Preborn needs your help to provide ultrasounds for pregnant women
>> Walker Wildmon: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection and the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without your help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com afr. We inform Religious freedom is about people of faith being able to live out their faith, live out their convictions no matter where they are.
>> : We equip
>> Rick Green: Sacred honor is the courage to speak. Truth, to live out your free speech. We also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance. Character and character hope.
>> : This is at the Core on American Family Radio.
You can subscribe to American Family Radio podcasts wherever you listen
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome to the Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us here on the program. Walker Wildmon here, American Family Radio. At the core, afr.net is our URL. Of course you can subscribe to the app or download the app rather, if you would like, download the AFR app and then lastly, subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you listen to podcasts, type in the name of the program at the core, click the subscribe or the follow button and the latest episode will be ready to go in your library each and every afternoon, Monday through Friday. And then we drop in some special editions or some re airs if you will, over the weekend on afr, but fresh episodes Monday through Friday there in your podcast library to get at your convenience. Well, let's turn our attention to the scripture and then we'll move right into the show.
In modern American culture, the word love has been abused, misused
Content John, chapter 13 is where we are this week. John, chapter 13, Jesus says in verses 34 and 35, a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Well, when we look at the word love, boy, has this word been abused in 2026 and really in, the 21st century more broadly, and probably, the latter part of the 20th century as well, if we really want to go back in history. But, in modern American culture, let's put it that way, the word love has been abused, misused, misinterpreted. I mean, it's been used for everything under the sun to include improper uses of the word love. And if you were to ask a Christian, what is love, give me a definition. You're probably going to get mixed answers, some good, some bad, some right, some wrong. And of course you can go to First Corinthians 13. You can see what the scripture says about what is love. Love is patient, love is kind. And you can keep going there. Obviously Jesus being the son of God, being fully God, fully man, he encapsulated love. He was very caring. He was also very just. God is a God of kindness, grace, mercy, goodness, also of justice. God is the ultimate standard and bearer of what is right, what is true and what is good. And so I mention that because this word love in John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you. M We have to make sure that we have a biblical understanding of love. Because if not, you will have people nowadays tell you that 34 and 35 in John chapter 13 means that we should be nice to everybody. And being nice to everybody means condoning their behavior even when it goes against God's word. That is how the word love is being used today. And it's being used to silence righteousness and justice and condone and cheer sinful behavior. That's how love is being used nowadays. Being misused rather nowadays. And so we have to be very careful about our definitions, make sure we root them back in into the original text of scripture and use the whole counsel of God to contrive our definitions of words, including the word love. There is a, litany of passages in scripture that help us shed light on what is love. And the last thing I'll say on this, one of the most unloving things you do is not share the truth with someone that needs the truth because you don't want to hurt their feelings. One of the most unloving things that a person, especially a Christian, can do is to withhold the truth. Because we don't want to temporarily hurt someone's feelings or their ego that is not very kind and loving. It's actually very cold hearted and very self centered. And so a lot of the way that love is being described in our modern culture is actually counter to what the scripture says. And so That's John chapter 13, verses 34 and 35. Well, if you want to explore America's spiritual heritage, well, we lead tours every single year. And I'm going to say this, and of course I'm biased because my dad and grandfather have led these tours for the last 40 years. so I've got a little bit of skin in the game, but Nonetheless, it's fair to say that these tours that we lead to Washington, dc, Boston, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, and then in the spring, we'll go to Israel and Greece. But these tours that we lead.
>> Walker Wildmon: Have to be some of the top Christian heritage tours in our country because we're taking with us folks like Stephen McDowell and Tim Barton. These are some of America's leading historians from a true Christian perspective of America's history. America's true history. The faith of our Founding Fathers, how God, through his Providence, intervened in many times throughout American history to allow this nation to continue to exist, allow us to continue to have the freedoms and the liberties that we do. All of this is part of our history. And there is much, much Christian history in this country, because of the faith that drove the Founding Fathers in the Founding era, the founding generation. And so we lead these tours multiple times a year. We're going to be in Washington, Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown in June and September of this year. Then we're going to be just in Boston at the end of September. So we go to Washington. that's one trip. Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, that's another trip. And then Boston is the third domestic trip that we do. We're going to be in Greece and Israel actually coming up in about five weeks. obviously that registration is closed. So if you want to go with us in 2027, be on the lookout over the next, let's say three to four months for the registration on Greece and Israel. The Greece, of course, is the Footsteps of Paul trip. That's a brand new trip that we're doing. So you can check out all of this information over at tours.aca.net we created a simple URL for you to track this down. Tours.aca.net tours.aca.net, that's toursplural.afa.net go there and check it out. And, the registration, the dates, the itinerary, the pricing, all of it is [email protected] well, let's talk about this piece of legislation called the SAVE act that is currently before the U.S. ah, Senate. And, this bill has already passed the U.S. house on multiple occasions. And what this, in essence does, folks, called the Save act, what this does is it ensures only, U.S. citizens are eligible to vote and to register to vote, but also that you have to bring photo id. All right? So it's twofold. It's that you have to be a US Citizen to register to vote. All right, great. But you also have to Show a photo id, ah, valid government ID when you show up to vote.
The only thing keeping SAVE Act from being passed is the US Senate
All right, so the only thing keeping this from being passed and signed by the President is the US Senate. All right? Senator John Thune is hanging on by a thread to Senate tradition and Senate procedures. All right? And so as I said earlier in the week, on Wednesday, they've had this fake filibuster in place for so long where these senators, one senator can just basically say, hey, I don't like this legislation. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna throw a wrench in this whole thing and I'm not gonna filibuster, I'm not gonna talk on the floor for 12 hours, 24 hours, 72 hours. I'm just gonna let you guys know, hey, through this procedural move, I don't like this bill. And so I'm leaving. Everybody's leaving and we're not even gonna talk about this? All right? That's the essence of what they've been doing in the U.S. senate. When one or two senators don't like something, they throw up this rule, this cloture rule, and they clog the whole system up. Alright? So it's not a true filibuster. All right, so what, what Senator Cruz, what Senator Mike Lee and others are asking for and the President as well is, hey, let's just get back to the real thing. Let's, if we're gonna keep these rules and we're gonna keep this thing called the filibuster, then let's actually do it, right? Let's do the real thing. Let's make US Senators actually talk and debate ideas on the Senate floor for as long as they want. And then when they're done talking, we'll all vote on it through a simple majority vote. That's how it used to be for 200 years. And then, let's say over the last 50 years or so, they've decided just to log jam the entire U.S. senate, by allowing one senator to object to a bill and it throws the whole thing off. All right? So that's what's been going on. Senator Cruz is actually on Newsmax speaking about this, talking about the filibuster, the SAVE act, and how he recommends. Let's just get back to a real filibuster. Let's make people debate on the Senate floor for hours and hours and hours or as long as they want to talk. This is clip three.
>> Sen Ted Cruz: Yeah, look, I'm a passionate supporter of the SAVE Act. I am, I am a sponsor of it. I'M fighting for it. I think it's critical. Protecting election integrity is critical. What I'm urging my colleagues is, is that we should nuke what's called. Called the zombie filibuster, which is the ability for Democrats to filibuster it without lifting a finger. And that we should require an old fashioned talking filibuster. Require them to stand up and talk and talk and talk. And we can use procedural tools to make it incredibly painful for Democrats to try to block this. That's the case I'm making to my colleagues. I think a number of my colleagues are supporting me in that. I hope we do that because that's a tool to force a vote and to get the.
>> Walker Wildmon: I don't know why the Senate would fight this. I'm not sure why Senator Thune would fight this unless he doesn't want the SAVE act to pass. Now, he wouldn't say that, of course, be a broadly unpopular thing to say. But I just don't know where else to go with this. I mean, what other conclusions do you draw? Because if this is all about tradition, this is all about the Senate rules. I mean, they treat this thing like it's this, you know, golden country club, that we can't change the rules or we're gonna be, you know, become sacrilegious or something. I mean, this is quite a bizarre, tethering and religious treatment of these Senate rules. This thing's a rule book. This. I mean, rule books get changed all the time. They get changed by the majority. This is how this works. The majority sets the rules. And I just, This. This weird fascination to the rules is just quite bizarre. I just quite. I don't understand it. I don't. Enough. If we're talking about changing the Constitution, it's like, okay, this is kind of a big deal, right? We've got to have two thirds of the. Of the both chambers. We've got to have the states on board. So let's really think about this, okay? But we're talking about passing legislation here. This is not rocket science. The Founding Fathers never intended. And I can say this beyond the shadow of a doubt because this stuff was deliberated by our founding Fathers. They actually talked through this stuff when they drafted our founding documents. Founding fathers never intended to need 61 votes to pass a simple piece of legislation in the Senate. This was never part of the deal. Now, there were other things, like impeaching the president, where they wanted a higher threshold, but simple legislation was. It's a majority, a simple majority. Just like when we vote for the president. Whoever gets 51% wins the election. We don't go, well, you need 61%. No, you need 51. That's just how things work. That's how our founding fathers set it up. And so if Senator Thune really wants to continue to stay married to this old arcane rule, I've got no other conclusion other than the fact that he's just not sold. He's just not all in on doing what it takes to save m this country and to restore proper elections. That's all I can conclude here. All right, that's all I can conclude is that Senator John Thune is just not in on the game. He's just not all in. He's got one foot in, one foot out. And so our hope, our optimistic nature is that he gets on board with this. And at a minimum, let's.
Let's do a real filibuster. Let's restore the real tradition of actually filibustering
Let's do a real filibuster. If the Democrats want to explain to the American people why illegal aliens should vote, and if they want to do that for three days, let's do it. Let's make them do it. Let's go back to the old way of doing it. Let's restore the real tradition of, actually filibustering. That would be fresh for a change. We'll be back.
>> : The AFR app is a powerful tool, but it does have limitations. You can't use it to change the oil in your vehicle or get rid of carpet stains. It won't walk the dog, won't pick up the dry cleaning or take the kids to practice. but while you're doing those things, you can listen to your favorite AFR content through the app on your phone, smart device or Roku. Just go to your App store or visit afr.net Listen to AFR wherever you go with the AFR app. At the Core podcast are available at afr.net now back to at the Core on American Family or Radio.
Dr. Barbara McMillin is our latest guest on American Family Radio
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to the Core here on American Family Radio. I'm Walker Wildmon. Glad to have you with us on this fresh edition of the program. As a reminder, you can always check out our work and our podcast [email protected] afr.net we do have the video up on Facebook and on all the AFR handles on social media. And then lastly, Stream afa.net is our video platform. Stream.AFA.net, we've got the live shows up there as well. Dr. Barbara M. McMillin is our latest guest with us right now. She is president of, Blue Mountain Christian University and She's with us now, to talk about some of their work and what they've been going through in recent weeks. Dr. McMillin, welcome to the program.
>> Dr. Barbara McMillin: Thank you, Walker. Thanks for having me.
Blue Mountain Christian University is a Christian university in Northeast Mississippi
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. for those who don't know, Blue Mountain Christian University is obviously a Christian university here in Northeast Mississippi. And there's a lot of history in my family. My grandmother went there and well not, not my grandmother, but my pastor and several family have gone to Blue Mountain Christian University. A lot of our AFA staff and their children have gone to Blue Mountain. So a lot of connections to Blue Mountain Christian University. And before we get into what you guys have been dealing with with this ice storm, which has been historic, for many people in Northeast Mississippi and Northwest, tell our audience, give them a little backgrounder on the history and the mission of Blue Mountain Christian University.
>> Dr. Barbara McMillin: I'll be glad to Blue Mountain. And many of you may know Blue Mountain is Blue Mountain College. And we've been Blue Mountain Christian University for three years or so now. But we were founded in 1873. we have been here on this hill we call a mountain in North Mississippi for quite a long time now. we began as women's institution, at that point we were primarily educating women who would go on to become teachers and have become one of the most recognized and sought after institutions of higher learning. To prepare teachers into our history. We opened our doors to young men who were called into the ministry. And so we started educating pastors and ministers and worship leaders in the 1950s. And since that time, we went co educational fully in early years of this century, 2005 or so. So we've been educating young men and young women in a liberal arts capacity now for about 20 years. So our 152 year plus history has allowed us to minister to and prepare and equip young people as teachers and preachers and most recently as healers. As we've opened a school of nursing as well as a host of other areas, exercise science, psychology, business, all of the liberal arts programs, music. We are blessed to be able to prepare students to study those areas through a Christian worldview.
>> Walker Wildmon: I actually was right on my history originally, which usually is the case. And then I second guess myself. My grandmother Linda, my grandfather's wife, Brother Don, Ms. Linda did go to Blue Mountain. She also went to the W. So she did both. but she was an educator and got her education degree from Blue Mountain Christian University, then Blue Mountain College. So I did have that right. And we actually have a Don and Linda Wildmon scholarship, ten, thousand dollars scholarship there with the university. so a lot of special connections there. We greatly appreciate the work that you guys do.
Blue Mountain Christian University was hit very hard by this ice storm
Dr. McMillin, the, university was hit very hard by this ice storm. Harder than those of us in Tupelo. We were without power for a day or two, some of us three. But, Blue Mountain in that area, was just hit very, very hard by it and still, you know, dealing with the effects of it. Tell us a little bit about that.
>> Dr. Barbara McMillin: Well, it in fact was a very, very hard hit for all of Tippett county and adjacent counties as well. We were of course, made aware that, this was going to happen. None of us could perceive that it was going to be as disastrous as it turned out to be. I'm thankful, honestly, that, days in advance of the storm we were able to, notify our students and many of our residential students were able to depart campus and get to their homes before the storm came our way on that Saturday night and on into Sunday. But as the storm did develop and the ice began to fall, then that, eerie feeling that many of us haven't experienced in a while, maybe since 1994 or so, and we had the last major ice storm of the power being out, and the only sound that one hears is the trees cracking and falling, all around you. And so we awakened to that, power was gone. the, The unexpected happened. We were very well prepared, but no one could have foreseen the, natural gas pipeline, incident that, was a part of this that required such hard, diligent work from all of our trained folks who address those kinds of issues coming to the rescue there. And so we did discover ourselves in a. It was a beautiful sight to see the sun shining on those. The trees covered in ice. But it was also a very daunting situation. We had about, 100 students still on campus at the time. Of course, we have a large number of international students, and those students were cared for, provided for, to the point until the water, we had the issue with the water in the town of Blue Mountain. And when our water was cut off. And so at that point we looked to other places and people to come and assist us in finding, places for those students to stay, places. First Baptist Tupelo Churches in NewSong Albany. Individuals reached out to us and we're so grateful. I'm so thankful to be able to speak to you Because I want to say thank you, to all who served and are still serving those students as they continue to be displaced. Place on campus. We sustained damage, as everyone did, with considerable tree damage on campus. Of course, if you've been on our campus, you know that that is one of the most beautiful, parts of Blue Mountain Christian University. One of our main classroom buildings. Fisher Washburn, for those of you who know the campus, did, sustain considerable water damage. And, we are, mitigating that now. We have a plan in place, to move students to other places on campus for their classes when we do have water. So at this point, we're very, very thankful. Many, many crews have been on campus removing debris. Tomorrow, over 50 individuals, I believe, will be on campus, serving and getting this place ready for our students to come back. And at the moment, the thing we are waiting for is that band to be lifted on our water situation. So we'll have, drinking water, back, on our campus. But it's been a time walker where we have learned what wonderful neighbors we have, and we have, learned again what it means for people to come m together in community and to serve one another.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, these things obviously, thankfully, don't happen often, at least at the same part of the country. but to your point, when it does happen, it does give us an opportunity to serve, and be served in some instances. And right now, you guys are currently being served. Once again, we're talking to Dr. Barbara McMillin with Blue Mountain Christian University. She's the president there. And Blue, Mountain Christian University is a nonprofit. So if any of you listening, ah, would like to donate to Blue Mountain Christian University, obviously, you can donate year round to their work and to their outreach. But during this time, they've got a lot of recovery to do and students have been displaced. And as Dr. McMillin said, what made this especially difficult was power lost, water lost, and natural gas lost. All three of those lost, during this winter storm for Blue Mountain Christian University and that entire area, that entire region. So, it was, if whatever could go wrong, pretty much went wrong, during that time. When it comes to, you know, the utilities, Dr. McMillin, tell our folks, how they can read more about your work, check out some of your programs, and maybe look at if we've got some parents or grandparents listening and they're interested in sending their kids off to college in the next year or two where they can read more about your work.
>> Dr. Barbara McMillin: Yes, thank you for that opportunity. Well, we'd Love. To share more with anyone who's interested in Blue Mountain, go to our website, BMC Edu. You can learn about our programming there. you can learn about some wonderful scholarship opportunities. we have a host of athletic options for students who are interested in sports. We are a small community, but we are a community that is devoted to our mission of Christ centered education. And just excited to know that there are students out there who are looking for a place like this. And please check out that website, make an appointment to come and tour our campus. We believe that when folks come and see this, this beautiful place in North Mississippi that they fall in love with what's happening here and are encouraged that there's such a place still like this where this type of education can be achieved. And check us out. We'd love you to come and learn more about Blue Mountain Christian University.
>> Walker Wildmon: Amen. Dr. McMillin, thanks so much for coming on the program.
>> Dr. Barbara McMillin: Thank you Walker, for having me.
Blue Mountain Christian University is a great university with multiple programs
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. That's Dr. Barbara McMillin, President of Blue Mountain Christian University, BMCU. And their website, you can go there and check it out. Blue Mountain Christian University. Blue Mountain Christian University. And they've got bmc, edu, URL but they've got multiple programs, majors and programs. Just looking at their website, Art, Biblical Studies, Biology, Business Administration, Chemistry. They've got a minor in Chemistry, they've got a BS in Christian Ministry, Computer Sciences. They just got a lot to offer there. And as Dr. McMillin said, over the last few years they've launched their brand new nursing program. So they're sending out nurses, graduating from Blue Mountain Christian University into the workforce. So it's just a great university. We've been partnering with them and had connections and history with them for a very long time. So glad we were able to have them on and highlight some of the things they've been going through. But more importantly, the fact that their university is available. And so hopefully some of our listeners will check that out.
Walker: The legislative body should present legislation, debate legislation and vote on legislation
All right, let's move on to some of the other topics I wanted to get to. We talked about the SAVE Act. this is so very important. And you know I've. Anybody who listens to AFR or listens to this program, they've heard this a hundred times. But this this governing style that we're currently operating under, where essentially the legislative body just doesn't do much. It's, I think it's very negligent when we're looking at a historic opportunity where President Trump absolutely dominated the ballot box in 2024 and was really given this very compelling mandate to, reform, drastically reform and uproot the corruption and the problems of Washington, D.C. and one of the problems being that this legislative body has become somewhat irrelevant. We've put the majority of our decision making in this country into the hands of judges and the hands of bureaucrats. Now we look for which agency is going to put out the most recent rule or, which judge is going to rule in the most recent policy or law. And I think that's a tragedy. I think it's a tragedy. And this, this notion that, well, if we just do a simple majority and if the Senate and the legislative body, the House and the Senate, if they actually do work and they actually debate legislation and they actually pass bills that are consequential to the future of our country, then, well, then some bad things could happen. Okay, well, let me, let me posit this to you. that some bad things are already happening, all right? And so this notion that we're going to be worse off than we already are if we allow the legislative body to actually function as it was intended, where 51% of the body votes on legislation, I would argue that it would do our country a whole lot of good. And let me explain, all right, because some people will say, well, Walker, you know, if, if, if, if all you need is a simple majority in the Senate to pass legislation, then the Democrats will do some bad stuff. Well, okay, so the Democrats already do bad stuff. And one of them is called the Defense of Marriage Act. Oh, wait, Republicans helped them pass that when Joe Biden was in the White House. Well, the Inflation Reduction act that actually made inflation worse. Multiple trillion dollars spent wasted on all these subsidies and kickbacks and programs that helped the Democrats, including these mass refugee programs, open borders, all of this nonsense that was passed as legislation under Joe Biden. And I would also say if the Democrats want to pass even more crazy stuff through a simple majority when they get in charge, let them do it. And either we will litigate it or we will see how the voters like it. And so I think whether it's Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal, I think both sides, the voters from both sides are willing to risk, quote in air quotes, risk the legislative body actually voting on stuff with a simple majority. And let's, let's see what the cost is. But this current means of operating while the legislative body has de facto become irrelevant. And we've put the ruling and the running of our country into the hands of the executive branch and the judicial branch is not a healthy way to operate. The legislative body should present legislation, debate legislation, and vote on legislation with a simple majority. This is not complicated stuff. We'll be back.
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>> : At the Core podcast are available at afr.net now back to at the Core on American Family Radio.
Walker Wildmon: President Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to the Core here on American Family Radio. Walker Wildmon here on this brand new Friday edition of the show. Well, as we do each week, we brought in Chris Woodward for the last segment. Chris, welcome back.
>> Chris Woodward: Thank you very much.
>> Walker Wildmon: Well, Chris, last week when you and I recorded for those who don't know. Well, actually most of you don't know. We typically record our Friday edition on Thursday afternoon. So occasionally you and I talk about some news items that change over the, over the, over the night. And and it's a little bit different headline on Friday. Last week was one of those. And on Thursday we talked about not being sure who the Fed chair was going to be. And now we know President Trump has nominated Kevan Warsh to be the Fed chair, to replace Jerome Powell. And you, guys have been covering that, right?
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, we have. I've talked to a lot of people, a lot of, folks that you would see on television responding to things like this. Kevan Warsh is a former Fed governor. He has experience of, doing some things with monetary policy, working at the Fed, and as a result of his, work and position on various things that conservatives like. I talked to folks, folks like, Tim Descher at the Unleashed Prosperity Organization, who had this to say. Clip 1.
>> Caroline: This is a superb, absolutely superb choice for Fed chair. And actually it's something that we've been pushing for over a year now. It's become apparent to us that the current person in charge of the Fed, Jerome Powell, does not get the type of economic policy that President Trump is pushing. And so when President Trump says we're going to cut taxes, we're going to do new trade deals, we're going to do these, you know, all these things, you have Jerome Powell saying, well, you know, we have to be very careful and we can't cut rates this way.
>> Chris Woodward: Or we can't do this.
>> Caroline: We have to wait and see how this works out. And the funny thing is, is he didn't say that when President Biden had inflation sky high, he actually cut the rates in an election year as a way of helping out Biden and Harris.
>> Chris Woodward: So it's clear. Tim Desher of Unleashed Prosperity listens to this segment because those are all things that we've said about Jerome Powell for a very long time.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, Jerome Powell, I've called him a political hack, which is probably putting it nicely. But look, he lowered rates. first off, he went months saying we've got to beat inflation. Even though I'll argue this probably till my last day on this earth, which hopefully is a long time. But, that the rates don't cause inflation, I just don't think they do. now some smart people like Jerry Boyer may say otherwise, that's fine. They probably no more than I do. But when I say rates don't cause inflation, what I in essence mean is that money printing causes inflation. And so when the, When Congress printed 7 trillion in 24 months, you can't say that. Oh, it was all the rates. It was all the rates. No, it was the 7 trillion that they just, ah, poof. 7 trillion of additional monies in the economy through adding zeros to Excel sheets is what they did. Basically. They didn't actually print 7 trillion. We didn't even have enough. That much paper. But, so the, that's my point on this. This. Oh, it's. What I'm saying is it's an overemphasis on rates, on rates being inflationary low rates being inflationary. I just don't think that's the case. I think the 7 trillion was the biggest problem, do the rates contribute? Maybe mildly. Maybe mildly. But I think we can have lower rates at this point, Chris. And that's the point. Point Powell. What my point I was getting at before I chased a rabbit is that Jerome Powell said for a year or two that we've got to beat inflation below 2%. Below 2%. Okay.
Some private entities that track inflation are showing inflation well below 2%
Well, here we are now, Chris, and some of the more accurate inflation trackers are showing inflation actually below 2%, not the government's measurement because as we've talked about, their measurements are way outdated. But some of these private entities that track inflation are showing inflation well below 2%. Some of them are showing it at 1% or less in many categories, which is a really big deal. But nonetheless, here we are. And Powell lowered rates during an election year in September. When their measurements were showing inflation still over 3%. And Powell kept saying it needs to get around 2%. Reaction said it needs to be at 2%, not around. So he lowered rates in September before the election when Biden was, well, Kamala Harris was on the ballot at that point. And then President Trump wins and he's like, oh, we got to keep rates high.
>> Chris Woodward: We got to keep him.
>> Walker Wildmon: Hm. Elevated. We got to keep him elevated. And he's just been playing this hardball the whole time, which is why I do think a lot of it's political. But Kevan Warsh, on the other hand, he's got a lot of respect from a lot of people.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, yeah. He's been around for a long time. I mean, he's got decades of experience in monetary policy. He's not a guy that we just, Well, people on the right just trucked out there, to be the figurehead. He actually has experience over policies like quantitative easing and other things that you might have heard on financial shows for a long time.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. His main thing is that the Fed needs to shrink their balance sheet by a lot. By I think a couple trillion is what he said. but I think, Chris, President Trump can say what he wants about whether Warsh is going to cut rates or whether it was conditional on his nomination. Look, Warsh is going to cut rates. President Trump feels so strongly about this. That is how he talks about Jerome Powell. There's no way that Warsh did not agree. It's in some manner off the record that he will yak those rates down as much as humanly possible.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And it would help to have a business minded president in that meeting, to ask those kinds of questions versus a community activist.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: That only knows about inflation based on a news outlets.
>> Walker Wildmon: I think, I think we get. Now, assuming he gets the other governors on board, this is a fact not often talked about, is, which I don't know what, what, how, what the makeup is there, like whether these governors, like, just go along with the chair. I mean, a couple of them have been dissenting. But, if he can get everybody on board, I think we're talking, I think we're talking a point this year, minimum.
>> Chris Woodward: It's possible.
>> Walker Wildmon: Not a basis point, a whole point, 100 basis points.
>> Chris Woodward: And keep in mind too, any nominee, this one especially, they're going to have to go through Senate confirmation. So you're going to see Democrats, trying to pitch a fit, trying to get on X, which is going.
>> Walker Wildmon: To be interesting because the Democrats want lower rates, too. Elizabeth Warren wants low rates.
>> Chris Woodward: They do, yes. Elizabeth Warren especially. They're going to use this as a moment to try to get, a great sound bite on Ms. Now and then they're going to use that to campaign. Elizabeth Warren, I think she gets up every morning looking for a camera to record some video of her because she's always on things like X. And as a matter of fact, she put within like hours of Warsh being named the nominee. Warren gets on X and she posts this three, three or four minute long video of how Warsh is a terrible nominee because he's going to be a yes man and he agreed to bow the knee and pledge to Trump that he would do things and he's going to destroy U.S. monetary policy. And to get reaction to that, I spoke to economist E.J. antoni at the Heritage foundation, who had this to say.
>> E J Antoni: Why anyone trusts someone who lied about their heritage, I don't know. But whatever the case, when she talks about how he's unqualified and things of that nature, few people are more qualified than him. My goodness, he's already done a tour of duty on the board of governors at the Federal Reserve. The man has been in the trenches. And not only that, but while he was there when he had disagreements with other board members, history has proven him correct. So it's not as if this is simply Monday morning quarterbacking here. The man has a proven track record.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think he's going to be good overall. I think he's going to be a net positive overall. And we're going to get. President Trump will get his lower rates. Oh, yeah, he will get his lower rates.
>> Chris Woodward: You know, a point's not out of the realm of. It's not Even that's not even like wishful thinking. I mean it's certainly in the realm.
>> Walker Wildmon: Of pretty much a given and you.
>> Chris Woodward: Know, given this time of year and you know, assuming he takes office at some point, end, of May, early June, after Powell's term expires. Yeah, it's certainly possible. and we'll see how the markets react to that.
I think mortgage rates will drop, and the markets will react positively
I think the markets are going to react positively. I, think it's time for people. We're not talking about cutting it down from 6% to 1.5 or something like that, but we're talking about bringing it down. And to be honest with you, that's what I think. When you match that with the fact that people are going to be bringing more money home, they this year, due to the Trump tax cuts and the one big beautiful bill and the fact that people are getting more money back from the government that it shouldn't have taken from them. Yeah, you're looking at a lot of positive things in the way of like personal and business finance.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, you are. mortgage rates are going to have to ease too. I think they will. The 10 year yield has been unusually stubborn recently, which is what the mortgage rates typically track pretty well. The spread's pretty wide too. I mean it's nearly two point spread, which is also unusual, for it to be that, that spread to be that wide. But Chris, I think we're seeing some, some thawing of the housing market. It's virtually been frozen the last 12 months in many regards. Not a lot of movement. Inventory, has been sitting longer than usual. Some, would call this normalizing or correcting if you will. but I think, I think if you can get mortgage rates to drop another point, I mean you're going to see some, some inventory, start moving. A lot of this is a mental thing, right. I read earlier that a lot of the housing market and real estate is, is a lot of it's mental and emotional. It's not like you're not gonna save just a ton of money on a half a percentage point on mortgage rates. But if people feel like they're saving a little bit, maybe it's 100, 200 bucks a month. That just makes them feel better about going into a sale or a purchase.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah, yeah. Meanwhile, you know, the Trump administration, they occasionally make headlines for ideas on how to help especially young people or younger Americans be able to make a down payment. Like there was the idea from a couple of weeks ago, I think we might have talked about it on the show, but, where you can dip into your 401k to do those kinds of things. Yeah, I know that's silly. I, wouldn't advise it because you don't want to take away from the, the savings that you need in the future. But that's better than a 50 year mortgage or the government giving you a tax cut for your down payment like Kamala was throwing out there.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, yeah. The, to your point, as far as we've talked about how the president just doesn't have, other than the Federal Reserve chairman, the president just doesn't have a whole lot of sway over this housing market. It just, it's just an animal in and of itself.
Chris: It's cheaper to build a new home than buy an existing one
but getting the price, the building supplies prices down, which I've heard that building supplies are going down pretty substantially. and now for the first time in a long time, it's actually more affordable. Cheaper. Ah, cheaper in air quotes. It's cheap, cheaper in air quotes to build a new house than to buy an existing home for the first time in a long time, which is a big deal. That means people building their first home is actually a viable option now. Yeah, you keep driving down the cost to build, you're gonna, you're gonna make it possible for people to get into a first time home.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And there have been a number of like state based think tanks, for example. There's an organization, it's a great name, Common Sense Institute. Who'd be opposed to that?
>> Walker Wildmon: Right.
>> Chris Woodward: But the Common Sense Institute out in Arizona and some of their other state chapters, they've talked about how governments need to get out of the way and do some things in the way of speeding up permits and maybe allowing more like multifamily housing. And what I mean by that is like think of a duplex and stuff like that. Because there are a lot of people that can't even afford like a starter home. The price of what should have been a starter home is now pretty much the price of like a legacy home that somebody retired and tried to sell. People that are 25, 30 years old, starting a family, they can't afford things. And there aren't apartments in places, out in Arizona and stuff that have grown. So you know, there's, there's a number of things that like center.
>> Walker Wildmon: Right.
>> Chris Woodward: Groups have recommended state lawmakers at least consider, to build some things that provide people more options. And then at some point when things improve economically, they will have money for a bigger, better house.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. I think, Chris, President Trump made, has made this point multiple times in recent weeks that, well, we don't want to hurt current homeowners and hurt their equity, basically is what he's saying. I think personally that the equity rave, let me call it that, where people gloat about how much equity they have in their house. Post Covid. I think that so much of that is overrated. And the reason I say that is because the question that comes about, what are you going to do with it, right? Unless you're trying to dip into the equity for something else, right, to purchase other assets. But, but either way, then you're eating into your equity. So what, what are you doing with, you know, let's say you got $200,000 in equity in your house. Some people have more than that. What, what value actually is that in daily life? And the reality is it's not very much. I mean, unless someone passes away and the children just sell the asset and cash it out. Okay. The, then there's a win, in that, you know, the wealth gets passed on, right, to the next generation. But for people who aren't in that scenario and they're going to be living in this house for 20 more years, sitting on all this equity is just really not that helpful. Because if you want to say, okay, well, I'm going to sell and I'm going to cash in on all this equity, where are you going to go, right, because you're going to pay twice the amount to get into something similar somewhere else. So I just think this, you know, this fascination and raving about, you know, here's how much equity I've got in my house. Well, okay, what are you gonna do with that? Right? So I think, I think it's somewhat overrated because I think it's actually been a net, it's a net negative because now the folks who are first time home buyers are the ones that are really in a pinch here and that's who it's hurt. And that's a lot of people. and so, that's just, just, just my, my two cents on that, but we'll see where it goes.
Chris: Conservatives are having more babies than liberals, according to new survey
One thing, Chris, I wanted to bring up, and maybe we'll talk about this more another time, but some of the latest data out on, you and I have talked about the dropping birth rates. some of this latest data, from this is from the general social survey going back to 2024. But the essence of this report is that concern. Conservatives are having more babies, by a long shot, nearly twice as many than liberals. Oh yeah. And it was just talking about how if this trend may not seem significant over the course of five years, but you talk about a 20 or 30 year trend of conservatives having twice the number of babies as liberals, that's a big deal politically.
>> Chris Woodward: It is. Yeah. It's. It's certainly a big issue with elections, but even society wise, we need everybody having more kids, because if you have an elementary age child right now, when he's a grandpa, there aren't going to be enough people supporting him and others, through taxes.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. We got to get the population numbers up, that's for sure. All right, folks, we'll see you next time.
>> : The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
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