Good for the Donkey, Good for the Elephant

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 Tret Basics. See additional terms at onepeloton.com. Welcome to the Todd Starn Show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacypminvestments.com.

That's legacypminvestments.com. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun totent Bible-clinging deplorable American. Say yeah. That's right. I love this American ride.

Todd Starns. Oh, yeah. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to a Thursday edition of the Todd Starnes Radio Program, coast to coast on more than 100 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd again today.

Coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540, KXCL, in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching Middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. Good of you to be along as we broadcast from the Liberty University studio. Plenty of time this hour to talk with you about what's on your mind, your reaction to things in the news. Call us at 844-747-8868. Same number as always.

It's 844-747-8868. Coming up in our second hour of the program today, return guest to the program, the author of a book entitled Walking Through the Fire. He's former U.S. Congressman Steve King, and he knows firsthand about retribution, namely, retribution at the hands of Kevin McCarthy. This is becoming much more well known, not just what happened to Congressman King, but the McCarthy way of doing things.

And that's not helpful for the California congressman. If he wants to be Speaker next Tuesday when the vote takes place, we'll talk with Congressman Steve King, served in Iowa or from the state of Iowa for 18 years, nearly two decades. That's coming up an hour away. Coming up in the third hour of our program, we will focus on immigration and the border crisis by speaking with someone who knows this topic inside and out. He is the former acting director of U.S.

Customs and Border Protection, Mark Morgan, now a senior fellow with the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He is passionate about the topic. He is knowledgeable about the topic. And we'll talk with Mark Morgan coming up in hour number three. We will also speak with Florida Congressman Greg Stuby in hour number three about the border, about this Title 42 situation that has been completely misreported by the formerly mainstream media.

And we'll straighten some of that out. He's also a member of the Judiciary Committee, and we'll tie all of those things together when Congressman Greg Stuby joins us in hour number three. Once again, we'd love for you to join us now at 844-747-8868. I want you to begin thinking a little further about, if not Kevin McCarthy, who should be the Speaker of the House. I want to take that up at some point today, probably in hour number two.

And my radio station, in conjunction with my local program, we do a poll question every day. And I'm thinking of putting a poll question up and let you weigh in on it on who ought to be the next speaker.

So think about that a bit, and we'll talk about it a little later. I want to start the program today, if you'll allow me. By talking about a few things that came out of Washington yesterday.

Now, we all know that this Congress is done. The terms expire. New members are sworn in on Tuesday. January the third. There's not a lot of time to tie up loose ends.

And so, sort of as a formality, I suppose. The Chair of the January sixth Commission. Representative Thompson yesterday sent a letter to attorneys for Donald Trump saying that they would be revoking. The subpoena is that they had served on the former president. As you recall, they wanted him to testify.

And be the crown jewel of their prosecution.

Now, they say investigation, but it's very clear to anyone who saw any part of it, it was a prosecution. It had a predetermined outcome. And no one is surprised by their final conclusions. When members of the supposedly impartial committee I can barely say these words with a straight face the impartial committee said their goal was to make sure that Donald J. Trump never held office again, Well, you know, that's like in the old days where they'd say, Yeah, we probably should have a trial before we hang him.

In the Old West.

Well, it's the same thing here.

Well, as a formality, they have indicated that he no longer needs to worry about that subpoena.

Well, I suppose it was actually good form of the Democrats who run that committee to rescind the subpoena because the whole committee is going to be disbanded when the Republicans get the majority.

So it would be a moot point anyway. But I suppose it also shows that They came to their conclusion without any information from him. And all they were hoping for was to lay a trap. There are a lot of traps being laid right now, and there is an awful lot of double standard going on. Gosh, I hope you were sitting down for that statement.

There are political double standards in Washington. And you may say, well, why take the time to even go over it?

Well, again, here's why. If we don't highlight it, Call it out for what it is. Then we're in essence going along with it. We're in essence saying it's okay, we're acquiescing to it.

So, I know that there is hypocrisy up and down the streets of Washington, not limited to just one party, mind you. But we have to call out the hypocrisy.

so that we don't become immune to it. That's another way of looking at it.

Well, a lot of Republican members of Congress Have asked for investigations. And of course they went nowhere because they were in the minority party. But after the election results were clear and it was known that Republicans would have the controlling number of votes, at least a majority of individuals who identify as Republicans, they would have the working majority in the House.

Well, they started asking the White House for various things.

So that they could begin their investigations. Get off to the right start on January the 3rd.

Now, some might say it's a bit presumptuous. The but? No time like the present.

Well, this is uh this shows you the level of Hypocrisy The Biden administration told top-ranking Republican congressmen yesterday. That the White House is not Constitutionally obligated to comply with their oversight requests. That's because they were the minority party in Congress.

Now, I'll correct myself. This happened this morning. This actually happened this morning. And it's reporting by JustTheNews at justthenews.com. Give full credit where credit is due.

Uh In other words, the Republicans said, we want various information. And that way we can get going come the new year when we're in the majority. And today, of all days. The White House told these Republicans. We're talking about Congressman Jim Jordan, Congressman Jim Comer, and others.

Oh, uh we the White House do not have to comply with your request because you don't have any power as the minority party.

So we know that you have made multiple requests to members of the executive branch over the past few weeks. But you're gonna have to start all over. We officially determined that these are without any value We don't have to comply. And we're going to make you jump through the hoops of changing the dates on the letter. That's all that has to be done.

Change the date on the letter and resubmit it. Which, in one respect, all right, what's the big deal?

Well, the big deal is. that if Republicans tried this This more clever. Start.

Well, you know what the response would be. Congressional oversight powers do not apply to individual members of Congress who are not committee chairmen. This is according to. An attorney for the administration in the letter to the Republican. Congressman.

Just the news reports, quite accurately, the Biden administration has largely ignored Republican oversight attempts except for during congressional hearings, formal proceedings.

So the White House is saying: we don't care if you're a member of Congress, we don't care if you're going to be chairing a committee in five, six days. We'll have to answer. Once you get the power, then the pledges that they will respond in good faith. Raise your hand if you think the Biden administration will respond in good faith to any request for investigation by a Republican member of the U.S. House.

Anyone, anyone, no. I didn't think so.

So the GOP now must restart the requests. Once they become the majority party. Congressman Jordan scheduled to be the House Judiciary Committee Chair. Congressman Comer scheduled to be the House Oversight Chair. It is really pretty.

Ridiculous. And as a show that they have no intention. of acting in good faith. This all broke. in politico.

The White House leaks the story. too politico. Saw it this morning in their morning e newsletter. At 4:34 this morning, the White House actually sent the letter to the members of Congress.

So the White House leaks the story overnight. completely ambushing the Republicans. who don't get the letter until well after the story is released. The story is released by Politico. who then asks, after the story is released, asks the Congressman for comment.

And as the Republicans in the Judiciary Committee noted on their Twitter machine account. This is what is demonstrating good faith by these Democrats. This is what's good faith.

So, when you have an attorney for the administration saying, you have to file your requests anew when you have the power to do it, and then we will act on good faith. They're showing exactly what kind of faith they're going to demonstrate when. a new piece of paper comes to them. They did not even have the courtesy. To send the letter to the recipients before notifying the media.

Now again, you can say, well, what do you expect?

Well, first, I expect better out of elected officials. I expect better out of our government. But I have to call it out when I see it. Because it is this level of hypocrisy. The level of hypocrisy That when Major news organizations finally admit that the Hunter Biden laptop or series of laptops, by the way, Do you just have laptops hanging around your house, multiple laptops, that you leave places like you'd leave an an errant glove or a mitten or something?

This guy, this Hunter Biden, apparently has laptops just floating all around.

Well, in any case, the White House had said all along that it was Russian disinformation, and the formerly mainstream media bought into it.

Well, now they're Not buying into it because They can't hide any more the election's over. And the White House says, why do we need to talk about that laptop story? I mean, that's old news. It's old news because you tried to stifle it from ever coming to light. It has never been fully reported By the Puppet voices of the mainstream media.

And just when they start to report it, the White House says, oh, no, that's old news. Old news.

So, when they say we're going to respond in good faith to Republican requests. Not so much. Yet When any Republican even dared to raise their hand and question the propriety of a bogus committee like the January 6th Commission, Well, then they were absolutely castigated by the White House. They themselves were threats to democracy. They themselves should be prosecuted.

It's a big old double standard, people. And to paraphrase, What's good for the donkey ought to be good for the elephant. In other words, if Democrats want to do some of this, Well then they had better expect Republicans to do their due diligence.

Now could that go too far? It could. And that's something we'll talk about when we come back. 844-747-8868. Join the conversation.

Love to hear from you as we will take your calls this hour. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. More after this break on the Todd Starn Show. I've noticed that when I go to the shopping mall and buy one of the towels, they just don't seem to work very well. They feel too soft and too lotiony.

They just don't absorb the water.

Well, our good friend Mike Lindell over at MyPellow has found a solution, and you've got to get yourself one of his brand new towels. These things are incredible. And best of all, they're made right here in the U.S. And all of his towels come with a 60-day money-back guarantee. You're going to be able to get a six-piece set, two bath towels, two hand towels, and two washcloths, all made with USA cotton.

They are soft yet absorbent, and you're normally going to pay over $100. But thanks to our good friend Mike Lindell, $39.99. That's it. It's a great deal. All you have to do is go to mypello.com and click on the new radio listener specials and get deep discounts on all my pellow products, including the towels.

Just enter the promo code STARNS or you can call 800-839-8506 for some incredible radio specials. Again, mypello.com, promo code STARNS. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show, 844-747-8868. That's how you can reach us here in the Liberty University studio and continue this coast-to-coast conversation. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd this week.

In our last segment, we were talking about the double standard in Washington, and now you've got the Biden White House saying that all those Republicans who had submitted requests for information tied to oversight, well, sorry, you don't have the authority to ask for that until January 3rd.

So we're going to ignore any of the requests you've made and force you to resubmit them, at which time we will act in good faith. And I've suggested good faith is in quotes because they have never shown good faith on any of this at all. But. Let's be careful about how this goes down in the house. In short, if the two years of Republican majority in the House that begins next Tuesday, if that is nothing more.

or seen by the public as nothing more than political investigations that are simply designed to undermine one party in a presidential election, I think that will backfire. If this is simply a get Hunter Biden. Get the Biden crime family. And by the way, they should be gotten.

Okay, that's not the point. The point is. If you tip the balance too far, Without taking care of the business of America. Voters are going to show up in 2024 and look at senators and representatives and say, what have you done for me lately? This is one of the biggest criticisms that you hear about former President Trump.

All of the advisors that you hear who are willing to talk about it say, you know, if he would focus on policy and focus on the future. He's gonna win. But he may turn people off by referencing the 2020 election. I don't blame him. I mean, I th I think he got uh he got robbed on it.

I can't prove that. It just seems very weird.

So I don't blame him for mentioning it. But the American public wants to know what have you done for us lately. And if the narrative becomes that the Republicans in the House took their majority and did nothing for the people and just tried to play gotcha with political enemies and tried to even the score, that's going to be a problem. Keep in mind, when voters were polled prior to the election. Investigations Nowhere near the top of the list of reasons why they voted for Republicans.

They voted for Republicans because of policy. And unless the Republicans in the House have plenty of substance, and plenty of policy. behind their work. They're going to lose in twenty twenty four. We have this wide, wide, growing number of independent voters, and they'll go either way depending on what have you done for me lately.

That doesn't mean pork, it means do your job. I think there should be investigations. I also think we need to worry about the balance.

So that voters know those Republicans are doing the people's business. We'll get your thoughts after the break. Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Stern Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today from the Liberty University studio.

Join us 844-747-8868. That's the number that Thomas used to call in from Statesville, North Carolina, where he listens to the Todd Starn Show on WSIC. Thomas, thanks for making the call. Jeff Stein here for Todd this week. How are you?

Just fine how you I am doing tremendously well. Give me your idea for Speaker of the House, please.

Well, I would as a Vietnam veteran, I would love nothing more than to wake up Tuesday morning. And see Donald Trump's smiling face on there getting smiled. Morning, the Speaker of the House.

Well, first of all, thank you for your service at a time when I know not many people were as appreciative as they should have been and hopefully are to you now. Can you imagine Nancy Pelosi having to hand the gavel over to Donald Trump? Would that not just be a framed photo for your wall? That's right. I would just love to see that.

Yeah. What do you think the chances are that mister Trump would think that's a good use of his time?

Well I think he would like to do it. But I don't know whether they Probably they probably wouldn't well, I surely wouldn't have thought that we voted in there, but I was learning about the more than they see. Go in there. Uh What signal would that send to Democrats, do you think, Thomas?

Well, it seemed just like a bunch of rats running in a rat hole, I'm sure. to re try to regroup. 'Cause they they'd have to think of something new to plan on that. You know what I would really love to see? I would love to see mister Trump.

Make plans to fly to one of his properties, one of his hotels. And just Get there near Washington, D.C. in time for January 3rd. In other words, that he takes Trump Force 1 on January 2nd. and makes his way to a Trump hotel near the nation's Capitol building, and just watch every analyst's head explode.

That's right. Well, I'd love to see all that.

Well, we'll cross our fingers, see if that uh is a New Year's wish that comes true. Thomas, thanks so much for calling the Todd's Darn Show. Thank you so much for listening there on WSIC in North Carolina. And that opens up a line for you, of course, at 844-747-8868. I'm just curious as to who you might think would be a good Speaker of the House of Representatives.

I'm setting up a poll question right now on it. That you could access via my radio station on the internet. It's not up yet, so you can't go there just yet. But I've included. The following names.

And basically, the question is: who should be the next Speaker of the House? I did have Donald Trump on that list. I had Kevin McCarthy on the list because he is the one. Let's not forget this. He is the one who Republicans.

Have already said should be their caucus leader. He got a majority of votes. Of those who will be representing districts as Republicans in the next Congress.

Now, does he have 218? to become speaker whole different question And I would suggest he doesn't have the 218, or else we wouldn't be having this conversation.

So I have Donald Trump on my list. I have Kevin McCarthy. I have Jim Jordan, who was mentioned by a caller yesterday. I have Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was mentioned by a caller yesterday. And again, the question is who should be the next Speaker of the House?

I also had Chip Roy. Andy Biggs, who's made it very clear that he's seeking the position. I also have Steve Scalise on there, and I have a box for other.

So if there's an obvious name I've missed of somebody who should be considered for Speaker of the House, Let us know 844-747-8868. And if I can get that live on the interwebs while we're still on the air here today, I'll invite you in Starns Nation to weigh in on the poll. I mentioned before the break some concern about the fact that if you go too far. With This idea of investigate everybody. You run the risk as a Republican in Congress of.

doing the same thing you criticize Democrats for doing. And this is where there are going to be a lot of parallels with this U. S. House and the Republican majority that takes the oath, thankfully, on Tuesday, as opposed to the Democrats who have had iron fisted control of the chamber thanks to Fancy Nancy. First of all, realize.

There were two hundred and twenty two Democrats at best. In the US House. And Republicans kept talking about what a thin, thin majority that was. Republicans are only going to have 222. Republicans like to point to the Democrats in Congress and say, You've got the AOC wing of the party here pulling you too far this way.

You've got this other wing of the party pulling you this way. You're divided. You can't get anything done. That's what they were saying over and over. About Democrats.

Well, look in the mirror. This is not starting off to be a 20-seat majority in a unified party by any stretch. And I'm not saying. that it necessarily should be. You need to take the steps necessary to govern, but you have to do it on principle.

And if you don't have the principles behind it, You've really got absolutely nothing, and this is the biggest concern about Kevin McCarthy as speaker. For years, his goal has been to become Speaker of the House. That's not a governing platform. When an individual is seeking the personal gain like that, Once he gets the position, what's he going to do with it? Yes, I know they rolled out a list of things that they said they would do before the election, but it was no contract with America, and there was not enough specificity to be guiding principles.

It was very much like I want to be speaker, and we'll deal with the rest of it when we get there. No. That's just not acceptable to most of the American public. And so, therefore, if you have far too much attention be paid To investigations and not toward aggressive affirmative policies to make America better. It's going to be a missed opportunity, and you're, as Republicans, going to be seen as no different.

than the guys you just complained about at great length. Again, there's a balance that needs to be struck. And I saw uh some uh commentator suggest that it's going to be messy next week in Washington. But Kevin McCarthy will ultimately begin as Speaker, but he will not end as Speaker. Which is somewhat interesting.

It all depends on the terms, of course. eight four four seven four seven eighty eight sixty eight. Tim used that number to call in. He listens to the program in Georgia on the great W D U N there in the Atlanta area. Tim, thanks so much for calling the Todd Starn Show.

Jeff Stein here. How are you today? Yes, sir, it's actually fine.

Well, what's on your mind? I was just going to kind of disagree a little bit with you on. You said the house. When they take over. You thought that they were going to do too much.

We'll get re-elected again. And I think it's kind of the opposite. We need to find out exactly what's going on with Hunter Biden. and all this crookedness that's going on, and we need to I mean, they've been crooked all this time and they keep getting elected, so I think we'll still get elected. But they do need to see what's going on with Hunter Biden and all this, you know.

Borders being open and I mean who's getting paid to keep the borders open? I mean there's a lot going on when they re-serve it. Completely agree.

Well, I completely agree there's a lot to research, but Here's my concern. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that there is something rotten with the Biden family and with Hunter Biden? I sure do. And this is the point.

I think those of us who think that We already believe it. We already know it. And I worry that if it's too much attention paid to confirming what we really know, I don't think you're going to convince folks on the left about it because. They're thick as thieves and crooked on that whole point. I just want to see them do something so that they don't get portrayed as nothing but vindictive.

But you think if they prove that the Democrats are crooks, that's actually going to be the real feather in their cap to keep them in office.

Well, I mean, if they can impeach Donald Trump. Three or four times. I don't see nothing wrong with impeaching the other man if he's doing wrong. That absolutely The bottom of it.

So, if they're doing wrong, he needs to be impeached. They need to, you know, figure out what's going on because. You know, even the media, everything's in on it.

So, I mean, I took TikTok off my phone 'cause I've been hearing how they, you know, kind of. see what's going on with your lifestyle and everything.

So and I wouldn't doubt the government ain't doing that anyway, so so, you know, FBI and all that other stuff. They're just not trustworthy and we won't What stays with America? people. It seemed like when we vote anymore It really don't matter who you get in there, they d they're not going to do what they say they're doing when you vote for them. That's the most discouraging thing, isn't it, Tim?

The fact that you put your stock behind someone and it's just one big party, doesn't matter if they had an R or a D by their name. They just don't do your work. Yep, you're correct. But I appreciate your time. Thank you, Tim.

That's a very good phone call, and I appreciate you calling in from Georgia today. And you're right, because again, the concept. Is you've got to get to the bottom of stuff. But as I said before, and I understand why they did it this way, I understand why House Republicans running for election did it this way. They said things like, let's fire Nancy Pelosi.

Okay, now what? That's not enough. Just firing Nancy Pelosi was not ever going to be enough. You've got to actually do something to help America. And they may have great plans, but I think they're again, I just get the sense that some in the party, especially people like mister McCarthy, they're very concerned with the trappings of power and I don't see any work.

And that's my big concern. But I think Tim does raise a good point. Look, if you can really prove. You can really prove that all of these shenanigans happened.

Well, yeah, you do need to do it, and I agree. I just don't want it to be nothing but investigations and Knowing that the deck is stacked with the media. They're going to portray it as A whole bunch of nothing. And that the house is doing nothing but investigating, and they're being punitive, and it's all retribution.

Okay, that's why you have to work even harder. to make sure That The American public, when they hear that, they know better. All right. We had another caller who had to drop off the line, and I love this suggestion. I'm going to add it to the poll question on break, and then I'll tell you how you can weigh in afterwards.

He thinks that Why not go with someone with experience? Let's return Newt Gingrich to the speaker roll. Ooh. I kinda like that. Kind of like Newt as speaker again.

I mean, he knows the job. It's an interesting point. Why don't you make an interesting point? Call 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls here in the Liberty University studio after this short break.

It's 844-747-8868. Jeff Stein here, filling in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Yeah. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein here in the Liberty University studio, 844-747-8868.

I love how you Georgians stick together. Susan called in from Georgia, could not stay on the line, but she said, What about Doug Collins' speaker? I like him.

Well, how about you weigh in?

Now, we did this before here when I was filling in for Todd. My radio station, the one where I have a program for three hours right before the Starn Show in the mornings, it's called KXEL. Those are the call letters, KXEL. And if you go to KXEL.com, we do a poll question every day. You can go directly to kxel.com/slash poll, or just go to kxel.com and watch for the poll question logo to come dancing across the screen, and you can weigh in.

We put a new question up every day, and I invite you in Starnes Nation to weigh in along with my local audience on today's KXEL poll question of the day, kxel.com. And I asked who should be the next speaker of the House. And I've taken the suggestions you all have made.

So I have McCarthy, Jordan, Roy, Biggs, Trump, Taylor Greene, Scalise, Gingrich, Collins, and then I've got a button for other.

So, why don't you let us know who you think should be the next Speaker of the House? And again, it's at kxel.com slash poll. Go to ToddStarns.com because that is where you get all manner of great news and information through the day, and you can sign up for the e-newsletter that shows up just after this program ends. There are also breaking news alerts that you get. When something new is out there, and I find it to be a tremendous resource.

I use it all the time. Invite you to do the same. It's ToddStarns.com, and that is also where you can click and listen back or share a podcast, the Toddcast Podcast, that is posted every day. As well as the live stream on the program. There's a link there, and it's on Rumble and Getter.

And well, you know the drill. Go to ToddStarnes.com and you can follow Todd on the Twitter machine as well as Getter and Gab and others at Toddstarns. He's on the Instagram at ToddStarnes FNC. You can find me on Twitter, Gitter, Parlor, Truth Social, and Instagram at Iowa Politics, IOWA Politics. And my website is totallyiowa.com, and that is where you can.

Link to the three podcasts that I have every day. Coming up in hour number two, just a few moments away, we'll speak with former U.S. Congressman Steve King. He is the author of a memoir entitled Walking Through the Fire, and he knows first hand The retribution That Kevin McCarthy. Can put in place.

He was the victim of it as part of McCarthy's run to become Speaker at all costs. And he'll tell us that story. He shared it with us. On this program when the book came out. But I wanted to have him back on, and Grace was kind enough to make the connection because I think it's especially relevant as more stories come up.

About what a speaker, Kevin McCarthy, would mean. For the House, for the Republican caucus, and obviously broadly for the nation. That's coming up in just about 10 minutes, a little more than that. Coming up in hour number three of the program, we will speak with a former acting director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

He's Mark Morgan. And again, he is such a passionate advocate. for the work that he has done and and what he believes in the rule of law. He is a senior fellow for the Federation for American Immigration Reform as well. And he'll join us at the beginning of hour number three, also in hour number three.

Florida Congressman Greg Stuby will join us. We'll talk border. We'll talk omnibus. We'll talk impeachment and who should be first on the list, all that and much more. And again, your calls as well at 844-747-8868.

Grace has been kind enough to go to the ToddStarnes.com live show blog. All right, you're familiar with this. Just go there, and she's got a link to the poll question that I raised. How about that for service?

So just go to the live show blog at ToddSterns.com. That gives you the link to the poll question that I've asked about who should be the Speaker of the House. Whole lot of names on there. And again, you can go to it directly at my radio station page, which is kxl.com. 844-747-8868 is the number.

We're going to have plenty of time in the next hour to take your calls after we talk with former U.S. Congressman Steve King at the top of the hour.

So Give me your suggestions for Speaker. Give me your suggestions in terms of what the House majority should do. How much focus should there be on investigations? And more coming up. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

Thanks for being along on the Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right. I love this American ride. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to hour number two of this Thursday edition of the Todd Starnes program, coast to coast on more than 100 outstanding radio stations.

And streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd this week, coming to you from the Liberty University studio. Join this coast-to-coast conversation, please, at 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868.

We'll take your calls in the next segment. But now we go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line for a conversation with a return guest to this program. He represented the state of Iowa in Congress for 18 years. He is former Iowa Congressman Steve King, and he is the author of a memoir entitled Walking Through the Fire: My Fight for the Heart and Soul of America, available wherever you get good books, including directly at steveking.com. Congressman Jeff Stein here.

How are you, sir? I am doing great. It's good to hear from you, Jeff. I wish you and your family a belated Merry Christmas. I trust you and yours had the blessings of the season bestowed upon you.

It was glorious and a happy new year to you and all of yours, Jeff. We spoke previously on this program, Coast to Coast, about the retribution you received from Kevin McCarthy when it suited Kevin McCarthy's political Gains. And I don't want to rehash the whole story because I want to focus on your thoughts about the current situation and whether he'll become Speaker. When it was no longer politically convenient for him, what did he do to you as a long serving member of the US Congress?

Well, he set up a political lynch mob to go against me. He teamed up with Liz Cheney and others and strategized this down through Iowa with my governor and others. and they launched a media campaign against me through a misquote of the New York Times. And once that came out, everything was unloaded on me. They believed that they could force me to resign, which of course didn't happen.

I told them they'd have to shoot me down in the middle of Main Street at high noon, and that is what happened. McCarthy exposed, though, the I will say he is a narcissistic abuser in the classical sense of the term. Everything that goes on in his mind is how it revolves around him and his goals, and a level of morality or integrity shall not interfere with Kevin McCarthy's goals. That's a strong statement, but it's been borne out by anecdotes. It's been borne out by stories like yours.

Once he took all of your committee assignments away from you and then set up an opponent to run against you, he did you dirty in another respect in terms of lying directly to your face during that primary election campaign, as I recall the story. He certainly did. It took about three months for me, actually two months, to prove that this allegation out of the New York Times was false. And I proved it. And it's clear in my book, Walking Through the Fire.

But it took about another year to get McCarthy to pin him down on it. And when I did that, he agreed, and I have him in transcript here in my book. He agreed that he would go back to the steering committee and formally request that they restore me to my committees. That's all I asked for. One should know also that no member of Congress in all of history that I can uncover.

Who has been removed from their committees by their own party has ever survived a subsequent election? McCarthy knew that was a political death sentence. He ordered it, he brought it out unilaterally, and he lied to me exactly. And then he went to the press and told the press that isn't what he had said to me, there was no such deal, and that he didn't think even if I won the subsequent election, that I would get my committees back even then.

So he doubled down on his lie in public to try to make me out to be the liar. And I think we don't know where the integrity lies and where it doesn't between the two of us. Former Iowa Congressman Steve King served 18 years in the U.S. Congress. He's joining us on the Todd Starnes program, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

And as I recall, you had a debate scheduled with your primary opponent, who is now a member of Congress. Who has told me on my program he would definitely be supporting Kevin McCarthy, and I'm not surprised given the payback that's necessary. But you're going to have a debate, and you wanted McCarthy to. Be on the record about restoring you to your committees.

So basically, he lied to you. You got up on the debate stage and said that McCarthy was going to restore your committee positions. And then he turned around and acted like that never happened, even though you had evidence to the contrary. I mean, that's the chronology of just a 72-hour period in the spring of 2020, correct? That's 100% right, Jeff.

Had he kept his word and gone to the steering committee, that would have changed the whole result of the primary election. There's no question in my mind about that. It would have put my opponents all on notice that they were not telling the truth throughout all that either.

So but when he did that, that was pretty much the end of it. There was for as far as the campaign was concerned, there were only about Two and a half weeks left in the campaign. And if I had it to do over again, if people say, What would you do differently?

Well, not much. But what if I could have identified Kevin McCarthy for his mendacity earlier on? If I'd known that he was the central guy in this plot, I would have tackled him publicly and in the press and called him out rather than trying to do business with him in a responsible fashion. I wanted the best for our conference, the best for our party, the best for our agenda, and I steered myself through that to bring about the best result for all of us. And in the end, I got the shove in my back.

Nine-term U.S. Congressman Steve King, the book Walking Through the Fire, available at steveking.com. He joins us on the Todd Starn Show. With regard to a previous fight for speaker. And you'll have to help me with this.

I looked at your book last night and got the current history fresh in my mind. But when Boehner moved aside, Ryan took over, McCarthy thought he was the heir apparent. What happened that that uh turned people against him then? And how did that change his attitude moving forward?

Well, that vote that was going to advance McCarthy as the speaker behind Boehner was taken in the House in the closed door session of the Republican conference in the House. And before that was brought out to the floor, which was what we expected to do on january third, the wonderful gentleman from North Carolina, Walter B. Jones, God rest his soul, he walked around that conference with a letter that laid out what I believe are the facts about infidelity on Kevin McCarthy. And once he understood that that letter was going to be released to the public with members' signatures on it. That's when Kevin McCarthy withdrew his name.

And so that was the apparently the evidence then that caused Kevin McCarthy not to be Speaker succeeding John Boehner. And I was in there, I witnessed that, I was part of that all along, and Walter B Walter B. Jones was a a close friend and an honorable man.

So that would be the reason in my memory, and it's very clear in my memory, why McCarthy wasn't elected Speaker instead of Paul Ryan back in that year. My sense is that Representative McCarthy has done everything he could to button down what he thought would be enough votes, either with the promise of committeeships or campaign dollars or whatever it is one does behind the scene. In other words, he's bound to determine to become Speaker. Do you think, Congressman King, that McCarthy will become Speaker either Tuesday at the first opportunity or at some later point in that first week? Right now, I think the odds are against him, about sixty, forty.

And I say that because we have five Republicans. It only takes five to deny him the speakership. Democrats will not vote for Kevin McCarthy on the floor of the House. This is a constitutional vote. You have to stand up and sing out the name of the individual that you support for Speaker.

He has to have a majority of the members voting. And so if there are five that say under no circumstances will I vote for Kevin McCarthy, that gets McCarthy to two hundred and seventeen, but not to two hundred and eighteen votes necessary. I know that there are about another dozen, fifteen or more who are silent on this and people that I know, and I suspect that some of them aren't going to be very eager to vote for Kevin McCarthy. They might be keeping their powder dry. But if Kevin McCarthy could get, say, ten Democrats to, as we say, take a walk, not vote for the speaker, then that would that would require five fewer Republicans to vote for him to get to that majority of the members voting.

I'm not he's not above making a deal like that. And so that's where I think his hope might be. But in the end, I think it needs to be said this, that if it's determined that Kevin McCarthy is not the speaker, then the discussion about who his successor should be follows. And nothing changes until we change leadership. I know that for a fact.

I was in the battle with John Boehner, the battle throughout all of this. And when you get leaders that are cutting deals with Nancy Pelosi and cutting deals with K-Street and all the money that Kevin McCarthy has been raising in the hundreds of millions of dollars, he's not beholden to the members or their constituents. He's beholden to that funding stream and to the major donors. And so that's That's the kind of leadership that you get. The muck leadership needs to change.

That includes McConnell and McConnell McCarthy and also blank on this, McDaniel. And those three, the Muck leadership, it'd be great to have fresh faces in all three of those places. in order to bring this thing back to a constitutionally run government. And right now, it's run by special interests, and we're not going to get this fixed.

Well, and they are stuck in the muck and mire of the D.C. swamp, and so that works at both levels, Congressman. Very well played.

Well, we've spoken with a couple of members of Congress this week alone on this program who say absolutely under no circumstances will they vote for Kevin McCarthy. That's two just on this radio program this week alone, and many more names are there. But I have not heard anyone. Posit what you just did. namely, that McCarthy could cut a deal with Democrats To not be present for the vote so that he can get a fifty.

Percent plus one majority of the ones voting to become Speaker. That's a fascinating scenario, and you think that's his path at the moment. Yeah. Well, he's going to be cutting every deal he can cut between now and january third. And that surely is in his repertoire of options to try.

Now, whether there's enough sympathy for him over on the other side or maybe enough fear that we get a conservative speaker that it would tempt some of those people, another piece is they're voting by proxy, especially the Democrats, but both sides have done it considerably. And what I haven't been able to check is, does that proxy voting rule that Nancy Pelosi implemented, does it expire at the end of this Congress? I think so. And if it does, does that mean that all of the members have to be there to vote? A whole lot of them aren't used to coming to Washington anymore.

They're on the golf course or in their fishing boat. And so that could change this dynamic too. In fact, I would be surprised if we had 435 people in their seats. In fact, I think it's only four hundred thirty two that would qualify right now. But four hundred thirty two in their seats on january third.

I would be surprised. I think some of them are not going to show up, and there better be enough patriots there to make up for the difference on the Republican side. I want to say I saw that Speaker Pelosi extended it through Christmas Day, extended the order to get through the omnibus bill. I could be wrong on that, but I was stunned to learn that earlier this week that fewer than half the members of the House showed up to vote on the omnibus. There were so many there voting by proxy.

Well, you can't even get half of the members to be there in person. That's a pretty pathetic show by people who are supposed to be serving constituents. It is just such a lame thing to go to the proxy voting and to sustain it throughout all this time. Maybe there was enough fear in the nation to justify that when she did that. I would not have.

But then with that proxy vote that's there, it's kept members out of town. What I've known is that let's say, for example, if we're in town working five days a week, Monday through Friday, take off on Friday afternoon and come home, we have more leverage then as regular rank and file members. When you're not in town, leadership and leadership staff is cutting deals. And then so if you're not in town, you're not in influence, the leadership will run the show. Nancy Pelosi will run the show out of her office.

And the same would happen with Kevin McCarthy on his side, run his show out of his office. Members have to be there to have those conversations on the floor, to build those coalitions, to initiate legislation, to drive an agenda and to respond when they have an agenda pushed at them. Maybe they love it and want to embrace it. That's great. But if they don't, they have to be able to weigh in rather than have no time to read a four thousand page bill as we saw with Omnibus.

We're well over time, but I just want you to give me a name finally, Congressman. Who should be? Who would you support for Speaker of the House right now? I'm going to add it just a little. I would vote for Andy Biggs.

If he can make it, that would be great. I predict that there will be a compromise candidate emerge from that conference. If it's Andy, I'll be happy. I won't be surprised if it's not. Congressman Steve King, SteveKing.com, the book is called Walking Through the Fire.

Talk about being a true Moral patriot. Thank you, sir, for being with us today, and thank you for your continued conversation with America. Thank you so much, Jeff. Happy New Year to you and all your listeners. He's Steve King, represented the state of Iowa in Congress for 18 years.

What do you think about what he had to say? Give us a call, 844-747-8868. Jeff Stein, in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show. Ready to open it!

Oh, oh, oh, Riley! O'Reilly Auto Parts specializes in keeping your car on the road. Not sure how much life is left in your battery? Our professional parts people will test it for free. If it does need to be replaced, we'll help you find just the right one to fit your car.

Our Superstar batteries are built to handle even the toughest conditions. Visit O'Reilly Auto Parts today. Oh, oh, oh, Real! Oh Riley. Auto parts.

Welcome back to the Todd Stern Show, Jeff Stein filling in 844-747-8868. That's how you can join the conversation here in the Liberty University studio. Congressman Steve King, from whom we heard in the prior segment, and if you missed the conversation after 3 o'clock Eastern, 2 o'clock Central, you can listen to the podcast by going to ToddStarnes.com. One of the things that people did not like about Congressman King when he was serving. is that He had morals and principles and he knew where he stood.

And by gosh, That's the way it was. He was not squishy. And so he got a reputation of perhaps being hard to bargain with.

Well, you don't bargain on your morals and foundational principles. And so, um I have had the greatest of respect for him. for doing that. And that's what we need these days, that kind of stuff. And again, I've said it every day this week, so I'll be abundantly clear again.

Never talked to Kevin McCarthy, never met him, don't know him. I've heard from others who suggest that he's in it for himself. And you heard that from a individual who served with him in the US Congress, And so that makes me very concerned about what will happen going forward. I know there are many people. Who says Well, look, we can't get derailed by this.

The Republicans cannot get derailed. They got to get a speaker in place and got to get the committees set up, and let's go, let's go. If it takes two or three days to get it right. Not only will the Republic survive, but frankly, it'll be far better for the Republic. to do it that way.

I just don't know. I just don't know who the alternative is. Obviously, McCarthy had a majority of votes in the Republican caucus when they got together right after the election. What's the path to 218? You know, in a Presidential election we always look at the Electoral College, which, by the way, I think is fantastic and brilliant and should not be changed.

But we always talk about what's the path to 270, the number of electoral votes.

Okay, what's the path to 218? That's the strict majority out of 435. It's a majority of those present. We already know there will be one vacancy due to a Democratic congressman passing away.

So we won't be to the full 435. But the scenario that Congressman King mentioned about McCarthy making deals with Democrats to just not show up for the vote. Because that changes the percentage that he needs, the number of actual votes he needs. Percentage is the same, he needs a majority, but it changes the actual number. I had not contemplated that, and oh my goodness I don't even know what to tell you about that.

That is next-level stuff. Love to hear your thoughts, by the way. 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls in the next segment of the program. Coming up in hour number three, we'll talk immigration with Mark Morgan, who used to run customs and border protection.

Florida Congressman Greg Stewie along in the next hour as well. Give us a call. Your call's coming up. Jeff Stein in for Todd Starns on the Todd Starn Show. Start a journey, not a fab.

Kick off your fitness journey with up to $500 off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus, or Tread 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 tread basics.

See additional terms at onepeloton.com. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show from the Liberty University Studio. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Give us a call at 844-747-8868. We'll take your calls here coming up in just a few moments.

Steve, hold on the line. We'll get to you just as soon as we can. But I want to go now to the Patreon Mobile Newsmaker line. And joining us there is Mark Morgan. Mr.

Morgan is a senior fellow with a wonderful organization, FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. They're online at fairus.org. Mr. Morgan is also former acting director of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

Mr. Morgan, Jeff Stein here, filling in for Todd Starnes. How are you? I'm doing great, Jeff. Thanks for having me.

It is always a privilege to talk to you, sir, because not only of the work you've done, but of the work you continue to do to keep us informed with what's going on. The numbers were buried, the November encounter numbers were buried until the night before Christmas Eve, and with good reason. It's worse than ever, is it not? It is look in the first sixty days, October, November of this fiscal year, yet again, shattering all time records in our lifetime, Jeff. Just in the first sixty days of this fiscal year, they have already experienced over one point five million total encounters and well over one hundred sixty thousand gotaways.

And on that pace, if they continue this pace for this fiscal year, just twelve months, We're going to be looking at over three million total encounters and over one million known gotaways in a twelve month period. That's unsustainable. That's another set of data points to show that we literally have the worst unmitigated self inflicted border security crisis we've ever seen in our lifetime. A couple of days ago When I was going over those numbers, I think I saw that something like $67,000 in the last month alone. were turned around because of Title 42.

And yet you have this administration. wanting to do everything to get rid of Title Forty two. Can you first of all explain, because there's so much misreporting on this, I hear people say Title 42 is a Trump administration policy.

Now, Title 42 predates all of us that are probably listening to this program, but I'll let you set up what that is and what would happen if the Biden administration got their way of getting rid of it. Yes, so you're right.

So Jeff, it's very important. Title forty two, it was it's been in existence for a decade, and it's a policy with respect to public health. It's not a border security, border enforcement tool.

Now they did implement and act that under the Trump administration for obvious reasons, COVID. And I believe that we utilize it to prevent the further introduction and spread of COVID nineteen into the country. And to me, no doubt, it saved countless American lives. What's very important though about Total forty two, think about it, with or without it, We're already in the midst of the worst border security crisis in our lifetime. In less than 24 months, we've seen over five million total encounters and over one point two million total known gotaways.

And that's with Title forty two being in place. the past twenty-four months.

So so even if Title 42 ends, It's not going to create a crisis. We're already in the middle of the crisis. It's just going to make it worse when it goes away. But but here's the problem, is even Republicans, they're getting it misunderstood too, just like you. They're saying, Oh, let's keep Title forty two like it's some sort of border security a tool.

It's not, what they should be doing is less focused on Title forty two and more focused on border security policies that this administration totally decimated and dismantled. Like one, the Remain in Mexico program, two, the assignment of cooperative safe third countries we had with all three Northern Triangle countries and stop the restrictions on the ICE that stops them from doing their job to remove criminal illegal aliens that are in this country illegally. Mark Morgan, former Acting Director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, joining us on the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein Filling In. It's gotten to the point where And I may not have seen this reporting correctly, so please correct me.

But the Biden administration, because of the porous nature of the southwestern border, we're now seeing folks From Cuba, from other entities, going in through that wide open border, and it's really changing the dynamic of all of our border enforcement, is it not? It's not just people coming up from Central America through Mexico and coming into areas of Texas and Arizona. I mean, this is a whole different thing when they're making their way in from Cuba.

Okay. Yes, Jeff, you're one hundred percent correct. I couldn't have said it better myself. Let me give you some more information to your viewers to footstomp that. Over the past twenty four months, CDP, Customs and Border Protection have encountered illegal aliens or otherwise inadmissible aliens from one hundred sixty different countries.

That's one six zero. There's only one hundred and ninety-five recognized countries in the entire world.

So this is not just a Mexico thing. It's not just a Northern Triangle, even Western Hemisphere thing. This is an issue. The entire world has got the message loud and clear from this administration that because of our open border policy, if you come to our borders now, you enter illegally, you file what we know to be false and fraudulent asylum claims because the majority of the illegal aliens are economic migrants. They don't qualify for asylum.

That we're still going to release you into the interior United States and then refuse to allow ICE to lawfully deport you once you remain here illegally. That's the issue. That's why they're coming. That's why we've seen unprecedented numbers. And this is also why, look, I hear a lot of talk real quick.

That, oh, this is a humanitarian issue. That is a mischaracteration. No, this is a border security issue. This is a national security issue. When you have illegal aliens by the millions coming here over 160 different countries, to include countries that we know are facilitating terrorist organizations and/or filitating the finance of terrorist organizations, that is not a humanitarian crisis.

That's a national security crisis. And again, it is far broader, as you so accurately pointed out. It is so broader than Title 42. That's the current case that's getting everybody's attention. And you've made it clear previously, it's not like the Biden administration has been super tough on enforcing Title 42 all along.

That's Jeff, that's exactly right. That's why I say without Title forty two, we're already in the midst of the worst of crisis. They'd had Title forty two in place for the past twenty four months. And again, we have a higher degree of illegal aliens coming to this country. We have more drugs coming in this country killing Americans.

We have more gotaways, again, 1.2 million, which we know there are criminals, there are murderers, rapists, pedophiles, aggravated felony gang members among the 1.2 million gotaways. We also know that there are potential national security threats among the 1.2 million gotaways. That's all happening with Title 42 in place. Why? They're only applying it to less than a third of those that are illegally entering.

So again, with and without Title 42, it's not a matter of a crisis that's going to start. We're already there. It's just going to a matter of the degree of crisis. There are men and women wearing the uniform trying to do the job that they understood. The job to be You don't sign up for this duty without a real call for it, and I cannot imagine how.

How many of these agents feel? when you see how things have changed just in a two-year period. It is. Look, and I Jeff, once again, I think you're right, it is a calling. For all of us who have put a uniform on, put that badge on our chest and holstered a weapon and really put ourselves in harm's way, it's not a job, it is a calling.

It may sound corny, but that's just the truth. And these men and women that are on the front lines of our nation's borders, that's what they signed up to do, to risk everything to protect us. But they know under this administration, the network of tools, authorities, and policies we had in place that allowed them to do their job have all been taken away. They go to bed every single night, and it weighs heavy on them because they know that they have been relegated to nothing more than federal travel agencies. for the illegal aliens, and they know that they're not on the front lines.

They're relegated back to facilities to process the illegal aliens. And they know every single drug, every single time an American dies from a drug overdose, they feel it. Every single criminal, every murder rapist that gets into this country and takes another victim, an American victim, they know and they feel it. When they think about the potential terrorist threats that are getting by among the 1.2 million Godaways, they feel it. I'll give you a quick example.

There's a veteran, 26 years, 26 years, Jeff, in the Border Troll. He was getting up like he does every morning. He was getting his uniform all ready to go, and he's looking in the mirror, make sure he's all squared away. And he said he looked up in the mirror and he had just this. Incredible rush came over him.

He said, For the first time in 26 years, he just realized that now he had become forced to become a part of the world's largest smuggling operation. think about it, that's how they feel. And again, I have such respect for those who are willing to do the job as it should be done. This is not what they signed on to do, quite obviously, as you point out. Are Democrats even starting to figure out that this is not good for the country or, in their mind, good for their own political future?

Because that's what they're focused on. I mean, most politicians of either party, frankly, are. But I mean, is there a tipping point for Democrats, in other words? No, I don't think so unless they do exactly what you said. Look, I hate to get into politics, but you cannot talk about what's happening at the border without getting into politics because unfortunately, it is become consumed by politics.

And this entire time, Democrats have been on the sidelines, haven't been saying a thing. Until now, once they think that it could potentially be a political liability from them, they're starting to speak out. I mean, for guys' sakes, Governor Newsom, for guys' sakes, actually went to the border, you know, dressed in his Armani shoes and et cetera. You know, where has he been for the past two plus years?

Nowhere, right? He's been the governor that created one of the country's most viable sanctuary states that we have in this country. He's given rewards to illegal aliens and incentivized them to come. And now, because he potentially has his sights on president, now all of a sudden he shows at the border. It's a joke.

But look, Jeff, it's very important. Look, up until just a week or so ago, I put almost 100% of the blame on our open border policies on this administration and the Democratic Party. But I shifted once the Republicans, specifically 18 senators. Republican senators voted for the $1.7 trillion omnibus bill. That there's a colossal failure.

In this bill, they actually gave DHS billions of dollars. And the bill it says, and this isn't Mark talking, this is the bill that said that that money, specifically, Earmark, can. Cannot be used to secure the border. It can only be used to further process more illegal aliens. 18 Republican senators voted for a bill that gave DHS more money that refuses to secure the border, but just gave them more money to cover up the crisis.

They should be ashamed of themselves, specifically Senator Corner. Corner, look, every state is a border state, but for God's sakes, a border state, Texas, who literally is getting overrun and overwhelmed every single day, their own Texas senator voted for this bill that refused to give money to secure the border. And from a political standpoint, not a single one of them needed to vote for it in the final bill for it to pass.

So there's just no defense for it whatsoever. There isn't. Exit question for Mark Morgan, former Acting Director of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. So Republicans will have the majority in the U.S.

House starting on Tuesday. This is going to make any difference given the overall climate as you see it. Look, that's the question. I'll tell you, again, I'll go back to the omnibus bill. The senators tied the hands of the Republican House members because had they not passed this bill, had they pushed this until the Republicans took over the House, they would have had an extreme tool, the power of the purse, to stop the bleeding, to force this administration to reverse course and to refuse to fund the agencies that are facilitating the open border policies.

But that's all now gone for at least the next nine months. But at least what they can do is pass a strong border security bill out of the House that's going to codify things like the Remain in Mexico program to save third countries and et cetera, to make this administration reverse course. And the last thing I'll say, they need to hold key members accountable. The first thing they need to do is impeach Secretary Myricos, who served as this administration's chief architect of its open border policies, killing Americans every single day. I know there are some who are going to say, well, that sounds like a lot of hyperbole, but you have the facts to back it up.

It is not an overstatement in any shape, manner, or form. Mr. Morgan, I thank you for your service to the country in the past and your service to all of us now in the country by continuing to keep this item on the front of everyone's agenda. Thanks so much, and have a happy start to the new year, sir. You too, Jeff.

Thank you. Mark Morgan. He is a senior fellow now with FAIR, the Federation for American Immigration Reform. FAIRUS.org is how you reach them. Former acting director of U.S.

Customs and Border Protection. And as I mentioned in the last hour, you just hear him talk, and you just feel. the pain that someone like he has seeing what has happened, and then you transfer that to those still wearing the uniform, and again, it is shameful. And it is taking advantage of people on both sides of the border. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach us.

We'll go to the phones when we come back after this short break from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Star and Show. Oh. Oh, O'Reilly! O'Reilly Auto Parts specializes in keeping your car on the road.

Not sure how much life is left in your battery? Our professional parts people will test it for free. If it does need to be replaced, we'll help you find just the right one to fit your car. Our Superstar batteries are built to handle even the toughest conditions. Visit O'Reilly Auto Parts today.

Oh, oh, oh, Release! Oh Riley Auto parts. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach us.

And the way this works is you call that number, Grace picks up the phone and she talks to you about what you want to talk about. And then when we're ready, Kyle pushes the button and you come up on the air. But in between, I get an email that says who it is and their basic topic. All right?

So that's how I know that on the phone, Steve is calling in from central Arkansas. And I love what you're going to talk to us about, Steve, so much. I'm not going to steal any of your thunder. Good afternoon. Thanks for being along.

And tell us what's on your mind. I've been listening to this debate about who should be the speaker for the Republicans. And I honestly have about decided the best thing for the country right now. is for them to make a complete clown show out of this trying to pick a speaker like they're trying to do and let the Democrats get Nancy Pelosi back in there for two more years as Speaker. And the reason I think that would be best for the country maybe it would make people wake up and realize It's going to take more than voting Republican and watching Fox News to save this country.

The Republican Party we have up there right now, just the very fact that. that Kevin McCarthy is considered the number one candidate for speaker The Rhino Uniparty. Swamp rat that he is is being considered. That tells me. This Republican House we have right now is not going to accomplish anything in the next two years.

We're better off to let the Democrats do as much damage as they can.

So finally people will wake up to what's going on.

Well, the concept, and I'm sorry for stepping on you there, but the concept of it is you've got, in order to build it back up, you have to tear it all the way down. And that's essentially what you're talking about here. What I find interesting, and this is a tremendous point you're making. You can't just vote Republican and say all the problems have been solved. And that's why I keep asking people, okay, so Republicans get control, majority control of the House.

So what? What's going to change? And I don't see anything changing because to me, the one thing that Republicans and Democrats can agree on is how to get themselves reelected. They're all in it together, Steve. What do you think?

I agree one hundred percent. And as far as That tearing down to build it back up, I think we're real close to torn down. Yes. Oh, absolutely. That we're down.

And and Politicians in Washington, DC are not going to build it back up. You're going to have to start from the ground, which means in your community, your local area. I do think I'm not. I'm not just a complete defeatist and say the country is gone. I do think it can be saved.

but you've got to start locally in your community and and build up from there because I went to the primaries here in Arkansas, the Republican primaries here in Arkansas back last. Oh, now we're running out of march. We've run out of time. I'm so sorry, Steve. We have run out of time.

I really appreciate the phone call and the concept. Very much appreciate it. I think you're right on the money. We have to take care of this ourselves. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starn Show. 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 Tret Basics. See additional terms at onepeloton.com. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starz. That's right.

I love this American ride. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation, God ever blessed, welcome to our number three of the Thursday edition of the Todd Starnes Show. Coast to coast on more than 100 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week. Good of you to be along.

I'm coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXCL in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This is where folks in the state of Iowa listen to the Todd Starnes Show. And wherever you're listening, however you're listening, we're very pleased that you're along with us. We're here in the Liberty University studio, and we'll take your calls this half hour at 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868.

Coming up at the bottom of the hour, after the bottom of the hour break, actually, Florida Congressman Greg Stuby will join the program. We're going to talk more about the southern border. We're also going to talk about that bloated omnibus bill and what will Republicans do in the House when they have the majority. That's coming up when we talk with a return guest, Florida Congressman Greg Stuby. That's 30 minutes from right now.

If you missed. The last hour of the program.

Well, first of all, where the heck were you? But I'm sure you had your reasons.

Well, later today, go to ToddStarnes.com and click on the Toddcast podcast, and you can listen to the conversations. We had a great conversation with former Congressman Steve King about the retribution of Kevin McCarthy. You crossed McCarthy, you pay for it. And that does not bode well for a new Speaker of the House, given how he's handled situations. Also, in this last hour, we spoke with Mark Morgan, the former acting director of U.S.

Customs and Border Protection, laying it out with a very fact-based recitation. of the disaster at the southern border. It is an invasion. It is destroying so many segments of our society. And this administration not only is not doing anything to stop it.

They are actively and aggressively encouraging it. And that's something we're going to talk with Congressman Stuby about: what changes can be made at Homeland Security and what can Congress do about it. All that coming up here on our program. ToddStarnes.com is where you go to get all manner of information, including news and links to all sorts of things, including the live show blog. And the live show blog has a little link on it where we're giving you the chance to vote on a poll to see who should be the next Speaker of the House.

So go to ToddStarnes.com, click on the Live Show blog, scroll down just a bit, and there's a link right there. And it's to my radio station website and a poll question I put up about who should be the next Speaker of the House. And we would love to have you folks in Starnes Nation weigh in on that.

So I am struck by the fights that we have in Congress these days. And the concept of redefining terms like bipartisanship, You hear the Congress talk about this as a bipartisan bill. Here's my question. Why is it whenever we're referring to a bipartisan bill? Democrats get 90-something percent of what they want, and just a few rhino-Republicans.

Add their names to it. And that's bipartisan. See, if I'm told to start with, Forget the current political scene. Forget the way the formerly mainstream media characterizes things. If you tell me that something is bipartisan, my mind immediately goes to.

A roughly equal division. of people from each side joining forces. In other words, bipartisan to me is closer to 50-50, 60-40 maybe. It's not 90-10. Yet the January 6th Commission wanted you to think that they are a bipartisan commission.

With just two Republicans, both of whom are never Trumpers. That's not bipartisan. You look at the Omnibus Spending Bill, the bloated $1.7 trillion dollar more than 4,000-page bill. Nine Republicans voted for it in the House. That does not make it bipartisan.

Seven of those nine, by the way, as we discussed earlier this week, was the last vote they'd ever cast. They're not going to have to answer to the people anymore. They were done. with their terms in office. Obviously in the Senate you had a much bigger erosion.

I would say if you got eighteen Republicans, mm, boy, that's an awful lot. And why any of them voted for it is beyond me. Because you can't just say, Well, we need to fund the military. Then fund that separately. Do it through regular order.

Don't go flipping over to the other side. Don't have the border of Ukraine be more secure than the border of the United States of America. But in any event, politics has gotten to this point where. It might be hard to even get a true bipartisan measure because we've got folks who are just bound and determine they're going to. get a piece out of the other side in everything.

And when you're talking about your morals, your foundational points, you don't compromise on those. I understand that everything else is give a little to get a little.

Okay, I sorta get that. Not to the level of the swamp right now. Heavens, no, that's gone way, way too far. But here's a story that I saw come across the news over the Christmas weekend. It happened last Friday night.

in a college football bowl game in Florida. They call it the Gasparilla Bowl. And you look that up if you want. It has to do with some local heritage in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.

But here's what wound up happening. This was a game between Missouri and Wake Forest. Bowl game. And A member of the Missouri football team was called for roughing the passer. on the Wake Forest quarterback.

You're not supposed to do that. Hit him too hard. And they threw the flag.

Well, as the quarterback lay on the ground, one of his offensive linemen held out a hand to help him up. You've seen that, right? It happens all the time in football. Where the player gets knocked down, teammate comes over. Gives a, you know, extends the hand, here, I'll help you up.

In addition to the Wake Forest teammate trying to help his. Quarterback up. A player from Missouri by the name of Ennis Rackistra. Also came over to extend his hand.

Now, Mr. Rackistra was not the player. Who committed the foul? who did the roughing the passer. One of his teammates.

hit the quarterback illegally. And this guy goes over and is like, oh, dude, yeah, let me help you out. I don't have a problem with that part. Because frankly, when I was young, and that's many, many years ago, thank you very much. But when I was young, that's sort of what happened.

If I was playing defense and I knocked the quarterback down with a fair blow or a tackle or whatever. You help the other guy up. Because it's a show of respect? It is to get them ready for the next play. That's just part of what's called sportsmanship, or at least it used to be.

So here's this Missouri player, Mr. Rackistra, trying to help the opposing player up. And what happens? One of his own teammates. pushes him out of the way.

and was all up in his face very upset. The two wound up pushing and shoving. at the center of the field in the middle of the bowl game. And two other Missouri players had to pull them apart. Whatever happened to sportsmanship is my question.

Whatever happened to helping your worthy adversary up.

So that you could continue the play. To me it's a show of respect. Apparently, within the Missouri football team, no, don't ever show any sign. of helping the other side. By the way, Wake Forest won the game, 27-17.

Probably that little altercation at midfield did not help. The uh spirit of the Missouri Tigers. They wound up six and seven on the year. We've got this crazy stuff in college football, which I really don't follow anymore. It's all way too woke.

I just did it aggravates me. But you can get into a bowl game because there are so many bowl games if you're just five hundred. It's six and six.

So they had a bowl game and they finished under five hundred.

So my question was whatever happened to Sportsmanship. help the other guy up. It in no way was going to adversely affect. The outcome of the aim. It was in no way a matter of giving aid and comfort to the enemy.

Because they're not really enemies, they're adversaries, they're opponents. They're not enemies. And this is one of the problems then I see that we have going on. in Congress. The problem we have in Congress is.

You take sportsmanship and you turn it into bipartisanship. Working together to advance the cause. In football, it's the cause of the game. Get the guy up for the next play, and now let's see if I can knock him down again. There's no respect.

among the players in Congress to a large degree these days. You would no more have Help to the other side on an issue. Then you could fly. Most of the time. Here's the thing: they have got to be some issues.

Where What political party you're a card carrying member of should not matter. Safety and security of the country. That's uh number one. That should not be a partisan issue. But things have gotten so partisan Things have gotten so I'm in it for myself and not the common good.

It's really a uniparty system. And the loyalty that people have. is solely to themselves As a member of Congress trying to get reelected, as opposed to constituents, as opposed to party, as opposed to anything else.

So whatever happened to a little sportsmanship? on the playing field. Let's restore that first. But then what about in Congress? We should be at a point where members of opposing parties can get together and agree on things for the common broad national good.

But we don't trust that process anymore, and it is the fault of Democrats and Republicans for letting the American people down all this time. Just because you voted for someone as one from one party, as a caller mentioned in a prior hour, that does not mean you're going to get the results you think you should get. This is why you have to stay involved well beyond Election Day. Twy you have to be a part of the process up and down the line. It would be great to have bipartisanship, but in order for that to happen, we have to have trust in the politicians.

We don't have that now. And it's because they have earned Our distrust. In order to save the Republic, we need to get back to it. In order to save sports, we need sportsmanship. 844-747-8868 is how you can connect with us.

Martin, stay on the line. I'll get to you after this break. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Liberty University Studio is where we broadcast from.

I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. 8447-47-8868. That's the number that Martin used to call in from Las Vegas. Martin, you have an interesting idea about this whole speaker thing. Thanks for calling the show.

What's on your mind? Thank you. Mr. Stein, I prefer. I'd prefer uh probably somebody else, but uh I have no choice in the matter.

I think it's a figureheads position in some ways. and Speaker of the House. And I the point is, I guess, when I saw him slam the omnibus bill on the floor the other day, I said, McCarthy has some guts. They don't give him credit for that, and I think he would make a great sp uh you know, uh speaker. And so I kind of favor him now.

I'm not sure about anybody else.

Well, that's a real fair point, Martin. I appreciate it. And to your point about figurehead, we talked about this a bit yesterday on the program.

Someone was advocating Jim Jordan. And then my point was, is it better to have Jordan chair judiciary or be the Speaker? And to my way of thinking, it might be more important to have him as committee chair of judiciary. I think that sort of buys in with what you're talking about. Jordan is the best they have, I think, in Congress on the Republican side.

And there's one or two others, but he's probably the best. And anyway, I just thought it was a interesting situation. The other thing is, I don't think this the students nowadays have ever taken a civics course like I have. which is much much of it's political. And they don't even know about politics.

And then Nevada, we're running casinos in Las Vegas. That's how we lost the senator's race to a Democrat.

So it's a matter of knowing civics in this state and other states like it, I guess. You are exactly right, Martin, and thanks for the call from Las Vegas. Yeah, I mean, when we ask our young people, do they even know about These things. We talked with Craig Shirley about the conservative movement earlier this week, and that was something that we discussed then. Do today's members of Congress even know what the movement was all about?

Patty is calling in. Where are you at, Patty? You are in North Carolina listening to the fine WSIC. Thanks for calling in. What's on your mind today?

How are you today, Jeff? I'm fine. I called yesterday, but I was on hold.

So I just want to mention, I had mentioned Chip. Yeah. Yeah. Um, but you know what? I I was thinking about it.

I think we need an outsider. I don't think we need somebody that's I think an outsider would be perfect. You know who I was thinking? And you might laugh. Two.

Ha ha ha ha ha. Steve Bannon would be pretty interesting, wouldn't he? I think Steve Bannon would be great with a gavel in his hand. What? I'm sure they'd find some way to make that a violation of his bond on his appeal for contempt.

No, please. And you know, I want another question. No, you know who I thought? After Chip Roy, I was thinking, you know who I thought? I think she.

She's beautiful and smart. Christy Gnome. Oh, sure. And a former member of Congress. Most importantly, so she knows her way.

And she's not a swamp person. She is the real deal. I agree one hundred percent with regard to Governor Noam, and thanks so much, Patty, for calling in from North Carolina. This was on ToddStarns.com earlier this week, and we did mention it at the time, but she got a flamethrower for Christmas. You can go online and watch the governor of South Dakota.

I think she's wearing a camo coat. Very skillfully use a flamethrower and just set a whole pile of brush on fire. That's in the category of if they don't have t-shirts in South Dakota that say my governor can take your governor, they're missing an opportunity. But no, Governor Noam, as a member of Congress, knows her way around that very well. I think Patty also was hoping we would mention, and so I will, in the time we have before the break.

And Pete, if you could hold on the line, we'd still like to talk to you this half hour. This House committee that has Donald Trump's tax returns says they're going to release them to the public tomorrow. I will tell you right now, as a lawyer who has done taxes for people, there's nothing in there. They're only being used and leaked to, in some way, hopefully, embarrass him or try to show that they won over him. You think it's going to show how he's gotten income?

You've never seen a tax return. It's all political theater. Thanks for being along, short break, Congressman Stuby, after that on the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd this week from the Liberty University studio.

844-747-8868. That's how you can reach us. Pete, you're calling in from Iowa. Hold on the line if you would, please. I do want to talk to you about the topic that you mentioned to Grace, but to begin this portion of the program, we go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

Joining us now is the Congressman from Florida's 17th District. He's Representative Greg Stuby. Representative Stuby, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Starnes. How are you today? Hey, good.

How are you? Excellent. Thank you for taking the time to be along. All right, so we have no end of bad information coming from the border. We have a record number of encounters.

We have more money in this bloated omnibus bill to defend the southern border of Ukraine as opposed to the southern border of the U.S. Give us a sense from where you are in Florida about how this is impacting your constituents. Yes, it's so frustrating, especially what you mentioned about the omnibus. We put four hundred well, we didn't, Republicans didn't. I didn't vote for it.

But the Democrats and their companions, the Republicans in the Senate that voted for this, put four hundred million dollars in the last omnibus to support secure the border of Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Oman, and then specifically put language in there that money for Department of Homeland Security could not go to defending and securing our own border. I mean, how backwards are we right now in our country that we're going to send money to willfully secure the border of these third world countries, if you will? and not secure our own border. And you're right, we're almost at five million encounters at DHS since Joe Biden's been in office. It's over two hundred thousand almost every month.

The latest was two hundred thirty three thousand in November. That's more than the population of an entire county in Southwest Florida. And I tell you, everywhere I go in Southwest Florida, the number one issue that is on Americans and Floridians' mind is the illegal immigration and the wide open southern border that we have happening right now. As one who served in uniform, and thank you for that service that you provided to this nation at a key time in our history, what. Lack of security.

I mean, this is so porous, this just has to be a true monumental disaster waiting to happen. I mean, it's already a disaster in terms of day-to-day security of Americans, but I'm thinking even broader than that. And the administration is not only ignoring it, but they're willfully allowing it to happen. Yeah, and we've apprehended known terrorists.

Now, these are the people that we've just apprehended. The last count I saw from. CBP was 98 known terrorists. These are people that are on the terrorist screening watch list. who have been apprehended at the southern border.

So you know there's more terrorists that have gotten through that weren't apprehended. When Secretary Marcus was before the Judiciary Committee almost a year ago now, we specifically asked him, did you release these known terrorists at the time I think it was like 'forty two,' did you release these known terrorists into our country? And he refused to answer the question. And so it's not just the political debate that we are having, it is the safety and security of the American people. From terrorism, and I think the list of countries across the world is like 176.

or something along those lines of different citizens of other countries over a hundred plus That are flocking to our southern border. Our enemies are flocking to our southern border because they know that they can get in. They will be released into the country. 98% of them don't show up for their asylum hearings. A judge will determine that their asylum case is void and the person should be deported back to their home country.

And this administration will ignore that court order and not deport these individuals back. I can't think of anything that would affect the safety and security of the American people more. Than a completely open border. I mean, this doesn't this isn't this isn't happening and has not happened in any other country in the world. And if that country, like the ones we gave money, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, and Oman, actually used affirmative steps to secure their border, nobody would criticize them for doing that.

But in America, The left calls it calls it racist. And you're heartless and you don't have any humanity. But this is a larger crisis than this. This isn't just the political inclinations of this administration to let in as many illegals as they can that they hope will vote for them, that they likely will vote for them in the upcoming elections and allow legal immigrants to vote. It's bigger than that.

And the American people finally stood up, gave the Republicans the majority in the House. And when we take the House back, I can assure you the Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, this is going to be item number one on the day that we get back to business in the House.

Well, that was going to be the key point.

So Republicans are going to have a majority in the House. What are you folks going to do about all of this? And I understand there is a limitation to what you can do when you don't have partners in the Senate, but what will the House Judiciary Committee do in particular? First, we'll bring in Secretary Marikis for impeachment proceedings and ask him all of the questions that he refused to answer under oath, get all the documents, which we have a lot of them now. We've done a ton of records requests.

We've done a ton of requests to the department to get all this information. Ask him all these questions, go through an impeachment proceedings. If the evidence is there to impeach him, which I believe it is, he's willfully and intentionally violating federal law at the border, then we should go through that impeachment proceedings and ensure that the American people are holding this administration accountable. But it goes further than that. We should also use the appropriations process and the funding that happens at the Department of Homeland Security to specifically say you could put writers in the budget that say things like not a single dollar of this fund shall be used to allow an illegal immigrant into our country.

And that's why conservatives like myself were so frustrated and upset by the Republicans in the Senate that worked with the Democrats to pass this last omnibus because this last omnibus funded the government till October of next year.

So you basically eviscerated the power of the Republican House majority that was going to be when they voted on it in 11 days. from being able to use that appropriations process for a little less than half of the time that we have the next two years to do that.

So that's another way and avenue that we'll do it. But now, apparently, because of what happened, it's going to take a little bit longer before we have the budget process back in Republican hands in the House. That is one of the very effective ways to use that budget process. The budget starts in the House, the appropriations process that Starts in the House, and you don't fund those departments if they're going to break federal law.

Now, obviously. And I'll remind the audience, we're speaking with Congressman Greg Stuby, the folks of the 17th District of Florida, fortunate to have him represent them. And he's joining us on the Todd Starn Show, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today on this Thursday. The thing that is interesting about the budget, if regular order had been followed, this would have been done in August or September, in time for the fiscal year starting in October. The Democrats failed to follow regular order.

I would suggest that they did not earn the right to then use an omnibus bill. This close to a change in power, it seems like the American people had spoken, and 18 Republican senators did not get that memo. And they Did I lose the congressman? Because I don't hear him. All right, apparently he dropped off.

If he calls back, let me know. But the idea of quote impeachment. It should not be used just because the other party gets in. It should be used For clear dereliction of duty, high crimes and misdemeanors, all the phrases that we have seen used over time. And if someone is through their dereliction of duty, inaction, etcetera.

causing the border of the United States to be so porous that it is a danger to not just our citizens, but also those who are trying to make their way through. Then there has to be a change made. And if the administration won't make the change, Then It may be up to the Congress through impeachment to do it. Again, drastic step, but this is a serious time. And I want to say just one brief word while we see if the Congressman calls back.

And if not, we thank him for his time. This administration had made it very clear during the 2020 presidential election that it was going to be a border policy of y'all come. And so they are at great risk to themselves. And so it is you hear the Democrats talk about what a stunt it is to bust illegal aliens and drop them off at Kamala Harris's vice presidential house on Christmas Eve. What a stunt.

No, the stunned was to give the impression that the border would be wide open, And then see these people come. I mean, who's taking advantage of the people more? Republicans who are bussing them to an area that apparently they wanted to go. Or is it this administration? Who's taking advantage of these people more?

Congressman Stuby rejoins us on the. Patriot Mobile news line. And as we were talking, Congressman, you know, it's it's uh such a dereliction of duty for this uh this uh The Senate to not give you the chance. Because the Democrats did not earn the right to have this accommodation made when they failed to meet regular order. They didn't.

And what I was saying, I don't know what point I got cut off, but what I was saying was: you have a bunch of elected Republicans. who aren't going to be in the 118th Congress who voted for them. And so you strapped the hands of the next Congress that the American people voted in to do exactly this. To be a check on Joe Biden's administration. And so now, when we get sworn in on January 3rd and go about the business of the 118th Congress, we're not going to have the ability at least until August.

Now we'll go through, we will go through regular order because Republicans follow law and order, and we'll go through regular order in the House and start working on the budget for fiscal year at the end of 23, into 2024. But we'll do these things that we've talked about doing. We'll defund the 87,000 IRS agents. We'll do these things in the Homeland Security budget to ensure that we stop the illegal immigration into our country like the American people sent us to do. And that's the other sword that we have.

to be able to do the will of the American people through the appropriations process in the House, not just oversight. And we will do that. The Judiciary Committee will do that. but we also have that ability through the appropriations process to accomplish policy objectives. Just a couple of quick things in our remaining moments.

Can you enact legislation I'm sure the Senate would not go along, the President wouldn't, but could you enact legislation to separately defund some of these aspects, some of these things, based upon the way that you would do it in regular order? Can you do this even though they've passed a budget? We can, the I mean, and you already hit the point. We can, but obviously the Senate's not going to go along with it because it's still majority Democrat and you need sixty votes to get anything done. But I think we need to do things like that to show the American people, this is what you elected us to do and we're going to do it.

And here it is, this Senate, which, oh, by the way, there's a lot of senators on the Democratic side that are in very, very tough races in twenty four. The twenty four Senate map looks a lot better for Republicans than it does for Democrats. And so that's suddenly why the Joe Manchins and the cinemas of the world, she turned independent, it's because they're up in twenty four.

So I think you may see a more moderate Senate because of that, but you're still not going to get the majority of Democrats to go along with something like that. But we will in the House to show the American people that we're doing what the American people vote us in to do. Who are you voting for for Speaker on Tuesday? I'll be voting for Kevin McCarthy. I don't know in this first round if he's going to get there or not.

You'll go till somebody gets To become speaker, I think if we go one or two rounds and he doesn't get there and we realize that he's not going to get there, then we're going to have to find somebody else that can. I would support Jim Jordan, but I've talked to him and he doesn't he's not running. Um, so it's got to be somebody that can get to that two hundred and eighteen number.

So we'll see what happens on Tuesday, but I expect it to be a very long night. Go get the energy drink or the coffee or whatever is your beverage of choice. Congressman Stuby, thanks so much for joining us on the Todd Starring Show. It's been a privilege. Have a happy new year, sir.

Yeah, happy New Year. Thank you. Congressman Greg Stuby joining us, Florida's 17th District, 844-747-8868. Congressman Stuby joined us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. And as we've been discussing now more than ever, you have to support companies and organizations that believe what you believe, share your values.

And Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless carrier. And they don't just share their beliefs. It's not just lip service. They do something about it because Patriot Mobile donates a portion of every dollar to organizations that fight for the causes you care about. If you switch to Patriot Mobile now and use promo code TOD, you'll get free activation and a free gift.

Patriot Mobile, broadest nationwide coverage. They use the same towers other carriers use. Great discounts for veterans, first responders, multi-line users, and so much more. Switching is easy. Here's what you do.

Please go to patriotmobile.com/slash TOD or call their U.S.-based customer service team at 972-Patriot. Special discounts. Discount free premiere activation, but you have to use promo code Todd. That's patriotmobile.com/slash Todd or 972 Patriot. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

Back in a moment on the Todd Starn Show. Finishing strong on this Thursday edition of the Todd Starns Radio Program from the Liberty University studio, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. We go to the phones. Pete, where are you calling from in Iowa? Hey, Jeff, I'm about sixty to eighty miles southwest of you.

Down down the south. Des Moines and Iowa City. Perfect. What's on your mind today? Well, I'm sort of thinking that we need to redefine the parties.

That now has become the rhinos and the dinos, the uniparty. Because Pelosi and McConnell and Cabin and Yeah, Kaney, Kinthinger. It doesn't mean what what they are anymore by the parties. That is now we the people, the citizens, versus the Uniparty. And It's almost like the Harlem Globetrotters and the Washington General.

It's just sort of a show. Yes. Follow the money, you know, show the money. And It's a gigantic corculous hogtraw. is where they all feed and eat.

It's just some are on the right hand of the trough and some are on the left. And until I don't think we have to get rid of the The power of the federal government, because that's where the money that controls. back to the state. and we have to have a more powerful state government Because if you ever look at the last election, there's a blue and red map of the United States Yeah. It's huge blue on the coast.

and a couple of big cities. But all the rest is the red. You know, from say from the Rockies to Appalachians, it's all red. And you brought up such a great point because when we talk about the landmass and the heartland of America, and I'm so glad you used the trough analogy because we raise a lot of hogs here in Iowa. The folks in North Carolina do too.

So we know you know what you're talking about there, I have a feeling, when you're talking about hogs at the trough. Yes, sir. And it it sort of makes me chuckle that Senator Joni. He talks about making them squeal, but the way I look now is they're all squealing because they're. Face deep in the hog trough and squealing to get more.

Oh, Pete, what a great way to end the program. Thank you so much for calling in from Iowa and hanging on so long. I appreciate that greatly. Yeah, it's a fight between the Uniparty, the ruling class, and we, the people, and we shall prevail. All right, I'm going to do something here.

I could not sleep without a my pillow, straight up. And towels? You bet. How about a six-piece set, two bathtubs, two hand towels, two washcloths? Only $39.98, but you have to use promo code STARNS.

10-year warranty, 60-day money-back guarantee, but you won't need that. You'll love them. MyPillow.com, click on the Radio Listener Special, enter promo code STARNS or call 800-839-8506, mypillow.com, promo code STARNS. And again, I would not be without the MyPillow. Thank you, Grace.

Thank you, Kyle. Thank you, Todd, Finn. Thank you all for being along. I'll be back tomorrow. This is the Todd Starn Show.

Bless you all. Have a good night. Jeff Stein here for Todd this week. Start a journey, not a fab. Kick off your fitness journey with up to $500 off Peloton Bike, Bike Plus, or Trep 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 Tret Basics. See additional terms at onepeloton.com.