MAGA vs. MAGA

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Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's favorite gun totem, Bible-clanging, deplorable American. Yeah. That's right. I love this American ride. Todd starts wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed.

Welcome to a Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Radio Program, coast to coast on 150 tremendous radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today, although Mr. Starnes will join us in this hour of the program. I'm coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa, the 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views, and the home of Todd Starnes in the state of Iowa. You know, there are a lot of radio hosts across the country, and I don't blame folks for taking time off, but the network hosts just are gone for two weeks, right?

If you think about some of your favorite hosts, they've been gone all this week. They'll be gone all next week, maybe come back in time for Congress to come to town. Not Mr. Starnes even did an extra special Christmas program, find Somebody else around the country who did that.

So he's taking today off appropriately, but again, he will join us at the bottom of the hour to talk about this dust-up on the Twitter X machine that happened yesterday. It's an open line Friday edition of the program, and that means we always love your calls, but especially so on Fridays, and we have plenty of time to hear from you, Starnes Nation.

So call now, 901-260-5926. Same number as always, 901-260-5926. Participate in this coast-to-coast conversation from the Liberty University studio. We have some tremendous guests lined up for the program, including mister Starnes at the bottom of the hour. But again, your calls at nine oh one two six zero five nine two six.

Okay. November fifth was a date that many folks put on the calendar right from the start of the new year. You get your shiny new calendar and you start circling dates. And we looked at Election Day because that was going to tell the future of the nation. And America spoke.

rather loudly. The problem, however, is that there were a lot of folks who saw that. November fifth, winning the general election as the destination. as the finish line. And afterwards, there were celebrations, and a lot of folks who just kind of sighed and said, There, now it's all taken care of.

And I'm here to tell you, and you folks know this, but I think some folks need reminding. That was the finish line for one thing. the election. But it's the start of governing. And they are very different skills.

Politicians have to have a myriad of skills, obviously, elected officials. Running for office and handling a campaign that is very different than governing. To some degree, to paraphrase the analogy that's often been used about war. They say sometimes it's easier to to win the war than to win the peace afterwards.

Well, here maybe it's easier to win the election than it is to actually govern. Yeah. I would tell you, folks, there are two things standing in the way. of the MAGA mandate. Number one is Democrats.

and number two is Republicans. Yeah. Let's start with the Democrats. During the campaign, Representative Jamie Raskin. was at a public event.

And video of this surfaced, and he was proud to have said these things. But the question was posed something along the lines of: well, the world's going to come to an end if Donald Trump were to somehow win the Electoral College. They did not dream that he would also win the popular vote who in the world would vote for? Such a cretin like that Well, half of America. Thank you very much.

But in any event, Raskin's response. Full of condescension. And full of I know so much better than the rest of you. His response was, well, don't worry. even if he wins the Electoral College, we've got the Fourteenth Amendment.

Mm-hmm. that disqualifies insurrectionists from holding office.

Now a number of folks made mention of that at the time. I think I mentioned it on this program. Many others did too to say no, they're planning. Hello, we need to win the election, but they're planning They're planning something. They've always got a plan B and a plan C and a plan D.

They're planning to steal the election through the Fourteenth Amendment.

Well, the focus was appropriately on winning the election.

Well, now this plan B. is coming back. and becoming somewhat popular. And we were reminded of it this week. When the hill Published a piece by two opinion contributors, as they're styled.

And I'm not even going to dignify by mentioning their names because they're not important. They're just the merchants of this. They're the distributors of the information. And this actually was posted yesterday early morning with the clickbait headline as follows: Congress has the power to block Trump from taking office, but lawmakers must act now. Great headline if you want to get clicks.

But then you read this. And what it is describing is the same thing when Raskin said the quiet part out loud during the election. The idea is to go back to the Fourteenth Amendment disqualification well. And see if they can drink from it. This is the same scam that was being used across the country to try to keep Mr.

Trump off of ballots in various states. Without getting into a whole constitutional lecture, You're still working on Christmas leftovers and trying to figure out how you delicately take that really ugly sweater back to the store without the person who gave it to you being offended. You're worried about those things.

So I don't want to bog us down in constitutional diatribes. But the bottom line is the 14th Amendment did various things. Post-Civil War. It's the Equal Protection Clause.

so that all citizens have equal protection, but buried in there was a provision to make sure that the Confederates who left the Union and fought For its demise, the demise of the Union, that they not be allowed back in the Union government. Uh These states that seceded, they had elected representatives in Washington, and then after they became the Confederate States, they left the Union.

Well, the idea was to make sure that you weren't inviting foxes into the hen house. And so they prohibited insurrectionists. Federal Office. But this is what's interesting about the 14th Amendment. As opposed to any other amendments to the Constitution.

This one specifically provided that Congress. has the ability to pass legislation Tied to the amendment, tied to enforcing the amendment.

So, what happened after a decent amount of time passed after the Civil War?

Well, you could figure out who you could trust again and who you couldn't. And. The full United States needed all of the United States to contribute to its military and its governance, and so Congress passed legislation. That let the folks who fought in the Civil War back in.

Now keep in mind Constitutionalists are going to say, well, that's a pretty skinny recitation. Yeah, it is. This is the shorthand of it. This is what we used to call the Reader's Digest version. But the bottom line of it is, Congress passed the law that said, never mind, we're all good now.

These folks are saying Trump was an insurrectionist. Therefore, he cannot hold office. Therefore, he's disqualified, and any of his Electoral College votes don't count because he's not qualified to run, no different than if he were found to have been born in another country. And that's how we, they say, get Kamala Harris elected as President.

Now you'll notice that despite Raskin saying the quiet part out loud during the campaign, we haven't heard much about this. Partly because the whole notion of it was discredited in court when they tried to keep mister Trump from being on ballots. But now that the electors have met in each state, You might have seen this on your news. The electors gather At the state capitol. They have a very ceremonial vote.

They sign saying that they're voting for whomever. Those are the votes, people, that are counted in Washington. on january sixth. We didn't hear anything about this disqualification stuff. As an active plan, until after the electors had voted.

And that die was cast.

So now you have this publication. Saying an oath-breaking insurrectionist is ineligible to be president. And that it would apply to Trump, and that's what Democrats need to do, but they better hurry. Because they only have a short period of time. A couple of thoughts about that.

First, Do not ever Take anything for granted. Or assume that you've actually won. Cheryl Chumley, who's been on this program many times, is the author of various books. One, I believe, is called Socialists Never Sleep. And the thesis of that is.

The bad guys who want to destroy the nation, they never stop. Small, little roadblocks are simply seen as challenges to overcome.

So, even though there was a mega mandate at the polling place on November 5th. Do not assume that the Democrats just said, well, You did it. Yeah. I guess we're just going to sit back. You beat us fair and square.

No. They're never. never going to be that way. And this is prime proof of it. Will there be an actual attempt to do this.

Well, Congress, the current Congress, is not going to meet again. They've adjourned. They've gone home. They've done enough damage. Thank you very much.

Look at the mess that's awaiting us in Washington on january third. And that's the second part where I said there were two things that could get in the way of the MAGA mandate coming about. The first, Democrats. The second Republicans. Look at this mess that we have surrounding the possibility of Mike Johnson not remaining as Speaker.

Now whether he should or not's a different issue, and we will get into that here in a moment. But understand. That while some of us are making plans for Inauguration Day parties, And we're feeling really good about the fact that at the ballot box. Trump Vance won. in a landslide.

The Senate flipped to Republican hands with a couple of votes to spare. The House, still Republican. It's going to be a little tricky and challenging, but still Republican. We're all feeling good and full of the holiday spirit. and they're trying to find ways.

To subvert The Constitution to distort its language and deny a properly elected president. from taking the oath. It is as plain as that. We'll take your calls as they come in today, but I want to go back after this break to the second point where I said the second thing that's going to get in the way of a MAGA mandate Republicans themselves who can't get out of their own way. 901-260-5926.

More from the Liberty University studio in a moment. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd Starnes. Todd joins us after the bottom of the hour. Thanks for being along on this open line Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show. MyPellow is excited to announce their Christmas extravaganza is finally here.

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Plus, all orders, $75 or more, ship absolutely free. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starnes show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Mr. Starnes does join us, though, just after the bottom of the hour.

Open Line Friday, your calls invited at 901-260-5926. I mentioned in the last segment that Democrats were standing in the way of a possible mega mandate being enacted. Republicans are standing in the way as well, and that's because they can't get out of their own way.

Now, I understand that we had to get a spending bill. through continuing resolution across last week.

Well, I don't understand. Why didn't they do it right the first time? But let's just go with that needed to be done. And as mister Starnes has shared with you, it is hard for Speaker Mike Johnson to claim to be a fiscal conservative when he's in charge of bringing a continuing resolution up that takes three full reams of paper fifteen hundred pages to print. filled with more pork that at a than at a summertime barbecue in Iowa.

or North Carolina. For you folks out there who are good pork producers as well. It's hard to make the case of being a fiscal conservative when that's what the Republicans put forward. There are other bits of infighting that we're going to talk about in the next segment, but. All I would say right now about the speaker situation, because lots of folks are sending up trial balloons.

Well, maybe Mike's not the guy. Maybe he's run afoul of Trump.

Okay, first, and I'm going to be as delicate as I can about this. Republicans in the House. Get your stuff together. figure it out, and do it now as opposed to on full public display, with votes that shut Congress down at a pivotal time. We cannot, as a country, go through.

What happened with Kevin McCarthy, who, as I have said on this program, only cared about being speaker. He's now parlayed that into being a pundit on Fox. He got what he wanted: a picture of himself with the gavel. He never had an agenda. He wanted to be speaker.

So he could say he was Speaker. He didn't want to serve as Speaker. But we cannot go through that again. If it is not Mike Johnson, then you guys and gals better bloody well figure out who it is. And somebody better be talking to Mr.

Trump pretty quickly on this score. Because the cat is starting to get out of the bag on this whisper campaign. We can't have that. We can't have that fill the news void that inevitably happens over the holidays. The news cycle cannot be dominated by drip, drip, drip, is Mike Johnson the guy or not?

First, Who else would it be? Second, is Trump on board? And third, Get your stuff together. We cannot start this unique opportunity to take the country back. By being hamstrung, By a bunch of prima donnas who Who just like to throw spitballs from the back row of the classroom.

Everyone should have their own views. All views should. be taken seriously, absolutely. But figure this part out really quickly. Because if he's not the guy, Get a guy or a gal, but do it the right way, or you're going to sabotage.

Trump 2.0. Todd Starnes joins us. After this short break, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starn Show. It is Ryan Seacrest here.

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18 plus terms and conditions apply. Uh Welcome back to the Liberty University Studio and the Todd Starn Show. It's Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. We'll take your calls in the next segment. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd, but fear not, fellow Patriots.

Joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line from the home base in Memphis. The Newsmax host, national best-selling author, and host of the very popular Todd Starnes show, Todd Starnes. Mr. Starnes, Merry Christmas. Yeah, well, Merry Christmas to you, Jeff.

And wow, thank you for filling in today, taking a day off. And I appreciate the invite to come on my show.

Well, it seems to be good form. You know, if I'm going to throw a party in your house, you ought to be able to come in.

So, and congratulations on the special Christmas program. As I mentioned to the audience earlier, most national hosts just took two weeks off and didn't care. And you did a special Christmas program that if folks missed it, go to the podcast section of ToddStarnes.com. It's worth hearing again, even if you heard it the first time.

Now, I'll tell you something, sir. As you know, as the audience knows, I do a syndicated business program every week, and Thursday is production day. And so I hunker down for a few hours, get it all done. I came up for air yesterday, and I see Todd Starnes is on X telling people to go to Gab, and we've got people who hate Vivek Ramaswamy. I can't leave you people alone for a minute.

Wow. You know, I just stepped away for a couple of hours, and all you know-what broke loose on X and social media. And it's really a crazy story that is still unfolding, and we're trying to get to the bottom of it all. But the whole controversy surrounds these H-1B visas that are flooding the American tech industry with foreign workers who are being hired at cheaper wages and therefore putting American citizens out of work. And I think what really started the controversy were a couple of comments from Ramaswamy, who basically.

said that that American workers are lazy. And he blamed he says American culture has venerated mediocrity over excellence. And he said that He also said that American young people, or the culture celebrates the prom queen over the math Olympiad champ, or the jock over the valedictorian. And he says that kind of a culture will not produce the best engineers. And then there was another comment that was a bit more pointed, Jeff, and basically called American Workers Retarded.

And Elon Musk actually affirmed that tweet. That's not the way to get this thing underway, this Doge thing. And again, you've got. Certainly, Musk, Ramaswamy, to a lesser extent, and I say that not as a criticism, but only because Musk has been so successful. You've got guys who know how to run businesses.

You'd think they could figure out efficiency.

Okay, that's great. But to simply paint with a broad brush. The American spirit that built this country is because of a few slackers or a few products of the participation ribbon society that has overtaken some parts of the country, not only is it not smart, it's not accurate. No, no, it's not accurate. And I mean, look, the The reaction to all of this has been insane because a lot of America First Conservatives, people that you know, Gavin Wax, who's going to be on the program a little bit later on today, Laura Loomer, the conservative PAC, these are all super pro-Trump people.

And dozens and dozens of people who criticized Elon Musk found themselves deplatformed. They had their verification badges stripped away, and many of them were demonetized as a result of that. And I think that's a terrible thing, but the reality of it is this: Elon Musk owns X.

So, therefore, at the end of the day, He can decide who has free speech and who doesn't. I mean, it's the same way with the previous owners of X when it was known as Twitter. Elon giveth, Elon taketh away. It's a pretty simple formula in my mind, and I don't agree with it, but that's the reality of it. And that's just, I think it really shocked a lot of conservatives.

But, Jeff, to your point. I think we do have problems with American culture, and this is not about banning all immigrants. This is about taking jobs away from well-qualified American tech people and giving them to foreign workers who are coming in at a much cheaper wage. That, to me, is the problem here.

Well, if you're going to be America first, you need to be America first. And that has to do with your purchases. That has to do with your hiring. It has to do with the culture that you're trying to build. And it's going to take time, in my view, Todd, to recover from, again, what I call the Participation Ribbon Society.

Everybody is dumbed down to the lowest level, so nobody's boo-boo feelings are hurt. That's not what America was built upon, and it's not what will make America great again. We've got to look at the source of why, if there's any kernel of truth in what these gentlemen are saying, how did we get to that point and how do we get it back? Look, I think it's a great point. And I mean, can we just get real for a minute?

When was the last time a white kid from Des Moines won the national spelling B? When was the last time a white kid from Des Moines was even in the national spelling game? Yes. And I don't blame that on the H-1, you know, the H-1B visa. No, I blame that on moms and dads who are maybe letting the kids play video games all day or sit in front of the TV and maybe they're not going the extra mile.

And I do think there is a culture problem in this country because for so many decades and generations, our work ethic was really unique. I mean, most countries, they take the three-hour lunch, then they take a nap. That's not the American way. At least it wasn't, right? We used to work 40, 50, 60 hours a week.

Americans were tough. And now we live in a culture where that kind of work ethic is not celebrated at all. And I think that's a challenge. We need to really take a long, hard look at who we are as a country. And that goes not necessarily to the government, but it goes directly to the home.

Are we raising up kids? To be tough, are we raising up kids to have that work ethic to get out there and be the very best they can possibly be? It is no coincidence Todd Starnes, who joins us on his own show. That's just so odd to say on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line, but it's no coincidence that we've lost that at the same time that people practicing faith. has dropped to the lowest level in recorded time.

Yes. It was Ronald Reagan who said that American greatness starts at the dinner table. This idea that the values that you're learning used to come from mom and dad taking the kids to church, sharing meals together every night at dinner time. And that's just not the culture we have anymore. I mean, and we have to be honest about that.

I think people are more excited to go to a soccer match than they are to go to church. And there was a time in the not-so-distant future, and gosh, this was going back into the early 2000s, where you did not have any kind of athletic events for kids. On the um, you know, on the on Sunday. That was a day reserved for church. It was a day of rest.

Of course, now with the with the onset of soccer, and it was especially soccer that that moved the needle here to where you started having soccer matches on Sundays for the kids. You then you had the traveling teams.

So church has really become an almost an afterthought across much of the country.

Well, two things that. Come to my mind in response to what you just said. Yes, we have all of these parents who go to the soccer matches, but how many of them are still staring at their blasted phones the whole time and not really paying attention, or they're busy trying to take a grainy video of the kid playing soccer and they're missing it in real time. But look at the lessons that we're getting. Nationally, I On Christmas Day there were what, two NFL games and six, seven, eight NBA games on television alone.

It used to be that Christmas Day siloed out. You did not schedule these big events. And so even families that gathered for Christmas, how many of them snuck over to the T V to watch a pro sporting event that they really have no other interest in? Yeah, it's a fair point. But I want to get back, though, to the issue on the Twitter, because this is a big deal.

And I think that people need to understand when you say America first, it means America first. And the idea that there just aren't enough well-qualified Americans for these jobs, I'm not buying it. I think there are. Go back to what happened at Disney, where you had all of these American tech engineers, and they were called in and they said, Your jobs are being eliminated. We're replacing you with foreign workers.

You have to train these workers, or you don't get a severance package. And there's a video on social media of a guy testifying before Congress, and he was just broke down. I mean, and. This is the kind of thing that I think we're talking about. We're not trying to cut off the best and the brightest.

We're just saying. America first, and then we can bring in if we have spots available.

Well, we can't have it both ways, Todd, because we're hearing, if you believe these posts, that there's a shortage. Of qualified workers at the high-tech end, but we also are told by those who want to keep these borders dangerously open that we're going to have all sorts of problems at the lower end of the work scale, agriculture, other packing plants, et cetera, because we can't find Americans who will do the work. And my answer is. You've artificially deflated the wage and the value of the jobs. At both ends, to where it's not appealing.

Certainly, there are plenty of Americans who would take the jobs for a fair wage. And the reality is that these are not we're not talking about high-tech jobs. We're talking about entry-level jobs that they're bringing in all of these Indians to the country. I mean, that's just a a reality. There's a Fox News story.

This was the headline a while back. One in six hiring managers have been told to stop hiring white men.

So when you're intentionally sidelining a large segment of the American population, yeah, I get it. But anyway, it's this is a mess. And I will say this, Elon and Vivek need to stay in their lane. They were tasked with finding and eliminating government waste. That's their job.

Tom Holman is the border czar. Let him handle all of that. Yeah. And I trust Tom Holman to do anything. Run ahead of me at the grocery store on a Saturday when it's really busy to clear the lane.

I mean, he'll clear a lane for anybody. I mean, I'm not getting in his way. Do you think that this would have gotten as much attention had there not been the check mark removal and deplatforming? Had it just played out organically, would this have become as big a deal? Yeah, I think so.

And it was a big deal before they started blocking folks and demonetizing them because it really goes to the heart of the Trump agenda. Keep in mind that Donald Trump, when he steps his foot into the Oval Office, he is a lame duck president. It's a one-term for him.

So, whatever he's going to get done, he's going to get done. He has to get done quickly. And we can't have any of these distractions, right? Everybody needs to be laser-focused on their job. These are all disruptors.

That's what Trump wanted. They've got to go in there and they've got to blow things up, and then we've got to build it back the way it was intended to be built.

So we can't have these massive squabbles on X. But again, the reality is Elon Musk pays the bills. It's his to own, his to decide. He gets to decide who has free speech and who doesn't. You can agree or disagree.

I think it's a lousy way to run X, but you know what? I don't pay his bills.

So should Donald Trump Get involved in quelling any noise about Mike Johnson's job. Um Mm-hmm.

So, look, my take on this has always been this: what Donald Trump wants, Donald Trump gets. If he wants a new guy as a Speaker of the House, then he should get a new guy. If he thinks that Mike Johnson could do the job, then Mike Johnson should stay. My point of view, my perspective, is that Johnson's got to go. I don't think he's strong enough as a leader to push through the Trump agenda.

And we're going to need somebody who is strong enough to do that. And I just don't, he has not demonstrated that thus far.

Well again, you don't come up with a 1500-page bill full of pork. As a continuing resolution and call yourself a fiscal conservative, that's a point you have made repeatedly. But it seems to me that they just need to get their act together and do it quickly because this drip, drip, drip stuff is really going to be harmful. And that's why, in essence, I'm thinking Mr. Trump needs to weigh in sooner than later, just so that we don't have another McCarthy situation.

Yeah, and we could. I mean, the House Freedom Caucus, they've already said, I think Congress and by the way, Thomas Massey, who's not even a member of the Freedom Caucus, says he's a no-vote, period. He's not voting.

So I'm not sure. that Johnson has the votes unless Democrats cross over and give him give him the leadership spot. But that's been the problem all along is that Johnson's been working with the Democrats to get through these massive spending bills.

So I don't know, Jeff. It's a tough one. Everybody says Mike Johnson's a nice guy, good church-going guy. But we need a leader. And we don't have one right now.

Starns for speaker. Gonna take a pass. That's a hard no. Speaker starns. I tell you, that's got a ring to it.

Oh my word. Yeah, I'm not too sure about that one.

Well, despite that nasty comment of suggesting you should be speaker, why would I wish that upon a friend? But thank you for letting me sit here today, and thank you even more for jumping in on this they got to get out of their own way, don't they? Yeah, they do. And everybody does. And everybody needs to take a deep breath as well.

You know, a lot of the vitriol directed at Vivek and Elon. Come on, everybody. Let's just breathe deeply here and focus on the big agenda. And by the way, the biggest, there are a lot of problems. Right now, we've got about 20 million illegals that we've got to evict from the country.

Let's start there, and we'll work our way down. Todd Starnes, thank you so much for joining your own show. Great show today. Great show. Thank you kindly, sir.

Mr. Starnes joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. More after this break. Jeff Stein in for Todd, and this is the Todd Starnes Show. Balance of Nature's Fruits and Veggies Supplements, Changing the World One Life at a Time.

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Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show. Great conversation with Todd in that last segment. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in is Todd takes today off to get energized for the next year, scheduled day off. As you could tell, he's nothing wrong with him. He's all fired up, and you can still follow him on the TwitterX and Gab and Truth Social.

And where else do I see him? He's everywhere. If there's a social media platform, it's at Todd Starnes or at Todd Starnes FNC on the threads and the Instagram. And you can follow me on the various socials at Iowa Politics. That's at Iowa Politics.

Coming up in our next hour, we'll speak, and Mr. Starns made reference to this, with Gavin Wax of New York. He's another one of those that lost the blue check mark as a result of speaking out about these H-1B policies. He'll join us in the next hour. Plenty of time for your calls, though, at 901-260-5926.

Why not call during the news while you're listening to the local top-of-the-hour news on your favorite station? Cassie will get you lined up, and we'll take your calls in the next hour. Coming up in the third hour of the program, return guests to this program, and I always appreciate the opportunity to speak with Craig Shirley, the presidential historian and advocate. That's coming up in hour three. And I'll also introduce you to a young woman named Lena Anderson, and you're going to hear a lot from her in the future years from Young Patriots for America.

That's all still to come. Hour one down, two more to go. This is the Todd Starn Show. Hi everyone, Tom Mustin here for the Legal Help Center. If you or someone you know were diagnosed with non-Hotskin's lymphoma within the past 20 years, listen up.

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Call 800-220-3800. That's 800-220-3800. Call Now, advertisement sponsored by Legal Help Center may not be available in all states. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. That's right.

I love this American. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed, welcome to hour two of a Friday edition of the Todd Starn Show, coast to coast on 150 fantastic radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarnes.com. Hello, fellow Patriots. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. You just heard him, though, at length in the last half hour, and we're going to pick up where that conversation left off in this hour.

If you missed the conversation, go to ToddStarnes.com later today and listen to the podcast, or go there now as you listen to the program. Todd has posted a piece on this episode. X Stripping Conservatives of their verification badges if they don't agree with Elon Musk's stance on these visas. You can read the story and get Todd's views if you missed them last hour at ToddStarnes.com.

Now, I'm coming to you from my home base at News Talk 1540 KXEL in Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, Iowa. The 50,000-watt blowtorch, scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views. Always a privilege to be with you, Starnes Nation, from the Liberty University studio. It is an open line Friday, and we would love to hear your calls. 901-260-5926, same number as always.

It's 901-260-5926. Cassie taking care of calls. Dylan at the controls of the mighty Wurlitzer. Ben arranging a great guest list.

So it's the regular crew, just the backup host, sitting here today and looking forward to talking with all of you. Also, looking forward to talking in this hour with Gavin Wax, the well-known conservative commentator based in New York. He's another one who's been, has had the The check mark.

sorta like uh the commission being ripped off of the uh uniform and branded. All right, there are nobody in the studio who's old enough to know that reference. You might, listening at home. Gavin Wax joins us before the end of this hour. And as noted, it's an open line Friday, so your calls at nine oh one two six zero five nine two six.

So, we've been talking about Republicans and. how difficult it is to govern. Because again In theory, this should be pretty easy. Donald Trump takes over in the White House. He's got a great partner in J.D.

Vance. They'll have a slim, but yet a majority in the House, have a pretty good majority with 53 in the Senate once the governor of West Virginia gets there. He's going to have to join a little late because of issues in that state and succession, but that's okay. They're all going to get there. It's going to be fine.

Well, except for the fact that everybody wants their way right now. And to Tod Starnes's excellent point, as per custom, last half hour. The only person who should get his way is Donald Trump And if your way is different than his way, then you need to get out of the way. Because Trump is the one that brought the MAGA mandate to D.C. And that's why I said that I think Trump needs to weigh in.

Not without making phone calls and assessing the situation. But at some point, sooner than later, he's going to have to weigh in on the speaker situation. Are the rumors that he's lost confidence in Mike Johnson true? If that's the case, Johnson's not going to make it. And they need to figure out who could get 218 votes.

The Democrats are not going to help out. They say, and I have no reason to doubt on this one, that They want to see the Republicans twist in the wind. and not be able to get a smooth start. Look, at the very beginning. of this legislative session of Congress.

The Senate needs to start to confirm nominees for Cabinet positions. We always talk about a hundred days.

Well, a hundred days is great provided you get your people in place. As I recall, when Mr. Trump was president the first time and there was a Republican Senate, his full cabinet wasn't confirmed until day 94 out of 100. How are you going to get a fast start? If it takes you until the cherry blossoms are in bloom to get your cabinet.

So the senate needs to get to it right quick. The House can take care of a number of things as well, so that mister Trump on january twentieth is not just signing executive orders, he may be signing real life pieces of legislation, and wouldn't that be a good thing? Yeah. Let's go to the phone. Sean is calling in from Mooresville, North Carolina at 901-260-5926.

Sean, Jeff Stein in for Todd. Thanks for calling the program. What's on your mind? How you doing, Jeff? I am excellent.

Yourself? Not so bad, not so bad. Every time you start hearing this nonsense, it gets you wild up. But I mean, you know, and this is something I talk to friends of mine with this whole thing that's going on behind the scenes. Trump really needs to get people in there to find out who is going to stop him, and they have to figure out a way.

to confront that And basically, this whole thing, like you were saying with Speaker Johnson, You know, it it's really funny how when you hand these people You know, the baton to run with it, they really know how to drop the baton in the middle of the race and make themselves look really stupid. And it's really unfortunate because, again, I thought you wanted your country back. Or are you just more of shenanigans that the rest of them want to play? And that whole thing with Elon Musk, I don't know what he's trying to pull now too, but now he's starting to make me mad because we need to clean up the mess before we can ask for anything, like he was saying. This whole Visa thing, You know what?

What about those people that legitimately are on lists who want to come to the country instead of the people that got let through? Right. The one thing. I mean My mother came from Scotland. She took us almost 20 years to become a citizen.

And then when I hear the stuff that they're well oh, we're just going to make them citizen no because they don't bring nothing to the table. They bring nothing. All they want is handouts, and that's where they're from, handout city. Where did how did that work out? It didn't work out really well from where they're from.

Well, it starts with the fact that if they came here illegally, their mindset was to break the law. That's and and once you do that the first time, it gets easier to break the law a second, third, and fourth time. And I'm telling you this as somebody who, as a lawyer, used to represent criminals.

Well, the thing that the thing that kind of bothers me too is living in North Carolina with our with our lame old governor there that did nothing for eight years except stupid crap. The thing that bothers me with this is I heard there was an emergency executive order that he had forty one to sixty one million dollars allocate towards this disaster that we took in Western North Carolina. We haven't heard a peep out of that guy since the second day after the disaster, because Representative McNeely was talking about it. And it's really interesting. I like to know where all that money went because again, Those people need the money.

What did he do? Give it to migrants? This is something, and I hate to say it. But anyone that's an enabler Be put in jail for being an enabler, you are an accomplice to a crime that was committed. The taxpayers Money.

And this has got to stop. We got to look at people and say, what are these people here for? And what's the reason? Because there are plenty of people out here that could get the job done. You just got to give them the training.

Well, I don't understand why they hover Towards this whole thing of people that have nothing to offer us, nothing to put on the table. All they do is, most of these people just bring more crime. This is things that drive me nuts every day. I'm like, all I try to do, I'm a small business owner. I try to make my way through to madness.

No one's handing me any free stuff. You know, I would say, what kind of business are you in?

Well, yeah, maybe you should come back in through the southern border and then you could fund anything you wanted. What kind of business are you in, Sean? Interested. No, in all luck, we get caught and arrested. Yeah, that's probably true.

That's probably true. What kind of business are you in? I'm a contractor. I do drywall work. Right now, I'm doing a built-in for somebody that is pretty extensive.

And I'm a carpenter in my trade. And again, it's just again, when that whole thing with COVID hit, I lost a lot of work because of all of that. Oh, yeah. And they weren't willing to throw me a dime unless I could prove I had like, you know, again, after you hear all the funny numbers about how these people were starving to death and, oh, we got to help feed our employees. And these people were worth millions and millions of dollars that got forgiven.

Meanwhile, I missed the I on a you know, I missed the dot the I across the T on my taxes and I got you know Mr. IRS knocking my door down. No, absolutely.

Now tell me more about is anybody asking questions about where all the money went and why it's not coming out of your state capital to the people who need it in western North Carolina? I don't know, but the thing that's bothering me is that this is the same old, same old nonsense because now you got Josh Starne coming in. He was Cooper's right-hand buddy.

So you're sitting here going, okay, you know, and this is the thing that bothers me Cooper. And I hope he's listening because I really don't like him, and I have never liked him. The thing with that guy makes me laugh is that the fact that The fact that he could have gone out on the best note possible, saying, you know what? I'm going to bail these people out. I'm going to help them get on their feet before I leave this office.

But see, this is what you deal with with the Democrats. This is their thing because now they're going to point the finger, but he can't point the finger at anybody because one of his own buddies are getting him now.

So this is going to be really interesting because there's people up there. I'm still hearing horror stories from up there. Nobody's set. Everything is still completely up in the air. It's a mess.

And none of these guys have any answers. None of them. you know? And it's it's really sad that these people are suffering, but they had to make sure they got the Biltmore Estate is up and running for everybody to come and and see the holiday extravagance and you're going, yeah, and you go about eight blocks down the road and you see how it's completely blown out. That's I mean, this is so upside down what's going on.

Sean, I appreciate the call greatly, and I do want to tell you, you've got this new governor coming in. By the name of Stein, we are not related in any way, my friend. No, I know, I know. I just want to be above board on that.

Well, that's the other thing, too. I just wanted before you cut me loose. That's the other thing, too, I don't understand with the Republican Party. They watched so many people go down the toilet that could have been a big difference. with the last midterms and this election.

And I'm not saying Mark Robinson was the solution. They blew him up. But nobody got in there to try to save what was there. Even if you get them in, you get them in and they work on it. We went Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and we went attorney general all went Democrat, which I don't understand how.

But again, I don't know, but I don't know how that's going to go for four years because I'm kind of worried. Because again, I don't know what kind of craziness they're going to unleash. On us for voting for Trump because that's the whole thing. They got to try to punish us. And, you know, how dare you vote for him?

Well, what do you do for anybody? You know?

Well, you do something every day. Not only are you running a business, you're making. things better By Being part of the skilled trades, and I respect that greatly. Sean, thank you for the time, and I really do appreciate the call. Have a very happy New Year, sir.

You too. Sean called in from North Carolina at 901-260-5926. I've tried to do some of that. You know, drywall work. Yeah, I'm going to leave it to somebody like Sean.

I have mad respect for the skills that that takes. And he called in. To the Liberty University Studio on this Open Line Friday. Why don't we take a break now? Let some more of you call in at 901-260-5926.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Star and Show. Are you feeling overwhelmed by the increasing cost of health insurance? Have you had enough of not having control over your healthcare dollars? Introducing ShareWrite: Healthcare done the right way.

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For healthcare done the right way. That's joinshareRite.org. ShareWrite is a program of IHS, one of the fastest-growing healthcare-sharing organizations in the country. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd today on this Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. That's the number that Dave used to call in from North Carolina, where he listens to the program on the talk station.

Dave, thanks so much for calling in. How are you? I'm doing okay. But like I told your call screener, I got in the car and heard the other guy. And I know from time to time, Todd likes to get a North Carolina update.

And I got this guy here.

Now that uh Now that Josh has been elected governor, I will be leaving the state. You know if Or the action by these Democrat I they're destroying the state. Insurance is out of control. Your insurance rates go up. Every premium policy.

Or every premium period, no matter what. Property taxes are getting crazy, but the property values, depending on where you are, are not going up. you know, we have a hurricane or something and Bagnite. The insurance center up here in New Bern bailed on me, and the people that they had me written with bailed on me. I was in an accident two years ago.

That company, I don't know if I can mention the name of the company on, but. The the company that insured the driver that hit me. you know, they're bailing on me. It's it's terrible here. And you know what?

There's no state laws for anything except that you have to have insurance for this, this, but there's no coverage. And the way that they're changing all the laws, it benefits everybody except the working guy.

Well, it's benefiting the insurance company. Right? I mean, if they're going to require that you have insurance for everything, that's nothing but keeping the insurance companies fat and happy, especially if they won't write you coverage. How are you supposed to follow the law?

Well, they'll write your coverage, but the thing is. Like when I got hit, I had a state trooper and a local police chief say, you need to go to your insurance guy and get him to act on your behalf. I went there and he said, Nash, call the other guy's company, it's on you. And the the company that covered the guy that hit me Literally, their regional guy out of Florida called me and said. I have no legal responsibility to pay your ER bill.

And they're just not seven and and You know, they're like so my insurance, my health insurance covered the ER bill and everything. but after it had gone into default.

So now I got to take care of all that. I mean, these insurance companies here, there is nothing holding them to task in North Carolina. Um you know, I'm I'm out here on the coast, all these military people were where we got Greg Murphy, you know, he doesn't care about the military, and he's on the Veterans Affairs Committee up there in Congress. He's got his little park. I'm sorry, Dave.

I've only got like a minute and a half. I want to know: what do you do for work and where are you going to move? If you're leaving North Carolina, your home state, there, where are you going to go?

Well, I'm thinking Texas, and I know that property taxes are Higher From the get-go there. But there is so much more freedom. And it's just and I know that it's questionable, but now that That uh things are changing in Texas. I would not go anywhere near Dallas or Houston or any of those, but out in the counties, and I would probably be out somewhere between Fort Worth and Abilene out in there. And they just there are not as many hassles about the littlest things.

And you can make a good living in Texas just like you can here. What kind of work do you do? I work for myself right now. I'm retired military. There's a bajillion of us around this area.

Sure. But the thing is, I can go I've got a lot of different skills. I can go to work automotive. I can do construction. I can do electronic work.

So I mean, there's there's jobs available all over the place.

Well, first of all, thank you for your service. You did the sort of thing that the rest of us didn't, and I'm grateful for that. And I hope that you I wish things were better where you were at, but I think that's going to be the answer. And thanks, Dave, for calling in from North Carolina. Do have yourself a happy new year.

And I think that's the point as we go to break that is important. You've got good, productive citizens who are leaving the places they love, their homes. because of the political situation. What is it going to take for some of these elected fish officials to wake up and understand that it's their policies? that are leading.

to people leaving their states in droves.

Now, I don't know that Dave has any ties to Texas, but he sure thinks it's a better place to be, and that's the reputation they have. Wouldn't you rather be a state with that reputation? As opposed to what we heard? We'll have more after this break. From the Liberty University studio, Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starn Show.

Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday. Plenty of time for you to weigh in at 901-260-5926. Later this hour, Gavin Wex checks in from New York on this America First situation. Speaking of first, you know, the First Amendment, under attack everywhere you look, but did you know you can protect your constitutional rights just by using your cell phone?

I'm not talking about what you're saying on the phone or who you're calling, who your provider is. That's the topic here, and it should be Patriot Mobile. Patriot Mobile is America's only Christian conservative wireless provider, always supporting freedom of speech and freedom of religion. And they are a proud partner of the Todd Starns radio program. Patriot Mobile offers dependable nationwide coverage.

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Thank you very much. Customer service team makes switching easy. You can keep your number, keep your phone, or upgrade because their team at Patriot Mobile will help you find the best plan for your needs. Go to patriotmobile.com/slash Todd or call 972-PATRIOT. And by the way, you get free activation when you use the offer code TOD.

So make the switch today. It's patriotmobile.com/slash Todd, PatriotMobile.com slash Todd or call 972 Patriot. 901-260-5926 is how you can join the coast-to-coast conversation on this Friday. There is something that there there's a level of subtlety, and then there's hit you over the head with a two by four. Subtlety.

And I noticed this over the Christmas holiday. C-SPAN, which is not government funded. C-SPAN. It was founded some forty years ago to show live debate in Congress. C-SPAN was for the House, then they started C-SPAN 2 for the Senate.

Well, when the House and the Senate are not in session, then you get all manner of other programs. And I enjoy the book T V stuff on C SPAN too, if there's an author that I think is interesting, etcetera.

Well, to fill time over the Christmas holidays, and I think it was still going on last night, maybe going on today, I don't know, but one of the C SPAN channels I think it was number two, was showing Trump cabinet nominees in their own words. And basically, it was a programming stunt where they went back through their archives and they found times that certain people were on C-SPAN. People who are now nominated for Cabinet level positions, and they're showing us what they said at the time.

Now in theory that might not be a horrible thing. But I just am suspicious.

Now, for example, Here at my radio station in Iowa, obviously agriculture is important to our audience. And when Brooke Rollins was nominated, by President-elect Trump to be the new U.S. Agriculture Secretary, I thought back it seems to me I may have talked to her in the past when she was in the White House during Trump one point zero. Sure enough, just a few weeks before the twenty twenty election, We talked to her on my station live about policy and what a second Trump administration would look like.

Now, delayed four years, obviously.

So we replayed part of that for the audience to say, Oh, hey, you remember? You heard her name. Remember, she was in the administration before. Here's what she had to say. But I saw as I was flipping past the C SPAN over the last few days, they're showing something of Robert F.

Kennedy, Junior from twenty years ago. And I just have to wonder Are they showing some of these things?

So that we are going to think less of these nominees? Are they saying things 20 and 25 years ago that is in? Direct conflict with what they say now? Or things that they might have said that would reflect poorly on President-elect Trump. I'm not putting anything past anyone, as I mentioned in our opening segment.

I mean, the depths that those who are threatened will go, we don't know how low they will go. You just have to assume it's all the way down.

So I'm just really suspicious of C-SPAN playing 20- and 25-year-old interviews. I'm sure they have more frequent or more recent ones. I I just wonder if there's a nefarious purpose here. Just throwing that out there because it's subtle. It's just, oh, hey, let's play some interviews with people that we've talked to.

I'm just not confident. I don't have the trust that I should have that they have our best interest at heart. You want to go throw an old congressional hearing on? Yeah, okay, that's fine. I just am concerned.

that, as we've mentioned, The left doesn't stop. And you've got to understand that. It's sort of like if you're playing cards or some kind of a game with somebody you know is a cheater. You're always expecting them to cheat. You know, or you're playing around a golf, and you know, this guy likes to kick the ball in the hole and not count the stroke.

Once you know that they do that, You know, you're hip to the game, to use a phrase no one has said in 40 years. Or 60 years. I mean, the idea is once you understand where they're coming from, you can react to it. And I think for far too long those on the right have been playing nice while those on the left are playing hardball.

Well, it's all hardball. They're still playing. Despite losing the election in record fashion, they're still playing hardball. And unless everybody understands that that is how the game is going to be played. You're gonna get your lunch money stolen.

It is as simple as that. I want to take the break early so that we have plenty of time with guest Gavin Wax on the other side. But we also have time today for your calls because it is Open Line Friday by tradition. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

We're coming to you as always from the Liberty University studio. I'm Jeff Stein, filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on this edition of the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and this Friday edition of the Todd Starn show, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. It is Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926.

We'll work your calls in as we can, of course. But let's go now to the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line and welcome Gavin Wax. Mr. Wax is a New York-based conservative. He is the president of the New York Young Republican Club and had one of those blue check marks unceremoniously ripped away on the Twitter X machine here in the last day or so.

Gavin Wax, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for joining us on the program. How are you? I'm great, Jeff. Thank you for having me on.

It's great to be with you. All right, so. I have to admit, I was doing other things yesterday and then by the time I looked back at social media, all heck had broken loose. What in the blazes is going on? And when did you figure out that that little check mark on your profile was missing?

Well, it's been certainly an interesting and tumultuous twenty four, forty eight hours on act between the MAGA faithful and what I would like to describe as the tech pros. who have allied with President Trump to beat Kamala Harris. But I think what we're seeing now is a fight over the future of the country, the future direction of this administration, particularly as it pertains to these legal channels of migration, in particular H one B. I think there's a lot of people that myself included view the H one B program with disdain. They view it as an anti American program that's not only taking jobs away, but suppressing wages and flooding the country with workers that we don't need that are only here to save big tech money and save them costs and prevent them from paying American wages for American workers.

So I think this whole issue blew up. And you had Elon Musk, you had David Sachs on one side, and you had a lot of OG MAGA Trump Republicans on the other arguing that migration, illegal and legal, is the core of the mandate that President Trump just won on.

So it's a debate that's going to continue to be had, and I think it's a healthy debate. It needs to happen. And unfortunately, now it looks like some people are getting punished for being on the opposite side of it. We'll see how that story develops. But certainly, interesting times to have Mm-hmm.

I want you to drill down and explain. I know a lot of folks in the audience fully understand, but just to make sure we're all on the same page, explain what H oneB visas are, who qualifies and why the program is something that should be tossed to the side as opposed to embraced. Yeah. Well, on paper and what the talking points are is that H one B is there to bring over the top of the top, the geniuses, the cream of the crop, these great talents from abroad, so we can take them and have them work at our companies and in our country and this will help the GDP or the economy or whatever it is they're trying to claim. In reality, that's not what H1B is.

It has nothing to do with geniuses. It has nothing to do with the top of the top. It's just bringing over six-figure amounts of migrants per year. It's 100,000 or so people every year that are brought into this country through this program. And they're working everything from cooks at hotels to plumbers to construction, all the way up to entry-level coding jobs.

I've seen postings for accountants. I've seen postings for middle management in these tech companies.

So it's just an immigration scheme. And what's happening in reality is you go to places like India and they have these fake colleges, these fake degree mills, where they're giving these people these fake credentials so they could qualify for the job. They're coming over, they're agreeing to work the job for pennies on the uh for cents Cents to the dollar compared to the American worker. And in many cases, the American worker who is actually trained, who's actually qualified, is training their replacement to get fired.

So we've seen this with Google. Google will go out there and fire 6,800 Americans and then rehire 5,800 H-1Bs. And they'll claim it's because there's a shortage, there's a labor shortage. Americans aren't going into tech. They're not going into STEM.

But that's simply not true. We have 500,000 students every year graduating in this country in some of the best schools and colleges in the world in STEM. But what's happening is that they're getting saddled with debt. They're coming out and they're expecting an American wage. They're not expecting a third world wage to work 80 hours for only 40 hours of pay.

And I think that's a completely legitimate concern that we should be paying our American workers what they're owed, what they're due, instead of trying to find cheap replacements for them.

So that's really the crux of this issue. It's not skills. It's not merit. It's just trying to find labor on the cheap, and Americans are getting screwed because of it. And it's a very sad situation.

It's full of fraud. You have these consulting companies that are just bringing over these H one Bs or putting them ten people to an apartment. They're basically treating them like indentured servants. And the H-1Bs are also victims here because they're getting abused, they're getting taken advantage of, they have no rights, they have no leverage. And that's why these companies want them, because obviously with an American, it wouldn't be the same situation.

They would have flexibility, they'd be able to push back, they'd be able to demand and fight for higher wages. But these H-1Bs, they can be sent home at any time at the discretion of the company.

So they're kept here in this legal limbo status for years.

So it's a corrupt system. I don't think it could be reformed. I think it needs to be abolished, and I think that was really the crux of this whole issue. You can follow Gavin Wax on the socials at Gavin Wax. He's our guest.

Joins us live on the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today from the Liberty University studio. mister Wax joins us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. And again, the fiction As it's played out, is oh, this is how we get the best and the brightest. But now we're figuring out that A, that's not really the case, but B, it is simply flooding a market.

With workers who are willing to Work for less in terms of money and benefits, and what that does is just. Tamp down the possible market for American workers. In other words, you got people who will say, and I've heard this a lot with regard to agriculture, and this is what the folks on the left say, Mr. Wax, when Mr. Trump talks about mass deportations.

Well, you need them for agriculture. No American would do those jobs.

Well, they do them for the right wage, but we have depressed the wage scale because of this infusion of people. in part H one B the cause of it. That's really it. I mean, why are Americans having to compete with the world, the entire world, for an American job? I mean, that's really what this is all about.

It could be agriculture, it could be entry level jobs, it could be mid level jobs. It doesn't matter It all has the same impact. It's depressing wages and it's putting Americans out of work or putting them in a situation where they're underemployed. And then they have the gull to turn around and say, oh, well, well, it's a steel issue. It's American culture.

You know, Zvek Ramaswamy posted this very hateful screed, and he got a lot of flack for it, justifiably so, where he was attacking American culture. He said children have too many sleepovers, they watch cartoons on Sunday morning, they have too many hobbies, too much free time, and all of this. And it's such a sick view because in reality, it is America and our culture that created the innovation through our creativity, through our culture that birthed Silicon Valley, that birthed the tech industry. We're the ones that are actually innovating and creating. China and India are not creating the new tech.

They're imitating it. They're stealing our technology and they're creating cheap imitations of it. But they're not the ones who created these great technologies in California or wherever else.

So our culture is not to blame. Americans are not to blame. We're smart people. We're industrious. We're energetic.

lazy. And I think it just showed that there's a certain scorn that many have in Silicon Valley for regular everyday American people. And they want to replace those American people, those workers, with people that are more compliant Who have no leverage and who can be abused and used and paid less. And it's a very sick system. It's very corrupt.

And as a result, we've seen many Americans move away from getting degrees in STEM.

So it's having this sort of, it's a problem that's perpetuating itself. Because why would an American, why would a smart, young, ambitious American student go into STEM when they realize that the other side of STEM, that degree in one of those fields, there is no job. There is no good paying job.

So of course they're going to go into finance. And that's where you're seeing some of the best American talents. They're going into banking. They're going into finance. They're going into law.

They're not going into science and technology. But that's not because they're not qualified for those fields, but they're just making a rational decision that they know, well, if I go into technology, I'm going to be competing with an H-1B who's going to do it for half of what I would be willing to do it for.

So of course they're not going to do it.

So they've completely screwed up the labor market, and it's only going to be screwed up more if we allow this program to continue. It needs to be abolished. or at the very least reform significantly to reduce the amount of people coming in and to raise the standards for those coming in. Because this has nothing to do with geniuses. This has nothing to do with future Einsteins.

And they're bringing in everybody from the plumbers to the scientists and the engineers and everything in between. It's a direct threat to American workers, to American labor, and it has to stop. I've got less than 60 seconds, so if they just freeze everything. No more people come in. We're just freezing the situation until we can figure out how to fix it.

Is that the best solution or what in the half minute I have left? I think that would be a huge step in the right direction. I think we need to end the program. I think the H one Bs that are already here need to be sent back. I think these companies need to be told you're going to rehire the Americans you laid off.

You're going to start offering American wages to these young recent college grads who are certainly qualified for these roles. And we're going to stop the flood. We're going to put a moratorium. We're going to stop it. And you're going to see overnight the middle class, the working class, they're going to get pay bumps.

They're going to get raises. They're going to be making more money, more money in their pocket. It's going to be one of the best Stimulus. financially for the American people in a very long time. You just have to stop the flow of cheap foreign labor, illegal or legal.

They're both insidious and they both need to be addressed. GavinWax.com is the website. His name on the socials, Gavin Wax. Mr. Wax, privileged to speak with you, sir.

Have a. Great New Year! Thank you to you as well. And Gavin Wax joined us to end this second hour of the Todd Starn Show on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Presidential historian Craig Shirley joins us when we come back after the top of the hour.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being along on the Todd Starn Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's right. I love this American ride.

Touch starts for you. Wherever you're listening across this, the greatest nation God ever blessed. Welcome to hour three of an open line Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show, coast to coast on more than 150 tremendous radio stations and streaming live at ToddStarns.com. Hello, fellow Patriots, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Coming to you from the Liberty University studio at my home base, News Talk 1540 KXCL in Cedar Rapids in Waterloo, Iowa.

The 50,000-watt blowtorch scorching the heartland with accurate news and reasonable views. Great to be with you on this Friday, 901-260-5926. That's how you can join the conversation. We'll get to your calls in the next segment. But joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is the author and historian Craig Shirley.

Mr. Shirley, Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for taking time, sir. You bad Jeff. How are you?

Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas to you, and I'm doing well, and I hope and trust you are the same. The most recent book. Thank you. The most recent book, I believe, written by Mr.

Shirley was released earlier this year entitled The Search for Reagan: The Appealing Intellectual Conservatism of Ronald Reagan. I'm also holding a book that he wrote a very thoughtful introduction to a couple of years ago on the humanics label called The Greatest Speeches of Donald J. Trump. And whenever I'm hosting this program and they say, Who'd you like to have? When Craig Shirley's available, I say all day and twice on Sunday.

So give me a sense of this rather unique time, as for only the second time in American history, a former president will take the oath of office a second time. it's something, isn't it? It really is you know, but uh But I'm writing a book now about the twenty twenty four Trump campaign's remarkable comeback. I haven't settled on a title yet. We've been banding that around.

But it is remarkable because the elite Still don't get it. They still don't understand. The Democrats are still. You know, still clutching their pearls. How could this happen?

How could this happen? Well, it's very simple to explain. You understand it. 'Cause you you have a national focus group every day.

So you talk to the American people every day, and you understand their concerns and their grievances and their fears. Their wants and their desires and all those things, something that the elites never get a chance to. partake in. They don't want to. That's more important, is that they don't want to.

Uh but you know I I've said Jeff, I said a number of times since this election and even before the election. You know, we've had elections that were a clash of col of a clash of politics, Republicans versus Democrats. And we had elections that were clashes of ideology. versus liberal. But this was a clash of cultures.

much like the election of eighteen twenty eight, and the election of eighteen eighty, first with Martin Van Buren versus Andrew Jackson. And then the election of nineteen eighty with Richard with Timmy Carter versus Ronald Reagan. This was a clash of two. uh competing and really they don't we understand their culture, they don't understand us. More importantly, they don't want to understand us.

They want to lecture to us. They want to lead us. They want to tax us. They want to regulate us. They want to control us.

But they really don't understand Our culture.

So that was what this election was really about. You know, it's really remarkable. And I'll be quiet here for you. But can you think of a presidential candidate could have had more thrown at him. In one year of a political campaign than Donald Trump.

Not with, you know, forget the two impeachments, which We're fraudulent. Forget for the the fraudulent law fare and assassination attempts. and so many things, Russia gate and other lies and other Hillary inspired lies and Ob other left wing inspired lies and have been thrown against this man, and he still wins. What is Resilience. of not just Donald Trump but of his issues.

One thing that concerns me about that, and I agree a thousand percent with everything you just said, but I I wonder if There's too much expectation on the part of the American people about what he can do. In other words, there's probably not another. Citizen of the 330 million in this country who could have done what he did. I just wonder if uh people are going to be fair Because as I said at the top of this program today, there are two things that could get in the way of the MAGA agenda: number one, Democrats, number two, Republicans. Yes, no, you mean the administrative state as in the form of Delcrat.

Yes, most definitely. The administrative state. Could And they plan on it. They throw on a plan that's thrown in his monkey branch and there is Plans, like for instance, secure border or evicting illegals or cutting wasteful spending, cutting inflation, things like they are there they are working Uh i they're planning now to to oppose him at every turn. And uh even if they know it hurts the country, they don't give a damn.

All they care about is power. All they care is raw, unrelenting Naked power. Control over people, and that is all they care about. And I think our side. has never understood what they really are about, how vile their their mission is, how vile their goals are, is that they don't care if the country goes into oppression, they don't care if the country is there at war, they don't care if the country is headed to or toward December or whatever else.

As long as they control, they must have control over people. That's all we care about. I think that's in part, mister Shirley, why when Senator Fetterman last weekend, I believe, on one of the Sunday chat shows said that he was not hoping for Donald Trump to fail, because that meant America would fail, that was news. That's the ludicrousness of it, is it not? Isn't it, you know, say something such a common sense.

Statement. I'm glad you pointed that out because I think that it slipped my mind. But it's such a common sense statement. And yet it's met with shock and and revulsion by some people on the left. How dare you wish that he succeed?

I dare that you wish that he succeeded and the country succeed. You know, that's just confusion. Contrary totally to what we're about and what our mission is, which is to stop him and destroy his agenda. You know, as I said before, the country would be damned. Craig Shirley is our guest on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line on the Todd Starn show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Mr. Shirley also has resurrected a group called Citizens for the Republic, and you folks are paying very close attention to government handouts. And it seems to be all the go these days. It's in vogue to say you're against government handouts if you're a member of Congress, but where have you people been all these years when you're voting for all this pork?

But talk about some of these examples of these folks who have pretty good bank accounts, but they're not too proud to take government money. No, you're absolutely right, Jeff, is that we've been the the group, which was started by Ronald Reagan in nineteen seventy six, after his uh his run for the presidency. Citizens for the Republic was his vehicle, his political vehicle for nineteen seventy seven, nineteen seventy eight, nineteen seventy nine, until he ran again and won in nineteen eighty, and then it kind of got it was active for a couple of years, then it got him got booked put on the shelf. But I I took it off the shelf and and revised it. And we've been making a go of it.

Now we've been getting involved with many important issues. Over the last couple of years. speaking out op eds and advertising, things like that. And one thing we've noticed Is that you know we're we're all for Uh, Bebec Rensami and Elon Musk mission to cut two billion out of the federal budget. We well, I I wish, frankly, it was four billion out of the federal budget.

Uh but two billion. One big target for them to focus on is the egregious, outrageous subsidies For constellation. Nuclear, which is a for-profit company. They make money hand over fist selling electricity to ratepayers. But now they want to revive Three Mile Island, which is and by the way, let me on the record is that we are pro nu nuclear.

We're very much for nuclear. We're for all for all energy for all forms of energy development. Um but th they want the American taxpayer Microsoft and Constellation want the American taxpayer to pay for the revival of Three Mile Island, which will cost billions and billions and billions of dollars.

Meanwhile, they're pocketing money and not laying out a dime for their own project. They expect the American taxpayer to pay for it. And we say that well, this is just wasteful government spending. It's just, you know, we're all for their development, but do it on your own, fellas, please. And it's not just this company or nuclear, and as you said, your group is in favor of nuclear, you're just not in favor of this project, but we see that time and time again of two things: government picking winners and losers, but secondly, that's the form of control, and we see it with all of this so-called green energy.

Well, it you know, it came about In Joe Biden's so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which is the most ludicrous thing, you know. any of us ever ever heard of, right? We're going to reduce inflation by spending money. I mean, that that violates every economic every economic theory going back two thousand years, right? You know, uh even going back to Diocletian in uh Rome, he knew that uh spending too much money meant uh inflationary econ economy.

So he cut he tried to cut but uh cut Rome's spending. Uh so we've had this battle for 2,000 years, and it's quite stupid. on the part of Joe Biden to say, well, we'll reduce inflation by spending more money.

So that's what this was parked. huge outlay of cash. for Constellation, these are these welfare queens. uh to to get all this uh get all this money so that Craig Shirley is our guest. The Search for Reagan, the most recent book released earlier this year.

He joins us on the Patriot mobile newsmaker line. Let me ask you finally: as Mr. Trump takes office, what is the reason? Is among the very first things that should be done that he can do. because again, Congress has to pass laws.

But among the things that he could do, what should be at the top of the list to either set the tone or say to those who voted for him, he was serious, he heard us, and this is going to be a good term? Out of the border, without the that is, Jeff, that is his signature issue. that's the signature issue is is the is the border. And he has to uh fulfill he has to close the border, he has to finish begin finish the law, he has to begin the process of importing Uh but my goodness I mean for Yeah. Burning Romania.

I mean, it's still out of control for illegals to go in this country that are trying to pay close.

So that's the signature he has fallen through on that. That will set the song for this administration for the next four years. Craig Shirley, it is always a privilege. Thank you for the body of work that you've created, and we'll look forward to this new book on the Trump Comeback. Thank you, Jeff, very much.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year to you, sir. And Craig Shirley, the noted author and historian, joined us on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line on the Todd Starns show. 901-260-5926 is how you can join this coast-to-coast conversation from the Liberty University studio. We'll take your calls in the next segment.

Jeff Stein in for Todd on the Todd Starr and Show. Uh Welcome back to the Liberty University Studio and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. 901-260-5926 is the number to call on this Open Line Friday. Hey, that's the number that Robert used to call in from St.

Louis, Missouri. Robert, thanks so much for taking the time. What's on your mind today? Hi, Jeff. Thanks for taking my call.

Yeah, I wanted to speak about this whole dust up with Elon Musk and Laura Loomer and Gavin Wax and people like that. All I have to say to them is one thing. Repeat after me. I never thought the leopard would come and bite my face off too. How stupid are these people?

Well, I think it's a matter of we just presume that there are always, you know, if you're with me, you're always with me, as opposed to everybody's always against. You know, I mean, and I'm not phrasing that well, but the idea is, to your point, well, they say they're on my side today. They're always going to be on my side in every issue. And you don't have to look very far. in people's history to understand That you're not going to have 100% alliance with people.

On everything. And so there's a little bit of, I don't know, mock hysteria. Did you hear Todd join us in the first hour with his comments on this? You MAGA clowns are so naive, so gullible, so stupid. It's unbelievable.

Well, not as stupid as somebody who doesn't have anything better to do but call a radio show and And instead of having constructive discussion, Be a clown. Um and to presume also that you know you MAGA clowns, but that's alright. not a big fan of uh people who think that they can Hijack an intelligent conversation. But that person aside, it is true, and I have it on my notes here. I'll hold it right up to the microphone.

There, that shows you. I have it on my notes. Because you can't assume that everybody who today is your friend And was it last week? That all of a sudden now they've found this new way. For example, We see people like Zuckerberg.

Coming down to pay homage to Trump. Hey, I'll give you a million for the inauguration. Or you get somebody else who comes in, and we'll give you a bunch of money. They're just buying a seat at the table, okay? They are still the same people that they were, and it either shows that they are just going to pay whoever is in a position to help them, and therefore they have no values.

Or they were co-opted at one point, at which point, in which case you think, well, I'm not really sure. You might be co-opted again the other way.

So trust but verify. As I believe Mr. Reagan famously said. 901-260-5926, and we'll continue to take your conversation your calls because that's what Open Line Friday is about. Even those who think that they're pretty clever to try to pull a stunt.

Well, that's fine. We let everybody vote in this country, provided that you have an ID. Oh, I bet his mind just blew on that one. There was something that happened on Christmas Day, and we talked about this a bit when Todd joined us during the first hour of the program. And if you missed that, the podcast will be posted shortly at ToddStarnes.com after the show is done.

But I made mention of the fact that the NFL plays games on Christmas Day. And it was a big deal this year because they were going to be on Netflix, I guess, the streaming service. I don't have it myself, but they were making a big deal about, hey, they didn't have any tech issues. Oh, good. That's a low bar.

But they said something like 65 million people watched. Oh boy, 65 million people! Biggest streaming audience for an event, and blah blah blah.

Someone finally put a little perspective on it and pointed out that last year when it was on real TV. eighty one million people.

So, all of this stuff about, oh, streaming, that's where it's going to be.

Well, yeah, if you want 15 million fewer viewers for the product, at least at this point. Damn. Coming up after this bottom-of-the-hour break, we'll talk with the founder of Young Patriots of America, and it gives us hope for the future. Jeff Stein in for Todd. This is the Todd Starr and Show.

Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the Todd Starn Show. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd on this Open Line Friday. Still time for your calls this hour: 901-260-5926. Todd will be back behind the microphone on Monday. Joining us now on the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is the founder of a group called Young Patriots of America.

They are online at youngpatriotsofamerica.com. Her name is Lena Anderson. Lena, thanks so much for taking the time. How are you? I'm good.

Are you? I'm very well, thank you. And I'll tell the audience now: I'm here in the state of Iowa, so are you. And I first met you in the summer of 2023, and that's when the presidential race was hot and heavy here in Iowa because of our First in the Nation caucuses. And you and your mother came to an event my radio station sponsored where we had a number of presidential candidates.

And one of them was Vivek Ramaswamy. How old were you at that time? I was 10 at the time.

So, what interested a 10-year-old? To the point that you would come to hear a bunch of political speeches on a Saturday afternoon in August. in Iowa.

Well, I've always really liked politics. I've always liked American History and Civics. And I wanted to hear the policies of Some of the candidates that Might be this nation's future president. And So I went and I We sent And you not only listened, but when mister Ramaswamy called for questions from the crowd, you raised your hand and wanted to talk to him. A lot of people in the room just kind of were afraid to do that or just sat on their hands.

What was it that you were looking for at that point from any of these people who came on the stage. Um I wanted to See if I asked the Vake Ramaswamy what He would do about what he thought about Uh young Children, parents. who believed that They were different genders or even different species. And he said that it was a mental illness. And I I wanted to ask him that because I was public schooled at the time, and that was happening a lot in my school.

So I wanted to see what he thought about that because I personally believed that it was a mental illness as well.

So, I think that's really what Started um our connection. um kind of a friendship now. And I really love how he speaks and I think We have kind of similar ideals. And Yeah.

So I just wanted to see what he thought on that topic, and that's why I asked. Lena Anderson is our guest on the Todd Starn show. Youngpatriots of America. com is an organization she founded. How did those other experiences, like speaking with mister Ramaswamy and just being interested in these things, how did that lead to an organization?

that your family helped you su sponsor and start.

So young patriots. of America is a program That I hope Inspires other young people like me to have an interest in civic education and patri be more patriotic. Uh In the preamble to the Constitution. It mentions securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves. and our posterity or future generations.

And I I believe that If Our youth doesn't care about this country and aren't patriotic. then the fight for America that's going on right now, it will be for nothing. And it's so important for our youth to learn about American history, civics, and the Constitution. to keep the values of liberty so that we can continue to have these blessings of liberty for our future generations. Tell us what the U.S.

Civics test is, and how is it that you thought it'd be a good idea to take that?

So the U.S. Die. USDIS civics exam, I took that at ten years old and aced it. The reason why I took this is again because of Vivek Ramaswamy. And he was getting A lot of Hate and criticism for his statement.

every person that Votes should be able to at least pass this civics exam and know at least a little bit about the country that they are voting for the president for. And People didn't like that.

So I wanted to prove them wrong. I was Agreeing with this statement as well, and I was getting a lot of criticism for it too.

So I wanted to. really prove everyone wrong.

So I became the youngest to ace it at ten years old. Yeah. And again, this is the test you're supposed to take if you want to become a citizen. And the position that you were suggesting is Those who were born here as citizens ought to know the stuff on the test too. Yeah.

All right, so how old are you now? If you were 10 when all of this big stuff happened, my math's not good today. How old are you now? I am now 11 and a half.

Okay, 11 and a half. I've also, and again, I'll remind the audience, you're hearing from Lena Anderson. Youngpatriots of America.com is the website. And she joins us on the Todd Starn show on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line. You've had the opportunity.

In the last year, year and a half, to speak to various groups. like county Republican groups at uh big events, et cetera. Uh what's the reaction when you are telling people what you believe And these are people who are obviously far older than you are.

Okay. Yeah, I think surprised by such a young person being involved in politics. That is mainly the reaction I get. And Yeah.

get a lot of support and I really appreciate that. And Uh my most recent event was at uh Black Hawk County. It was the uh Butler County fundraiser and I guest spoke with Uh Matt Whitaker. And he is amazing. I really love his policies.

And he's a great speaker as well.

So Yeah, I think That's the best answer. Mr. Whitaker, of course, former acting attorney general in Trump 1.0. He will be, if confirmed, the ambassador to NATO in Trump 2.0. I imagine it is you get a lot of looks when they say, here is this 11.5-year-old who's going to tell you about what she thinks about America, and they kind of give you a funny look when you start, but it sounds like they have a very different view by the time you finished your remarks.

Yep, I try I try my best. All right, youngpatriotsofamerica.com is the website. Lena, thank you so much for taking time to chat with us on the national program. Hope you and your family have a great rest of the holiday season and a happy new year. Of course.

Thank you for having me on. Absolutely.

So, the reason why I wanted you to meet Lena is because. There are times when we look around and say, well, the country's going to heck in a handbasket. And where are the young people these days? And we have been talking today about certain individuals who have been talking about work ethic and interest, etc.

Well, as long as we have young people who care enough to learn about their country. And to Make it a better place. At any age? we're probably going to be just fine. Lena Anderson joined us on the Patriot Mobile newsmaker line, youngpatriotsofamerica.com, the website for the organization.

And as I said, we met her a year and a half ago at a station event, and she came to the studio this past summer, just very impressive and strong family. And as she noted, Public schooled at that time. Not any longer. You can fill in the blanks on some of that. 901-260-5926.

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901-260-5926. Time for a few calls in our final segment from the Liberty University studio. Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Grateful that you're along on this edition of the Todd Starn Show. Welcome back to the Liberty University studio and the final segment of a Friday edition of the Todd Starnes Show.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd today. Thanks so much for being along with us, 901-260-5926. If you hurry, Cassie, I'll put you on the air and we can get another call in before the weekend. Thanks to Cassie and Dylan and Ben for, as always, excellent work at the mothership, the Mighty 990 in Memphis, and thanks to Mr. Starnes for not only allowing me this chance to talk to you one more time in 2024, but for joining the program, as he did during hour number one.

And it's interesting that we're talking about. The Republicans and can they get their act together? I mean, that's my phrasing. And as Todd pointed out, and he's shared it with you, he's not sure Mike Johnson is the person to do it. And that actually is the poll question that I put up at my radio station.

Every weekday at kxel.com, that's where I hang out, kxel.com, we do a poll question. And today's poll question, we invite you to weigh in. Question is simple: Should Mike Johnson continue to be Speaker of the U.S. House? Yes, no, or depends on alternative.

Should Mike Johnson continue to be Speaker of the U. S. House? We'll let the national audience vote on the KXEL poll question of the day. It's at kxel.

com slash poll. And again, that's where I hang out and do a program and commentaries and such. And you can follow all of that right there.

Okay. One of the things that I thought was interesting. And we saw it again today, and you probably heard about it on your newscasts in between the hours of this program. You know, all Donald Trump has to do is clear his throat, and the world pays attention. And The example for today is the fact that he's talking about 25% tariffs.

on Canada and Mexico. higher in China.

So the minute he said something about that a couple of weeks ago, boom The Prime Minister of Canada, Trudeau, could not get to Mar-a-Lago fast enough. To have the conversation. And today in the news, a delegation from Canada coming to Florida. To talk about these issues because they don't want the tariffs. What do we have to do to avoid the tariffs?

Well, maybe come correct on your other policies. I mean, that's a good start. Yeah. Contrast that With the poor gentleman who is holding the office now, and I say poor gentleman. Because again, I'm here in Iowa, covered the caucuses since nineteen eighty.

Joe Biden has darn near taken up residence multiple times, and so I have had multiple interactions with him on the campaign trail. The guy that's in there now, the guy that ran in 2020, it's not the guy that I met and that I knew. And it's sad for those of us also who have dementia in our families. It's tragic. That's what's so sad for so many of us to see him.

Because it brings back this flood of recollections from our own lives. Mm-hmm. And it's frightening. to think that He is the person in the office.

Now, obviously, I say obviously, he's not making the decisions. He's not deciding who to pardon. He's not deciding what bills to sign. He may know that he's in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, for Christmas and New Year's holiday.

May not. I don't know. It's tragic. It's just tragic. But that aside, Look at the difference in leadership.

and respect. That the former and future president commands on the world stage. That's what we are about to experience again in what 24 days, something like that. Can't come soon enough. It's going to take some time, friends.

for the mess to be cleaned up. But the fact that the world is paying attention. That is encouraging.

so that America can again take its rightful place on the world stage. Are there components of our society that have been taking the good life for granted? Absolutely.

Are there folks who need a bit of an attitude adjustment to get them? to be productive to their full ability. In the way that so many were to build this nation. Yeah. There's plenty of that.

But we've heard from folks on this program today. They work their keisters off. To make a living for their families. They have drive, they have initiative, and what they need is the government to not hold them back. They need leadership.

And we're about to have it again.

so that this country can realize its full potential.

so that we are respected on the world stage again, so that we are not taken advantage of. I don't care how cloudy the weather is in Washington, D.C. on January 20th. But it'll be a bright day, regardless of what the weather is, a bright day for the nation. And I for one am looking forward to 2025 for that.

Once again, thanks to Team Todd. Thank you, Mr. Starnes, and thank you all for listening. It's always a privilege. Blessings to you all for the new year.

Jeff Stein filling in for Todd. Thanks for being here for this edition of the Todd Starnes Show.