3 GOP Senators Vote Against Hegseth, Vance Breaks Tie

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Todd Stearns. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hello, everybody. Happy Friday to you, America.

Welcome to the Todd Stearns Radio Program. I am your host, Todd Stearns. Wow, we have got a lot going on today. Also, breaking, we have breaking news coming out of North Carolina, coming out of California, and of course, Washington, D.C., a couple of big stories. Trump boots on the ground in Western North Carolina.

And then later today, the president's heading over to Las Vegas as well as Southern California. And we are waiting for the Senate to confirm. Pete Hagseth as the next Secretary of Defense. And that is possibly going to be somewhat problematic, ladies and gentlemen. We have a story up on our website, ToddSterns.com, and we know of at least two Republican senators who have voted against advancing the nomination of Pete Hagseth.

That would be Susan Collins for you people up in Maine and also Lisa Murkowski for you folk in Alaska.

Now, We understand from our friend Senator Wicker, who is the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, that there could be more defections, and we're hearing words like Mitch McConnell, for one, If If, in fact, it gets to the point where there is a tie vote, Vice President J.D. Vance would then have to step in and he would have to break the tie vote, which is why J.D. Vance is still in Washington, D.C.

So he's on standby. The problem is we can't lose any more folks than that. And if we do, then Hexeth will not be confirmed.

Now, there are a lot of folks that are really bothered by these allegations against Pete Heckseth. And I just want to clear something up here, if I can. I know Pete. I know his wife, Jen. And they're good people.

Now, Pete's been pretty open with some of the problems that he's had in his life, and we've all had problems. And in the eyes of God, they're all the same. There's no sin worse or less. In God's eyes, sin is sin. And Hegseth has readily admitted that he screwed up a lot in his life.

He is, as we are being led to believe, he is very involved in his local church congregation. He is deeply committed to his faith, to his wife, to his seven kids. And all of the allegations The heinous allegations against him have either been disproven or were, in fact, unfounded to begin with.

So it's one of these situations where a lot of people have been throwing a lot of mud at Pete and.

Some of these Republican senators are saying, oh, we've got to believe the mud. No, you can't do that. And sooner or later, the Republicans are going to have to put their foot down and say, you know what, this is our guy. No criminal charges, no criminal background. He is a qualified individual to lead the Department of Defense.

But beyond that Beyond that, ladies and gentlemen, there's something else I think we need to focus on. And we need to take a long, hard look at the Republicans. And I will say this, I think Jon Thune, the majority leader, is doing a pretty heck of a good job right now. I mean, there was a lot of question over whether or not Jon Thune would be a younger version of Senator Turtle. from Kentucky.

Abourne, please. But it turns out he's not. It turns out that he's actually doing a great job and he's moving President Trump's agenda through the Senate, which is all we're asking for the Republicans to do.

So Roger Wicker is saying, and he's telling NBC News, J.D. Vance needs to be on standby in the event there is a 50-50 tie vote. But here's where we need to focus. This is what we need to focus on. And folks, more than any other time in all of my years, covering politics and being a journalist and now being a commentator, in all of my years, there has never been a clearer vision of what needs to happen here.

It is black and white for me. Moving forward over the next four years, it is black and white. What Donald Trump wants, Donald Trump ought to get. And here's the reason why. They have.

They have tried to convince you that this man was a traitor to his country. They have raided his home. They have violated the privacy of his wife's bedroom. They raided the bedroom of his son. Baron Trump.

They have arrested this man, fingerprinted this man, mug-shotted this man. They've tried to assassinate this man not once but twice, and he's still managed to win in a huge victory. The popular vote, Electoral College vote, the man has a mandate. Yeah. And to me.

I made the decision in my heart the moment that Donald Trump rose up from that stage in Butler County, Pennsylvania, with the blood streaming down his side, and he put his fist up in the air and he said, fight, fight, fight. I determined right then and right there, whatever Donald Trump wants, even if yours truly, Todd Starnes, finds it abhorrent. I will support the President of the United States. Because he deserves it. The man got shot in the head for us for crying out loud.

The least we can do is support his agenda. And the least the Senate Republicans can do is get on board. with that agenda. Let me say something. And a lot of you folks out there...

You've Express concerns. About what's happening in our military right now, the woke military. No doubt about it. Many lawmakers, and we've had them on, we can, I mean, they're by the dozens. They've said they have grave concerns about military preparedness.

So we can't pussyfoot around here. Over the past four years, the Pentagon has literally been turned into this I don't know it's a social justice freight show over there. Hosting workshops on pronoun usage, singing kumbaya, doing goat yoka. You've seen the pictures on TikTok, the videos of the sailors on board the warships dancing around in feather boas and spandex. What the heck's that all about?

I mean, you're looking at the greatest fighting force on the planet, and Biden and really Obama. Turned it into an international joke. Our enemies are literally laughing at us. They don't fear us, or at least they did not. They do now.

So again, I'm just telling you. Trump wants this guy. Trump ought to get this guy. That being said I happen to know Pete Hag South. And I think he's a good man.

I think he's a man who is really serious about. His relationship with God and his wife and his kids, his family. He's a patriot. I mean, what kind of a, what does it tell you about Pete Hexteth that he volunteered to go into the combat zones? He volunteered.

That makes him something important in my book. Anybody who puts on the uniform of this country.

So that's where we're at.

So, right now, we've got Murkowski and Collins, their no votes. They've already made that abundantly clear. You need to be picking up your phones, and you need to be calling these senators. And I want to say something else, and I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this. It seems to me.

that any Republican Senator, any Republican congressman, who stands in the way of Donald Trump's agenda and what he wants to accomplish, that individual needs to face a ferocious primary battle. That's what I say. What say you, ladies and gentlemen? 901-260-5926 is our telephone number. It is also Open Line Friday.

That means you can call in, talk about whatever you want to talk about. We do that on Fridays. Always love those conversations. 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show.

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Okay. Uh All right. By the way, here's President Trump weighing in on Republicans voting against Pete Hagsteth. Cut number eight, please. Look, whatever it is that is, he's a good man.

I don't know what's going to happen. You never know in those things. But Pete's a very, very good man. I hope he makes it. I hope he makes it.

Uh I was very surprised that uh Collins and Murkowski would do that. And of course Mitch is always a no vote, I guess. That's Mitch a no vote? How about Mitch? Huh?

You what? Let's see what happens. All right, let's see what happens. You have the President saying he is hopeful there. The President clearly knows that there are some concerns that not everybody is on board.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let's go to our phone lines on this open line Friday. Should we primary any senator who Who stands against Trump's nominees? Let's start our day in Salem, Oregon. Nick listening to us on the great KYKN. Hi, Nick.

What's going on? Good morning. Good morning, Todd.

So here's the deal, I'm thinking. Murkowski and Collins. They're just publicity hounds. If you think about they're probably Just their average Whatever they do. You know, they're just kind of average.

They're getting a lot of air time when they keep bucking the Republican Yeah. Conservative Republican agenda.

Now, I want to be clear here. You said they are bucking with a B with the agenda. Is that what you said there? Bucking us in the chicken goes. Yeah, we're family friendly.

I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly. All right, Nick, continue. Oh uh so Uh why not? You know, it's it's a It's great when people of like-mindedness can be together because it's kumbaya. We're enjoying each other's company.

Why are they a part of the Republican Party. when all they do is want to fight with the conservative agenda. Why not just Quit. Join the Democracs. And be of like mind with those folks.

Quit causing problems on our side. I think that's about it. Yeah, Nick, it's a valid argument and a valid concern. The Republicans always like to be contrarians, and we see this all the time. And it doesn't matter which side of the party is in control, the other side is always fighting.

And at some point, Whoever is in charge needs to be able to lead here. And that's the issue, is that Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are, and I'm not sure about the clinical terminology. I'm not a medically trained person, but they are butt hurt. That's the problem. And they just feel aggravated.

So, yeah, I hear you, Nick. And I think the bigger issue here is what do we do with all of this? We have got to learn. And the Republicans, they have not been in leadership for a long time. I mean, just historically going back, they have not been in charge.

So they don't know how to lead. And that could be a big factor in all of this. Nick, thank you for calling in, and thank you for listening. We love our friends in Oregon. Let's go to.

John in Gainesville, Georgia, listening to us on WDUN. Hi, John. What's going on today? Hey, good morning. Good morning.

I just think it's awesome. Paltra.

Okay. Each day. He has impromptu tre press conferences. He gets in the Oval Office and brings the media in there. He signed for the O He talks about it and then he Phil's questions on that EO.

If it goes wrong.

So there's a narrative out there saying he doesn't know what he's signing.

Now, that was the previous guy. He had no clue what he was signing.

So Uh I just think that's awesome. John, isn't it amazing when you watch the president? I want to go back to day one in the Oval Office, day one, where the president's sitting there and he's staging an impromptu press conference for an hour, and he's signing all the executive orders.

So he's hearing what the executive order is about. He's signing the executive order all the while. He's taking these questions on very difficult issues from the press corps, and he's not missing a beat. Yeah, I I just love that. That is totally a refreshing thing from the previous administration.

And a previous, what, thirty years? Uh just saying, but um If you um Golly, I have a train of thought and the guy in front of me cut me off. Oh. Kind of lost my train there. John, how do you think the president did?

We got to. All right, go ahead. See, I did that so you would know what it is.

So go ahead and spit it out before you forget it again. The executive order Trump brought forward a sign. Unclassifying the JFK, RFK and MLK documents. is I think it needs to be done Now The MLK family has asked Back. They allow them to review the documents Before their release, which I think is a good idea, and here's why, Todd.

There are nefarious journalists out there. Who would? Muddy the water. Weird. Untruth.

And put them out in Try to get the family to agree with what they said.

So the family needs to know what the truth is. Before those documents are released, I agree with that.

Well, John, I think that's where you and I may disagree, and I appreciate you calling in because we are going to have to skedaddle for a break here. But I will say this about those documents. And John is talking about President Trump ordering the release of the investigation files on JFK, RFK, and MLK Jr. I think the American people need to understand, all of us need to understand what happened. And if there was government involvement, if the CIA was involved in this, we need to know.

And it very well may be, folks, and step back for just a moment. It very well may be at the end of the day. That everything happened the way they said it happened from day one. But we won't know that until we've actually read the documents. The American people need to prepare themselves for the fact that their government may have been involved in nefarious activities.

And if that is in fact true, then we have to make sure something like that never happens again. I mean, it really is that simple. Let's go to Kentucky, Pastor John on the line with us. Hey, Pastor, what's on your mind today? Hey, Todd.

I'm sorry, mister Starnes. I've known you since eighteen sixty one.

Sorry I had to interject a little bit of humor in there. Not that old. I know. I've had the honor of meeting mister Hagstep. You know him and his family.

During that period of time when we my family and I were and a whole bunch of other vets, as well as active duty personnel. Mr. Hegseth at no time displayed any type of inappropriate behavior with any of the families. And he was stone cold sober. He was absolutely the consummate gentleman.

officer and a gentleman. And I think a lot of pastors out there ought to get get well, need to start speaking up because he professed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior before that entire Senate Armed Services Committee and everybody in the audience.

Okay. I sincerely believe with all my heart of hearts, my family and I prayed about this. This man is a serious man of God. He puts God first, his family second and his country third. Todd, this is how much confidence I have in this guy.

I'm willing to bet my lice, my pastoral license, on this guy.

Okay, I prayed about this.

So, Pastor, here I am.

So, Pastor, just to be clear, and again, look, I've heard all of the stories, and Hegseth has readily admitted that he has some issues in X, Y, or Z, and he's worked to clear all those things up. I guess my issue is that there are a lot of your fellow men of the cloth, men and women of the cloth, who are out there attacking Pete because of his past. And it seems to me, at least my reading of the Bible, is that if you ask forgiveness from God and you turn from your wicked ways, then don't you deserve a second chance? God's giving you another chance. Why shouldn't these ministers?

Absolutely, and that's why I'm directly. Look, I'm not going, yeah, okay, yeah, it's an attack on them. Because they're holding up the Bible with one hand and having a knife in the back. They're beating them upside the head with it. Yeah, it's exactly.

All that I'm saying, Todd, is you spoke it so eloquently. I'm not like your friend Pastor Jeffers or Franklin Graham. I'm just your average everyday pastor. Got to go here, Pastor. Pastor John, I didn't mean for him to hang up.

I just meant it for him to hurry up. But anyway, I think Pastor Job was saying I'm right. Yes, I am, Pastor. All right, thank you, Pastor John.

Sorry about that. Hang tight, everybody. We've got lines open: 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stearns Radio Show. You've asked in MyPillow?

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So don't delay. Order now. Use my promo code STARNS at mypillow.com or call 800-839-8506. Yeah, yeah. I want to tell you something here, folks.

We have been documenting this since the moment President Trump took the oath of office, and he has been delivering on so many of his campaign promises. One of the big ones yesterday, 23 pro-lifers who had been jailed by the Biden administration have officially been set free. They have been pardoned. And this is a huge story. And it went underreported by The the drive-by media.

And I want to explain what I mean by that.

So There is a law on the books that says if you block a sidewalk, and by blocking a sidewalk, if you're standing on a sidewalk in front of an abortion clinic and you're praying or you are singing a hymn or you're holding up a protest sign, that means you are breaking federal law. It's the most ludicrous thing, and we've got to get this law revoked, rescinded, off the books. Yeah. So, over the past four years, the Biden administration and their allies in the Justice Department have declared war. on the pro-life community.

And they've been using the FBI to stage raids on the homes of these beautiful Christians, many of them Catholics, by the way, and dragging them to jail. And a number of Christians have been serving time in federal prisons. One of them a thirty one year old Lauren Handy. She was serving a five-year sentence. Her crime was organizing a sit-in protest at an abortion mill.

By the way, you go to Washington, D.C. right now, all these leftists that are staging these sit-in protests, they don't even get arrested. Not one. But Lauren Handy got sent to prison for five years. Joan Bell, 76 years old, a grandmother of seven, sentenced to more than two years in prison.

Her crime, according to the Biden administration, was actually praying and singing hymns outside an abortion clinic. This is happening in America, folks. This is something you would see in a Soviet or communist country. Yesterday, President Trump Pardoned every single one of these pro-lifers. Set them free.

Our friends at the Thomas More Society said, Freedom rings on our great nation once again. And it's true. At this very hour, you have tens of thousands of people marching in the streets of Washington, D.C., gathering for the annual March for Life. We understand Vice President J.D. Vance is going to be there addressing the thousands and thousands of people, mostly young people.

And I understand that many of those young people are from Liberty University. I want to go to our Patriot Mobile Newsmaker line, and we're honored to have from Liberty University Ryan Halfenbein, who is the executive director for the Standing for Freedom Center. And Ryan, I understand you are on the Washington Ball right now. What do you see? What's happening around you?

Well, there's a multitude of people gathered here today to celebrate live, to raise up their voice for the unborn. I had to step away, Todd, because quite honestly, it was so loud.

So I'm about 300 yards away. But I see a massive humanity, and it is beautiful to see that. And the day after President Trump Issued that executive order to free these peaceful protesters to all they were doing, just as you described. Praying on a sidewalk. outside of abortion clinic doing something that's completely American.

It was un-American what Biden's Justice Department did in trying to prosecute them, and many of them elderly. But what we see right now is a young generation That is absolutely unapologetic in their defense for life, and I'm so excited. I'm thrilled. 1,000 Liberty students. Uh with me today.

Who are raising their voice. It's a beautiful thing.

So take us through that, Ryan, because I know you guys are in the middle of the semester. Students are busy with their studies. But you guys left at what, 5:30 this morning from Liberty University. Is that right? Yeah, we left 5:30 this morning.

We actually gathered around 4 o'clock and prepped everything, about 20 buses. We pack meals for breakfast and lunch. We make sure that all of our students are resourced properly and are bundled up warm. for this event, but this is something we have made in our calendar every year.

So for the past five years, defending for Freedom Center and Liberty, that we've led the charge. A couple of years ago, we carried the bear at the March for Life. And we put resourcing behind this because we believe in this cause. It is one of the most important civic issues of our time.

So we understand Vice President Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson, have they already spoken to the crowd? We are yet awaiting, I believe.

So I have not seen JD Band yet, but Speaker Johnson is up actually right now. And I think we're anticipating Uh Jane events to to to take the stage momentarily. Ryan, I'm curious, how did the students here at Liberty react and respond to President Trump, his victory? I know the New York Times did a survey. They had a survey released a couple of days ago.

Over 53 percent of 18 to 44-year-olds, and especially young men, voted for Donald Trump. Did you guys see a groundswell of support on your campus? Certainly, we did in terms of showing up on Election Day. And I will say this, there was a lot of expipolling, and I don't know if there were any votes, honestly. If there were, there were very few.

Um and of course we Vice President Kamala Herrick.

So I'm just to put it where it is, we're we're we're not trying to push a particular endorsement, but we are our values are spelled out very clear as a Christian university, where we stand on life and where we stand on marriage, where we stand on free speech. And when you stand there, Todd, it's pretty easy for the students to know exactly where they need to stand. We're talking to Ryan Helfenbein, who is live on the Washington Mall for the March for Life today. More than 1,000 Liberty University students are there. They drove up in the wee hours of the morning from campus to Washington.

Ryan, just if you could give our radio audience an idea of what you see, I mean, is it mostly a young crowd here of college kids? I see a lot of young people, I see high school kids, a lot of Catholic schools. Colleges, I see some obviously Liberty is showing up big as the leading evangelical institution here today. What I see is young, shining faces. I see men and women marching to life.

Uh this is not a thing that's just going to go away. It's not going to die out with an older generation. The baton is being passed and passed forward, and we're seeing a lot of young, enthusiastic supporters for life. That's what I'm excited about. And uh I I think that When we consider the fact that there's threats everywhere, taking away the protections that we currently have in place state by state.

these ballot measures that are going forth to sort of enshrine Constitutional laws at the state level, from the moment of conception all the way up to birth. for abortion, we recognize the next generation has to lead the charge. for life, for the culture of life and protecting life, knowing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

So I'm excited about the future of the pro life movement. I know it's not going to lose steam at all. Speaking of security, are you seeing, Ryan, are you seeing a lot of law enforcement, a lot of protection there along the mall? Mm-hmm. Yes, there are barrier gates appropriately placed.

There's magnetometers. There was quite, you know, when it came to the inflow, there a lot of folks were stopped.

So you not just anyone can be on the Washington Mall today. Certainly, folks are being checked and security is tight as we would as we'd hope it would be for our Vice President. All right. Ryan Halfenbein, we're going to leave it there. And again, we appreciate you phoning in there.

We have Ryan Halfenbein live on the Washington Mall. In our nation's capital for the annual March for Life. Thanks a lot, Ryan. Thank you, God. All right, there you go.

And it is quite the scene to see the banners and the people holding the signs. And it is a very prayerful crowd. And Ryan is right. I've covered that many times during my work at Fox News Channel. And I was really taken aback by the numbers of young people that were there.

And I'm telling you, this younger generation are more conservative. They are more religious. They are more committed to their faith. And I think that we are seeing the tide. Shifting here in this country because of the wokeness and the godlessness of the left.

That's where I think we're going. Our telephone number is 901-260-5926. By the way, if you don't follow us on Rumble, you can actually watch our show. We have a pretty vibrant live chat. And in the commercial break, I jump onto the live chat.

We've got folks chiming in from Asheville, North Carolina. President Trump boots on the ground today, getting a survey of the damage. And President Trump saying that he very well may abolish FEMA as a result of what they did in Western North Carolina. And yesterday, last night on the Todd Stern show on Newsmax, I brought this up with one of our lawmakers asking if they felt like it was criminal what FEMA had done. remember, it was FEMA who told their workers on the ground to bypass any home that had a Trump flag or sign or banner.

And to the person now, we're hearing reports that there very well may be criminal charges filed. And they should be. That's just reprehensible. All right, nine hundred one two six zero five nine two six. Let's go to Gary in Ocala, Florida.

Wants to weigh in on the looming Senate vote here. Hi, Gary, what you got for us? Yeah, just a couple of things. And it's no surprise, you're absolutely right. Murkowski.

in Collins, whether it was on Trump impeachment Kavanaugh. Um, they've always been like really like milk toast. I mean, you have to. to watch watch them operate. And you you you get the feeling right off the bat that I mean, I I'm just It's sickening to watch them wheel and deal and hold things in suspense.

like one of your callers said, they have to be you know, keep everything tied up. And I'm hoping that it's right that they get primary. But I want to touch on something you just talked about when that was with the ProLife and what's taking place. one thing that a lot of your listeners don't realize The trick to all that with Biden And even at the end of Obama's was the the law share is to bankrupt the people. that they charge.

They tried to bankrupt them legally. and then there's no speedy trials. They delay the trials which costs more money. And then the bail is either a super high bail or no bail. which is crazy a lot of times because they're not flight risk.

But that that's how that's that's the MO of the operation. is to ruin people one way or the other. Gary, and Donald Trump, you know, in his first term in office, if you remember, one of the reasons why Snoop Dogg became a huge Trump supporter is because Trump went in there and started commuting the sentences of people granting clemency to people who were basically victimized by the judicial system with these outrageous sentences. And you're right. A lot of people, I think the average American.

The average American, and I don't care if you're black, white, it doesn't matter, the average American cannot afford the attorneys and the legal team they need if they find themselves in trouble. Yep, absolutely right. All right. Thank you very much. Gary, thank you for listening, and we certainly appreciate all of our friends down in Florida, WOCA, our great affiliate there.

All right, we're going to take a quick break. It is Open Line Friday. Your calls 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. You know, yesterday, President Trump was talking about Bank of America, and directly to the CEO's face, he said, stop.

Stop targeting conservatives. And we have seen this where major banks have been canceling accounts of conservative organizations, conservative lawmakers, conservative people. And we've seen it over and over and over again. And fortunately, Dr. Ben Carson and Larry Elder and John Rich decided to do something about it.

And that's why they co-founded Old Glory Bank. Folks, you've seen the woke executives, and they're trying to jump on the bandwagon now of freedom and liberty. I wouldn't buy it at all. That's why I want you to go and check out. Old Glory Bank, FDIC Insured Bank, created to protect your privacy, your security, and your liberty.

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Yeah. All right, President Trump is live in North Carolina right now, and he's listening to people just pouring out their hearts. I mean, the. I think the president was really taken aback by the level and the magnitude of the disaster there in Western North Carolina. And we have so many North Carolina listeners.

You guys know that the rest of the country has pretty much ignored what's been happening there.

So the fact that Donald Trump is boots on the ground, and Trump said one of two things is going to happen here. We're either going to fix FEMA or we're going to get rid of it. Listen to the President, cut number five. Uh probably less FEMA 'cause FEMA just hasn't done the job. And we're looking at the whole concept of FEMA.

I like, frankly, the concept when North Carolina gets hit, the governor takes care of it. When Florida gets hit, the governor takes care of it, meaning the state takes care of it. To have a group of people come in from an area that don't even know where they're going in order to solve immediately a problem is something that never worked for me. But this is probably one of the best examples of it not working. And there's been some others, like in Louisiana, etc.

So we're going to be doing something on FEMA that I think most people agree. I'd like to see the states take care of disasters. Let the state take care of the tornadoes and the hurricanes and all of the other things that happen. And I think you're going to find it a lot less expensive. You'll do it for less than half, and you're going to get a lot quicker response.

So that seems to be the recommendation, but we'll be making that recommendation over the next couple of weeks. Yeah, I love this idea here. And again, it's taking responsibility the government should not have had in the first place and bringing it right back, at least the federal government, and bringing it right back to the states where it should be. Let's go to the phones here: 901-260-5926. OG is in North Carolina.

Hi, O.G., what's on your mind?

Well, your last cut. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. Brings emotions. Um Many years ago, different life.

After about a six to eight minute meeting with number forty seven, in a previous career. I was so impressed with His listening ability and then His discussions and then his decisions and then his delegation. It was like BD, I couldn't believe it.

Okay, well. Let's go back to the inauguration. At the end of the inauguration.

Next up. COTUS, was standing there with a bit of a smirk on his face. And that smirk disappeared after there was a whispered conversation from. Darryl Trump Could it be? that, that whispered conversation included just two words.

You're fired.

Well, I don't know. I think I don't think. I mean, it's. Clearly, something was whispered. I mean, whatever it was, was pretty quick.

And you're right, the smirk ended quickly. That's right. I mean, that's speculation, of course. But you know what? That stands right in with his ability to delegate things.

You know who I see? OG, you know who I see? When I look at Baron Trump, I see somebody who could very well have a career in politics down the road. This young man, this young man is solely responsible for his dad getting re-elected. And I'll expand on this a little bit more later in the show.

But it was Baron Trump who literally brought an entire generation, his generation, Gen Z, to the table and introduced his dad to that generation. Hey, OG, got a run. Great call, my friend. Open line Friday, everybody. Get in now, 901-260-5926.

This is the Todd Starring Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's common sense conservative commentary from Todd Starr. That's right. I love this American. It is.

True, ladies and gentlemen. I am Todd Stearns, your voice of truth and hope across this great country. Hello, everybody. Thank you for joining us. Today, by the way, Open Line Friday, that means you can call in and talk about whatever you want to talk about.

Our telephone number, 901-260-5926. Write that down. That's 901-260-5926 as we broadcast from our beautiful palatial Liberty University studios.

Now, President Trump is boots on the ground right now in North Carolina, and he is getting a first-hand look at the devastation. That is still there. It is, folks, it is just unbelievable. And you people in North Carolina know what I'm talking about. But the national media has given a complete and th th they've just moved on.

They're more concerned about Hollywood stars whose homes have burned down. By the way, President Trump will be in California later today, as well as Las Vegas. And we're going to get to those stories in just a moment. We're also waiting for the final vote on Pete Hegseth. And we understand it may take J.D.

Vance coming in and breaking a tie vote because you've got Republicans that are off the reservation, if you will. All right, Ben Dieter. This morning, I was listening to our local affiliate, KWAM, in Memphis, Tennessee. And there has been a fierce fight within the Republican Party here in Memphis. And I find it, quite frankly, uh somewhat healthy.

Healthy. To be honest with you, now the Republicans have been perpetual. Losers. And I hate to say that, but isn't that a fair assessment, Ben Dieter?

Well, we don't have one elected Republican in anywhere.

So they're losers. Yeah. So anyway, people are really frustrated because they're tired of losing and they're tired of giving all of this money, tens of thousands of dollars, and they always lose.

Now, Memphis is a blue city, and it is deep blue. People here vote on race and whether or not there is a D.

So if you're black and a Democrat, you get elected. It doesn't matter if you're qualified. That's just the way it is. And that's a whole other story for a whole other day. But the point of this is that something's going on in the Republican world pin because typically for these meetings where they select their leadership, You have a couple of hundred people come out.

My understanding is over 1,100 people have. have signed up to be at the meeting tomorrow, starting at, what, eleven or twelve o'clock? Which is remarkable because last time I checked, I didn't even know we had ten Republicans.

So that's a big deal, to your point. A thousand Republicans? Where are these people? This is exciting because it tells me that people are tired of the status quo and that they're tired of losers. And you've got a bunch of young Republicans that are getting ready to assert themselves and say, you know what?

We appreciate you guys. We respect everything you've done. But the reality is, it ain't working. And people are tired, people are tired of backing losers. Mm-hmm.

But it's still ugly.

So you had the warring factions on your radio show today. That was insane. Yeah. I was getting text messages all morning. You love to see Dem on Dem violence.

And by violence, I mean Democrats going at each other. Viciously attacking each other. We've kind of seen it since they all lost on November 5th. It's not a spun when it's Republican on Republican violence. And there is a lot of Republican and Republican violence.

And it all happened during my morning show for an entire hour. And what happened is every county in the country has a chair of a Republican Party. Think about your town, your hometown, your city. You have your organization, your local GOP, and there is always a chair. And that's what this race is over.

Someone wants to be the next chair of, well, Todd's Republican Party. This is our party.

So I had all of the chairs on. There's two different, very different candidates running, and they both phoned into the show. And the supporters and the naysayers of both candidates also then called into the show. It was a circus. And I'm sober right now.

I'm sober for the next 75 days because I'm doing a challenge. You know, let's just say I needed a drink after. You sure did. I think the entire radio audience needed a drink. I mean, that was intense.

Well, what I find fascinating about this whole thing is, I have learned through this entire process that yours truly, ladies and gentlemen, yours truly, Todd Starns. Your lovable host. I'm not a bona fide Republican. Can you believe that, Ben D? I registered for the event.

I've been told that I don't meet the qualifications to be a Republican in good standing. Have you been voting for Democrats? No, I haven't. I have not been voting for Democrats. And what really gets me is that I got this note saying I'm not a bona fide Republican.

And what I'm concerned about is I've been giving And I hate to admit this, and I don't mean this in a braggadocious way. I'm just trying to explain the story here. I've been giving thousands of dollars, and by thousands, I mean thousands of dollars to the local Republican Party. And if I'm not bona fide, they certainly thought my money was bona fide.

So I'm wondering if I should ask for a refund. Do you have a receipt?

Well, I do. I have my receipts. I pulled the credit card statements, all of that. And so I'm wondering, should I ask? I mean, if I'm not going to be bona fide, I don't want them to feel bad about taking tainted money, is the point.

Right. You don't want to be buying politicians. Heavens, no. These politicians, are they bought and paid for by Todd Starr? Are you the dark money?

Are you the problem?

So I think maybe at the meeting tomorrow, if I could raise my, I don't even, I think I'm allowed to attend. I'm not allowed to say anything. Oh, yeah. We've been told you can come in as a reporter. Oh, I can.

Yeah. Okay. But you've got to have a press badge, but not your GOP pen. Should I? I'm wondering if I should just, if somebody could make a motion that they just refund me my money.

I don't.

Okay. Again, I yeah, it would have been nice and maybe a little bit con c courteous to let Todd know that he wasn't a Republican before you took all of his money. They were really smiling. Oh, you're the you're the best Republican in Shelby County, Todd. Thank you.

Can you ride some more checks? Woo-hoo! Yeah, and I handle a lot of your availabilities to go to their events and Every time there's an event, I get a knock at my door. Can Todd come to this event? Can he MC the event?

Can he be the speaker of an event? I forgot about that. Yeah. Yes, wait a second, and I've been doing it free of charge. You've been doing it pro bono.

Now, I'm only going to say this because if you look it up, you'll, I mean, it's there, it's public, so you can see it. But if you go to the speakers bureau that reps me, and you know, I do all these speaking events, I think it's what, $7,000, $10,000 a speaking engagement. I don't charge per word, but they set the prices.

So, anyway, it's like 10 grand. It's costly. It's a break. Mickey Haley speech money, but it's decent. Jeez, that's terrible.

I don't require a private jet, but just got to get me there.

So, anyway, but here locally, I have a rule that if it's a Republican event in Tennessee or the neighboring states, I'll do it free of charge. I just want to be a good neighbor.

Well, I'm going to have to rethink that policy now that I'm not a bona fide. Yeah. Maybe I should send a bill. And here's the funny thing, Todd, do we tell them this? Uh oh.

Half of the party wanted you to be the chair.

Okay. That would have been awkward. Yeah, I yeah. I wanted you to chair the Republican Party here, but you're not even a Republican. How would that have worked?

I would rather have my wisdom teeth removed by Kamala Harris than take on that mess. It's a mess. A drunk orthodontist. Imagine that.

So all that to say that these little rules and regulations and really the pissiness of it all, it's just off-putting to a lot of people. And it's really sad because right now you have 1,100 people that have woken up and they're like. If Donald Trump can win a state like New Jersey or New York and can gain ground, if Donald Trump can win black vote and Hispanic vote, then maybe there's hope for us in Memphis, Tennessee. And honestly, ladies and gentlemen, and there's really not a polite way to say it, the local Republicans are in the process of pissing that away. And they're irritating a lot of people.

I'm one of them. But again, I'm not a bona fide Republican.

So I guess I should have, you know, I'm just not a big country club guy. I've never joined the country club. I'm not a big fan. The only martini I drink is a Baptist martini. Um I'm not out there hobnobbing.

And the average person in America, the average person in the Memphis area listening to us on KWAM right now, they don't have time to hobnob. They're too busy paying their bills. They're too busy fortifying their homes so the home invading robbers don't come in. They're too busy trying to find somebody to replace the windows that have been busted out of their cars. And the small business owners are just doing their best to try to keep their businesses alive when tens of thousands of people are literally fleeing Memphis, Tennessee for other communities.

Yeah. And there's an opportunity here. And I think what Donald Trump did to a lot of communities like Detroit, for example, and even Chicago and Memphis and even Los Angeles, where people are waking up now and they're realizing the Democrat Party has failed them. The Democrat Party fed them a bill of goods. And it's all lies, all lies.

And the Republican Party. From the national level, and this goes back to the Pete Hegseth thing we were talking about in the first segment of the show. The Republican Party needs to be focused on advancing Trump's agenda. This should be laser-focused, and it should be the national, it should be the state, it should be the local. All of you Republicans out there got to get your heads out of your behinds, get off your blessed assurance, and start embracing the Trump agenda.

And if you do that nationally, statewide, locally, you are going to win and you are going to transform your communities. That's what's going to happen here. And a lot of it starts with electing the right people.

So I am going to go to this thing tomorrow. It's Saturday. I was looking forward to having a nice quiet day off. It's been super busy with the inauguration. We've been working around the clock.

But you know what? This is important because we've got to make sure that the Republicans here in Memphis are heading in the right direction. And it's not about ego, it's not about power, it's about working together for the common good. And I can tell you this, I know for a fact. That people have been brought in to the party, brand new people.

And they're already looking at what's happening with this infighting, and they're saying, Are you kidding me? No wonder these people can't win an election.

So they're too busy monitoring people's speech and targeting people and publishing dirt on people. Folks, I am telling you. The nastiness of this local Republican campaign, it is disgusting. And shame on the people smearing the dirt. It's just disgusting.

Quite frankly, not even the Democrats are as bad. I mean, it's sad to say. But it needs to be set. I'm just saying, it just needs to be said. Let's go to Steve in Atlanta, Georgia, WDUN.

Steve, I understand you have a suggestion for the local Republicans here in Memphis and West Tennessee.

Well, I have a suggestion for you, Todd, of vis-a-vis their next invitation to you to speak. locally for free. And I guess I'm a little fired up today because within the last hour or so, I left or spoke with their representatives messages for Steve Scalise. And Mike Johnson. And John Kuhn, and I called them all by their first names, and I didn't use any profanity.

But I told them basically, we've got a guy in the White House who has a pair. When are we going to see yours descend from the abdomen? But you know, words to that effect, especially as regards to the immigration and our funding of the immigration.

So, Todd, when next you get that invitation, please go in and rip them a new one, kind of like you're doing on the radio today. And then at the end, as you place the microphone down, just repeat the words of your talk show colleague, Hugh Hewitt, when he walked out on the Washington Post and say, I'm done. And we'll walk out. Yeah, Steve, well, look, it's a good thought, and I hear you, and I try to be polite. I try to be cordial, and one of the things I do, and my rule of thumb as a Republican, is whoever the nominee is, whoever wins the primary battle, whether they're a conservative or a moderate, they're going to get my support because I think that's how you should do it as a party.

If you're a member of a party, you support your nominees. That's not happening nationwide, by the way. And I got a big problem with that.

So I try to be cordial, try to be nice to folks. I suspect those invitations are not going to come, and I'm actually okay with that. I really am. Go ahead, finish your thought. Yeah.

You're not a Republican anymore. Yeah, clearly. Yeah, I may maybe we need a third party here. Maybe that's what we need. Steve, I gotta run.

I am super late for a break. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. Ben, I don't think we're gonna get invited to the Christmas party this year. As we're speaking, I just got a text from I don't want to say you've got to take me off air.

I'm getting texts from people in high places of power. I just got to can you call me right now? Call me right now. There is inaccuracies going across the airwaves.

Well, there may be inaccuracies, but I'm just, you know, what am I? I'm not bona fide. We'll be right back, America. I don't really like I'm gonna need a priority parking space. Work remotely.

How are your safe spaces? Can I bring my dog to work? Will your company protect me against microaggressions? You're jiggling 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 gonna need a lot of mental health days.

Do you have a gay root? My pronouns are Z's and Zer. Isn't it time you hired grown-ups? Call RedBalloon.work 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.work. All right, we're getting some intel from Fox. Chad Pergram over at Fox says confirmation vote for a Hexeth could come around nine o'clock Eastern tonight. Could come a little bit earlier if there is a time agreement.

Right now, Murkowski and Collins are nay votes. They're voting no. We don't know if other Republicans will join, but you might want to be calling their offices and urging them to reconsider. All right, let's go to the phone lines: 901-260-5926-Jerry in Iowa. Hi, Jerry.

What's on your mind today? Howdy, Brother Todd. I love your bumper music. I love your theme music. And uh for anybody who's been on hold, it's just Classy, classic Southern American, it's just not character, and I appreciate it.

Well, thank you, Jerry.

So, uh, yeah, hey, I like that idea about calling the congressman. Could you imagine if? everybody started doing that like right now, I think that'd be kind of cool.

So I'm I am still praising God and thanking God. That we, the people, voted in Donald Trump and the Red Wave. And as far as I'm concerned, we have an obligation to help him the country has an obligation to pass his confirmations. I mean, Well, I mean, I personally love Pete Pete Hexeth for Secretary of Defense. Um But if The Democrats and the Rhinos and the Deep State.

stop the nomination. I say maybe consider queuing up Three-star General Michael Flynn, I think he would bring poetic justice. The Pentagon. I'm certain he could do the job as well as Pete, although Pete is my first pick.

So if the Democrats want to play this game, we'll just give them sort of a I said poetic justice. But you know how devious the Democrats are? Uh I think turnabout. Is fair pr play. If Michael Flynn got in, I know this is a scenario.

What about him? He appoints Pete Hegseth to the second in charge. Pete, Tom, I'm sure, are you aware of what the left in the deep state did to the Honorable General Michael Flynn.

Well, we covered it quite a bit, and you're right, it would be poetic justice, Jerry, as we have to head off to break here. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but that would be somewhat entertaining to see sort of a proverbial middle finger to the establishment there in D.C. But again, we'll find out at 9 o'clock tonight Eastern, the vote on Pete Hankset. We'll be right back, America. Jim was at the laundromat when he heard.

His ears said Maraucca, senor, but his nose said Hey, freshest scent ever. Following his nose, Jim found a man pouring gain scent beads into the washer. The scent, the freshness, Jim blurted, Sir, your scent maracas smell amazing. You could call them scent maracas, but most noses call them gain scent beads. Try gain scent beads, way fresher than detergent alone.

All right, folks, tonight, 5 o'clock Eastern on Newsmax, we have a great show lined up where you can watch the Todd Stern Show online at Newsmax.com. By the way, President Trump, he is just one of millions of Americans that are now watching. The most trusted news source in America, and that would be Newsmax, also one of the fastest-growing cable news channels. Hope you watch our primetime lineup. Wow, 7 o'clock Eastern.

Rob Schmidt's got a big series on Trump's plans for the new administration. Rob Fennerty exposing a lot of the nefarious people trying to stop President Trump, which is just one of the reasons you need to watch Newsmax. You can find Newsmax on all your major cable systems and YouTube TV. You can also download our free Newsmax app on your phone or TV and start watching for free. Millions of people making the switch to Newsmax, and you should too.

Well, I want to go right away to our Patriot mobile newsmaker line. Say hello to our good friend from Arizona, Congressman Andy Biggs. Congressman, hope you're doing well, and I understand you are actually at the March for Life today. Yes, yes. I just got back to my office from the March.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. What was it like out there?

Well, it was a great crowd, huge crowd. Uh it's really cold. a lot of energy, a lot of enthusiasm. And I'll just it was it buoys me up being in Congress seeing that crowd And I hope they were excited because we had members of the House and the Senate there who are pro-life and and they all seem charged and energized. Congressman, a lot going on on Capitol Hill today.

We're expecting Pete Hagseth to be confirmed later tonight as Secretary of Defense, and President Trump, meanwhile, is boots on the ground in North Carolina. I want to get your take on what he had to say earlier today, the President suggesting that he may just abolish FEMA and turn control of these disasters over to the states. Yeah. Yeah, I'm uh I'm very interested in that. FEMA is a big problem.

And states like Arizona need to have take control and be ready. Um And that means that you shrink the size of the government and the states, we need to keep more money at home in the states. It's a federalist issue, number one, number two. it actually starts turning it lights the ship a little bit because I'm tired of the federal government coming down on us, and quite frankly. If you're going to do that.

Then you need to give us more control over our forests in Arizona, our deserts in Arizona, our water in Arizona.

So we control it instead of some little yo-yo bureaucrat. Any In a cubicle in Washington, DC.

So I'm with the President on that. Um I he's got a good interim theme director that's going to be coming in soon.

So I'm hopeful for that, but good grief. FEMA has not done a superior job.

So the other big story we're following are the deportation roundups, and we understand well over a thousand illegals have been arrested, taken into custody by the border czar. How are things going right now? We're hearing positive things. I think what's gone viral are the videos of these Folks that are actually getting on the plane and being deported.

So it's over a thousand, and the result has been. that there's been fewer than a thousand Apprehensions at the border. And what that means is there's fewer people trying to come across the border, there's fewer encounters at the border. And that is great news because it means the border is going to be tilting towards being secure.

Now we've got to remove these people who shouldn't be in this country, who are in this country illegally. It's really positive, Todd, that let's just say this whole week since noon on Monday. the whole town has been galloping. Yes. I mean, it's been pretty exciting to see Congressman and to see these deportation flights, the illegals.

And we're hearing word now from folks in Mexico, the illegals Are back home and they're telling people, don't go to America. That's really the message that we want to convey here, is it not? Absolutely right. There's several things that are immediate deterrents. And the first and foremost one is removing people from the country.

And that it that means the people from the 155 countries around the world. They will see that. They will hear that. A lot of people say they won't know it. Yes, they will.

The cartel knows it. The cartel's hearing it. It's all over the world now. I check other nations' news. every morning that you see what what they're saying.

uh about it and they it's all over the world and So when you start removing people, that's great. The other thing that Is when they get here, if they make one of their bogus asylum claims, You put you detain you detain them.

So when you arrest them and you put them and you keep them in captivity, Which is what the law requires. until their judic uh asylum is adjudicated. they don't want to be in our jail.

So these are great things that are happening to bring our border under control. Congressman, before we let you go, there have been some reports that you might be eyeing the governor's mansion there in Arizona. Any truth to those rumblings? I have filed a formal statement of interest in Arizona, which is what you do if you're interested in running, and I'm interested in running. And The response has been pretty solid right now, I'd have to say.

And I love my state. I want to get back to my state if I can. and would love to work and try to lead it and turn it around. We've got look who we've got. We've got a crazy lefty governor, crazy lefty attorney general and crazy lefty Secretary of State.

We've got to get Arizona back to being what it really is, and that's a deep red state. All right. Well, Congressman, we're going to leave it there. We always appreciate your time on the show, and good luck to you, sir. Thanks, Todd.

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. All right, Congressman Andy Biggs, everybody, representing Arizona's fighting fifth and also a member of the House Judiciary Committee and Oversight Committees. 901-260-5926 is our telephone number on this open line Friday. Let's go to Florida.

Mark from the Villages, America's friendliest hometown. Hey, Mark, what's going on? Hey, Todd, how are you? I'm going to just hit on two things real quick. First of all, they sit here and they say, oh, Trump's just signing off on these executive orders.

Did you see the one yesterday with with um He got the executive order to release the files on Martin Luther King and JFK. And when he was done signing it, he put the pen on the desk And he looked at it and picked it up and said, Would you make sure JFK gets this pen? That tells you he's in tune. That's the first thing I wanted to say to you. Yes, I think so.

I mean, look, this president is a multitasker. He his mind is amazing. It may be all the Diet Coaxy drinks. I don't know, but he's able to operate on a plane that most Americans could not operate on. And I agree.

And the second one. I watched some of those interviews by some of those people that were locked up in in a J6. A girl touching a desk, and then they turned around and said she got arrested for admit to it that you stole it, and we'll give you a lesser crime. And then that photographer. They said that he was in course, you know, telling people to do stuff and riot out there.

I've been saying this, and I said this on your show four years ago, They locked these people up, but once Trump got in and they come out, you're going to find That even, you know, they're saying, oh, they're beating up the police officers and this and that.

Some of these police officers were far left too.

So you just there's a lot of lying going on, and the truth is going to come out between the FBI and the police. Because, you know, Trump is there to help these people. It it's just insane. It is. It is.

Mark, always good hearing from you, my friend. And thanks for calling in. Happy Friday to you. 901-260-5926. I want to share this story with you.

A. This is from Connecticut, New Britain Unified School District. A teacher there. Has been suspended, and she may end up getting fired because she refused to take down a small crucifix that was on a wall next to her desk inside the classroom. Let's take a listen to the local reporter here.

New Britton, a grade school teacher who was placed on leave for refusing to take down a crucifix in her classroom, will learn today whether or not she'll keep her job. Your reporter, Marcy Jones, is live this morning breaking down the details and everything we know about this case. Good morning. Good morning, Tracy and Roger.

Well, this matter is starting to gain some national attention. Should a beloved 10-year teacher be able to display her crucifix near her desk, or is it unlawfully pushing religious beliefs onto students? That's the big question here. Marisol Arroyo-Castro has taught in Connecticut public schools for more than three decades, and for the last 10 years, a crucifix has hung by her desk. That is until early December when she was placed on paid leave after the school's administration asked her to remove the cross from students' sight, claiming it violated federal and state laws, which require public schools to remain neutral on religious matters.

New Britain's superintendent released a statement on the matter, saying in part, quote, we will not allow any teacher to use their position of authority to impose their personal religious beliefs or infringe on the civil rights of our students. The school district claims it's received complaints from students and staff that her teacher Is influenced by her Catholic fate. Castro's lawyer says if they don't reinstate her, they'll take this to court. They have never said. you're injecting religion into your teaching.

It has only been about that cross being at her personal workspace. Um The New Britain School Committee is expected to meet today and decide whether or not Castro will be terminated. Make sure you stay with us all day long for the latest updates. Your reporter in New Britain. All right, so there you go, the local report there for Connecticut.

So we have this story up on TonStarnes.com, and I've got a photograph of the teacher's classroom so you can actually see what we're talking about. The teacher's desk is against the wall, and there are a lot of decorations. It looks like there's a Christmas tree, and there are some drawings of owls and cats, and there's this little crucifix. It is not very large at all. And the teachers have this crucifix in her classroom.

for over ten years. And it was just recently that somebody actually complained about it.

So the school wanted to compromise, and they told the teacher that she could still have the crucifix if she put the crucifix on the floor underneath her desk by her feet. And the teacher said, No, I I'm not going to do that. I have every right to be able to post this crucifix on the wall.

Now we did a little bit of research. And it turns out, ladies and gentlemen, That The School actually promotes LGBT Pride Month. The school celebrates Gay Pride Month, and they fly flags, they have banners, they are all in on the LGBT agenda at this school.

Now, it just seems to me if you're going to be able to fly a gay pride flag, a teacher ought to be able to at least post a cross or a crucifix in her school. She's not proselytizing. This is something that's important to the teacher. And according to her attorneys, That she has every single right. Under the Constitution, to be able to display that cross.

Just because you're a public school teacher doesn't mean you have to leave your faith at the front of the classroom door. No, no, no, no. You get to do that. All right, we're going to take a break here. 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. No shot. Um All right, let's go to the phone lines here. Open line Friday, 901-260-5926.

David in Corpus Christi, Texas. David, what's on your mind? I'm not sure if I can do it. Yeah, I I I was listening to your show the other day or I was listening to President Trump on truth. I can't remember where I heard it, but He only mentioned Ashley Babbitt being killed.

during uh the january sixth riot and I thought Roseanne Boylan had also been killed during that riot.

Well, she lost her life.

Now, the question is: who was responsible? She was the young woman from Georgia. I think she was 34 years old at the time, and she was killed in the crush. Of her fellow, you know, the fellow rioters trying to shove through the police line, and that's where she was crushed to death. I thought she was also beaten by a by one of the DC police to There was no evidence of that.

No, I mean, she was, you know, according to all of the video evidence, she was crushed by the crowd trying to get into the Capitol. And there was also video of a couple of it was Capitol Police, I believe, U.S. Capitol Police trying to do CPR, but they were unable to revive her.

Okay. All right. So I I again, it doesn't make it any it doesn't make it any better at all. I mean, it's a terrible, terrible situation, but I think the distinction there is that Ashley Babbitt was shot and killed by law enforcement up on Capitol Hill. 'Cause I was hearing something that he had been shot with, um.

a pepper grenade or or or something before She was stampeded, but Um I I'm surprised There's really been no investigation into that.

So maybe there will be. I don't know.

Well, it could be. I mean, David, it's a sad situation, no doubt about it. And, you know, I have very mixed feelings about all the things that happened there. If this had been a bunch of leftists, and let me just say this, David. If you would have had a bunch of leftists trying to do this when they were trying to confirm the election or certify the election of President Trump.

Every conservative in America would be saying those people should be thrown in jail and something should have been done. Awesome. I agree either.

So it's just, I mean, there's a way to do things a right way and a wrong way. And I think there was a lot of wrong on both sides during that event. And, you know, I think it is time to move on. You know, President Trump, and that's not to say, though, and that's not to discount the fact that a lot of these people were unjustly prosecuted as a result of that. And you can have that argument as well.

So that's where I break from a lot of other conservative folks out there. I do believe in the rule of law. You got to have it. Exactly. All right, David, thank you very much for calling in.

Hope things are going well in Corpus Christi, Texas. Coming up in the next hour, James Comer is going to drop by. Had a great conversation with him on Newsmax, and we're going to play that interview. And the question for James Comer: are we ever going to hold the Bidens? Are they ever going to be held accountable?

For all of the crimes they have committed, is that going to happen?

Well, we're going to be talking to the congressman. A little bit later on. Also, a school teacher now announcing that You know what will have to freeze over before she allows ICE officers into her classroom to haul out the illegal aliens. Cut number three. I just want to say with my entire Chest and ten toes down on my broken tile classroom floor.

that it will be a cold. No. Frozen, day in hell, before someone from ICE comes in my classroom to remove a student they suspect is undocumented first, because I have no undocumented students. What are you talking about second, even if I did? 1982 Plyer versus Doe says that it does not matter.

Everyone is entitled to a fair and a free appropriate education. And that's what I'm here to do. I am so sorry. I can't come to my door right now. We're learning.

We're doing class stuff. You're going to have to come back later. And by later, I mean never because there are hills that I will die on, and this is one. All right, lady.

Well, you better go ahead and get your affairs in order then, 'cause when ice comes in Akin, they're coming in. And it doesn't matter how cold it is down in the Lake of Fire. All right, hang tight, everybody. Hour three of the big show coming up. Our telephone number again, 901-260-5926.

That's 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. Live from the Liberty University Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, it's America's conservative blowtorch. That's it! That's right.

I love this American ride. Touch starts.

Well, hello, everyone. Welcome to hour three of the big show. Happy Friday to you. A lot happening out there. President Trump is busy today.

He is in North Carolina, later on his way to California to. Address the horrible situation there, the disastrous response to the wildfires at the hands of the Democrats, including Governor Gavin Newscomb. Who may be trying to embarrass President Trump? I'd like to see him try. I don't think that's going to end well.

For Newscomb, to be perfectly blunt about it. J.D. Vance, our vice president, talking to pro-lifers. We're going to play some audio from that in just a little while. But again, a lot happening, and we've got a lot to get to this hour of the program.

Our telephone number is 901-260-5926. Again, Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926.

Well, joining me now is Kentucky Congressman James Comer, author of the new book, All the President's Money, a book about the Biden crime family. Congressman, good to have you with us this evening. I want to get your take, first of all, on President Trump's decision to pardon those 23 pro-lifers earlier this afternoon.

Well, I think it was the right decision. I mean, we know that the Biden administration had a two-tier system of justice, that they discriminated against conservatives. that they discriminated against people of faith. And I think that what What President Trump did was the right decision. And unlike the pardons that President Biden used did with his family.

Now President Trump campaigned and said he was going to pardon many of these people and pardon the January 6th people. This was he was transparent about what his intentions were, and he talked about on the campaign trail.

So I think it was the right decision. I support it. Congressman, we are expecting possibly tomorrow night a confirmation vote on Pete Hagseth. Do you anticipate any other Republican de factor or detractors? There there are going to be a few, unfortunately, but I think that He will have enough votes to be named the next Secretary of Defense, and I think he will do a good job.

I support. President Trump's nominees, and I've done interviews with HedgeFeth on another network many times. I think he's a good guy, and I think he's going to disrupt the Pentagon. That's what we need. He failed eight straight audits.

And you know, this administration's about Efficiency, this about spending tax dollars wisely, and I think he's the right guy at the right time. You know, here's what gets me, Congressman, and you can tell me if I'm wrong on this, but President Trump has been maligned, indicted, arrested, fingerprinted. He's been shot at. They tried to kill the guy. They've gone after his family.

All of that, and he's our president right now. And it seems to me pretty clear: whatever he wants, he ought to get. What say you? I agree. Look, I've had several of my Republican colleagues criticize certain things that.

President Trump has said a couple of his executive orders, a partner, too, and I told him, I said, wow, you should have. Run against President Trump if you've got so many great ideas. About which direction our country needs to go in. And obviously, we wouldn't be in the majority. If it weren't for President Trump's coattails.

So Trump. Won a mandate, and the people who voted for Trump expect Congress to pass his agenda. When they were voting for Donald Trump, they were voting for Donald Trump's agenda. And there are going to be things that I probably aren't, you know, don't like 100%. There are things many of my colleagues won't like.

But at the end of the day, he's the president, he won, he's the reason we're in the majority. And the American people were voting for his agenda, not ours.

So we need to support the president, and I'm certainly going to do that. When President Biden issued those pardons, you posted this. President Biden's pardons for the Biden crime family serve as a confession of their corruption as they sold out the American people to enrich themselves. Joe Biden will be remembered as the most corrupt president in U.S. history.

You know, Congressman, I've just always been curious how a guy who spent his entire adult life in service to the country has come out a multi-millionaire many times over. Should we be concerned about that at all? Absolutely. I've spent two years investigating the Biden crime family. And I think the the very last action Joe Biden did as President of the United States was an admission of guilt.

That his family have been influence peddling for decades. They've enriched themselves. According to the Irish whistleblowers who came forward because of our investigation, they never paid a penny of taxes on the tens of millions of dollars that they took from our adversaries around the world. And unlike President Trump, who actually has real businesses, the Biden family never could disclose one single legitimate business. In fact, they never did say what they did.

To receive the millions and millions of dollars that we found when I subpoenaed their bank record.

So the Biden family will go down as the most corrupt political family in the history of our nation. I hope that we can do things here in this Congress to prevent something like that from ever happening again. But one thing we found in our investigation was the government caught the Biden many times. There were four ongoing investigations from four different agencies: the IRS, the FBI, the Securities Exchange Commission. And the Department of Justice were all investigating the Biden family for various financial crimes.

But in each instance, when it got to where they needed to bring Joe in to talk to them, they were told to stand down by the deep state.

So, just replacing the deep state, if Cash Patel and Pete Hedgepeth and the others go in and clean house, then I think we'll be on a path to restoring confidence in our government. But when it comes to Hunter Biden, James Biden, Joe Biden, are you telling me, Congressman, that? That they just got away with it? There's nothing more we can do?

Well, I hope not. You know, I've spent a lot of time on this investigation. We've uncovered the fact that the entire family was in on the schemes. No one knew that. They just thought it was Hunter.

We identified 10 family members, including Joe Biden, who profited from laundered money from these influence peddling schemes. That's why Joe Biden pardoned. Six members of his family because of our investigation. My book that you mentioned earlier, All the President's Money, it's a forensic audit. Of everything the Biden did.

It explains which accounts they laundered the money through, which family members got the money. It's very detailed for everyone that wants to know.

Now, I hope President Trump's Department of Justice takes our investigation. And holds these people accountable. Yes, they've been pardoned. We all knew they would be pardoned, even though Joe Biden promised he wouldn't do that. But at the end of the day, I think there are avenues that the Department of Justice can take.

To hold them accountable, I will pursue, I will keep doing whatever as long as I have the direction from this Department of Justice, because we've been fighting the Department of Justice a long time. And again, despite obstruction from Merrick Garland's Department of Justice, we found all this information out that was so compelling. Joe Biden did the unthinkable thing and did a blanket pardon for almost his entire family because of what we found.

So I want to see him held accountable and I want to see the government employees who were responsible for the cover-up. Held accountable. And I've already talked to Cash Patel about that. We're in communication with Pam Bondi, so I hope we see real accountability with the Biden family as well. All right.

Congressman, we're going to leave it there. You know, the only people that he didn't pardon, the family dogs. They're on their own. Toe figure. Congressman, thank you.

All right. Thank you. That was a little bit of my interview with Congressman James Comer on Newsmax. And, folks, if you're not watching the show at 5 o'clock, it's a lot of fun, fast-paced, and we have a lot of great information.

So I would encourage you to go and check that out. Ben Dieter, I understand we have some breaking news. Breaking news now on the Todd Starn Show.

Now, Ben Dieter, earlier we told you that yours surely, Todd Stearns, the lovable Kermuchin, the host of the Todd Stearns Show, was declared to be not a bona fide Republican. We shared that information with our audience, did we not? That's correct in great detail.

Well, I have just received communication from top Republican officials in Memphis, and I have been told that it was all a mistake and that there was misinformation. And yours truly, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sure our studio audience is going to be delighted to hear this news. I am officially back in good graces with the Republican Party. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Please, I'd like to thank, I'd like to thank my agent, I'd like to thank Grandmother Starnes.

Yeah. So apparently, there's been some hiccups, technical hiccups or glitches. I don't know.

I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm not. Oh, come on, dude. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. Be gracious.

Sorry. Be gracious.

I want to thank them, too, for allowing our boss, Todd, back into the party there. I won't ask for a refund now. Yeah. I was kind of hoping you were going to not want that bonus. I was going to take it.

Well, I was going to take everybody out to Houston's, but unfortunately, they shut down Houston's because of the high crime in Memphis. Ow. Oh, it's good to see you back. I'm glad you're a bona fide Republican. Red-blooded, gun-totin', Bible-clinging son of a Baptist, I am.

So, thank you very much, Republicans. And we forget how many people listen to this radio program sometimes, you know? But we certainly do appreciate their graciousness. Got a great phone call. They personally called, and I appreciate that.

That means, you know, I appreciate it.

So, anyway, moving on. I think we just got an edible arrangement. We got edibles? Edible arrangement. Oh, edible arrangement.

Fruit basket. I think I take some edibles too, though. It's been a rough week. I'm just telling you. By the way, this story from Tennessee as well.

And I am anxious to hear your thoughts on this, America. Congressman Andy Ogles has filed a joint resolution in Congress proposing a change to the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution.

Now, the 22nd Amendment. Limits presidents to just two terms in office, and that's because of FDR and what he did to the country.

So, Congressman Ogles wants to make the change to allow President Trump. And future presidents to serve three terms. I'm going to read the resolution to you. No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than three times, nor be elected to any additional term after being elected to two consecutive terms. And no person who has held the office of president or acted as president for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice.

A little wordy, but okay. Ogle says that President Trump's decisive leadership stands in stark contrast to the chaos, suffering, and economic decline Americans have endured over the past four years. He has proven himself to be the only figure in modern American history capable of reversing our nation's decay and restoring Americans to greatness. And he must be given the time necessary to accomplish that goal. To that end, I am proposing a barnigazon and so on and so forth, blah, blah, blah.

I'm curious. Because he's not the only one. That is talking about this, but he's the only one that's doing something about it, introducing. this resolution.

So I'm curious, ladies and gentlemen, what say you? Does President Trump deserve a third term in office. 901-260-5926. That's 901-260-5926. We'll be taking your calls open line Friday.

We'll be right back. Our daughter Jessie loves playing detective. A clue. But since we discovered she has sensitive skin, we've been playing detective too. We thought the problem was our puppy.

But it was actually our old detergent. Aha.

So we switched to Tide Free and Gentle. Tide Queen's better than the leading competitive free detergent, and it doesn't leave behind irritating residues. Plus, Tide Free and Gentle has no dyes or perfumes, so it's gentle on her skin. Case closed. If it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide-free and gentle.

All right, let's go to the phones. Newburn, North Carolina, great town. Dan, what is on your mind?

Well, I wanted to say, first off, I love your show, and I want to preface my comment about a third term for Trump by saying I'm tied for first as the biggest Trump fan. but I am absolutely against a third term for any pricing. And I think it would be a huge our mistake is Republicans This idea because the Rachel Madcows of the world are going to say, aha, we tried to tell you that there'll never be another election. First, it'll be a third term, then it'll be a fourth term. Bad idea, don't do it.

Yeah, it's, you know, I hear you. And I am right now, I would say I am opposed to a third term. I think two terms is good enough. My concern is what would have happened had Barack Obama been running against Donald Trump in 2016? What would that election look like?

And I think Obama would have won. Perhaps. But Let's not change. The rules, let's keep it where it is.

So you're good.

So you're saying two terms is enough. Yes, sir. All right, Dan, I got you down for that. Ladies and gentlemen, what say you, Republicans, want to give Presidents three terms in office, not two, three terms, nine oh one two six zero five nine two six. Let's go to Angie in Clemson, South Carolina.

Angie, what's your question today?

Well, I have a couple different ones. But first off, I keep hearing all these different statistics on how many police were actually killed on on J six. And I'm just wondering, what is the truth? The only thing I truly have heard that to be truthful is that the one woman was killed by a policeman. And I but yet there's these news feeds and and people that say, Oh, there was like a hundred police killed, you know, they I mean, they just go out of their way to make it uh sound like the police were really uh stormed on and, you know, murdered and hurt.

But I I haven't you know I don't know. Do you know what the truth is? Angie, I do. And I'll do my best to try to share the information I have. And this is all verified information.

The answer to your question is zero. Not a single police officer was killed on January the 6th. There were six officers who died in the days after January 6th, but there's no evidence that those deaths were connected in any way whatsoever to the events of what happened at the Capitol.

Well, I've heard police they have an issue physically with high blood pressure. I imagine having something like that happen probably spiked their blood pressure.

Well, Angie, some days after this show, I deal with that myself. But I don't blame, you know. Again, I hear what you're saying, and there were officers, I think dozens that were injured in the clashes. And again, that's where I have a problem: is you don't fight with police. When the police tell you to do something, you do it.

That's right, exactly. Also, I've felt this for so long. How is it? Invitance from Delaware. How could a state continually?

Vote for a debased Ignorant man like him. all those years. I keep wondering, was he stealing the votes in Delaware all those years? Or A what? I mean, what they must have had blinders on to keep Putting that man.

Uh in for office. And just like I really think we should just keep to two terms for a President, we need to maybe put two, three terms on for Senators and Representatives as well. Uh You really want new people in there and That's my opinion. I think what we need to focus on, Angie, is term limits for Congress. It looks like an old folks home right now.

Yeah, oh, absolutely. I mean, FDR was in for three terms. But No four. Yeah, he kicked over. Yeah, he kicked the bucket in the fourth term.

I mean, we want to talk about a dictatorship. Let's have that conversation. But it begins with the letters FDR. Hey, Angie, I hate to do this, but we've got to take a break here. Great questions, though.

Give us a call back. And folks, Open Line Friday, 901-260-5926. This is the Todd Stern Show. All right, so there you have it. Tennessee Congressman Andy Ogles says that President Trump deserves a third term in office, introducing a resolution to change the law.

What say you, ladies and gentlemen? 901-260-5926. Let's go to Don in Eastern North Carolina. Hi, Don. What's on your mind?

Hey, Todd, I was just calling you about the two term limit. Yes, sir. Do you agree? What's your take on it? I think it's a bad idea.

I think that regardless of your political affiliation, whether you're Republican, Democrat, or whatever. you start to develop friendships and alliances and you owe people favors And I think that by the second term to eight years, you should let somebody else come in so you don't start becoming more of a Washingtonite or DC inside the beltway type person. And I think that the age of Trump at that time would be Whether he's Demand it or not. Uh which would come into question.

So I don't think it's a good idea for any politician Uh can have more than two terms in the White House. Yeah, look, at at the end of the day here, Don, we've got big problems on Capitol Hill already, and we see what happens when you don't have term limits, where you have corruption, you have men and women who have spent their entire careers in public service in Washington, and yet they are multimillionaires many times over. And my concern would be what happens, let's say we get a radical Democrat again, and that radical Democrat has three terms in office, something like that. When you factor in the Supreme Court and the ages of the Supreme Court justices, you are looking at radical change that could significantly alter the course of this country. Yeah, and I think we need to pick our battles in our fights.

I don't think that's worth it. getting into the discussion that it would create and the conflict we've got enough other things to worry about besides you know, nepotism and so forth. All right, Don.

Well, I appreciate your call. Thank you for listening. We love our friends over at The Talk Station. They're in Moorhead City, North Carolina. Good people.

Folks, when you look at the economy right now, things are a little shaky. President Trump says it's going to take a little bit of time to get all of this worked out. No doubt about that. And you need to be a little patient. But you also need to prepare yourself.

For the future, and that means protecting your retirement plan. We've been telling you about this for a very long time now, and it's an important thing to do. Don't put all of your life savings into a 401k or the stock market. You need to divest your retirement and your savings, right? And one of the ways you can do that is by investing in gold.

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So here's what I want you to do: I want you to check out my friends at Priority Gold. Give them a call, shoot them an email this weekend. Priority Gold is offering all of us, listeners of the Tom Stern Show, a free wealth protection guide. It is a step-by-step plan to fortify your savings with gold. There is no cost, no obligation, instant delivery.

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Protect your family, your future, and everything you've worked so hard to build with prioritygold.com. All right, let's go back to the phone lines here. Keith in Jackson, Tennessee, listening to us in the great WTJS. All right, Keith, what do you think about these term limits? All righty.

If we didn't have term limits, We would have had a third term president. of Barack Obama and think how the Supreme Court would look today. Yes, sir. No doubt about it. He was very popular.

He would have won. I can almost guarantee he will won a third term.

So Trump notwithstanding, two term is enough. How do you feel about term limits in Congress? Oh, Lord, yes, forever. It should have been put in way back when. But how going to happen because they would be limiting their sales.

And what a congressman does as soon as he's elected is run for reelection. That's it. And Keith, you're absolutely right. They have already started. And here in Tennessee, for example, I'll just share what's happening with us.

We just had a United States Senator Marsha Blackburn. She just ran and she won for a six-year term, and she's going to be turning around. It looks like she's going to be running for governor now. Wow, okay.

Well, like the time limit is you know, twelve years for the Senate is good and twelve years for the House. Yeah, I like that. And again, the House, you guys run every two years. You've got to run for reelection, six-year terms for the Senate. I like, Keith, I like where you're going with it.

Thank you for. Yeah, thank you for listening to us. Let's go to Baxter in Georgia, listening to us on WTUN. Hi, Baxter. What say you?

Hey, Todd. First of all, I want to tell you, my wife, I got in hot water with her last time she sent a car, and I told you that she hated Mike O'Nell's MyPillow. Oh, God. She doesn't hate him.

Okay, I just want to set the record straight. Oh, thank you for clearing that up. He loves everything about MyPillow. We have his sheets and stuff like that. Yeah, we got two or three.

We love him. Listen, honestly, you know, there's a lot of people of the opinion, and I'm serious about this, that Trump is on his third term. Yeah, well yes, but in in reality, I I hear where you're going with it, but he's but according to the law of the land, he's not. Yeah, I know. But anyhow, you know, hey, you gotta vote 'em in anyhow.

So if he's running for a third term and people don't like him, Yeah, you know, I d I really don't think the guy said Obama would have won no. I don't think Obama would have won the third term. I don't care who you would have put up against Trump. He would have put him down so bad he would have won. If he could have won over Hillary, Sorry, but I do believe that they ought to have three terms.

It would be great.

So you're in favor of it. Yes, sir. Oh, yes. All right, Baxter, we've got you down. And tell the missus we said hello.

She's back in good graces.

Okay, Todd, thank you and God bless you. All right, Baxter, God bless you too. We're trying to do what we can. We want to strengthen marriages here on the Todd Stearns Radio program. We don't want to cause angst, turmoil.

Let's go to Gainesville, Georgia. Robert on the line. Hi, Robert. What say you? Todd, thanks for your great show.

mister Trump is President until twenty eighth, with JD as his Vice President. What does the law say about JD running for president in 28 with Mr. Trump as his vice president.

Well, You know, the law could be a little murky there, but I'm fairly certain Donald Trump would not be doing that. He wants to be the top dog. What you could see is maybe a, I'm just spitballing here, Robert. You could have a J.D. Vance Don Trump Jr.

ticket or a J.D. Vance female ticket. There could have been a female VP on that ticket. I don't know, but we'll have to check. The law is a little murky there.

Maybe we'll have a Day D Vance Todd Starren ticket. Yeah, I want to be press secretary. That's all. I'll be press secretary. You got our boat.

Thank you. All right. Hey, thanks, Robert. Thank you for calling in. Oh, I can't take the pay cut.

I got to tell you, I don't know how they make vins meet there in D.C. All right. We got to take a break here, folks. 901-260-5926. When we come back, I've got a crazy story out of Evanston, Illinois for you.

It involves a fire department, and they're in trouble because they're pro-Trump. We'll tell you all about it when we come back. Oh. All right, this is from Evanston, Illinois, the Chicago Tribune. Newspaper.

A group of firefighters in Illinois facing an investigation after they were photographed in a firehouse, a fire station, wearing Trump masks. We have the photo at ToddSterns.com. I would encourage you to go check it out.

So basically, the guys are in the firehouse, and they've got a bunch of big, the big, plush, lazy boys, and they're all leaning back in their lazy boys, and they're wearing those awesome Trump masks. And Ben Dieter, I want you to, you can see the photograph. It looks to be pretty good-natured fun. Right. I don't understand why there's controversy here.

This is so dumb. But it's just a guy just kicking back, having a good time.

So this this image was posted on Reddit. And the person who posted it, Ben, said, After recent events both nationally and locally, I've decided it's time to get involved politically. Evanston is a diverse community that welcomes everybody. Bigotry, hate, sexism, fascism have no place in our community, especially within our fire department, whose job it is to protect the community.

So. They're looking at that photo and they came away with, oh, those are a bunch of sexist, fascist bigots. Of course they did. What would they want? The firefighters from Los Angeles County?

And that's my whole argument: say what you will about those firefighters, but I guarantee you they can carry your butt out of a burning building. And they know how to use a fire hose. And that's not a euphemism, a literal fire hose. Wonder if they would have been a I wish there would have been a chick firefighter in that photo wearing the mask. That would have thrown him.

I have a question though, and I don't mean to bring race into this, but what happens if there's a black firefighter wearing a white Trump mask? Is that Is that white face? At first, when I heard the controversy, that's what I originally thought. Again, ToddStarnes.com to see the photo, ToddStarnes.com. I don't know.

I'm looking at some of these images. Who's not to say there isn't a f they're masked? I mean, they're wearing pants. Women firefight it. We don't know.

We just don't know.

Well, female fighters, they don't wear skirts, do they? They wear pants.

So that's what I'm saying. We don't know. It could be a chick in the lazy boy. I just love that they're in the lazy boys. They're the lazy boys.

They did. Very comfortable. Who knew that they had lazy boys in Fire Station? I wanted to. We need one for the studio.

I would like to do my show from a lazy boy. We would not get you back rejoining at the top of an hour.

So, and I'm curious, folks, go look at the photo and give us a call back. Do you think this photograph is inappropriate? Because these guys could lose their jobs. I'm going to get to that in a minute. 901-260-5926.

Go look at the picture at ToddSterns.com.

So, the city manager says that they're investigating, they're looking into this. The fire chief issued a statement apologizing. And the mayor got involved. Mayor Daniel Biss. telling the Chicago Tribune, This picture is extremely troubling and disappointing to see.

While I cannot comment on specifics in an ongoing investigation, I think what okay, can I just stop here for what are they what is there to investigate? These Trump masks. Guys, were you wearing Trump masks? Yeah, okay. What I'm wondering if Mayor Daniel Biss is cousins with Mayor Karen Bass.

Oh, Biss and Bass. Biss and Basson. Nothing worse than a Bissy Bass, if you know what I mean.

So. No, I really don't know what I mean. I'm sorry. It's Friday.

So look, um, here's what you know what would be great though, Dieter? Imagine your house is on fire and the firemen show up and they're all wearing base mas the f the Trump masks. I mean, I wouldn't be offended by that. I wouldn't be offended if someone showed up in a Hillary Clinton mask. You know, I was Hillary Clinton once for Halloween.

They do make a Hillary Ronham Clinton mask. If that masked man, even if it's Hillary's freaking face, can put out a fire, I have no issue.

So people are just. Furious about this. I'm on the local newspaper, the Evanston Roundtable. Here's what one person wrote: As a resident of Evanston for over 60 years, I am appalled at this image, especially since these men were in uniform in the photography. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the EFD.

They saved my burning home some years ago. But this image sends a chilling message that reminds me of what things were like in Evanston in the past when Chief Hicks became the first black member of the wait, what? They're taking it all the way back, they're making it all racial. Are we going back to the early days of discrimination and prejudice? I don't think that's what they were trying to convey here.

I may be wrong. But I don't think that that's what they're that's what they're trying. to portray here. Another person says I'm not sure I would have bothered making a stink about this image. The firefighters are relaxing recliners, wearing sandals.

They're not out fighting fires or helping people with medical emergencies. They're not even eating a hearty lunch so as to be fueled up to go fight more fires. What?

So she's upset about their diet. Uh Unbelievable. I just don't understand why these people are so butthurt over these firefighters that are just kicking back, having a good time.

Someone said um It took me all of two seconds to find images of the Evanston cop motorcycles adorned with rainbow flags. Is that a problem?

Well Fair enough. That's a fair question. Bud says Seems to me the firefighters were celebrating the inauguration of a new president. That's a momentous national news event, not a partisan political campaign. What is happening to us?

And then Carol responds, Carol is a Karen. And you know that to be a fact exactly how?

Well, because they're wearing Trump masks, Carol. Come on. And does this really they're saying that The guys wear the firefighters wearing these masks, it rises to the level of political activity. Dieter, there's a woman named Johanna on here. On the Evanston round table the message board And she uses an emoji.

I am horrified. and I am scared. I am horrified and I am scared. Another man named Robert Reagan. Wrote this.

This is shameful, unprofessional, and childish behavior. It reflects poorly upon the Evanston Fire Department. Mm. I think this is a town full of Karens. Yeah.

Yeah. Weak people. All right. Mafa. Yeah, go.

It's Mafa. Mafa. Make.

Well, I guess it would be make, nah, I'm bad with acronyms. Make firefighters great again. That's MF. No, you can't say that. Yeah, yeah, no.

I'm going to the corner. Bye. Thank you, Ben. Appreciate it. Good try, though.

Carol in North Carolina. Hi, Carol. What's on your mind? I do not think that a president should have a third term. But I think that Congress should be their terms should be limited and also.

a superior c uh the the Supreme Court justices. I don't think that they should have it for life. And maybe I'm wrong, but And I was telling the girl before I got on with you that I get upset about some of the things. Who you mean, Ben? Ben.

Yeah, Ben's a red blood American man. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Come on. Carol, that's it, Carol.

Carol, I am dropping you. Oh, my God. He does have kind of a tone. But I I tell you, I think that the attorneys have too much authority. I tell you, the attorneys you know they're in it for the money anyway.

Carol, we've got always looking for somebody to The freeze. Yeah, and we got to go. They're hollering at me. We've got to ramp this up, Carol. But thank you for that.

Thank you. Carol's on the no-no list for calling me a girl. All right. Want to thank the girls in the control room today.

Well done, everybody. Folks, get out there, have a great day. And whatever you do, be sure to go to church this weekend. Lord knows we need it.