Republican Deep State Tries to Destroy Hegseth

Americans love using their credit cards, the most secure and hassle-free way to pay. But D.C. politicians want to change that with the Durbin Marshall Credit Card Bill. This bill lets corporate megastores pick how your credit card is processed, allowing them to use untested payment networks that jeopardize your data security and rewards. Corporate megastores will make more money, and you pay the price.

Tell Congress to guard your card, because Americans lose when politicians choose. Learn more at guardyourcard.com. 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 Starr.

Well, hello everybody. Welcome to the Todd Stern's radio program.

So very happy to have you with us today. And we've been following a couple of big stories. We're going to get to what's been happening at the Supreme Court a little bit later on in the show. But I want to start off today by talking about Pete Hegseth. And you should know that there is a coordinated effort by some very powerful people within the U.S.

Congress, within the Republican Party, and within the military-industrial complex. And these individuals are right now trying to destroy this man. That's what's going on here. There are a lot of very powerful people who make a lot of money. We're talking billions of dollars sending our sons and daughters off to fight wars.

And we know that President Trump is not too keen on getting this country involved in wars that we have no business fighting. And that's a problem for people like, for example, the Cheney family, people, for example, like Lindsey Graham, who make their money by sending these young Americans off to the battlefield. And so Pete Hegseth going in as the defense secretary would cause a lot of problems for those folks, the military industrial complex, a name, by the way, that was crafted by Dwight Eisenhower, one of our greatest military minds, one of our greatest military heroes. And even Eisenhower understood that there were forces at work that profit when America is at war.

So that's what's happening here. Pete Hegseth is coming under attack, and they're trying to destroy this man.

Now, I've known Pete Hegseth for a number of years. I would say, oh, I don't know, about 10 years. We were colleagues together at Fox News Channel for a number of those years. his wife was the executive producer of my Fox television show as a matter of fact her office was directly next to mine so we worked together on a daily basis I saw Pete on a daily basis and there was an NBC News story that came out last night and the NBC News story said that Hank Seth was showing up to work drunk. He was never prepared.

And they were quoting about 10 sources they say were at Fox News.

Some of them were still working there.

Some of them were former employees.

Now, that's not the Pete Hexeth that I know. And I find it interesting that NBC News never interviewed Will Cain nor Rachel Campos Duffy. And I know Rachel very well. um not once do they interview pete's co-host now it seems to me that if you're doing a story about pete hegseth showing up on the morning show fox and friends drunk on the weekends it seems to me that you would make an effort to at least reach out to the two people that are sitting next to him on the on the curvy couch right why would you not do that it's all very strange.

So we now know that both Rachel and Will coming out last night and saying this is all untrue. Nobody from NBC News ever reached out to them to get a comment, to get a quote, not even to say a no comment. Nobody did that at NBC News.

So one of there are a couple of things going on here, and I want to address it. First of all, it could be that NBC News just made up the story, that there are no anonymous sources, that this is all a work of fiction. The other possibility is that these individuals who were talking about Pete are, in fact, left-wingers.

Now, here's something you need to know about Fox News. After Roger Ailes was fired, the network started to go to hell in a handbasket. I mean, it's really sad. But what's happening at Fox has already happened at places like CNN and MSDNC, where they have hired all of these radical leftists and these progressives. And most of them are coming right out of journalism school, and they're cheap labor, and they're going to work, and they're taking their liberalism from their university campuses, and they're infecting the Fox News channel with it, these newsrooms.

And it's happened all over the country. This is nothing new. But what was unusual back when Roger Ailes was running Fox is he kept an eye on that. And he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if he took his eye off of the newsroom, that it would skew to the left. And so there was a fierce effort at Fox to always remain fair and balanced.

But when Roger got fired, the network hired the HR team, are you ready for this, from NBC News to run the Fox Human Resources Department. And then all of a sudden, the staff had to start going to these diversity classes and sex harassment classes. And we started celebrating. It was like every day was Pride Month at the Fox News Channel building. And they also made a partnership, created a partnership with an LGBTQ journalism association.

And so they're funneling all of these people into the Fox Newsroom.

So you have a lot of liberals and a lot of Fox haters getting paychecks right now from Fox News.

So it could very well be that some of these people were the unnamed sources. They're cowards, every single one of them. And here's my take on this. If you are writing a story and that story has the potential of destroying a man and his career or a man and his family, then you better have somebody in that story on the record. There was a time when that was mandated.

You had to have at least a couple of people on the record if you were using other unnamed sources. But the standards in national journalism, they're just not there. Doesn't national journalism suck, ladies and gentlemen? I mean, it's just so ruthless. It is so cutthroat.

Now, the facts about Pete's private life are out there. And that's for Pete to address. You know, the wives and the cheating and the letter that his mom wrote, and we're going to get into that in just a moment. that's all out there but to say this guy shows up for work drunk i can tell you there there are people who've showed up for work drunk at fox news pete hexath wasn't one of them no i'm not going to name names i'm just telling you a lot of people showed up at fox drunk a lot of stuff going on at that network but again if if you are a human being and you're going to go to let's say you're going to go to NBC News and say, hey, I've got some dirt on Pete Hexer, but you can't use my name. You know what I would do?

I would tell you to get the hell out of my office and go find a soul.

So I don't know who these people are. I don't know if they're real or not. And it really doesn't matter. And it shouldn't matter to these U.S. senators.

I know Lindsey Graham late yesterday and that we've got a lot of we have a lot of people in the U.S. Senate now who are saying they're not going to support the Hegseth nomination. And that's a problem. As a matter of fact, here is Senator Graham yesterday.

Some of these articles are very disturbing. He obviously has a chance to defend himself here. But some of this stuff is going to be difficult. You know, time will tell. I like Pete.

I've known him for a very, very long time. um senator joni ernst by the way is apparently leading the charge and she is reportedly the force that is trying to destroy the hexath nomination and the reason why is that she wants the job of course ernst is a military veteran so it is it is a sad situation here folks just absolutely sad. Here is Pete Hexess' mother. Her name is Penelope. She was on Fox and Friends this morning, and she wrote a letter to her son after he divorced wife number two and read him the what for.

And I, we talked about this on yesterday's show, and I just, you know, it's, it was a private letter that got leaked. But what the New York Times did not talk about was the fact that there was a follow-up letter the next day but they didn't mention that by the way NBC News they reached out to the veterans organization uh that Pete Hegseth managed and there were allegations of financial impropriety whatever your mismanagement whatever anyway one of the executives actually refuted all of that to NBC News in a story in an interview and they did not use those comments in the story What does that tell you?

So look, here is Pete Hexess' mother talking to Steve Doocy this morning on Fox and Friends. What's one thing about Pete people don't realize? That he's got a big heart. That he's very smart. He is the most faithful patriot of this country.

He loves his country. Loves his country. He's fought and almost died for his country. He's a good dad. He's an amazing son and father.

And that's the Pete I want people to know. All right. There you go. I mean, it's just tragic that they're doing this to the man. But again, we're talking about very powerful people that want to destroy this man.

And it's not because of Pete. It's because of what he stands for, which is Donald Trump's agenda.

So we can now tell you there are six, six senators that are standing in the way here and may or may, pretty much may not vote for Hegseth. Lindsey Graham, one of them. Joni Ernst is another. And we're going to name names throughout the program today. but right now we can tell you as many as six senate republicans are not comfortable supporting pete hexes nomination so here's the question ladies and gentlemen what does president trump do here does the president say you know what pete we gave it the old college try but you got to step step aside do they nominate ron de santas because that was the story coming out yesterday unconfirmed multiple news agencies the wall street journal rupert burdock's rag leading the charge there cbs news as well do do you replace pete hexeth with ron de santis or do you stand your ground and say pete is the guy give us a call 901-260-5926 that's our number 901-260-5926 pete hexeth served honorably in the military uh this guy is a rock solid conservative going all the way back to his high school and college years he you know what if he's got a drinking issue then you know what a lot of people in this country have those issues if he has an infidelity issue well you know what a lot of people in this country have those issues It's not a crime.

But I can tell you this, a lot of people up in Washington, D.C., they have done a heck of a lot worse. And need I remind you, ladies and gentlemen, all the people that we're mentioning today, they're the same people that confirmed all of Joe Biden's nominees. Just think about that for a moment. This is the Todd Stern Show. Folks, hang on tight because we're heading into one of the most critical elections this nation's ever seen.

And let's be honest, there's no guarantee it's going to go your way. We've already seen how far the radical left will go to push their agenda. If Kamala Harris takes the White House, you can expect more government control, higher taxes, and a full-blown assault on your freedoms. The stakes could not be higher, and you need to make it a priority to shield yourself. Gold is already up 21% this year and still climbing.

This is your golden opportunity to fortify your savings. Text GOLDEN to 24999. My friends at Priority Gold, with over two decades of experience and thousands of five-star reviews, will send you a free gold investor guide. Priority Gold makes it easy to diversify into physical gold, silver, and platinum, but you've got to act fast. Text GOLDEN to 24999 for your free guide.

Keep your retirement golden. Text GOLDEN to 24999 now. All right, here is the working list of senators that we believe are going to be no votes on Pete Hegseth. That would be Collins Murkowski. You've got Ernst, Graham, McConnell, Curtis, and possibly John Thune.

Now, here's my take on this. I think Trump needs to stick with Hegseth. He's the guy. And if these Republicans vote no, we need to primary every single one of them. The full force of the America First movement has to be brought, has to be borne on these folks.

And we're going to have to primary every single senator who opposes Pete Hegseth. All right, let's go to the phone lines here. 901-260-5926. Charles in Statesville, North Carolina, WSIC. Hi, Charles.

What say you? Hey, Todd. I just second everything you just said. I was going to say that Trump needs to stand behind Hegsworth. These allegations are all a bunch of BS, just like Dan Bontino and Wilcane said.

But if he doesn't stand behind Pete, the next person to follow is going to be Akash Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. But quite frankly, Trump needs to corral these six senators and say, look, here's the deal. This may be blackmail, but here's the deal. My daughter and Michael Watley control the Republican National Committee. If you guys do not vote for my appointees, you're not getting one dime of money from the RNC.

And furthermore, I'm going to vigorously campaign for your primary opponent as though you were a liberal Democrat. That's what he needs to say, plain and simple. yeah look it's it's got to be very clear very direct and honestly i would summon them all to mar-a-lago to really drive that point home charles exactly yeah and i think that will have a lot of effect if he does that and just nip this in the bud right now because you know trump won this election he's got a mandate and uh you know no thanks to any of the six that you mentioned uh and he's got to be able to execute on that and he just can't let these establishment rhino senators, you know, get in the way and do something like this. No, a thousand percent. Right, Charles, a thousand percent.

My concern is if these Republicans and we saw this with Thune, if you remember John Thune, Warren, President Trump, don't get involved here. You're not welcome in our Senate leadership vote. You stay away. If you know what's good for you, you're going to stay away. I got problems with that.

They think they're more powerful than Donald Trump. Oh, yeah. They think they're like a Praetorian Guard, that no matter what the American people voted, regardless of the will of MAGA and the American people, they have their own agenda, and their allegiance is not to their voters, it's to their donors and that military-established industrial complex that funds so many of their campaigns. Yeah. All right, Charles, Good call and good thoughts.

Ladies and gentlemen, 901-260-5926. Should President Trump play hardball here or should he replace Pete Hegseth? That's 901-260-5926. Let's go to Hendersonville, North Carolina. Laura, what say you?

Hi, Todd. I say President Trump should not turn from Pete Hegstaff. I mean, there are no perfect people. Our founding fathers were not perfect. They did a great job establishing this country.

As far as recent imperfect people, look at Eric Swalwell and a Chinese spy. The Democrats did not remove him from committees or Congress. Let's move forward with Pete Hegstaff. And as far as Lindsey Graham's go, There's something pretty creepy about him. I'm sure he doesn't want people digging into his past.

Well, not that there's anything wrong with that. But yes, Allura, I think you're absolutely right. A lot of these folks are hiding secrets up on Capitol Hill as well. And, you know, if push comes to shove, I say we start naming names. I've got no problem with that.

Absolutely. Name the names. President Trump may have one of those rallies exposing them with the whole country tuning in, and maybe they'll get themselves in line. Laura, it is a great thought. I like that idea.

Thank you so much for calling in today, and thank you for listening. All right, our telephone number, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. So far, the president does seem to be sticking with Pete. and i would be surprised if heggs if um if de santas was in the mix here de santas said he's pretty happy being the governor of florida right now however you've got laura trump out there she could be going to the senate so we'll have to see how that plays out hang tight everybody we'll be right back bi-pillow is excited to announce their christmas extravaganza is finally here get this season's flannel sheets for as low as $59.98.

They won't last long, so get them while you can. Their famous MySlippers, those haven't been on sale for over a year, normally $119, but for a limited time, only $59.98. And their six-piece towel sets are back in stock with extremely limited quantities, only $29.98. With hundreds of MyPillow products, there's something for everyone on your Christmas list. From bathrobes, duvets, quilts, down comforters and so much more go to my pillow.com or call 1-800-839-8506 and be sure to use promo code starns to save on all my pillow products that's promo code starns lanel sheets for as low as 59.98 or the six-piece towel sets for just 29.98 but that's not all they're extending their 60-day money-back guarantee until march 1st 2025 plus all orders 75 or more ship absolutely free come back and welcome back everybody good to have you with us let's go right to the phone lines 901-260-5926 murph in germantown tennessee listening to us on kwam hi murph what's on your minds.

Dr. Starnes, I want to let you know I just got off the computer typing in Senator Hagerty and Senator Blackburn demanding an affirmative vote for the nominee for the Secretary of Defense. All for him.

Well, I think, well, I can tell you the at least Blackburn and Hagerty are definitely going to be voting for Hegseth. I think we need to be lighting up the phones of all of these renegade rhinos, Collins Murkowski, Curtis Graham, McConnell, Ernst and Thune. I don't understand them, Dr. Starnes. You know, I think somebody once wrote or once said, let him who is without sin cast the first stone.

We've all made mistakes. When you're 25 years old and a Marine, and you've been on the battlefield, you're going to screw up when you get back to civilization. And the thing I like about him is that he wants women taken out of combat. And there's two sides to that coin. But imagine this, if you and I have been on the battlefield for 60 days and we're going up against an adversary and we know women are on the other side of that line, what do you think is going to happen to those girls if they get captured?

It just boggles the imagination that we have women in combat. I wouldn't want my daughter or sister or mother ever doing anything like that. But some people think, you know, we've got to go with this equal opportunity business. The military is not an equal opportunity employer. It's designed to kill, destroy, and protect this nation.

So food for thought. Murph, I think it's wise, and it's good food for thought. Thank you for calling in, Murph. By the way, we're going to be posting the information on our website, toddstarns.com, on how you can reach out to your senators.

So be looking for that in our live show blog. Let's go to Webb in Portland, Maine, WLOB, our terrific affiliate there. Hi, Webb. What's going on? hi uh mr starrant how are you i'm well thank you for asking i love to listen to you um what i wanted to say is a campaign the same people who voted into trump everybody flood them with emails flood them with notes in the mail flood them with phone calls and so that they can't even get to their phone without it ringing.

And you might get a result because that will show them that the American people are behind this, not a bunch of politicians. Webb, I think it's a brilliant idea, and we are going to have to work up the phones there on Capitol Hill. And here's what I want folks to do, Webb. I want you to call, do what Webb just did, folks. Call these senators and let them know that you want them to confirm Pete Hegseth.

And look, folks, the guy's got their credentials. You know what bothers me about people like Lindsey Graham? Has he actually seen battle? Pete Hegseth has. He's seen it up close and personal.

This is unacceptable what they're doing to him. Webb, appreciate that call. Let's go to Elaine in Cleveland, Georgia. Hi, Elaine. What's on your mind?

Well, I appreciate you're going to post the information for us to reach out to the senators, but how can we do some type of petition to let President Trump and Pete know that we are behind them and let them hear our voice, that we want them to stick to the line and not fold? You know, that's a great question, Elaine. One of the things that we have up on our a live show blog is we have a poll and you can vote on that. We can send those poll results directly to President Trump. But ultimately, if we're really going to make an impact here and make a difference, we are going to have to reach out personally to every single one of these senators by phone, by email, and let them know that we're just not going to tolerate this.

Are you going to add to that list as information comes forward, if it comes forward? absolutely as a matter of fact yeah as a matter of fact folks so we've got the number up but let me give it to you 202-224-3121 that's the capital switchboard that's 202-224-3121 and you can reach out directly to these senators and we've got their names listed there on our website. Elaine, thank you for calling in. Let's go to Jerry in Jackson, Tennessee. Hi, Jerry.

What say you? Hi, Todd. I just want to be brief and say just a little something about Todd. I watched my friends come back from Vietnam years ago, and they lost a piece of their soul while they were there on combat. You'd call it PTSD now.

I think that's what happened to Pete. and if they're going to vilify him for that they're wrong they're being prejudiced and anything else you want to call them all these people are just a bunch of jerks and they need to put pete in a position that he needs to be in amen that's all i gotta say jerry uh you were very pithy my friend and and well said and and there may be something to that you know again i have not served in combat but we have covered so many stories on this radio program about men and women coming back and they're suffering from PTSD. They have seen things, they have experienced things that I can't even begin to imagine. And that has to play on your psyche, no matter who you are, no matter how well grounded you are. And that may be it.

I don't know. I'm not going to get inside Pete's head. I just know that this is the guy that Donald Trump wants. And the guy that Donald Trump wants is the guy that Donald Trump should get. For me, it is very, very simple.

It is black and white. And I'll give you an example. RFK Jr. I am not a fan, but you know what? That's the guy Donald Trump wants, and that's the guy he should get.

Again, it's all black and white for me. There is no gray area here folks donald trump won in a in a landslide he is he's been given a mandate by the american people and every single republican in the in the congress better wake up here and let me tell you something as bad as it is in the u.s senate it's going to be worse in the house of representatives because the republicans they um i'm trying to find a polite way of saying this they just lollygagged around and now they're about to have a one vote majority in the House of Representatives. All it's going to take is one liberal Republican to screw up everything. Ladies and gentlemen, you got to pay attention here and we're going to hold them accountable. I'm going to hold every single one of them accountable.

We've got way too much going on here let's go to scott in portland maine wlob hi scott what say you hey how are you good to talk with you again hey listen here's another take susan collins actually voted to impeach donald trump on erroneous lying fraudulent information by our great benevolent benevolent national news and of course we know for a fact that it was all a bunch of crap now my question i would i would i would confront her. It would be so good to have Donald Trump sit one-on-one with her and every one of them who helped to impeach him and said oh by the way you listened to all the lies and we know that these lies were fake How about now you're listening to the lies about Peter, and you're going to do it again? That's all I have to say. Scott, I'm telling you, every single one of you folks in Maine need to be lining up her office right now, calling in and saying she's got to stop playing the games here. Donald Trump gets who he wants, period.

I mean, it's that simple. And I will say this, if Donald Trump decides, you know what, Pete's not my guy, then we got to go along with that too. But I think Donald Trump values loyalty and Pete Hegseth has been loyal to Donald Trump.

So I believe that Donald Trump is going to be loyal to Pete. But again, this is not about the individual. And I've said this over and over again, if you are nominated you've got to be very forthcoming with the transition team and the investigators you've got to throw it all out there and then they get to determine whether or not this person is is worth fighting for is worth the nominee but that's on you as the nominee you've got to you've got to say hey look here are all the skeletons in the closet this may or may not disqualify me but i want you to know you can investigate decide get back to me and if hank Seth did that, then I think that Trump has to stick with him. All right. Real quick, let's go to Statesville, North Carolina.

Rita, join us. Hi, what say you?

Well, I've just called Ted Budd and Tom Tillis and Lindsey Graham and left the message about supporting nominees of President Trump. I heard Lindsey Graham a week ago say that he was going to support every one of his nominees because he had done so with every other president during his tenure as a senator and i feel like that if pete hegseth messes up donald trump will fire him and i think i trust donald trump enough to pick who he wants and they should as well when i'm curious rita when you called in did you get a human being and and if so what did they say oh i didn't get a human being but i left messages and phone numbers you see rita this i'm glad you did that but this bothers me and i know the democrats do this all the time they don't let you talk to human beings anymore and we've got to fix that these people they work for us it's not the other way around and a lot of these senators are just getting too doggone big for their britches well lindsey's graham is as two-faced as it gets he goes whichever the way the wind's blowing oh he's a switch header you mean is that what you're saying there Yeah, and I understand that they do that. But here's the thing. This is what Republicans always do. They always bail, and they never support each other, which is what Ryan did when Trump was president the first time, when he was Speaker of the House.

They backstab you, and then they undermine you, and then they lose in the next two-year cycle.

So the president that the people of the United States elected cannot get done what he needs to get done and what he desires to. Rita, you're preaching here, and I am with you a thousand percent. I just want the Republicans to grow a pair, stiffen up the backbone, and say, we don't care. This is who Trump wants, and we've got the majority. We're giving them the votes.

Deal with it. Exactly, and if they don't believe that, listen to the people of Chicago berate their mayor this week when he had like a 17 percent approval rating about how they were going to be there to not blink when the ice come to help their communities out once and for all so support each other just for once join together and unite why can't they do that rita i love it you give me a call back i like the way you think and thank you for listening there by the way rita mention Mayor Brandon Johnson. He is this dingbat mayor they've got. And, you know, I didn't think they could get worse than Mayor Beetlejuice. Remember her?

And Johnson is tripling down now, saying that he's got no problem harboring illegals, spending tens of millions of tax dollars taking care of the illegals at the expense of the hardworking people of Chicago. And here's a woman going off on the mayor at a council meeting yesterday. Cut three, please.

So, Brandon, you and all these Democratic mayors out here and governors, y'all talking about crashing out for these illegals, right? You all sit up there and say it. You will not allow Trump to come in here and get these illegals. Yeah, you can smile. We're in a billion dollar deficit and you spent half of our money, half of that on illegals.

Trump, Tom Holman, make example of this right here first. Please come here first because you know what? We're going to help you. We want to. Ma'am, I would ask that you.

We want to. Hold on a second. Stop her time. Our mayor is embarrassing us, y'all, around the world. And you all took the power back from him to say the city of Chicago is out of the business of funding illegals.

We are out of the business of prioritizing non-American citizens on top of the American citizens who go out in this cold weather every day to make money to pay their taxes. Wow. Wow. He's got a problem on his hand. When you lose the South Side of Chicago, you got problems.

And this guy's got problems. And I actually believe this woman. I think when the feds show up, they're going to be walking side by side, shoulder by shoulder. And they're going to be showing up in the mayor's house to throw that guy in the pokey. All right.

I got to take a break here. Again, folks, if you want the information, go to our website, ToddStarns.com. Just click on live show. Scroll down. You will see the phone number for the Capitol switchboard.

And while you're there, also take a vote in our poll whether or not Trump should replace Pete Hegseth. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Balance of Nature Supplements. Changing the world, one life at a time.

I'm a doctor myself. I've used it and I've turned a lot of my patients on to it as well. It's a good product. I've actually taken the bottles up to them. And my doctor, he tells me, keep doing it.

I am 87 years old and I am an RN. My PhD work is in anatomy and physiology. I watched your advertisement on TV and I thought I'll try it for just a month. I have stayed on it. Just think it is a marvelous product.

Start your journey with Balance of Nature supplements. Call 1-800-246-8751 or go to balanceofnature.com and sign up as a new preferred customer. And for a limited time, get 35% off your first order with free shipping and our money back guarantee. Go to balanceofnature.com or call 1-800-246-8751 and get this special offer by using discount code BALANCE. all right we've been following the developments at the supreme court and we're going to get into that in the next hour where the supreme court is deciding whether or not that whether or not children should be allowed to medically mutilate themselves and the aclu believes that children as young as eight years old have the mental bandwidth to determine whether or not they should chop off their private parts.

I kid you not. We're actually going to be bringing you some audio from the Supreme Court coming up right at the top of the hour. Let's go to Carol in beautiful Jackson, Tennessee, listening to us on KWAM. Hi, Carol. What's on your mind?

Good morning. I'm thankful that you took my call. I enjoy listening to you, and I just wanted to say I support Pete Hicks. Beth, I think he's a patriot, and I don't know about his morals. Maybe they're not the best, but I dare say that most of those in Congress and the Senate up there, their morals are not superior to Pete's.

They may be different, but they're not superior. And I just support Trump. I think he needs to get who he wants in there to do what he's going to do.

So that doesn't bother you, all the scandal and all that kind of stuff, Carol. You're not bothered. I mean, that's not going to impact your decision.

Well, it's not in this case, no. All right. Well, Carol, I suspect there are a lot of other people like you out there. And what was it we learned in church growing up were just sinners saved by grace? That's right.

And maybe he has legitimate reasons for doing some of the things he did. I've not been in combat either, and I'm thankful that I don't have to go. I'll tell you, amen to that, Carol. Amen to that. All right, Carol, God bless you.

Thank you for calling in today. This item from Axios, this will cause all of us to pucker. I'm not surprised by this. Here is the headline, McConnell privately praises Mike Johnson. Outgoing Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell went out of his way on Tuesday to praise Speaker Mike Johnson behind closed doors.

This is exclusive reporting from Axios. Between the lines, McConnell stopped short of endorsing Johnson in his speaker's bid, but multiple sources noted the leader's decision to speak highly of Johnson. mcconnell's opinion will not carry much weight in the house especially with conservatives who could threaten johnson's speakership still it is a reminder to senators they can find ways to work with and bolster johnson johnson briefly spoke to republican senators during their policy retreat led by john thune who's the incoming majority leader and shelly capito who is the gop policy chair so there you go folks um it looks like we could have birds of a feather mcconnell and johnson bffs geezaloo all right hang tight we've got to take a quick break here head over to the website check out our live blog call your senators call them tell them that you wanted to vote for pete hexa we'll be right back america What's that sound? That's the sound of Downey Unstoppable's scent beads going into your washing machine and giving your clothes freshness that lasts all day long. There it is again.

It's like music to your ears or more like music to your nose. That freshness is irresistible. Let's get a Downey Unstoppable's bottle shake. And now a sniff solo. Nice.

With Downey Unstoppable, you just toss, wash, wow, for all-day freshness. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. All right. Wow. There are some ferocious arguments happening right now in Washington, D.C.

at the Supreme Court. Hello, everybody. Welcome to our two of the big show. I'm Todd Starnes, your affable host.

so a question for you and this is really for for moms and dads grandmas and grandpas across the fruited plain there is a movement afoot within the lgbt community and some of you folks in the lgbt community can help me can can verify this information but it's it's my impression that the L's, the B's, and the G's are not too fond of the T's. And, of course, the T meaning transgenders.

So there's always this, because honestly, when you talk about transgenderism, it completely negates gays, lesbians, and bisexuals, and everybody else, because transgenderism means that you can choose what you want to be, that you're not born that way. that's right that's the whole point of the lgbt movement as you're born that way well now the transgenders are coming on i said well no no you're you know you're you're really not born that way anyway i digress so there is a huge case and the case is based here in tennessee and vanderbilt university the medical center there came under fire for doing these mutilation surgeries on children, medical mutilation surgeries. And so the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court, and the arguments are being heard today. And we're getting some audio, but the basic question, and the question I have for you is, should children be allowed to undergo these medical mutilation surgeries?

Now, when you were a child, and many of you may have small children and you're dealing with this on a daily basis. But when you're a child, you're going through all sorts of stages. There could be a day when your little two-year-old wakes up and decides that he or she is a horse or that he or she is a tree.

Well, that doesn't mean that you saddle up your child and ride to the supermarket, right? That doesn't mean that you dig a hole in the backyard and you stick your kid in there and you water the kid, right? No, you humor the child, right? The kids have vivid imaginations. And there are people out there, and there are some kids who are maybe tomboys or little boys, maybe they like to play with Barbie dolls.

Maybe little girls, they like to go out there and climb trees, and they all grow out of that. Most of them do. And that doesn't, I mean, just because your little girl likes to wear overalls and run around barefoot and wrestle with boys doesn't mean she's going to grow up to drive a Subaru. I mean, it's just not, no, there's no evidence of that. Kids go through stages.

and so the argument coming from the aclu and the lgbt movement is that children as young as two years old know that they are transgender so their argument is that a two-year-old child a two-year-old child who doesn't even know how to read or write actually knows so let's say you have a little Billy, a two-year-old Billy, and little Billy is going to be able to tell his mother, I'm not really a man, Mom. I'm a girl. A two-year-old. A two-year-old. That's the case being argued before the Supreme Court right now.

Now, last night on CNN, Jake Tamper interviewed the attorney who's arguing this case before the Supreme Court, the ACLU attorney arguing this case before the Supreme Court. And the attorney happens to be a woman who identifies as a man. All right. So you're going to hear the voice and you're going to think to yourself, that's no man. That's a woman.

Yes, that's the whole point. She's a woman. Her name is Chase Strangio, and it is Strangio, my friends. Very strange.

So the attorney in this interview with Jay Tapper last night, I'll see, and it's fascinating. The attorney is arguing that not only do two-year-olds know that they are transgender, but the attorney also says that children as young as eight years old should be allowed to undergo these surgeries that literally mutilate their bodies and destroy their bodies forever. Let's take a listen. I would say nobody has to provide this medication to adolescents. These are not doctors being forced to provide this medication.

These are doctors who are wanting to treat their patients in the best way that they know how, based on the best available evidence to us. And these are young people who may have known since they were two years old exactly who they are, who suffered for six, seven years before they had any relief. And what's happening here, it's not the kids who are consenting to this treatment, it's the parents who are consenting to the treatment. And as a parent, I would say, when our children are suffering, we are suffering. And these are parents who love their children, who are listening to the advice of their doctors of the mainstream medical community and doing what's right for their kids, and the state of Tennessee has displaced their judgment.

All I can say is God bless the Republicans in Tennessee for stopping this. I mean, this is barbaric, what's happening at the hospitals. But I'm curious, Mom, Dad, would you allow your child to undergo a gender reassignment surgery at the age of eight years old? Would you allow them to do that? but the broader question here is why is this movement why are they so anxious on on involving young children and we've seen this over and over again right the drag queens going to the libraries for story time and they think that it's really fun to have the drag queens cavort on the floor writhing about with children it's all very creepy they've even they've even come up with a new term for pedophiles.

They call them MAPs, MAPs, Minor Attracted Person. That's what they're calling them. They've created a new term, and this is all becoming mainstream now. There was a time when you thought, let me ask you, I mean, we have a pretty vast wide audience here of various age groups. Did you ever imagine a time in America where pedophilia would be normalized because we're getting there, folks.

We may already be there.

So anyway, Judge Justice Alito, Sam Alito, his wife is a good friend of mine. He's a good guy. And the argument coming from the ACLU and Miss Chase, I mean, she's not even trying to hide her voice, right? I mean, It sounds like a woman because she's a woman with a beard.

So Sam Alito's out there from the bench, and the argument is, well, gender surgeries reduce suicides. True in every respect, but on page 195 of the cash report, it says there is no evidence that gender affirmative treatments reduce suicide. What I think that is referring to is there is no evidence in the studies that this treatment reduces completed suicide. And the reason for that is completed suicide, thankfully and admittedly, is rare. And we're talking about a very small population of individuals with studies that don't necessarily have completed suicides within them.

However, there are multiple studies, long term longitudinal studies that do show that there is a reduction in suicidality, which I think is a is a positive outcome to this treatment. Let me ask a question about another issue that came up during Justice Kagan's questioning and Justice Barrett's question. Oh, I wonder what that question was.

So here's Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And this is the woman who doesn't know what a woman is. Cut 13. Being drawn by the statute. That was sort of like the starting point.

The question was whether it was discriminatory because it applied to both races and it wasn't necessarily invidious or whatever. But, you know, as I read the statute here, excuse me, the case here, you know, the court starts off by saying that Virginia is now one of 16 states which prohibit and punish marriages on the basis of racial classifications. And when you look at the structure of that law, it looks in terms of you can't do something that is inconsistent with your own characteristics. It's sort of the same thing.

So it's interesting to me that we now have this different argument. And I wonder whether Virginia could have gotten away with what they did here by just making a classification argument the way that Tennessee is in this case. Yes, I think that's exactly right, that there is absolutely a parallel between any law that says you can't act inconsistent with a protected characteristic and in all other contexts. All right. There's more audio.

I think I'm just going to read this one, guys. The question is, how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits? And here's what Justice Sotomayor said. Taking aspirin has risks, too.

so it's no you can't make this up so they're saying oh yeah you know chomping off a body part oopsie that's just like taking an aspirin and i don't know getting indigestion it's just unbelievable but this is what we're dealing with up at the supreme court today folks and i am telling you this is groundbreaking groundbreaking court action today and this case will have ramifications across the entire country. What does it say about our society where you have grown adults saying there's nothing wrong with a two-year-old or an eight-year-old demanding to have their private parts chopped off? 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show.

I don't really like working. I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work?

Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare. You run a business.

So why use high-priced recruitment agencies who charge you up to 40% of an employee's first-year salary?

So they're focused on getting you the costly talent, not the best fit. Which means you get more of this. What's your policy on paying employees to attend protests? I demand eight weeks of vacation. I need at least 12 weeks of paid vacation.

I'm going to need a lot of mental health days. Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Z's and Z's. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call redballoon.org and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies.

Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. Redballoon.org You cannot eliminate the risk of detransitioners, so it becomes a pure exercise of weighing benefits versus risk. And the question of how many minors have to have their bodies irreparably harmed for unproven benefits is one that is best left. I'm sorry, counselor.

Every medical treatment has a risk, even taking aspirin. there is always going to be a percentage of the population under any medical treatment that's going to suffer a harm all right that's justice sotomayor suggesting that having your body parts chopped off is just about as bad as you know maybe the side effects of taking an aspirin i want you to think about something here for just a moment and understand this is really what the court is deciding. And I'm wondering if, you know, again, if you extrapolate from the argument coming from the ACLU right now, if you wanted to go out and rent a car in America, you have to be 25 years old. If you want to get a tattoo in most states across America, you've got to be at least 18 years old. Otherwise, you have to have parents permission.

If you want to get your ears pierced in some states, you actually have to have parental permission if you are under the age of 18. By the way, all of you kids out there wanting to go out and drink a beer, you got to be 21 years old. You got to go show an ID.

So are we now going to say that, you know what? Yeah, you got to have an ID to drink a beer. You got to be 21 years old to drink a beer, but it's okay for an eight-year-old to go out there and make a medical decision based on how they feel let's go to the phones 901-260-5926 let's go to alice in arkansas alice what say you oh thank you so much for taking my call my heart absolutely aches because i'm a born again christian and i know that god created everybody male or female the whitest man solomon gave the principal oh i think we've got a bad connection there alice um my apologies we'll try to get that worked out let's go to bill in high point north carolina wsjs our great affiliate there hi bill what say you Todd, thank you so much, sir. Let me preface real quickly here. My wife, Angela, did call the Capitol, and she actually spoke with a human being.

Wait, really? Is that right? Yes, sir. And she was wanting to try to get in touch with all six of the senators, but they directed her towards TELUS, and I can't remember the other one here in North Carolina. But anyway, I just want to let people know that there is actually somebody at the Capitol that will take the phone call.

Wow. Good to know. But my call really is around the point of this lady or person, man, I'm confused, but that's arguing this case right now for kids that are at two can have their parts removed. has this attorney had any type of surgery done on their body well that's a good question um it's i can tell you that the she looks like a dude so it's um you know so i don't know she may have had some surgery done that's a great question bill and we can we'll research that and find out well i you know just like ari smith says dude looks like a lady um well this lady yeah Well, let me say this, Bill. She's 40-something years old, so she's a grown adult.

She can make those decisions. I just don't want my tax dollars being used to fund those surgeries. But if you're a child, that's where I've got a problem. Yes, sir. All right, Bill, good call, and I'm glad your wife got through.

Folks, again, if you want to go to our website, toddsterns.com, click on our live show blog, and you will see the number for the switchboard. Jeanette in Commerce, Georgia. Hi, Jeanette. What say you? Hey, I just wanted to point out a couple of points about this child mutilation.

First of all, medicine is for when people are sick.

Okay. And being male or female, I do not consider that an illness. we all have to adjust you know puberty and all that that's a natural process second of all in my state there's a thing called statutory rape when you try to have sex with a minor and And if that the law then why is any of this sexual stuff even being permitted you know for children to think about Well look Jeanette here where I think all of this is going The sex and gender revolutionary crowd, they want to completely do away with all of the norms, OK, so they believe there's nothing wrong with an adult having sex with with a child. And their ultimate goal is to knock down all of those walls and all of those barriers. And that's why.

And part of the reason they have to do that is that if a if a two year old has the wherewithal to determine whether or not to have their bodies mutilated, then that two year old will also have the right to determine whether or not they want to go out with a 30 year old man. it's so disgusting but that's ultimately where all of this is going it is a horrible horrible story but this is this is where we are ladies and gentlemen this is where we are all right uh thank you for that call 901-260-5926 this is the todd stern show Balance of Nature Supplements, changing the world one life at a time. I'm a doctor myself. I've used it and I've turned a lot of my patients on to it as well. It's a good product.

I've actually taken the bottles up to them and my doctor, he tells me, keep doing it. I am 87 years old and I am an RN. And my PhD work is in anatomy and physiology. I watched your advertisement on TV and I thought I'll try it for just a month. I have stayed on it.

Just think it is a marvelous product. Start your journey with Balance of Nature Supplements. Call 1-800-246-8751 or go to balanceofnature.com and sign up as a new preferred customer. And for a limited time, get 35% off your first order with free shipping and our money back guarantee. Go to balanceofnature.com or call 1-800-246-8751 and get this special offer by using discount code BALANCE.

Crazy story out of New York City this morning, early this morning. The chief executive officer at UnitedHealthcare was assassinated. gunned down. They're calling it a targeted attack, and it happened right there on 6th Avenue. This is about three or four blocks from Fox News headquarters.

This happened right outside the Hilton Hotel. Many of you, if you've been to New York City, you have been to this hotel, you know exactly where it is. We now have video, and we're posting this video at ToddStearns.com.

So you can head over there in a few moments right after the break here, and we'll head that up. The guy's name is Brian Thompson. He was shot just after 6.45 a.m. right outside the New York Hilton Midtown. The gunman was waiting for Mr.

Thompson outside the hotel, and as soon as Mr. Thompson walked by, he opened fire. The video shows the gunman wearing a hoodie, had a backpack, and it looked like he had a silencer on the weapon and took aim and started shooting. Shot the guy in the back multiple times and then left the scene. There were people all around and nobody else was targeted, or nobody else was the focus of this.

It was clear he was going after this guy.

Now, Thompson's wife is now saying that they had been receiving threats over the past couple of weeks. Police are investigating. They got no idea what's going on. There was a cell phone recovered from an alley, and they're looking at that cell phone right now. But what a crazy story.

He was scheduled to speak at a meeting there around 7 o'clock. All right. um let's go to the phones here 901-260-5926 norma in jackson tennessee hi norma what's on your mind dr young todd i just wanted to check in on this these babies and i won't call it transgender surgery it's sex changes i think it's child abuse and anybody that even thinks about this is promoting their own sick agenda. That's just my opinion.

Well, I'm with you a thousand percent there. And again, if you're an adult, I don't understand why are we waiting to, you know, what's the harm in waiting until you're, you know, 18 years old or 21 or whatever? What's the harm in waiting?

Well, I think it's bring attention to the sickos. They can't, they're always trying to do something that's happened before.

So there is a thing called Munchauser by proxy where women, mostly women, not all the time, will make their own children sick to get attention for their self. I mean, there's mental illness everywhere, and these poor babies can't speak for their self. It's just a fact. That should hold enough weight right there to not even consider it, in my opinion. That's it.

That's it. Norma, thank you for that call. And I agree with you a thousand percent there. By the way, Speaker Mike Johnson is now saying no new funding for Ukraine. Again, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was saying they plan to clean out America's bank accounts.

They're going to send as much money as they can to Ukraine between now and Inauguration Day. He's on the record saying that.

Now, Johnson is out there saying, nope, not going to happen. It is not the place of Biden to make that decision now. We're going to wait. Let the new commander in chief take charge. That's what Johnson is saying.

So let's let's see if Johnson will be able to deliver on that promise. I hope he I hope he will. I truly do. All right. By the way, Pete Hegseth still standing his ground and says that, you know, he is he is in this until the end.

We shall see. There's a report out now that Josh Hawley says that Pete Hegseth canceled a planned meeting with him tomorrow. We shall see. But I hope that Hegseth sticks with it. And let's see what happens here.

All right. Can we get back to New York City for just a moment? I am shocked, shocked by these numbers. there are there are tens of thousands i'm sorry hundreds of thousands of illegals living in new york city cnn scott jenning was weighing on this mayor eric adams now says he's willing to work with the trump administration uh he is ready to do whatever is necessary to get the illegals out of his city. The mayor, by the way, is looking for a pardon.

This is not coming out of the goodness of his heart. The mayor is trying to cover his own behind. Here's Mayor Eric Adams, cut four.

Well, cancel me because I'm going to protect the people of the city. Those who are here committing crimes, robberies, shooting at police officers, raping innocent people have been a harm to our country, I want to sit down and hear the plan on how we're going to address them. And I would love to sit down with the board of czar and hear his thoughts on how we're going to address those who are harming our citizens. I want you to all go back and Google Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Google what they said about those who commit crimes in our city and what they said in our country.

They said those who commit crimes need to get out right away. That was their position.

So this is not a new position, you know, because in the era of cancel culture, no one's afraid to be honest about the truth.

Well, cancel me because I'm going to protect the people of the city. And if you come into this country, in this city, and think you're going to harm innocent New Yorkers and innocent migrants and asylum seekers. This is not the mayor you want to be in the city under. All right. So then fast forward to last night, CNN, Scott Jennings, he's somewhat defending Mayor Eric Adams here, and he dropped a bombshell on the numbers of illegals living in New York City.

Take a listen. I wouldn't poo-poo this illegal immigration issue. I think people are very upset about it. I'm not joking. I'm not joking.

Just to be clear. I'm not doing that. I was just saying that the issue for Eric Adams that is very important is his legal fate. But his most serious governing issue is that there are roughly 760,000 illegal immigrants living in New York City, and almost 60,000 of them have criminal charges or are convicted criminals. If I were the mayor of New York City, whether I had my own personal political problems or not, I would be desperate to work with the president of the United States to clean up what's going on.

Earlier this year, there was a police report that three-quarters of the people being arrested in Midtown were for violent crimes and attacks on the street were illegal immigrants. This is a local governance problem. My assumption is, I don't live here, I'm here a lot, that the people in New York City are hopping mad about it. And whether Eric Adams is using this to get political favor with Trump, I don't know. But my God, you're the mayor.

Somebody needs to do something. All right. I was stunned. And I thought, there's no way Scott Jennings had to have been mistaken.

Well, I did a little research last night, and it turns out that he's absolutely right. This is from the New York Post just a couple of days ago. There are over 58,000 illegals who are convicted felons or facing criminal charges roaming New York City and close to 670,000 across the nation. there are also nearly 760,000 illegal border crossers living in the Big Apple the feds were aware as of November 17th this is a jaw-dropping ready for this a jaw-dropping 58,626 of those nearly 760,000 illegals were either convicted of crimes or had criminal charges pending. This is coming straight from the U.S.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. This is from ICE. Of the 58,626 illegals with ramp sheets, over 1,000, nearly 2%, are suspected or known gang members. Do you understand now, understand why people are leaving New York City in droves. It's incredibly dangerous.

By the way, most of those criminal acts are taking place in Times Square, which is a hotbed for tourists.

So almost 800,000, almost 800,000 illegals living in New York City. And according to the New York Post, we the people, the taxpayers, providing them with housing, food, health care, your hard-earned money, taking care of people from another country.

Now, according to the Post, of the nearly 7.8 million illegal immigrants in the United States, 8.6 percent are convicted criminals. That's about almost 700,000. we don't know how many of those people are gang members the head of new york city's ice office said that they're hoping just hoping to get additional resources to weed out these criminals and i hope i really do hope they can do it but this is the problem and this is why we've seen crime skyrocket in places like new york city unbelievable all right we got to take a quick break here 901-260-5926 is our number that's 901-260-5926 hey five o'clock tonight the Todd Stern show on Newsmax and man is Newsmax crushing it in the ratings Rob Schmidt just beat CNN in the ratings it is true the number one host on Newsmax Rob Schmidt just had a bigger audience in CNN during any hour of the day this is huge millions of Americans like you folks are making the switch to Newsmax, getting real facts, no BS, no spin, just the truth. Even President Trump says he's watching Newsmax and you should too. Rob Schmidt and Newsmax are on all major cable systems.

YouTube TV just added us. And if your system doesn't carry Newsmax, call and cancel. Go to getnewsmax.com and we're going to help you find a new carrier. That's getnewsmax.com. 40 million Americans watch Newsmax.

Get Newsmax.com and start watching today. In a world where healthcare costs spiral out of control, ShareRight emerges as the beacon of hope, offering healthcare done the right way. We understand the struggle of balancing health and finances. That's why ShareRight fosters a community of support, where members share medical expenses and encourage one another. Picture saving 30 to 50 percent on your healthcare bills.

With ShareRight, it's not just a dream. It's reality, But it's more than just savings. ShareRite grants you the access to the care you deserve precisely when you need it. From routine checkups to unexpected emergencies. Don't settle for outdated insurance.

Join the ShareRite movement and experience health care done the right way. Visit joinsharerite.org to learn more and see how much you can save. Visit joinsharerite.org for health care done the right way. That's joinsharerite.org. Share Right is a program of IHS, one of the fastest growing health care sharing organizations in the country.

So this story from NBC News. the headline gay couples rush to marry and have children before trump inauguration you know first of all there's an error in the headline here the headline should be gay couples rush to marry and purchase children before trump inauguration two men cannot have a baby together no i i know that pete booty juice and and his um husband chastity i i know what they want you to think, but chastity did not give birth to the children. I don't mean to upset you, but that's the reality of it.

So anyway, NBC News is reporting that gay couples are terrified that Trump is going to outlaw gay marriage.

Now, this is so ludicrous, and again, it saddens me that NBC is so ignorant, but they are and the reality here is this and and i i don't mean to anger all of you evangelical christians out there but the reality is that trump is pro-gay marriage that president trump is probably the most pro-gay president we've had in modern political history the president has always i mean if you look at what's happening down at mar-a-lago they have fundraisers for conservative gay rights groups all the time.

So I just don't understand why people are terribly concerned here by all of this. Gay couples say they fear that after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, unraveling a half century of legal precedent, the Supreme Court will rescind their right to marry next. might be good to remind people that the Supreme Court defined or redefined what God originally defined. Just want to throw that.

I know it's an inconvenient truth. I'm fairly certain this is not going to be on President Trump's agenda. Also want to point out here that the Republican Party removed language that explicitly defined marriage as being between one man and one woman.

So the Republican Party has moderated itself on those issues. Also, same-sex weddings hosted at Mar-a-Lago. Also, one of the president's closest allies, Rick Grinnell, gay man. Also, one of his top cabinet picks, Scott Besant, gay and married, treasury secretary.

So I really need somebody from these radicals or somebody over at NBC News to explain what the heck are they talking about here. I'm just not seeing it. All right, 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926. Did you hear this story out of New Jersey?

This is really weird. By the way, somebody said there was some sort of a prophecy or prediction that today was going to be the day of an alien invasion. I don't know whether or not that's true, but what I can tell you is there is something really weird going on in the skies of New Jersey, where tons of videos from dozens of citizens showing drones that are about the size of automobiles flying all over the place. And it's happening in the dark of night. Listen to this local TV report, Cut 5.

It's normal to see red and green lights in December, unless they're coming from mysterious drones in the night sky. It's kind of unsettling. They're not up for 15 minutes, they're up for hours.

Some are very big, probably the size of a car. Mike Walsh says he's seen hundreds of them over the past two weeks from his Randolph backyard and has the video to prove it. They kind of go slow, they come towards you, then they'll change direction a little. They're all going different ways. The drones have been spotted all over Morris County.

Morristown police sent an alert to Residence Sunday saying they are aware of drone activity and that if a drone crashes or lands, do not approach or handle it. The FBI's Newark field office would only say it is working with other law enforcement agencies to figure out what's going on, but at the moment doesn't have enough information to share. A lot of people want to know what's going on. I think more people are coming around to that. This is going on and maybe it's not good.

Nancy Reed didn't want to show her face on camera, but says she's seen the drones every night since November 18th. I can see them right out my bedroom window. I can watch them. Last night was about 530, so it was earlier. But it's normally between anywhere between like 730 and 10, 1030.

They're out here. Never during the day. Nobody ever sees them during the day. One thing she hasn't seen is the normal air traffic she's used to. And she doesn't understand why.

We're in like in the fly pattern going to like Morristown Airport and Newark. and we used to see a lot of planes coming back and forth you don't see them anymore a lot of people wondering what in the world is going on and i i've looked at dozens of these videos the fbi is investigating and they confirm that there are there's something going on there but they don't know what it is they don't know if we're dealing with a bunch of pranksters that are out there trying to terrify people. We don't know if it's the military and they're trying out some sort of new aircraft. But again, you're talking about drones the size of automobiles. You heard the report there.

That's from WPIX in New York City. This is very near President Trump's golf course, Bedminster, and that has a lot of people nervous as well. The other possibility here, and I don't know if I should, well, okay, here it is. No, I don't think it's aliens. What if we have terrorists that are plotting some sort of an attack between now and Inauguration Day?

And what if this attack is going to be drone-focused? And maybe, just maybe, the point of these late-night missions is to test capabilities. Have they given that any thought? And again, the FBI is investigating. Homeland Security is now investigating.

There's something going on that they're not telling us. And that does concern me. What do you think is going on here, ladies and gentlemen? All right, we've got to take a quick break here. Hang tight.

We're going to be talking to Senator James Langford coming up. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. George.

That's us. That's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starks. All right.

Well, the president-elect is very busy today churning out a lot of announcements about the administration and nominations and appointments. And this is some good news for all of you folks in North Carolina.

Now, Michael Watley, who was chair of the Republican of the RNC and really did a terrific job. President Trump just announced that he has asked Watley, Michael Watley, to return as chairman of the RNC to continue building the party, calling him a trusted partner for the Make America Great Again team. Also, Monica Crowley getting a position within the administration as well. She's going to be heading up all sorts of things, but specifically the 250th birthday of the country. You know, if the Democrats had won in November, we'd be talking about what corn chips and Pepsi or something.

I don't know. So anyway, it's going to be an incredible event. No doubt about that. Congratulations to Monica Crowley and Michael Watley. And of course, we're also following the development surrounding Pete Hegseth.

I want to go right now to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and say hello to our friend from Oklahoma, Senator James Lankford. Senator, hope you're doing good today. I actually am doing well today. Thank you. All right.

First, I want to get your reaction to all of these just heinous attacks on Pete Hegseth using anonymous sources. Are they having any sort of sway or impact among Republicans in the Senate? Not that I am hearing on it. Quite frankly, everybody is waiting to be able to sit down with him personally, to be able to go through everything, to be able to get public hearings, to be able to actually get out facts and information rather than have CBS and CNN be the one to be able to drive the story on it, actually get face-to-face to be able to go through it. Where do you stand on Hexeth?

I've actually not had the opportunity to meet him yet. I serve on the Intelligence Committee and on Finance Committee and on Homeland Security. I'm not on Armed Services.

So right now he's meeting with all the different Armed Services Committee members. I should be meeting with him maybe next week or early the next. as he kind of works his way through all 53 senators.

Now, there was some reporting about, I would say, an hour or so ago that a meeting between him and Josh Hawley had been canceled for tomorrow. Are you hearing any rumblings that Hegseth may pull out? Yeah, the only thing I've seen is what's actually in public media out there at this point where the Wall Street Journal reported last night, and then several others have started to report that the president may consider nominating someone else. That is completely the president's prerogative on what he wants to do and who he wants to be able to nominate. He needs the right to be able to pick his team as every president gets to.

I pick all of my own staff. He should have the ability to be able to pick his staff as well. When you look at the people that the president is assembling, it seems to me that these are all disruptors, that he's going in with a mandate to clean up Washington, and it's not going to be business as usual. Are you picking up on that theme? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. It is a general theme of a couple of things. One is people that have started companies, run companies or run major enterprises to be able to say they know how to be able to do a turnaround.

So he's picking a lot of folks like that. He's also picking people loyal to him, which you would expect. You want to have the people around you that you're not sitting next to every single day to know they're out carrying out what I need them to do, not what someone else needs them to do. And so he's picking people loyal, picking people that he knows, and picking people that know how to be able to get things done, regardless of whether they've done that particular position before. It's interesting just the spin on they've never been in government before.

Well, I have to tell you, there's a lot of benefit of coming from business into government to be able to say, why is this run this way? Because they look at how it could be run more efficiently. And the other one is no one has done any of these jobs. No one's supervised, you know, 20,000 people in most companies on it. You've got to be a mega large company to be able to know how to supervise how many people in these agencies.

So everybody that walks in has to have a perspective of, I know what needs to be done and actually can get it done because the clock's ticking the first day you get there. All right, let's talk about tomorrow. Busy day. It's going to be a very interesting day, too. You're a founding member of the Senate Doge Caucus, and we understand the first meeting is tomorrow with both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.

What are you guys going to be talking about? Yeah, we'll walk through some of the general things tomorrow on it to be able to start narrowing down. There's 10 million ideas. Most everything is things like, you know, wasteful spending, and we can all go through the list. I've worked on this for 10 years trying to be able to get the attention of Congress to say we waste a ton of taxpayer money and the people in my state in Oklahoma don't want to pay for drag shows in Ecuador or they don't want to be able to pay for a wine trail in Napa Valley.

The folks in Napa Valley have enough money they can pay for that themselves if they want to have a wine trail.

So all these different grants that are out there and things we need to start to look at because there's about half of the federal discretionary dollars are now in grants.

So you've got to be able to look at that. That's a huge amount. You've got to look at how you do employment with the federal employees, how many people telework, where they're teleworking from, how much space is being wasted that we're leasing or own that no one is using. There are big pockets of policy areas to say where's the money and then start looking at some of those areas, how to make it more efficient. And you have been following this for a very long time.

You've really become a leader, I think, in the Senate on government waste. And you introduced this book called Federal Fumbles, Ways the Federal Government Drop the Ball. What I find fascinating is you're in Volume 7, Senator. That does not bode well for the taxpayers. Yeah, we do it year after year.

And our goal is the way we write it is that we're getting it all the committees or jurisdiction saying, we found this wasteful. Why did we find this wasteful spending in your committee? We're handing it back to those staff and to those committee members and saying, here's an area that you can go after. And we encourage not just our book on that that we put out every year. We encourage every member to do that.

There's no reason why every single member of Congress can't look around and say, where can we find greater efficiencies? What I'm pleased with is clearly the Trump administration is walking in day one saying, we're going to ask every person that comes in in every agency to go look for inefficiency so if you've got every member of congress and every agency head looking for that we're going to find it and that means you got to start implementing at that point no and and i think that's what a lot of people around the country are hoping happens is that we just start cutting this this ridiculous spending i've been a big proponent of the 500 million dollars we give to the corporation of public broadcasting i'd consider i own a radio station and so that bothers me my tax money is going to fund the competition down the street well quite frankly we we have this opinion coming from state department and others and from uh voice of america to say we proving that we have a free press by having government paid for journalists Okay well that not a free press at that point to show that you have government paid for journalists on it. If we have a free press, which we do, then highlight the free press worldwide and then be more focused on what we can actually get done. But yeah, there are a million issues like that. There was a study done during COVID on the effect of COVID on Russian women.

I have no idea why our tax dollars paid for that. We did a study on seatbelt use in Ghana. Why did we pay for that?

So we did a study on the secret language of butchers in Paris.

Okay, again, if the Parisians want to be able to study the secret language of butchers, have at it. But the folks in Oklahoma City should not be paying for that study.

So there are a million things like that that just ask the basic question, is this about America's benefit or not? If it's not, then we shouldn't be paying for that. Senator James Langford on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line this afternoon. Senator, what is it going to look like, this new administration, this new term of Congress? I think back to the first Trump years, the first two years, and it was tough.

There was really an adversarial relationship. Do you think that's going to change this go-around? Oh, no. I think the left is going to dig in even harder. They know what they're fighting against.

There's already the conversation here in Washington, D.C. about resistance 2.0. The resistance is basically trying to resist not the Trump agenda but America's agenda. America is who voted for President Trump and knew full well everything that he was coming to do. He was coming to be able to close the border.

He was coming to turn around gas prices. He was coming to turn around the economy to be able to reduce regulations. He was very clear on all the things that he wanted to do.

So for the left to jump up and say they're going to try to resist the way they can, they think they're resisting Trump. They're actually resisting the American voter who will not bode well with that because they want things fixed. And that's what we need to be able to take on.

So the earliest days of the Senate and of the House will be focused on what can we do on border security? What can we get done on energy policy? What can we do to start reducing prices? How do we actually fix the tax issues that are coming up?

So we're already having frequent meetings talking through what we can get done. The new Congress is sworn in the 3rd of January. The new president is sworn in the 20th of January. We plan to be ready for that day. All right.

Well, Senator, congratulations. We're excited about your appointments there within the Senate and leadership. And we look forward to getting you back on very soon. Yeah, I look forward to it. Take care, John.

All right. Senator James Langford out of Oklahoma, founding member of the Senate Doge Caucus, and he's going to be meeting tomorrow with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Yeah, I don't get that. Why are we funding? Why are our tax dollars funding wine trails in Napa Valley?

And why in the world do we care about the effect of climate change on driving conditions in Ghana? I'm assuming the cars have windshield wipers, right?

So what's the problem? all right we've got to take a quick break here ladies and gentlemen our telephone number is 901 260-5926 that's 901-260-5926 this is the todd stern show all right pete hexath just a few moments ago had a just a brief meeting with the The press corps there, a scrum as they call it. Here's what Pete had to say. Wonderful process to go through and meet with senators and talk to them, especially members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, whose passion is the Defense Department and our warfighters, to hear what they want to do to make sure that department is properly oriented for the threats of the world and make sure that we're putting the warfighters first. That's what Donald Trump asked me to do.

Your job is to bring a warfighting ethos back to the Pentagon. on your job is to make sure that it's lethality lethality lethality everything else is gone everything else that distracts from that shouldn't be happening that's the message i'm hearing from senators in that advising consent process it's been a wonderful process all right uh let's go to the phone lines here 901-260-5926 bob in moorhead city north carolina hi bob what's going on money talks i'd uh recommend everybody call those six senators that's reluctant to vote for the trump's uh picks to tell every one of them uh they'll never get any money from uh the donors uh individuals out here uh if they vote against trump's picks and i got thirty three hundred dollars I'll put up against the primary for every one of them. Bob, a thousand percent, and we've got the names over on our website, toddsterns.com, along with the telephone number for the Senate switchboard.

So we want you to call, and Bob, I think we've got to do it. We've got a light at the phones, and we just have to remind these senators who put them in office and what we expect them to do. Bob, good thought. Thank you for calling in. Oh, by the way, willard is bidding farewell today mitt romney delivering his farewell address and of course he is virtue signaling talking about people who tear at our unity and practice hate gotta love it you gotta love it all right oh oh by the way pete hegseth um also sat down today with megan kelly for a one-hour interview, and she asked a lot of hard-hitting questions.

She asked of whether or not he had a drinking problem. Here's what Pete had to say just a little while ago. They're not upset about your drinking? You know what? There's an interesting one there.

First of all, I've never had a drinking problem. I don't, um, no one's ever approached me and said, oh, you, you should really look at getting help for a drink. Never. I've never sought counseling, never sought help. I respect and appreciate people who, who do.

Um, but you know, what do guys do when they come back from war oftentimes? Have some beers. Um, you know, how do you deal with the demons you see on the battlefield?

Sometimes it's with a bottle. Um, unfortunately, tragically for too many guys, uh, it's with the bottle and then it's depression and even worse suicide. I mean, we've got an epidemic of that in our country. Thank God, by the grace of God, I found my chapters of purpose that pulled me out of that. I found, in many ways, I found two things, my two J's.

My Jenny, my wife Jennifer, changed my life, saved me. There's just no doubt about it. And my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And without those two J's, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. But with those two J's, like my mom said this morning, and I didn't get a chance to see all of it, but God bless my mom.

I'm a very different person than I was 10 years ago. All right. There you go. Look, again, he's the guy that Trump wants, and Trump ought to get him. There it is, black and white.

901-260-5926, our number. That's 901-260-5926. So a state representative in Texas, Brian Harrison, shared some shocking information. And again, it just goes back to the heart of just because Republicans are in charge doesn't mean that things are going the way they should. The University of Texas is now admitting that they will offer free college tuition to illegal aliens who make up to $100,000 a year.

And that also includes LGBTQ studies students.

So if you're an illegal or if you are majoring in LGBTQ studies, you're going to get free. That would be taxpayer funded college. Unbelievable. you can't make this up.

Now, the University of Texas says they will ask for more tax money next session. And Representative Harrison says, hell no, that is not going to happen.

Well, thank you for that, Representative Harrison. We certainly appreciate that. But again, why are we offering, why is the University of Texas providing taxpayer-funded college education to illegals making $100,000 a year. What are they smoking down there, ladies and gentlemen? Just unbelievable.

All right, coming up, we're going to be talking to a new author, and he's got a great book out about NASCAR. And you're going to love this one, folks. He does a deep dive into how faith, and specifically Christianity, has flavored and has impacted professional racing. Lee Weeks is the author. He's going to be coming up and just wrote a terrific book, and I can't wait to get some of his insights into what's been going down in NASCAR.

Also, I want to remind you to head over to our website. We've been going through a lot with censorship on social media platforms. I don't want to get at all of that. All I can tell you is you need to go and bookmark Todd Stearns dot com and check it out every single day because we're always posting stories and content that that you are going to love and you're not going to find anywhere else.

So a lot of exclusive reporting. Of course, you can also download our free podcast as well as our newsletter. And you say, why are you what's going on about this newsletter?

Well, this newsletter gives you direct access.

So yes, we share a lot of our material on social media, but social media, for example, we love X, but X doesn't like it when you add a link. And that means our, gosh, more than 270,000 followers on X don't get to see our content, which is why you need to get our newsletter. It comes out every morning and it includes our top stories.

So go and sign up for that. It's free of charge. We don't share your information with anybody. and also while you're there be sure to get our podcast that too absolutely free of charge now a lot of people are asking for money we're not one of those folks we like to give you stuff for free all right hang tight everybody got to take a quick break 901-260-5926 this is the todd stern show All right, coming up tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern on Newsmax TV. We've got a great Todd Stern show lined up for you.

We're also going to be following the very latest developments in that crazy targeted shooting of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. It happened early this morning right outside of the Hilton Hotel on 6th Avenue in New York City. Unbelievable. The video we have up on our Rumble channel. Rumble, just look for Todd Stearns on Rumble, and you'll be able to see the video for yourself.

Pretty clear, this was a professional hit, and it looks as though the gunman used some sort of a silencer, suppressor, and then just took off. Guy in a hoodie and backpack. There you go. All right, there's a brand new book out, and this is really a terrific read. And if you love NASCAR, you're going to love this book.

If you're a Christian, you're going to love this book. It's called Sundays at the Track, Inspiring True Stories of Faith, Leadership, and Determination from the World of NASCAR. The book is written by Lee Weeks, who is a veteran journalist and communications strategist, also a former senior pastor, and he is on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today. Lee, good to have you with us. Hey, Todd.

It's wonderful to be with you.

Well, first of all, congratulations on the book. It's always a difficult thing to write a book, but it's a lot of fun once it comes out. Absolutely. So were you a NASCAR fan before you wrote the book? You know, I'm kind of a nominal NASCAR fan.

I really, I guess, woke up to the sport back in 2001, you know, in that big tragedy when Dale Earnhardt Sr. died in that crash in the Daytona 500. That's when NASCAR kind of got on my radar and I've kind of been, frankly, a marginal fan. But, man, have I fallen in love with the sport over the last couple of years. The more I've gotten to know about the personalities and the people in the sport.

So is this a book where you're writing based on what other people are telling you? Or did you have an opportunity to go and talk to some of these drivers? Yeah, absolutely. The 36 people we feature in the book, I had the opportunity to interview them personally. And what a treat that was.

You can do all the background research, obviously, and that's all there, fine, well, and good. But to spend some time with these personalities, these people, and hear their stories, their faith stories, their faith journeys, man, that was a true delight.

So you interviewed 36 folks for the book, and I know that Daryl Waltrip, who is a three-time NASCAR Cup series champ, wrote the foreword. And here's what he said, that God's faithfulness is the common denominator in each of these personal stories. As he chases and relentlessly pursues each individual, in any race there is a lead driver everyone is chasing. But in life, God is the lead driver, and he is chasing us. That's a pretty good line there.

Yes, and it's interesting, Daryl's history with, obviously, NASCAR. You've said it. He's a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. But 35 years ago, Todd, he helped found a ministry called Motor Racing Outreach. They started meeting in hotels on race weekends, and it's just grown into this phenomenal network within the industry and was really my segue into this book, Motor Race and Outreach.

I collaborated with Billy Malden, who is now the senior chaplain and CEO of the ministry, and he was the one that helped me get into the door with these Christians that I've interviewed for the book. Did you find that they were open to talking about their faith, or did you have to prod a little bit and poke? No, you know, we kind of really went into it, hey, this is the goal for the book. We want Jesus to be the hero of your story. And these people, you know, they're not looking for any personal gain.

You know, they were all in from the beginning, and they kind of shared in the mission and purpose of the book, and that is to really show the grandeur of God's glory and his transforming power in our lives. Lee, was there somebody, one of the drivers that you were really surprised by? Oh, man. You know, we could talk an hour on each story, but there's so many stories of perseverance in faith and really leaning on God and their faith in Jesus Christ to get them through some tough times. and one of those in particular is a name, I mean, he's very well-known, Joe Gibbs, you know, former three-time Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins coach who left that sport to go into NASCAR in the early 1990s, and now Joe's in his early 80s and has been very vocal about his faith, very evangelistic, contributed a lot to prison ministry, and very evangelistic.

He, just in the last five years, boy, you talk about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, has lost two sons right before they turned 50. His only two sons, J.D. and Coy, have passed away. And to see his faith sustain him through that has been so, so inspiring. Another one, Chase Briscoe, was in the Final Four, the Championship Four drivers of the NASCAR Cup Series Championship.

Chase and his wife went through just an ordeal of losing a child to miscarriage back in 2020. And his faith just shines through the darkness there. And they persevered through there. They've had a son since then. And just last month, God gave him two twins, beautiful twins.

And, man, there's so many stories I could unpack. But I know we don't have the time. Lee Weeks is the author of the new book, Sundays at the Track. Lee, what is it about Christianity and sports? And it doesn't seem to be just focused on NASCAR.

But, I mean, you look at, you know, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Hunt family, devout Christians. you see athletes taking a knee to pray before and after games. What's that connection? What do you make of that? You know, I think now that we're in a digital age and a social media age, I think Christians are taking seriously the platform that they've been given.

They know the following that they have. They know that people are watching and listening. And I think those that are walking closely to God feel a sense of calling on their lives. They know it's not about them. They're grateful for the giftedness that God has given them, the expertise and specialization in these sports.

And you see it, like you said, across professional sports. More and more, it seems like athletes are becoming more emboldened in giving God the glory. All right. Well, again, the book, Sunday's at the track, and it's not just for folks to read and hear these stories, but I have to imagine that your readers, you want them to come away with something. What is that?

Well, you know, racing is, Todd, a metaphor on so many levels for life. You know, the writer in Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 12, tells us to lay down every weight and sin which so closely clings to us and run the race with endurance. And just like NASCAR drivers who are chasing a checkered flag, all of us, we're all chasing something, whether it be deadlines, obligations, goals, dreams, acceptance, respect, love. And time is of the essence in all our lives. The psalmist wrote to teach us to number our days so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

And so there are a lot, so many biblical applications through these stories that speak right to every reader, and I hope they'll be inspired, they'll be motivated. to lean into their faith and trust Jesus and to give more of themselves to them. All right. Well, folks, you can get a copy wherever you buy your books. It's called Sundays at the Track, Inspiring True Stories of Faith, Leadership, and Determination from the World of NASCAR.

And, Lee, where can people go if they want to find more information and read more of your work? Yeah, thanks, Todd. My website is simply lee-week.com. All right. Well, Lee, congratulations.

Good to have you on the show. Thank you, Todd. God bless you, brother. All right. This is actually a great book, folks.

I've had a chance to read it. And if you're a NASCAR fan, you're really going to love it. But even if you're not, and if you're just a person of faith, or maybe you're looking, you're searching for, you know, your faith journey is just getting started, I would encourage you to check this one out. It's a fun read. You're going to enjoy it.

Great stories. Again, Sundays at the track, inspiring true stories of faith, leadership, and determination from the world of NASCAR. All right, we're going to take a quick break here. Our telephone number, 901-260-5926. Again, that's 901-260-5926.

You know, this year, I've given you so many reasons to try Balance of Nature, but I've got one now that you just can't ignore.

So let's review some of those other reasons. First of all, with Balance of Nature, you're getting a product made from whole fruit and veggie ingredients. I take mine every single morning. Second, they can provide you with so many of the things that you may be missing. Third, well, it could be just what you've been looking for to make you feel better.

And as you already know, I take them. But I think you're going to agree this reason trumps them all. During the month of December, with my special promo code, you're going to get some incredible savings. Use my discount code Todd and sign up as a new customer. You're going to get 50% off plus free shipping.

And as always, you get their money back guarantee. It's an unbelievable discount, but you have to use my discount code Todd.

So call them right now, 1-800-24-68-751. That's 800-24-687-51. And use the discount code Todd. Or you can order online at balanceofnature.com. Use the discount code Todd and you're going to get 50% off plus free shipping.

We'll be right back. all right so the fbi now joining the investigation into these weird car-sized drones that have been hovering over morris county new jersey now here's the thing i think the average drone can only stay up for a couple of hours max before the battery has to be recharged But we understand these drones have been up in the air for about 12 plus hours. Here is another local report. Cut number nine, please. Why would the FBI be getting involved in this here?

Great question.

So the airspace is the FBI's domain.

So when the FAA sees something that is a potential violation of federal law as it pertains to the skies, that's a time where the FBI would get involved. And certainly if we're talking about multiple counties and we're talking about something that could have come from outside of New Jersey, perhaps from Pennsylvania, perhaps from New York State or the water, they want to have the ability to kind of expand this investigation. And I spoke to them just before speaking with you tonight, and they are looking for people to give them some tips and to kind of coordinate the response to this. Also figure out what are they actually looking at. There are a couple of military sites in the area, but it's not clear yet that that's necessarily the focus of what these drones are about.

But they're definitely keeping an eye on the situation. You know, there have been a number of reports of these unidentified aerial phenomena, Hallie, across the country and on the West Coast.

So, you know, the government is concerned about this. All right. Here's a joint statement from law enforcement. a county and local law enforcement agencies are aware of the recurring reports of drone activity around Morris and Somerset counties and acknowledge the public's concern about these repeated sightings. Local police and officials said there is no known threat to public safety.

And by the way, is there a sign from having an unauthorized drone? What is it? There's a $75,000 fine. The FAA is keeping an eye on the drones and shutting down the airspace in both of those counties temporarily.

So again, if you've got a drone the size of a car and you've got an airport nearby, I can imagine that would be a pretty dangerous situation.

So we'll keep you updated. But again, nobody seems to know what's going on here. Is it something from the military? Is it just kids pulling jokes? I don't think that's it, though.

I don't think that's it. Or could it be domestic terrorists? And maybe they're trying to use drones to carry out some sort of a terrorist attack. It's all very strange. All right, Joy Reid.

She, you know, this whole Trump made a joke about annexing Canada. We're not annexing Canada. It was a joke. But everybody's treating this like it's the gospel truth. Joy Reid over at MSDNC having a meltdown.

Take a listen. We are seeing a global trend of the far right surging. It isn't just happening here. But let's bring you back to the U.S. and to our local gangster, Donald Trump.

He's not even president yet, and he's already spending his time sitting in his golden palace, Mar-a-Lago, muscling other countries like he's Tony Soprano with a social media site. Doing things like, reportedly, debating whether or not to invade Mexico. Threatening BRICS countries, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with 100% tariffs if they don't commit to trading in dollars and not their own currencies. Demanding Hamas release all hostages being held in Gaza before his inauguration, or there will be, quote, all hell to pay in the Middle East. Even reportedly threatening Canada.

According to Fox, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau went to Mar-a-Lago this weekend to try to talk Trump out of his 25% tariff threat, Trump apparently suggested that if Canada can't handle the tariffs that would violate the NAFTA upgrade Trump himself signed into law, the USMCA, they should just become the 51st state. Just become the 51st state instead and allow Trudeau to be reduced to governor of the state of Canada, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously. Yes, because it's a joke, Joyless Reed. Come on, lady. You know, it just cracks me up that MSDNC still lets this woman and Al Sharpton, by the way, to have programs on their network.

Unbelievable. Look, it's a joke. Nobody wants Canada. All right? And that's the joke is that nobody, nobody wants Canada.

I mean, why would we? I'm very happy with our bacon. Why do we need Canadian bacon? And we have great ginger ale on this side of the border, too. Come on.

Jeez-a-loo. All right. We're going to be following these developments about Pete Hedset. And look, here's what you need to know. There are a lot of people reporting and saying, well, Pete's going to be meeting with Trump tomorrow.

He's canceling meetings. Folks, you can't believe any of that stuff. Wait and hear from Mar-a-Lago. The transition team, they've been putting out emails on a pretty regular basis, and if something happens, they're going to let us know. But otherwise, it's all a lot of conjecture.

And I don't want to posit this, but I'm going to. It could be that you've got a bad apple somewhere down at Mar-a-Lago that's leaking a lot of information. Because there has been information coming out of Mar-a-Lago that should not be coming out of Mar-a-Lago.

So just keep that in mind. and it's not out of the realm of possibility. We do know from the first Trump term that some of the hires, some of the appointees did not necessarily turn out to be as, well, as great as we thought they were going to be. And I'll just leave it at that.

So hang tight. We're going to update you later on this evening on Newsmax. We're going to have a great show for you, 5 o'clock Eastern. Be sure to watch the Todd Stern Show on Newsmax too. also folks as you're doing your christmas shopping i want to invite you to head over to toddstarns.com check out our store we have lots of great items for your loved ones including signed copies of my new book twilight's last gleaming can america be saved all right gotta sneak out everybody it has been a great show have a great day america you be good folksز Management