It’s Mugshot Day in Atlanta for Trump

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That's legacypminvestments.com. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right. I love this American rap stars. All right.

Hello, America. Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Program. We are following a couple of big stories. Of course, last night, the big Trump interview, and then you had the undercard, which was the Republican presidential debate for second place. Also, today, sometime this afternoon, we are expecting President Trump to surrender.

To the fascists in Fulton County, Georgia. We understand there are a lot of Trump supporters outside the jail, or at least nearby the jail in Fulton County. And we're going to keep you updated on that story throughout the day. But right now, the police are keeping the Trump supporters as far away from the jail as humanly possible. And it looks like they're in some sort of a one-lane road or something.

It's just very strange.

So we'll be keeping you updated on the developments coming out of Georgia. The president is expected to be fingerprinted, and a mugshot will be taken and released. These are radical fascist Democrats who run Fulton County, and they're going to make this as. As bad as it can possibly be for Donald Trump today. That's just the reality of it.

And it's a horrible thing that's happening. And I hope that you feel anger today over what they're doing to Donald Trump. And I hope you take that anger and you channel that anger by getting involved in politics and making sure that we get out the vote in 2024. But I want to talk about last night and the debate. And a few thoughts here.

And I'm just going to share my point of view with you and give you my take on things. First of all, I don't believe Vivek Ramaswamy is a Republican. I'm getting a bad vibe out of that guy. Had the pearly white teeth. Slick hair, the smile that would not get the guy never stopped smiling.

Never stopped smiling yesterday. There was just something off about that guy. I don't get it. I will say this, though, in the poll that I posted on our Twitter feed last night, Vivek Ramaswamy came out as the winner. He is on top of the Todd Stearns radio show poll from last night's performance.

As a matter of fact, I'll share those numbers with you, and we've had just hundreds of you participating. First place, Rama Swamy, 64%. Then you have Ron DeSantis in second place, 22%, and Nikki Haley at 10%, and Mike Pence at 3%. I thought Chris Christie was a jerk, and we all knew he was going to be a jerk. I think he got a couple of lines in, especially directed at Vivek.

And yesterday on this program, I told you, be prepared, they're going after Ramaswamy. They see him as a threat. And it's a good thing that they did because he is a threat. And again, I just don't believe the guy is a true. Conservative.

I just don't. He's changing his views on so many things. Talking about last night, he said he doesn't believe climate change is real.

Well, a few months ago, he was saying climate change is real.

Okay. And I didn't like how he introduced himself by stealing the line from Obama that he was the skinny guy with a weird last name or a funny last name.

Something's not right about that.

Something is not right about that. Yeah. But then you look at Mike Pence, and I know a lot of people, I've seen the reviews, a lot of people thought Mike Pence did a horrible job. They said he looked angry, he was defensive, he was not likable, and they wanted the kinder, gentler Mike Pence.

Well, I don't know about that. I saw a guy who was actually willing to take responsibility for what he did. I mean, he's on the wrong side of a lot of these issues that we're talking about. But I thought Pence actually did pretty good last night. I thought he held his own.

And it was very clear early on that the Fox News host. We're definitely Definitely pro-DeSantis. As a matter of fact, early on, there were some comments made and they tried to shut down Mike Pence, which, by the way, is why he was so aggressive through the rest of the debate. Is they kept, you know, people would make comments about Mike Pence, but the moderators would not allow. Him to respond.

And that's why Pence got so angry.

So I don't necessarily have a problem with that. But I want to talk, and Nikki Haley, she wants us to get into World War III. I got a problem with that. And the other two guys. Asa Hutchinson and the Governor of North Dakota, Somebody said, break a leg, and he did.

The poor guy had the basketball injury, but he was up there, looked like he was heavily medicated, and debated like he was heavily medicated. And then Asa Hutchinson, nobody cares about the guy. I had to look him up. I kept forgetting his last name. Who's that guy?

He's from Arkansas. Huckabee? No, that's not Huckabee. But I want to talk about DeSantis for a moment. And to this day, DeSantis refuses to come on this radio program.

And that's fine. It's a free country. You can decide what you want to do. I mean, that's between him and his flawed and failed communication staff. The man has the worst campaign staff in the history of politics.

It's really tragic.

So you've got DeSantis out there, and the whole point of that debate was to boost DeSantis. That's to puff DeSantis to a national audience. That's what Fox's job was last night. And I don't think it worked. A lot of people out there are saying, oh, DeSantis won that debate.

Really? That's not the debate I was watching. And there were two moments two moments That I believe Really helped me understand who DeSantis is in his heart of hearts. I think in his heart of hearts, his conversation. Comfort zone is the innards of Ron DeSantis.

I don't think that guy's a true conservative.

Now, I know he talks the talk, and to some extent, he's been walking the walk, but he's been doing so. because it's politically expedient for him to do so. There were two questions last night. One of them involved The issue of abortion and whether or not the governor would support. A ban, a six-week ban on abortion.

Cut 18, please. Governor DeSantis, you signed a six-week abortion ban in Florida. One of your biggest financial backers said that you need to, quote, shift to get moderates or you will lose. What do you say to him and others who say politically that is a tough thing to sell nationally?

Well, I would say we sold the biggest election landslide victory in the history of the Republican Party in the state of Florida in 2022. That's what I did. We can win. But second of all, look, you got to do what you think is right. I believe in a culture of life.

I was proud to sign the Heartbeat Bill. One of the most impactful moments of my life was when I heard the heartbeat of my oldest daughter in my wife's womb and then saw the sonograms of all three of my kids. What the Democrats are trying to do on this issue is wrong to allow abortion all the way up to the moment of birth. I know a lady in Florida named Penny. She survived multiple abortion attempts.

She was left discarded in a pan. Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and brought her to a different hospital. We're better than what the Democrats are selling. We are not going to allow abortion all the way up till birth, and we will hold them accountable for their extremism. But DeSantis never answered the question.

He never answered. The question And Brett Baer, to his credit, the one time that Brett Baer actually did a good job. Was when he called out DeSantis and said, Well, wait a second, you didn't answer the question. He kept saying, You didn't answer the question, and he never answered the question. He took a pass on it.

Why would you take a pants on that, Governor DeSantis? You profess to be pro-life.

So are you saying you are now pro-life, but? Because Fox News framed this whole argument as the abortion issue is a losing issue for Republicans. That's what Martha McAllum said. It was a losing issue. I thought this was a horrible debate that Fox News put together.

A horrible debate. And by the way, I actually loved the back and forth and the booing and the hollering at each other. I think we need to see that. We need to see how these candidates can handle themselves under that pressure. My problem: you went to a commercial break every five minutes.

The questions were rambling, and they should have focused on one or two significant issues, but they didn't want to touch the abortion issue because Fox News just announced to America: abortion is a losing issue for the Republicans. They also did not cover anything about transgenderism or the attacks on biological women. And I believe the reason why is that Fox did not want to offend their LGBT employees, and there are a ton of them at Fox. A ton of them. But I t again, I want to go back to DeSantis.

So there was that issue where he took a pass on something that quite frankly should have been a home run for him. And instead, he waffled. He did not answer, but then there was one more. And I don't know if you saw this. And we don't have audio because you can't see yet.

This is something you have to see.

So we have the video up on our website. The candidates were asked to raise their hand. If they would stand with Donald Trump if he was convicted. Anyway, the whole point of it, I don't know the exact question, but the whole point was: will you stand by Donald Trump?

So, Ramaswamy, to his credit, Hand shot up. And so did Nikki Haley and Tim Scott and the governor of North Dakota. While they were raising their hands, you can see Ron DeSantis looking around to see who else is raising their hand. And in his mind, he's doing the political calculations. What do I do here?

Do I raise my hand? Do I keep my hand? You could see it. You could see the smoke coming out of his ears as his brain was churning, working overtime, trying to figure out what to do. What is the politically correct thing to do?

And then his hand shoots up. That's not true leadership. That's not a leader. And for me, that was the defining moment of this debate was Ron DeSantis looking around, seeing what everybody else was doing.

So he went along with the crowd. I will say this. Governor What's his face from Arkansas? I have more respect for that guy than I do Ron DeSantis at that moment. And here's the reason why.

At least, Governor Watts' face. At least he's standing by his His principles. It is value system. Ron DeSantis? He's gone with the wind.

So there you go. I that is my initial take. Who do you think won the debate last night? And I want to hear from you on this. I know a lot of people disagree with me about the Mike Pence issue.

But I think this was a bad debate for Ron DeSantis. And by the way, it was almost as if he wasn't there. I mean, it was the Vivek Ramaswamy show last night. Here's Jason Miller on MSDC, cut number nine. And President Trump is campaigning on making America great again.

We saw the greatest economy that we've had in a century possibly ever when President Trump was in office. He makes it very clear. He has more policy videos on his website. He gives speeches. He gives detailed interviews.

He takes on the tough battles with tough reporters. He's actually doing it. And so President Trump, you saw tonight, his policies loom large over everybody on that stage. He dominated every answer, whether it's about him politically or policy-wise. And I, quite frankly, I agree with the comments earlier.

President Trump looked like a genius by skipping the pigpile tonight and instead doing the interview with Tucker Carlson, which, by the way, Chuck, just hit 87 million views.

So what, probably 10, a little more than 10fold, and watch the rest of the folks have their cat fight tonight. But here's the other thing, I think a really important point. I heard someone earlier on the panel say they thought the DeSanctimonious did okay. That's not right. We saw the death of Ron DeSantis' campaign tonight as Vivek Ramaswamy leaped frog him into second place.

DeSantis, it didn't do good enough for him to tread water. He had to have a breakout moment, and Ramaswamy completely outshone him. I knew President Trump wasn't going to be there tonight. I didn't know Ron DeSantis was going to skip the debate as well. Wow.

It's true, though. You sort of forgot there was a moment. And all of that, where you just sort of forgot DeSantis was there, but Ramaswamy was literally sucking all the oxygen out of the room. You got to do your homework on Ramaswamy. I just, he, okay, fine.

If he's a Republican, I don't know if he doesn't know if he's an America first conservative. I have a very hard time believing that. And that whole line, that intro where he compared, you know, the whole comparison to Obama. Yeah, that was a little creepy. As a matter of fact, Chris Christie called him out on it.

Cut what? I've had enough. I've had enough already tonight of a guy who sounds like ChatGPT standing up here. And The last person in one of these debates, Brett, who stood in the middle of the stage and said, what's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here, was Barack Obama, and I'm afraid we're dealing with the same type of amateur Sandhim Sage tonight. Give me a hug.

Just like you did to Obama. Same type of aperture. And you'll help elect me just like you did to Obama, too. Give me that bear hug. Same type of aperture.

Hold on. Hold on. Give me the bear hug, bro. It's the laugh. He just laughed.

The whole night, he laughed. It's very weird. All right, we're going to take your calls on this. Who do you think won? Winners and losers from the debate?

We've got some great audio from President Trump and. I thought, honestly, this was one of the best sit-down interviews Donald Trump has done with Tucker Carlson.

Well over 100 million viewers. We are monitoring the numbers from last night from the actual TV debate. We'll let you know when those come down. It'll happen sometime during the show. And of course, also monitoring President Trump's arrival into Atlanta for Araignment Day.

We've got a lot going on. Larry Elder is here. Lara Trump. We've got a great, great cast of characters today. 844-747-8868 is our number.

That's 844-747-8868. This is the Todd Stern Show. Legacy Precious Metals has a revolutionary new online platform that allows you to invest in real gold and silver online. Hi, this is Todd Starnes, and just a few easy steps. You can open an account online, select your metals of choice, and choose to have them stored in a vault or shipped to your door.

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649-0304. That number again, 866-649-0304, and start investing today. You know what I did not see up on that stage last night in Milwaukee? I didn't see a vice presidential contender up there. I could not imagine.

Donald Trump with any of those people by his side. Not a one.

So maybe it's going to be a Christino. Or someone of that caliber, maybe even a Kim Reynolds out of Iowa. I know they've got a little thing going on right now, but they could kiss and make up. You never know. 844-747-8868 is our phone number.

Let's go to Kelly in Georgia, listening to us on WDUN. Hi, Kelly. What did you think about the debate last night? Um, it was very interesting, and I do share a lot of the views that you do. I think that Christie looked like the loser that he is.

I believe that Ramazlabe. laughed way too much and looked ridiculous at times. And I do believe that DeSantez did win that debate last night. I like how he talked about You know what's stop going to the past and we need to talk about the future. And I think that Donald Trump won that debate last night.

So you think even though the big elephant in the room, as Brett Baer described it, the big elephant in the room was not there, he's the actual winner of the debate. One hundred percent. Got it down. All right. So, did you catch any of the interview with him and Tucker?

I did not, but I did have it on, so I so he got my review, you know, the my review, and I do plan on watching it this evening. All right. Well. We're going to play some audio from that. We don't want to spill the full beans here, but it's really a fascinating conversation.

And the more you watch it, and it's about 45 minutes long, you just come away thinking, you know what? This man needs to be president again. Kelly, God bless you. Thank you for listening. Kelly says Trump won the debate last night.

What say you? 844-747-8868. That's our telephone number. 844-747-8868. Paul Shanklin says.

Mike Beds was pretty close to just shouting, get off my lawn, Vivek! MyPellow is celebrating its 20-year anniversary with over 80 million MyPillows sold. Mike Lindell at MyPellow wants to thank each and every one of you by giving you the lowest price in the history of MyPillow. You're going to get their queen-size my pillow for $19.98, regular price $69.98, and just $10 more, you're going to be able to get a king-size pillow. You're going to receive deep discounts on all my pillow products like bed sheets, mattress toppers, pet beds, mattresses, my slippers, and so much more.

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That's mypello.com/slash starnes. Use the promo code STARNS or call 800-839-8506, promo code STARN. Yeah. All right, welcome back to the Todd Search Radio Show. And we're following the developments out of Atlanta as we await President Trump's arrival.

He will be arraigned today. And it will be as painful as possible for the former president. They want to make it as painful as possible. I really hope his mug shot, he's got a red Make America Great Again ball cap on, and he's smiling, grinning, a great big grin on his face with that beautiful red tie, the blue suit. That's what I hope happens.

Because they're wanting to make this, and I can promise you this: Laura Trump, and we'll talk to her about this coming up in the next hour. Lara Trump said on Newsmax last night, this will be this mugshot of the former president. Will be on posters, it'll be on t-shirts, because you're looking at the first modern-day political prisoner in American history. A former President of the United States who is only being prosecuted and persecuted Because he beat Hillary Clinton in 2016. That's ultimately what this is all about.

And it's always been about that. Always been about that.

So I really do hope that in the In the days to come, that you will. Remember. What is this really all about? This is nothing more than a night, go back to 1937.

Well, there goes Todd again, talking about Nazi Germany. It's always about the Nazis. No, no, no. This is not about the Nazis. This is about what was happening in the Soviet Union.

This is about the the rounding up and the purging of political enemies. Jailing political enemies. Joseph Stalin in the 1930s, he would just round them up. And as I see the photographs of the attorneys, we are now arresting attorneys. For defending their clients.

In America. This is yet forget about Nazi Germany for a second. Let's talk about what was happening in the Soviet Union with Joseph Stalin when he was rounding up his political enemies. And he was jailing them, they were executing them?

Soviet citizens were deemed enemies of the the party, enemies of the state. This is what's going on. In America. Rounding up. The America First Citizens, the America First Patriots.

Tucker Carlson asked President Trump a very interesting question last night, cut number seventeen. Do you think we're moving towards civil war? There's tremendous passion, and there's tremendous love. You know, January 6th was a very interesting day because they don't report it properly. I believe it was the largest crowd I've ever spoken before, and you know some of the crowds I've spoken before.

And like July 4th on the mall, I think they had a million people there. But I think that the biggest crowd I've ever spoken before was on January 6th. And people that were in that crowd A very, very small group of people and we said Patriotically and peacefully, peacefully and patriotically, right? Nobody ever says that. go peacefully and patriotically.

But People that were in that crowd that day, a very small group of people went down there, and then there are a lot of scenarios that we can talk about. But People in that crowd said it was the most beautiful day they've ever experienced. There was love in that crowd, there was love and unity. I have never seen such spirit and such passion and such love And I've also never seen simultaneously and from the same people such hatred. of what they've done to our country.

So do you think it's possible that there's open conflict? We seem to be a little bit more. I don't know because I don't know what it you know, I I can say this. There's a level of passion that I've never seen. There's a level of hatred.

that I've never seen and that's probably a bad combination. He's not going to come out and say what we all know to be true. because the Civil War has already started. We're seeing the other side, and you're seeing what they're doing to our cities right now: rampaging and pillaging and plundering our cities. Just last night in California, another large department store, the Sephora store, was looted.

By these thugs in the name of reparations. Look at what's happening in San Francisco. Where it is so bad that now even the leftist mayor London breed. Is now standing in opposition to the homeless people because they've completely overrun the city and the city has been decimated. But now it may be too late.

So the Civil War has already started. And it's only going to get uglier. That's what Donald Trump is concerned about here. All right, let's go to the phones 844-747-8868. We'll start in Jackson, Tennessee.

Brian listening to us on WTJS. Hi, Brian. What's on your mind today? Exactly what you're talking about. And megadittos, I mean, this is scary what's going on here.

And as far as the persecution of a political candidate, one that's already been elected by a majority of the United States citizens one time, And it seems to me it's more about covering up their crimes than it is about winning the election with this persecution of Donald Trump My question for you, Todd, is At what point? I have to believe that the military is monitoring all this.

So, at what point? Does the military deem some of these career politicians Enemy combatants. If they are found to have colluded. with foreign governments. in trying to frame Donald Trump.

Brian, that's a great question. And I think you have to go back to Barack Obama's terms in office, those two terms in office. And what he did with the generals, you might remember, it was the one moment, I think, and this stands for all of American history, we've never had as many generals fired. as we did in the Obama regime. And I think the reason why is that Obama was purging the military of the Patriots, and he was replacing them with these woke generals.

And now we're looking at almost eight years later, we are seeing the poison fruit there. With the rise of the transgender movement within the military. All that to say, what concerns me is Is that now you have a lot of generals who hate America, who hate our freedom, and they pledge their allegiance to the Democratic Party and not necessarily the Constitution of these great United States. And that is a major concern I have, the weakening of our military. I'm not too sure That if You know, Joe Biden stood up one day and said, Well, We're going to suspend the Constitution.

I'm not sure you'd have the military rising up. Absolutely not. At least not in that. I end up going back. Do you remember the line of questioning?

during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings where Lindsey Graham specifically asked him about a case where American politicians had colluded with foreign governments and Cavanaugh affirmed Graham's assertions that it was treason by definition. And punishable by death, just like Taiwan is. Yes. I think all the groundwork has been laid, all the executive orders have been signed. I think the military was alerted day one of the Trump presidency because Trump knew it was corrupt before he was elected.

I believe he got in by the grace of God, alerted the military to the corruption. uh of the swamp, wide and deep everywhere. Which is why I don't think Trump or his team are phased by the indictments. I think they're playing a little further ahead in the game than we're all seeing play out in the T V. Brian, look, it's a fascinating thought that you bring to the table today.

And again, I go back to this idea. That not only do we have a woke military, but along comes Donald Trump. And he says, no more wars. We're not sending our boys and girls off to fight somebody else's war anymore.

Well, guess what? That means he just declared war on the military industrial complex.

So now you've got those enemies. Trump had so many enemies. That people don't want to talk about this, but he was, even within his own party, this was a man who was under attack. And the fact that he was able to do what he did in those four years in spite of all of that It's a remarkable thing. Brian, great call, great thoughts.

Thank you for listening today. Let's go to Lakeland, Tennessee. Jim is listening to us on KWAM, our flagship station. Hi, Jim. What's on your mind?

Um You left something out a while ago when you described that bug shot. We need that Make America Great Again hat. We need that big smile and that red tie. We also need a picture of a thumbs up. Oh yes, I you know what, Jim?

I forgot about that. Gotta have the thumb. Gotta have them. That's that's gotta gotta be that, you know. Maybe a thumb on maybe a thumb on one hand and a middle finger on the other.

No, that wouldn't be appropriate, Sim. That would work. That would even be better. Or maybe a double middle finger. Yeah, it could be, could be, man.

But anyway, I appreciate the show and everything. And I tell you what, I watched that debate last night, I mean it kind of got out of control some with all the arguing going on where you couldn't half understand some of them when they were trying to speak. Maybe it was just me. I couldn't figure out who they were. At one point, they were booing and applauding at the same time.

I'm like, who are they booing? I'm very confused now.

Well, you know, the well, when they asked who would support Trump, you know, Rahmaswami threw his hand up so fast. I mean, it was just instant. I mean, you know. And he and he then you did you hear him when he said I will pardon Trump if I get elected. That's right.

And Mike Pence, he hedged on that. He would not answer that question. No, he sure wouldn't. He said they would take it into consideration. Yeah.

Uh-huh. All right. Kind of a heat way out. Yeah. I hear you.

I hear you. All right, Jim. Appreciate that call. Yeah, I forgot about the thumb. You got to have the thumb, Mr.

President. I can't wait to see it. I will actually buy a poster. You know, they'll be kind of like how they do the political prisoners down in South America. I wonder if people are going to be painting Donald Trump's face on the sides of buildings.

And the posters are going to go up around town because this man really is about to become a political prisoner. All right, we got to take a break here. 844-747-8868. That's 844-747-8868. This is the Todd Stern Show.

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That's golo.com. Again, golo.com. All right. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Todd Starnes.

Great to have you with us today. Let's go to the phones. Memphis, Tennessee, KWAM, Tariq is on the line. All right, Tariq, did you catch any of the debate last night? Tariq in the Ukraine.

All right, we're having a hard time hearing you. Can you turn down your radio? Maybe that's the problem. And if you're on a speakerphone, pick up. Ah, there we go.

Hi, Tariq. All right, let's go for it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, hi, how are you doing, Mr.

Stunk? I'm good, thank you.

Well, yeah, you know, I list I l watch the debate. But last night. And uh overall, you know, I I thought that Nikki Haley had won that debate. Uh But I think that when it's all said and done, I think that Donald Trump is going to Well, I just put it this way. I wouldn't be surprised if D if Donald Trump uh appointed uh Ramaswamy.

as his running mate in that general election in twenty twenty four. But it was something That um Nikki Haley said in that debate that touched on with me, and that was the fact that. I don't think that it would be in the best interest of the United States if they decided to um to turn their backs on those people in Ukraine and just allow those people to fend for themselves. And um I think um I think that what should be done, you know, what the thing that I can't understand is. You know, you you have all those surrounding countries over in that region, you know, uh, you got you know, Poland and Denmark and Sweden and Norway, and uh Germany and I I can't understand for the life of me why they Don't try to form a coalition to try to fight out Vladimir Putin because you know why, Tariq?

Because they know the United States will always jump in. That's the reason why.

So they don't ever have to put skin in the game. We're the ones that always have to put the soldiers over there and fork over the cash.

Well, you know, I think that's part of the reason too, but uh I I think that that the United States cannot solve You know, fight that fight that war over that un over that region by themselves. I think it's going to take a a a joint effort. From those countries, from those surrounding c countries over in that region. And another thing is the fact that. There have been billions and billions of dollars.

That has been sent over to the people over in that region. And I think that the people who are sending that money, they should. Uh keep count. of that money that's being sent over there because it's a possibility Good. These people may be deciphering some of that money and some of it may be going into the pockets of some of those very people who are who are allegedly sending that money.

You know, Tariq, years ago, there was a movie called Charlie Wilson's War. Charlie Wilson was a yellow dog Democrat from Texas. And they made a movie about him. He was the guy that convinced the Congress and President Reagan to actually fund the resistance in Afghanistan when the Soviet Union invaded. And it's a great story.

But at the very end of that movie, There was um There was a conversation on Capitol Hill. Because all the schools have been destroyed. And they were talking to they were trying to convince the government to fund the building of schools and help rebuild Afghanistan. And they said, well, no, we're not going to do that. They're on their own.

Well, the problem with that is that you had a generation of young Afghans who had no idea the contributions America made. to secure their freedom. And in their eyes, America was just as evil as the Soviet Union was. And so to your point, we're doing all of this for Ukraine. But are the Ukraine school children, generations now, going to understand that we were the good guys here?

That we actually stood up and we stood in the gap. And I got to tell you something else, Tariq. One of the things that really concerns me You've got American troops over there. Putting their lives on the line.

Meanwhile, all these videos are coming out of Ukrainian young people stuffed into nightclubs, having a good old time, going to the beach. I got a problem with that. Well, mister Starn, I don't know exactly what's actually happening happening over in that region. And I'm certain that you're probably going to get different stories from different sources. But in lieu of all the debts, I you know, I I think um That Vladimir Putin is not going to not going to rest And to that Uh Re that country in that region have has entirely been taken over by Soviet Russia.

And if that happens, It could be that they like continue to Neighboring countries over in that region. I hear what you're saying, but Tarika, and I will ask our audience this question. You've got, let's say you've got $100 billion, and I don't know, I've lost track of how many billions of dollars we're sending over there. But let's just think about something here. You've got $100 billion.

Do you give that money to To American citizens, so they can make their lives better, so that we can shore up our borders, so we can make sure that people aren't invading our borders and invading our sovereignty. Or do you give it to Ukraine? Right now. The Democrats and a lot of people on that stage last night say, let the Americans suffer.

So, again, America first, America last. It's a very simple philosophy. And I hate it for the Ukrainian people, but they're going to have to be willing to fight for their own freedom. And I'm not seeing that right now. Got to take a break.

We're going back to the phone, so hang tight, everybody. This is the Todd Stern Show. When I grow up, I want to work for a woke company. Like super woke. When I grow up, when I grow up, I want to be hired based on what I look like rather than my skills.

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Todd Starnes. All right. Well, hello, everybody. This is the Todd Stearns radio program, hour two underway. We got a lot going on this hour of the show.

So, Larry Elder is going to be joining us. Also, Laura Trump is going to be here. And a little bit later, we're going to be talking to the founder of a great new publisher of children's books that teach kids lessons they're not learning in school anymore. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So, that'll be coming up a little bit later on in today's program. I want to play some audio. This is from MSDNC. They are just giddy as school girls about what's happening in Atlanta today. Cut 19.

I want to focus on the mug shot today because That's a big deal. That is a big deal. That will be Donald Trump's image throughout history. That one photograph will be one of the most important photographs in the history of this country. And we are a visual world.

And think if you're creating an ad or you're writing a story. You just need to show that image. You don't have to tell any other story. An ex-president with a mugshot. Of course, the outcome of the case is the important thing, but even that visual that will stand through time.

And once again, if I'm doing anything, if I want to do anything against Donald Trump, if I'm creating an ad, That's the image I use. And Donald Trump, who's a guy who's so concerned with his appearance, the way he looks, his image, his legacy. This will be something that will just stick with him in the deepest, deepest gut. All right, I want to go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Great to have with us a good friend of this program and one of the power players in politics these days.

He is the executive director for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, Timothy Head. Hey, Timothy, good to have you with us today.

Well, it's good to be with you today, too, and got plenty to talk about today. Hopefully, you're not having too much silence on your radio show these days. No, no, no, no, no. Not at all, Timothy. And of course, with you guys being in Georgia, I'm curious to know what's happening down there.

We understand there are a good many supporters of the former president gathered near that jail.

Well, that's right. Shared with us there is a great illustration. Actually, It's almost too accurate, you know, that frankly, the left One of their kind of tactics that they've been doing for a number of years and now have decided to visit on a former president is to really just kind of dangle. This uh this kind of Uh A cloud that just kind of looms over this person. And so the old adage that a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich, they've taken that into the political arena and they figured out: hey, we don't actually have to nail these people on actual criminal charges and incarcerate them.

We can just smear their name. For a year or two years with this slow, gradual, drawn-out process. And that really suits our purposes just fine.

So, there in Georgia, where there has been such controversy over. the elections and I don't want to litigate that. Today. But I'm curious to know among the Faith and Freedom Coalition crowd: are people how are they viewing the indictment and the looming arrest of former President Trump?

Well, I think Georgia is not dissimilar from a lot of other places. Interestingly, in Iowa, there was a poll that just ran just was released this week, but it was in the field last week. And a very interesting little kind of microcosm, while this Des Moines Register poll was in the field, they were actually talking for about three days with Iowa voters That it straddled. They started interviewing before, and then the indictment dropped. uh uh about a week and a half ago now.

And they actually saw real time when they were talking to would-be voters in Iowa that Trump's favorables and his and he became more sympathetic to voters literally as they were talking to voters, seeing getting the news real time. That's the same thing I think that's happening in Georgia right now is that believe it or not, his supporters obviously continue to support. But even people that are kind of waffling and maybe have personality issues with him, he actually becomes more favorable to them right here, right now, as these things are happening.

So, Timothy, where do you see all of this going? You know, we had the debate last night. Did you catch any of that by any chance? Of course I did. And you know, this I think that We could talk for an hour just on the debate itself.

It was a very interesting debate, probably a little more feist than I expected, to be honest with you. But I actually think that both in the case of Trump and the debate itself, that conservatives really do believe that competition is kind of a great equalizer in business and in sports and including in politics, that it actually kind of vets people and refines and kind of chastens processes and people.

So actually, I see this as actually ultimately a very healthy process, even though it might be a little bit uncomfortable to kind of go through for the next, whatever, six to nine months. I thought it was interesting. The question about abortion, and Fox framed it as a losing issue for. For the Republicans, how do you feel about the framing of the question and the responses we got?

Well, uh First of all, I thought it was a very interesting way to kind of kick that question off. And I'll be perfectly honest with you. I was pretty disappointed. I thought that was a very kind of half-baked analysis of what's going on. On the question of abortion in the country right now, that of course there are people that are pro-choice in the country, and so it can be volatile for those people.

But there are actually a couple of people on the stage alluded to the fact that about 70% of Americans now identify as pro-life in some form or fashion.

So they want exceptions for kind of the rape, incest, life of the mother, if you kind of look at just pure polling. But this actually polls very well. But I thought that Mike Pence made a good point to that effect. I thought that several things that Nikki Haley kind of ticked off, you know, enumerated, those can be winning issues when they're communicated in fair ways. You see, and that's the issue.

And I thought Haley did a really good job of saying, hey, look, we're talking about people who want to kill a baby on its birth date. And there is very well documented evidence of that, even going back to the former governor of Virginia, the Democrat there, who advocated for that position in a radio interview.

So I think the issue really is how you communicate and how you frame the argument. That's the issue. Exactly. Exactly right, which again is why I was disappointed in the in kind of the uh the premise of the question unto itself was was poorly uh uh phrased or worded, and I unfortunately I think maybe even intentionally Poorly phrased in that particular instance, which is not helpful for the pro-life community. And frankly, that's actually where the Republican Party lands these days.

I was surprised that DeSantis, and to Brett Baer's credit, he kept pushing him, but DeSantis would not give an answer on the issue of a six-week ban. And he kept saying, Well, I'm going to sign for life, but he would not answer that question. Yes. And I mean, I think you have to be fair. He has as the Governor of Florida has been has been staunch in that regard, absolutely unflinching.

Florida has is a complicated state, a big, huge state, obviously, and a politically closed state in most situations. And so I think he's maneuvered that legislation very, very well in Florida. But I think that a lot of folks are trying to kind of Um Reframe or rephrase the question instead of just purely: Are you for 15 weeks? Are you for 12 weeks? Are you for six-week bans?

Uh just try to take a larger, you know, a more kind of Overarching approach versus the very specific granular approach. I would almost love to see you guys do your own debate. You know, I think. Again, the Fox was so afraid of tackling a lot of these issues that are very important to our voters and our constituents, they didn't even touch the whole transgenderism and the war on biological women issue, which I think is quite frankly an issue that is going to be attractive to a lot of Democrats and Independents.

Well, absolutely. And look, I mean, that's we would talk about it specifically in kind of the political arena, but I think you can kind of span out a little bit and just look at the larger cultural and even a kind of corporate arena that the reason why so many communication companies and media companies are struggling right now is just kind of the classic go well, go broke. I mean, it's happening before our very eyes, especially when you kind of push the absolute logical boundaries of this stuff, which is basically inevitable for most of these extremists. All right, Timothy, we got to leave it there. Folks, if you want to get involved, and I would encourage you to get involved in the Faith and Freedom Coalition, and they have state chapters, the national organization's phenomenal, ffcoalition.com.

That's ffcoalition.com. And you'll be able to find all the information you need there. Timothy, good hearing from you today. Always great to be with you, Todd. God bless and have a great day.

All right, you too. There you go, folks. All right, we've got to take a break here: 844-747-8868. Again, our number, that's 844-747-8868. This is the Todd Stern Show.

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Yeah. All right, welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us. Today? Want to go to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, one of the people not at the debate.

Should have been at the debate. Larry Elder. Former colleague, good friend of this program. And he is on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today. Larry, good to have you with us.

I know you were hoping to be on that debate stage last night. Where are we now? I know that you guys are working on a lawsuit. What's the latest?

Well, it's not a lawsuit yet, to Todd. It's a complaint with the SEC. My lawyer is a former chair of the Federal Election Commission, was appointed by Ronald Reagan. He argues that because they failed to objectively apply the debate criteria to everybody, including Larry Elder, It was tantamount to the RNC making an in-kind contribution to the eight candidates that did make the debate stage at my detriment, and they could face a fine of up to $100 million given the value of the 120 minutes of free airtime that they received. And also, Fox News could face a similar fine because they made an in-kind contribution by not having Elder on the debate stage, even though Elder met the criteria.

We gave them Todd until 2 o'clock yesterday to put me on there. They refused. And so, as of 2 o'clock local time, I'm still here in Milwaukee. We are filing a complaint with the FEC making those allegations.

So, you've got the next debate coming up. And again, Fox Business is hosting that one. Is there any chance, where do you stand right now on being a part of that debate lineup?

Well, the criteria have shifted.

Now you have to have three percent in three different polls as opposed to one percent in three different polls. We had one poll where I was at two percent.

So it's trending in the right direction. I'm generating more donations than I ever have. The other criterion is you have to have fifty thousand individual donations. We already have more than that.

So as far as I'm concerned, we will be able to meet the criteria to make that debate. That one is in California, my home turf, at the Ronald Reagan Library, where I've spoken a number of times.

So I'm looking forward to it. But I feel strongly that I'm going to be able to meet those standards irrespective of what happens with the FEC complaint that we filed today. I'm going to be at that debate, I'm confident, next month in September. I'm curious about Bergham, which is, again, the North Dakota governor, Doug Bergham, a multi-bazillionaire. The guy, I mean, this is really pay-for-play here.

We're talking a $20 gift card if you give a $1 donation to his campaign.

Well, of course, he's going to cross that threshold. Can you say corrupt? I mean, I understand why they have debate criteria to make sure everybody who falls up a mirror who wants to run for president doesn't say I demand I have a right to be up there in the debate stage. The idea is to make sure that the candidates are viable. But when you use gimmicks like that, a $20 gift card, as you pointed out, for a $1 donation, that seems to me to be corrupt, if not illegal.

Another guy up there, by the way, offered a commission for people to go out and get prospective donors. It seems to me that's corrupt. One of them who didn't make it was offering a free air quotes. A free country western concert for a one dollar donation. Todd, I did it the revolutionary way.

I asked people to go to my website, lariyola.com, and make a donation, and I was not there. And of course, you're talking about what Vivek Ramaswamy, his campaign, proposed giving a ten percent commission to their bundler to their bundlers.

Well, I didn't mention the man's name, but that's the person to whom I was alluding. Yes. All right. So I'm curious: did you catch any of the debate last night? Of course, I watched the whole thing, and as far as I'm concerned, it underscored why Donald Trump was prudent not to go.

It would have been a circular firing squad and it was Demolition Derby. He would have been under attack. He's got a huge commanding lead. And Politics 101, Todd, is when you're that far ahead, there's no reason for you to debate.

So I understand why he wasn't there. I was happy about a couple of things. I was happy that Vivek used the term epidemic of fatherlessness, which I have made a centerpiece of my campaign. It is the number one domestic issue facing America. Nobody was talking about it until I did, so I'm happy he elevated it.

Now, hopefully, the other candidates will begin talking about it as well. I also, on my website, Lariota.com, have a proposal for states to adopt a method to get rid of these soft-lone crime George Searle's backed DAs that are wreaking havoc in city after city in America. And Ron DeSantis mentioned getting rid of the George Searle's soft loan crime DAs. I was unhappy that not anybody mentioned an amendment to the Constitution to fix spending to a Certain percentage of the GDP. Otherwise, governments get bigger and bigger and bigger, no matter whether Republicans are in charge or not.

And I was unhappy that nobody mentioned the lies Democrats have been pushing for decades, and that is that America remains systemically racist. It's not only driving nonsense like reparations, which in my opinion is the extraction of money from people who were never slave owners to be given to people who never slaved, it's getting people killed. It's called the Ferguson effect or the George Floyd effect, and that's the phenomenon of cost pulling back from proactive policing all over America.

So there are thousands of what I call excess casualties, including dead people who would not have suffered if the police had been doing their normal proactive policing. But the Democrats have gotten away with referring to the police as systemically racist. And the people that are killed by these excess casualties are the very black and brown people that people in the inner city, the people on the left, purport to care about. And the other big issue, of course, is the absolute meltdown. Of K-12 education, where, just to pick one city top, Baltimore, I'm not making this up.

There are 13 public high schools in Baltimore, all located in the inner city, where 0% of the kids can do math at grade level. That is an absolute disaster. And as far as I'm concerned, our party does not talk enough about what's going on K-12 in our urban cities. I'm curious here, Larry, about Ron DeSantis. They say he's everybody's saying he won the debate.

Do you agree with that assessment? You know, I think Donald Trump won the debate by not showing up. I thought I still believe that the RNC wants Ron DeSantis to be the guy. I think that's one of the reasons why they did not want me there. I think that they believe falsely that Ron DeSantis is the only guy that can beat Biden Harris.

Trump can beat Biden Harris. 80% of people believe that we're on the wrong track economically. We know he's letting in about 7 or 8 million illegal aliens. Inflation, our credit rating has now been lowered. We're borrowing $5 billion a day, and now that borrowing is more expensive because of those policies.

He is the target. The other Republicans ought not be the target any more than when I ran for Governor Todd. I did not say one negative thing about my Republican rivals. Unfortunately, they did not feel the same way about me, and that is one of the reasons why the first part of the recall failed. But had people said it's not about Elder, it's about Gavin Newsome.

Let's make Elder debate Gavin Newsome. Maybe just maybe the first part of this thing would have succeeded. What he did last night was give Biden Harris a lot of videos that they're going to be used against Donald Trump if he's the nominee, including Chris Christie referring to him as an insurrectionist. Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

All right, Larry, we got to run. That music, they're going to cut us off here at the computer. LarryEldr.com, LarryEldr.com. Go and support our good friend Larry. Good luck, and we hope to see you on the debate stage, Larry.

I'll see you there. Thanks a lot, Todd. All right. LarryElder.com. You want to see him on the debate stage?

Give us a call. All right, we will have. Live coverage whenever the arraignment happens in Atlanta, and we'll bring that to you live if it happens during the show. Otherwise, listen to your local radio station, and they will cut in with all of the important information. I want to go to the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line.

A good friend of this program, Laura Trump, joins us, host of the Right View podcast. And you can find that podcast at therightview.com. Laura, you made a big prediction yesterday. You say this mugshot is going to be on posters, t-shirts, you name it. Yeah.

Well, it's sad that we've reached this point in America, Todd, that we even have to talk about such a thing. But yes, if these absolute lunatics on the left who are trying to destroy America and are doing everything they possibly can to take down the one guy that they know threatens the swamp in Washington, D.C., Donald Trump, they're going to go out of their way to get that ridiculous that they think a mugshot is necessary for one of the most recognizable, if not the most recognizable man in the world, then yes, I think that you're going to see people who are conservatives, people who are patriots, people who love this country rally behind that as their symbol. You're going to see it on posters. You're going to see it on T-shirts, literally any and everywhere, coffee mugs, you name it, because I think people are going to use that and they're going to spin it around as a positive. And just like everything else they have thrown at Donald Trump that they thought would damage him and hurt him, I actually think it could potentially...

help him. Looking at today, do you have any intel, any guidance on when the President is expected to be in Atlanta? I think from what I understand, it's much later. I mean, we know that this indictment in Fulton County was released several hours before the grand jury actually voted. And then finally, you had the press conference at like 11.30 at night to actually bring forward the real indictment, not the initial one they released.

And so obviously, I don't know exactly why things are happening so late. Down there in Fulton County, but from my understanding, it will be rather late this afternoon or this evening. All right, Laura Trump on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. Last night, the debate. Laura, I was watching that debate, and the one thing I did not see I didn't see any vice presidential candidates up there.

I just I don't know. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I just didn't see it. What about you?

Well, it's tough to watch a debate without Donald Trump in it, isn't it? I think if you all knew that, go again. I mean, that is Primetime TV if you've ever seen it. The debates from 2015 and 2016, those primary debates were absolutely legendary. And it was because of one person.

It was because of Donald J. Trump. He brings a level of excitement to things that obviously was lacking last night. And I think the truth is, if you really talk to all of the people on that stage, they're probably all auditioning for that vice presidential spot for the most part because Donald Trump is head and shoulders above the rest of them. I think the latest CBS poll has him at 62% within the Republican Party.

No one even coming close to that. But yeah, you know, it was a lot of canned responses, a lot of very obvious answers. I think the most interesting person was Vivek. Who seemed to be doing his best impersonation of Donald Trump last night. But there's a lot of great talent in the Republican Party.

So that's the good news, Todd. I think no matter what, we are looking at a really strong ticket on the Republican side. I believe Donald Trump will be at the top of that ticket. And then we have so many great people in our party from whom we can choose.

Now you look on the other side of things, and they really cannot stay the same. They don't even have a strong name to put at the top of the ticket. Right now, they say they're running Joe Biden, and it's kind of shocking to hear that. But there they are. And I think that's the good news for us.

So maybe that person wasn't on the debate stage last night, but we still have a lot of time and a lot of great people to choose from. To that point, he did have the red tie, the Trump tie on last night.

So Vivek did. Maybe that's the best way to do that. Yeah, he's at least trying his best.

So bless his heart. God bless him. Absolutely. We just had Larry Elder on the show. He said Donald Trump won that debate last night by not showing up, by not being there.

He won the debate.

Well, if you look at the numbers, and I know we don't have the ratings back yet from Fox News on how many folks tuned in to that debate, The Tucker interview with my father-in-law, which obviously ran simultaneously with the debate. had at this point, I think, around 200 million views.

So I think they're going to be hard pressed to get that same sort of viewership. On the debate last night from Fox.

So, yeah, I think he probably did win if you're looking at sheer numbers. And I mean, the truth is, had he gone there, the entire debate would have been about attacking him. And people wouldn't have actually gotten to hear from these candidates who say that they want to be president of the United States. We all know who the frontrunner is, we all know who the obvious Republican nominee is. And it was kind of a lackluster performance for the rest of them.

So, yeah, I'm going to go ahead and agree with Larry Elder. Donald Trump won that one, and it was a smart move for him not to have gone. Laura, I was curious about what happened afterwards. And we have some audio here from your brother-in-law, Don Jr. Let's play cut number 12 here, please.

Right now, trying to ban people from actually having discourse about politics. How unexpected that probably shouldn't surprise any of us, but that's what it is. And I've been told by others that I would be able to go in.

So they said we were able to go in, then they said they weren't.

Now that we're here, and the candidate that said you can't go in the spin room. They're telling me right now, Fox won't let me into the spin room. That's what the American people should know. This is the kind of thing. They're telling him, he works for security here, but they're telling him that I'm not allowed to go in there.

Because the candidates that they've been boosting while simultaneously trying to cut down. All right, Laura, there you go. MTG Marjorie Taylor Greene, in a separate piece of audio, said that she was also banned. A sitting congresswoman and Congressman Matt Gates, all Trump surrogates banned from that spin room last night. Yes, I'm kind of shocked to hear it, to tell you the truth.

And I hope that it was some oversight on someone's part, but Todd, hard to think that, that was the case. And it's a shame because I think they probably would have had a lot of great commentary that people would have otherwise wanted to hear. But interesting that it is all the Trump surrogates that for some reason didn't make it in to the spin room.

Now Donald Trump was of course invited to that debate and I know that they had originally reserved a spot for him.

So you know one could argue that he should have had uh some representation there if wanted, but I don't know what the rationale would be for trying to keep someone l you know, like my brother-in-law, the the son of uh you know the the Person at the top of the party right now from going in and having some sort of commentary with people. It's a very interesting situation that arose last night for sure. I'm just curious how the family is doing. It is even though the President has done nothing wrong, and we all know that, and you guys know that, there is still I mean, the amount of pressure And the, I guess, anxiety that comes with these indictments, and the arraignments, and the arrest, and the embarrassment of it all. How are you guys doing?

I mean, we're great. Honestly, Todd, I think that we certainly had a very steep learning curve in twenty fifteen after my father in law announced he was running for president. And I think You know, very quickly, we saw how things were going to work for Donald Trump, and we saw that from just about the first. Day he was a declared nominee for President of the United States, the attack started against him. And people from all different parts of what obviously on the left, but even some within his own party started attacking him.

And it seemed like that the only reason was because he was actually speaking out on behalf of the American people and speaking out against the swamp and the entire disgusting crew of them in Washington, DC. And so we've sort of gotten used to this sort of thing.

Now, obviously, they've up the ante here because As much as you just said is true. We know that he hasn't done anything wrong here. They would like nothing more than to lock him up in jail. That is. Part of the goal here, obviously they want to dissuade people from considering him as a serious candidate for president, and they want to keep him out of the White House.

But they would also like to throw him in jail if they possibly could on the left. And so we take it seriously, but I think we all have to remain based in our faith, and we have to understand that the truth will always come out. And it has, it's shown itself before. You look at the Russia collusion hoax. And how hysterical the mainstream media was for years about that one.

How they still many of them have never come back around and said, Oh, we got that one wrong. You know, we knew the truth in the beginning there, and we had to wait. And finally, the truth came out for that one. And I think this will be no different. All four of these indictments now, no different going forward.

But it is really sad, not just for my father-in-law, that he's having to go through this, but truly for our country, the precedent that this sort of thing sets. Long term is so destructive to America. It's so destructive to the country that the founding fathers kind of thought in their minds would be one day. This is not where we ever thought we'd find ourselves. And it feels like it has happened so quickly and at such an alarming pace.

I just feel very sad overall for the state of the country and the way that we have really seen things decline in such a great way. All right. Well, we're going to leave it there, Laura, and we'll be watching tonight and just give the President our very best. Will do. Thanks, Todd.

All right, Lara Trump, everybody, on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line. Got to check out that awesome podcast at the rightview.com. All right, we're going to take a break. We're going to open up the phone lines here. And I'm curious.

I want to go back to the Larry Elder story for just a moment. Do you believe Larry Elder deserves a spot on the On that to bait stage. Yes or no? 844-747-8868 is our number. That's 844-747-8868.

This is the Todd Stern Show. Let us be honest as Republicans. I'm the only person on the stage who isn't bought and paid for, so I can say this. The climate change agenda is a hoax. The climate change agenda is a hoax.

And we have to declare independence for it. And the reality is, the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy. Wow. He triggered the entire room, Vivek Ramaswamy, last night. And again, I don't think he's a conservative.

I agree with our good buddy Paul Shanklin. I think the guy's a libertarian. I'm not sure how far libertarian he is, but he made some waves last night. And among a lot of young people, and we've talked to a lot of millennial conservatives and Gen Z conservatives, and they were going with Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. What was it, Ann Coulter said on Twitter?

She said they had a kind of a Hindu thing going on. We had to stay out of it last night. Ann Coulter said that. All right, let's go to the phones here: 844-747-8868. Connor in Boston.

Boston. Hey, Connor, what's going on?

Well, I'll tell you not this young person. The only person I'm voting for is Donald J. Trump from the election.

So this didn't move you at all. Vivek and his white teeth and the flamboyance, that that didn't sway you. Yeah, I'm all set with that. Yeah, I'm looking. The only person that's always been my guy for the job is Donald J.

Trump, and it's never even been. debatable. I mean, you have the best president that we've ever seen. And I'm telling you, what's happening to this person right now. What's happening to our great president?

What they really need to do when he gets back into office, every single one, this DA. Joe Biden, Mrs. Bill Clinton. Joe Biden's wife, oh, I'd love to get a mugshot of her for real. But they need to prosecute every single one of them, lock them up, throw away the keys so we can avoid this from ever happening again because this is just.

This is a scam on the American people, Todd. Connor, when you see what's about to happen, and we understand Laura Trump was just on, said it's probably going to happen later tonight when all of this goes down. I'm curious, what are people in your world thinking and doing? I mean, you live up in the Boston area. You work around Harvard.

You're there all the time. What are they saying about all of this?

Well, I mean, it depends on who you ask, but like the liberals around here, they're going to love it. They're going to think that finally, like, he's gotten what he deserves. But when you ask the real decentrists and you ask the conservatives around here, it's like they see through this. I mean, they're really, honestly, the smartest ones here. But it's like liberals are going to run with this, but it's like we're going to have the last laugh when he's in office again.

And we go after all these people, Barry Obama, Mikel Obama, all of them, and we prosecute them and we hold them accountable for the crimes they've committed upon our country. I'm with you. I'm with you, Connor, and we've got to do that. And the only person I know that will do that is Donald Trump back in the White House. And we got to do one other thing.

We can't be like any of these Hollywood style prisons. We got to purp lock them in chains. And shackle, make sure everybody sees that and have a nice video camera in there when we're throwing them into the cell and throwing away that key. Yeah, I like that. I'm with you a thousand percent.

Name and shame them and do the walk of shame the whole nine yards, every single one of them. And by the way, if Trump is going down for being an election denier, then by golly, Nancy Pelosi, every member of Hollywood establishment, all of them round them up and throw him in jail. That's a good one. We gotta throw her in jail too, especially when she doesn't have her bow tied so we can really see the crip keeper that she is. Oh, my.

She may look like one of those puppy dogs. What are they are they the bull dogs that just have layer after layer after layer? It's just I think that's pugged, yeah. But you know, I think you might just turn it up. Thank you, Dullet.

Yeah. Pog Polosi. But that's what we need to do, and that's going to restore this country to the greatness that it was under President Trump. I like it. Connor, good hearing from you, my friend, and good thoughts today.

The only thing you could see would be the eyebrows. It's like, man, that pug has big eyebrows. What's going on there? Very arched. Let's go to Chuck in Alabama.

Hi, Chuck. What's on your mind? Hey, Todd. A couple of things. You know, we're we get upset because they changed the definition of marriage.

Well, I think they've changed the definition of what a debate is. When you have eight people on stage, you really don't have a debate. It's more of a press conference and just little bits and pieces. We need to change that. And so that we can actually hear what all the candidates really, really have to say.

And then one other thing well, I can then one other thing I wanted to mention is that I am so glad you brought this up because you're absolutely right. Every time they actually tried to have a debate, the moderators put a stop to it. Right, right. And one thing I can see that we can do is divided up where you maybe have two or only three on stage and have maybe a couple of different times where everybody gets to do that. But to have eight on stage, this is not a debate.

It just really isn't. And that's frustrated me for several elections. And the other thing I just wanted to mention as far as Biden goes, you know Biden really just has to make sure that he can still control the voting machines. If you think about it. Uh and I'm a I think we have you know, the conservative People have we have actually just kind of Waited and waited and waited to the last minute, and then again we're going to have I haven't been going to have the same problem we had before.

Got to harvest those ballots. Got to get we've got to change the way we do it. This is the game the Democrats are playing, and we've got to play that game. And if we don't, we're going to lose. Pretty much it's really that simple.

Chuck, I appreciate that call. We're coming up on the top of the hour, so God bless you and give us a call back. No, Chuck is right. This was not a debate last night. It was kind of a forum, I suppose.

But Did anybody else notice this? I know Dylan said I shouldn't mention this, but I feel like I must mention this. And all you have to do is go back and look at the lineup. All right. So you've got all the candidates, all eight candidates are.

Are there And I'm j I want to know who is the person who decided where the people were going to stand. Right? because I couldn't help but notice something. You had Vivek You had Nikki Haley, and you had Tim Scott all standing together.

So they clumped all the minority Republicans on one side. I know, I'm not saying anything, I'm just pointing out. That was a little. Convenient, I guess. Coincidental?

I don't know. I'm telling you, Fox, you botched the debate. What do you want me to say? All right, we'll be right back, America. Stick around.

Hour three coming up next. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starnes. That's right. I love this American. And hello, everybody.

Welcome to hour three of the big show. Happy to have you with us today.

So Laura Trump. Broke a little bit of news a little while ago on the program. She says that Trump will be arraigned.

Sometime this afternoon, sometime tonight. Maybe hinting that it could be I don't know around six or seven o'clock. We do know the FAA has implemented a no-fly zone. For that time period around the jail in Atlanta, Georgia.

So we'll keep you updated on those developments. There are lots of Trump supporters. And if you're a Trump supporter and you're out there in the Atlanta area, maybe those of you listening to us on WDUN, it might be worth grabbing a sign and heading down there and showing President Trump your support. But a lot of people are very upset.

Some guy's holding a huge banner that says. Give me Trump or give me death.

So That's sort of the little bit of a flavor down there. Heavy, heavy police presence, as one would expect with a former president. Of the United States.

So we'll keep you updated on any developments there. But the President is expected to post about a $200,000 bond. They've all agreed to this in advance. There will be a mug shot. We believe that the hearing will be televised.

And so we'll be posting all of that information. over on Toddstarns dot com.

So we sent Ben Dieter, our national correspondent, to the debate last night and had a terrific time, did some fine reporting. But he told me about the Press Corps he was working on in the media center. And he said that a lot of the journalists are actually wearing the face diapers again.

So, have you heard about this? Alex Jones, about a week or so ago, was warning people that. They're getting ready to implement lockdowns again. They're getting ready to do the mask mandates again. And I was stunned when I heard the news that a lot of these journalists.

And you can pretty much, yeah, it's basically the NPR Shweti Balls crowd. Right. They're all wearing the masks. And I noticed that a couple of Democrat lawmakers, including Hakeem Jeffries, are already wearing their face diapers again. My question is very simple.

Are you going To allow yourself to be controlled by the government when it comes to COVID. Will you be uh will you shut down again? Will you mask up again? I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this, because it's coming down the pike. They're setting the stage for yet another shutdown.

And my question is very simple: will you let him do it? 844-747-8868 is our number. That's 844-747-8868. Yeah. Let's go to the phones.

Patty and North Carolina watched the Tucker and Trump show last night. Patty, I'm curious, what did you think about that? Um Tot, come on now. I love my Donald, and guess what? Tucker and Donald Trump.

said the fox. You know what, with the finger. Double finger. The whole thing. Todd, I let me tell you something.

I loved it. I had the other ones on the T V. I had the sound down, but my daughter had her uh tablet out. And me and my daughter watched it, I'm telling you, Tucker and and and and him stole the show. They stole it.

177 million people.

Well, it's over two hundred now. Wow. That's incredible. Where's the eighty one million people that voted for R. Brandon?

Well, they're in the nursing home, or they're in the graveyard, I suspect. A good many of them. I'm going to tell you about that debate. I mean, I even had it up for a little bit, I had to turn it off. It's embarrassing.

These people couldn't lead a horse to water. Patty, I was just so underwhelmed last night. I was watching the, I was, I mean, DeSantis, it was like he wasn't even there. And it was almost as if he, and you got to go back and watch it closely, but he'd be making his point. And he would be like.

Um you know, sh do y should hamburgers be outlawed, Governor? No, hamburgers should not be outlawed. I said no, they shouldn't be outlawed. And no, they shouldn't be outlawed. And then he looks down at his notes to make sure he's saying everything that he wrote about hamburgers.

And then he smirks like, ooh, I got it. Ooh, good for me. I got it. Go, Ronnie. I'm sorry, but you know what?

He is no way. I mean, those people up there, I wouldn't are you kidding me? None of them and I'm sorry. Vivek Rav and Swami, yes, I'm sorry. You guys, it was embarrassing.

Fox really botched this one big time. It was terrible. They even had. Sweet Natalie Grant singing the national anthem. She delivered a fine performance, but they talked over half of it.

Mm-hmm. I'm telling you, it was the worst debate ever. And you know what? And I'm telling you, I think without Donald Trump, it's not even a debate. No, it looked like a clown show.

Well, we had a caller from Alabama, and he made a fine point that this really was not a debate. And here's what they should have done: they should have had two topics, one per hour. And just said, all right, transgenders and sports, go. And let's see who comes out on top of the pile. Right.

That's what I think should have happened. No, you were right. You're right. They it was so bad. You know, I'm sorry, you know, Brett Baer and Martha McCall, I'm sorry you blew it.

I tho uh the whole Fox team blew it. Exactly. And I'm telling you who the the two that Fox tossed away I'm telling you, they're the ones that won the show. It's a fair point, and they did, and they have no one to blame but themselves, Patty. No one to blame but themselves.

All right, Patty. I want to tell you. I love you, Todd. Patty, love you too. Thank you for listening, and we appreciate that.

Do we have that audio ready?

So, this is the Fox Focus Group. Folks, Fox, they're in the tank for DeSantis, and that's okay. I got no problem with that. I don't work there anymore, and I don't pay their bills.

So, if that's who they want to go down with, then fine, go for it. Anyway, this is the fair and balanced. A panel that they interviewed after the debate last night, Tigalus.

So you came in undecided with the maybe toward Nikki Haley, and you're all about the Vaik now. I am all about, I was all about vivek, but you know what? After watching the debate, I do have to agree with some other members on the panel. I think the strongest performer in terms of who will do well in the general election, who will do well with the most Republicans, is actually Ron DeSantis. I think he has the experience.

I think the work was done for him before he walked into the debate. He had an answer for the natural disasters that are happening, the tough on-crime policies that he has to enact, that he's already enacted, that he can prove to all the viewers and all the Republicans who. Were maybe undecided. I think that was perhaps solidified last night. I just don't think the vacation is.

So, you have a battle of the heart and the mind. I think the mind has to be the one that wins that one.

So, there's my answer. And Ed, to you. I know that you sent us a few notes beforehand. I just want to get from you your overall takeaway.

Well, I'll tell you, I think everybody on that stage did a great job. Governor Bergham did a phenomenal job. I really liked how he illustrated and focused on policy regarding foreign policy with China, Russia. Christie even came across really good, except when he started going back to these schoolyard bully antics. Not a fan of that.

Mike Pence, again, phenomenal statesman. But at the end of the day, I looked at two people. I was still more leaning toward Ramaswamy. I like what he had to say. But DeSantis, really, when you looked at what he had to do last night, Santos didn't have to win.

He just needed to survive the debate. But he came across as charismatic. He came across as strong character, projected strength and competence. And to me, that was a big takeaway. We still got 11 months before the primary vote.

That's a lifetime. He had a pretty good line about the paintings at the beginning of the night. Yeah, I think that was prepared.

Okay, Dan and I are going to play moderators for you guys. We'll be Brett and Martha for a while.

Okay, there you go. Just to give you a taste of their panel and the focus group. And it's pretty clear everybody's in the tank for DeSantis there. All right, we got to take a break. 844-747-8868, that's our number.

That's 844-747-8868. This is the Todd Stern Show. We've been talking for a very long time on this program about solutions. And I know I was in the bookstore. I usually go once a week to our beautiful bookstore here in Memphis.

And the sad reality is, they just do not have a lot of resources, a lot of products for. For conservatives, And especially if you are a parent, if you're a grandparent and you've got kids. And you're trying to find books and to teach them about patriotism and to teach them about the values that make this country great. And they're just not there.

Well, I have some great news for you because our next guest is in the business of. Creating a library for conservative moms and dads. Brad Saft is the founder and CEO of Espired, and the website is epired.com. And they've got some terrific materials, including an incredible kids' guide to fighting socialism. Brad's on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today and joins us.

Brad, hope you're doing well. What an honor to have you with us. Oh, the pleasure is mine, Todd. I'm so happy to be talking to you today. And of course, we've been hearing Mike Hockaby talking about and promoting these products for quite some time now.

And by the way, you've got to check this website out, thekidsguide.com. Thekidsguide.com. Brad, I'm curious, before we jump into the Fighting Socialism guide. How did you decide to jump into publishing and start producing this great material?

Well, I appreciate that question because it's an interesting story, at least I find it interesting. I grew up in New York City, and the version of history that I was taught uh was was one that you could probably guess is taught in a place like New York. And I realized that about a decade ago when I had just gotten married, I realized that my positive and patriotic. The ideal of America was very different from what I had been taught. And I started thinking: well, how was that?

And I realized that I didn't learn that vision of America from any textbook or from the media or from my teachers. I learned it from my mom and dad. And when I was very young, we would go on these long car trips together, my brother and I in the back seat, mom and dad up front. And they would just regale us with stories about American history. that turned us into proud, patriotic Americans.

And so when I got married, started thinking about having a family. Uh I thought, wow, I wish there were a way that I could share Those same stories with my kids. And I started searching around and realized there was nothing like that out there.

So I decided to take it upon myself to start to create these stories. And And thank God I've been blessed with two daughters who are now 11 years old. They're twins. And so I'm thrilled from a personal standpoint that I'm able to share all of these stories with them so that they can have that same positive patriotic and faith based uh vision of what America is that my parents passed on to me. And we created this series so that all kids in America can also share in that same vision.

I love this. Again, thekidsguide.com. And folks, we're talking about books like The Kids Guide to Our One Nation Under God or to Media Bias and Fake News and to Fighting Socialism, which we're going to talk about in just a second. This is so, so clever. And I'm curious to know about the response you've gotten since you guys launched this incredible publishing house.

Sure, well I appreciate that. You know, we've actually sold over a million subscriptions. in the time we've been doing this and people have just really connected with our titles. We've created, as you mentioned, all of those great books from The Kids' Guide Who Our One Nation Under God to Fighting Socialism, Media Bias and Fake News. But we also have other titles of things that aren't covered in schools.

Everything from how to make friends, How to be a leader. charity, a kids' guides of teamwork, entrepreneurship. Really what we've been trying to do is fill in those gaps that the schools aren't teaching or aren't doing a good job of teaching. And recognizing That we have the opportunity to celebrate this nation and what has made it so exceptional. And so much of that comes from a very simple idea.

is that unlike every other country in the world, America was founded on an idea. And that idea is really simple. really important. It's that our rights come from God, not the government. And when you have that background, Um everything that comes from it really just makes sense.

So from our kids' guides to more explicitly celebrating God's role in American history to ones where we celebrate our veterans. Um or explain the truth about immigration. Or as you mentioned, fighting socialism. We really want to give kids a full, accurate, unbiased picture of what. the key issues are in America today.

What really happened in our history? And we do that not just with our kids guides, but when our customers subscribe to the kids guide, They also get access to online resources, including full digital guides. streaming videos. online games, quizzes, activities and things like that, because we recognize that some people some kids prefer to learn from guides being delivered to their house, some prefer to go online, some prefer video. Everyone has their own personal learning style.

And we want to make sure that the products we're making are accessible to all children. All right, and folks, this is. I mean, so incredible and so affordable. And, Brad, I know you've been kind enough to announce that for our listeners. For a very limited time, we've got a special.

We're going to include the kids' guide to the Bible series as well as all these other great products you have. You got to go to thekidsguide.com, try it for yourself, a buck 99. That's thekidsguide.com. What an affordable thing, an incredible thing, and it is so, so well done. Uh real quick, tell us about the kids' guide to fighting socialism.

Right, well this is so important because we hear, especially with young people, that interest in socialism as an alternative to capitalism and democracy is on the rise. Which is insane for those of us who are old enough to remember the experiments with socialism and communism. And so, rather than the propaganda that's being delivered about the theoretical quote unquote benefits of socialism, we want kids to understand the real drawbacks of it as well.

So they're equipped. To respond when they hear someone say, Oh, socialism is good, they can say, No, you're not, no, it isn't. And here are the reasons why. We want the kids to be able. to have those conversations, be equipped with the truth and the real knowledge.

to not just be convinced of what is actually going on themselves, Five. fight back and convince their friends and the kid down the street and maybe even their teachers of why capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than anything in the history of the world, and we shouldn't be so quick to discard it. All right. So, folks, again, go to thekidsguide.com, order an all-access pass, and you're going to be able to access all of the kids' guides, and you're going to be able to try that first month for just $1.99. And it includes the kids' guide to President Trump, the Kids' Guide to Fighting Socialism, and so much more.

And, Brad, all they have to do is go to the website, and it's super simple.

Okay. Super simple. ThekidsGuide.com. All right. Well, Congratulations.

We're going to get you back on. I just think this is so vitally important, and we just appreciate the great work you and your team are doing. And it is a first-class operation you're running.

So, thank you again. Thank you so much for the time. I hope you have a great day. All right. That's Brad Samft, everybody.

He is the founder and CEO of Espired, and they are just doing an amazing job. You hear the commercials from Governor Mike Huckabee. They're great supporters of the show.

So go check it out. ThekidsGuide.com, $1.99, and you're going to expose your kid to some of the great patriotic heroes and lessons and values that have made this country great. ThekidsGuide.com. All right. We'll be right back, ladies and gentlemen.

Yeah. All right, welcome back, everybody. Good to have you with us today.

So, a couple of weeks back, we had a good friend of this program, Michael Reagan, joining us, and we were having some phone technical difficulties, and we promised to get him back. He was so gracious to agree to do that on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, the author of an incredible book called Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan, Michael Reagan. Michael, good to have you back with us. Hope you're doing well. Good to be back.

Hope the Munchkins are gone. Yeah, I think so. We were blaming China, but you know, it just could be Comcast. You know how that goes. Oh, yeah, been there, done that.

Michael, I'm curious, before we jump into the book, of course, the big debate last night and of course, another one's about to happen at the Reagan Library, which is a fabulous place. What was your take on what we saw last night? I'm waiting for the second debate to see how all of them will change up, do what they think they need to do. to move on, if you will. First it made everybody yet.

The Santus did great, but DeSantis was wound so tight I felt like he was yelling at me. instead of having a discussion with me. And I think he needs to be more of a discussion talking with me, not yelling at me. I know the issues. Don't yell them at me.

I got it. I get it. I thought that uh I think Nikki Haley did a phenomenal job. out there taking on the guys, if you will. And in fact, I just tweeted out, I said, you know, Nikki Haley for Secretary of State.

If we win the presidency in 2024, she was absolutely terrific. I think the thirty eight year old Uh You're all you Don't if you're going to be thirty eight and you want to be president, Don't play like you're 28. And do the things they did. I mean, people love it, and so on and so forth. But this this gets real at this point.

I've always liked the governors.

So when the governors speak because they've been in charge of a state, They've had to do things that presidents have to do, but they've done it on a smaller level. That's why I think we do better with governors than we do with. for members of Congress So, you know, I thought, you know, everybody. Everybody's able to hang their hat on something. And they'll all say they were winners in this or winners in that, and probably so.

But I'm waiting really for the second debate at my dad's library. I put on by Fox Business. And uh and see The growth between the first debate and the second debate in all the candidates who were able to qualify for that debate. But I looked at the stage last night and I'm and my wife and I were sitting back going, Okay, who jumps off the page as presidential? And that's what I'm looking for.

And I don't think I saw that yet. Yeah, I didn't either. I had the same thought as I was watching the debate. And again, I hope that President Trump decides to jump into some of these debates. But honestly, in a way, maybe it's better that he wasn't there last night so that we could get a pretty good glimpse of who these folks are.

But unfortunately, I'm not sure we actually got to see that last night.

Well, I guess you get you got to see some of it. I thought the vice president did a great job. He has no chance of going anywhere because the MAGA Republicans aren't going to pull the lever for the former Vice President of the United States. That's just not going to happen.

Well, I like the question. Do you agree with what you know, was done on February 6th. with the Vice President doing his constitutional duties. And a few of them hemmed and hawed, but they got there and said, Yeah, we did. He did the right thing.

So I was glad for that question. I did warn everybody on my Twitter account who are gonna be up to debate. I said, they're going to ask you a question about Trump, and the best thing you can do is not answer it. Ask for another question. Because whatever your answer is going to be is going to be used by the news media the next day.

And it would be used by the news media to ask Trump what he thought of the answers, and everybody gave, and that then becomes the news item. And if you're trying to somewhat get away from Trump, you don't need to bring him back into the news. and and go from there. And wh when they asked for people to raise their hands, Just like when we asked the Democrats to raise their hands if they were for open borders. And they raised their hands.

Republicans used that. It didn't work. But the ones who raised their hands last night Basically, saying, Yeah, they would forgive Trump or whatever, that'll be used against them in the court of public opinion going forward in the general election.

So I would have walked away from that question. and said, he's not here, don't answer questions about people who are not here. I thought it was interesting. Didn't know what to do. He was waiting to see how other people voted.

You know, did they raise their hands? And then he went ahead and raised his hand. That did not. Did you see that? He looked to the right.

Yep. Yep. See, and that to me is not presidential. Right. Right.

That's not presidential. You guys Yeah, stand up and And boom, this is what I would do or not do, and tell them why. I mean, people may not like. the former governor of New Jersey. But he shoots straight.

He doesn't PS around the block. He tells you this is the way it is, this is the way what he believes and how he believes it. Yeah. You know, he's he's a good guy. He was a good governor.

And everybody hates him because he's against Trump. But our thirty eight year old made a good point. His whole campaign is against Trump. And he needs to get on the page of what's wrong with America and how he's going to solve the problems in America. Instead of just being against Trump.

That's not a campaign pledge. I thought it was interesting this morning. I was listening to Hugh Hewitt. We carry his morning show on the radio station I own in the Memphis area. And he said, You know, I wouldn't vote for Chris Christie, but I sure would watch his show on MSNBC.

He said that would be a great show. I mean, that's a conservative answer, but it's I tweeted out a few moments ago. My sister told me in 1965, Maureen told me, because Just getting ready to campaign for our dad for governor. I didn't know anything. I was 20 years old.

I was only hoping my dad would win the governorships. It would be easier for me to get a date. Uh, that's all I care about. It'd be a great pickup line. My dad's the governor wants to go out, you know.

Yeah. And I asked Marie, I said, tell me about Republicans. As she told me in nineteen sixty five, and I just tweeted that, Republicans can't get together even in a phone booth. And I said, nothing has changed since nineteen sixty five till now. And And if they don't figure out a way to get their craft together, Biden's going to be president of the United States for four more years.

Ronald Reagan was elected. with the help of Rhydos. You cannot take a party that's the smallest political party, which the Republican Party is, and find ways to get rid of people out of the party.

Well Reagan never did that. He never said, get out of my party. You find a way to g to get their votes. And what have you. Talking about I get attacked.

I was sitting here talking about the debate last night, the things I'm seeing, and I'm being attacked as a rhino if I say Mickey Haley's doing a good job.

Well, you're just a rhino. What do you mean? I'm a rhino. I mean, hello. And I think the rhino term is so overused, it's so overblown.

And what happens is we end up not getting together The last time, you know, the last time we won the popular vote in a presidential election? It was with George H.W. Bush. That's the last time we won the popular vote because we spend more time kicking people out of the party than finding ways to bring them into the party. We're going to have disagreements.

But Ronald Reagan won because he got those votes from the so-called rhinos with the votes of the independents. and with the votes of like-minded Democrats. And he got the votes because he was the most likable. And if you think about last night, looking at that stage, who was the most likable? Because at the end of the day, When the independents go to vote on Election Day 2024, and they don't do I vote for that person or that person, they're going to vote for the most likable.

twenty fifteen sixteen. Most likable was Donald Trump. Over Hillary. Who won twenty twenty? Biden, he was the most likable over Donald Trump.

People were tired of Donald Trump being on T V all the time and taking credit for the sun going up and going down. And so that's what it comes down to, and nobody's playing that game yet.

Now, I'm for full disclosure, I've thrown behind Trump. I think he deserves a second chance. I appreciated his policies, and I'm supporting the man. I think when you take away all the scandals that turned out to be fake, had those not happened, had the collusion stuff not happened, all of that stuff not happened, I think we would be well into a second term of the Trump presidency. But that being said, my concern is that being said, the fact is he steps on his own petard so often.

People liked what he was able to do for the country. But just shut up every once in a while and let other people take credit. The signings on my dad's desk. They're telling what you can accomplish, where you can go, if you don't worry about who gets the credit. The problem with Trump is he wants to always take all the credit.

And he needs to give credit to the Mike Pencroft, he needs to give credit to people and let that happen. And he hasn't done that.

So he becomes unlikable. In like, yes, there's people who either love him or hate him, but if you want to get elected, you got to turn the people who hate him. Into people who will vote for him because they like him. I had that placard on my desk in my office. And he's absolutely correct.

It's a great word from your dad. I wonder how do we go back? Because when you look at Ronald Reagan and his rise within the ranks of the Republican Party, I mean, there was some hatred there. They didn't like this guy. The establishment did not like Ronald Reagan.

No, they didn't. And he brought his own people from California when he became president of the United States. He didn't hire the hacks, basically, in the first beginning, you know, when he went to Washington, DC. But look how he handled it. He didn't handle it with anger.

He didn't call people names. He handled handled it with a wink and a nod and a smile and a little laughter. That's how he handled it.

So he was likable in the way he handled it. I remember, you know, I look at the people who come and spoken at the library. On February 6th, over the years, on his birthday, when we have a celebration there. And a couple of years ago, Sam Donaldson. And people do Sam Donaldson spoke?

Yeah. You would have loved the speech. He spoke so highly of my dad because even though they are confrontational, He liked him. And today what happens that when you're confrontational, people don't like you anymore. And that's what's sad.

We haven't gotten to the point, we talk about my father, but we forget how. how he was able to accomplish things. Look at the way he accomplished things with Mikhail Gorbachev. you know, and and he made him laugh. I mean He made people comfortable in his presence.

He didn't make people uncomfortable, and he didn't call people names. When he talked about the evil empire, he talked about the empire who was running the Soviet Union. He didn't say the people were evil. and what have you.

So again, he fought the same battles Trump fought In so many ways, with the State Department and everybody else, it's how you handle those. things the end game. Is how people remembered you. What I found fascinating about your dad and in those issues fighting the Soviet Union, he understood that it really, just like William F. Buckley Jr., and this idea that this is not a political battle we are in, this is a spiritual war that we're fighting here.

That's what's really at stake. And I think your father, at least that's my takeaway from reading his writings and his letters. It was very clear to me that he understood the faith component of all of this.

Well, he really did. And I told a story, I think, in the book about Flying with him on Good Friday of 1988, flying back from Washington, D.C. to California. for Eastern and as we were landing to count out the number nine on his fingers and I said, what's important about that, Dad? He said, I'll no longer be president in nine more months.

I said, you're looking forward to it? He said, yes. I said, why? He says, I haven't been going to church on a regular basis since. Since the, I looked out the window of my limbo and saw people laying in their own blood with bullets meant for me.

And so I'm looking forward to no longer being president of the United States of America in nine months.

So I once again. begin going to church each and every Sunday to visit with my Lord and Savior. That was what he was telling me on Good Friday of 1988. And I said to him, I said, Why don't you go to church this Sunday? He said, It's not on the schedule.

And I said, well, maybe you'll go. And about six years ago, seven years ago, I was telling that story at the Young America Foundation up at the Red Center. And John Barletta, who headed up the secret servers at the ranch. was in the audience, he came up to me afterwards, he says, You never knew. I said, never knew what?

He said it wasn't on the schedule. Your dad called early in the morning on the ringdow. and say he wants to go to church. And so we got everybody. Out, and he went to church in San Andreas that Sunday.

I didn't note that though, about seven years ago, that he actually went to church after that conversation I had with him on Air Force One. Flying back for Easter. What do you think when you look at those lessons? Was there one in particular that really stood out? I know we're coming up on our time here, but was there one lesson that said, yes, this is my dad in a nutshell?

Forgiveness. That's the last one I put in there for forgiveness. Here's a man who forgave John Hinckley for trying to kill him. And if you remember, not long after that, Uh Pope John Paul. also forgave his would-be assassin for trying to kill him.

And And these two ultimately get together. and form a bond. That ultimately brings Peace to Poland. and help with the help of Maggie Thatcher and others brings down the Berlin Wall. a few years later.

But it was forgiveness because so many of us blame our parents. You know, my dad would have told me he loved me. I wouldn't have been the ass that I am. If my mother hadn't spanked me, I wouldn't be the terrible, rotten human being that I am. And we have a way to blame our parents and blame others.

For how we're acting. And like my wife once told me, don't let someone else's attitude determine yours. For the remainder of the day. And I, for so long, have allowed the person who sexually abused me when I was eight years old and took photographs of me. And had me develop the photograph at eight years old.

I let that. Those photos and that moment in my life. In fact, determines my life for me and it wasn't until I learned to forgive me And forgive my parents and forgive God. That I was able to finally get my act and my life together. But until I did that, I was on a roller coaster ride to hell.

Well, it's a fascinating book, folks. Got to get a copy of it. Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan. And, Michael, I'd love to get you back on. Again, so many conversations we can have and need to have.

And, man, I just really appreciate your family and what your family has done for this great nation. And let me give one shout out to a good friend there, Brandon House, who's been a dear friend forever. They're in Memphis. Yes, and he listens to the station I own here, KWAM, and Brandon is a great American patriot as well. Michael.

I started him in radio. Is that right? I oh yeah. I had no idea that it's a small world. It's a small world.

Take care, my friend. All right, Michael Reagan, everybody. And again, we have a link to the book over on the website, ToddSterns.com. We've got to take a break here. We will go to the phones coming up next.

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