. It's pretty clear, and that's unfortunately what happened in Memphis yesterday. When we come back, more of the Todd. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $700 on average, and those savings add up. Imagine what you could buy in the future.

So I used the savings from switching to Progressive 30 years ago to buy tickets to the championship game. You know, between those two teams that didn't exist 30 years ago. Yeah, I'm a big Alaska Palm Trees fan. Which is a team now, in the future.

So switch to Progressive and save big, because those savings can add up in the future. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. National annual average insurance savings by new customer surveyed who saved with Progressive in 2020. Potential savings will vary. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite cuntotin' Bible-clingin' deplorable American.

That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes. Oh, yeah. Hey, welcome in.

This is the Todd Starnes Show from Liberty University Studios. And yeah, the voice is a little different, but the music's the same. Gun-toting, conservative, Bible-thumping Christian. Yeah, that's still the same. But I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes.

He's down at CPAC in Dallas, hanging out with a bunch of other good conservatives, trying to shake things up and push the policies that will make America great again. And he'll be back in on Monday. In the meantime, we'll take you through the next couple of hours with the Todd Starnes Show. from here in Memphis. And a friend of mine who really underscores that there are multiple battlefronts when it comes to fighting the liberals, fighting the Democrats.

We hear so much about the presidential race in another couple of years. We hear so much about Senate races and governor's races. But in part because the Supreme Court rulings and Dobbs and other recent decisions are pushing more decisions and policies out of the courts, out of the federal government's hands, and back to the states means that state house races, state senate races, county commission races, school board races, and attorney general races around the country are more important than ever. You look at the last year and a half, the pushback against Biden administration crazy schemes has come from lawsuits being filed by Republican attorney generals across the country. There are about 35, 36 of them, and they're really leading the fight against the destructive policies of the Biden administration and assuming, and I think we're assuming correctly, Republicans take the Senate, take the House in the midterm elections, it will be even more important that we have attorney generals with the knowledge, the courage, and the ability to take on the Biden administration because the only way Biden will be able to impose his will on the American people is through executive orders.

And attorney generals will be the one leading that fight against them. And one of those who's a longtime friend is Patrick Morrissey, the West Virginia Attorney General. Patrick, good to have you with us. Hey, Steve, it's good to be on your show and you're spot on. I think that attorneys general are playing a really important role against all this outreach, and it's going to be important to have the right people in place the next few years.

So looking forward to this discussion. You know, it's interesting because, you know, you think of attorney generals as being, you know, kind of in these little silos, representing their own citizens in their own states. And yet, as I've gotten to know you and other Republican attorney generals over the last two years, you guys are cooperating, filing joint lawsuits and briefs and really working together. It appears to me more closely than Republican attorney generals have ever done. And it's really having an impact.

Well, look, I think a lot of people understand that when you have one party rule in Washington, D.C., I mean, the Democrats control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives. is it's important for Republicans to step up and to try to work together to articulate their vision of how Congress should be governed and what would happen if a different occupant was in the White House. But as a practical matter, when these statutes are passed or these regulations are issued, the only group of people that can step up and effectively block some of this agenda when it's inconsistent with the rule of law are the Republican attorneys general. And I think what you're seeing is a lot of us have come together and we work well on a lot of issues. We're basically united by a principle that things need to be done lawfully in a matter consistent with the Constitution.

And the courts from the lower levels all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court have largely been agreeing with what we've been doing on a wide variety of topics.

So I think that people are responding and we need to keep it up because obviously we have huge threats facing our country and we have to make sure that this administration is not allowed to run wild come on patrick constitution smonstitution you have the press secretary for the white house declaring that the the supreme court decisions are unconstitutional you got a white house that doesn't even understand the basics of constitutional law and then a press spokesman that goes out there and and and pours out pure dribble. Look, I mean, we're seeing that this administration does have very little respect for the rule of law. You saw that in the evictions moratorium. You see it in the aftermath of West Virginia EPA, where we stopped the EPA's ability to have these bureaucrats seize power that never belonged to them and try to write this climate change policy. You see it in the context of the border.

That's probably most prominent for people to look at, that they are not following the rule of law. They seem to want everyone to come across the border. And then we have massive amounts of human trafficking, drug trafficking, and, of course, people all across the country who are getting relocated.

So I think, though, when people look and they read our briefs and they see what we're doing, I'm hopeful they'll know, hey, there are a group of people that are out there that are trying to act consistent with the law. We're trying to get it done right. That's what a lot of our cases are all about. Patrick Morrissey, Attorney General for West Virginia on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Patrick, and again, I'm a lawyer and even I can't figure this one out.

When the Supreme Court rules on gun rights, for example, or on the requirement that county clerks marry gay people, it's enforced immediately. They start throwing county clerks in jail who don't follow the Supreme Court rulings. And yet when the Supreme Court rules in favor of Second Amendment rights, you know, these states, these cities continue to ignore the constitutional rulings of the Supreme Court. When you have a ruling on abortion, you've got local district attorneys say they won't enforce the law. How can some laws and rulings from the Supreme Court be forced under the threat of jail immediately and then others just get ignored?

Well, look, I'm a big believer, and this won't surprise any in your audience to hear as the Attorney General of West Virginia, is that after Congress makes the laws or after your state legislature makes the laws, the executive enforces the law. The executive does not have the power to just enforce whatever it sees fit to do. Obviously, you can argue in some limited cases there can be enforcement discretion, But what we're seeing more and more, a lot of these people who think that they can ignore the law, and there has been a historic amount of respect for the institutions of our country, like the Supreme Court and other courts that used to be followed. But when you have a Biden administration and other people say, hey, you can ignore that, or you're issuing release, say, we don't really care what that means. That's when you really undermine what we have in our country as a republic, when you lose that respect for the court system.

And so, look, I don't think it should be a checkered history. The law needs to always be applied evenly and enforced for everyone. and all these Soros prosecutors who think that they can get away with, oh, we're not going to enforce the laws we don't like, we've got another thing coming. I think that there's a growing amount of awareness nationally about these people. If you're an enforcement, you enforce the law.

You don't write the law yourself. Obviously, locally in West Virginia, a lot of attention on Joe Manchin's decision, Senator Manchin's decision to go along with the build back better or what appears to be build back worse at a huge cost. and particular cost to West Virginia. I mean, it's going to continue the policies. The Democrats have been clear in saying they want to destroy the coal industry while China's building more coal plants, while Europe's relighting their coal plants.

Manchin has now signed on to basically destroy the economy of West Virginia. Yeah, it's deeply disheartening. And obviously, I've been fighting this off for a long time. In fact, we've had success in the court to try to give West Virginia and many other states across the country more time to adapt and transition. You know, we know that our economy has to continue to be updated and modernized.

We need a new tax code. But frankly, I look at what Tennessee has done in terms of the income tax. I say that West Virginia needs to go in that direction. But right now, we do have a lot of strong energy resources and coal, natural gas and oil. And when someone targets those resources and says that within just a few years, you have to meet this 40 percent carbon emissions rate.

Meanwhile, there's nothing being done around the world with China is building hundreds of new coal firepower plants in India and Germany. And they're all growing and they're moving in the opposite direction. And you wonder, why do we have to have unilateral surrender here in the U.S. and then really consign states like West Virginia to poverty? Because the fact is, even if you believe in a lot of the green policies that are out there, the reality is that when you force a state or many states across the country to move so rapidly, you know who's going to pay the price?

the consumers, not only at the gas pump, but ultimately through their power bills. And that's so disappointing that a bill has been championed by a senator from West Virginia that actually will harm our economy. It's really about as bad as it could possibly be. There are tax increases that disproportionately affect coal. And obviously, this is a big spending bill that's going to drive inflation north.

So it should be stopped. I still continue depressed and people should call in if you're listening down in Tennessee or wherever you're listening you should call up and say uh this needs to stop we don't need this right now let's have more sensible policy well in the congressional budget office non-partisan says this will not stem inflation it it is a tax increase while joe manchin is arguing that it isn't chris coons a fellow democrat senator acknowledges that it's a tax increase now patrick i've got a lot of friends Patrick Morrissey with us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Got a lot of friends in West Virginia, and they're distraught over what Manchin's doing, but they're also saying, why doesn't Patrick Morrissey run against Manchin next cycle?

Well, as many of your listeners know, I lost a very close race to him back in 2018. We lost by about three points in a very difficult political year, and we were pretty heavily outspent. They had a lot of the national lefty billionaire money come in.

So, look, today is not the day to be talking about running for office. I will say, though, it's really important that we have people in our state representing us who represent the values of our state. And I'd be the first one, Steve, to tell you I was rooting Senator Manchin on, as he did some good things, right? You know, I think we have to be honest in this business. If you stop the changes to the filibuster or other policies, you can say, hey, thank you.

That's good. And you stood up to the pressure. In this case, he did not stand up to the pressure. It's a terrible bill for West Virginia. And people need to know that.

You know, I'm going to make a decision as to what I'll do sometime next year. But, you know, we've been on a heck of a run in the AP's office, winning huge cases at the Supreme Court and really trying to help our state economy.

So I'm going to keep doing that. and then sometime next year I'll make the right call about what to do.

Well, keep up the wins, and I do think from a political standpoint, Manchin, he may not have gift-wrapped it. It may just be a gift bag. This may be a gift to a Morrissey for U.S. Senate campaign next year. But, Patrick, great to be with you, and thanks for joining us, and we'll talk again soon, my friend.

Yeah, sounds good. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Thanks. Patrick Morrissey, Attorney General in West Virginia.

This is the Todd Starnes Show from the Liberty University Studios. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd, and we'll be right back. Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4. Hey, welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show from the Liberty University Studios in Memphis, Tennessee.

And I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes. But what would the Todd Starnes Show be without Todd Starnes? Todd's down in Dallas coming to us live from the CPAC conference. And Todd, good to have you with you on your show. hey well you're sounding great uh i've been listening to the show on the k-wam app uh as matter of fact hogan didley and i were just visiting for a while uh he's down here uh the great tom holman just sat down and is enjoying delicious soup uh next to a steve gill here in the speaker's green room at cpac i know hogan he's a great guy i wish we were uh listening to him as the uh press secretary for the president instead of what we currently have yeah uh look um a rock would be an improvement over Mr.

ConPierre. That's an insult to rocks everywhere. But it's sort of funny. We actually have a number of KWAM listeners that are down here for CPAC, and you can sort of tell everybody is just sort of still in this zombie-like state after what happened with the elections last night. And those people who are not from Memphis, but they know I am, several people have come up and they're like, oh my gosh, what happened?

You are condolences. But, you know, it is what it is. You know, it's one thing, Todd, that Republicans stayed home and didn't get actively engaged in the race to keep a conservative, strong district attorney in place, to elect a conservative as county mayor. But it's not just the Republicans' fault. You have a lot of independents and Democrats who should know better than to follow the lead of what we've seen in places like New York with bail release, with defund the police.

and yet they've elected a guy that has promoted the exact wrong policies. Yeah, and this is a problem that we are seeing all across the nation. Of course, the folks in San Francisco, normally they don't have the sense God gave a goose, but even they understood how radicalized their district attorney was, and of course they were able to recall him. There are other district attorneys, other cities that are facing the same fate that we are facing, in the Memphis, Tennessee area. Steve, we've got to mobilize the Republicans.

We've been talking about this on the show for months now. We have to campaign like we're 20 points behind. And if we don't, it's going to be very difficult in November to take back both the House and the Senate.

Well, and when you look at the chaos that happened in counting the votes, getting the votes done in Memphis, we continue to see the chaos in Maricopa County with their election where Cary Lake was just announced finally as the winner. It took three days. You're seeing the same confusion, chaos, ineptitude, and I think intent in trying to steal these elections. You are, and we're going to see more of that. And that's why, you know, CPAC is so vitally important.

This is an opportunity to have a great big national pep rally and really propel us to the finish line in November. Later on this afternoon, I'll be hosting about an hour's worth of panels up on the main stage, starting off the afternoon interviewing the governor of Oklahoma, Kevin Stitt, who is without a doubt the most pro-life governor we have in America. After that, we're going to be talking with the founder of Moms for America, mobilizing parents to fight back against their school boards and getting involved in those school board races. And then a little bit later after that, we're going to be talking about why faith matters to conservatives with our good buddy, Father Frank Cropone. I know you know him.

And, of course, NFL, the great NFL player, Jack Brewer, among some of the others.

So it's going to be an action-packed day here at CPAC. And it's great to see so many of our great listeners here from all over the country. Bring them in, fire them up, and send them back to get the work done where they come from. because it's in the trenches. And again, we see when we don't turn out, the other side wins.

I mean, you and I, Todd, we talked before. A lot of religious leaders say, well, I'm a Christian. I don't feel like I should be involved in politics.

Well, if we're not, evil is. If we're not, the other side is.

So don't sit back and complain if you don't roll up your sleeves and get out there and make a difference. And that's been a massive problem. And that's a great example of what happened yesterday in Memphis, which is a very religious town. The only churches that were allowed to be mobilized were, in fact, the churches that supported Democrat candidates. Many of the large megachurches, which have incredibly conservative memberships, those churches have been neutralized.

They're afraid to speak out because they don't want to be accused of being a racist or offending people. And in a sense, a lot of these megachurches are now going, woke, Steve, and that's a big problem for the country. We've got to get these churches back on board. Yeah, our founders would literally mobilize right from the pulpit and then march into the battlefield for freedom, and we need some courageous pastors along that line again. Todd, have fun in Dallas.

You'll be back in the big seat on Monday. I'll try to hold forth for another hour and a half or so, and we'll catch up again soon, my friend.

Sounds great. Thanks a lot, Steve. Thanks for the opportunity. This is the Todd Starnes Show. If you want to join us on the phone lines, join us at 844-747-8868.

We'll talk more in a moment. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes. Thank you Ever since I got the new Galaxy Z Flip 4 I been learning all these new tricks with my dog Finn. Like how to take the best selfies at the park. I just set my phone down, put it in flex mode, and capture hands-free pics from multiple angles.

Or how to capture our training sessions for his followers. I simply wave my hand to start recording video. Good boy! Plus, the Z Flip 4 is compact and fits perfectly in my pocket. Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Flip 4.

Hey, welcome back. This is the Todd Starnes Show. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd. And you know our newsmakers call in on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. And now more than ever, it's important to support companies and organizations that share our values.

And Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless carrier that not only share our beliefs, but they actually do something about it. Patriot Mobile donates a portion of every single dollar to organizations that fight for causes that we care about.

Now you can switch to Patriot Mobile now and use promo code Todd, T-O-D-D, to get free activation and a free gift. Patriot Mobile has the broadcast nationwide coverage you look for and uses the same towers that other carriers use. They have plans to fit any budget along with great discounts for our veterans, our first responder heroes, as well as multi-line users.

So switching to Patriot Mobile is easy, so why not do it today? Just go to patriotmobile.com slash Todd or call their U.S.-based customer service team at 972-PATRIOT. You can get your special discount and a free premier activation by using promo code Todd. For more details, go to patriotmobile.com slash Todd. That's patriotmobile.com slash Todd.

And on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is Congressman Dusty Johnson from South Dakota. And, Dusty, good to have you with us. Hey, thanks, Steve. I appreciate it. How much does it annoy you that the folks in North Dakota always claim they're always on top?

I mean, doesn't that really, like, hack you off? It doesn't bother me that much. The more and more I look at the coast, Steve, the more and more I understand the people in North Dakota are my friends. Plus, it always is a little colder there during the winter. Y'all are in the balmy climes of South Dakota, right?

Yeah, no, that's exactly right. We're the tropical Dakota, and we're very happy about that. You know, Nancy Pelosi goes over to China and tweaks a whole controversy. I understand that apparently it was a conflict of understanding in her staff. She said she wanted to tie one on, and the next thing you know, they booked her to tie one.

I just think it was a misunderstanding. Yeah, I don't know exactly what's going on. I don't think Pelosi's trip is a substantial problem with American foreign policy. I just think Joe Biden's weakness. I mean, the fact that nobody believes in American strength abroad, that's the real problem.

And frankly, it's making the globe less safe. This is just an opportunity from China to poke us in the eye because they know, again, like you said, we've got a weak president. You know, Russia's playing it. Europe's playing it. We just had the summit of Americas, and we couldn't even have our strong allies in South America and Central America and Mexico.

They wouldn't even show up. They don't respect this guy enough. I think it is a real problem. And it just doesn't have to be this way. I mean, I'm not a saber-rattler.

I've never been a believer in forever wars. But I do believe in Ronald Reagan. I mean, I think weakness invites aggression. I think strength is the best way to ensure peace. I just feel like Joe Biden is more interested in being popular with these foreign leaders than he is in keeping Americans safe.

And when you look at the way they respond to him, I don't think he's even achieving popularity other than those who want to see us fail. I'm sure he's very popular in Iran and probably in places like Russia right now, but I don't think he's achieving the popularity he seeks to gain. Obviously, you're involved heavily in agriculture. North Dakota, South Dakota, the whole Midwest is our breadbasket. And yet China is buying up property left and right in the United States.

I can't go over to China without a Chinese partner and start a manufacturing firm or buy property. Why do we allow it here when we don't have reciprocity with these other countries?

Well, we shouldn't be allowing it. And frankly, Americans have been asleep to this issue for too long. You know, we talked about Joe Biden, and it's not just him. I think Americans in general are not aware of how much Russia and China are seeking to undermine us every day. They are our adversaries, not our friends.

And you're right. China is on the move. They have increased their purchases of foreign ag land by a thousand percent in the last decade. But it's not just the farmland. They also own one thousand three hundred agricultural processing facilities.

We're talking about thirty five billion dollars worth of factories. And you say that we shouldn't allow them to do it. You're exactly right. I've got bills to do that. It would blacklist China from those kinds of purchases.

And I'll just I'll mention this. I understand it's a global economy. I know that there are times when countries and foreign companies make investments in America that it makes America stronger and it's good for the American worker. But my belief in that kind of investment goes out the window when we're talking about China control over our food. And it should go both ways.

And I think we learned during COVID that whether it was our PPE, masks and visors and gloves, that we are solely dependent on so much coming from China. They create the disastrous COVID problem, and then they profit to the tunes of billions of dollars by selling us the stuff to protect us from what they developed in a lab. And then worse than that, they have the temerity to steal our technology, to steal our information technology just blatantly and then sell stuff back to us that we've created, robbing our companies, robbing our consumers from the benefits of our creativity. And now we're going to reward them by cutting the tariffs and kind of giving them free reign again. Yeah, that's very well said.

This is another arena where I just don't know that Americans are really paying enough attention. One out of every five large American companies has claimed that China stole their intellectual property or their trade secrets in the last couple of years. FBI Director Wray has said that he has just been blown away by how much espionage China is conducting against America. He has said that Chinese espionage is the single largest long-term threat to American military secrets and economic information. We have got to make sure that we are putting up the kind of defenses we need to have against this Chinese intrusion.

And when we look at drugs, for example, I think Americans, as you pointed out, have been surprised at how much comes from China.

So many of our pharmaceuticals come from there. And then the illegal pharmaceuticals, the fentanyl that's been pouring into Mexico and then across the border, killing thousands and thousands of Americans. And yet the Biden administration is keeping the border open and keeping the flow of deadly narcotics into our country flowing like the Rio Grande. A lot of policy issues, things are more complicated than sometimes we realize. I mean, I just hate it when I have my colleagues who act like you can govern by bumper sticker slogans.

it's almost never that easy. But the border is that easy. I mean, we had a crisis under Donald Trump. He put into place the Remain in Mexico policy, and six weeks later, border crossings had dropped by 85 percent. It is that easy.

I'm on a bill that would put back into place the Remain in Mexico policy. It drives me crazy that Joe Biden won't do it administratively. It is that easy. These people do not, by and large, have legitimate asylum claims. The way we are handling the crisis at the border is a disaster.

I've been there, and anybody within proximity of the border understands that what Biden is doing is not working.

Well, and we're punishing our border agents. We're punishing those that are trying to handle the flow of legal and criminal folks coming across the border. We now know that 50 more terrorist watch list identified individuals that we have captured. We don't even know how many more than that. We know that we've confiscated five tons or so of fentanyl.

We don't know how much more has gone in. And yet that's declared by some in the administration as a success. yeah to me it is it has been really hard to talk to some of my colleagues on the left of the house they just they view things through such a different prism than i do to me it's pretty common sense and i think for most americans it is if you're going to have a sovereign nation you need to be able to control your borders you cannot just let 1.6 million people a year walk across your border and then get resettled in this country with a court date three or four years down the road. I mean, that does not work. And when I hear about the workforce crisis in this country, I feel the same way.

We need to put back into place more rigorous work requirements. Listen, if you're a 27-year-old guy living in downtown Minneapolis, you can work, but you choose not to. What are we doing? Why are we giving you access to social safety net programs? I know we need those programs, but they should reward work.

And my colleagues on the left, Steve, they view work as punishment rather than work as opportunity.

Well, the good news is that New York and Washington, D.C., just getting a little sample of the flood of illegals and the cost in terms of education and crime and social services, they're screaming a hissy fit when Texas and the border states have been experiencing it for a long time.

So maybe that little taste will help them get a grasp of reality. Congressman Dusty Johnson with us from South Dakota is on our newsmakers line. Let me ask you real quickly, as we kind of turn to politics for a moment, Ronna Romney, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ronna Romney McDaniel, is predicting that the Republicans will only gain four House seats in the midterms. That's about 35 or 45 less than everybody else seems to see. Yeah, I don't think that is very likely.

I mean, right now, Nancy Pelosi only has a three or four seat margin.

So picking up four or five would give Republicans control of the House. But I am way more optimistic than that. I mean, it is true that in the recent weeks, some of the polls have moved ever so slightly away from Republicans. We cannot spike the football. We are a long ways away from victory.

The reality is we need to continue to communicate in clear, concise and coalition building language why conservative values are the right thing to do for America. We can't Republicans cannot just dump all over Joe Biden. I think we need to have a vision for what should happen with this country over the course of the next decade. And I am as dedicated as I have ever been to taking that message forward. and I don't know exactly how many seats the Republicans are going to win, but I'm here to tell you I think it's going to be a lot closer to 25 than it is to four.

When you look at the climate, obviously the anti-Biden impact, the inflation, the gas prices, all those things work well for Republican prospects. Do you think that Republicans need a contract with America type policy directive of where we're going in order to really win the seats that are out there to win?

well i think we do and we have one kevin mccarthy the republican leader in the house has been working with all 200 of us over the course of the last few months not to just try to write something up on the back of a napkin but to really analyze hundreds of different pieces of conservative legislation to figure out how do they fit together in a commitment to america and he has begun to roll out pieces of this agenda. You will see more of it rolled out. And it is amazing how much optimism is contained in this plan, which again, we have worked on together. There is a lot of diversity of thought within the Republican conference. One thing about that is, you know, is sometimes frustrating about being a Republican in conferences in Washington is that we don't all march the exact same beat.

There can be a lot of different flavors of Republicans trying to make America work. But we have come together on this plan It is going to unlock American energy. It is going to empower the American worker. It is going to make it clear that wisdom does not reside in Washington to anywhere near the extent that it resides within American families, American businesses, and American communities. If the people of America give us a chance, Steve, in November, we are going to put forth a bold and positive agenda that is going to usher in a new renaissance for America.

And obviously that wisdom resides in the balmy tropical portion of the Dakotas, South Dakota, where Congressman Dusty Johnson represents very well. Congressman, good to have you with us, and keep up the great work, my friend. Thanks, Steve. Bye. We'll be back in a moment with more of the Todd Starnes Show.

Jump on the phone lines. We've got some room on the lines at 844-747-8868. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd. Ever since I got the new Galaxy Z Flip 4, I've been learning all these new tricks with my dog, Finn. like how to take the best selfies at the park.

I just set my phone down, put it in flex mode, and capture hands-free pics from multiple angles. Or how to capture our training sessions for his followers. I simply wave my hand to start recording video. Good boy! Plus, the Z Flip 4 is compact and fits perfectly in my pocket.

Oh, wow! Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Flip 4. Darns. Hey, welcome in for a Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show from the Liberty University Studios. Todd is in Dallas, Texas, enjoying the camaraderie and the conservative enthusiasm of CPAC.

He'll be back in the saddle on Monday. In the meantime, if you'd like to join us on our toll-free number, it's 844-747-8868. I'm Steve Gill. You can find my Twitter account at TheGillReport. I don't even know what it is.

The Gill Report. And, of course, if you'd like to join us on the phone lines, jump on. Just in a few hours ago, the U.S. issued the July Jobs Report, noting that 528,000 jobs were added. Unemployment is down to 3.5%.

Unfortunately, this just brings us back to the pre-COVID employment level.

So we keep hearing from the Biden administration how they've created all these jobs. It's like, no, people have just gone back to the work, to the jobs you shut down with the COVID mandates. And some experts are pointing out that the middle and lower income citizens, real wages have crashed. The expenses have gone up. And what you're really seeing is not job creation, but people having to take two jobs.

Labor force participation didn't move a bit, stayed at 62 percent, which is a sign that some economists are saying indicates that the economy is not actually as strong as the figures indicate. It just means people are taking two jobs instead of being able to do one job and earn enough to meet the higher gas bills and everything else.

Now, Joe Biden decided he would try to explain all this to us. He was like Lucy. Lucy, you've got some explaining to do. This is Joe Biden explaining it to us. Seven Nobel laureates on the economics, I should say.

What? What? You know, it takes people 30 seconds or so to confusingly ramble like that. Joe Biden can cut it down to seven seconds and confuse the heck out of you. Seven economist, economical, ecclesiastical, you know, whatever words start with E.

Does he just have like a word salad that pick all the E words?

Well, let's play that one more time. See if you can decipher this.

Now, if you were in English class and you were having to literally diagram this sentence on the board, you'd quit. You'd say, I give up. seven Nobel laureates on the economics, I should say. And they're trying to tell us this guy had an hour-and-a-half conversation with President Xi of China? It was a three-minute conversation that took an hour-and-a-half for him to get the words out.

Let's go to Jeff in Gainesville on WDUN. Jeff, you're on the Todd Starnes Show. Yes, sir. I was just listening to you when he was talking about the church, whether it should get involved in politics and all that. And definitely the church should be involved in all manner of society issues like that.

Without the church, you have no moral compass at all, and that's what's wrong with the nation when the church sits back and it won't. And the God of the Bible is not somebody that sits back. He wants his church to rise up and take their spot, and he'll back them if they will. And the church is not the building. It's the people in the church that go out and then activate the directions of the Bible.

And again, I think too many pastors want the church to stop at the church door, and they don't want any intrusion of society into their churches. And that's a good thing. We don't want to bleed the whole wokeness into our churches, but that means the people in the pews got to get out of the pulpits, out of the pews, and go out there and put their biblical actions into force. Jeff, thanks for your comments. You know, the other interesting thing of this whole church involvement is, again, if you don't go out there and get engaged, then you're just abdicating it to the other side.

And evil is real. We're seeing it in the policies. Essentially, I saw a meme the other day that pointed out that the reason Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed is the exact stuff we're teaching in schools and promoting to our young people. You've got in Pennsylvania, there's now a federal effort or the State Department of Education is now trying to dictate that three-year-olds, three-year-olds should be able to define their sexuality, to pick their gender at three. You know, I wanted to be a cowboy when I was three.

You know, that doesn't mean I should have, you know, worn boots while I am wearing boots today, though.

So, okay, maybe I am a cowboy. I did pick at three, and I'm just sticking to it. The bottom line is three-year-olds can't tie their shoes. They don't know all their colors. Should they really pick their genitalia or ignore their genitalia and pick their gen?

Give me a break. We're back with more of the Todd Starnes Show in just a moment. We all know someone who's all work and no chill. Trust me, that used to be me. But then I found Galaxy Z Fold 4, which allows me to do more things at once.

Ah, much better.

Now I can take video calls from my phone and use it to take notes at the same time. Wait, are you at the spa? Or check my shopping list while ordering more scented candles and face masks on the foldable expansive screen. Don't take your to-do list one line at a time. Multitask so you can relax.

Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes.

Oh, yeah. Hey, welcome in. This is the Todd Starnes Show, live from the Liberty University Studios. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd. He is in Dallas for the CPAC conference, having a blast with more conservatives, getting the blowtorch lined up for another week.

He'll be back in the saddle on Monday. And I got to tell you that every time you think that President Biden can't embarrass us, our country, himself, his family even more, and no, I'm not talking about videos on Hunter's laptop or taking showers with his 12-year-old granddaughter or, well, all the other things that he does. Every time he speaks, it's a problem. And first of all, it's not just his lack of syntax, his lack of ability to basically communicate in full sentences. It's the policy he espouses as well.

And every time he comes out and goes off the cuff, which is why they have to make him run off the stage every time he gives a speech, he can't explain what he's saying because he's just reading what's ever put in front of him. Kind of like, read the next line or, you know, where's my seat? I mean, it's just those kind of things that just display that this guy is completely mentally incompetent to hold the job. And the Democrats seem to be hanging on with their fingernails because they don't want Kamala to take the position. They want to move him aside and end up with her because they know that'd be an even worse disaster.

and they're desperately trying to figure out how to make it to the next presidential election, move Joe out and have somebody else carry the banner forward that won't be Kamala Harris. And yet you look at their bench and you got Pete Buttigieg who isn't playing very well. Again, you look at the transportation disasters under his regime. There aren't many options. And when you kind of look historically, Bill Clinton, who was a moderate president, moderate governor, he couldn't get the nomination in today's Democratic Party.

And as you look around the country, you look at progressives, whack jobs, AOC squad members that are winning and kind of moving forward the agenda of the far left wing. That's what we're seeing with this build back better, build back worse plan. And then you get the president who told us a year ago that if you took the vaccine, you would not get COVID. I mean, he was definitive. And yet he's double vaxxed, double boosted, and he got COVID again and then again.

And doctors from the White House were trying to explain that, well, you know, we're a little concerned that a second bout of COVID could produce brain fog in President Biden. Brain fog? That ship sailed a long time ago. It was a whole flotilla of ships sailing with this president's brain fog. And I've said before that this is a guy who can eat all the ice cream he wants as fast as he wants and never get brain freeze.

And we shared an example in the last hour of just the incomprehensible things that he says. And he's never done. There's always more. And passing it as soon as possible. You know, I know most families are focused on just putting three meals on the table, taking care of their kids and paying their bills.

Helping you do that is my job. That's the president's job as well. He doesn't even recognize he's the president? That's my job, and it's also the president's job. I mean, the guy is, we talk about a split personality.

Apparently, he's filling two jobs. That's the problem with the new jobs report. Americans are having to have two jobs. They're having to moonlight to pay for the expensive gas and groceries and everything else that they're being forced to struggle with thanks to this administration's policies. And he could fix it.

He could fix it. Reopen the pipelines. Reopen America's energy development. Do leases that energy companies could depend on. Even if they said today, you can go out and you can drill, you can go out and produce more oil, that wouldn't be very helpful because you're not going to see oil industries.

You're not going to see energy industries go out and actually develop and spend capital to produce more oil, more natural gas, more energy resources if they know that they can turn the spigot off again, just like they did and put us where we are. This is a Joe Biden that told us that he couldn't control gas prices and now wants to claim credit when it goes down 50 cents, but it's still a buck 50 more than when he took office. Everything this administration has done has been destructive to our citizenry, destructive to our economy, destructive to our families, and yet he's claiming that's his job. The only job this guy fulfills is nut job. And at the end of the day, the sooner this nightmare can end, the better.

But we've got almost three more years to survive his lack of leadership, his lack of ability to communicate. And then when you have his press secretary go out there and say even more inane things, trying to claim that she's going to speak for the president when the president can't speak for himself and she's barely articulate herself. And the reason this is a problem is not just because, you know, Joe Biden is not being successful and this administration is not being successful. I'd love to have a strong president who was successful, who was making the U.S. economy thrive, who was protecting our borders, making us successful, making our cities and communities safer.

That would be great. I would cheer that whether he was a Democrat or a Republican. But none of those things are happening. And none of those things are going to happen when you keep seeing an administration double down on things that don't work. You know, it's the media's complicity as well.

Kids in cages under President Trump, bad. Kids in cages coming across the border under President Trump, under President Biden, it's okay. And we'll just ignore it, pretend it's not happening, pretending more aren't coming across, being shoved into these same cages, being used and manipulated by the cartels who are using them as sex trafficking rather than actually trying to bring people to the American dream. When you look at these long lines of people coming into the country, they're not asylum seekers. They're looking to get on the dole in the United States.

And now we're seeing New York, we're seeing Washington, D.C. get just a little taste of it. Four or five thousand illegals being bussed into New York and Washington, D.C. And they're going hyperkinetic crazy over the cost, the burden that they're going to face when Texas and Arizona and New Mexico, Nevada, most of the rest of the country have been having to deal with the flood of illegals coming across the border, burdening our schools, burdening our hospitals and health care services, burdening our crime system. The number of folks that come here and commit crimes, many people, repeat offenders, are filling up our jail cells.

and now New York and Washington D.C. are complaining as they get just a little appetizer of what our other states have been experiencing for a long time. And Joe Biden, his job is to make things better and all he's doing is making them worse.

Now one of my favorite members of the U.S. Senate is John Kennedy. This is a guy who has huge education accomplishments, is very accomplished, And yet he talks with that sort of corn pwn. I'm just I'm just here to to to talk country to you. And and he's got a new ad out that says it best and I think applies to Joe Biden.

Here's a new ad by John Kennedy running for reelection of the Senate in Louisiana. People say I'm too outspoken. It's true. I have the right to remain silent. I just don't have the ability.

I'm just being me. John Kennedy. Folks, I will never completely fit in. For all those Washington insider elite bedwriters whose feelings I hurt, here's some free advice. Go buy yourself an emotional support party because I'm not going to shut up.

And one more thing. Always be yourself unless you suck. Maybe it's time for Joe Biden to stop being himself. that'd be the easy solution. Maybe we need to play a little John Rich, ride a horse, save a cowboy, or ride a cowboy, save a horse, as they're trying to figure out how to get a pony for the bedwetters, as Senator Kennedy says.

Nobody sums it up like that. Be yourself unless you suck. And now you've got Senator Kennedy, He actually – his team actually has bumper stickers that say that as well to go along with his new ad. That the kind of ads we need to see more from politicians straight direct to the point no confusion over what they saying And we don get that from President Biden or his administration The problem is when you're having to double talk, double speak, back up constantly on what you've said, and then change the words, change the language because you can't actually communicate your policies, makes it a disaster. I don't care whether you're a Republican or a Democrat.

When you can't communicate clearly what you're wanting to do, it's not going to work out very well. The problem for the Democrats and what Republicans, as Congressman Johnson pointed out in the last hour, have to do is put the pedal to the metal. Don't stop. Don't think you've got the win. You have to go out there every day and try to do better, try to communicate to the American people the differences in policies.

And the issue is that Democrats have to lie about what they're doing to win. Republicans just have to tell the truth louder and better than Democrats can lie. And this Build Back Better program is a prime example. They're claiming it's an inflation reduction plan. While the Congressional Budget Office and 200 economists agree it's not going to reduce inflation at all.

We're at 9.1% and it will likely go up. We might have seen a brief respite in gas prices, but that's because people stopped driving because the prices got so high. They came down temporarily. They're about to come back high with a vengeance. That's going to fuel more, no pun intended, fuel more of the high gas prices that we saw just a month ago.

Now, the president won't take credit for that and won't do anything to stop it because he is so craven in his willingness to genuflect and worship at the altar of climate change. That no matter how much damage it does to Americans and our communities and our businesses, that's his goal. That's his job as he sees it. Gas prices are going to go up. inflation is going to go up.

This $750 billion in new spending is not going to reduce it a bit. And that's what the economists, that's what the experts are saying. And calling it an inflationary reduction plan is along the same lines of being unable to define women, being unable to admit that a recession is a recession the way it's always been defined, because they can't tell the truth. They have to lie faster than the Republicans can get the truth out. We'll talk more about it in a moment.

I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes. We all know someone who's all work and no chill. Trust me, that used to be me. But then I found Galaxy Z Fold 4, which allows me to do more things at once. Much better.

Now I can take video calls from my phone and use it to take notes at the same time. Wait, are you at the spa? Or check my shopping list while ordering more scented candles and face masks on the foldable expansive screen. Don't take your to-do list one line at a time, multitask so you can relax. Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4.

We're back in a moment. Hey, this is the Todd Starnes show live from the Liberty University Studios. I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd today. He'll be back on Monday. You can join us on the phone lines at 844-747-8868 if you want to chime in.

And I got to tell you, I'm a shower guy, not a bath guy. I'm a shower guy. I know that's too much information, too much information for me to think about. But when you finish your shower or your bath, you want to have a towel off that doesn't feel like sandpaper grating on your skin. And you love the fact that you get a new towel and they feel soft and they feel lotiony and they feel good.

But then you get them home, they don't absorb as well.

Well, Mike Lindell, our friends at MyPillow, found out that around 2006, towels could change forever. They started importing them and adding softeners and other things to the cotton that made them feel good, but they didn't work. He found that the best towel company was right here in the USA. They have proprietary technology to create towels that feel soft but actually work. They absorb and they feel good.

Now, they're all made with USA cotton. They come with the MyPillow 60-day money-back guarantee, so I want you to check it out today. Six-piece set, two bath, two hand towels, two washcloths, made in the USA, soft and absorbent. They're regularly $109.99. Right now, just $39.99.

That's right, $39.99. Just go to MyPillow.com, click on the radio listener specials, get deep discounts on all MyPillow products, including the towels. Enter promo code STARNS. That's promo code STARNS or call 1-800-839-8506 and towel off comfortably. You know, one of the big issues when you look at the political environment right now is can we remove the people who are doing so much damage?

And again, not just Democrats. And I hate to use the L word. I hate to call them liars except when they, well, lie. They're now pushing this Build Back Better plan that they know will increase inflation, know it will not help consumers, know it is a tax increase. And they're raising taxes during a recession.

And here's a little clip that the Republican National Committee has put together of Democrats acknowledging that they know what they're doing is wrong. The last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession. When the economy is in decline, you don't want to raise overall taxes. I don't think during a time of recession you mess with any of the taxes or increase any taxes. No one is going to want to raise taxes when we have a recession.

In an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class.

And yet that's exactly what they're doing while denying they're doing it. Joe Manchin claiming, oh, it's not a tax increase. And yet Senator Coons, a liberal Democrat senator, says, oh, yeah, it is raising taxes. And it will hurt. And they know it will hurt.

But they're going to lie and say it won't, that it's not a tax increase, that it's going to reduce inflation. And again, I hate to use the L word, you know, lie. years ago my son Ryan who's now in his 20s second season of Survivor we were getting ready to watch it and he was five four or five at the time and came walking in and and my wife said I don't know if this is appropriate you know for the boys to watch they're young and Ryan piped up well it's okay this year mom there's no n-word it's like the n-word so yeah naked because the first year you We had one guy strip naked and wander around the beach. And to Ryan, that was the N-word. You know, we are making progress where that's what some of our young kids see as the N-word these days rather than the bad N-word.

So I hate to use even the naked word, and I don't like using the lie word. But sometimes you've got to use the right word. And the right word is what the Democrats are doing. By the way, coming up in the next segment, we're going to talk with Attorney General Sean Reyes. He is the attorney general in Utah, and he's going to talk a little bit why attorney generals around the country are critical to stopping the Biden overreach.

We talked earlier with Patrick Morrissey, the attorney general in West Virginia. One of the reasons that I wanted to get Sean on is there's a lot of speculation that in two years he may take on one of those horrible rhinos. Liz Cheney may only have a week or so left being a congresswoman.

Now she'll serve out her term. Mitt Romney is another one that is doing everything anti-conservative, despite his claims to be a conservative. He's so caught up, like Liz Cheney, in being anti-Trump that he can't be pro-American.

So we're going to talk with Sean Reyes, who some people think should be the candidate against Mitt Romney in two years when the election cycle pushes Mitt Romney back to the forefront. Liz Cheney, by the way, is saying that she might run for president, that we need a woman to be in charge because men have messed it up. And I couldn't help but think that when you think of women that aren't messing it up, does she mean Kamala Harris, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot, Governor Hochul in New York, Whitmer in Michigan, Hillary Clinton, who did such a bang-up job running her campaign? Cheney, you're desperate. She's even bringing her dad in to Wyoming and to attack Trump to defend his daughter.

Now, I'm all for dads defending their sons and daughters. But Liz Cheney is indefensible. And it's time for Dick Cheney to recognize that that dog won't hunt, to use a good Southern phrase. People know who she is. She's going to lose in Wyoming.

They're trying to convince Democrats to cross over. There aren't enough Democrats in Wyoming to save Liz Cheney's job. and it will be good riddance as I think it'll be one of the remaining few that voted and have led the way against Trump, led the way against the reality of January 6th to further their own nest. And Liz Cheney, the clock is ticking. And it's not a woman thing.

Pushing you to be president because we need a woman in charge is about as sexist as you can get. But that's where Liz Cheney is having to delve into to try and save her butt as the people of Wyoming have figured her out. Yeah, Lori Lightfoot, yeah, Chicago mayor. Yeah, she's doing a bang-up job. She's a woman.

Is it because she's a woman that makes her so good at her job? Again, Hochul in New York, Whitmer in Michigan. These are some pretty good examples, Liz. You might check them out and decide if you can't campaign for them or against them. Coming up, Sean Reyes, the Attorney General from Utah, will join us.

I'm Steve Gill filling in for Todd Starnes, and we'll be right back. We all know someone who's all work and no chill. Trust me, that used to be me. But then I found Galaxy Z Fold 4, which allows me to do more things at once. Ah, much better.

Now I can take video calls from my phone and use it to take notes at the same time. Wait, are you at the spa? Or check my shopping list while ordering more scented candles and face masks on the foldable expansive screen. Don't take your to-do list one line at a time. Multitask so you can relax.

Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4. And welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show. Steve Gill here filling in for Todd as he's cavorting in Dallas, dancing the two-step in Dallas.

Now that would be a sight to see. Seeing Todd do the two-step down in Dallas, Texas. He's at CPAC. He'll be back with great stories, tales, and hopefully an enthusiastic bounce back from the disastrous Memphis election yesterday where the AG was defeated, a conservative, tough AG was defeated. And we've now in Memphis got a liberal, progressive, woke, let's deal with bail reform AG stepping in.

But Todd will be back on Monday. Joining us right now is one of my new good friends, Attorney General Sean Reyes. He is from the great state of Utah and was out in Utah with Sean Reyes a year ago about this same time. And, Sean, good to have you with us. Thanks, Steve.

It's great to be back. Just got off the stage here at CPAC. I think Todd's here, and I'm glad that you're filling in over there and taking care of the home fires. Yeah, we talked with him a little bit earlier. He was hanging out with Hogan Gildly, and he's already having fun, and I'm glad you're down there and speaking up.

By the way, Sean is the Attorney General for the state of Utah, introduced us to Tony Finau, the amazing golfer from Salt Lake City. I got to point out, Sean, that when we met with you and Tony out in Salt Lake a year ago, he had only won one PGA Tour. He's won like three cents.

So what was the magic secret sauce you shared with him since that time? I think it was meeting with us. Because the next weekend after we met, he won, and he texted me back.

Now, Tony is like a calabash cousin. He's family to me, like a little brother. And he's an amazing individual, very faith-oriented family man. And everybody on the tour loves him and wanted him to win more. And he had like 50 top five, top 10 finishes and just wasn't quite finishing on some of those.

And I think probably more than anything, you know, golf is just an incredible mental game and so much. It's momentum and confidence and one win begets another. And two weeks in a row now, historic, the first time back to back on the tour in three years, I think. But that was right. You were there.

We had Glenn Beck. We had Tony Finau. We had a great time going on. And, yeah, he's fantastic. Thank you for bringing him up.

He's the type of person who, you know, in the sports world where we see so many prima donnas and divas, you know, he gives credit to God and his family and is just the hardest working guy on the tour. He's an amazing golfer but an even better person based on the time we spent with him and what I've seen since. And he's going to be in Memphis, I guess, for the FedEx Cup.

next week.

So he'll be in the territory. You ought to come to town if you get a chance. Oh, yeah. If I could, we would. You know, I'll be on the border in a couple of days down there with Congressman Issa and his team in California.

And so if we could make it out, I could. If I crisscrossing, we were able to stop in.

Now, Tony did well in the playoffs last year also, won. And so we're keeping our fingers crossed. But, yeah, Steve, appreciate it. And we may see you at the Republican Attorney General's Conference out in Colorado Springs here in a few weeks. Hopefully we'll catch up then.

You guys will be out there, I sure hope. Hogan Gidley was just moderating our panel on voter integrity and photo ID, full, free, and fair election. But what are we talking about today? One of the things that I wanted to share with folks is how important the attorney generals are. We hear so much.

We focus on presidential elections and Senate and governor's elections. And frankly, some of your colleagues, whether it's Derek Schmidt in Kansas or Eric, the good Eric Schmidt, who won in Missouri the Senate primary, attorney generals are not just making a difference in the politics of their state, but y'all are coming together and really leading the fight against the Biden administration. And if, as we expect and hope, Republicans take control of the House and Senate in the midterms, it's going to put even more burden on the attorney generals, particularly the Republican attorney generals, to stop the executive orders that were going to be the only way Democrats can impose their will on us. And you guys really cooperate with each other. People sometimes think, oh, this is the attorney general of Utah or Alabama or somewhere.

But you guys are working together closely and in concert to push back against these crazy Biden schemes. Very closely, very appropriately. I was on the panel with Jeff Landry, the great attorney general from Louisiana, here with Ken Paxton, the incredible attorney general from Texas. And we do. We marshal our resources.

We're not as big as the federal government. And when we need to come together and band together, we have terrific folks. Our solicitors general are amazing. Mine in Utah, Melissa Holyoke is unbelievable superstar. And all the state AGs, state solicitors general, our staffs come together.

And we really need that type of unity. And we need that pooled strength to push back. You said it Well, we filed over 50 lawsuits in the first year of the Biden administration. It was literally quite like one a week. It's a target rich environment.

We didn't have to think too hard. And just so the public understands, we're not just filing lawsuits to be obstreperous. We're filing every single place where the federal government, particularly the executive branch, is overstepping its constitutional bounds and authorities. We did that in the Obama administration. But President Biden has taken these executive orders next level.

And so we need to respond in kind. And as you said, we our job is to not only protect and uphold the Constitution, defend laws that our state passes, but to push back and remind the federal government that, you know what, we created the federal government and the states have a significant role to play. The federal government, every chance it gets, would try to divest the states from their constitutional rights. Whether it's elections, we were just talking about this on the stage a few moments ago. H.R.

1, H.R. 4, hey, let's federalize election law. Let's do everything. There's a very patronizing view that the federal government knows better than everyone else what the states want. One size fits all.

Let us tell you how to do it because you're not responsible enough, you're not smart enough, you're not good enough to do it on your own. And that's why we, the people, that's why average citizens get really upset. And we need people to be able to push back. And thank goodness I've got such an array of really heroic state AGs on the Republican side to be able to fight that fight and remind the federal government that there is such a thing as a 10th Amendment. Utah Attorney General Sean Ray is with us on the Todd Starnes Show on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

One example of how outrageous the Biden administration has gotten is a lawsuit that you've just joined with 21 other, I think, attorney generals where the feds are blocking funds from schools for school lunches that don't follow sexual orientation policy. I mean, they're literally taking children hostage, threatening their meals to push their bizarre, radical agenda. And I'm not sure if we need more lawyers or hostage negotiators with the Biden administration at this point. Oh, yeah. Yeah, let's get Robert O'Brien back, who is our, you know, in the Trump administration, our lead hostage negotiator for the United States.

I totally get your meaning on that. And here's the interesting thing. No surprise to your listeners. Guess what the headlines were in Salt Lake City when we joined that with other states regarding school lunches?

So the headline from, you know, one of the Salt Lake Tribune's editorial team is Utah Attorney General wants to deprive transgender kids from getting school lunches. Like, what? That has nothing that's not even close to what's going on. the federal government that's using the lever of school lunches to try to force and cram down a policy which if it's a good policy should come through the congress and and the democratic process not through an executive order and a cram down by the federal government but again the media is going to portray that and everybody's thinking wow these republicans again they're just heartless they're cruel they're trying to take lunches away from transgender kids no we love transgender kids just like we love all of our kids. We want to protect them all, but there is a proper way to do it.

Separation of powers, the constitution. And that's why I think it's important that we have state AGs who understand those things and are willing to stand up and take the slings and arrows of false fake media and all these distortions, misleading headlines. But yeah, it's a daily grind. It's a daily fight. But as I mentioned earlier, it's a target-rich environment.

There are so many areas. on the border. You know, that's an area where state AGs recently, we have, we've been down to the border in Texas, in Arizona, California. I've been working with the Mexican government, the other side of the border. They know it's an issue and a problem.

And you have fentanyl coming in in billions of lethal doses, billions. And that's just what we've caught. Not to mention everything that's, that that's sailed through. You've got human trafficking coming in at estimated hundreds of millions of street value, market value for human beings being sold for sex. forced labor, indentured servitude, organ harvesting.

You have illegal adoptions, all of that in the hundreds of millions per week, per week, according to Customs Border Patrol agents that we work with down there. And then you also have gangs coming up. This is all cartel driven. The people who are coming across, I want to say this, because we as Republicans often get tainted as being, again, cruel, heartless, discriminatory. We're not.

there might be some bad apples in every party. We're not. I'm the great-grandson, the grandson, the son of immigrants that came to this country and have helped build this country and make it a stronger country. We love immigrants. And the vast majority of people who are coming across are good people with good intentions.

They want a better life. But they're being exploited. They're being exploited by the cartels who know that there's an open borders policy. They're being victimized, sold into human trafficking, forced to mule drugs, or with organized retail theft, a $40 to $80 billion criminal loss every year for box stores and other retail chains. What they do is they head in to jurisdictions where they know there are Soros-backed DAs, and they'll walk out with $5,000, $10,000, $50,000 worth of stolen goods, and the stores won't stop them because they know police officers won't come and respond, not because the officers are bad not doing their job but they know the DAs won't prosecute a case so why put themselves in harm's way and in the meantime we've sent a message to the world that sure if you want to come across our border steal rape pillage all of that is open game and it's horribly depressing and demoralizing for those brave men and women in uniform on the border it's devastating communities all across the border.

But here's the thing, and this is the last thing I'll say, but it's made every state in the United States a border state because all of that stuff does not stop with Texas, Arizona, California. It comes into Utah, it comes into middle America, into the East Coast, West Coast, up into the North. And every state is dealing with opioid, the opioid epidemic. Every state's dealing with human trafficking that we need to talk about more. that's a reality and every state's dealing with organized retail crime and theft all of those things are coming across the border and state ags have continued to pressure the administration sue the administration stand up and defend state laws that are trying to address this but that's something else that i just wanted to highlight while we were chatting speak no and i think that again in addition to filing suits y'all are winning suits one of my buddies claims that his main form of exercise these days is shaking his head in disbelief at the hypocrisy of the left.

You now have the New York mayor and D.C. mayor who are complaining about a few thousand of these illegals being dumped in their community because of the cost of health care and crime and education. And yet, again, Utah, Texas, Arizona have been sustaining it with millions coming across, and now they're just finally getting a little taste. These same mayors that declared sanctuary states just a short time ago, right? Oh, oh, we're sanctuary states.

Well, now they're complaining. You're spot on.

Sorry to cut you off. And now it's horrible. One last question. A lot of folks are tossing your name around as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate in a couple of years when Mitt Romney faces re-election in Utah.

You ready to give us a scoop and announce today? Oh, wow. You know, the only thing I'm announcing is that I'm heading home to see my family soon, and I might be upgraded on my flight. I hope so because I've been traveling too much. But look, I'm keeping all of my options open.

I'm helping a lot of friends because right now we need to be laser focused on 2022 and regaining control in Congress and the Senate.

So whether it's Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania, Adam Laxalt out in Nevada, shouts out to buddies like that. We've got Eric Schmidt, my colleague, who's running now in Missouri in the Senate seat. We've got heroes, superheroes like Ryan Zinke there in Montana. My goal, in addition to putting 80, 90 hours a week into my state and working my tail off to protect Utahns, is to go out where I can on the weekends, my time, my dime, and go help my friends get elected all back out there.

AFPI and the work that they're doing, Brooke Rollins' team, right here, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp with CPAC. We need everybody. We need all your listeners to really get urgent. We need everybody to figure out ways that they can jump in and pitch in. Keep up the great work.

Steve, give Todd my best to you guys. You're true patriots. God bless you. Sean Ray is Attorney General of Utah. Great guy, great friend, great family man.

And my friend, I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Have fun in Dallas. Likewise. Take care. We'll see you, Steve.

Bye now. We'll be back in a moment with more of the Todd Starnes show. We all know someone who's all work and no chill. Trust me, that used to be me. But then I found Galaxy Z Fold 4, which allows me to do more things at once.

Ah, much better.

Now I can take video calls from my phone and use it to take notes at the same time. Wait, are you at the spa? Or check my shopping list while ordering more scented candles and face masks on the foldable expansive screen. Don't take your to-do list one line at a time. Multitask so you can relax.

Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Fold 4. And welcome back in. This is the Todd Starnes Show. Steve Gill filling in for Todd today. Appreciate the great staffing of Grace and Dylan, taking good care of making sure I had everything I need and the lights all come on at the same time.

The mic comes on. Great work by the team here. I do want to talk just a moment about the Brittany Griner case because I know I've gotten a lot of texts and comments about that. And I think, first of all, there's no question that she's being used as a political pawn. The Russian adjudication system for similar cases is usually a five-year sentence in a prison.

Brittney Greiner has been sentenced to nine and a half years and will serve it in a gulag in Russia that will be a repository of abuse, mistreatment. She's clearly being used to punish the U.S. as a high-profile prisoner. I mean, again, a Russian that did the same thing she did would not receive a similar sentence.

Now that she has been sentenced, the Russians are saying they will begin to discuss a prisoner swap. There's another American that's being held on supposed spying charges. And I think that what you will see is perhaps not soon, but certainly perhaps in the next months, a swap that will exchange and remove her from Russia. She's been there working in basketball. She's a WNBA star here in the U.S.

She's been playing in Russia, I think, since 2014. And she should have known better. She's claiming, oh, it was an accident. I didn't know when she was taking a gram of cannabis into Russia. First of all, it underlines that if you're going to travel abroad, know the rules of where you're going because our rules, our compassion, our legalization of marijuana and other drugs is not what's happening in the rest of the world and clearly not what they're doing in Russia.

She obviously made a big mistake, whether it was a knowing and intentional effort to take something in that she shouldn't have taken in or whether it was clearly a mistake that was just in her luggage. I mean, we have in this country plenty of people that show up at the airport, they've got ammo or guns in their luggage and have simply forgot it was in there. That may have been the case with her. It was the wrong time to make that mistake as U.S.-Russia relations have been at kind of an all-time poor level. The problem is that negotiating her out exposes others that may be traveling in Russia, wanting to go to Russia to do business.

Aren't we setting up a hostage situation where drugs could be planted on somebody in order for Russia to be able to, again, play the high-profile game. You know, maybe the Russia-Ukraine conflict will end and we can get back to more normalized relationships, get back to conversation because, you know, you don't need major superpowers fighting at a time when global economies, global fragility is putting all of us at risk. I'd say the same thing with China. You know, we ought to be doing better rather than provoking China and perhaps creating World War III on two fronts. But the Brittany Griner case is sad, it's tragic, and hopefully they can find a way to get her out of Russia where maybe we'll just make her listen to the national anthem a lot.

Thanks again for tuning in. I'm Steve Gill. Appreciate you listening today. Todd will be back on Monday. You have a great weekend.

Ever since I got the new Galaxy Z Flip 4, I've been learning all these new tricks with my dog Finn. Like how to take the best selfies at the park. I just set my phone down, put it in flex mode, and capture hands-free pics from multiple angles. Or how to capture our training sessions for his followers. I simply wave my hand to start recording video.

Good boy! Plus, the Z Flip 4 is compact and fits perfectly in my pocket. Oh, wow. Click the banner to get your Galaxy Z Flip 4.