Speaker Johnson Faces the Wrath of Conservatives

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That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starr. Oh, yeah. And hello, everybody.

Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Show, and we certainly welcome all of you that are listening to this radio program. Many of you are watching on our Rumble channel, also on YouTube and X today, and we welcome all of you to the program. We have a lot going on. The team is in breaking news mode at this hour, and the first order of business will be for the House of Representatives to elect a new speaker.

Now, this is a little controversial, ladies and gentlemen, because there are conservatives who have said they would be voting no.

However, we understand President Trump has been working the phones. Brett Baier over at Fox just put out a statement saying that they believe that Speaker Johnson will, in fact, have the votes to be Speaker of the House. That vote will commence, and Ben Dieter is monitoring all of those developments in real time. And Ben, just hop in whenever we get word that the vote has happened.

So Thomas Massey is going to be a definite no vote. Mike Johnson can only lose two votes here, folks. That's it. He cannot lose anymore or it's over. They're going to have to go back and do it all over again.

But yesterday, we knew there were at least 12 Republicans who were no votes when it came to Mike Johnson.

So over the past, gosh, 12, 16 hours, there has been a full court press to go after these conservatives. We also understand through some of our sources that the Speaker's office has actually been paying conservative influencers on social media to back Speaker Johnson, which is something very similar to what Kamala Harris did.

Now, for the record, and I feel like this is important because you need to know this, but we don't get paid to say what we say. Mike Johnson is not writing Todd Starnes a check. Donald Trump has not written Todd Starnes a check. That's just the reality of it. But there are a lot of people out there, and we saw this happen during the primary.

when a lot of conservative talk radio hosts, many of them broadcasting during this time slot, were invited down to Ron DeSantis' home, and they were hobbinobbin, and they were feeding them the steak and the caviar and the shrimp cocktails. Yeah, we don't do that here on this program. We're not beholden to anybody, ladies and gentlemen, except you, the great listeners of this show.

So we're going to open up the phone lines here. What do you want your lawmakers to do? Do we confirm Speaker Johnson or do we find somebody else? I mean, that's really the question of the day. Our telephone number, by the way, 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926.

Now, Speaker Johnson was on Newsmax last night, and here's what he had to say about all of this. Big day tomorrow for you. Are you ready? We're ready. Look, I think we're going to get this done.

Everybody here in the House Republican Conference understands the necessity of the moment, the urgency of the hour. They know we don't have time for games and palace intrigue. We've got a lot of very important work to do. We have to deliver on the America First agenda. We got a mandate in the election.

President Trump got 77 million votes and House Republicans almost 75 million. That was a record for us. And that's a message that we've got to stick together. And if we stay unified, no matter how small our margin, and it'll be probably the smallest in U.S. history for a short period, we've got to get this done, and I think we will.

Well, we will see momentarily. And again, President Trump having to work the phones today to get Speaker Johnson across the finish line. I am not a fan of Mike Johnson, and I never have been. And I doubt that I ever will be, because I just don't trust this guy at all. I really don't.

But what I will say is this. This is the guy that Donald Trump says, you know what, I can work with this guy. and if Donald Trump says he can work with Mike Johnson well you know what that's good enough for me I mean it really is Donald Trump has taken a bullet for the country Donald Trump has been through hell and back he's been arrested he's been indicted he's been put on trial they've tried to bankrupt the guy so it seems to me that if you win an election in a and you win with a landslide mandate you get whatever you want even if it doesn't make any sense to me and this doesn't make any sense to me. But again, Trump is, when Trump steps into the Oval Office on day one, he is immediately a lame duck president.

So he doesn't have a lot of time to get things done, which is why he doesn't want some sort of a prolonged, protracted fight over the speakership in the House of Representatives. And if Johnson, if he steps out of line, then you know what, there's going to be, you know what to pay. Let's go to the phone lines here. 901-260-5926.

Sonny in Ocala, Florida.

Sonny, what's on your mind today? Hi, Todd. I cannot comprehend these Republicans. Don't they seem to get it through their heads? They don't have to like Johnson.

If they don't vote for Johnson, they're electing Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House. And I can't believe that they can't see past the end of their stinking noses. because, to me, Trump needs all the help he can get. It's not like the Republican Party has a massive majority. We all know who's running our country into the ground, and it isn't Republicans, but yet you'll have a Republican vote against Johnson just to spite themselves, but they are really sticking it to the American public when they do that.

And this is what really drives me insane is why the Republicans can never stick together on anything. In other words, they're run more by the Democrats than they are their conscience or the country, any sort of the country.

Well, I will say this. Let me jump in here, Sonny. And I will say this when it comes to people like Chip Roy and the others, Thomas Massey. these guys have their principles, and I respect the fact that they're not backing down. But there's also something called compromise, and you have to have that if you are going to be able to govern and govern effectively.

So at some point, if the entire caucus is supporting Mike Johnson, the other guys, the argument is the other guys need to get on board. exactly and that's what i'm trying to say after johnson's in and the president is elected and done what he wanted to do for the first hundred days you don't like him you can have put him up for a vote then but not now now president trump says he would like to have johnson as speaker of the house my god why can't they honor the honor the people that voted for donald trump rather than their own personal little fetishes is what burns me up to no end well with that crowd sonny i say there are a lot of fetishes that we probably shouldn't talk about on family friendly radio uh sonny gotta run my friend happy new year to you here's marjorie taylor green and i before you hear what she has to say. Speaker Johnson has done, he has basically been a clone of Kevin McCarthy, right?

So just, I want you to keep all of that in mind as we go through all of this, because Kevin McCarthy got his butt handed to him because he did not kowtow to every single thing the Republicans want. There's no daylight between the two now, none whatsoever. Let's listen to mtg you all have seen me disagree with mike johnson at times but you want to know something else here's what i recognize for the past four years all of you and myself included have put blood sweat and tears into electing president trump here's what i'm asking my colleagues to do let's put aside our pride let's put aside our egos and let's put aside the infighting it's time to come together as republicans i'll be voting for mike johnson we're going to elect a speaker and then we're going to swear in as members of Congress. And then on Monday, we're going to certify the most historic election in our nation's history. All right.

There you have it. MTG Thomas Massey, meanwhile, says he is a hell no on reelecting Mike Johnson. Here's Congressman Massey. If Chip Roy were asked to serve as chairman of the Rules committee. Would that be enough to get your vote for Mike Johnson?

Oh, no. You can pull all my fingernails out. You can shove bamboo up in them. You can start cutting off my fingers. I am not voting for Mike Johnson tomorrow.

And you can take that to the bank. Who are you voting for, Thomas? Who are you voting for?

Well, there you go. Wow.

So Olivia Beavers, she is a reporter for Politico. She covers Congress. And a group of conservatives and potential opposition votes released a document. And it's basically a Mike Johnson scorecard listing the multiple failures during the 118th Congress. And we're going to go through some of this.

But I am telling you right now, when you look at Mike Johnson and the work he has done, And there's really no reason why he should be reelected. There's no reason why he should be given another chance, except for the fact that this is the guy that Donald Trump wants. And if Trump didn't want the guy, he would be out, because he's been a complete failure, Mike Johnson has. And at some point, and I know that the argument is, well, it's a staff. It's a staff.

He inherited McCarthy's staff.

Well, at some point, you've got to man up and you've got to fire the people. If they're not doing what they're supposed to be doing, you got to fire him. But he didn't do that.

So what happened was Mike Johnson isolated himself from a lot of conservative thinkers and talkers, and now he's flying solo. And the rhinos pretty much control Mike Johnson. I mean, it's that simple. All right, we're going to take a break. Again, voting has yet to commence.

We are monitoring what's happening. This is the very first thing that they have to do is pick a leader, and then we'll move on from there. It's going to be a very busy day, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

By the way, Robin Hoffman joins us again, talking about the very latest coming out of New Orleans as well as Las Vegas, some weird developments. We'll be talking to her about that. Also, Rob Blewey, who is the president and executive editor of The Daily Signal, is going to drop by as well. We'll be right back, America. You know, we talk about what's happening with the economy.

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So again, And text the word GOLDEN to 24999. All right. Welcome back, everybody. Great to have you with us today. We are waiting for the votes to begin.

In the meantime, it's also open line Friday. Ben, I don't know if I'm the only person in America who feels like this. I have no idea what day of the week it is. this holiday, celebrating the holiday in the middle of the week, it has ruined my calendar, my schedule. It's Friday.

I just wanted to point that out. Appreciate that.

So that means it's open line Friday. This is why it's very important.

So that means you can also talk about whatever you want to talk about, even if it is not on the agenda today. Write down our telephone number, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926.

All right, let's go to John in Crawford, Georgia. John, what's on your mind today? I just got one question. Why is it that we can't do what we did when they got McCarthy out of there is just put a speaker pro tem in there temporarily to get Trump, you know, to certify him as president and then let him fight it out for the speaker after that. I just, Johnson's a total train wreck.

He's just, he's going to be another Boehner. He's going to be another Ryan. And I believe the only reason Trump wants him in there is if something goes wrong, he can blame Johnson for it. But it's just, I see this thing going to be a train wreck.

So here's how the process works. And Johnson has to, there has to be a speaker elected by January So there is a little bit of wiggle room, but not much. But until they elect that speaker, they can't do anything. You can't swear in the new House members. Chamber business cannot move forward.

And there's some concern about January 6th because they've got to be able to certify the election of President Trump. And if nobody's sworn in, they won't be able to do that.

So that's a big problem. Here's where we are right now. He can only lose two votes, and he's already lost one. And we know that Thomas Massey said he's absolutely not going to vote for the speaker.

So that leaves somebody else, Chip Roy, somebody else.

So what could happen here? And there is another avenue, is that if, because 218 is the threshold, all the Democrats are unanimously voting for Hakeem Jeffries.

However, the vote threshold is lowered if you've got a group of Republicans that decide to vote present.

So we'll see how all this plays out. There's going to be a lot of strategy today. And I think, look, for the anti-Johnson forces, I think it's going to be an uphill climb. John, thank you for the call. Let's go to Beth in North Carolina.

Hi, Beth. What's on your mind? Hi, Todd Starnes. It's so good to talk to you. I just literally was telling Ben Dieter that I saw the same thing you did.

Like, I don't know what day it is. It doesn't feel like a Friday because of the holidays. And you said it exactly when I was thinking it. And I just chuckled about that. And so you made me laugh on a Friday.

So happy Friday. Beth, happy Friday. I'm glad. I thought I was just, you know, I woke up this morning. I'm like, is it Saturday?

Is it Monday? I don't know where I'm at. No, I hear you. Wow.

So this is Joe, and I'd love to hear you talk. And I hope the vote's going to go the way it's supposed to. And I'd love to see you when you're on Mike Huckabee.

Well, you're very kind to say that. We love the governor, and we're so proud of him. He is going to make an incredible ambassador to Israel. I believe he will go down, Beth, as the finest U.S. ambassador to Israel this country's ever had.

Amen. I believe it. I just need to get invited to the ambassador's residence. I've got to get the tour of the place. I bet you will.

All right, Beth. Thanks for calling in, and thanks for listening to the show. All right, let's go to Portland, Maine. Phil is listening to us on WLOB, our last day on the air in Portland. Hi, Phil.

What's on your mind? Yeah, that's what I'm calling about. I called up, and they said, we're not changing it. We're going to go with, you know, with what they got, the new stuff. And anyway, you know, who's the one that made the changes?

Ray Richardson. No, no, no, no. No, that's, well, that's not it. Ray's a good guy. And, you know, Phil, we really, look, I own a radio station, and sometimes you have to make decisions.

I will say this, though, Phil. I was told by sources that hundreds of you, not just a few, but hundreds of you have been lighting up the phones at the radio station. You've been sending emails and text messages. I would encourage you to keep that up. And, you know, again, if you're a radio station person, a programmer, and you're getting hundreds of phone calls about a show, that seems to me that that's a show that you would want to keep in your lineup.

But not only me, but I think Sean Hannity is being replaced as well.

So I guess I'm in good company, Phil. But look, the good news here, Phil, is we have an app, so you can still listen to the radio show Noon to 3, or you can go to kwamradio.com, and you can listen to it that way, Phil. Anyway, I'm a Democrat, and I love your show. Phil! You've got the best show on air, even though I'm a Democrat.

I listen to you every day. I think you're the best. I really do. And so, I mean, you're just good. And what I like about you, you let people call in.

A lot of these shows talk, talk, talk. That's all they do. Phil, when I started this many, many years ago, I think seven years ago now, that was the plan is to be a caller-driven show. I love talking to it. I know Rush used to love talking to the listeners, and I do too.

Phil, God bless you, and what an honor it has been to be broadcasting in Portland. And again, folks, go to ToddStarns.com, download our free app, and you'll be able to listen to us. 170 radio stations around the country broadcasting this show. We'll be right back, America. The story of MyPillow is a testament to faith and transformation.

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Don't miss out. Order today. All right, welcome back to the Todd Stearns Radio Show. And we are still waiting for the first vote for the speakership. Thomas Massey, a no vote.

He can only lose one more, and he won't have enough votes.

So we'll keep you updated on that story as we move along through the day. A lot of questions about what happened in Las Vegas under the portico at Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas.

Now, there is a lot of weird reporting. The new scenario is the latest theory is that this guy may have broken up. There was a breakup. And that's what led him to blow himself up in the Tesla cyber truck. But there was a press conference late yesterday, and a lot of this stuff is just not adding up now.

So first of all, they're saying that the guy shot himself and then detonated, shot himself in the head, and then the devices were detonated. When you look at the surveillance video, there is no indication that a gunshot was fired. At least no one responded to that.

Now, it could be that Tesla Cybertrucks are soundproof and nobody heard anything. But it seems to me if you're firing a gun, especially at such a close distance, that you're going to hear something. But they're saying, no, we haven't heard anything.

So now we know that the body was burned beyond recognition, and they initially could not verify that the body belonged to the person they believed it was. but they were able to find the guy's passport and his military ID, which miraculously survived this intense inferno. And we've all seen the videos. It's amazing. The body was burned beyond recognition.

It was so, that fire was so powerful. The guns were burned. But the paper passport and the plastic ID, they were just fine. Does that make any sense to you at all?

Now, somebody posited a theory here. And I'm fascinated by this.

Some people are wanting to know if it's possible that the guy could have been shot somewhere else, put into the vehicle, and then the vehicle, the Cybertruck, was remotely driven to the hotel. As far-fetched as that may sound, folks, you can't actually operate a Cybertruck remotely.

So it's possible that this could have happened. But right now, we have a lot of questions. Many are now beginning to wonder if we're dealing with a false flag situation. In other words, there's something else that's about to happen, and the government is trying to take our attention away from that.

So I'm curious to hear from you as the details come out. are you convinced that we are getting the real story here, the truth? Are you convinced that we're getting the truth here? 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926.

Interesting story out of Greenville, South Carolina, by the way. The interstate there shut down. I-85, major interstate, shut down.

Some guy said he had a bomb on board his truck.

So we now know the identity of this guy. He's been charged with a number, a number of crimes. His name is Ahmed Jamal Alhendi. I don't think he's a Presbyterian, people. According to the booking information, there isn't a West warrant for pendency of ongoing removal proceedings.

You say, Todd, what does that mean? It means he was wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This guy was in the country illegally. Want to take a wild guess how this guy got into the country? Unbelievable, ladies and gentlemen, just simply unbelievable.

That's what we're dealing with here. And then you've got the situation at the Superdome yesterday with the Sugar Bowl. only about 60% of the ticket holders showed up. Everybody else went back home.

Now, this year's sponsor, Allstate, and the chief executive officer decided to record a video statement. And I want you to hear what the CEO at Allstate, this guy's name is Tom Wilson, what he had to say about the Muslim terrorist attack in the French Quarter. Welcome to the Allstate Sugar Bowl. Wednesday, tragedy struck the New Orleans community. Our prayers are with the victims and their families.

We also need to be stronger together by overcoming an addiction to divisiveness and negativity. Join Allstate working in local communities all across America to amplify the positive, increase trust, and accept people's imperfections and differences. Together, we win. What does that mean? No, sir, together we got blown up and run over and shot at.

That's what happened. What is he talking about here? You know, all he had to do was get up there and condemn in no uncertain terms this god-awful Muslim terrorist attack, pray for the victims and say, let's pull together and let's win one for the team, whatever. He could have said so many other things. But this is a bunch of woke nonsense.

This guy's out there saying that what we need to do is have some sort of a share circle with the Islamic radicals so we can all get, I don't know, touchy-feely. This is unbelievable. Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, says, maybe, and hear me out here, we should all agree that terrorism will not be tolerated in the United States. It's a good thought. Sean Davis over at The Federalist suggested that all you folks with Allstate insurance plans might want to find another insurance company.

He says, do you really want an insurance company that talks about murder and terrorism this way? And our good friend Brigitte Gabriel from Act for America said, it's time to give Allstate the Bud Light treatment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion will do nothing to stop Islamic terrorism. And again, the Muslim terrorists, they want to kill the Jews, and they want to kill the Christians, and they want to throw the gays and the lesbians off the rooftops, not necessarily in that order. They hate all of us, and they want to kill all of us.

Honestly, folks, it would have been less offensive if Allstate would have asked Dylan Mulvaney to deliver the condolence message while, I don't know, drinking a Bud Light. Unbelievable. All right, let's go back to the phone lines here as we wait for the speakership vote, 901-260-5926. David in California listening on our app. Hi, David.

What's on your mind? Hey, well, thanks, Todd. I hope you're going to have a good New Year.

Well, thank you, sir. Yeah, so I don't know if you're familiar with an idea.

Well, let me put it this way. what's more important to you or more valuable to you gold or bitcoin for me personally i'm a i'm a gold guy yeah it makes sense you know something tangible the electricity goes out the cryptocurrency disappears in the wisp of smoke or something So when it comes to the Speaker of the House I want somebody that got some courage and to not be somebody who'll just dance to whatever boss man tells him to do.

Now, the other day, Donald Trump said he wants to create a Bitcoin, a national reserve of Bitcoin.

So he wants to stock up on Bitcoin, and then he wants to help use it to pay off the national debt. But he wants to buy it with American gold.

So to transfer gold into Bitcoin seems like the dumbest idea I've ever heard. And if we end up with a Speaker of the House who just accepts at face value whatever boss man tells him to do, that could be enormously dangerous for America.

So I want somebody with courage, and I want this issue dealt with before we even get to the speakership decision point.

so i would take it that you are a no vote for speaker johnson well the guy has not proven himself to be courageous got it all right uh david thank you for the call uh 901-260-5926 i want to go back to this letter there's an anonymous letter going around and it's being shared among conservatives up on capitol hill talking about johnson's failures and they write in this letter about how Republicans have repeatedly added to the nation's debt. Republicans passed aid to Ukraine without the support of the majority of the GOP majority. They reauthorized the FISA Act, and they also took issue with how the latest government spending bill was handled. And it's a mess. It's absolutely a mess.

So my question is, look, again, who Trump once Trump should get. Trump's got a plan here, and somehow Mike Johnson fits into this plan. But I'm telling you right now, Johnson is no conservative. Not at all. According to the letter, the House must be organized to deliver on the historic mandate granted to President Trump and Republicans.

It currently is not as demonstrated many times over last year, and most recently the week before Christmas. And I'm telling you, this letter is a, it is damning for Mike Johnson. It is absolutely damning.

Now, Thomas Massey is arguing that if he fails on the first round today, a better speaker can be elected in a few hours or over the weekend.

So there you go. That's where we're at right now. All right, we're going to take a quick break, folks. 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. Hi, everyone. Tom Mustin here for the Legal Help Center. If you or someone you know were diagnosed with lung cancer or mesothelioma, listen up. This could be the result of asbestos exposure, and you could be entitled to significant compensation.

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All right. Congressman Tim Burchett out of East Tennessee. I just shared this four minutes ago on his X feed. Quote, this will go to multiple rounds. That means that more than two people are voting no.

And Burchett may be one of those guys. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out. But again, we are waiting for the vote to happen. Ben Dieter's monitoring those developments, and we'll bring them to you when it happens. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number.

That's 901-260-5926.

I want to go through and share with you some of the possibilities here, the scenarios that we're looking at. These are individuals who may be no votes, and I want to run through the names here. Andy Biggs, Tim Burchett, Eric Burleson, Michael Cloud, Andrew Clyde out of Georgia, Eli Crane, Andy Harris, Ralph Norman, Andy Ogles from Tennessee, Congressman Scott Perry, Chip Roy, Victoria Sparks, and Greg Stubbe.

So those are the lawmakers that we're going to be paying very close attention to as the voting commences here momentarily. All right, let's go to Statesville, North Carolina. Roger is on the line. Hi, Roger. What's on your mind today?

Hey, Todd. Talking about the two terror incidents, I think there is absolutely no correlation between the two other than what is just coincidental. The first thing, both of them were stationed at Fort Bragg. I was there 17 years. If the guy wasn't in my unit, I wouldn't have known him.

The guy in Vegas, 19 years in Special Forces. The other guy was an IT person somewhere at four headquarters. They would have never crossed paths.

So, Roger, how long ago were you there at Fort Bragg? How many years ago? Oh, 20. Is it possible because I'm just, I mean, and it very well may be that this is some sort of just a weird coincidence here. But I'm curious, though, is there something going on in the Army with radicalization?

I mean, are we – and this is the third or fourth Army person or Army veteran who's engaged in some sort of a terrorist activity. Just curious.

Okay.

Now, obviously, I'm not speaking for the Department of the Army because I'm retired. My son is in the Army right now. the fifth generation in our family to wear the uniform, and I'm really proud of that. But I don't know if it's a radicalization as much as it is it's a departure from the discipline that we used to have. What do you mean by that?

Well, when you join the Army, this is something people need to understand. Nobody goes out and holds a gun to your head and makes you join. There ain't no draft no more.

So when you join the Army, you agree to accept the Army standards.

So now, oh, well, you know, these groups and this group and this group and this group, they say they're supposed to have beards. Oh, well, let them have beards.

Well, the women want to have their hair longer.

Well, let them have it longer.

Well, you can't make these people work more than such and such. No, no, no, I get it. Yeah, I see where you're going with it. Again, I would say that the point I'm trying to make here, Roger, is the Army that you were in and that you served in, I don't believe is the same Army. It has changed.

It has gone woke. And there has been so much emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion that we have lost mission focus here. And it's not just the Army. I think the Air Force is just as bad.

So, Roger, appreciate the call, and thank you for listening. By the way, have you seen the story of the reporter who was able to get inside the New Orleans terrorist, the terrorist in New Orleans? She was able to get inside his trailer park. This trailer is not in New Orleans. It's in Houston.

There's a lot of confusion online. but the reporter walked in before the FBI ever got there so the first person inside that trailer was a reporter who was who was taking people on a tour I mean there was all sorts of crazy stuff there you had the Quran you had all the bomb making materials it was all there and she was taking your I mean she was in yoga pants and people were really upset about that they felt like she should address more appropriately if you're going to break it in or into somebody's trailer. But now, and again, now they've got the bomb squad out there.

So how is it this reporter was just allowed to walk right on in? It makes absolutely no sense, ladies and gentlemen. There are so many bizarre, weird things surrounding these two stories. It just doesn't make any sense. All right, I want to play something here.

This is, let's see, where is that soundbite? Oh, here we go. Jim Jordan on Fox earlier today had to correct the record. Cut number nine.

Well, I got bad news. Congressman Bob Good just tweeted out he will not be voting for Mike Johnson.

Well, remember, Brian, Bob Good has left, so I don't, And maybe there's some other name, but Bob Good is, you know. Oh, can we check that? Yeah. Were you saying it? He was, Bob Good lost that close primary back in that Virginia seat.

John McGuire is the new member there. John will be voting for Mike Johnson for Speaker.

So I think it's still just Thomas Massie's indicated he won't support the Speaker. But I'm hopeful that everyone else will. All right, good point. he's not there anymore so i shouldn't have brought that up my my bad all right there you go folks uh voting has now commenced we will keep you updated uh after your top of the hour news break when we come back also we're checking in with robin poffman for the very latest on the terrorist attacks right now johnson has 10 votes we haven't got to the m's or the r's yet so we'll keep you updated as we move on through the show. By the way, check out our social media platforms.

We provide breaking news when it happens on all of our social media platforms. Hang tight, everybody. This is Open Line Friday on The Todd Stern Show. a priority parking space? I only work remotely.

How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over?

You don't run a daycare, you run a business.

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

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

Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Z's and Z's. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call redballoon.org and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.

That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. RedBalloon.org. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. That's us, that's right. I love this American ride.

And hello, America. I'm Todd Stearns. Thank you for joining the program today. What an honor to be with you. We've got a lot going on.

And as promised, at this very hour, the first vote for Speaker of the House is underway. Mike Johnson fighting to keep his job.

So far, he's doing pretty darn good. As a matter of fact, Tim Burchett, who just said there would be multiple votes, So went ahead and voted for Johnson today. The two people that we need to be paying close attention to, Chip Roy and also Thomas Massey. Massey is a definite no vote.

So it really will depend on Chip Roy if push comes to shove and if no other Republicans join the opposition here. Right now, they are in the J's.

So we'll keep an eye on that. Other big story we're following, the investigations into these attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas at Trump International Hotel.

Now, the uncle of the guy who blew up the or blew up inside the Tesla Cybertruck says none of this makes any sense because he says his nephew happened to be a big Trump fan. And they don't understand what's going on here. This is from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and the uncle is now questioning whether the explosion was in fact intentional. Matthew Livelsberger, the driver there, he was a Trump supporter and had served in the Army Special Forces. And his uncle said if he'd wanted to really hurt anybody, he could have.

Things are not adding up. That's why I don't think it was deliberate. He had the skill set to cause damage.

well let's go to the patriot mobile newsmaker line uh good to have robin poffman back on with us a great journalist robin um any developments anything that you that you are concerned about from from our interview yesterday on the show yes i will tell you todd and good afternoon to you and all the listeners i will tell you what's what's really bothering me is i've done a little digging into this Turo, T-U-R-O dot com, for how this guy rented that vehicle that he blew himself up in in front of the Trump International Hotel. And that's the app that both of the guys use to rent their vehicles. Correct.

Okay.

Correct.

So I've seen ads going through the nation's airports. You see ads for them on the wall. I was recently in the Philadelphia International Airport, and I looked it up. And it's basically one of these apps where, let's say you have an extra car and you want to make a couple of bucks off of your vehicle. I'm able to go online and rent your Tesla or whatever kind of car and not actually stop at a desk.

You can pick that vehicle up at an agreed-up location.

So there's no Hertz or Avis or National Desk. And so one of the reasons, there's going to be two reasons to be doing this. One, that you're trying to save a little money and not have to pay the airport fees for the rental. Or B, the most obvious reason that you want to be under the radar and not be on camera renting the vehicle. And so I just think that there are no coincidences in life.

I'm not a conspiracy person. And I think that both of these vehicles, the white truck on Bourbon Street rented by the radical Islamic terrorists, and then this nut in Las Vegas, clearly they were looking to avoid detection in their mind. Have they been able to positively identify the Vegas guy? They had initially said that he was burned beyond recognition, and they were relying on the passport, which somehow miraculously survived the fire. Yeah, that's odd to me.

Right? And they're also saying that he had some very unique tattoos. And, you know, one minute you're saying the body is charred beyond recognition, and then the next thing you're hearing from law enforcement in Vegas is that they were able to identify him from odd tattoos.

So which is it?

So, you know, the Vegas thing really bothers me on a multitude of levels, and that is that when we had the shooter out in Las Vegas from the hotel that shot up all those people, that mystery man at the Mandalay Bay a few years back, we never really got the truth about that situation. A little distrusting of law enforcement in Las Vegas. Clearly, again, we have some terrific officers out there that patrol. That's a 24-7, 365 city, and they do a great job, especially the firefighters that put out that fire and, you know, a minimal amount of people. I mean, one person is too much to get injured in that blaze.

But you have a lot of people working very hard to protect the public in Las Vegas. But I'm not sure what I believe, because if you're in a fire at that level, at that heat, how you could recognize a tattoo on someone does not make logical sense in my mind. And how is it everything burned up except for the paper passport and the plastic military ID? That didn't make any sense. But there was one other weird thing they said that he appeared to be shot in the head before the explosion.

And it seemed to me somebody in that press conference should have asked a very quick follow-up question. yeah which came first what do you do you you hit the button you know 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 that you're going to blow up and then shoot your head in the interim in that remaining nine seconds the story just doesn't add up in las vegas which is why i don't believe any of it um putting that on the hold button i would say what where i still believe there are connections is that they were both in the U.S. military, the terrorist from the New Orleans situation, and this person in Vegas, they're both happening in the same day within hours of each other. They're both renting from a car app that you're trying to, you know, rent under the radar. And they were also overseas together.

They were also at Fort Bragg in North Carolina at the same time. I just seem to think that there has got to be a connection. This guy just didn't suddenly drive from Colorado, rent this car, have the explosives. This is a premeditated, very well thought out. You're buying, you're renting a car that's constructed.

It's an Elon Musk product. You're in front of the Trump Hotel. I also don't believe that this guy was a Trump supporter. I think that that's also a bogus narrative. I don't know if you saw the report, so the trailer that the New Orleans terrorists lived in in Houston, Texas, you had a reporter and she just walked on in before even the FBI showed up.

And she's broadcasting all of this inside this crime scene that she's right smack in the middle of. And this is mind boggling, the number of screw ups here. Yeah, and I'll tell you, that's a very, you know, as much as, you know, I've been a reporter for over 30 years, and as much as I would have wanted to, you know, go in there and see what I could see, that whole thing could have been booby-trapped, and she could have gone up in a fence, and you can snap your fingers. You know, what an idiot. Also, it wasn't locked down.

I would also say, what a dump. I mean, you had the goats and the chickens and this really run-down trailer for people who haven't seen this nightmare of a place that this guy was hiding out in right next door to a mosque. And apparently he had the Koran open to a certain passage, Todd. They had the bomb-making materials in there. The whole thing looks really, really bad.

And also disturbing, we haven't heard a lot about, is the Airbnb. I've been getting a couple of calls from people I know. It's in the St. Rock neighborhood of New Orleans. And he rented this Airbnb and was actually assembling additional bomb-making materials.

And either he set it off to erase his fingerprint there or some of those bomb-making materials went off because there was a fire in that Airbnb, in that house that he rented in New Orleans, probably about no more than 10, 15 minutes from Bourbon Street. And by the way, we're also being told that the mosque sent out a note to members telling them not to talk to the media, not to talk to the FBI, and instead to refer all inquiries into the Council on American-Islamic Relations. That is, I don't know, that's a red flag for me, Robin. It is. And Todd, I don't know if you remember this, but back in the day when you and I were working together at Fox News Radio during the whole situation with the Fort Dix fix, and I was sent out to a mosque out in the Midwest that had connections to the radical Islamic terrorist thugs who wanted to blow up Fort Dix in New Jersey.

and I went out there and was dressed undercover, baseball cap dark clothing, kind of low key, you know what I'm saying? I wasn't dressed like I was going to celebrate New Year's Eve let's put it that way and I went and I talked to a couple people in a parking lot and it was the same thing they always, even back then we're talking over 20 years ago all said hey by the way call CARE, the Council on Islamic relations and i got the big you know uh no go no sound bites oh we didn't know this guy talk to care so that is their standard line robin um curious to get your thoughts on this um yesterday big controversy um a lot of frightened people on the interstate i-85 out of greenville uh there was a guy who claimed to have a bomb in his truck and turns out that he's a muslim guy and there is an ICE detainer on this, I guess, would-be terrorist or want-to-be terrorist, it goes back to the concern that there are more attacks coming in this country. Yeah, and sadly, I read online that in the Virginia area, you know, down 95, they found all sorts of bomb-making material in somebody else's house.

So there's a lot going on behind the scenes that we clearly, the American people, don't know about. Again, we are reminded what we spoke about yesterday with Senator Kennedy of Louisiana, who clearly to me feels he didn't say it, but you kind of got the impression that there's some sort of nexus to terrorist cells, or cells, plural. They don't want to scare people. I get it. but I am, for one, very glad that they were able to play the Sugar Bowl and get that over with as kind of a trial run yesterday in New Orleans prior to the Super Bowl coming up in February.

And, of course, a lot of people don't realize this in the country, Todd, and your show is all over the United States. Most people think that Mardi Gras is Fast Tuesday one day. This year it happens to fall out the first week of March. But Mardi Gras parades that lead up to all of this, and there are easily 50, 60 parades, they actually start this year on Monday, on January 6th.

So you're going to have hundreds, if not thousands and thousands of people circulating through New Orleans from now through Mardi Gras in March. Robin, I need to step in here because we do have some breaking news to share. Breaking news now on the Todd Starn Show. All right. We can confirm that Congressman Thomas Massey out of the Commonwealth of Kentucky has indeed lived up to his promise and did not vote for Mike Johnson as speaker.

Instead, voted for Tom Emmer. The voting continues. We're waiting to get to the R's to see what Chip Roy does. and robin if chip roy votes against johnson then we're gonna have to have another vote it's infuriating it's like i think that these this is a situation where you've got to swallow hard even if you don't like the person for the greater good of the country and i really hope that chip roy can uh you know i love his feistiness i believe in a lot of you know the things that he wants to see happen to the country and the agenda, the Trump agenda, the conservative agenda. But I think he needs to put all of that aside for the greater good.

So we have a speaker, we can certify Trump's election and start the Trump agenda at 1201 on January 20th. Todd, did you want to get to the absolute insanity and liberal policies of ESPN. I know I heard from you, you had sent me a text about it. Last night, my husband was watching the game and I said, oh, did they do a moment of silence? Star Spangled Banner, prayer at the beginning of the game.

And my husband says to me, I didn't see it. I didn't see anything. And then it turns out that these libs at ESPN didn't show it they did it inside the louisiana caesar superdome but it didn't air for all the public to see i find the whole thing absolutely outrageous you know what's even worse about all of that um and again espn it aired on other channels so this was an espn decision and for them to exclude all of that especially with what happened and the emotions of it it's just really despicable uh The New York Post said several factors played into it, and one of them had to do the awkwardness of the transition out of a commercial break. I'm not buying any of it, Robin. No, neither am I.

Those are absolute excuses, and you and I both know people at all of these networks, and their liberalism comes before all else. And in the mind of liberals, terrorism doesn't exist. They are always sweeping it under the carpet. People like Chuck Schumer, a senator from New York City who should know better. They, you know, the terrorists blew up New York in 93 with the World Trade Center, 9-11.

We all know what happened. And still the guy is is hardcore leftist and allowing all. You know what bothers me? That border, as we speak right now, Todd, is still open and going to be open until noon on the 20th. with all of these potential terrorist thugs sneaking across.

It is frightening. Robin, we are super late for a break, but there was a lot of stuff happening, breaking news in Washington, and we always appreciate your great insight.

Well done. Thanks again. Thanks. All right, there you have it, Robin Puffman, ladies and gentlemen, on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line. Ben Dieter, I understand you've got some new intel.

That's right. Another one of those swing voters against or for Johnson was Rep. Andy Biggs. And the team pointed this out when they called for Andy Biggs and his vote. He sat there and said nothing.

That in the first round. All right. You wonder if they're going to go back to him at some point, or is he just going to be a nothing vote? That makes no sense. All right Ben Teter thank you Again oh here we go Yes we just had looks like Ralph Norman just voted Norman voted for Jim Jordan That means Biggs doesn have the votes Or Biggs I sorry Johnson doesn have the votes We got to take a break We be right back I don't really like working.

I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions?

aggressions. You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare, you run a business.

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

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

Do you have a game room? My pronouns are Z's and Z's. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call redballoon.org and skip those high-priced recruitment agencies. Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation.

That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. Redballoon.org. johnson simon simon jeffries simpson simpson johnson all right uh here we go ladies and gentlemen uh we are going to be heading to a second vote as it now stands three republicans voting against johnson and andy biggs did not respond when his name was called neither did chip roy so we are still going through the um the official first roll call of votes and once that happens they'll start it again And as we saw happen in Kevin McCarthy's speakership, it's over and over and over again until we finally either pass out or we like somebody. All right. Got to take a break here, folks.

901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926.

This is The Todd Stern Show. I don't really like working. I'm going to need a priority parking space. I only work remotely. How are your safe spaces?

Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're triggering me. Is this interview almost over? You don't run a daycare.

You run a business.

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

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

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

Call 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. That's 833-880-0600 for a free consultation. RedBalloon.org. All right, welcome back to the Todd Starnes Radio Show. Happy to have you with us on a very busy breaking news Friday.

So here's the deal. They're about to wrap up the first roll call vote. And as it now stands, we're going to a second vote. At least three Republicans have voted for someone other than Mike Johnson. and we will be voting all over again here momentarily.

So Ben Dieter's monitoring the developments here on Capitol Hill, and we'll keep you updated. We'll break in if there's something important that we need to share with you. In the meantime, I'm just really excited to welcome this next guest. They are doing really a tremendous job in the journalism world. When a lot of digital publications are going belly up, the Daily Signal is they're cooking, folks.

They're cooking it every single day. Rob Blewey is the president and the executive editor of the Daily Signal, and he joins us on our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line today. Rob, what an honor to have you with us.

Well, Todd, it's great to join you on this momentous day. Wow, we're witnessing history before our eyes. Yeah, it's fascinating. As it now stands, we understand Andy Biggs and Chip Roy did not say anything when their names were called. It makes you wonder what this is going to look like in the round two of votes.

Oh, it sure does. And so as I understand it, some of those members who didn't vote that first time around will get an opportunity on before they close out the voting on the first round, they'll have an opportunity to once again cast a vote.

Now, they could just stay silent. And this could basically end, as you've indicated, with going to round two. But these three Republicans who have voted for someone other than Mike Johnson, and we knew about one of them going into this, Thomas Massey's made very clear that he is under no circumstances going to support Mike Johnson today, tomorrow, or next week. And so these other two Republicans and those who have remained silent makes you wonder what they're holding out for and what they'd like to get from Mike Johnson in exchange for a vote. I mean, yeah.

And earlier today, of course, President Trump, we heard reports that he was reaching out. Originally, there were 12 lawmakers who were going to be no votes, but President Trump working the phones on behalf of Mike Johnson. And honestly, Rob, I think everybody understands that he is not necessarily the strongest of leaders, but Donald Trump, for whatever reason, believes he's going to be the guy that can get his agenda through the House. And if that's the case, then let's give it a shot here. Todd, I think that there will be a different dynamic in Washington with Donald Trump as president.

Mike Johnson was obviously dealing with a Democrat president in Joe Biden and a Democrat-led Senate. And so he did not necessarily have all of the negotiating powers that he may have liked. With Donald Trump in the White House and John Thune, the Republican leading the Senate in this 119th Congress, they probably won't face as many difficult challenges. That being said, there are some things that Mike Johnson did that Republicans strongly object to. I mean, one of them came over the funding for Ukraine.

Another one happened in December with the spending bill. There were some people who thought that he should empower individual members more. He was not able to get across all of the 12 spending bills. And so you can go down the list and you can point to certain things that Republicans were dissatisfied with. And that's why I think Mike Johnson has put out a statement just within the last hour saying that he is going to work with President Trump's team and Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy specifically to make sure that he addresses these concerns that they have over government spending.

Rob, I want to turn our attention to the media coverage of the terrorist attack and whatever happened in front of Trump International Hotel in Vegas. I was really taken aback by the media coverage. According to the media, you actually have pickup trucks waging jihad across America now, not actual human beings, but they're blaming it all on the trucks and the cars, everything except for the people that committed the crimes. I'm just – and again, I don't know why we didn't see a single headline that said, wow, it wasn't a white Catholic guy after all. It's amazing.

And you would have thought that so many in the media would have fixed their mistakes after that horrific incident in Germany, the attack on the Christmas market, when they faced the same type of criticism when they all referred to it as a truck and they didn't necessarily point to the cause. I mean, in this case, clearly radical Islam and this individual's association or certainly affinity toward ISIS played a big role in this. And I do not understand why people in the media are so afraid to just call it out and speak like it is. And that's something that takes people like you, Todd, and folks like us at The Daily Signal to make sure that we're putting the pressure on them to tell the truth to the American people. That's it.

And I have to imagine you guys are pretty excited about what's about to happen. this transformation in the press room. We understand from Caroline Levitt, the incoming press secretary, that she's going to open up some of those seats to unconventional media. And I have to imagine that would include folks like podcasters. It's about time.

I give a lot of credit to Sean Spicer for what he did at the beginning of Trump's first term. Remember, he tried these Skype seats where individuals, the Daily Signal was a beneficiary later in Trump's first term of accompanying the vice president on a couple of trips where we served as the pool reporter. That means we were given the opportunity to report back to the rest of the media in the White House about what the vice president was doing on those particular trips. And so I think that they've taken some important steps during the first term. But Caroline can certainly come in and shake things up even more dramatically.

And I think it's overdue. And Todd, I'll tell you why, because in August of 2023, they kicked the Daily Signal and about 440 other reporters out of the White House press briefing room. And I think it's time for Donald Trump to bring some of those people who were given the boot an opportunity to have a seat in the room once again. And this isn't a matter of just, you know, giving a friend, you know, a step up here. We're talking about a situation where most people are now getting their news from places like the Daily Signal, from X, and not the New York Times or the Washington Post here.

We're talking about an audience and reaching an audience. That's right. And that's why I'm in favor of not removing anybody. I think it would be a mistake for Trump to tell members of the establishment or legacy media that they're no longer welcome.

Now, it is a small room, so you've got to figure out a way to accommodate everybody. Maybe you don't have seats and maybe it's standing room only. I'm not exactly sure how you solve that problem, but you're absolutely correct. We need to be recognizing that in this year, 2025, there are individuals who don't work for those big corporate media giants who deserve a seat in the press room. And in some cases, they're podcasters.

In other cases, they might be social media influencers. And Rob, you know, those are not very glamorous accommodations. During my years at Fox, I was our fill-in White House correspondent, and my office was literally a tiny little closet. And the only benefit was I was literally right next to the hazmat suits, which they had piled up into the corner.

So if we came under attack, at least I was in a good spot there. But those are pretty darn cramped quarters. They certainly are. And that's why there are some who say just boot them out of the White House altogether, take them over to the old executive office building or some other other space, bring the White House pool back. Remember, that space used to be a swimming pool before it was converted into the press room.

But yes, I've seen the space, Todd. I know what you're referring to having that close proximity to the president and his staff is a privilege. And too often these White House reporters have abused it. You'll remember that Trump had two big run-ins with people like Jim Acosta and others during the first term where he tried to remove them or at least ban them temporarily from the White House premises. And they lost those cases in court.

And so I think he needs to proceed with a direction where, again, I stress, you don't want to necessarily be limiting anybody, but you want to open up the opportunity to more people.

Well, I got to tell you, Rob, you guys are just really crushing it, doing a great job, breaking a lot of stories and growing an audience as well. DailySignal.com is the website. Again, DailySignal.com. Rob, we'd love to get you back and as well as some of your reporters breaking these important stories. Thanks, Todd.

We appreciate all you do. Thanks for getting the message out. And we'll be following the speaker race and everything else very closely throughout the day today. All right. Should be a drinking game by the time it's all said and done, I do believe.

Thank you. All right. Rob Blewe, everybody, president and executive editor of The Daily Signal. You know, it's interesting. I spent, gosh, a good two or three years going back and forth between New York and Washington, filling in as our White House correspondent on Fox News Radio.

and uh but i don't know why why this worked out the way it did but the obama press people actually liked me this was believe it or not circle back sake when she was white house press secretary and they just enjoyed hanging out so they'd come down to the fox closet and when i mean closet it was literally there was room for one person that was it uh in this tiny little closet and ben And, Diener, you would think that the White House press mess hall would be state-of-the-art. You'd be serving us, you know, they'd be serving us shrimp cocktail and all these other great things. You know, I don't know, caviar. We had a vending machine. That would describe and explain so much about our meat.

Maybe if they fed them like chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A, we would get a better price score. I'm pretty certain Chick-fil-A was not welcome in the Obama White House. You know, it's funny. I got in trouble with Robert Gibbs, who was the original press secretary before Jen came on. And I was just making, I had taken a picture of the vending machine.

And I'm like, what's up with this? And then I went into the bathroom, and I'll be doggone. You would think the White House, you would have Charmin, right? The double-ply Charmin, very soft and fluffy. They had single-ply, cheap single-ply toilet paper.

I mean, I know the country at the time was in economic turmoil, but come on, we got to sit down a lot.

So you got to be comfy with your tush. Were you guys all friends, even if you worked for different news networks? Was the rapport there? Yeah, yeah, I think so. I mean, everybody was cordial.

I remember back in the campaign trail during the Obama election, my seatmates were Ann Compton from ABC and Don Gagne from NPR. And we became pretty good friends. You know, you're sort of like on a trip together, a journey or an adventure together. And I will say this. There were some, you know, like Mother Jones, a lot of the leftist publications, far-left publications.

They were very unkind, unpleasant people. All right, folks, we've got to take a quick break here. 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926.

This is The Todd Stern Show. all right um by the way one of the things we're trying to do with our our digital and our tv is we're upgrading and we're doing a lot of upgrades and it is a process so we're just getting started but those of you that were watching us on our youtube or rumble you were actually able to see rob lewis so we're adding a lot of video components and elements and we'd love for you to check us out you can watch it we just really want the the video portion of this to be a lot more enjoyable and we're adding a lot of information uh there so uh deter where are we at here what's happening uh at uh on capitol hill i don't know it looks like they're hurting cats i just saw congressman tim birchett a good friend of the show he's wearing his his car hearts um they're all walking off the floor as we speak they're in recess right now what happens there goes Mike Johnson. He's right out the back. I bet this is when they call in the pizza, the Domino's, the Papa John's, and start what they say whipping votes with pizza. Badgummit.

Yeah. That's happening right now.

So we'll see. They get in those office, those closed door meetings, go to Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, say, yo, what can we do in round two that would convince you to vote for Mike Johnson? That's all happening now. I was reading somewhere that if they get If they give Roy the chairmanship of the House Rules Committee, then Johnson wins.

So you're right. There's a lot of haggling behind the scenes now. All right. Thank you, Ben Dieter. Let's go to the phone line.

Steve in Atlanta has a question. Hi, Steve. What's your question?

Well, first off, I think they need to send some of your butternut biscuits up there instead of that pizza. But anyway, I would like your feedback comments on two ideas on the press room, the White House Press Corps. First would be a lottery or a raffle kind of thing. You just put everybody's name in there, all 120 New Year's organizations, and pull them out until the seats are full. Or you have left, right, and center.

So you fill up the left side with the left-leaning and the leftists and the liberals, which would happen pretty quick. Then you'd put Fox and stuff like that in the middle. And then you'd have a potpourri to choose from on the right, you know, shows like yours or people like you or the guy that was just on from the Daily Signal. And then fill up those seats and just divide it in a third, a third, and a third. What do you think?

I kind of like that idea. It seems to me that that would be fair and balanced.

So, yeah, Steve, I like that idea. All right, well, maybe somebody out there in the muckety-mucks might consider it. I will send Caroline a message because I like that. Caroline, Steve from Atlanta has a thought.

So if that happens, Steve, you know that you're responsible for it. All right, well, I'll pray that it does. All right, Steve, thank you and appreciate you calling in. Let's go to Connor in Boston. Hey, Connor, Happy New Year.

To you as well, my friend. I'll tell you, when it comes to Mike Johnson, you know, I'm with you on this. I support Mike Johnson. I'm going to take President Trump's recommendation on this one. What he needs to remember is the MAGA world has an incredible good sense of rhino.

Okay? And he needs to remember one thing. If he does not get the Trump agenda across the aisle and up to the president's staff, if he turns into another Paul Ryan, the members of Congress and the president need to put on their steel-toed boots and kick this guy as far back to Louisiana as possible. And he also needs to remember that they can primary him, too, which they should do if he does not put the American First agenda and the Trump agenda forward. Because we do not have time or the patience, very frankly, to deal with another Paul Ryan.

Yeah, no, we don't. And there has to be the first time we have to call to vacate the chair. I mean, that's the way that's got to be. I mean, there's no way around it. Conor, yeah, go ahead.

This person right here is somebody who, you know, is a swamp creature. This is somebody who used to come on great shows like yours, and then suddenly just disappeared when he became the House Speaker.

So, personally, I'm not a fan of him, but if President Trump says he's the guy, then I support him.

So here's the issue.

Well, there are multiple issues, but you're right about that. He would come on this show on a pretty regular basis. And I know that a lot of these guys, they love our audience. And we have a massive audience, not just on the radio, but also digitally. We have one of the top conservative websites out there in talk radio.

It's unbelievable the numbers we have. And so, yeah, these guys, they want to come on the show. They want to get their message out. And they know they're going to get a lot of attention as a result of that. and mike johnson took advantage of that and as soon as he was named speaker we were immediately shoved out the door i got a problem with people like that yeah that's enough reason for me not to like this guy you know we'll give him the benefit of the doubt he's a rhino in my opinion but let's give him the benefit of the doubt oh no no he is a rhino and the question is will he will he follow the directions that president trump is going to is going to dispatch and that's that's the big question.

Connor, got to run, my friend. Good hearing from you. Happy New Year. You know, it's interesting. There's a great story.

Remember, there was a press conference when Obama talked about the cops acting stupidly. Remember that press conference?

So I was, this was my very first press conference to cover, and I was supposed to be sitting in the back of the massive room full of reporters, but apparently the NPR reporter had done something, had really ticked off the White House. And so anyway, the NPR guy, good, good, good guy, and he was showing me the ropes and we're walking in. I'll never forget this. We're walking in and he says, now, Starnes, I'm going to be sitting here on the front row and you're going to be sitting way, way back in the back. and then Jen Psaki comes over and she goes well actually NPR reporter we've made a change you're going to be sitting in the back and Todd we want you to sit right here on the front row and it was hilarious there's a great photograph on social media of me sitting with all of these left-leaning news organizations it was one of these things is not the other great it was a great memory all right Hang tight, folks.

Hour three coming up. Waiting on the next vote. We still do not have a speaker. This is the Todd Stern Show. Live from the Liberty University studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch.

That's us, that's right. I love this American ride. Todd Starnes.

Well, hello everybody. Welcome to the Todd Starnes radio program. I am your host, Todd Starnes, your voice of truth and hope across America. And I hope that you are having a great day. We've got a lot of chaos up on Capitol Hill right now.

and fear not ladies and gentlemen they're going to get all of this worked out and it's going to be good no matter what happens but we can tell you that the first speaker vote went down in flames mike johnson did not get the votes he needed so there will be a second vote and if need be a third vote and the reality is that there could there could come a point where you have another person and throw their name into that, but we're nowhere near that right now.

So just hang tight, and we're going to let you know when the next vote happens. But again, those who said they were going to vote no voted no, and nothing's going to be able to change their minds.

So we'll see how all this plays out. My question is, who, though, if not Mike Johnson, who? Who would you like to have as the Speaker of the House? And by the way, it doesn't have to be an elected member of Congress. you could have a civilian so who do you like 901-260-5926 by the way today also open line friday and that means you can talk about whatever you want to talk about but give us a call 901-260-5926 by the way i have to play this audio kamala harris um had a job it's a pretty simple job she had to lead the senators in the pledge of allegiance.

Here's how that went down. Join me in pledging allegiance to our flag. Pledge allegiance to the United States of America. Ben, it sounds like she's already been into the box of the Josh. I mean, can you blame?

Wait, I'm actually trying to be sympathetic to this woman. There she is. She's swearing in all of these new senators. And she was the woman that should be being sworn in right now, essentially. And she's having to swear in all sorts of folks like the new senator out of Pennsylvania, J.D.

Vance is, of course, the senator from Ohio. He's in the chamber with this woman smiling from ear to ear. I don't think she's having a good time.

So did she get into the bottle of Josh? I don't know. But how do you butcher the Pledge of Allegiance? Thank God we dodged a bullet with this one. Wow.

By the way, Paul Shanklin says, but we can be assured that Matt Gaetz will not be speaker. And also, it's not.

So Matt Gaetz is now the host of a new show, apparently. I keep calling it OAR. It's OAN. Yeah, OAN. One America News?

I think that's it.

So his debut is last night, this morning, because he's now in the news business, Todd. He's joining the ranks of people like he's no longer a congressman. He's a broadcaster.

So he comes out this morning with a big old prediction of what would happen with that first vote. Mike Johnson will be the next Speaker of the House, and it will happen on the first round. Fake news. Fake news, Matt Gaetz. Fake news, sir.

By the way, this may be impolite. what happened to his face did you notice that people are talking about that it's like the main story you never want your face to be the main story no and they're blaming people are blaming the makeup artist they're blaming the lighting it's but and and the eyebrows are no longer it's not it's not either it's not either it's botox someone got in the botox really men men do get botox no they do not really box news yes i mean you can look it up most of those people have Botox. They changed their face for TV. And it's just, I guess, the unspoken role if you're going to be on TV and you're kissers on the big screen, you've got to change your face.

So he changed his face and he looks unrecognizable. Yeah, I just don't get that. It was off-putting. Yeah. It was sort of roly-poly.

The eyebrows are in his hairline.

Sort of like a weeble, you know, with eyebrows. But yeah, they used to be arched right i'm just curious what happened botox happened todd botox we could get you some the team the team has offered it everybody on tv gets botox so todd if you want botox i know you're on balance of nature but this is the shortcut um you just everything goes to the heavens they pull everything up we'll leave that up to the audience but i think the audience would prefer me the way I am. Body built by pork. That would be a great gym to be a member of. You have a smoker in the back.

Who needs Botox when you have pork butts? That's what I'm saying. Right. I mean, you know, I look, here's the people never could figure this out. They really couldn't.

I mean, when you see me walking down the street, the first thing you think of, you don't think of is, oh, Fox News Channel TV star. And people couldn't figure it out. They could not figure out the appeal. And I had to laugh because the appeal was very simple. I'm the only person on that channel that actually looked like a Fox News viewer.

Right? Everybody else was, they had the Botox, and they were lifting this and the that, and they had the big poofy lips. I've got that. Look, people said, where did you go to school to learn how to do broadcasting voice? I said, this is the voice God gave me.

These are the lips God gave me. They're not poofy. They're man lips. And the ladies of the Todd's starred, because I've seen the Christmas cards, they love those lips, just the way God put them on your face. Thank you for that, Ben Dito.

You're welcome. A little creepy, but thank you. It means a lot. I'm just the messenger. all that to say um and and just some advice for matt gates you got to be yourself and if you're not yourself on the radio or on tv or wherever you're just not going to be able to connect with you know you're not going to be able to connect with your audience you're just not going to be able to do that i literally go home and i will watch the indy griffith show that's just kind of what I do.

So, by the way, this story out of Seattle, Washington, this is really shocking. Seattle Washington the headline popular restaurant unable to survive even one day after the new an hour minimum wage law went into effect couldn even make it one day The increased minimum wage took effect on the first day of 2025. The previous rule says businesses could pay workers $17.25 an hour as long as they made at least $2.72 per hour in tips or medical benefits.

So they interviewed a woman named Corinna Luckenbach, who runs the Bebop Waffle Shop. She was forced to permanently close her business at the first of the year because of the new measure. She says, this is financially just not going to make sense anymore. Because just for me, the increase would cost me $32,000 more a year. She wrote a lengthy post on the Bebop Waffle Shop's Instagram page.

What a great name, Bebop Waffle Shop. She said they're having to close after 10 and a half years. This is tragic. What do you think is going to happen? What do you think is going to happen if they tried to implement something like this nationally?

Every fast food restaurant in America would go out of business? No.

Well, initially, they would charge you $30 for a Big Mac, and then they would go out of business. She says, I hate to close. Oh, this is great. And this is the best part of it.

So the Bebop Waffle Shop flips her waffles both ways, if you know what I mean. Here's what she wrote, Ms. Luckenbach. I hate to close a safe space for queer people at this time, but the money just isn't there after the minimum wage increase. My hope as a boss has been that every employee leaves better than when they started, and breaking the news to them split my heart.

I feel bad for the lady. I mean, queer people need a place to go get their waffles and pancakes and sausage. Jeez, Lou, this is terrible.

So there you have it. I doubt that's going to be the only restaurant to go belly up. I really do. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number that's 901-260-5926 but i've got to tell you a funny story so when i moved to um sacramento to anchor the news at kfbk where rush limbaugh launched his national program i was um asking for recommendations i lived in the midtown area the midtown area of sacramento not too far from the state capitol and so i asked some of the folks in the newsroom hey where's a good place to get a burger? And so everybody laughed and smiled and they said, oh, Todd, you got to go to a place called Hamburger Mary's.

Hamburger Mary's, Ben Teter.

So I thought, wow, okay, everybody. And I said, really? And they said, oh yeah, you're going to love it. You're going to love it.

So I'm like, all right. I was moved for a great burger. I just moved to Sacramento. I thought everybody was vegan. and so it was nice to find a place that served beef.

So I sit down and I kind of went like at 2 o'clock. It was sort of the off period, so there weren't many people there. And as soon as I sat down, I realized there was something very off about the hamburger joint because all of the waitresses were in drag. Yeah, Hamburger Mary's is like a gay or drag burger joint. It's not even a bar.

It's like a restaurant. It's a diner.

So you're telling me that full-grown, hairy men and dresses and wigs were handing you your patties. Yeah, it was really weird because they were all the good patties. The burger was pretty good.

Okay.

Not going to lie. It was pretty good. I got it without the special sauce. I didn't want to ask questions.

So I'm sitting there, and the waitress comes or the waiter comes over, and I'm thinking, man that guy's got some that gal's got some big hands and um it turned out to be man hands they do say men can cook better than women i don't want to start anything on your show todd i don't know if that's true but they say men chefs are typically better and that man could be in you know a skirt i don't know but it's still a man oh geez aloo all right at least the burger was going that's he's complaining i thought wow so they were pulling a joke on me but it was a good burger i'll tell you that much um okay let's go to the phone line here uh bob in north carolina hi bob what's on your mind uh did anyone ever tell uh president trump of the problems he was causing by appointing three reps out of the new Congress. He was reducing three votes out of his Congress.

So what bothered you?

Well, why is that a problem?

Well, look at the problem we've got right now. If he had those three representatives back in Congress, Johnson would have passed today. I would contend, Bob, that the issue is the missed opportunities during the campaign. A lot of those folks in the House should have won and they didn't win because they did not live up to the promises they made to the voters back two years ago. That's how I'm looking at it.

I'm not saying you're wrong here. I'm just saying I'm not sure that Trump is to blame for this.

Well, I'm not blaming him. I'm just saying that, you know, if somebody would have told him, hey, President Trump, you know, you're taking three votes out of the new speaker vote on January 3rd. He may have had reconsidered appointing some other people to those positions anyway. All right. Could be.

I thought Gates was elected to this Congress. Why couldn't Gates serve in this Congress?

Well, that's a fair question. But Gates was really wanting that starring role on One American News.

So he could have. There was no reason why. It was up to him. That was his decision. Yeah.

Okay.

And one more question. Why does the press even need a closet in the press corps room or area? Why don't you just go from your business over to the press conference once a week and do your thing? Yeah, that's how they used to do it. I mean, all the way up till, was Richard Nixon?

I'll have to go back and take a look at that when the press briefing room finally opened. But look, that's a fair point. And, you know, Trump caught holy you-know-what because he was going to do that. He was going to revert back to the way it used to be done.

So, yeah, there's no rule that says you've got to give office space to the New York Times in the White House. Bob, good call. Folks, got to take a break. 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, so let me explain what's going on here. They have not gaveled the vote closed yet. You say, what does that mean?

Well, it means that Johnson could still end up winning the race. And I say that because he just took out Congressman Self and Congressman Norman, taking him out to the woodshed. and if you've got lawmakers that want to change their votes, then Johnson could end up winning the speakership here.

So we'll keep you updated on that. Let's go to the phones. John in Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, great town. Hi, John, what's on your mind? Oh, for just a little bit, and I thank you for taking my call.

I had to comment about some of the newscasters, I think, are not giving the New Orleans police a break with the incident that happened the other day.

Some of them say that, you know, the city wasn't ready.

Well, if you've ever been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras or a football game or any big Mardi Gras, the police are ready all the time. This time, they were not ready for a terrorist attack.

So I think they need to correct their comments and say, well, they were ready, but not for this to happen. John, I wonder, though, is the criticism being directed at the police department or at police leadership and the mayor's office?

well i'm i'm assuming i'm a uh former resident of the new orleans and i'm assuming that when they get ready like for mardi gras everybody is included everybody police chiefs police sometimes the louisiana national guard get involved well we understand the national guard is there now, I think the broader concern, and I see nothing wrong that the police did, the problem was the security barriers that were supposed to be in place, the money had been allocated, but those things were not installed. And that's on City Hall. That's on the police commissioner there in New Orleans. Yeah, I agree with you, but I still think that New Orleans police are, in part, got a bad rap because they were not ready, according to the media. Yeah, John, I would agree with you on that.

I've seen one of the more, I guess, poignant moments was when the screams happened and those police officers on the video just took off and ran towards the danger. They didn't even know what they were running into.

Well, it turned out to be a firefight, and two of them got shot.

So those are good people in my estimation. Yeah. Well, I thank you for the call, and just remember that nobody's perfect, but not everybody can be ready for anything that comes along. Yeah, well said.

Well said. All right, John, thank you, and hello to all of our great listeners out there in Lafayette, Louisiana, and all over America. 901-260-5926 is our number. That's 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Stern Show. breaking news now on the todd starn show all right well during the break ladies and gentlemen we had an interesting development and we can now tell you that speaker mike johnson has been re-elected as Speaker of the House.

So here's what happened. Congressman Self and Congressman Norman changed their votes.

Now, they did not gavel the vote closed.

So there's been a lot of negotiating and arm twisting. And we don't know what happened and what led Norman to change the vote, his vote or self. We're going to find out. But anyway, it doesn't really matter because Mike johnson has now secured 218 votes and will be the new speaker of the house i want to go right away to our patriot mobile news maker line and say hello to the mayor of knox county tennessee you know him as the great wrestler kane i know him as glenn jacobs and he's a great patriot uh mr mayor good to have you with us today hey todd thanks for having me on and by the way did i see you. I know Marsha Blackburn had a big shindig up in Washington.

I thought I saw you there. Yeah, I'm up here with Senator Blackburn. She was sworn in today by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, which was pretty cool to be able to be part of that and to just see that happen. And I know that Senator Blackburn is going to do a wonderful job in her second term. You know, Mr.

Mayor, we now officially have a Speaker of the House on the first ballot, But Mike Johnson, I know a lot of conservatives were really upset, but the reality is here, President Trump wanted Johnson, and the way I see it, President Trump should get whatever he wants. What say you?

Well, yeah, I don't disagree. You know, I think that the American people gave President Trump a mandate, you know, of things that they wanted to see changed and fixed. You know, there's obviously there's always a lot of backroom stuff, you know, and just things happen in different perspectives, you know. And, yes, a lot of conservatives were upset with Johnson. I get that, you know, but at the same time, you know, you do have to move forward sometimes.

This is it's not something that I can really speak to because I'm not part of that body. but nevertheless I think in the end you know now you know let's move forward with the Trump agenda is I think the most important thing. You know one of the other big stories we've been covering Mr. Mayor the terrorist attack in New Orleans and the attack out in Las Vegas I know that Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana was asked whether or not there were going to be other attacks in other cities he said he knew the answer but he would not respond he which means that there's there's something they're not telling us and i'm wondering um how are things there in knoxville home of the university of tennessee um are you guys hearing any scuttlebutt at all no and as far as i know um no uh this whole thing has been it's been very strange uh you know the timing of all of this with trump about to be inaugurated um you know the las vegas bombing is there there's a lot of questions. You know, the fact that this, the perpetrator is a Green Beret who rented a cyber truck, which is a tank, essentially, it's bulletproof.

And a guy, you know, knew about demolitions, but instead of building an actual bomb, he loaded some gasoline and fireworks into this thing and shot himself in the head. I just find it interesting that a vehicle manufactured by one of the incoming president's top and most well-known allies blew up during an attack on a building owned by the incoming president.

So there's just a lot of things here that, you know, to me, there's a lot of questions. And, you know, when you think about the FBI, and I know FBI agents are really good people, but I think that organization, I mean, we just saw it with Mar-a-Lago. We saw it with them coming after, you know, parents, concerned parents speaking up at school board meetings with their persecution of people who were at the Capitol on January 6th, not doing anything illegal. You know, there's a lot of politics involved here as well, and that's unfortunate.

So I hope we do get answers. But who knows in the current political environment? Here's what here's what just blew me away. you had the FBI saying that the New Orleans terrorist was not on anybody's radar. He was making all of these bombs.

He was posting all of these pro-ISIS videos on social media, and he was not on their radar. And I wonder, Mr. Mayor, if it's because they were too busy recruiting Catholic priests to spy on their parishioners and knocking down the doors of pro-life families. Yeah, exactly. You know, and we know the DOJ has become politicized.

So one of the most important appointments, I think, is Kash Patel to really go in and clean house at the FBI, as well as Pam Bondi at the Department of Justice. You know, their job is not to persecute Americans. It is to enforce laws and really to keep Americans safe. And it seems like they've been doing everything except that. Again, this is not a criticism of people who work for the FBI in many cases or good folks.

but the institution, there's something very wrong with it. No, I think you're 1,000% right there. And rank and file, good, hardworking folks, patriots all. But there is something rotten there at FBI headquarters. What is it that you would like to see President Trump get right to?

I know there are a lot of – everybody has their own issue. What's the most pressing issue for you as the mayor there in Knox County? As an American, the most pressing issue is Doge. and cutting this ridiculous spending and getting the budget back under control. If we don't do that and if we don't do that very soon, we're looking at economic monetary calamity.

It's just a matter of time.

So to me, that's the most important thing that he can do. You know, there's a lot of stuff. Immigration obviously is broken. You know, the wars all around the world that we're spending so much money and losing our boys and girls, in many cases, completely unnecessarily. You know, those need to stop as well.

But I think that, you know, if you were to cut spending at the federal level and, you know, just tear things back and quit funding some of these ridiculous things that they do, a lot of our other problems would kind of fall in line. On the Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line is the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. That's where the University of Tennessee is, ladies and gentlemen, Glenn Jacobs. Mr. Mayor, you have become a very popular person across the state.

I've noticed that you've been doing a lot of traveling across Tennessee. Our current Republican governor is term limited. And I'm wondering, are you considering maybe a run for the governor's mansion?

Well, I am out of office in September 2026. I am term limited. I haven't decided what I'm going to do in POP6 in the future, if anything, frankly. And I got into this because I am worried about the direction of our country. I'm worried about what kind of America my grandkids are going to inherit.

I was really happy to see President Trump win because I think that that really changed the trajectory of this country in a positive direction. You know, but as far as me personally, there's still things to shake out. You know, we'll see what happens after the president's inaugurated and has completed all of his appointments and some of the shifting that's going on.

So, you know, Tennessee is a great place, and I think it's important that whoever the next governor of Tennessee is, they continue with the conservative policies that have made us such a great place, and I would argue the envy of the rest of the country.

Well said. Well said. We love having folks move here. Just keep your politics back home. That's right.

All right. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much, and hope you have a happy new year. Thanks, Todd. I appreciate it.

Take care. All right. Good man right there, folks. Glenn Jacobs, the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. And I wouldn't be surprised to see him running for a much higher office in the very near future.

All right, here's what I want to do. We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going straight to your telephone calls, 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926, open line Friday. we're going to recap what happened what just happened up on capital health but i got to tell you about our friends over at priority gold one of our great sponsors and i love these guys and they really want to help you make sure you fortify your savings and one of the ways you can do that is by diversifying your savings you don't want to put it all in the stock market right so you want to have some precious metals in the mix whether it's gold silver platinum or maybe all three So Patriot Gold, or Priority Gold rather, can help you diversify.

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Well, this is interesting. New York City announcing their list of top ten names for baby boys. and there was a very interesting notation there on who cracked the top 10 list.

Now, this is all according to the Q-Gazette. Dieter, I find this information very smart. They also named the top 10 girl names. The new names that made their way to the top of the list in 2023, Sophia, Isabella, Esther, and Amelia. Chloe emerged as the winner with close to 250 baby girls given the name Chloe.

Very nice. Oh, Dylan is on the list. That's a popular name. David moved up the ranks to the top three, bumping Ethan from number three all the way down to number seven. Alexander got booted down to number 17.

but um michael was a previous favorite from 1980 until 2006 that's a long way it's back in the top 10 guess what number 10 is please share muhammad oh god yeah i know i yeah i don't think that baby was born at baptist hospital if you know what i mean muhammad that's the top name for boys no no no that's in the top 10 it cracked the top 10 list wow Number 10. A lot of babies. I think it's number one over in the UK. It is. I think in London, everybody's naming their baby Muhammad.

And now apparently Elon is embroiled in this huge government controversy. We're going to get into this next week on the show. But Elon is now calling for King Charles to dissolve parliament, which he actually has the power to do. It's a mess over there. King Charles is woke, though.

I don't see him doing that. No, I don't either. I don't either. Did you see his ex-granddaughter that was the princess, but now she's a disgraced Hollywood actor that just got a new Netflix show? Is that Meghan Markle?

Yeah. So she went from, get this, she was in the line to be a queen one day or something. I don't know. She was part of the royal family.

Now she's like Martha Stewart, but a bad version. It's like Martha Stewart 2.0. It just launched on Netflix. I think Prince Harry really regrets that one. He has to.

He doesn't have a family, but he has this woman. He should have married one of the first cousins. That's what they do over there. That's why they have the teeth thing. I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding. I have no idea why they have dental problems. Why do they have dental problems? I've heard it's because they're always drinking tea. But we're always drinking coffee, and Americans don't have – I don't think we have terrible smiles.

We look good. Yeah, and we have great teeth. Oh, have you seen King Charles? Everybody's talking about his fingers. He's got like these pork sausage links, sausage fingers.

They're royal fingers.

Well, no, I think the queen stayed alive as long as she did because she knew that what was about to happen next was not going to be good for the country. No, but I think you have a woke king, but you have a, I don't want to call the son, William, conservative, but did you see when Trump went over there for the cathedral opening, the reopening of the cathedral? They were cozy. William and President Trump, they did not look like adversaries. No, William was actually closer to his grandmother, who was very conservative.

Big pal of Billy Graham back in the day. There's a great story about that. But anyway, we'll see how all that plays out.

So, Muhammad, there you go. You know, they're wanting, now they're wanting, they're trying to get a Muslim in line for the crown, which is not going to happen unless, I don't know, Prince George marries a Muslim gal. That's not how that works, unless they plan on taking over the country. And if, you know, you've got one of the top names, Muhammad. No, it's a very popular name.

Even right here in Memphis, I was at the University of Memphis graduation, and the amount of names right off the roll call getting these diplomas, they were all named Muhammad. I'm like, what is happening in Memphis? Dylan's shaking his head because it was his graduation.

Sorry, Dylan. Were there any Americans, or are these locals, internationals? Let's just say I was shocked. I did not realize that the University of Memphis had such an international student body, but 90% of those names were like Mohammed, Allah. It could go on.

Interesting. Yeah. Well, let's go to the phone lines here. Diane calling from WLOB in Portland, Maine, the Big Lobster. And unfortunately, that's the last time I'm going to be able to say the Big Lobster on the radio show.

Diane, good to have you with us. Hi, Todd. But Diane should be on the top list for ladies. The name. I agree.

A lovely name for a lovely lady. Thank you so much, Todd. I had to call one more time just to say goodbye. I will keep in touch somehow. I've called WLOB, told them that they are dead to me.

I'm going to listen to country and western from now on.

So it's going to be a very quiet radio right now. WLOB is gone. Hopefully Mainers in this state will do the same that I'm doing. because they're just dead to me now.

So it's going to be, Diane, you're trading me in for Hank and Willie and Waylon, maybe a little Dolly. I sure am, Todd. Trust me. Nothing wrong with that. I'm going to miss you so much, Todd.

I really am.

Well, thank you, Diane. And I'm going to miss you guys as well. And I will tell you, hundreds and hundreds of you have been calling, emailing texting and and begging the radio station not to make the choice but i think they're going to an all fox lineup so me and sean and i think a few other folks are getting the heave-ho and you know it's okay we'll we'll see what happens and um you never know diane uh well i'll keep calling them you know and see but i'm not turning this radio station on ever again unless you're on it well you're going to turn it back on you're very kind and diane you can always listen to or watch the show over at toddsterns.com so if you have a laptop or a desktop computer or you can download our app and you can listen to us on your smartphone and i also saw you on newsmax the other night very good job well well thank you diane well look diane i'm gonna miss you and but don't be a stranger give us a holler back one of these days i definitely Well, you will, Todd. All right. Yeah, God bless you for your work.

God bless you, Diane. Wow, I'm getting a little misty here, Ben Dieter. I know.

Someone bring Todd a Kleenex. My goodness. You can also shout to your Alexa.

So all those Alexas out there, those devices in your home, just say play the Todd Starn Show. It will actually pick up the Todd Starn Show. Is that right? Yeah. So if you have Alexa, so you've got, I don't have those devices in my home.

They scare me. I saw Terminator.

So you're telling me if you have an Alexa, you just walk in and say, Alexa, play Todd. Turn on Todd, Starnes. Wow.

Yeah. So all the people in lobster country, do not fear. Just go talk to your Alexa and Todd will talk to you. I love that. What a great idea.

So there you go. All that to say, I just want to say thank you to all of our great affiliates. We have some of the best radio stations in America that broadcast this show every single day. And we're just so thankful for that. We're one of the small guys in an industry controlled by the corporate giants.

And so we're fighting the good fight every single day. And we're only able to do it because of you.

So, again, head over to ToddStarns.com, download our app, listen to the show, watch the show, and most importantly, give us a holler. We love hearing from all of our great listeners. All right, folks, it's been a great, great weekend out there. Have a great Friday. And whatever you do, be sure to go to church this weekend, America.

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