Pivotal Week for the U.S. and the World

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Welcome to a Monday edition of the Todd Starnes Show. Coast to coast on more than 140 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow patriots. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Todd woke up, felt a little under the weather, and decided it's a good day to crawl back under the covers and be here for the long haul, and we support that.

So, Mr. Starnes, get well. Hope you're back here tomorrow in the Liberty University studio, but it's my privilege to join you for the next three hours. Join this coast-to-coast conversation, please. 844-747-8868.

888-68. That's 844-747-8868. The Liberty University studio today is at my home base. News Talk 1540 KXEL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa. The home for Todd Starnes in this state.

The 50,000 watt blowtorch scorching middle America with accurate news and reasonable views. Good to have you along with us today. Much to discuss. This is going to be a pivotal week in so many respects, and we'll get down to business in a moment. We have, as always, an excellent guest list, and that includes one hour from now to lead off hour number two of this program.

Texas Congressman Michael Cloud, Representative Cloud, represents the 27th District of Texas, and we'll get an update on what's going on with the speaker's race, how that impacts the government budget, etc. Congressman Cloud joins us in hour number two. Also in hour number two, we'll speak with Senior Research Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, Mike Gonzalez.

Some of us may have been surprised to see these protests on college campuses pro-Hamas. Mr. Gonzalez says we should not be surprised. We could have seen it coming. And as someone who taught college students for 25 years, I'm sad to say that I agree with him.

Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation that's coming up at the bottom of our number two. And in our third hour, we'll speak with Fox News and Hill columnist, regular guest on this program, Liz Peek. She always has such excellent insight. We're going to focus with her primarily on the failures of the Biden administration and the impact that will have on all the rest of the news in the world.

So that's the list at the moment. And as always, breaking news changes everything, so when something happens, you'll hear about it as this program is live noon to 3 Eastern, coast to coast. Again, 844-747-8868. Plenty of time for you to join this conversation in this hour. I said that this was a pivotal week for our nation and for all of us, and you can just see the way that this is lining up.

There is so much uncertainty out there. The war, the ground war in Gaza, we think it's imminent, but we're not exactly sure. That's because of so many factors ranging from military surprise to weather to the inconsistent political views taken by so many nations in the region. You've also got the U.S. House of Representatives.

They're coming back to town today. There will be apparently a vote for speaker tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Will this actually get a speaker so that things can move forward? And regardless of how you feel about how we got to that situation, the fact is we are here and the world is very different than it was when this month of October began. And the leadership at the White House continues to fail us.

Now, much of what we might talk about with regard to what's going to happen in the Middle East, it's speculation. I don't have any tremendous insight other than a fair amount of common sense, which has been lacking on all fronts, I have to say, since this atrocity, this terror attack by terrorists. And let's be very, very clear. Hamas is a terror group. They engaged in terrorist actions against innocent Israelis.

Hamas is a terrorist group. They're not militant. They are terrorists. And let's just make sure we're all using the correct language. Because you could already see some of the sanitizing of language over the past weekend.

And we knew that was going to happen. Todd had warned you about that, of course. People were very supportive of the Israelis after that attack. And then, heaven forbid, Israel tried to retaliate, try to get its hostages freed.

Well, then, of course, world opinion starts turning. And that's one of the striking things about this. Israel was the subject, the victim of a terror attack. And anyone who tries to claim anything different is blowing smoke. No, not all Palestinians are terrorists.

Not all Palestinians are members of Hamas. But Hamas and anything that is feeding it, the lifeline of money, the lifeline of weapons, that needs to be eradicated. That needs to be stricken from the face of the earth. Or else we will continue battling this time and time again. And you need to seek out multiple good sources of information.

And if you're listening to this program and going to ToddStarnes.com, you're already well on your way, but I dare suggest you need to get as much good information as possible. because of the fact that the formerly mainstream media is not going to do you a service in providing information. Last night, the individual sworn in as the current president, Joe Biden, was on 60 Minutes. And if you watch any of the clips, they're frankly painful to watch because the so-called leader of the free world is having a hard time getting through the whole interview. Scott Pelley even looks concerned and not the fake TV interviewer concern where you're trying to come up with reaction shots that they can put into the interview.

The look on Mr. Pelley's face to me, and I don't know him, it looked like, oh my gosh, you poor man. That's the look, to be honest with you. The narration, the scripting that they used at 60 Minutes as well was kind of, well, let's just say Ronald Reagan never got this kind of a break. This is the quote from the 60 Minutes segment.

As we spoke to the president, his secretary of state was in Israel. His defense secretary was at a NATO meeting on Ukraine. This is Scott Pelley from 60 Minutes in the lead-up and in the narration of the interview with Mr. Biden. Pelley continued, America's oldest president seemed tired from directing all of this.

It had been a rough week, and we could see it on him. All right. Did Donald Trump ever get a break for being tired? No, if he ever stumbled at the podium, oh, we better get a physical. he's failing.

If he was going down a wet staircase and was not as sure of footing as might otherwise be the case, well, there you go. He's lost it. But when it's Joe Biden, nay, when it's a Democrat, well, he was, it's been a rough week. He was tired. We could see that he was tired.

Guess what? It's worse for people in Israel. The fact that Biden is getting a complete pass. Oh, well, he was tired. This is the administration that has been playing footsie with Iran, just like the Obama administration did.

and yes, there's a connection between the people who are working there now and the people who worked there before and who's really directing all of this, etc. Yep, I'm right there with you. It is not a coincidence that this administration took the actions it did with regard to unfreezing assets, $6 billion, and this attack. No, it wasn't that money directly. But again, as the point has been made innumerable times, if you set aside $1,000 for some purchase, something that you needed, car repair, let's say, you set aside $1,000 for car repair.

I give you $1,000 and I say, use that for car repair. I'm going to give you the $1,000. Good listener of the Todd Starnes Show, I'm going to give you $1,000, but you can only use it for car repair. What's your logical reaction?

Well, first you'd probably say, because you work for a living, you'd probably say, no thanks, I got this covered. But let's say you took the money for whatever reason. You took my $1,000 on the condition that it would go to car repair. All of a sudden now you've got another $1,000 that you had previously earmarked for car repair. You can use it for anything else you want.

You can use it for a vacation. You can use it for groceries. You could use it for gambling. In other words, I gave you $1,000 and that freed up $1,000 you were going to commit to other things that were necessary. Is it too far of a stretch to think that when the United States said, we will thaw out this frozen $6 billion so long as you use it for humanitarian purposes, is it too much of a stretch to think that then the folks in Iran said, cool, here's $6 billion that we can repurpose, money that we might have used for humanitarian purposes.

Okay, two things on that. One, they were never going to use their own money for humanitarian purposes because they don't care about their people. These are the people who will die for their cause and take as many of us down along the way as they can. And the second thing is, you had the people in Iran telling NBC News of all people, yeah, we don't care what they say the conditions are. We will spend that money as we wish.

I don't know how much more of a case needs to be made. And yet, it's a rough week for the president. He seemed tired. The people fighting for their lives as bombs continue to fall. The innocents who are trying to get out of a war zone while they still can.

They've had a rough week too. 844-747-8868. I'd love to have you weigh in on all of the news, and we'll get to as many of your calls as we can this hour. I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on The Todd Starn Show.

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Pledge your monthly gift of $19 or more to ADF or give your most generous one-time gift. And thanks to a friend at ADF, that first gift will be matched. Visit ToddStearns.com or call 855-417-6556. Welcome back to the Liberty University Studio and the Monday edition of the Todd Starnes Show. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today.

844-747-8868 is how you can connect with us. That's the number Tom used. He's calling in from Oakwood, Georgia, to talk about one of the other big stories of the week. the race for Speaker of the House. Tom, thanks for calling in to Todd's show.

Jeff Stein filling in. How are you? Jeff, we spoke before. Yes, sir. Right now I'm in Wisconsin because I came home for the Wisconsin-Iowa game, and you guys in Iowa took it to us on Saturday.

I apologize on behalf of all Iowans who ruined the weekend for people in Wisconsin.

Well, anyway, that's not why I called. I'm calling because this is very time sensitive. everybody in that fabulous audience of your and Todd needs to call their congressional office and say we support Jim Jordan for Speaker of the House because it's going to be a close vote. And unless the people really take action and make a really a lot of noise, I'm concerned about one opportunity to have a real leader, a real conservative, be in charge of that. From a broader standpoint, if the Republicans fail to get a person to hold the gavel this week, what do you think that's going to do longer term?

And again, with all the issues in the world that are more important than politics, but what do you think that's going to do if they fail to replace McCarthy a second time? How's that going to impact going forward politically? I really don't know. But what scares me to death, when you talk about the Democrats and some of these what I call rhino or even worse than that, Republicans putting together a type of government like they have in England, that's insane. I mean, the reason you win elections is to control the leadership in the committees and all of these things.

So we are on a razor's edge of how this country goes forward, and we are in perilous times all over the world. You are completely correct about that. I saw someone post on social media today urging everyone to call their member of Congress and ask, have you made a decision on the speaker vote? In other words, are you going to vote for Jordan or not? it's okay if the member were to say, well, no, I haven't made a decision.

But you've got to at least get these people on the record because the last numbers I saw, and you may know better, Tom, but I think he's still 15 short. I heard that this morning as well. There again, I'm a wrestling and political junkie.

So the bottom line is there's nobody that can handle the grind that's the head of this country more than Jim Jordan. I heard someone call into this program last week and express some concern that if it was Jordan, then he would not be chair of the Judiciary Committee or the committee that's doing all the investigating. Does that matter to you, or is this a bigger purpose at this point? No, in all honesty, it doesn't matter to me, because he would have his fingers in that judiciary thing. There's no doubt in my mind.

But we have so many other things. I mean, we have these national debts and all these things. We've got so many things that have to be addressed that have been, the can has been kicked down the road so many times. We have to have a come-to-Jesus time in America. Amen to that, Tom.

Thank you so much for calling in, and sorry for you and Bucky Badger this past weekend.

Okay, thanks, Mike. Bye-bye. Thank you for calling in at 844-747-8868. By the way, I do a poll question every day on my radio station, KXEL in Iowa, and we invite you to weigh in on the one that I just put up for today. You can do it at kxel.com slash poll.

I think Ms. Grace will put it on the ToddStarns.com live show page as well. But again, it's kxel.com slash poll. Simple question. How likely is it that Jim Jordan will be Speaker of the House at some point this week?

I'm not even limiting it to tomorrow if there's a vote, and apparently there won't be a vote until at least the afternoon. How likely is it that Jim Jordan will be Speaker of the House at some point this week? Definitely? Likely? You're not sure?

Not likely? Or it's definitely not going to happen? Weigh in on the poll question again. My site is kxcl.com slash poll. Go to toddstarns.com on the live show blog, and I'll bet there's a link there very soon.

You can let us know how likely it is that Jordan will be Speaker at some point this week. 844-747-8868 is how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation, and we will focus on your calls as we come back. And we'll also talk more about that race for Speaker and some thoughts I have on this whole thing. It is something that the global events may have changed the dynamic. We'll pick up with that when we return here on the Todd Starnes Show.

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Call 1-800-TOPLOSS or go to toploss.com. 1-800-TOPLOSS or toploss.com. Use discount code Todd to get your special discount. Welcome back to the Todd Stein Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today.

Todd just a little under the weather. 844-747-8868. That's how you can reach us in the Liberty University studio. This has just been posted by Politico. A federal judge has barred Donald Trump from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and court staff involved in his Washington, D.C.

criminal case, imposing a gag order that sharply escalates the tension between Trump's 2024 bid for the presidency and the realities of his status as a criminal defendant. I'm quoting from Politico.com. They quote Judge Tanya Chutkin as saying, First Amendment protections yield to the administration of justice and to the protection of witnesses. This is the judge. His presidential candidacy does not give him carte blanche to vilify public servants who are simply doing their job.

So the judge in the D.C. case has imposed the gag order. And that will be very interesting to see how the president responds to that. I believe he had a public appearance scheduled for today, perhaps here in my state of Iowa.

So that's the news at the bottom of the hour that the judge has, as I don't think any of you out there are surprised, has imposed a gag order. in that case. We've been talking about not only the issue of the Israel war, Hamas terrorists attacking Israel, and the bombs continuing. Bombs were flying around today to where the Knesset had to adjourn its session. But we were also talking about the Speaker of the House race.

We had a caller in the last segment, and we invite your calls again at 844-747-8868. Representative Mike Rogers said last week he'd never vote for Jim Jordan. Today, he says he will vote for Jordan. That is a key, key flip. Again, Mike Rogers Friday told reporters there's nothing Jordan could do to win his vote.

Today, he announces publicly he'll vote for Jim Jordan for Speaker when they all gather again as early as tomorrow afternoon. That's interesting. We'll see if that is the first of others. Because, again, the last numbers indicated that Congressman Jordan needed 15 more votes thereabouts in order to win the Speaker's gavel. And it is important regardless of how you felt about Kevin McCarthy or how you felt about him being removed.

I would suggest that dynamics have changed. At no point have we gotten any closer, in fact, much farther away from a resolution on keeping the federal government funded. I mean, that is still a key, key component of everything. But now you have war on Israel, tied to Iran. You've got Middle Eastern nations, Arab nations, that are not assisting in the way the United States would expect that they would.

I am struck by the number of nations that claim that they are so pro-Palestinian, difference from Hamas. They're pro-Palestinian, but then when it comes time for Palestinians to flee Gaza, these nations say, well, no, thank you, please. We don't want you here. And not to put us onto a mode of being scared unnecessarily. But you all have recognized this.

It's been talked about on this program. If we're not paying attention to who we're letting into this country, And we're not. How do we know that we're safe? We don't. Just within the past few weeks, how many people have been detained who were on special watch lists?

More than a handful. And if those are the ones being detained, how many got through scot-free and are potentially gathering on American soil? in order to commit wrongdoing, in order to fulfill what they think is their mission, to take action against the great Satan, as they would call it. I don't want anybody to get afraid. I just want you to pay close attention, because this is the reality that the current administration has put us in.

And it is certainly no surprise that you had the situation in Ukraine take place when it did. I mean, look at the chronology. You all know it, but look at the chronology. Massive failure in Afghanistan by the Biden administration. The absolute exhibit A for weakness and incompetence.

and, broadly, the concept of being pushed around. Do you think it's any secret that China and Russia started talking more regularly, that Russia invaded Ukraine, that now Hamas has invaded Israel? Whether that's connected to Hezbollah or not, who knows? But Hezbollah will take advantage of the situation even if they were not in on it to begin with. And you know that Iran was in on it, with the Biden administration's blessing through thawing out $6 billion of money.

No, it did not go directly to weapons, but it freed up money that otherwise could have been used for humanitarian purposes. But as I've already pointed out, they don't care about their people. They do not care about their own lives. This is what makes this situation so different from past conflicts where Israel has been attacked. If you're of a certain age, and I am, you remember the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

You remember that that was only six years after another noteworthy conflict, the Seven-Day War. You know that there have been multiple times over the past decades where Israel is the target. But what is different about this and what is different about terrorism as opposed to military fighting is that the terrorists are willing to die for their cause, not to protect their homeland, but to die for their cause in eradicating an enemy. That's a very different thing, and that's why when we hear all of these folks who claim to be standing with Israel, and they're not, because they say, well, now Israel has to follow certain rules, you know, rules of war, you're fighting terrorists. You're not fighting a militia, a military, a government force.

You're fighting terrorists. And it is impossible for us to understand that mindset unless we believe there is great glory in a suicide mission so long as you take out more of their side than you lose yourself This is the fundamental difference And so while it may make some sense to compare past attacks on Israel, past military attacks on Israel, I understand that from a historic standpoint, but you're dealing with something very different now. The taking of hostages to use as human shields is different. The fact that these terrorists, not militants, terrorists, have no problem dying for the cause. It's a different mindset that you're dealing with.

And therefore, the response by Israel has to be different. The response from the rest of the world stage has to be different. And this is the time to stand up for what is right, not what is politically expedient. And that's why with regard to the choice of speaker, this is an important time to have our government fully functioning. The White House, the president, is already debilitated.

So you have got to have a strong, in this case, Republican majority in the House to counter this administration. And to frankly counter the U.S. Senate. Because what's the talk in the Senate?

Well, we've got to get a Ukraine aid package passed and an Israel package passed. We've got to get both of these passed. Hey, let's just lump them together. I know that's how they do things in Washington. I know that's how Congress does things.

This side wants this, this side wants that. Let's put them together and that's how we build a coalition. That's how bad policy gets passed. It may be fine to bundle coverage for cheaper insurance rates. It may be fine to bundle your cable TV with your telephone or whatever you can do and get a discount.

Bundling Israeli aid with Ukrainian aid, that does not give us a discount. It leads to spending more money, perhaps wrongly.

So enough of the bundling. You want to put together a package for Israel? Go to it. You want to put together a package for Ukraine? Go to it.

Bundling the two? I'm suspicious of the deep state narrative winning on that. The people of Israel are under attack from terrorists, brutally targeting innocent civilians. The casualty number continues to climb. It was 1,400 at the end of the last week, and now up by multiple hundreds more.

Plus, kidnappings. The infiltration remaining of southern Israeli towns. This is a critical situation, and I'm not overstating, and I don't think any of you believe it's hyperbole. This is simply the fact. This is a pivotal, critical situation.

The Todd Starn Show is partnering with the good folks at the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews to rush emergency relief directly to the hardest-hit areas. I'm going to give you a special phone number. I respectfully ask that you consider making an emergency donation because this emergency gift will help the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews save lives and provide critical essentials needed right now. This is the number, toll free, 800-514-5577. I'll say it again, 800-514-5577.

Now the needs in these war-torn areas will be tremendous. We cannot even comprehend what will be necessary to preserve life for the injured now and to carry on in the future. That's why working with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is important, because they already have a tremendous network of staff, partner organizations they can trust, volunteers all across Israel, and they're ready to respond immediately with the life-saving support and security measures that will help the nation of Israel and its people get through this terror attack in the aftermath. path. Please pray for the safety, protection, and comfort of Israel.

And if you're able, please make a generous gift by calling 800-514-5577, 800-514-5577. This help is urgently needed, and it will come through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews with your support. We'll return after this short break. Weigh in, if you would, please. 844-747-8868.

Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starnes Show. When the government used emergency edicts during COVID to restrict the gathering and worship of churches, three pastors facing the risk of imprisonment, unlimited fines, and their own churches being ripped apart, took a courageous stand and reopened their doors in the face of a world that chose to comply. The Essential Church is a feature-length documentary that explores the struggle between the church and government throughout history. This fascinating story uncovers those who've sacrificed their lives throughout history for what they truly believe in.

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That's Essential Church, streaming at SalemNow.com. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, 844-747-8868. A few minutes left in this hour for calls. Mickey is listening online in Missouri.

Mickey, thanks for calling the Todd Starn Show. What's on your mind? Hi, Jeff. Yeah, I wanted to comment. What's going on in Israel is just beyond awful.

Words don't describe it.

However, it does show us how important our Second Amendment is. And I think it was a brilliant move by Wayne LaPierre and the NRA to partner with Hamas and do a reverse false flag to get that message across to Americans.

So kudos to the NRA. I really think they're getting that message out there now that we all need to be armed up as much as possible. All right. Well, thank you for calling with that comment. I'll put quotes around comment.

We'll take yours at 844-747-8868. Proof that we will put you on the air. And if you have something serious to say, by gosh, we would love to hear it. And if you think you're clever by trying to sneak onto a national radio show with something absurd, well, that's fine. That's fine.

That's what the Constitution is all about in the First Amendment. 844-747-8868. I'm sure that Mr. LaPierre would be interested in suing Mickey in Missouri or whatever name and state for libel for such a fallacious statement, but oh well. What do you think about the Speaker of the House race?

How likely is it that Jim Jordan will be the Speaker of the House at some point this week? That is a question I put up as a poll. And if you go to ToddStarns.com and click on the live show blog, then you can just click on the link there and weigh in. How likely is it that Jim Jordan will be the Speaker at some point this week? There are a lot of folks who are saying, okay, that's all well and good, what was being done in the House with regard to voting McCarthy out.

That's fine, but now it's a different situation because of Israel.

Well, does that matter to you? Maybe it doesn't. Maybe as far as you're concerned, you need to hold on for the right person, that this is even more reason to make sure that there was a change in the speaker position. But now the question is, can Jim Jordan get to 217? That's the magic number.

As of this morning, he was about 15 short. There have been a few key comments made by individuals that could have a play in that going forward.

So we'll just have to watch this and see. Coming up in our next hour, though, we will be talking with somebody who's going to be right there casting the vote. and that is Texas Congressman Michael Cloud. He represents the 27th district and we're going to talk with Congressman Cloud about that speaker's race, see where he stands, how that's going to impact keeping this government open beyond the, I guess it's November 17th deadline. And can we trust this administration to have a consistent and appropriate position on Israel?

That's coming up just after the top of the hour, just after the bottom of the next hour, Senior Research Fellow from the Heritage Foundation, Mike Gonzalez. And we're going to talk about some of these protests on college campuses, pro-Hamas protests. I spoke with a college chancellor on my program in Iowa this morning before coming into the Liberty University studio on this very topic. and the seeds have been sown for so many years in terms of affecting young people's viewpoint on things and i taught college students for 25 years and i know when you're in the front of the classroom you have an awesome responsibility to impart fair and accurate information and there are some who think they have an agenda to pursue all that and much more as i continue filling in for todd in the next hour. I'm Jeff Stein.

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I love this American ride. Todd Starnes. Oh, yeah. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to Hour 2 of a Monday edition of the Todd Starnes radio program. Coast to coast on more than 140 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com.

Hello, fellow patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Todd's just a bit under the weather. I trust he'll be back tomorrow here in the Liberty University studio. My privilege to speak with you on this Monday.

844-747-8868. That's how you can connect with us and join this coast-to-coast conversation. We'll get to your calls in the next segment, but we start this hour of the program by going to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. And guest is Representative Michael Cloud. Congressman Cloud represents the 27th District of the Great State of Texas.

Congressman Cloud, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today. How are you, sir? Doing well. Good to be talking with you.

Well, thank you for taking the time. All right, so y'all are going to gather back in D.C. What do you think is going to happen with regard to the Speaker vote, first of all?

Well, I've got to tell you, it's hard to predict at this point because it comes down to four people and what four people may or may not do. But I can tell you this, that Jim Jordan is certainly capable and he's the right man for the job. And he's the man, frankly, that the American people trust to do the job.

So hopefully we'll be able to see everyone understand that he's going to be voting. And we'll have a new speaker hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow.

Now, you supported Congressman Jordan from the time there became a vacancy, as I understand it. What might be different now in terms of people coalescing? Because obviously the intervening circumstance of the Hamas terror attack on Israel, that changes some of the dynamics, it would seem to me. What's the viewpoint from where you sit?

Well, I mean, there's definitely an understanding from what's going on with Israel to what we need to do to fund our government and the day-to-day of what we do here that we've got to get back to work. and certainly having a speaker keeps us from being able to advance things on the floor. One of the first things I'm sure, probably the first thing that will come up will be a resolution on Israel. And, you know, we'd like to get that done, but it takes a speaker. And so it certainly puts a little extra added emphasis on what needs to be done on the floor.

But really, even putting those things aside, you know, Jim Jordan, the American people know him. They know he's going to be somebody who's going to fight for the American people. And really, a lot of this has just come down to a choice of doing what the American people want or doing what D.C. has wanted. And so it's exciting to see that he has a real opportunity to become speaker.

And it's pretty close. I like to think we'll be able to get there with him. And we'll certainly know a lot more as the day progresses. The understanding that I've had is that, contrary to the situation last week with Congressman Scalise, where he just knew he didn't have the votes and they didn't come to the floor, the game plan, in essence, is to have a vote, make people be held accountable, and let them answer to their constituents. Is that your understanding that, as opposed to a lot of nose-counting behind the scenes, there's going to come a point tomorrow where there's actually going to be a roll call?

Well, the thinking was, and there was, you know, a couple proposals to try to get us to 217 within conference before going to the House floor. Those efforts were rejected by the conference. But there was still an understanding that we should at least be close before we go to the House floor. And so I know Jim has spent the weekend talking to a number of individuals who might have had a couple concerns that were unanswered. And we've seen people even today continuing to come forward and say, OK, I'm going to be able to get there.

I'm going to be able to support him. And so, you know, it's going to be pretty close and we'll come down to the to the House floor. But certainly it is one of those things where the American people do want to see where where the representatives stand on this. And I can tell you this, you call virtually any office up here and the American people have made clear who they want to be the Speaker of the House. And so hopefully we'll see representatives line up and support that.

Congressman Michael Cloud of Texas joining us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein here in Iowa filling in for Todd today.

So the concern has been that we're just going to kick the can down the road with regard to the federal budget and all of this spending. Even if you have a speaker by tomorrow night, let's say, Is it possible to have spending plans actually in place that are appropriate without having to kick the can down the road again with another continuing resolution? You know, we have a tight time frame between here and November 18th. But I will say we've been making some progress along those lines. You know, we've passed four appropriation bills so far.

We have another three or four that are ready to go from the House.

So even that, you know, it has been literally years since I've been in Congress that have not been this significant effort to pass appropriations bills. And what you're saying where we see, you know, I was going to give a speech on the House floor actually before we ended up, well, the speaker ended up being vacated and so the floor was closed. But just reminding us all that September 30th comes on September 30th every year. It seems like everybody up here is shocked and surprised when September 30th comes. And, oh, my gosh, what are we going to do?

How did we know we were going to get here? And I guess we'll have to pass the CR to find some more time. And, you know, we knew the day was coming. And so we should be able to, you know. And, of course, the language is always, oh, if you care enough about the military, if you care enough about our federal workforce and everything.

And my thinking is we should care enough about those things to actually plan to pass the bills when we're supposed to pass them. They're actually supposed to be passed in June and September 30th is kind of the stopgap deadline.

So we should be getting those out of the House in June, having some time to conference on the Senate with it over the summer and then coming to September 30th.

So we are definitely with the tight timeline now a little bit in a hole that we're going to have to catch up with. But, you know, having the kind of leadership at the helm, looking forward to the year to come, certainly I believe we'll be able to change course on that. We have some work to do before, obviously, the November 18th deadline. It reminds me of the people who start their Christmas shopping on December 23rd. Stunned beyond belief that Christmas is coming up on December.

It's always on December 25th. And yet there are people, it's the same sort of thing. And the concern that many people that I talk to have is, okay, admittedly not a big Republican majority in Congress, but there was a majority, a Republican majority in the House. How is it that things went off the rails this time? In other words, not meeting the deadlines and not putting together the things that were full of promise in January.

Well, you know, we again, we I've the way I've tried to describe this year to folks back home is we are rewriting the muscle memory of Congress.

So there's a whole lot of bad habits from the committee level to staff level, to the floor management, to those kind of things that have led us to the place we look at our fiscal standpoint and say we are not where we should be as a nation. And so we've had to rewrite those processes and take a different approach on things. And so we're not where we need to be, but we have made some progress. But coming to September 30th, you know, the day before September 30th, we got, because a few of us were pressing, saying we don't want to just continue to go down this path of CR to CR to Omnibus. We definitely need to, you know, and we've done a lot of work on the appropriations bills to really go through and weed out a lot of nefarious spending that we see happening, a lot of the weaponization of our government against the American people, all these different kind of the mission creep of every single agency over time, regardless of what administration.

So we had really taken a lot of progress forward on these appropriations bills and wanted to see them move forward. And the first time we got a calendar to be able to pass the appropriations bills was the day before the shutdown. And so we're thinking, like, this doesn't seem like a real concerted effort. We should be getting this calendar maybe in January. and so that's you know been part of the discussion that's going on of what we need to do to continue to to make progress for the american people uh in getting there so again we we've made some headway we have passed us some appropriations bills that are on their way to the senate and and but we still have some work to do to get us where we need to be this program coming to folks live across the country and online at 1 16 p.m.

on Monday. And I say that because the news within the past few minutes is that rocket sirens are sounding in Tel Aviv, in central Israel. The Knesset already had to adjourn because of rockets nearby this morning. What role should the United States Congressman Cloud be taking with regard to the terror attacks upon the nation of Israel?

Well, we have got to stand unequivocally with Israel. They certainly have a right to defend themselves, and we have long been partners in supporting their effort there. As a matter of fact, there's about $4 billion of additional support in two of the appropriation bills we've already passed that the Senate can take up any day. But we need to continue to stand with them. And beyond just standing with them and supporting them is just understanding that there's no moral equivalency here.

You know, people have tried to, you know, what Hamas has done. And I don't even understand the kind of hate that someone has to be in someone's heart when they've been able to go in and do what they've done to children and women and grandparents and those kind of things. And the Israeli people have all they've ever wanted is peace. And so they have a strong military, but it's always been to defend and not to be the aggressor. And so it's, you know, we've got to stand strong for what's right and push back on evil in this time.

I'm seeing that a group of looks like a dozen or so members of the House, and it appears to be the squad plus friends, have announced they're going to introduce a resolution calling for ceasefire in the Mideast and demanding humanitarian aid to Gaza. that seems well it seems to be a little bit out of place but i'll let you respond congressman are you receptive to a resolution that the squad and others are introducing no we already have a resolution uh that's in the works um and uh i think that's what we'll be pushing for that condemns the actions of Hamas and shows our full-throated support. And really, that's the way to go in this. Again, there's no moral equivalency here. We've got to push back on evil.

Yeah, their resolution doesn't say anything about hostages or terror by Hamas. I'm sure that's just an omission on their part. Congressman Cloud, it was a privilege to speak with you. Thanks for joining the Star and Show, and do the best you can to get this back on track, sir. Will do, sir.

Good talking with you, Jeff. God bless. You as well. Michael Cloud, congressman from the state of Texas, 27th District. Cloud.house.gov is how you can learn more about him.

And he's on the Twitter machine, or X, or whatever we call it these days, as well, at RepCloud TX for Texas. Obviously, social media for this radio program, generally it's at Todd Starnes on the Instagram and threads. It's at Todd Starnes FNC. You can find me on all manner of social media at Iowa Politics. That's I-O-W-A, at Iowa Politics.

Don't bother looking for me on the Facebook. That's not going to happen. But on other things, at Iowa Politics. And Congressman Clough joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Time for your calls in the next segment at 844-747-8868.

That's 844-747-8868. From the Liberty University studio, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thank you for being along on the Todd Stern Show. Constant Contact helps small businesses stand tall with powerful digital marketing solutions. And now with advanced automation and AI tools in one place, we've got your marketing covered so you can focus more on running your business.

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That's how you can reach the program. That's the number Mike used. He's calling in from Waterloo, Iowa. That's where the Liberty University Studio is located today, as I fill in for Todd. Mike, thanks for weighing in.

What do you think about this race for Speaker of the House, sir? Good afternoon, Jeff. Nice talking to you again. It is always a privilege, sir. Yes.

Well, you know, I called my representative, Ashley Henson, here in Iowa. Yeah. And told her who I would like to have her vote for, which would have been Jim Jordan, which she supported Scalise, which is not all bad. And however, he's dropping out. There's Jim left.

Hopefully he gets in because I think he's the right man for the job. And when I hear the Democrats say he is a radical conservative, that's the guy we need. And I hope that Ashley votes for him and they can get it through. because there's way too many Republicans who call themselves Republicans, but they are rhinos, and we have some here in our own state. And I know you're going to be interviewing one of our senators tomorrow, and I am not happy with her at all, Senator Ernst.

And in my opinion, she's nothing but a rhino. And Ashley has got a good start on that. And I'm an independent conservative. I believe in the Constitution, and I'm not so sure a lot of our politicians do.

Well, first of all, I do know, because you're here in my backyard, that you wore the uniform, so thank you for your service. Have you called the Congresswoman's office today to see how she is leaning on this issue? I don't think I've seen a public declaration, but I may have missed it. I have not called today. It was about a week ago that I called, and I thought about calling back.

But, of course, you never get to talk to her, which I can understand that. Usually you have to leave a message, and so that's what I do. But maybe I'll call back. And today, yes, after I get off talking to you, and maybe I'll hopefully I get to talk to somebody. If I do, I'm going to ask that question.

Well, I saw a post, and it was from our friend Ed Martin of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagles, who said everyone should call their representative's office and find out if the representative has taken a position on the speaker issue. And it fine if the answer is undecided but people have to start making declarations and you have to get an accurate count here And so if they in essence if their feet is being put to the fire to actually come out and say what they going to do that may help give the rest of us confidence that things can move along Let me ask you very quickly, Mike, if not Jim Jordan, if he can't get the numbers, do you have another choice that you'd like to see put up there? at this point in time i think jim is the best and only choice there is and they need to support him because he is he is in there trying to help us people who believe in the constitution and so many other ones are just they say one thing and do another obviously as you know and And the Republicans, they just want to get along, and that's not the end. Not going to be good enough these days. Mike, thank you so much for checking in and for being such a good listener from Waterloo, Iowa.

And Mike mentioned that we have all sorts of folks on my program in Iowa. Senator Ernst, who was in the Middle East when this thing all started and met with the Prime Minister. Yes, she'll be on my local show in Iowa tomorrow, which, if you care, is on right before Todd's live program, and you can listen to the stream at KXEL.com if you're so kind. Back with more of The Starn Show after this short break. The United States Constitution guarantees every American fundamental rights and protection of life, liberty, and property.

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Go to SalemEventsStore.com to get your exclusive 1953 Omen U.S. Constitution lithograph while supplies last. That's SalemEventsStore.com. Welcome back. Todd Starnes show continuing on this Monday.

I'm Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Todd just a bit under the weather. Trust he'll be back tomorrow. Coming to you from my home base at Newstalk 1540 KXEL in Iowa. That's the location of the Liberty University studio today.

844-747-8868. Same number as always. We'll take your calls in the next segment at 844-747-8868. But joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is Mike Gonzalez. Mr.

Gonzalez is a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, online, of course, at Heritage.org. Good to talk to you again, Mr. Gonzalez. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. How are you?

Hey, Jeff. Nice to hear from you.

So as some in this audience may know, and you and I may have talked about it on my Iowa program before, But I taught college students for 25 years at major, big public universities and at small, faith-based private colleges. And you really don't know what goes on until you're behind the scenes to some degree. You wrote an op-ed entitled, No One Should Be Surprised by the Depraved Radicalism on College Campuses. is give us some examples and why this stuff that we've been hearing in the past week, atrocious as it is, really should not have been a surprise.

Well, I think that people did not understand what decolonization was.

So what we hear, I mean, if you've been watching TV or listening to the radio, reading a newspaper, since George Floyd died in 2020 and we had the riots, is that everything had to be decolonized, quote-unquote. Even museums had to be decolonized, by which it meant that it had to be purged of anything, any trace of American history, American traditions, Christianity, etc. And so what people do not understand is that the people, the left, the culturally Marxist left calling for decolonization, do not mind in the least if it's done through violence. In fact, they have always said that it may have to be done through violence or that it will have to be done through violence.

So when you have the affair, the massacre of 1,300 Jews in Israel a week and two days ago, the public raping, the shaming, the humiliation, the kidnappings, the burnings, the beheadings, this is just medieval stuff that took place. It should not surprise us. It's shocking, but it shouldn't surprise us that students at our elite universities came out in public supporting this because they believe that decolonization requires, you know, that things should be done by any means necessary. Any means necessary, a phrase that we have heard for a long time, came from Franz Fanon. Franz Fanon was a revolutionary writer in the 60s, and he talked about this, and Malcolm X used the phrase as well, by any means necessary.

Well, these are the means they mean. They mean this. They mean rape and pillage. They're okay with it, and that should be shocking. Mike Gonzalez of the Heritage Foundation joining us on the Todd Starn Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Does it take a tragic event, a terror attack on Israel, to bring our focus on this issue of leftism on college campuses? Because, again, this is something that has been documented, certainly came to light within the past few years, as you know, but it's nothing brand new, certainly. The depth to which these poor, misguided young people are stooping may have been a surprise, but is this enough of a wake-up call, I guess I'm saying, to affect some real change? Jeff, I think so.

I think that the momentum has swung. And I'll tell you why. I mean, I've been writing books about this. I've written several books on this. I've written essays.

I write op-eds, I give interviews such as this one. But liberals, old-style liberals, people who disagree perhaps with you and me, they want higher taxes, they want more government involvement, but they don't want village. They think rape is horrible. they draw a line and now they're waking up and smelling the coffee and realizing what the Marxists cultural Marxists to their left who have been controlling the Democratic Party now for a number of years by that I mean 67 years, but definitely the last three years since the BLM riots they're saying to themselves no, I'm not okay with this and if this is what Marxist fringe warns, I'm not going there. This is not okay with me, and I'm going to drill the line.

So I think that we have to use this moment. We live in a 50-50 country, I believe. About half of it is liberal, about half of it is conservative.

So in order to get anywhere conservative, such as us, I'm going to have to appeal and make sense to liberals who are not okay with rape and pillage. And I think a moments such as this is very useful. Mike Gonzalez is our guest. He is one of the authors of a piece entitled No One Should Be Surprised by the Depraved Radicalism on College Campuses. I'm looking at it on thefederalist.com posted last Friday.

He is with the Heritage Foundation. He joins us on the Todd Starnes Show. It was one thing, and I'm going back, you know, again, over a period of decades. It's one thing to say, well, universities, the academy, this is where you're supposed to have free speech, and that's why you have tenure, so you can have faculty members who have views that are not mainstream, etc. And it seemed almost, I don't know, quaint in the abstract.

But we have gone well beyond the abstract to promoting violence, and these people are not satisfied simply with discussing political theory. They want destructive political action. Or am I overstating? No, not in the least. That is the crux of what I'm saying.

And I don't think, and I'm not a constitutional scholar, but I don't think that calling for killing, calling for violence, calling for rape is protected speech. I think that we have, and I'm a maximalist when it comes to natural rights, but as we know, there are even limits on the rights of property, on the rights of speech as well.

So I think that, and this is one of them. For example, the Immigration Naturalization Services, if you look at the act, it will tell you that we do not allow in people who will spouse, who have spoused and supported terrorism.

So, for example, those students who are foreign born who are here on a student visa who have voiced their support for the terrorist acts, they have violated the conditions of their visa and the visas can now be revoked. But even Americans, such as you and me, we have some limits. We cannot espouse the killing of another human being.

so it seems to me that it's eminently reasonable to say no this is not something so it's funny because what has been happening in college campuses for the last few years is that they say speech is violence so if you go in and you say well a man is a man and a woman is a woman and no you cannot magically wave a magic wand around somebody's head and say this man is now forthwith a woman they say, well, that denies the existence of people who are transgender, and that is violence, and you cannot say that that kind of speech is forbidden. But that is just reality. That's just science. That is not calling for harm to anyone. That's just saying, no, you cannot change a white chromosome.

However, to call for, no, a whole nation should be exterminated. The Jewish people should be killed. How on earth is that protected speech?

Well, and to the very excellent point that you're making, it is one thing to, again, just espouse a theory, if you will. But when disagreement automatically means cancellation or violence, we have very much crossed a line, and here we have these taxpayer-funded colleges and universities, in addition to private ones as well, who are not only silent about it, they've been encouraging this sort of thing, or at the very least not discouraging the silence of speech. And I thought, last I knew, that was the whole point of higher education was the peaceful discussion of ideas, but apparently that's just a little too old school on my part. Right.

So, yeah, the two-sidedness in this is just glaring. No, you cannot say that a man can never become a woman. But, yes, you can say that rape and killing and massacring is okay and, in fact, legitimate. Mike Gonzalez, Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation, joining us on the Todd Starnes Show.

So, again, excellent piece at thefederalist.com, the main website, heritage.org. All right, where do we go from here? Because it occurs to me, I saw that the Huntsman family literally wrote a letter to the University of Pennsylvania because of their abhorrent inaction and the phrase, we are closing our checkbook. That's going to get the attention.

So, I mean, when you have a family that has supported a university for generations and they say, well, we just cannot be associated with you anymore. What can a person listening to this conversation do to try to turn it back around for a more traditional classical education and actually a healthier republic? I think you just call your principal or if you son or daughter at college and your college has not said the right thing, you call the president. I have done both. You express yourself, but our elected leaders are going to have to move at the state level.

This is the time to move against critical race theory, ethnic studies, gender theory. They have to, the state legislatures also have to move against DEI universities. The head of DEI, Cornell, showed us what DEI was with a statement that he made last week, which was grotesque. We have to investigate Black Lives Matter. Finally, Black Lives Matter started this.

They had riots. People died, you know, $2 billion in damages. They have come out in support of Hamas. Congress needs to move and investigate Black Lives Matter. We have to drive CRT and DEI, DEI being diversity, equity, and inclusion from the military.

We have, there's a whole, I'm going to sit down and write an essay on this. I have written down a couple of points. there's a whole bunch of things that our elected leaders can do but you and i people like us can make our voices heard to our local high school and to our local colleges mike gonzalez wrote a pair of books on the encounter books label in 2020 one called the plot to change america won the following year 2021 called blm the making of a new marxist revolution they are both excellent well-researched volumes and i would suggest you take a look at both mr Dr. Gonzalez, thanks so much for the time. Again, good to talk with you, and I hope we talk again soon.

The same thing here, Jeff. Anytime. Thanks a lot. Mike Gonzalez, Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation, and he joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker Line here on the Todd Starnes Radio Program.

Well, you may think that we're talking about this a lot, but this is a terror attack on what is supposed to be one of our closest, if not closest, allies as a nation. the nation of Israel. The number of casualties continues to go up, 1,400, 1,500. I mean, there are numbers that you just cannot conceive of, but if you add the number of people killed and injured in Israel from the terror attacks, that's more people than in many of the towns in which many of you live. I always equate it to my hometown of 2,361 people, or where I lived for a long time, 30,000.

Just imagine if that city no longer existed, was obliterated. That's how critical this situation is. With rockets firing into Israeli cities today, Tel Aviv, among others. The Todd Starn Show is partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews to rush emergency relief directly to the hardest hit areas of Israel. Stand with Israel against terror.

Your emergency gift will help the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews save lives and provide critical essentials needed. Here's the number, if you are able to make a donation. We encourage you to do so, 800-514-5577. I will say that again. The number so that you can donate for emergency relief in Israel is 800-514-5577.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has an extensive network of staff, volunteers, and partner organizations that we can trust all across the nation of Israel, and that means they're ready to respond right now with the measures and the care that is needed. Please pray for the safety, protection, and comfort of the nation of Israel in the aftermath of these terror attacks. These are not militants. These are terrorists. And so if you're able to assist by making a generous financial gift, the number is 800-514-5577 so they can rush urgently needed help to Israel.

And again, this is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews at 800-514-5577. Your calls on the other side as we come back from a break in the Liberty University studio. That number is 844-747-8868. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. This is the Todd Starnes Show.

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He woke up just a little under the weather, and we're pleased to have the opportunity to talk with you in Starnes Nation. I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, and it's not because I didn't get enough sleep. It's because I enjoy sleeping so much because I have a MyPillow 2.0 and I have the Percal sheets. And I tell you, that's a big change. I'm really tempted, though, to expand the repertoire, and you should as well.

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And you do this by going to MyPillow.com, use the promo code STARNS, or pick up the phone, 800-839-8506. I'll say that again, 800-839-8506, or go to MyPillow.com. But in order to get the absolute best deals, use the promo code STARNS. Coming up in our next hour of the program, third hour of the program, Liz Peek will be here, of course, regular guest on this program. And she writes for FoxNews.com and The Hill.

But if you go to LizPeek.com, P-E-E-K, you'll have all the information that she puts out. She had an appearance with Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business today that was absolutely on fire. President Trump even posted on Truth Social about it. And so we're going to talk about the failure of the Biden administration. And I also want to get her insight on how the Hamas terror attacks on Israel and the resultant military conflict, how that's going to affect financial markets, how that's going to affect the economy.

And, oh, yeah, there's still not a Speaker of the House. Looking better that by tomorrow night there may be one, but again, we've got that government shutdown looming on midnight Washington time at the start of November 18th.

So lots to talk about with Liz Peek. Lots to talk about with you. Call and join us here in the Liberty University studio. We'll get to your calls right after the top of the hour at 844-747-8868. Short break now.

Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starnes Show. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun-toting, Bible-clinging, deplorable American. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes.

Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed. Welcome to Hour 3 of a Monday edition of the Todd Starnes Radio Program. Coast to coast to more than 140 outstanding radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello fellow patriots, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXEL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa.

The 50,000 watt blowtorch scorching middle America. with accurate news and reasonable views. Todd woke up this morning and said, yeah, I'm not feeling all that well. It's a good day to crawl back under the covers and answer the bell tomorrow. And we need them for the long term, so that's good advice.

And I'm always pleased to be here to talk with you, Starnes Nation. Again, we are in the Liberty University studio and we'll take your calls this hour at 844-747-8868. Same number as always, 844-747-8868. Coming up just after the bottom of the hour, Liz Peek will join us to talk about the Biden administration, its failures, its ineffectiveness, and how all of this is going to impact all of us, including financially. Let's go now to the phone line.

Joe is calling in from Ella J. Georgia. Joe, good to talk to you again. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. How are you?

Jeff, you're doing a great job filling in for Todd, and Todd has a wonderful, wonderful, great show, and I appreciate his show very much. I just want to say that I think it's very important that Jim Jordan be elected Speaker of the House tomorrow. Jim is a great conservative champion. I think he and Trump will work together to give us the best economy and stock market in American history.

So I hope everybody will call their member of Congress and ask that they vote for, please vote for Jim Jordan because he'll be a good one. And last night I had the honor and pleasure of being with the great Tennessee Senator, Marsha Blackburn, and I think she would be a great candidate for president. She's a solid conservative, and I'd love to see a Trump-Blackburn ticket.

So I just wanted to tell you, Jeff, she's a superstar taxpayer champion, and she would be a great vice president with Trump, in my opinion. But thank you for letting me be on the show. You're doing a great job, and Todd's great.

So let's go, Trump.

Now, hold on before I let you go. You're in the middle of Georgia Apple Festival time. Are you not down there at LJ? Yes, sir. I am.

In fact, I'm heading for LJ right now. We've been down in South Georgia. We've been LJ in about the... I'm just in the Jasper, which is right below LJ.

So I'll be in the Apple capital of the world in about 15 minutes. Yeah. I saw on the screen that you had called in, and I remembered apples, and I thought, well, now that's got to be coming up. and there we go, Mr. Google told me.

Two weekend festival and the second one's coming up.

So, by the way, I want to ask, were you a Jordan supporter a couple of weeks ago for this, or is your view that Jordan is the man is in light of Scalise's failure to get the votes and everything else that has happened?

Well, I've always been a strong Jim Jordan supporter. In fact, I've had the honor of being on national television with him several times on programs, and I just have always admired him. I think he's the number one, in my opinion, the number one taxpayer and small business champion in Washington. And I think he and Trump will work together, and I really mean this, Jeff. I think with them, the two of them working together, we'll have the best economy and the best stock market in American history.

So I hope everybody listening to this great program will get on the phone and call your member of Congress and ask them to support Jim Jordan tomorrow when the vote comes up, because Jim will be a great Speaker of the House.

Well, one step at a time. Jordan is Speaker first. We can handle that this week. Joe, thanks so much for calling in, and safe travels back to L.O.J. Thank you, Jeff.

Bye-bye. 844-747-8868. In our last hour, we had a caller from Iowa who had said he had called his member of Congress a week or so ago when it was, is it Scalise, is it Jordan, et cetera. And I suggested that he make a call back and let his voice be heard. And I've gotten a text indicating that he did indeed call his member of Congress and was told that that member would indeed be voting for Jim Jordan.

This was a Kevin McCarthy supporter who supported Steve Scalise and now is falling in line behind Jim Jordan.

So calling and asking is not a bad thing. In fact, that's just what you have to do. I mean, this is how you affect change. You simply let them know how you feel before a vote takes place. And if it is not Jordan, well, I don't know quite who it is.

There are a number of people who are very much never Jordan folks.

Some of them fell in line over the weekend. And I don't say fell in line in a bad way, but we're down now to maybe 10 votes that are necessary. and there are some news reports that say some of these hardline folks who did not want Jordan and swore there's no situation where they could vote for him.

Well, as they look around to their left and their right and there are fewer people of the same mind, they're now getting a little weak-kneed because they don't want to be singled out as the 4 or 5 or 6. That meant the House, yet again, does not have a speaker.

So we don't know, but the best thing you can do is very politely and very respectfully call your member of the U.S. House and say, who are you voting for? And if they say they don't know, well, that's okay. If they say never, Jordan, then I guess I'd ask, well, who? And if you get an answering machine, just leave the message and leave a callback number and see how responsive your member of Congress is.

because at this point, with the moves in the Senate, and what I'm afraid is too much a uniparty there these days, they're talking about aid for Israel, because that's front of mind. Oh, but let's bundle that with aid for Ukraine. And I'm of the opinion of you don't need to bundle. It's not like insurance where you're going to save on the premium.

So how about we take these up as separate items, because that's the only way we can actually have good control, and so that these lawmakers cannot abdicate responsibility by saying something like well I didn like this but I had to vote for this other No just up or down individually Now obviously support for Israel is very important and I going to choose my words carefully once again, just because I think it's necessary that we use proper terminology. These are not militants. This is not the kind of traditional fight that you might have seen previously upon Israel when it's been attacked by one of these other governments, a neighboring state, etc. These are brutal terrorists who are striking Jewish people because of their faith. Period.

There's no other excuse. There's no other definition. It's not all Palestinians by any stretch. We're talking about a terror group aided by Iran called Hamas. And the opportunistic side of Hezbollah may strike next, not necessarily coordinated in advance, but again, they're opportunists with the same bloodthirsty goal of eradicating all Jews from the planet.

It is nothing different than the Nazis a century ago. Hamas terror attack on Israel. There. That's what it is. And anything that Israel does to respond to free hostages, now you're hearing people saying, well, it has to be measured.

It is disingenuous at best for a terror group to unleash what they did. Brutal, savage attacks on innocent Jewish people. And then, before Israel really responds to say, oh, well, we need a ceasefire. No, I don't think that's going to happen. we need to preserve the hostages and their well-being, if that is even possible at this time, 10 days after the attack.

Let's just be honest. We need to minimize harm to innocents. But Hamas is the group that took hostages to use as human shields. Hamas is the group that hides in tunnels under hospitals and schools. That's what Hamas and terror is.

I often hear from people who say, well, that's nice that you've talked about this issue and identified it, but what can we do about it? There are so many scam organizations out there, and that's truly tragic. But there is an organization that you're well familiar with and with which the Todd Starnes Show is partnering to maximize relief to the hardest-hit Israels of the nation, hardest-hit areas of the nation of Israel. I'm talking, of course, about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. As Israel prepares to properly retaliate with this massive ground offensive against the terrorists, emergency help is needed for the people of Israel.

If you are in a position to make a financial donation, it will do so much good. And here's the phone number to use, 800-514-5577. I'll say that again, 800-514-5577. Your emergency gift will help the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews save lives and provide critical essentials needed right now. The needs in these war-torn areas will be tremendous for a period of time.

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews already had a solid network of staff, volunteers, and partner organizations that can be trusted, so they can immediately respond. But they need your help. In addition to your prayers, they need your financial assistance if you're able to make it. One more time, the number 800-514-5577. And this is how you in the Todd Starnes audience can get that urgently needed help to Israel through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

We will continue after this short break from the Liberty University studio with more of your calls at 844-747-8868. Alexander is on the line from Richmond, Virginia. Hold on through the break, please. 844-747-8868. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. 844-747-8868. That's how you can join the conversation.

Going to the phones now to Richmond, Virginia. Alexander, thanks for joining the Starn Show. what's on your mind today. Hi. Yeah, I really like how President Trump or former President Trump has spoken out against what took place in the Middle East.

I think it's just great that he takes up his own grievances and personal grudges and puts them above everything else. Can you be any more narcissistic?

So who do you support if not Trump? Clearly, it sounds like not Trump.

So who do you support? If Trump is the nominee, and if the Democrats appreciate it, that's one vote for a bag of dog feces. I believe the suggestion is that that's a better choice than Joe Biden. That's how I interpreted that call from, quote, Alexander, in, quote, Richmond, Virginia. I think that the intelligence level and competency level of the bag of dog feces might be more than the current president or the person who's in the White House at the moment sworn in as president.

We'll talk about President Biden and his failures with Liz Peake. That's coming up in just, I guess, 10 minutes is all. That's always a good conversation. we're understanding that there is new news about U.S. troops.

All right, I'm going to read this as I'm receiving it from Miss Grace. The U.S. is telling 2,000 troops to prepare to deploy in anticipation of potential involvement in the Israel-Hamas war. This is according to reports posted just now at, I guess it's what, 226 Eastern Time on Monday. Wall Street Journal Associated Press saying the Pentagon has issued prepare for deployment directives to 2,000 U.S.

troops to fulfill a range of support functions, supplementary medical assistance, expertise in handling explosive ordinances. This might also encompass bolstering security at gate crossings. yeah fine let's not control our gates and our borders in any event officials say these troops will not be dispatched to israel itself but could potentially be deployed to neighboring countries in the region the u.s has not ruled out the possibility of sending troops into gaza to rescue hostages. All right, so the escalation continues. Last night, the president, in interview airing last night, said that Hamas should be eliminated, but there still should be a two-state solution.

All right, Grace Baker forwarding us the news that the U.S. telling 2,000 troops to be prepared to deploy to the Middle East. We'll stay on top of the situation, obviously. Liberty University Studios where we're located, 844-747-8868. As I said, Liz Peek will join us at the bottom of the hour, and she'll join us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

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And Patriot Mobile brings us the Newsmaker Line, and that will bring us Liz Peek coming up at the bottom of the hour. I often wonder this about people who post things on social media. The people, they don't like someone, and so then they post a nasty comment or they try to slip through on a national radio show. Do you people have nothing productive to do in life? Get a job.

Be a productive member of society. I don't know. It's just a thought. More thoughts after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd.

This is the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd, who's just a bit under the weather today. 844-747-8868. That's how you can reach us.

And we'll take your calls in the next segment. But joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, return guest to the program, Liz Peek. You read her work at foxnews.com and The Hill. I always go to her website, give the clicks to the home team, you know, lizpeek.com. Liz, thanks so much for taking the time.

Jeff Stein in for Todd. How are you? Hi, Jeff. I'm glad to join you. Thank you so much.

It is always a privilege to converse with you.

So give us your sense, in the 10 days since the Hamas terror attack on Israel, should Americans or our allies have any confidence that there is leadership coming from Washington? I think we lost that confidence some time ago, And I think pretty much everything that's playing out with the administration confirms our skepticism about that.

So let's start with the fact that the Biden administration has enabled Iran, which is the main funder of Hamas and Hezbollah, through relaxing sanctions on Iranian oil exports, oil exports which are earning the country an extra $50 to $60 million a year compared to what they were receiving when President Trump was in the Oval Office because he had basically enforced very tough sanctions. Exports from Iran were only around 800,000 barrels a day, and now they're one and a half, some people think, as much as 2 million barrels a day.

So that's a huge gift to Iran. People are focused on this $6 billion that Biden also freed up that is now sitting supposedly in gutter. The reality is $6 billion is great. I mean, we shouldn't be giving them that, but $50 billion is a whole lot more.

So Janet Yellen the other day came out and basically lied, saying, oh, no, we haven't relaxed sanctions, contradicting what other people in the White House have said.

So, first of all, I think they've had a horrible retracement of our relationship with Iran. There is this absurd notion, the Obama team had it, and now the Biden team is infected with the same idiocy, that somehow Iran, if only approached in the right way, can be a solid partner in the Middle East. No, they are not a solid partner. They never will be. They sanction terror in the entire region.

There is nothing about Iran, which at every opportunity chants death to America and death to Israel, that we should like or abet or approve of.

So I think the Biden administration is off on the wrong foot here, has been for a long time. What else is going on?

Well, we have Iranians now four in the last month captured who have come into our country illegally. We have an open border. We have no idea who's coming in or out. As you know, there's more than 100 people on the terror watch list that came in through the last fiscal year, ended last month. That's never happened before.

And again, it's this completely feckless administration that refuses to enforce our immigration laws and close our border.

So now, in addition to migrants who are landing in cities and making life kind of miserable for everybody, now we also have terrorists. This is unacceptable. And I don't know, for the life of me, I don't know how it is that Democrats think that voters are going to reward them for this, because I've got to tell you, I don't think they will.

Well, it's the demonizing of Trump, provided that he is the nominee. I mean, that's the card that they've been playing consistently. And for all of those who have concerns about the propriety of the 2020 election, I don't see that anything's been done to allay those fears.

So, you know, 2024 is not just the end zone here, because I don't know how we get from here to there. With regard to the border issue, and I'm so glad you mentioned that, because it's one thing for those of us who live in Middle America to look at these big cities on the coast and say, well, all right, fine, they've got these protests and they're violent, and thank God I don't live in a big city, I'll just move to the country. These folks coming across the border, we have no idea who they are, to your point.

Some of them are very bad people. If we're catching four, how many dozens aren't we catching? And they could gather and start something any place on our soil, and we're just turning a blind eye to it. Yeah, I don't know about you, but I was literally saying a prayer of thanks that on the jihad day last Friday, not more bad things happen in our country because we know that there are terrorists amongst us. We know that these cells, which were so rigorously pursued by the FBI after 9-11, have no doubt rebooted because the FBI is so busy looking for parents at school board meetings or Catholics who like to say the mass in Latin.

I mean, honestly, I don't know about you. I don't have much confidence that the guns of the FBI figuratively are trained on the right people. I think they're really off on the wrong track.

So, yes, I think we're vulnerable. Let's hope this doesn't happen. I wrote a piece that's going out tomorrow about, you know, drawing parallels between Joe Biden and Jimmy Carter. Boy, oh, boy, are there a lot. I mean, inflation and too much spending and a weak and feckless government.

And now we have a hostage crisis. No one's actually even talking much about the fact 30 Americans were slaughtered. I mean, doesn't anyone kind of doesn't that rise to the level of, you know, righteous indignation? I hope so, because that's not right. And yes, they may be Jewish Americans, Israeli Americans.

They are still Americans. And, you know, Joe Biden, what's he been doing since all this happened?

Well, he had a barbecue at the White House and then he went to Philadelphia to talk about hydrogen. And there was, you know, a couple of other campaign stops along the way. I noticed just now he has canceled yet another campaign trip. High time because, you know, he's basically been sort of inattentive, in my view, and really not very much on the ball.

So I'm very discouraged by the lack of leadership in our country. I think we've got the B team in terms of foreign security, national security of Jake Sullivan out there. Eight days before this terrible event in Israel took place, talking about how the Middle East is quieter than it's been in decades. Obviously, he doesn't know anything because it was happening under his nose. And the best the White House could do, and I think this was Secretary Blinken, said, well, Jake was right at the time.

Oh, my goodness. That's the best you can do is to say, well, he was right that day. Liz Peek joining us on the Todd Starnes Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. LizPeek.com is her website.

And, yes, the president canceled his campaign appearance to tout, quote, Bidenomics in Congresswoman Boebert's district. Obviously, no accident there. and the rumor is that he needs to be in Washington, maybe he'll take a trip to Israel. I wondered if we should take word that he was canceling the campaign trip as a signal of when the ground war might actually commence, and that it would look especially bad for him to not be propped up in a chair in the situation room when that happened. It could well be.

I don't know. There has been this sense of imminence for days now, And I don't know what is the delay. I'm sure there is enormous amount of last minute camp diplomacy taking place where, you know, let's face it, the United States is trying to get Israel to make sure there are as few civilian injuries and deaths as possible. Of course, they already have been doing that. It is not Israel who is indifferent to the plight of the Palestinian people living in Gaza.

It is Hamas, who is basically blocking, literally putting up roadblocks to keep people from moving out of harm's way, which the Israelis have asked those people to do.

So whatever happens when, in fact, Israel does invade Gaza, and I don't think Netanyahu has a choice here. I think he absolutely has to do that. I mean, can you imagine voters in Israel? Let's face it, this is a democracy. He answers to the voters, as does his partner in the new coalition government.

if they don't respond to this horrific barbarism on their watch, you know, they'll be held to pay politically.

So for many reasons, including the fact that they must, must go after Hamas on their own turf, there will be, I think, an invasion. And you raise a good point. Maybe that is why Biden is finally staying home.

Well, and within the past hour, we've heard on the news that Secretary Blinken, along with Prime Minister Netanyahu and the War Cabinet, all were sheltered in a bunker because the sirens went off at Tel Aviv. I mean, I don't know how much more they need on some of these things. Let me ask you, in one respect, it pales in comparison, well, not in one respect, in every respect, it pales in comparison to the slaughter of innocents by Hamas terrorists. But from an economic standpoint, the global economy, this is the kind of intervening circumstance, I would say times 100, as opposed to the Ukraine-Russia situation in terms of impacting the economy and everyday Americans. You know, it's interesting that the stock market has rallied today pretty substantially.

And for the life of me, I can't really get my head around why that is. Oil prices are down a little bit, maybe. And astonishingly, they are down because the word is that the United States is going to lift sanctions on Venezuela to increase their oil production.

Now we have it pretty clearly laid out that the only country we're not allowed to produce oil is the United States, where, by the way, we produce pretty clean oil and in a very environmentally friendly way.

So, I mean, don't get me started on this because it's so irrational. It makes my head bleed. But that may be why markets are rallying. Maybe also there's a view that the consensus is increasingly we won't have a recession. My problem with what's going on right now is really what is happening is that long yields are higher.

People think, well, that means maybe the Fed won't have to raise rates anymore because already long rates are going up. The 10-year, you know, close to 5% recently, now it's backed off a little bit. But the reason long rates are up is because the government is spending so much money. They're having to borrow so much money that basically bond prices are going up and yields are going down. Explain to me how having a gigantic deficit which is way more than anyone expected even 12 months ago is a good thing particularly when biden and his horrible treasury secretary janet yellen have shown absolutely no concern about the level of spending at all this is a republican fight it has to be a republican fight hopefully there will soon be jim jordan or someone else as speaker of the house who will take this to the mat because, you know, I read a lot, I'm sure you have too, over the weekend about our fiscal position, the increased interest on our debt becoming one of the biggest items in our expenses now.

It is honestly a disaster, and someone needs to speak up about it and do something about it, and it won't be Joe Biden.

Someone did just speak up in the background, and I second that emotion 110%. I got to the point where the dog wouldn't even look at the TV if Biden came on at home.

So that gives you an idea of things. Liz Peek, thank you so much for the excellent counsel and advice, as always. I appreciate you joining Todd's show today, and it's always a privilege for me personally. Thanks so much. Thank you so much for having me.

Take care. LizPeek.com is the website. P-E-E-K is how you spell it. LizPeek.com, FoxNews.com, and The Hill as well. and she joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line.

Everyone needs to speak up. I'm talking about dogs. I'm talking, well, really, this is the time, is it not? We'll close on that, that this is the time. And if not now, I don't know when.

You're still invited to join us. We have some time in the Liberty University studio at 844-747-8868. My closing comments and your calls. When we come back, Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starn Show.

Welcome back to the Liberty University studio. Final moments of this Monday edition of the Todd Starn Show.

So Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Todd woke up just a little under the weather, and as I've said, we need him for the long term.

So hunker down today, boss, and come back here tomorrow. 844-747-8868 is how you can reach us. And this is something that occurred to me over the course of the past week, and it's something that I have said in other contexts, but you and I have not had the chance to speak. But this really is the time for everyone to speak up and speak out.

Now, I did not say go burn buildings. I did not say threaten violence. I said speak up and speak out and stand for what is right and what you believe in. I don't care if we're talking about the Speaker of the House situation. And yes, call your member of Congress and see who they're supporting.

when this vote takes place supposedly tomorrow afternoon. It sort of sounds like Jim Jordan may have the votes, but you never know. There are not that many to give away.

So call and let them know your thoughts. And by the way, if you don't want Jordan, tell them that too. There's no good that comes from after-the-fact back-benching. Tell them straight up, this is how you feel. And yes, you will get a person who works in the office, but they have people who answer the phones and take notes.

Because, again, they don't want to be on the wrong side of too many issues come election time, so call your member of Congress. But with regard to Israel, this was a terror attack. This was not a bunch of militants. This was not something that just sort of happened. This was orchestrated over a long period of time, and Iran has to have been involved.

There is no Hamas without Iran. The timing is not in any way coincidental. The worst, I'm afraid, dear friends, is yet to come on all of this. The very worst is yet to come. And I pray that it does not reach our soil.

As Liz Peek mentioned in our last segment so accurately, how is it that 30 Americans are slaughtered, and it doesn't seem to even make a difference? Barely a ripple of attention? The president goes on and does fundraising situations? You know that he'll continue to get the coverage. We talked about that in the opening segment, and if you missed it, just wait a little bit.

Go to the Toddcast podcast at ToddStarns.com. But in this great 60 Minutes piece last night, Scott Pelley in the narration says, It has been a rough week, and the president appears tired. It was a rougher week for those who were slaughtered in their homes in Israel. If we do not stand with this ally at this time, and we do not stand with them 100%, then the fight will be within our own borders. And again, I fear that that could already happen by all of these folks coming in.

We have no idea who's here. We know we catch a few. There's an exponential number that we don't catch. And we just pray it doesn't reach here. But this is such an important, crucial time.

It is up to all of us to be involved. And I don't care if I'm talking about your school board and city council election. Nice flip in Louisiana over the weekend. Governor's seat flipped from blue to red. That's good.

But all of this is necessary because the rest of the world takes this seriously. And if we take our eye off of it for even a moment, the consequences are dire. And I don't mean to leave on such a negative note. I am positive that we will band together and do well. but it's going to take every one of you.

Thanks, Dylan. Thanks, Grace. Todd, get well soon. Come back tomorrow. Jeff Stein filling in.

Todd, thanks to all of you for being along on a Monday edition of The Todd Starn Show.