Walker Wildmon: Welcome to At The Core here on American Family Radio. I'm Walker Wildmon. I'm glad to have you with us on this edition of the program. We're going to spend our time today recapping the midterm results from yesterday evening. Quite a shocker, my friends, quite a shocker. We will live to fight another day, so don't be too dramatic or apocalyptic about it, but it was a pretty bad night for Republicans, to put it mildly.

Walker Wildmon: We'll talk through all of that. We'll also have some excellent guests with us. We'll have Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson on with us, and then in the last segment we will have the attorney general of Missouri, Catherine Hanaway, with us as well. Some good interviews are coming up, so stay around for that. You can go to AFR.net to listen live and subscribe to the podcast.

Walker Wildmon: I want to spend the few minutes we have this segment recapping some of last night's results and then giving somewhat of my assessment. The present level of political bloodbath has happened before. Anyone who says this has never happened, this is historic, or anything of that nature that is apocalyptic, such as, "We'll never return. We'll never recover from this," those kinds of assessments are just not true, and they never are.

Walker Wildmon: Let me give you some examples of presidents who have had their party get absolutely clobbered in the midterms. Going back to Ronald Reagan, President Reagan in 1986, the Republicans lost eight Senate seats. In 1994, President Bill Clinton's Democrats lost eight Senate seats and 54 House seats. In 2006, President Bush lost 30 House seats and six Senate seats. The last example would be in 2014, when President Obama lost nine Senate seats.

Walker Wildmon: That's just in the last 30 or 40 years. Things like this have happened before. They are not as common, but they do happen. We should not try to act like this stuff has never happened before or that a party has never recovered from defeat. After President Obama left the Democratic Party, meaning he finished out his term and was in retirement mode in Martha's Vineyard, who would have thought the Democrats would make any kind of comeback nationally? Here they are.

Walker Wildmon: I'm going to read off my assessment, and at the same time, I don't want to underestimate how terrible of a night it was for Republicans. This was an absolute disaster. Once again, it's not something they can't recover from, but in the interim, this was an absolute disaster.

Walker Wildmon: Here's my assessment that I published this morning. The first point I have is that God is sovereign, and the Christian mandate to make disciples of Jesus hasn't changed. As long as we have breath, we should advocate for righteousness in our homes, churches, cities, states, and nations. The biblical mandate, the call for the Christian to be faithful, doesn't change regardless of how these elections go.

Walker Wildmon: Secondly, I'll admit, as I told you I would, that I was just flat-out wrong. I didn't believe the polls. I didn't fully grasp the deep dissatisfaction voters have with President Trump and Republicans. The polling firms had it mostly right, and this definitely has my attention moving forward.

Walker Wildmon: Thirdly, as it turns out, voters were extremely upset with the economy and the Iran war. The exit polls reflected this. The approval rating for Congress and the president was in the tank going into yesterday. Even though I've generally supported the president, the reality is that he promised to fix the economy and stop the endless wars in the Middle East. He made the economy worse and started a war with Iran that is still ongoing today.

Walker Wildmon: I believe the Iran war was an inflection point at which Republicans lost a lot of voters. President Trump has always carried a sense of narcissism, and he'll never admit, of course, that some of his policy decisions were vastly unpopular with voters.

Walker Wildmon: Fourthly, last night's results prove that people often vote on how they feel on Election Day, and these feelings are often untethered from reality or logic. What I mean by that is electing Democrats will likely do nothing to fix the economy or end the Iran war, but that doesn't matter. This election was a vote of dissatisfaction with President Trump and Republicans more than it was a vote in favor of Democratic policies or ideas. It was more of an "anything but Trump" vote.

Walker Wildmon: Fifth, this will be a long recovery for Republicans and conservatives. It could be 2032 before we're able to take back the Senate. That's a long time, friends. On the other hand, while the results were pretty bad, very bad for Republicans, this has happened before for both parties, and they each lived to fight another day. I gave you the examples earlier: 2006, 2014, and so forth.

Walker Wildmon: Don't listen to people who use phrases like "all is lost" or "we'll never recover." Such predictions are almost always, which is somewhat contradictory but sounds good, almost always overstated.

Walker Wildmon: The last assessment I have is that, in hindsight, Clarence Thomas or Samuel Alito should have retired before the election. Now it will likely be six to eight years before Republicans can retake the Senate and be able to confirm a conservative nominee for the Supreme Court. Of course, I respect both of these men, but for the long-term well-being of the court and the country, one or both of them should have retired and allowed President Trump to appoint a much younger justice who could serve for another generation or another few decades.

Walker Wildmon: That's my assessment of the results. Let me focus in on why the defeat. This wasn't just a defeat in flipping the Senate or picking up some House seats. Folks, we've got Democratic governors in places I never thought we'd have a Democratic governor again. I was naive enough to think that things don't change and you can't have a Democratic governor in some of these states in the future. I don't know. Maybe I'm overly optimistic.

Walker Wildmon: A lot of these states have had Republican governors for 20 or 30 years, Texas, for example. Now we're talking about a Democratic governor of Texas. I mean, this is insane. I would have never, ever told you that this was possible, but it is, and this is where we are.

Walker Wildmon: Even in the state of Mississippi, as red as Mississippi is, this Senate race is within the margin of error. They're having to do recounts. It's under one percentage point, a couple thousand votes differential. At one point it was a couple hundred. That's just unbelievable.

Walker Wildmon: But let's not overcomplicate this, because you're going to look at a lot of analysts, a lot of talking heads, and a lot of people who are going to try to overcomplicate this and make it some formula that nobody understands. Let's just cut straight to it. The party in power, meaning the president and the Republican Party, was already at a disadvantage in the sense that they were defending a lot of Senate seats and House seats. They were also the party in power, and historically speaking, for whatever reason, the party in power doesn't bode well in the midterms. Everything was stacked up against them before they even got to the starting line.

Walker Wildmon: On top of that, though, and this is what they can control, is the economy. Let's not talk about the 20 issues that voters care about. Let's keep it simple. Every single election since I've been alive, and before that, the number one issue for voters is the economy. It's every election, every time, no matter what. It's the economy, and it's really not even close. Far below that you'll find issues like national security, border security, and violent crime, but there's a pretty good margin there.

Walker Wildmon: Before President Trump went to war with Iran, at least here in my hometown, we had gas going down to two dollars a gallon. There was actual talk about gas going below two dollars a gallon, and it actually did at a couple of gas stations around the country, though not here. Interest rates were coming down. The Fed was lowering interest rates, mortgage rates were about to drop below six percent into the fives, and inflation was around one percent. I'm talking about ten months ago. President Trump was carrying out his agenda.

Walker Wildmon: The Iran war changed everything. I think when the history books are written, the Iran war was the inflection point. The Iran war was the politically fatal mistake that the Trump administration made and never recovered from.

Walker Wildmon: I'm not even litigating the reasoning for the Iran war or whether it was justified. We could exhaust our time arguing and debating whether President Trump should or should not have launched the strikes on Iran. Personally, looking back in hindsight, I voiced skepticism early on, but people freaked out about that. They said, "We've got to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."

Walker Wildmon: The question I have is, did he know the Iran war would last this long? Or was he convinced by his advisers that he could get in and out of Iran in a short time frame, wipe his hands of it, and then sail into the midterms? That's not what happened.

Walker Wildmon: Regardless of the justification or nonjustification of the Iran war, the fact of the matter is that one of the chief reasons President Trump is in the White House and served in the White House in his first term is because the American people, for better or worse, justified or not, are absolutely sick and tired of thousands of troops and trillions of dollars being poured into this thing called the Middle East.

Walker Wildmon: We have been doing this for more than 30 years. When you add in the Gulf War, we have been meddling in that region of the world, the Middle East and otherwise. We've been meddling militarily in that region for more than 30 years, even before 9/11. Voters are just sick and tired of it.

Walker Wildmon: Afghanistan, for example, is a more modern example. We go in there, we leave, and we spend a trillion dollars, and the same people are in charge: the Taliban. I don't know what this fixation in Washington is with foreign military engagements, but voters domestically are absolutely sick and tired of it. That is a bipartisan issue if there ever was one.

Walker Wildmon: There's the economy, and then there's the fact that Democrats and Republicans are tired of sending our neighbors to die in the Middle East for a war that we don't know what we're doing it for.

Walker Wildmon: I'm not downplaying the Iranian nuclear threat. What I will tell you, though, is that Israel, the United States, and our intelligence agencies, including Mossad and the CIA, have been keeping Iran at bay. We have been subverting Iran for decades. We have been taking out their scientists. We have been mysteriously blowing up things in Iran for a long time.

Walker Wildmon: What happened in Iran that made President Trump divert from our typical behind-the-scenes subversion campaigns through the CIA, Mossad, and others? Now we've got to send thousands of troops, hundreds of aircraft, and billions of dollars and get into a nine- to twelve-month entanglement in Iran. What changed? Iran has always wanted a nuclear weapon. They've had enriched uranium for years. Could we not have done this through some other means?

Walker Wildmon: Well, I do need to briefly read before we jump to our special guest. The vice president has spoken, and this morning he put out a long post outlining his assessment of why the Republicans lost. He's being brutally honest, and I've got to give him credit for this.

Walker Wildmon: Here's what he said, and there's a lot here, but I'm going to keep this simple. He said the top four answers for why Trump 2024 voters turned and voted for Democrats, which in fact happened, were the following: The number one issue was ending the war. This is what they wanted President Trump to do, and this is why they were disgruntled. They wanted him to end the war, focus on the cost of living and inflation, put America first, and change our relationship with Israel.

Walker Wildmon: I would be interested in what the vice president means about changing our relationship with Israel, because Israel is a chief ally, so we need to be careful there. Nonetheless, those were the four issues voters were disgruntled about: the war, inflation, putting America first, and our relationship with Israel. I will say that I do think we get pushed around a little bit by Israel sometimes, and our leaders do, but broadly speaking, they're a very good ally.

Walker Wildmon: Let's bring on the Mississippi secretary of state to talk through these results and some of the work he's been doing here in the state of Mississippi. Secretary of State Michael Watson is with us from Mississippi. Secretary Watson, glad to have you on.

Michael Watson: Man, it's a pleasure. I appreciate all the great work that you do, my friend.

Walker Wildmon: Thank you. What a time to be on. As an elected statewide official who runs as a Republican, let's talk through this. I want to hear your thoughts on what motivated voters, and then, of course, we can talk through what the Republican Party should do from here. What is your assessment of what would cause such a mass number of people to roundly reject Republican Party candidates? This was historically bad for the Republicans, comparing it obviously back to 2014 and 2006.

Michael Watson: I would say, number one, it was probably not quite as bad as 2006, but it was tough. One of the most important things for me to think through here is that when you're an elected official and you say you're going to do something and you don't do it, there are consequences.

Michael Watson: I think the temperature has risen, unfortunately, in the political world. I do think that causes people to pay more attention, which is a good thing. When you say, "Look, I'm going to get out there, I'm going to cut taxes, I'm going to cut regulations, I'm going to make it easier for you to put food on the table for your family, I'm going to lower gas prices, and I'm going to do this," and you don't do it, we just saw what happens.

Michael Watson: I think that was exacerbated by Iran. Understand that people are concerned with that, and it's a big piece of it. You top that with all the other issues that are literally happening around the kitchen table, and that was the recipe for disaster last night.

Walker Wildmon: There's going to be a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking. I'm doing it now, and the Republican Party will find some direction here. It will just take a little bit of time. What do you think the Republican Party should do? Is there something we're missing here?

Walker Wildmon: There are people who are still very dissatisfied with the economy, but at a very high level the economy is pretty good from a fundamental level, meaning the stock market, wage growth, and GDP. Those numbers are doing pretty well, not fantastically, but they're holding. You go to the ground and actually talk to people who have to buy groceries and fill up their vehicles, and they're furious. They have been since Biden. We haven't fully recovered from Biden's damage. What do you think the Republicans should do? We're going to have to pivot over the next 24 months.

Michael Watson: One hundred percent. I think that's one of the most important pieces you just pointed out. The inflation put in play by the Biden administration is clearly something President Trump has done a much better job with, but it's still compounding on what was before him. People aren't seeing prices come down and things become a little easier for them to put food on the table.

Michael Watson: Couple that with Republicans running and saying, "We're going to do this, we're going to do that," and then nothing gets done. Again, there are consequences. When we can't get out there and articulate, "Here's what it means to be a conservative. Here are the pieces we're going to put in place legislatively. We're going to get these things passed and do good things," and then you see the fruits of those labors come to pass, if you don't do that, then why vote for you?

Michael Watson: I think that was one of the biggest pieces we saw yesterday. It was the apathy of voters. Republicans just did not turn out. I think I saw a number in Texas that 17 percent of evangelical Christians turned out. Number one, that's unbelievable. Number two, what are you doing? We've got a country to save here, and we've got people to get out and make sure that we're doing the right things.

Michael Watson: I think that is the problem. What are you doing? If you're not doing anything, then you're no better than the guy on the left or the right. So, yes, I think that's big.

Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. To your point, we've got a lot of work to do as a conservative movement and, of course, as Christians as well. That's why we're here talking about it. Let me ask you this about some of the work you've done as secretary of state. You're running for lieutenant governor here in the state of Mississippi, and we'll have statewide elections in 2027. Tell us about some of this work you've done to address noncitizen voting, because the secretary of state's elections responsibilities are clearly under your purview.

Michael Watson: I'm really proud of that. We talked about this in 2019 when we were running in the secretary of state's race, and we saw an election over in San Francisco. You may recall there was a school board election where they allowed noncitizens to vote. I thought, "Oh, my gosh, this doesn't happen in America." California is crazy, I get it, but how many times do we see these things matriculate across the country?

Michael Watson: We put a package together to make sure that only United States citizens are voting in our elections. We got that passed in 2023, and I'm happy to report that it's not just talk. From July 2023 to July 2026, we've called out more than 329 noncitizens who were trying to register to vote. Because of the system we put into place, they were not on the voter rolls. That's a huge win.

Michael Watson: Last year, we added a little more spice to that recipe. We can now run our lists against the SAVE verification system on an annual basis, which is really important. We also had a gap with people who did not have driver's licenses, so they weren't connected through the Department of Public Safety. We weren't able to run them against the SAVE verification system. We closed that gap as well.

Michael Watson: I think that's one of the most important pieces of being a good secretary of state. When you see these holes, you have to address them. You can't just pass one piece of legislation and think we're done. It's an unfinished game of making sure that we've got integrity in our process, and every new year presents something new. I'm really proud of that work.

Walker Wildmon: You're running for lieutenant governor in the state of Mississippi. That's a statewide office. Talk about the role of lieutenant governor in the legislative process and otherwise, because as it is with most states, it's a pretty important role as far as getting things through legislatively and working with the governor.

Michael Watson: In Mississippi, it's actually more powerful than in most states. Our constitutional structure grants the lieutenant governor more authority than the governor has. We jokingly say the governor cuts ribbons, while the lieutenant governor is where the work actually happens.

Michael Watson: In Mississippi, there's a balance of power. The Senate has to adopt rules that give authority to the lieutenant governor, but how it works now is that the lieutenant governor names the committees, names the committee chairmen, and assigns where the bills go. Those three things are really big pieces of how you move through political procedures and move policy. It all comes to the lieutenant governor's office.

Michael Watson: Those things make it a very powerful office here in Mississippi. I think the most important thing is teamwork. It's one of the things we've really prided ourselves on during my time in the legislature and at the secretary of state's office. You want smart people around you.

Michael Watson: One of the things we're doing right now is our kitchen table tour. I mentioned those kitchen table issues a moment ago. We're sitting down with people in their living rooms and at their kitchen tables. We're asking, "What are the things that actually matter to you?" Sometimes we get into Jackson and Washington, D.C., and hear an echo chamber of red meat this or blue that. I want to talk to Mississippians who are on the ground and having a hard time putting food on the table. What can we do to get government out of the way so you can make those decisions on your own? I'm really excited about it, but the position itself is very powerful here in Mississippi.

Walker Wildmon: How does this work as far as parties go for lieutenant governor? Is this the position where you have a party primary and then a general election, or is it an open seat?

Michael Watson: It is a party primary. Unlike some other states, the lieutenant governor and the governor actually run their own races, so they are not connected. I'll have my own lane to stay in, and I'm happy to do so.

Walker Wildmon: Of course, I believe you're unopposed right now. The governor's race is going to be somewhat of a crowded field, and there are a lot of good people running. The voters will ultimately decide, but I think Mississippi has a lot to be optimistic about in 2027. Next year will be the first statewide election after this midterm, where we can see what voters are thinking and how they're feeling. Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi will have statewide elections next year, so we'll continue to track that. We'll cover your race and have you back on the program. I appreciate your work as secretary of state, and we wish you the best of luck.

Michael Watson: Thank you, my friend. You're right. We've got three states next year: Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. As we see the turnout and the money that was spent in this midterm, you're going to see that in state races next year. Buckle up. It's going to be a long year.

Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. The Democrats, to your point, are going to try to pick up as much more as they can and capitalize on this momentum. It's going to be up to Republicans to rebut that and rise above it. Thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate your work.

Michael Watson: I appreciate you, my friend. Talk soon.

Walker Wildmon: That's Michael Watson, the Mississippi secretary of state. He's running for lieutenant governor as well, and he's done some excellent work as secretary of state on multiple levels, elections and otherwise. He's really made things efficient with the secretary of state's office and the state of Mississippi. We're glad to have him on, a good friend of the ministry, and we appreciate the work he's been doing.

Walker Wildmon: This is going to be a long process. Governor DeSantis put out a statement yesterday evening talking about the timeline it would potentially take to regain control of the United States Senate. We're talking four years minimum, six years potentially. Of course, things change, and something drastic could happen that I'm not aware of, but that shows you the extent of the victory the Democrats achieved last night.

Walker Wildmon: There is a disconnect between the political advising class and the voters. I think it was Todd Starnes who put out a statement saying we need more political advisers from Mayberry and fewer from Mar-a-Lago. He's right. There's a level of disconnect where people are telling President Trump that the Iran war is not a big deal, that voters support him, and so forth. But when you go on the ground, that's just not the case.

Walker Wildmon: You can't dismiss the economy. I think there was some dismissing of the economic issues, somewhat to the extent of, "Y'all need to stop complaining." I understand that there are some voters who will perpetually complain about the economy no matter what. Those are your socialists and Democrats who want government control of everything. For political reasons, they're always going to moan and groan about capitalism. But for everyone else, I think there's a valid concern here.

Walker Wildmon: When I saw the Fed chairman President Trump appointed in May start hiking interest rates a couple of months ago, I thought to myself, "You've got to be kidding me." We go from everything trending well, then we start bombing Iran, and now everything is back to close to the Biden level of economic problems.

Walker Wildmon: Just as Americans thought they were going to get some relief on interest rates, President Trump's own Fed chairman started hiking interest rates again. I don't think that's actually going to fix inflation. I think Washington spends too much money, and that's what causes inflation. Of course, you have an energy crunch as well, so I don't think the Fed is going to have virtually any effect on inflation. Other factors are going to have to come into play.

Walker Wildmon: How does the White House pivot? How do Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio, who could potentially be running for president in six months, pivot? This is going to be a very interesting dynamic.

Walker Wildmon: One thing the vice president did say in his post was this: "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night." That's a big deal, according to the vice president. I do like that he's communicating openly and honestly about his assessment of the situation.

Walker Wildmon: The Rubio-Vance team faces one risk with hitching its wagon to the Trump administration. In hindsight, I think they made the right decision. They've been excellent leaders within the movement, but they are tethered to this Iran war, this inflation, and this persistent economic pressure unless they can distance themselves somewhat or provide an alternative path.

Walker Wildmon: Remember this: The New York Times leak will undoubtedly be brought up again. It was the leak of the Situation Room meeting before President Trump launched strikes on Iran, where nearly every adviser, including Vance, Rubio, Hegseth, General Caine, and others, told President Trump that Israel's plan and its optimism about the success of the plan were overly optimistic. They used other terminology, but basically, all of President Trump's advisers said the plan was not realistic in the Situation Room before he launched the war with Iran. That meeting will be brought up again.

Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to the program here on American Family Radio. I'm glad to have you with us. Another statewide official we have with us now is Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. She serves as attorney general there. Missouri has been a reliable conservative red state for several election cycles, but we'll talk through how last night went, as well as a lot of the work she's doing as attorney general. Attorney General Hanaway, thanks so much for coming on the program.

Catherine Hanaway: Walker, thank you so much for having me. It's kind of a tough day today if you're a conservative, and I think it's good we're all talking about these issues and starting the debrief to figure out how to go forward.

Walker Wildmon: Before we jump into some of your work as attorney general and some of the litigation you've been involved in, give us your assessment of what motivated voters yesterday and motivated them to such a degree that we saw a massive shift toward Democrats, not only across the country but also in some of these races in Missouri.

Catherine Hanaway: I think there are three big messages the voters are sending us, and we had better listen. Number one, kitchen-table issues matter. People are going to vote their pocketbook when they're hurting. We better be doing something about it, especially if we promise to do something about it.

Catherine Hanaway: For me as Missouri attorney general, that means attacking consumer fraud in every way possible. I don't want Missourians getting ripped off. The second thing is that where we find corruption, we've got to root it out, even if it's members of our own party. Right now here in Missouri, I've got a county prosecutor I'm removing and a county clerk I'm removing. The public isn't going to trust us if we let corruption go on.

Catherine Hanaway: The third thing is that we've got to listen. We've had a number of ballot measures here in Missouri that have been overwhelmingly rejected by the voters. If we don't listen to what they're saying and get out of sync with the issues that really matter to them, we're going to keep losing elections.

Walker Wildmon: I couldn't agree more. This is going to be a regrouping time for the Republican Party. It's going to take some time to get back not only the majority but also momentum. There's always an opportunity for things to change, as we've seen in elections past. The vibe changes, the mood changes, and circumstances change. Republicans and conservatives should be ready for that and ready to lead on it.

Walker Wildmon: Let me ask you about some of your work as attorney general, which has been excellent there representing the state of Missouri. The first issue I want to get your insight on is this lawsuit with the ATF, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Talk about your litigation and what it has to do with the Second Amendment.

Catherine Hanaway: After the big, beautiful bill stopped taxing silencers and short-barreled rifles, we took the position that they should no longer have to be registered and regulated by the ATF. There was a case in the Fifth Circuit that limited the holding to the Fifth Circuit, so we filed suit here.

Catherine Hanaway: The ATF has now changed its regulations, but we're going to continue with our lawsuit simply because we don't know what the next administration will do. We want to have a court order that applies nationwide to protect the Second Amendment rights of those who choose to have silencers or short-barreled rifles for their self-protection.

Walker Wildmon: This rule, before the big, beautiful bill, was handled by the ATF mostly through rulemaking. Treating what I would call an accessory, though there may be a more legally proper term for a suppressor, as basically a component of the firearm, a critical component of the firearm's operation, is crazy to me. It's almost the equivalent of an optic or a holster being treated as the firearm itself. The fact that they've been able to regulate this so much is wild to me.

Walker Wildmon: What kind of defense are you getting from the ATF, especially under a Trump administration? How do you think the state of Missouri will fare in the long run when it comes to this litigation?

Catherine Hanaway: The Trump administration has recently changed the regulation, so that's a good thing. But the reason we're going to keep going is that we could get a new administration that changes the regulation back. I totally agree with you. This is a ridiculous restriction that should never have been in place, and I'm confident we're going to win our suit. We're in a pretty good jurisdiction for Second Amendment rights, and we have an incredible legal team in our solicitor general's office. We win a lot.

Walker Wildmon: That's good to hear. Another topic I want to get your thoughts on is the litigation you're leading against Temu, if that's how you pronounce it. It's basically the Chinese knockoff of Amazon, where you can get things for pennies on the dollar. The prices are unbelievable, and the quality is somewhat of a shoddy operation. Nonetheless, you've been litigating with Temu regarding its data-harvesting practices and the fact that it is a Chinese-owned company. What does that litigation have to do with, and what's your position as attorney general?

Catherine Hanaway: Our position is that they are stealing your personal information. The pennies you pay for products aren't the real price you're paying. Once you download that app, you're paying with your personal information. They access your camera and microphone, and they use location services to pinpoint you within ten feet. That's really what they're trying to get from you.

Catherine Hanaway: They're not only sharing that information with the Chinese government, but they're sharing it with others. My encouragement to anyone is, if you've downloaded this app, please get rid of it. If your kids have it, make sure they get rid of it, and check your credit card statements for fraudulent charges. I'd encourage people to do that all the time, but particularly if you've been using Temu.

Walker Wildmon: That seems very blatant. It's clearly concerning that it's a Chinese state-owned company, as all companies in China are subject to the Chinese government. It's very pervasive in the United States. I see its ads everywhere, especially online on X and other platforms. They're spending hundreds of millions, if not billions, on advertising and U.S. market access.

Walker Wildmon: Is this something where the federal government, through executive action or legislation, could weigh in? China is one of our chief adversaries, and the fact that they're collecting this sheer volume of data openly on the market is very concerning.

Catherine Hanaway: It is one of many areas where I wish the federal government would act. I'm not always in favor of the government acting. I think the first rule of governance should be to do no harm. But when we're up against the Chinese adversary, the same thing that happened with TikTok should happen with this company. There should be enormous pressure to get them to disassociate from the Chinese government.

Catherine Hanaway: We have a number of big tech initiatives going on from the attorneys general's offices. We just had the big settlement with Meta. A number of us are going after Temu. We're going to go after TikTok for social media practices that target and influence kids and, in the worst-case scenarios, drive kids to suicide.

Catherine Hanaway: I was just with the attorney general from West Virginia. He was talking about the sexual exploitation going on through some of these social media apps. He said the window for a potential suicide, if a child gets caught up in these scams, is two to four hours.

Catherine Hanaway: The way this exploitation scam works is that somebody befriends a kid through social media, Xbox, or another gaming platform and starts to flirt, pretending to be a young girl communicating with a young boy. Eventually, the person encourages the boy to share an explicit message or image. They target young men who have overtly Christian handles on these platforms.

Catherine Hanaway: As soon as they get that explicit image of the boy, they threaten to send it to everyone on his contact list. Those are the kinds of practices we've got to shut down. Big tech has to be our partner in that, and that's why we're going so hard at so many platforms.

Walker Wildmon: That's horrendous stuff. I've seen, just on X and Facebook and other places, random messages from people who don't even look like they live in the United States, probably some kind of bot. They want you to connect, share messages, and things like that. People need to be very wary of that and skeptical of strangers messaging them on these platforms.

Catherine Hanaway: If I could communicate one thing to young people, and I know it's a big ask, it would be this: As parents talk to their kids about social media platforms, encourage them to communicate only with somebody they would recognize if that person walked up to talk to them. This shouldn't be a platform where you're meeting new people. It should be a platform to connect with people you already know.

Walker Wildmon: I agree one hundred percent. That should be the advice. Parents need to keep a very close eye on these devices, supervise their use, and have all the parental controls enabled. If you can, delay the deployment of technology with your kids as long as possible. Keep making up excuses and wait until they absolutely need the device for their safety and daily life before you give it to them.

Walker Wildmon: Once they get that smart device, that phone, or that tablet, they're going to have it for the rest of their adult lives. Delay it as much as possible and use all the precautions available. Thank you so much. That's Attorney General Catherine Hanaway. Thank you for your work and for coming on the program.

Catherine Hanaway: Thanks, Walker. I really appreciate it.

Walker Wildmon: Every day is going to get better after last night.

Catherine Hanaway: Duly noted. We can only improve from here, right?

Walker Wildmon: I appreciate your work. We need more statewide officials like you. Thank you for your work, and I appreciate you coming on to discuss these issues.

Catherine Hanaway: Thanks very much.

Walker Wildmon: That's Attorney General Catherine Hanaway from the state of Missouri, which has been a pretty reliable conservative red state. She mentioned some of the setbacks they had last night at the state level, and we'll continue tracking that. She's a great attorney general doing phenomenal work there, so we appreciate her coming on to discuss it.

Walker Wildmon: I wanted to read the vice president's statement because I think this will help people see what he's thinking. Vice President Vance said this: "One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was composition, whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. Despite polls that showed a Democratic blowout, the data kept telling us the same story. In some states, turnout was merely okay. In other states, it was downright amazing. In no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team. Our people were showing up.

Walker Wildmon: "So I asked the smartest data guy I know, 'Does that mean we're going to shock the world?' 'No,' he told me. 'We might do better than the poll suggests, but the data is telling us that a lot of Trump-Vance 2024 voters are angry and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us.'"

Walker Wildmon: That looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was nine points more Republican than Democratic, just a couple of points worse than in 2024. Undoubtedly, there were places where we could have done better on turnout, but the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

Walker Wildmon: There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why. One of the pollsters I really respect told the vice president that our economic messaging wasn't sharp enough down the stretch. I'm sure that's true, but the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.

Walker Wildmon: Another pollster, one of the smartest people in politics, told me yesterday that we'd lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for the Democrats.

Walker Wildmon: He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back to our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were: end the war, focus on inflation, put America first, and change our relationship with Israel. Our voters showed up, and those four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results.

Walker Wildmon: In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear establishment politicians say that the solution to our woes is amnesty or open borders. Of course, they're lying to you.

Walker Wildmon: He concludes by saying this: "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. If you'd like to argue that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. If it was a worthwhile cost to pay, agree or disagree, that's at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost, and any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there."

Walker Wildmon: That's the vice president's statement on the midterm results. That's good, because he is the leading contender for 2028, and in order for him to win, he's got to know why they just lost in 2026 for the midterms. Vice President Vance is on to it. He knows why they lost. He just said it: the war.

Walker Wildmon: President Trump and Vice President Vance are still in charge. They've got more than two years left on their term, so what they do from here is going to be very important at the executive level, legislative level, and otherwise. We'll see where this goes. Of course, we all live to fight another day. We ought to be faithful, and we ought to do the right thing. Not all is lost, folks. Look up.