Feeling Our Pain...In The Caribbean

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That's legacypminvestments.com. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite cunt totem Bible-clinging deplorable American. See ya. That's why I love this American. Todd Starnes.

Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to a Wednesday edition of the Todd Starn Show, coast to coast on more than 100 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarns.com on Rumble, on Getter. You get the idea. Hello, fellow Patriots. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd this week, coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa. The 50,000 want blowtorch, scorching middle America with accurate news and reasonable views.

Privileged to be in the air chair again today. Looking forward to discussing all the news of the day with you from the Liberty University studio. Call in 844-747-8868. Same number as always, and Grace will talk to you and get you into the system so Kyle can put you on the air. It's 844-747-8868.

Coming up an hour from now, we'll speak with Virginia Congressman Bob Good about all-man. Of things, that Title 42 ruling from the Supreme Court yesterday, the omnibus spending bill, he voted against it, and what's going to happen with the speakership, all that and more when we speak with Virginia Congressman Bob Good. That's an hour from now. In hour number three, America's Money Answers Man, financial journalist Jordan Goodman, will be along. We'll talk about the ups and downs of the economy this year with a look ahead toward next.

And in hour number three as well, return guest to the program, Sarah Westwood, reporter and political investigative journalist for the Washington Examiner, about some of the work that she has done there of late. That and more, as well as your calls on this Wednesday edition of the program.

Now, this is a national show, and I suppose because of the interwebs, it's a global show, so we don't want to get too local with weather. But I will tell you that it is partly cloudy in St. Croix of the U.S. Virgin Islands and 82 degrees. It's 1 o'clock.

Clock there, by the way, as I'm speaking to you. Luckily, though, for those on the island, it's going to get nice and sunny tomorrow with a high of 84.

Now why do we care about the weather in St. Croix of the US Virgin Islands?

Well, that's because that's where the first family is going to be ringing in the New Year. And CNN on the dot com could not contain themselves in terms of reporting on what a wonderful thing it is that the Biden family goes to vacation in the Caribbean for the New Year. Let me read some especially shall we say, laudatory or fawning passages. This is from CNN.com. I know you don't look at it, but somebody has to.

And judging from the numbers, I'm the only one, but I digress. President Joe Biden this week returns to St. Croix, one of his and First Lady Jill Biden's beloved vacation spots, seeking a final opportunity for rest before what is expected to be a contentious twenty twenty three and reelection run. Hit the pause for one moment. Can you imagine CNN.

or any of the formerly mainstream media outlets. Talking about a Republican at any level of government in language like this. No, of course you can't. And we all know it. We all know about the hypocrisy.

We all know about the double standard, but it's still bad. Bears mentioning because if we stop mentioning it, Then it's sort of like we say it's okay, we acquiesce. And I certainly do not. I continue. As Biden unwinds in a familiar spot, the first couple have visited the U.

S. Virgin Islands for more than a dozen years, vacationing there approximately ten times since the mid two thousands. the work on his path forward intensifies back in a frigid Washington, DC. Is this the West Wing script that I'm reading, or is this CNN?

Well. I think it's CNN. The first couple arrived in St. Croix on Tuesday along with family members a gathering of the tight knit Klan who, according to several people with knowledge of recent conversations who have spoken to CNN, have now pledged support for another White House run by Biden. Isn't this great?

Isn't this wonderful? The Bidens, you know, deserve this. Worked pretty hard. and they had to skip this tradition the last two years.

So, CNN points out that this trip may have some of the same vibes as one of their more recent vacations. In the early hours, I should have told you I was going to read this so that you folks could play the, you know. lovely Hallmark movie music in the background. That's my mistake. This trip may have some of the same vibes as early hours of 2019, Biden was last contemplating a presidential bid.

The couple were photographed. I always learned it was the couple was photographed, but I guess uh the Grammar Police will have to figure that out. Photographed taking a selfie in St. Croix on New Year's Day, catching the first sunrise of the New Year at the easternmost point under the American flag.

Okay. Oh, and they want privacy during all of this. This is where they go for privacy. Yeah.

Now I'll just kind of Put that over here. We've started by telling you about the first family. Various members of the Biden crime family on the island of St. Croix. in the Caribbean.

U. S. Virgin Islands. Here's another headline that I saw. With warming temperatures, snowbound buffalo braces to find more dead.

As temperatures are warming in Buffalo, New York, in Erie County, New York. As they are now able to get to stranded cars, homes, etcetera. The death toll is now thirty four. from the winter storm. This is the same winter storm, by the way, that gripped so many of us.

Here in the State of Iowa, where I'm from, We had some snow, but then we had blizzard conditions for multiple days. 50 mile an hour wind. Wind chills. of 30, 40 below zero. the temperature was below zero.

I think for seventy straight hours, something like that. Obviously, the folks at Starn's Media Group at the Mighty 990 in Memphis know all about the ice storm, the drop in temperatures, how it has affected the city's water supply, electricity, etc. And wherever you are, I'm sure you have your own story of how the winter storm affected you. Last week, President Biden was given a briefing on the forthcoming winter storm, as it was phrased, and it was on Thursday. Worst of it had already hit.

the Midwest, the heartland of the nation, where the best people live, the people who feed the world.

Well, the White House finally paid attention when oh, my goodness, it's going to hit the Eastern time zone And the president was fully briefed, and we saw him sitting there staring at a television monitor as they were showing graphic interfaces of what would happen with the weather. And he looked very, very sad, and then said as he was going to leave, Now, this is not just like a snow day. This is serious. The time to act, the time to get to safety is now. Except for the rest of the country, the time had already passed.

Complete tin ear to what was going on. for the President of all the people as he pledged he would be. I'm not saying you don't. Issue warnings. when you have several feet of snow.

when you have areas of the country having unique weather conditions. Once in a decade, once in a century type conditions. Certainly. But to make it seem to most of America like it only mattered. When it started affecting them.

That's a tin ear. Am I not saying that the President of the United States should not get together with his family? I'm not saying that they shouldn't take some time off. The job is 24-7 on call. You get away whenever you can.

I've no problem with that. There is just, however, a sense of We in the ruling class are better than the rest of you. We in the ruling class know better? And we don't have to play by the same rules. that you do.

So The optics, how it looks. 4. At the same time they are still finding, and I apologize for being direct about this, at the same time they are finding dead bodies. because of weather. At the same time, That there are millions who have diminished resources, power, water, etcetera.

They go to the Caribbean. Because well, they haven't been able to go on their annual New Year's holiday for a couple of years. And, again, in the words of CNN, A final opportunity for rest before what is expected to be a contentious 2023. and reelection run. Full disclosure My wife and I honeymooned.

Ian The Virgin Islands.

Some decades ago. We were back a time or two, but have not been in some period of time. It is beautiful. At least it was before several hurricanes struck the island of St. John, which I'm more familiar with.

You fly into the third island, St. Thomas, and then you take boats places. It is not necessarily a place for the wretch, because I'm not. It is a place for a wonderful, special memory. I have no problem with people doing that.

And I certainly have no problem with the first family doing it. But how does this look? Yes, I know. He's connected. He has staff.

It's not like he's, you know, just unplugged.

Well, any more than normal, I guess. I don't have any problem with it, but how does it look? We barely Avoided a partial government shutdown because of the theatrics by Democrats in and complicit Republicans, thank you very much, in getting that omnibus spending bill full of pork, full of earmarks, passed. as Santa was loading the sleigh.

Now this. It shows you. Again, the utter disregard That the ruling class, and I'm including people on both sides of the political aisle. The utter disregard they have for you and for me. The utter disregard for how real people.

The ones who made this country great and continue to make this country great. Utter disregard for how we live and what we think. And they don't care because they get to go. On vacation. Really nice vacations.

While real Americans are suffering. And I have not even begun to talk about inflation. About credit card debt that's about to hit families within a few weeks because they felt they needed to charge up. those cards to have a decent Christmas? in this inflationary environment, with no end in sight?

But Joe's just like us, you know. He's a kid from Scranton. I don't know how many kids from Scranton are spending New Year's. In the Caribbean. eight four four seven four seven eighty eight sixty eight Would love to know how many of you are spending New Year's in the Caribbean, or any time there for that matter.

844-747-8868. Weigh in on what you just heard or any of the news of the day. We'll take your calls as they come in this hour. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. We're so grateful you're along on this Wednesday edition of the Todd Starn Show.

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Again, mypello.com, promo code STARNS. Mm. Welcome back to the Todd Starnes Show. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week, 844-747-8868. That's the number, and that's the way you can connect with us in the Liberty University studio, 844-747-8868.

I've been talking so far today about the Biden crime family and celebrating the New Year in the U.S. Virgin Islands on the island of St. Croix. It's a place that they go and vacation regularly, and good for them to be able to do that. There is a quote in this CNN article, this quite laudatory and praiseworthy CNN article.

And they quote an individual who's had contact with the Bidens over time there on the island. And one of the individuals believes that the President and his family are again choosing one of their favorite spots in Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands to find stillness for a consequential decision about the future. That's how CNN phrased it. Here's the quote from the individual in the story: Chilling there by the water with the nice weather. They get to talk about it.

And, by the way, this is the key point. And I believe he'll run again only because I don't know that he thinks there's any alternative. Ring the bell on that one. Because that is the whole point. Of why Joe Biden will run again.

Because Donald Trump is running again. And in his mind Joe Biden believes he saved America. from destruction at the hands of Donald Trump. This has always been very personal for him. After his three failures previously in running for president.

He shows up in 2015. twenty twenty. And Everything was anti-Trump. More so than simply saying, I disagree with the current president as a political adversary. This was perfect.

personal. And once Donald Trump made it official that he is running again. I've said before, and I'll repeat it here. Biden is going to say. I was the only one who could beat Trump.

In twenty twenty I'm the only one who can beat him in twenty twenty four. It is my duty, my responsibility, I have no choice I have to run. The chance of Biden running. was enhanced exponentially once Trump made it official. It was never any secret, right?

But Biden in his mind thinks he's the answer. This is in the face of any public opinion polls. This is in the face of of a record Who would want to run on this record? But as I've noted to you folks before, Biden is so sheltered. partly because of his current state, but partly because As the President, I seriously doubt you're just sitting there kicking back and ripping through the T V channels.

surfing the Internet on your phone. He knows what he is told. And his sycophantic AIDS who depend on him for their job. They make it very clear. Oh, you're doing a great job, boss.

They love you. That's why every time the reporters would ask about something, you know, uh what about the people who say you shouldn't run? he'd say, Hey, uh you just check the polls, Jack Because the polls they showed him, if any. Said he was doing well. Coupled with the fact that he believes he is the savior of the country and has to do it again.

That's what this is all about.

So, of course, he doesn't think there's any alternative. Because he got the whole field to get out of the way in 2020. To stop Bernie Sanders first. This is all a presidency against something, not for something. We're for you and we'll come back after a break.

Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show. See, this just shows you. that the folks in Memphis at the flagship are paying close attention. With the Rejoin Music. That's a song called Everybody Wants to Rule the World, and I just spent a half hour blowing on about the ruling elite in Washington.

Very nicely done. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd this week: 844-747. 8868 is how you can reach us in the Liberty University studio to have a coast-to-coast conversation about whatever is on your mind. 844-747-8868.

Congressman Bob Good from Virginia joins the program in about 30 minutes. Todd is away this week, but you can always go to ToddStarnes.com. The team does such an excellent job of putting news stories out there, the emails that you get as alerts, and also the newsletter after this show is done. Todd is out on the Twitter machine as well, and I want to just highlight a couple of things that he wrote this morning on Twitter.

So, this is the voice of Todd Starnes from The Socials. Why is it so difficult for the Republican Party to disassociate itself from George Santos?

Now, Mr. Santos is the congressman-elect from New York who, shall we say, embellished his resume? Or he lied about everything.

So it's somewhere in there. Picking up Mr. Starnes. The first order of business for the new Congress should be to expel Mr. Santos.

Integrity does not matter to Democrats, but it should matter to Republicans. And he followed that up with a. Another tweet that said Clearly, integrity doesn't matter to either party. My bad. It's an interesting point.

Alright, so here's this fellow, Mr. Santos, who was elected to Congress. And then The formerly mainstream media started checking out his resume.

Now, When I was in journalism school, and when I taught journalism at the college level for 25 years, The order was that you check them out Before the election, Why was his record? Why was his background not checked out? Especially when you consider. That he was a Republican running. You just know that the former Lee mainstream media would be out there to try to tear him down if they could.

If there was something they could find, they would do it. But yet they didn't. And the explanations. I mean, I don't know that I want to get into all of this, but. He didn't go to the schools he said he went to.

He didn't work for the companies he said he worked for.

Well, he sort of did special projects for some of them, but that was as a hired gun for some other company. And so it's sort of like, it would be like me saying.

Well, this wouldn't even work either. I was going to say, it's sort of like saying that I. That I worked for Starnes Media Group. By filling in on this program.

Okay, you get the idea, right? I mean, I'm not on the daily payroll, and if I led somebody to believe that, then that would be wrong. Then he talked about his heritage. And he has uh uh some Jewish ancestry.

Well, instead of just saying that He claimed apparently to be Jewish, and this is the best. This was on ToddStarns.com yesterday. And so you can find it if you like today. He's now saying, well, I didn't say I was Jewish, I said I was. Jew-ish.

Like, sorta kinda. Are you kidding me? He should be thrown out Just because of that lame Response to everything.

Well, no, I didn't. You misheard me. I didn't say I was Jewish. I said I was Jew-ish. I I don't even know.

I don't know. Did they not take Tear into him earlier because they didn't think he'd win? I don't know. So, one of the things that's interesting, Todd posted that on the Twitter machine this morning, and perhaps on the other socials. I haven't had time to look, but a lot of people responded.

And probably in the same manner that you're thinking. And feel free to call in and express those thoughts at 844-747-8868. If you Toss him out if he does not get seated. Whatever. Instead of 222, you'll only have 221.

The majority just got smaller for Republicans. At a time when there's already great dissension within the caucus about who ought to be speaker. Would a Congressman Santos vote for Kevin McCarthy as Speaker? That could answer the question as to whether there's going to be a move to expel him. Obviously Democrats'll be on board.

Because you'll have to have a special election. Any vacancy in the U.S. House, according to the Constitution, remember we still have that, the Constitution.

Well, it says that you have to have an election. That's why the Democrat lawmaker who passed away They're having the election coming up soon.

So that's why we only have 434 members of the House at the moment instead of 435.

So Will this individual be seated? Will he get any sort of retribution? What would Republicans do? But then there were others of you who responded to Todd's tweet saying, Why does our side, meaning the Republicans, why does our side always have to play by the rules? I think one person said, Why are we playing by the Marcus of Queensbury rules?

When it's a straight fight. Why can the other side Ignore bad behavior. Why can the other side do anything to win an election and get a seat? But Republicans are held to a higher standard.

Well, there's something to be said for conducting yourself at a higher moral ground. Having a higher standard. That part's all good. But Is the high moral standard? better If you then lose The ability to govern.

This is a tough one. This is really a tough one. If you stood strictly on moral grounds, you'd say, we don't want this guy to be a member of our club. But You lose him who are you going to get? You're gonna be short a person.

I don't know. I don't have a good answer. That's why I'm not, sir. Start a journey, not a fab. Kick off your fitness journey with up to $500 off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus, or Tret Packages.

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But I'd love to hear what you think. Should Congressman Alex Santos be seated? Or should he be thrown out, as Todd suggested. expelled from Congress. Or Should, and I'll say for the moment, Speaker McCarthy, because until there's some.

Sense that he's either going to stand aside or that there is another individual who can get 218 votes. I'm just going to go with, quote, Speaker McCarthy. Is Speaker McCarthy going to do as he did to others by stripping them of committee assignments? He did that to a long time, a two decade Iowa congressman by the name of Steve King, who's been on this program. Should probably think about getting him on this week to talk about Kevin McCarthy because Congressman King, former Congressman King, Wrote a book called Walking Through the Fire, where he documents very clearly how Kevin McCarthy could not be trusted.

When, for public relations reasons, it seemed appropriate. McCarthy just simply stripped King of all his committee assignments. Could do that here. Could do that as the leader of the GOP caucus. 844 747 8868.

If you'd like to weigh in on this topic, or is it more important to say, you know, this is not the time to take the moral high ground on every issue, and we need this guy's vote if it's going to be a dependable vote.

However, As Todd Stearns tweeted, In addition this morning. How do we know that Santos is actually a Republican? He lied about everything else. He says he's a Republican. How many Republicans are there by name in Congress?

That don't seem to be acting like Republicans. We talked about this at length yesterday on the program, and if you missed it, go to ToddStarnes.com and listen to the Toddcast podcast because we talked at length about those. members of the House and Senate, Republicans by name, And by voter registration card, who voted for that pork-laden. Omnibus spending bill. The one that is going to not just commit our children and grandchildren to paying off this debt, but we're now going out another generation, especially since the interest on that debt keeps climbing because the Fed keeps raising interest rates in an effort to cool the economy.

This is the problem you have with the swamp monsters. prevailing in Washington, and they're not all Democrats. The swamp monsters, the career politicians, they want to control everything. including how you conduct your lives. And when they try to control things, They tend to screw it up pretty badly.

They go to fix one thing over here, they screw up three things over there. It's not what made America great. It is not the foundation upon which this country was built. And unless the people take action. And by that I mean Telling the politicians what you think.

Not just doing it once or twice, but staying on it. Volunteering to help with the campaigns that do matter, that do have.

Some sort of moral fortitude, or they're people who are of their word. Voting, getting your friends to vote, all of the good things you can do the right way. That's how you act. Ever since the 2020 election, and then we'll take a break and get your thoughts on the other side. Ever since that 2020 election, I hear people.

They may email or text or call me at the radio station. They may be people I know, and we're just in conversation. And I've heard it here. They say, What can we do? This is bad, this is broken, this is horrible, what can we do?

Well, the first is to commit to do something. stay within the bounds. But don't give up. stick with it. That is the only way.

We will prevail. and maintain The strength of this country. In the way it has always been. and the way it should be. 844-747-8868.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Call in now. I'm Jeff Stein. Your call's after a break. This is the Todd Stern Show.

You know, if you're of a certain age. You started drinking piña coladas in the early 1980s because Rupert Holmes did that song. Called Escape the Piña Colada Song. I think I hated every ingredient in it. But yet, we just felt we had to drink it.

That's why people in a later era drank everything out of a red solo cup, right? Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show, musing about popular culture here. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd 844-747-8868. That's how you can reach us in the Liberty University studio. Coming up in our next hour, we'll speak with Virginia Congressman Bob Goode about all of the things we've been talking about here.

He will join us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. And now, more than ever, as we've been talking, it is important to stand up. For what you believe in, stand up for your values, and that includes supporting companies and organizations that share those values. You know, Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless carrier. They not only share our beliefs, but they then do something about it.

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Somebody actually doing what they say, standing up for what they believe in? They do. Here's an example. Patriot Mobile does so much, but they donate a portion of every dollar to organizations that fight for causes you care about. In addition, they have plans that fit any budget with great discounts for both.

veteran and first responder heroes. By the way, discounts are also for multi-line users, but it shows you the kind of company that they are. If you switch to Patriot Mobile now and use promo code TOD, you'll get free activation and a free gift. One of my absolute favorite words on the planet. Free.

Patriot Mobile has the broadest nationwide coverage. They use the same towers other carriers use. That's one of the things that you figure out pretty quickly. These services are all using the same infrastructure anymore.

So, why not go with the one that is best for you in terms of cost, in terms of what they stand for as a company? And switching to Patriot Mobile is quite easy. Go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd or call their US-based customer service team at 972-PATRIOT. You get a special discount, you get free premier activation. And you do it, though, by using promo code TOD.

For more details, go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd, that's PatriotMobile.com/slash Todd, or call 972-Patriot. That's 972-PATRIOT. And again, guests to the Todd Starns radio program, join us via the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. I mentioned earlier that the folks at Team Starns. Search all manner of news outlets.

They get all sorts of information. And Caleb Park does such a great job with doing that every day with the website as well. And uh they shared this one today. The headline alone is is tremendous. Michelle Obama says she couldn't stand Barack for ten years.

That's nothing.

Some of us haven't been able to stand him for much longer than that. Fifteen, twenty, however long. The former First Lady, said in an interview with Revolt, I don't even know what revolt is. I'm not sure if I was running a magazine or a news outlet I'd call it revolt, but whatever. This is Michelle Obama.

People think I'm being catty for saying this. It's like there were ten years where I couldn't stand my husband. And guess what it happened when those kids were little? I know when I couldn't stand your husband, ma'am, and it is when your kids were still little, but he decided he was going to run for president and completely transform the country. Again, the former first lady, for whom there's now a trail going to be named for her in Georgia.

Happy payback For uh Voting for Democrats in the U.S. Senate. She said, for 10 years, while we were trying to build our careers and worrying about school and who's doing what, and I was like, this isn't even. Marriage isn't 50-50. Oh, goodness She says they've been married thirty years.

I would take bad 10 bad years over 30. It's just how you look at it.

Okay, s so basically what she's saying is. Yeah, we've been married thirty years. I guess uh twenty out of the thirty were all right.

Now It's probably pretty good.

Well, I I really can't stand either of them. I'd love to know what he thinks about She Couldn't Stand Him for 10 Years. I've got a sense that potentially he's got a list himself that he could. could line up against her. I don't think either one of them would be a picnic.

Maybe it's good they found each other. To therefore Save two other innocent people from being victims of marriages to either of the Obamas. Is that overly catty? Yeah.

Couldn't stand him for 10 years. When did he really start running? See, we saw him here in Iowa in what, 07?

So, what's that, like 15 years? Yeah, yeah, I haven't been able to stand your husband or, frankly, don't think much of you for much longer than just that 10-year period. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach the Todd Starnes radio program. We're going to take a top-of-the-hour break now for news and weather. And then, when we come back, Congressman Bob Good of Virginia joins us on the other side, along with your calls as well.

Thank you so much for making us a part of your day. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd on the Start a Journey, not a fab. Kick off your fitness journey with up to $500 off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus, or Tret Packages. Choose the package that will take your training to the next level with accessories like our cycling shoes, heart rate band, non-slip rip dumbbells, and more. Join now, and you'll see why 92% of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later.

All Access Membership Separate offer ends January 8th, 2023. Excludes Bike, Bike Plus, and Trep Basics. See additional terms at onepeloton.com. Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch.

That's it! That's right. I love this American. Todd starts. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed.

Welcome to hour number two of a Wednesday edition of the Todd Starnes program. Coast to coast of more than 100 outstanding radio stations in streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week, coming to you from my home base in the free state of Iowa at News Talk 1540, KXCL. Good to have you along with us.

We're here in the Liberty University studio, ready to take your calls at 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls a little later this hour because now joining us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line is a proud alum of Liberty University. He is Virginia Congressman Bob Goode, representing the 5th District of that fine state. Congressman Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Starnes, how are you today? Good afternoon, Jeff.

Great to be with you. Thanks for having me. I'm doing well. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year to you and your listening audience.

And the same to you as well.

Well, you did your best to prevent a lump of coal from coming into our Christmas stockings, namely that bloated omnibus bill. Talk about what you saw as you reviewed that more than four thousand pages in casting your vote. If anything reveals what's wrong with Washington, what's wrong with the swamp cartel, the Uniparty Swamp Cartel. and why we need transformative change, transformational change to Washington, why we cannot keep doing what we've always done and hoping for somehow, some way we're going to get different results. It's what happened on Christmas Eve with the four thousand page plus seven thousand plus earmarks fifteen billion dollars of the one point seven trillion dollar spending boondoggle, funding the government into September, as you know, taking away the leverage That Republicans in the House, the people, the representatives empowered by the people with three to four million more votes than Democrats got in the election on November 8th, the people spoke.

The greatest indication of where the people are, of course, is not the Senate because the disproportionate two per state representation that you have, or even the Electoral College, the winner-take-all per state, but it's the people's representatives in the House that most clearly indicate where the American people are. They gave us the power to stop the Biden-Schumer agenda in the new Congress, and Senate Republicans. strip that away in a backroom deal McDaniel McCarthy deal in the back room by the moderate cartel, if you will, that's running the Republican Party today. Why We Be Change? Made this deal.

That's a disaster for the American people. That just exacerbates all that's wrong with the two years of the full Democrat control. They essentially, with Republican help in the Senate, extended it nine months. ten months into the new year, stripping away the power that people gave Republicans in the House. And again, we've talked about this before, Congressman, but just to make the point even stronger, the fiscal year begins, the federal government fiscal year begins October 1st.

That means you get your budget passed in time. Democrats, who had the majority in both chambers, failed to do that. They could have put together a package like this, and you'd have been hard-pressed to stop it in regular order. But the shenanigans that led to it being up against another Christmas holiday, that just shows that the Democrats have no discipline when it comes to governing. My view anyway.

What's yours? You're exactly right. They had the power to pass budgets within regular order, within the time frame that they're supposed to do it. But unfortunately and sadly, we've got we know who Democrats are. We know the Democrats hate the Constitution.

They hate the founders. They hate the country. They want to make America like the rest of the world. They don't believe in our sovereignty. They don't believe in our borders.

They don't believe in our exceptionals. And we know who the Democrat Party is.

However, how could eighteen members of the Senate Empower this on the Republican side. It's the Republicans in the Senate who had the ability to block it. That's why I joined some of my House Freedom colleagues, led by Chip Roy, with that letter to the Senate saying, hey, you need to stop it. If you don't stop it, we're going to do everything we can to fight against you in the new House majority, our own party. We're going to run against our own party if you participate in sticking this to the American people on Christmas Eve under the threat and pressure of a government shutdown and the holiday season.

We were prepared to stay through the holidays, through Christmas, to fight for the American people, what they asked us to do when they gave us their vote. But it's the Republicans, quite frankly, Jeff, who are sticking at the American people and sticking it to the very base. voters who elected them with betraying that trust once again. It's unconscionable those eighteen senators on the Republican side who had the power to block it and did not do it. Representative Bob Goode of Virginia joining us on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in.

I'm so glad that you folks put that letter out there and said, Look, we have seen how this movie ends. This happened in the early days of the Trump administration, where the House passed bills and the Senate couldn't be bothered with it, both Republican-controlled.

So you simply were putting them on notice that you may be in the House as opposed to the Senate with the six-year terms, but by gosh, you're going to not let this just go without possible ramifications. This isn't going to go away for a while, this split, is it? It is not. And this is why it's so important what we're doing on the House side, forcing a change in leadership, not going along with the status quo, not rubber stamping the next in line, but fighting for a true conservative leader who will fight the Biden Schumer agenda in the new majority, who won't go along to get along. I remind you, when we had the current House leadership on the Republican side in the majority, We every major spending package that got passed in twenty seventeen and twenty eighteen did so with majority Democrat votes and minority Republican votes when we controlled the Congress.

We cannot allow that to happen again when we have the majority in the House. And that's why, again, we're going to block Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. He is part of the problem. He is not part of the solution. He would be doing the same thing on the House side that McConnell's doing on the Senate side if we give him the power to do that.

And that's why we're going to block that on january third. And we're going to bring a true Leader to the speakership who represents the conservative center of the conference, so the American people have a fighting chance in twenty twenty three and beyond. I do not know Representative McCarthy, never met him, never talked to him. But I concur with the sentiments you expressed that he is not the individual just because it might be, quote, his turn, not the individual needed to lead the Republicans in the House to try to stop the atrocities of the Democrats in Washington. But you have to get 218 votes.

Do you believe that there will be? I don't I don't like the phrase consensus candidate, but do you believe there will be someone from your caucus? who will be able to get two hundred eighteen votes. as opposed to Representative McCarthy. Absolutely.

The first step is just to block Kevin McCarthy from getting two hundred eighteen, which is absolutely going to happen. Thankfully, over the last few weeks, the narrative has changed where recognition and acceptance is setting in that he's not going to be speaker. We've got people privately acknowledging it. We've got people who are not part of our movement, if you will. We've got reporters telling that members of Congress who've been supporting Kevin are recognizing doesn't have the votes.

They've maybe committed to him on the first ballot, but they're not going to be with him on the second ballot.

So what we've I personally asked him last week in a one-on-one meeting to go ahead and withdraw for the good of the country, the good of the Congress, the good of the party. He knows he doesn't have the votes. Why put us through that on the House floor on january third? But we're committed to seeing it through. We'll block him with maybe fifteen, twenty votes on the first ballot on january third.

Then folks will be released from that commitment they made to him. There's a reason why he's not fulfilling committee assignments and chairmanships and so forth because he's trying to wield that leverage over them past january third. He doesn't have to do that. We can be set up and ready for the committees to operate as soon as we have a speaker on january third or shortly thereafter.

However, he's trying to desperately hold on to that in a panic grasp at power. But once we get past that and once that realization sets in, that acceptance sets in, then we will be able to publicly vet, frankly, on the House floor or if we adjourn to private conference meetings, who can get to that two hundred eighteen. And I believe there's a very popular consensus candidate that the American people want to see a speaker who I think will be will garner a whole lot of support. There's more than one candidate though that's qualified that based on the merits of their leadership, their conservative credentials, their stature within the party, not just because they're next in line or just because they raise the most money, but because they're the most effective leader. That's what we've got to have to bring transformational change to the country, to the Congress, so we can save the country, save the Republic.

Virginia Congressman Bob Goode joining us on the Todd Starn Show, Jeff Stein filling in. I commend you for going up to the speaker or the potential speaker, the speaker in waiting, I don't know, the fellow who wants the job and just saying to him, Look, you don't have the votes, so how about you do the right thing? I certainly applaud you for that, and I trust your constituents. Um expect no less. Every Republican who votes against Kevin McCarthy on january third will be doing the will of their Republican voters, their constituents, their base support who've been begging and pleading with them for the last couple of years not to vote for Kevin McCarthy.

No one wants him to be Speaker in terms of the base, rank and file Republicans. And so we will actually be doing the will of the people who elected us when we bring the change that's needed. And we vote for someone who is truly representative of where the Republican Party is, has conservative convictions, is a strong leader, is a trustworthy leader, and someone, again, who can get to eighteen consensus and lead us forward in the all important fight that we need to save the Republic and to reverse the harmful policies the American people are suffering under from the first few years of the Biden administration. I know that this is a sensitive topic for any of the individuals who might become speaker, if not. Representative McCarthy.

They don't want to publicly seem anxious. They don't want to look like they're backstabbing the guy that they are serving with, etc. But obviously, I have to ask the question. Who do you think will be the next Speaker of the House?

Well, I'm going to resist for a few more days what I've resisted for the last few weeks, and that's to name specific individuals. Whomever emerges to consensus Canada cannot be part of the effort to defeat Kevin McCarthy, so they've got to be kept separate from that. But when it's not, like you said, it's not personal about Kevin McCarthy, but it shouldn't be based on personal ambition or pride or selfishness. It's for what's the best for the country, the Congress and the Republican Conference. And I think you'll see us coalesce around someone who fits that.

come january third or shortly thereafter. It's okay if it takes a day or two to do that. We don't want to be in a hurry to make a bad decision. The country will survive. The Congress will survive if we slow things down for a day or two to get this right.

And we're committed to doing that. And so you'll see that emerge very quickly after the first vote. And I'm going to resist that temptation to name any names here with just a few days ago. I respect that greatly, and I trust you also understand why I had to ask the question. Let me ask this.

Is this going to be a name that we're well familiar with? And I phrase it that way because there are certain names that are on top of mind of people who are listening to this program, but there are some other individuals who may not be as well known, who would be just as competent and just as committed to the cause. Are we going to know the name? In other words, is it going to be a recognizable name? I think you're going to see someone who is a member of Congress, who is a member of the Republican Party, of course, and who is recognizable among the banks.

I think that's who you're going to see emerge. And you know, the bar is probably, quite frankly, to do better than Kevin McCarthy sets fairly low, Jeff. Not that we want to set the bar low, but we need someone who doesn't have contempt for conservatives, doesn't resent the input of regular members, doesn't spend millions of dollars in primaries trying to defeat conservative candidates against the will of the voters of those respective districts.

Someone who wants to return to regular order, who's a secure leader that's not afraid to have vacate the chair put back in place after 200 years before Nancy Pelosi removed it about four years ago.

Someone who will allow us to elect our own committee members, will return to single-issue legislation, amendments from the House floor, allow conservatives to be chairmans of committee and to get prime committee assignments because the conservatives represent the Republicans who elect us. Those kinds of things are the kind of transformational change we've got to have to save the country, and we will have a leader who will support those things. Congressman Bob Goode, it's the first time we've had the privilege of speaking. It was a privilege. Thank you for standing up for what is right.

I appreciate you taking the time today and continue the fight, sir. Thanks for fighting the good fight, Jeff. God bless you. You as well, sir. Congressman Bob Good of Virginia joining us on the Todd Starn Show.

Some powerful stuff there. Love to get your response at 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show.

Welcome back to the Todd Starring Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Wednesday. Hope you were here for that conversation with Congressman Bob Goode of Virginia just now. That is the spirit. that is necessary.

And there are plenty of folks, not just in the Freedom Caucus, as he is, but plenty of folks. who will take the oath and will do the people's will. But the swamp monsters out there, the uniparty, as we have called them.

Well, I'm not sure that they're looking out for you and for me as much as they're looking out for themselves. If you missed the conversation, well, first, where the heck were you? But second, after a little bit this afternoon, after the show's over, go to ToddSterns.com and you can listen to the Todcast Podcast. That's the first segment of Hour Two, our Conversation with Congressman Bob Goode of Virginia. I don't do much shopping these days.

and when I do, I try to go to stores, Because if we don't have stores in our communities, well, then we've got no economic. Foundation for property tax base, employment, et cetera. I just don't like ordering online. I don't tend to like what I get.

So I go to the stores. And I see things in person. And that's probably true for most of us. You like to see the merchandise, you need to touch it, etc. You're buying towels, for example.

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844-747-8868 is the way you can connect with us. Who's a perfect presidential candidate? We'll talk about that and more coming up. Jeff stein in for Todd on the Todd Starring Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show.

I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. Coming to you from, as always, the Liberty University studio. Join the conversation, please, 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868. That is the number that Bill used to call in from Cordova, Tennessee.

He listens on the flagship, the Mighty 990 KWAM. Bill, thanks for calling the Todd Starn Show. How are you today? You know, I'm doing dandy, thank you just fine. How are you guys doing?

Well, you know, I'm not as good as a guy who has my pillow towels that he apparently uses on a regular basis. Tell me about this. Yeah, I bought actually bought three sets of them about a year and a half ago. And still to this day, A dry off With those towels, and you can't even see wet spots. I mean, they're that absorbent that.

you hang them back on the towel rack and they they look dry. It's Amazing. And um The other thing I wanted to say just by Way of is that. MyPillow donated to my foundation, and I wanted to thank him publicly for that. Um A set of pillows to auction off.

Mm. And I'm going to be doing that here in the next probably few months. I know we have spoken No, it's Mr. Lindell has created such wonderful products, a great company, and a great American that he is. I know we've talked before.

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Alrighty. Auto parts. Remind people of the website for your organization. It's uh pets. Stroke.

Foundation.org. And we're an organization developed to try to help stroke survivors with the cost of therapy after other benefits expire. And we've got some other things going on too, but that's pretty that's basically the basis of the foundation is to assist with therapy costs. That's tremendous work.

Well, no, you're you're exactly right. And I remember looking into this after we talked before, and you run an excellent operation. Tell me about this winter weather that y'all had there in that part of Tennessee. How much were you affected, if at all? We're still under a boil water advisory, mainly because the infrastructure here Like in many major cities that have been Democrat-run for so long, has just been ignored.

And Okay. You know, we we had uh very unusual temperatures. We woke up the other morning with one degree. And that's not really heard of in this part of the country.

So you know, you can expect some problems. But I think if it had been maintained better and there were better planning on Um Parts of the fit heat. and the utilities. I don't think the problem would have been as bad as it was.

Well, you beat me to the punch 'cause I was going to ask you what what political party runs the city regularly, and you beat me to the punch on that, uh Democrat run city. But but I'm sure they responded immediately and everything is tremendous now once the problem surfaced, he said sarcastically. Yes. I got that. Yeah, no, they've been pretty slow to the punch on most of that.

Most of it, uh, Areas, some areas have been done better than others, and I quite honestly don't know how bad as far as any contamination goes that my area of town, which is Cordova, was. We had a Slightly lower water pressure. And we're still boiling and everything, but I don't know if it was. really needed to be citywide. I think that was more precautionary.

And that's fine. But yes, we they definitely could have done a better job of planning. Here and not just on electricity but crime and everything else. It's We have the big city problems.

Well, it takes people talking about it to stand up and get it changed. Hey, Bill, thank you so much for calling in. I appreciate it, and good luck with your efforts. 844-747-8868. That's the number where you can reach us: 844-747-8868.

You can always go to ToddStarnes.com and get all manner of good information. That's also how you get the link for the live stream of this program on the website, on Rumble, on Gitter as well. Todd is on the Twitter machine and get her and gabIko at Todd Starnes on Instagram at ToddStarnes FNC. I have some social accounts as well, and they are all at Iowa Politics, IOW A. At Iowa Politics on Twitter, Instagram, Gitter, Parlor and True Social There.

You have so many, I can't even remember. That's why it's the same handle on all of them because I have a hard enough time remembering. At Iowa Politics at Twitter, getter. Parlor, Instagram and Truth Social, and my website is totallyiowa.com, totallyiowa.com, and that's where you get links to the three podcasts that I have each day.

So We would love to have. A perfect president.

Well we know Perfection is certainly not something we're going to find on this earth, at least not among those walking around at this point. What would be your perfection? President.

Well, the folks at USA Today. and Suffolk University Did a poll. and ask people who would be your perfect president. And I want to take a call from Ed in a moment, but let me set this up a little further and then we'll come back to it. If there were a want ad for the perfect President according to this poll, it would read Wanted a fifty one to sixty five year old governor with business experience and willing to compromise to get things done.

Military experience a bonus. In other words, of the thousand people that were surveyed in early December, The consensus was that the perfect presidential candidate Would have experience as the chief executive, governor, business experience, maybe military experience. In that 51 to 65 Age range. And be willing to compromise because we need to get things done. I'll let you think about that as to what you, when you imagine who's the perfect candidate.

What qualifications? Take names out of it. I don't want to hear about Trump and Biden. Just give me, you know, who generically fits. And we'll talk a little more about the results coming up.

But Ed is calling in from North Carolina. He's listening on the talk station. He called 844-747-8868. Ed, thanks so much for listening to the program and calling in. What's on your mind today?

Hi, Todd. Hey, first of all, happy New Year to you, and thanks for all you do for us out here in the listening audience. Yes, sir. My point is this. The Republicans have the house.

I'm a Republican, I'm a conservative. Republicans have the house. But they obviously don't have the Senate, and with all the rhinos in the Senate, They definitely don't have the Senate.

So passing legislation, probably not going to happen.

However, The house can Investigate. And I hired my representatives here in North Carolina. to get to the bottom of COVID. And that's what I demand that they do. And I hope people like you, who have a little bit of their ear will put continue to keep pressure on them because exposure is about the best thing we have going for us as far as finding out the origin.

Now maybe we can't do anything, but it's it i I you've seen the um You've seen the headlines, Todd. China Is their hospitals are overwhelmed. There's billions of people dying of COVID in China right now. And this president, who's asleep at the wheel, I haven't heard one new sanction, one new flying restrictions coming out of China. We're I tell you what, we're in big trouble with this COVID, and we need to find out what the heck's going on, buddy.

Well, I'll tell you, Ed, I saw something in the news today, and we've talked about it here on the program, that the president does care about flight restrictions as they pertain to his airplane going to the Virgin Islands for a Caribbean New Year's rendezvous with family members, members of the Biden crime family. But I did see something where they are floating the trial balloon about. Putting these restrictions in place for flights coming into the U.S. from China.

Now I I think you probably remember that when Donald Trump said we needed to do this, they said he was xenophobic and he was a racist. And what do you know now they're talking about doing it? I suppose they wanted to see how people reacted. What do you think?

Well, I want to I just want to see real, serious investigations. I want to see the evidence. I want to see the exposure. And then maybe the American people will force them to do something. Right now, we're all still kind of in the dark, but But I think if the Republicans in the House can really dig deep and find out what's going on and then explain to the American people what the future looks like if we don't do something because we we don't even really our our re we our researchers don't even really know where this came from.

So how can you defeat it if you don't really know what it is and where it came from? And I believe the government probably does know and they don't want to tell us.

So we have to force them. We have to force them to tell us. We need the gory details, and then the American people will finally demand that something that China be held accountable. Ed, thanks so much for calling in. Great insight.

I appreciate it. And I can confirm that when Todd is back in the chair next week, he will continue to keep everybody's feet to the fire on the whole thing as well. Thanks so much for listening to this program on the TalkStar 2020 844-747-8868 is the number, and that's how you can reach us. We'll take your calls after a break, and then we'll talk more about this USA Today in Suffolk University poll about what Americans say they want. And I teased that here a moment ago.

And I've already heard from a close friend sending me a message pointing out how this poll is probably flawed. We'll get to all that and your calls when we come back. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week. Thanks for being along on the Todd Stein. Star Show.

Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. It is sunny at 82 degrees. on the island of St. Croix in the U.S.

Virgin Islands. If you were with us in hour one, you'll understand why I made that reference. By the way, at the Mighty 990 in Memphis, the hub of this operation, it appears to be partly cloudy in 56. And where I am in Iowa, we are above normal for this time of year. We're all the way up to 37 degrees with sunshine.

And that is your traffic and weather together. This hour. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach this program. That is the number that Tom used. He's listening to this program in Georgia on that great WDUN.

Tom, you've got an idea about who the next speaker should be. Let's hear it. Before we get into that, Yeah. I am a northern Iowa grad, so I know about weather in the Cedar Falls, Waterloo area.

Well, good for you. What did you major in? Marketing. All right. And you marketed yourself to a warmer climate.

Good work out of you, Tom. How about that? Good things happen when you get old. Ha ha ha ha. All right, so are you going to be the next Speaker of the House?

No, no, no. But let me give you some background. First of all, on the speaker, And I know we're in the advantage that's going on now is It's so close. But finally, the Freedom Caucus and others have really negotiation power. And even though he has said many times he's not interested.

Um Four years ago, I worked almost a year trying to get Jim Jordan elected Speaker. And because I've known him since he was eighteen, and I can tell you there's not a finer person in Congress than Jim Jordan. I hope, even though he wants to be the head of the judiciary for all the right reasons. We would not have a better speaker than him because I really believe the next two years. That the President and Vice President will have all kinds of legal issues, he then would become the President of the United States.

Oh, now you're taking this out to the next level. That's nicely done. All right. So I think the Biden crime family's trail of terror is pretty well listed. What about the Vice President?

Other than incompetency, what would be her high crime or misdemeanor? Oh, I think you wouldn't have to look very far. I don't think she's smart enough to cover up all of her crimes. And once the media flips. and starts really looking at things, I think it's all different math.

So, you, and I have great respect for Congressman Jordan, as do you. Do you think? that that's the best place for him as opposed to judiciary. In all honesty, that's a tough question because I don't think anybody would do a better job in judiciary, but I also don't think there's anybody that has the skill set and the moxie to be a better president. in Congress.

Who else would you think might run a close second or third? Oh boy, um I mean, I've heard Stelise's name. I've heard Scalise's name, I've heard others. I'm not a big fan of Scalise that for a lot of different reasons I'd rather not go into, but I really don't think he's the conservative that he claims to be. You know um I mean, I was very involved in politics for years.

And so I just know too much about a lot of people.

Well, that that does happen a fair amount of the time. All right. I don't know if you're a betting man, but give me the odds that when you call into this show one week from today, it'll be Speaker Jim Jordan. What are the odds in favor of that? Very small.

Is that because he would turn it down, or that McCarthy is going to be able to twist arms?

Well, first of all, I think McCarthy, I mean, McCarthy, I go back to Jody Heiss here in Georgia. McCarthy stripped him of his chairman of his committee assignments years ago on armed services because he was pulling a power play. I mean, so, um I think, as they say, that I always have a saying. I have two hobbies in life, wrestling and politics. The difference is wrestling has rules.

Yeah.

And you don't get to be a national wrestling champion without having good discipline and a good fighting spirit, like Congressman Shorty. And focus. He's a two-time national champ. And like he used to tell me, you know, the the Republicans are notorious for going out on the mat and before the whistle blows just say we default. We saw that happen last week with the Senate.

Well, it's one thing to go on the mat and roll over so you can get pinned, but when you're aggressively helping the other side, that's even worse. Yeah, that's almost, yeah, that's almost, that's like pro wrestling. That's theater. There we go.

Now we come full circle. Tom, great conversation, great phone call. Go Panthers, as they say. Appreciate you calling into the Todd Starn show and have a happy new year. 844-747-8868.

That's how you can join the conversation. Coming up, just after the top of the hour, by the way, we'll speak with veteran financial journalist Jordan Goodman. He's known as America's Money Answers Man, and I want him to talk about the economy, how it has gone this year, and what we can expect for next year. That is scheduled for the top of the next hour, and then we will talk at the bottom of the hour with investigative reporter Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner, and we'll talk about some of her more recent reporting. Patty, I know you're on the line.

You think Chip Roy would be a great speaker. Oh, goodness, I could get behind that as well. But we don't have enough time to talk to you directly right now before the top of the hour. But I do hope you'll either hold the line or call back in about 15 or 20 minutes, and we'll be sure to get your thoughts on why you think Congressman Roy would be a tremendous speaker. That's all coming up.

We've got one more hour. This just moves along, doesn't it, friends? Wednesday edition of the Todd Starns program from the Liberty University Studio. I'm Jeff Stein coming to you from the free state of Iowa. It is always a privilege to connect with you in this coast-to-coast conversation.

Hope you'll be along in the next hour as well. Jeff Stein in for Todd Starns on the Todd Starnes Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starns. That's right. I love this American Ride.

Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to our three of this Wednesday edition of the Todd Starnes Program, Coast to Coast of more than 100 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein in for Todd this week. Good to talk to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids in Waterloo, Iowa. Good to be along with you from the Liberty University studio, and we invite your calls and comments at 844-747-8868.

That's 844-747-8868. In less than 30 minutes, return guest to the program, political and investigative journalist Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner will be along. But joining us now on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line is veteran financial journalist Jordan Goodman. He's known as American. America's Money Answers Man, Mr.

Goodman. Thanks for taking the time. To be with you, Jeff. All right, so this year 2022 has been quite, I'll say roller coaster, but it certainly went way up and it's not coming that far down just yet. Let's talk first of all, just the broad headline.

If you were to summarize the year 2022, what sticks out in your mind? The Federal Reserve raising interest rates at the fastest pace they've done. Oh, oh, oh, alright. O'Reilly Auto Parts specializes in keeping your car on the road. Not sure how much life is left in your battery?

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Alrighty. Auto parts. Since 1994. They raised rates seven times. Yeah.

the federal funds rate, which the Fed controls. and now it's about four point five percent. with more interest rate increases to happen next year. That's clearly the big story because that affected Everything else. And that has such a domino effect, doesn't it?

I mean, let's talk first of all about why the Fed did that. What was the purpose behind it?

Well, inflation was much hotter than they wanted. It started in 2021. They kept saying that inflation was transitory, a word that they I think will forever. Uh Regret having used it, but there it was.

So they kept interest rates at zero throughout twenty twenty one. And inflation just took off for a bunch of reasons. The recovery from the pandemic as part of it. I mean, during the pandemic, the economy shut down And then when it reopened again, demand surged and supply didn't keep up with it.

So you had a surge in demand for all kinds of things. and prices went up for that purpose. There were shortages of things. The federal government both the The fiscal side. and the monetary side, the Federal Reserve, Both flooded the system with money to keep the economy from going off the cliff during the pandemic, and that money been splashing around.

And that pushed up the prices of assets. real estate stock cryptocurrencies, all kinds of crazy things. And then Uh this year they've been withdrawing that money. That's why the stock market in general has been down. Cryptocurrencies have plunged.

I mean, a year ago, Bitcoin was sixty five thousand. Not sixteen thousand. NFTs, national nonfungible tokens, a year ago was selling in the millions of dollars, now they're pretty much worthless.

So All the kind of hype. that was in the market because of all that free money sloshing around has pretty much disappeared. in twenty twenty two. Financial journalist Jordan Goodman joining us on the Todd Starn show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today.

That has had the desired effect in terms of slowing the economy, but we have some other unintend well, I don't want to say unintended, but some other natural consequences, like, for example, these interest rates go up, and that means the national debt becomes even harder to repay.

Well, that's right. We were spoiled for a long time, Jeff, of paying zero percent. Yeah.

And so even though the amount of debt went up, The interest on it was pretty much nonexistent. That changed dramatically in 2022. I mean Treasury bills Had been pretty much zero at the beginning of the year.

Now they're about 4.5%.

So you're right, that's costing the government a huge amount. billions and billions of dollars that they didn't have to pay before. And as we keep raising rates, it's going to cost them even more. I'm going to keep adding to the national debt. Our national debt for this year was over one trillion dollars.

So we keep adding, we're up to about $31.5 trillion now, give or take a few hundred billion here or there. And that really starts costing real money. In fact, the interest on the national debt is soon going to become the largest expenditure of the federal government, more than defense, more than Social Security, more than Medicare. That's just a staggering thing. I mean, just that alone, as we look at it.

Jordan Goodman, financial journalist, America's Money Answers Man, he joins us on the Todd Starn show today. If you were the one who was in charge of the Fed, would you have taken this action in twenty twenty two? Or were they sort of boxed into a corner because of other actions in prior years?

Well, I would have moved earlier. I would have started raising rates earlier in twenty twenty one. and not say that inflation was transitory. That's that's and I think they even agree at the Federal Reserve that they moved too late. and they had to catch up by being so aggressive this year.

That was the mistake they made.

Now they thought the economy was too fragile. start raising rates in 2021. But in retrospect, they kind of left the cat out of the bag, think of it that way. And now they have to go chasing it. I mean, in the middle of this year, June, our consumer price index was about nine point one percent.

The latest number is about seven point two percent.

So The rate of increase has come down. But it's still increasing, and the average American feels it. I mean, you're seeing higher prices for food and gasoline and rents and education and airfares and clothing, all kinds of different things. The average person feels it and that's hurting the economy. because people can only spend so much.

Their incomes have not been going up as fast as their expenditures. and therefore, they're making up the difference with debt. We're seeing credit card use.

Soaring up about twenty. 20% over a year ago. Because If you can't afford something, Americans say, Well, I'll buy it anyway, 'cause I'm going to put it on credit and maybe pay for it later. People are going to have some pretty big bills. from the Christmas spending season coming in in January.

I wonder if some of that, too, is a post COVID reaction. In other words, people hunkered down and came out of it a bit for twenty twenty one and they just figured, well, life is short, play hard, and we'll worry about the debt later.

Well, this is later. But that's correct.

So during the pandemic, people didn't spend, they didn't go out And the savings rate went up. to about seven or eight percent.

Now it's down to about 2%. They were getting checks from the government.

So, yeah, they weren't doing anything, but they were increasing their savings and paying down debt. The last two years, twenty one and twenty two, were the opposite. They went Wild, they went they bought all kinds of things, they've been traveling. if you can get a plane, I guess. And they've been taking on a lot of debt.

So yes, that is and that's going to continue. I think people are going to keep taking on debt, which is a very expensive thing to do. the average interest rate on credit cards today is about nineteen percent.

So that's a very expensive way to have a dinner. I always say it doesn't make it taste better to have a dinner that you're paying nineteen percent interest on, but three months later you don't even remember what you ate. That's a very fair point. Jordan Goodman joining us on the Todd Starnes program. All right.

So, as we look at the supply chain, obviously, still a problem because of all the things you mentioned. If you've got higher gas prices, it's going to cost more to transport goods. If you are therefore raising prices, say, at the grocery store, all of this is going up at an inflation rate that some people, younger folks, haven't seen in their lifetimes. And the administration is crowing about all their successes as the year came to a close.

Well, if you caused the problem to begin with, it's hard for me to applaud when there's some turnaround in this. Am I missing something?

Well, they passed the Inflation Reduction Act this year, and it has not done very much to lower inflation. It was mostly an environmental climate change bill when you get down to it. I mean, they talk about bringing inflation down. And again, the rate of change has gotten somewhat better going from nine to seven. But the Fed's target is 2%.

So we're way above the Fed's target, and that's why they're going to keep raising rates into twenty twenty three. which is going to continue to press the markets and the economy. I mean, just to give you one area, of the economy that's been hurt so dramatically by this is the housing sector. Oh, a year ago. The housing sector was super hot.

interest and mortgage rates were three percent or thereabouts. And you had people a house would come to the market, you have fifty bidders you know, bidding fifty thousand over asking price, all cash today. You're not having that today at all, Jeff.

Okay. Today it's super cold. And because mortgage rates went from three to seven or so, A lot of people are priced out. They can't afford homes at these mortgage rates. And the prices are still gone up, so it's much less affordable.

So all those buyers that were waiting to buy your home are are still renting these days. They just are not able to buy. That's an example of the Federal Reserve's raising interest rates, clearly affecting the economy right now. But I think that's going to continue into twenty three. You're going to have uh a co uh cold.

Yeah.

housing market because mortgage rates are going to stay high and people just can't afford buying homes. Even though they would like to, they are not able to afford homes at these mortgage rates and prices. I saw a report in the news and I did not make a note, so I may have this wrong, and please correct me if I do. Was it the Philadelphia Fed who said, wait a second, the administration Oversold the number of jobs created by like a million jobs, something like that, and the net was really only 10,000? Does that sound familiar, or am I dreaming?

the Labor Department every year does revisions. And I think they did a revision Where after they have more time to look through the data, they kind of revise all the data.

So, yes, I think that is correct. It was a revision downward by about a million jobs from what it was before. That's correct.

Well, that seems. convenient in an election year? Or am I just too cynical as I get older? No, that is convenient. It doesn't go the other direction.

They don't say, oh, there are a million more people employed than we knew about. It usually goes the other way.

So yes, I would I your cynicism is well deserved.

Well, I've certainly practiced it at the very least. All right, our final question for financial journalist Jordan Goodman. All right, here comes 2023. What would you anticipate when you Will happen with regard to money and the economy based on everything you just laid out so well for this past year.

Well, everybody says we're going to have a recession, that the economy, which has been growing, we had a three point two percent growth rate for the third quarter. The fourth quarter we're in now is probably going to be about one percent to one point five percent. But if the interest rates keep staying high, I think that's going to slow the economy further. Like the housing market we talked about, this is also true in the auto market.

So probably we'll get a recession in twenty twenty three. It may not be a deep one, But at least we'll have negative Well, economists like to call negative growth. I call that contraction actually. And that means that it's going to be harder to get jobs. You'll have more unemployment.

The housing market's going to stay very cold. Uh the car market's going to slow up.

So it's going to be a difficult time. But this is not an accident. This is what the Federal Reserve wants. The Federal Reserve wants to create a slower economy. less demand for housing, less demand for cars, wages coming down, unemployment.

This is their goal.

So it d d it sounds like it's Something they don't want to happen. They want it to happen and happen faster because they think that's what's going to bring down inflation. Do you agree? I think it's too much pain. I frankly do not think it's the right way to do things.

There's a lot of things that the Federal Reserve does not control which are causing inflation. and raising interest rates does not help them. I'll just give you some examples. Sure.

Okay, we have a big We have over ten point five million jobs unfilled in this country. And there's about 10,000 babies when we were retiring every day. I think it was something like 3.6 million. People retire this year.

So the The skilled people are retiring and not in the labor force anymore. And we don't have enough people coming in to fill the jobs that are necessary.

Now, if we're stopping immigration, for various political reasons. But that is an inflationary impact when you have not enough workers for the jobs that exist. Employers have to raise wages to attract Workers. And so that's a long term inflationary impact. which then gets passed on in the form of higher prices.

It's what they call wage push. Inflation. That's something that raising interest rates by the Federal Reserve does not affect the number of workers that are out there. That's a long-term thing that the Federal Reserve has no control over, and that's why we're going to continue to have these relatively higher inflation numbers.

Some areas they do control. Commodity prices have come down a lot this year. Oil used to be $120 a barrel, now it's like $80. It had been in the seventies. That comes down because of lower demand.

lumber prices have come down because the housing market is so much weaker. Uh corn and other things have come down. because of less demand.

So some things they do control, but some things they do not control. I learn so much every time I'm in conversation with Jordan Goodman. Thank you so much for the time, sir, as always, and best wishes for a great start to 2023. Very good. Thank you so much, Jeff.

Appreciate it. Appreciate you. Financial journalist Jordan Goodman, well-deserved name of America's Money Answers Man. And he joined us on the Todd Starne Show. We'll take a break now.

Calls on the other side as we return to the Liberty University studio in a moment. Washington Examiner reporter Sarah Westwood after the bottom of the hour. Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Yeah.

Should be the best, you do but I'm wanna have you Shoot me away Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today, 844-747-8868. That's the number to call to join this coast-to-coast conversation originating from the Liberty University studio. Coming up in a few moments after the bottom of the hour, we'll speak with political and investigative journalist Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner. In our last hour we were talking about possible Speaker of the House candidates, should Kevin McCarthy's bid not be successful?

And we heard the name Jim Jordan mentioned by a caller. Patty had called in from North Carolina. She listens on WSIC radio, and we're grateful for that. And we were up against the top of the hour, could not take the call, but I wanted to reinforce she thought Chip Roy would be a good speaker. Here's a theme that's kind of running through this.

As you think of people, who should be the next Speaker of the House. You're dismissing Kevin McCarthy. And you're picking people like Jim Jordan, and Chip Roy.

Now what do those two individuals have in common? They are strong conservatives. They are members of the Freedom Caucus. They are not afraid to stand up for beliefs over politics. and it would appear neither one has spent years aggressively seeking the position.

And that appears to be the biggest issue that people have with mister McCarthy, who again I've never met, I've never talked to. I've talked to people I trust who have met him, in campaign appearances for others. And they say it appears that his agenda is to Make sure Kevin McCarthy is the next Speaker of the House. And we'll do what it takes to get to that point. And here's my concern about that, and it's not personal against Congressman McCarthy.

It's simply a matter that If the goal is to become speaker, the goal is to become speaker, as opposed to the goal is. A list of items on an agenda that you would do once you became Speaker.

Well you're going about it for all the wrong reasons. When I was teaching college students, we also did some high school summer camps, and this was for journalism. And I would say to one of these young people, well, what do you want to do? If they said, I want to be on television, Then I knew they were not in it for the right reasons. If they said I want to tell stories.

I want to inform the public. I want to share what's going on in the community. That's a reporter. That's someone who can tell the tale in a newscast, radio or television, either one. In other words, the content was first.

Why do you want to be a T V reporter? If the answer is because I want to tell stories and I want to expose wrongdoing and I want to help the public, those are good reasons. Those are all content-based reasons. There we go.

But when they said, I want to be on television.

Well, then go act in commercials. Go do something else. Go do, these days they do, do videos that you post of yourself. Because if it's all about you, then it's not about the product. And in the case of Speaker McCarthy, Possible, Speaker McCarthy.

If it's all about him, it's not about the agenda. Think about that. Take a break now. Back on the other side. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show.

Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd Today. Good to have you along with us. We're coming to you from the Liberty University studio, and we invite you to join the conversation at 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868.

We'll take your calls in just a bit. But now we go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and connect with a returned guest to the program. She is Sarah Westwood, political and investigative reporter with the Washington Examiner. They are online at Washingtonexaminer.com. Sarah, thanks so much for taking the time.

How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me. I have found in the last few days sitting in this chair talking with America that there is great concern about how disorganized and divided, shall we say, Republicans are in Washington.

Well, you're right there, close to the action. How does it look to an outside observer such as yourself? Yes, I think definitely the fissures that Republicans have right now are going to be really difficult to overcome. I mean, set aside the ideological differences that Republicans have right now, Even just structurally, they're divided on who should lead them in the House. And that's not a good look for the GOP, to be honest.

I mean, a Republican Party that's trying to. established themselves in the post Trump era and what the Republican Party now stands for is having such a public brawl over who should be the next House speaker with a much thinner than expected majority. That's really difficult for Republicans. That's a difficult note to start out on for their House majority in the next Congress.

So I I do think that in the end, you know, a House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has an edge over all the other candidates, but his path to take the speaker's gavel is so complicated and so needlessly dramatic that that definitely puts Republicans at a disadvantage heading into the next Congress. If he does not have 218 votes come January 3rd, then it goes on to a second ballot or potentially a lot of dealmaking in the background. We've talked on this program the last two days with a couple of representatives who are convinced that he does not have McCarthy does not have the 218 and that there will be a consensus candidate. Are you hearing anything similar to that, or is that wishful thinking by Shall we say, anti-McCarthy members of Congress?

Well, I think part of that is true and part of that is not true from my perspective. I think part of it is true that it'll be difficult for McCarthy at this point to get to two hundred and eighteen votes because there are already a pretty significant number of Republicans who are out there saying that they're either openly opposed to McCarthy or they're on the fence about supporting him. But on the other hand, the idea that there could be a consensus candidate that emerges between now and january third, whose name we don't know, whose politics are unclear, is, I think, a little far-fetched. I mean, no one but McCarthy has Spent the time necessary amassing chips to be called in to become speaker. The risk.

in not supporting McCarthy for Republicans is that any consensus, quote unquote, consensus candidate who emerges from that process who is not McCarthy, will do so with Democratic vote. And Democrats are not going to support anyone that will make Republicans happy legislatively. They might support some sort of. bipartisan, even democratic. speaker who promises to rule down the middle, but that's not what Republicans want.

They want the majority. They want to govern as Republicans.

So McCarthy is really their only path to do that. And so I don't really see a consensus candidate emerging from that process at this late in the game if he or she has not already stepped to the forefront. Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner joining us on the Todd Starn show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. You wrote a piece about ten days ago on the topic of one of McCarthy's former mentors who well, they're not exchanging Christmas cards, it would appear.

That's right. You know, this is just an excerpt from a big Uh Profile of McCarthy that was written in The New Yorker, but it was a really interesting thing, it stuck out to me as former Congressman. Bill Thomas, who used to represent that district in California, the district that Kevin McCarthy now represents, they used to be very close. I mean, McCarthy was an aide in Congressman Thomas' office. Back in the day, that's how he sort of got his foot in the door in the politics of that region.

Now Bill Thomas is coming out and sort of maligning McCarthy's ambitions and saying that McCarthy has Said and done whatever was necessary to get to his position, and painting McCarthy as potentially.

Something of a shapeshifter when it comes to trying to achieve a higher office. That's a criticism that's been leveled at McCarthy a lot because. He ingratiated himself so aggressively with Trump and the Trump wing of the party, and yet before that was perceived as something of a centrist within the Republican Party.

So, to pin down what McCarthy's actual ideology really is, is difficult.

Some would argue that's not necessarily a bad thing for a speaker who needs to be nimble. And needs to be able to navigate all of these different factions of the Republican Party that don't necessarily agree with each other. But some people would say that it is.

Some critics would say it's potentially dangerous to have a speaker whose beliefs are that unclear. You can find her work on the Twitter machine. She links to the pieces in the Washington Examiner frequently. It's at Sarah C. Westwood.

Ms. Westwood joins us on the Todd's Darn Show.

Well, it's not just the, I'll say inside baseball, that's not the best phrase, but of who should the speaker be, et cetera. But they're divided in terms of policy as well. And you wrote a piece earlier this week, I think it dropped on Christmas morning on the website. That for all the talk about the horrors of big tech, Republicans don't have an answer of how to address it. Tell us more.

I think that's a really interesting element of the Republican platform moving into this next Congress and into 2024. Because you're right, there is all this talk about big tech and the evils of big tech. But Republicans are actually so divided on how they want to approach this and what they even think the biggest problem is, right?

So there are a lot of Republicans who think that content moderation or censorship in the eyes of a lot of conservatives is the worst thing that big tech does. And they want to go after big tech's ability to. to selectively police what content. goes up on their platforms. There are other Republicans who think the market consolidation of big tech companies is the worst problem that big tech has created.

The fact that there is no real competitor to Google or Amazon at this point And there are some potentially Ideological consequences that flow from that. The content moderation is a symptom of that, but there are some Republicans who think. that breaking up the market domination of those big tech companies should be the first step.

So Republicans could go the antitrust route to try to do that.

Some Republicans could go the route that's sort of Donald Trump's choice of repealing Section 230 and putting in some more. Protections for conservative content on these platforms. But Republicans really need to decide what they think the most urgent big tech problem is. And rally behind one solution because their majority is so thin they don't really have the room to spend the next two years. Philosophically negotiating about the evils of big tech, you know, they need to get the high one prescription for that ill.

Well, and again, to your earlier point, if they can't get behind a leader, a single leader, then they're going to have a hard time on policy issues. And, you know, the Democrats had the same 222 votes at best in the current configuration of the House.

So the Republican majority will be no greater than that. And we've seen Some infighting on the Democrat side as well. Remind people about 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That's been the clause that has drawn the most attention. Sure.

So Section 230 essentially shields big tech platforms from liability. Criminal liability. Or otherwise, when it comes to content posted on their platforms.

So, for example, if someone posted a video of themselves, committing a crime or threatening to commit a crime, that social media platform cannot be held liable for that content going on their platform.

Now the problem that conservatives see with that is that these platforms say that they can't be held liable for any speech. And then they use their powers of censorship to selectively remove only conservative things under the guise of needing to protect. The public from misinformation or whatever they say. They say they have a responsibility. But really, they don't have any liability when it comes to content.

The conservative critique of Section 230 is that these big tech companies basically hide behind it to get to make some content decisions. That's Serve their political interests, but not have to face any actual consequences for leaving other types of content up. I've always been a fan of the common carrier approach, and this was developed back when the telephone was invented. The telephone company received the judicial approval that, all right, as a common carrier, we're the phone company. We can't control what people say on the phone, and so it's completely hands-off.

So, if you were to make a threat to someone by phone, the phone company is not liable. They're just the conduit. That would resolve some of this.

However, it would mean no censorship virtually at all, and that would really it causes other problems, doesn't it? Yeah, that would totally change the dynamic of social media as we understand it right now. But there are Republicans who do want to see common carriage applied. to social media. It uh the telephone is a great example.

Another one is railways, right?

So the railroads, the sh the freight trains that run on railroads cannot show preference to one product over another the same way that a telephone company can't prevent you from making a phone call if they don't like your beliefs and make it easier for other people to have a phone call.

So basically, it would just create an even playing field for content creators. But you're right, that would remove a lot of the responsibility that these platforms now have to police content like live streaming suicides or murders or these other horrible things that could conceivably proliferate on social media if you did institute those common carrier rules. Can the month of January, from a political reporter standpoint, possibly live up to the expectations? I mean, we've got a lot on the table here for this next month. I you know what?

I'm most excited to see how the speakers' race drama plays out. I think it's just so interesting because at this late stage of it in the game, normally you would have an understanding of who's going to emerge victorious in the speakers' race. I mean, Look at the Democrats selecting Pelosi's Successor. She's been in charge of the House Democratic Conference for many years, and it was. Still so smooth, Hakeem Jeffries was immediately elected to be The next leader of the conference.

And that's typically what you'd expect to see, especially when you have someone like McCarthy who's put in as much time as he has. trying to position himself to easily win the speaker gavel. And to have him still at this late stage struggling to find the vote I think is going to create a really interesting dynamic over the next week or so. And again, we have to remember he was the heir apparent a previous time and got elbowed aside. has spent the time ever since trying to make sure that doesn't happen again.

Sarah, thank you so much for the excellent insight. As always, we follow your reporting at WashingtonExaminer.com and have a very happy start to 2023. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Sarah Westwood of the Washington Examiner, and she's on the Twitter machine at Sarah C.

Westwood. 844-747-8868 is how you can connect with us in the Liberty University studio. We've got another segment, and we get a couple of calls in if we can. Rita called in but could not hold on, and she thinks Marjorie Taylor Greene would be a great speaker of the House.

Well, I guess, and again, it just depends on the skill set you're looking for. in the speaker. And it's uh, it's this is why, in a prior conversation I had with a caller today. We were talking about should Jim Jordan be best used as Speaker or as chair of the Judiciary Committee for Oversight. It's a tricky kind of balance, but it does shape up to be an interesting next week or so.

Interesting last quarter hour or less of this program coming up. A break now, back on the other side, Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show. Final moments of this Wednesday edition of the Todd Starnes program from the Liberty University Studio. Hello, I'm Jeff Stein filling in. A little while ago, I talked about this USA Today Suffolk University poll.

It asked a thousand Americans who would be the ideal presidential candidate, and the want ad would be a 51 to 65-year-old governor with business experience and willing to compromise to get things done, military experience, a bonus. My good friend Steve sent a note to me saying, I just described Jimmy Carter with that, and some Republicans too over the course of time. But here's something that's interesting in this. Poll: There's a big difference between Republicans and Democrats when it comes to leadership style. by a four to one margin.

At 74% to 19%, the Democrats surveyed in this want a president who will cut a deal. Republicans, though, By fifty to thirty-eight? would prefer a president who stands on principle, even if it means things don't get done. Don't just make a deal for the sake of making a deal. stick to your principles.

And those who did the survey say that gap on leadership styles was one of the biggest partisan divides in the entire poll. Political experience was also seen as a plus by most voters. Democrats, though, prefer senators over governors, 37 to 32 percent. Probably the Jimmy Carter example is a part of that. Republicans, though, prefer their presidential candidate to have been a governor as opposed to a senator by a three to one margin.

Because, again, as the chief executive, perhaps you have a few more transferable skills. That, of course, is news that no doubt warms the heart of every governor who's thinking of running as a Republican. whether they're currently the governor of Florida or South Dakota or somewhere else. fifty six percent of Democrats said that ideal president would have a background in business, but eighty five percent of Republicans said it would help.

Now, once again, this just shows you the difference between the basic mindset. Of what it takes to get things done. But what we continue to find, of course, is that those on the right seem to be further to the right, those to the left go further to the left, and the amount of people in the middle keeps growing, those who don't want the label of either party. And that is especially true among younger people. And that's why you see some of these wild swings, wild in terms of we vote for somebody to the far left and then the next election someone to the far right.

Because again, of this idea of so many independent voters who are not tethered to party identification. They believe what they believe, but they don't have the party label, and therefore they are not as strictly tied from a voting behavior standpoint. That's one of the reasons, by the way, why predicting elections has become so difficult in the last few cycles because of the fact that if you do declare a party affiliation, You're much more likely to vote that way. But when fewer and fewer people claim either party, And it makes it harder to predict. You also have less loyalty to actually showing up to vote, etc.

But it does show that you need to pay attention to the folks in the middle. Not necessarily political middle per se, but those who are not just the base of either political party in order to be successful. And it is something that More and more. Career politicians need to figure out. They need to figure out how to align themselves with the people.

Like those of you who've called in, as I've been here the last couple of days, you have a very clear sense of what ought to happen with this nation and what those elected officials ought to do. And all I can tell you as we close the program for this Wednesday is do not be shy about expressing your view. Whether you do it at home, whether you do it with your neighbors, people you work with, call into this program in future days and other programs, or more importantly, let those people who represent us know how you feel. Thank you, Grace. Thank you, Kyle.

Thank you to Mr. Starnes as well. Always a privilege. Talk to you again tomorrow. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starnes Show.