American Family Radio thanks its sponsor, Preborn
>> 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 key word 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 & Don Wildmon: 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.
>> : This is At The Core on American Family Radio.
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you with us today on The program here on afr. Rick Greene and myself were your host each week on The radio show and we're brought to you live each weekday, 1pm Central, 1:05 to be exact. And, The podcast is queued up in your library on all The major podcast stores each and every afternoon. So if you want to subscribe to The podcast, we would greatly appreciate it. Just type in The name of this show wherever you listen to podcasts and, click The subscribe button once you find The podcast in your library.
John chapter 17 says Jesus Christ's work on this earth was fulfilled
looking At John chapter 17. That's where we've been this week. John, chapter 17. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, father, The hour has come. Glorify your son so that your son may also glorify you as you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is eternal life that they may know you The holy, The only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I have glorified you on this earth. I have finished The work of which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself with The glory which I had with you before The world was a lot going on here in this passage, but a couple hard truths that we receive here. Number one is that, Jesus Christ, his work on this earth was fulfilled. His work on this earth is fulfilled here on this earth. And secondly, Jesus affirms, ah, his existence with The Father, with The Spirit, in eternity. when Jesus notes that, with The glory which I had with you before, The world was consistent with what we see In Genesis. Also what we see in John chapter one, where The Trinity is proclaimed on countless occasions throughout The Scripture. That's John chapter 17, verses one through five.
American Family Radio is celebrating America's 250th anniversary this year
Well, we're celebrating America's 250th anniversary, this year. And just to give you a few things that we have coming up, we have a special AFA At Home episode nine, celebrating America's 250th that's going to be released on July 4th in in The form of video. We're also going to have a special on The radio network. And so, be on The lookout for that. Also we're going to Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, Washington D.C. and Boston. We're going to all of those places this year. The Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown and The Washington D.C. trip. Those are two back to back trips. Those are going to take place in June and September. So if you want to go with us on one or The other of those, then you can do so we're going to be going to Boston At The end of September just after The Washington D.C. portion. And so all of these trips are taking place during America's 250th anniversary. It's going to be a very special time this year to tour colonial America and our nation's capital as we recount all of God's providence in hand on America over The last 250 years. A very special time to be alive. A very special time to celebrate America. And that's what we're going to be doing here on American Family Radio throughout The year through different specials that we're going to bring to you, different video content we're going to bring. And also we're to going, we are going to tour colonial America, Washington D.C. and Boston all in 2026. So be on The lookout for that. If you want, more information on our trips, just go over to wildmangroup.com wildmangroup.com well, just to update you during this segment on what's going on in Iran.
Walker: President Trump says Iran is a different situation than Venezuela
we are still in over 100 hours of operations in Iran and according to The Pentagon, we have full command, and control of The Iranian airspace as of now. And so we're flying flights in and out of Iran. President Trump says that this is a different situation than Venezuela, which is pretty obvious. But President Trump affirmed and noted, during questioning At The White House recently that this is a quite different setup compared to Venezuela. It's actually a little more difficult situation compared to Venezuela. So this is going to be clip 2. Let's listen to President Trump talking about The differences between what happened in Venezuela and what's going on in Iran. Clip 2. You said all The people you did have in mind have been taken out.
>> Donald Trump: Well, most of The people we had in mind are dead. So, you know, we had some in mind from that group that is, is dead. And now we have another group. They may be dead also based on reports. So I guess you have a third wave coming in. Pretty soon we're not going to know anybody. But, we have, I mean, Venezuela was so incredible because we did The attack and we kept government totally intact. And we have Delsey, who's been very good. We have The whole chain of command and they've been, you know, look, The relationship's been great.
>> Walker Wildmon: so President Trump there At The first, he's, he's noting that, hey, these, these leaders from Iran that keep stepping up and they're refusing to surrender and they don't want to cooperate and they want to keep being stubborn. Well, they keep getting killed through our airstrikes and through our military operations. So, you know, The number of people that we have to select as The next leader of Venezuela keeps dwindling because these guys act like they want to play hardball and then before you know it, they're not alive anymore. And then we have to go down The line. now we're multiple layers deep on secession planning within Venezuela. Eventually we're probably going to run out of options is what President Trump is saying with Venezuela. It's abundantly clear that Venezuela was not only very well thought out, but there was cooperation within Venezuela prior to The operation. There's no doubt about that. You don't go in and take out a leader in air quotes like Maduro and then everything be smooth selling. Unless there were CIA and back channel negotiations with The second and third layer of leadership within Venezuela saying, hey guys, if we take out Maduro, are you guys going to be able to play nice? And then that was clearly The discussion before we took out Maduro, before we arrested him and brought him back here. And so with Iran, not quite so simple, all right? Iran has been building and planning for this type of war for 50 years. They've been planning to have a war with, quote, The Great Satan they call us and, and The little Satan in Israel. Those are their quotes. They've been planning for this for a long time. So to think we're going to drop a couple bombs and then three days later, boom, all of a sudden you're going to have this cooperative regime. It's just not going to happen. Now what happens from here is going to be quite interesting and we need to be very careful. America's leaders need to be very careful. Because right now you can say this is a successful operation. Right now we could pull out and say that was a successful operation. Well, how could you say, Walker, that that's a successful operation? Well, let's us walk through that. If our goal, which is a three point goal of The President and The White House is to end The nuclear program of Iran, done or nearly done, End The ballistic missile production and in their ability to threaten forces in The region, allies and U.S. forces, if those are our three objectives, then we are getting pretty close to completing that. I mean, we're talking decades long setbacks here. And once we've completely obliterated their ballistic missile defense program, our ballistic missile program, their drone program and their nuclear program, my friends, that is Iran. That pretty much sums up Iran. Now we're talking decades to rebuild this. And so I think America's leaders need to be very careful about this urge and this tendency that if we bomb something, we have to rebuild it. Bad thinking. That's very bad thinking. And I'm getting hints of this from, The White House and The State Department. I'm not getting it from Hegseth, thankfully, but I'm getting hints of, well, we've got to see this through. We've got to see that we've got a friendly regime in place. No, I don't think so. I don't think so. I think history has proven that when we feel like we have some virtuous moral obligation to, to rebuild The government, things go south and we spend decades and trillions of dollars in a country that doesn't even want us there. And so I think with Iran, we need to be very careful. That's why when you don't roll out boots on The ground. Look, I understand why The president doesn't rule out stuff. It's not smart. So he's, he's playing this smart. Let's don't rule out my options and display my options to The enemy.
>> Walker Wildmon: Let's.
>> Walker Wildmon: Now that's. That, that's not smart. But any, all these, these murmurings I'm hearing about US forces on The ground is very concerning to me. Very concerning to me. And I understand, yeah, Iran's a little bit different than Iraq and Afghanistan, but not much. Not much. And yes, there's, there's a large freedom movement in Iran, but does it make up 51% of The population? I Don't think so, my friends. I don't think so. It probably makes up millions, maybe tens of millions, 51% of The population. I, doubt it. A lot of Christians there, by The way. One of The hottest regions of The world for The gospel advancing. Praise God for that. But to think that we're going to send US Forces into Iran and we're going to have this bastion of democracy in three years, well, you have. You have been mistaken. And so we do not, absolutely do not need to send a single boot on The ground into Iran, and Israel doesn't either. And honestly, I'm questioning sending The Kurdish forces, in which The reports are that thousands of The Kurdish forces are now going in from The West. I think that's a bad idea. You talk about wanting to give time for The regime to basically submit to The demands of The west and The United States. We're six days into this, and you're already sending The Kurdish forces in. At some point, this gets so out of control that it doesn't matter what we do. We're going to mess stuff up. And so maybe this is a pressure campaign to get The Iranians to cave, but we need to be prepared for The What if they don't? What if they don't cave? What if they don't give up? What if they don't say, okay, okay, we'll do what you guys want, and then we're funding and arming these proxy forces in The region. This is just all has, like, we've done this before written all over it, and it doesn't end well. And so you may say, well, what. What do you think we should do now? I, think we should just leave. I mean, I know that sounds so simple and not sophisticated, and if we were in, you know, The geopolitical class, that would be a boring position.
Just leave. And then if they don't want to play nice, then you leave
Just leave. But sometimes it's just as simple as that. You bomb all of their ballistic missile sites, you bomb all of their drone sites. You bomb every facility that can build The missiles and The drones, and then you bomb every single facility and building and structure that was used to develop The nuclear program. And we know where all of this is, by The way. You do those. Those things. And then if they don't want to play nice, then you leave and you tell them, that if we get to this point again, whether it be in five years, 10 years, or 20 years, where you guys want to threaten us and you think you're going to be The you know, The big bad bully of The region, then we'll Just come back and we'll do it all over again. And then we'll set you guys back for 40 more years. But this inkling that we've got to foster regime change, install The next leader, and by golly, we're going to stick it out until we do. That's very, very risky. Very risky, and could go south very quickly. We'll be back in a.
>> : 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
>> Jeff Chamblee: At The Core podcast are available At afr.net now back to At The Core on American Family Radio.
Rhyen Staley is director of research at Defending Education
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us here on The program. As a reminder, you can catch The video on all The major social media platforms. Also stream.afa.net you can, create an account there for free and watch The program each and every day. Also catch past episodes [email protected] well, I want to welcome back to The program Rhyen Staley. Rhyen is director of research over At Defending Ed, Defending Education, and he's with us now, to talk about all The latest ongoings in The education realm in America. Hey, Rhyen welcome back.
>> Rhyen Staley: Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Ryan: Getting school choice measures through is difficult in some states
>> Walker Wildmon: Well, Rhyen you and I don't usually talk before The show, so, we're shooting from The hip, if you will. but I did want to talk to you about, and you probably have some stuff to mention as well, but I wanted to talk a little bit about this move towards school, ah, choice and education freedom, which you guys are very keen, on At defending ed and how this is progressing. and just to set it up, in Mississippi, we recently had this, this, battle, if you will, even amongst The Republican Party and The conservative base about school choice versus not school choice. And there was a lot of misrepresentations. There was a lot of talk about how this is going to pull resources away from our local school districts, meaning money. and so in some of these states where The education lobby is very deep, has very deep pockets, very entrenched, getting these school choice measures through is very Difficult, even amongst Republican voters. so what are you guys noticing as you've advanced school choice in multiple states over The years? Or what are you noticing is. Is necessary to get over some of these hurdles?
>> Rheyn Staley: Yeah, you know, with The school choice stuff, I mean, you know, you got to get The devil is due a little bit. You know, there's. There's always some valid concerns that should be discussed. you know, but one of The things is, is that there's this, this mythology or this assumption that if we, if families have school choice, that they're just going to automatically up and leave and take their, let's say, their money allotted to them to some Christian or private school, which could be The case, but it's not always The case, because I'll tell you, you know, talking with families across The country, there are people that are very happy with their public school districts. I mean, we, we as a family, my personal self, we are very pleased with our public schools here. we do have other smaller Christian options and so forth, but, I don't know that we would necessarily leave our public schools here if, if, if that were The case. So it's, it's. It's something that I think it's, it's a, It's a fear often driven by The teachers unions, to be honest with you, in many cases, because they, they very much depend upon, students in The seats, especially At The beginning of The year. And then that gets calculated in dollars. And then The more students, The more teachers, The more teachers, The more dues being paid, The more money goes into The teachers unions. And so a lot of this is often driven by them. and so it's. They. They really sell it as. I mean, by The way, they're even against charter schools. So when we talk about school choice, we're not, we're not even talking just, you know, from a Christian or a private school to a public school. We're talking charter schools as well.
>> Walker Wildmon: What you're. Those are a form of public schools, The charter schools.
>> Rhyen Staley: Correct. They're often administered by a public district. and so it's. But it's, it's a, It's. It's kind of a nasty game. And, you know, we, we are about giving parents choice, whether it's homeschooling, whether it's charter schools, private schools, or, like I said, people that like their public schools, because there are some good ones around The country, we might disagree with some pieces of them. But, but in The end, you know, we want to, empower The parents to be able to have a choice to send their kids where they want.
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely.
Walker: There are some school districts that are bypassing sanctuary policies
One of The things I noticed you guys worked on towards The end of January of this year is this K12 sanctuary schools enclosed borders resolutions and policies list which I looked At and I thought what on earth is this? And then I started reading your summary and then your report and it's just so hard to believe, but there's actually school districts out there that have, that are engaging in this anti ice, anti Trump immigration policy movement bypassing these quote, sanctuary policies, basically saying, hey, no ICE agents can come in this school. As if ICE is like driving around going in schools all day, which doesn't even happen. Every time ICE shows up At a school it's because there's like a, like a 30 year old, you know, alleged rapist that's At The school picking up some kid that's not even theirs. and so ICE obviously is protecting The community. But tell us a little bit about this sanctuary school, list and what these districts have been doing on this front.
>> Rhyen Staley: Yeah, this is a real problem we're seeing continue to balloon. And I'm going to come back to The word mythology. It's something I've started to use recently mainly because what, what these school districts that by The way, this includes The teachers unions as well and outside non profits, some of whom are, are funded by, you know, billion dollar non profit organizations. and what, what they're doing is, they're, they're, first of all, this is all virtue signaling. These, these policy lists, they're, they're, in some cases, you know, we could debate whether or not that's necessary but they're just reaffirming that, you know, ICE has to have this and that before they can come into schools and so forth. And, but I like you just kind of mentioned, I don't even know how many of these, how many school districts, if any, have had ICE agents barge into schools and take kids out yet that is The narrative that they've got all these teachers wound up on to The point where you have. I just read an article yesterday about a, a school district in Minnesota and At one level, God bless these people for doing charity, right? They're feeding people, blah, blah. Okay, let's set that aside for a minute. The whole article is glowing about how these teachers are, are protecting their schools from ICE agents and, and they become these cultural warriors against The federal authority to enforce The laws is what it is. And, and I'll give you a specific example. in Los Angeles So Uni Los Angeles Unified School District, we were able to uncover handwritten documentation of The United Teachers Los Angeles, The teachers union wanting to use school resources, school professional development time, and give students The option to, get service hours to go out into The community and monitor for ICE activities so they could warn The community about ICE action in The community. And that's being pushed by utla. And that's just one example we've seen, teachers unions in Minneapolis engaged on this front last week. There was an anti ICE whole week of shenanigans and, and The teachers unions were, were putting on, how to do school patrols, trainings for The public. And so this is a real, real issue. Now again, I want to, I want to clarify, Walker, that this is in select areas, usually these deep blue cities and so forth. so it's not every school district, but that's what we're tracking right now is we're kind of monitoring this situation. And you know, honestly, most of these schools go, let's go back, kind of like tie in The school choice piece for a moment because any parent that's sitting there looking At their school, in many cases having a 5 or 10% proficiency reading and math rate, so like 90% of The kids can't even do grade level math and reading. And yet these teachers are spending school time, you know, virtue signaling over these ICE walkouts and so forth. you know, parents need to have that option. They need to have The option to say, we're out of here, we're going to take our kids, we're going to go somewhere else where they're not doing all this stuff and they're actually focusing on reading and math and teaching The kids to learn.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. And I think if parents and voters will view it that way, what you just said, then they should be much more open to school choice. Because a lot of folks, who are like in The public school system, whether they're teachers or administrators and don't like school choice, they think it's going to harm their perfect district or their district that's doing really well. But in reality, what you got to understand is, number one, if your district's really that well, people are actually going to flock to it, and you'll get all those resources and funds. But secondly, you're also assuming that everybody's in a good district and that's just not The case. so we've got to think about those parents and children who are stuck in these horrendous school districts, some of which you Guys, expose and cite.
Walker: President Trump signed an order to shut down the Department of Education
I want to ask you about The Federal Department of Education. President Trump obviously signed The order to shut it down, which we understand, Congress actually, constituted it even though it's not a constitutional, agency per The original text of The Constitution. But, The executive branch in Congress basically said, hey, we need this, so let's create it. but President Trump said we need to shut it down. where do you think we are on that? I mean, I still see Linda McMahon doing speeches, so I'm just wondering, you know, I thought we shut that down, but, do you think they're able to shutter this thing so much that The Democrats will have a hard time resurrecting it?
>> Rhyen Staley: Oh, that's a good question. And you know, from my vantage point, because I'm unfortunately not, or maybe fortunately not on Capitol Hill and up in that neck of The woods all The time, they've been pretty quiet on this front. It seems like The The The The media and The news has, you know, obviously there's a few things going on that kind of, suck up all The wind. I know they're still making moves slowly and quietly. You know, one of The speed bumps they ran into. That comes kind of back to some of The other stuff we talked about is there have been so many fires from a legal standpoint, like civil rights standpoint, with schools across The country, that I think in some departments like, and, and by The way, I'm kind of like sharing this information as kind of like an outsider, if you will. it appears that The The Office of Civil Rights, they've kind of like paused that because there is so much stuff that they're trying to accomplish as they, as we hope they shift that department to, where like The DOJ or wherever they're gonna, they're gonna move it.
>> Walker Wildmon: Right?
>> Walker Wildmon: I mean, certainly they, they, they've gotten rid of staff, especially full time staff and so forth. But it feels like it's a big bit of a pause, mostly because I, I, I really can't give you a great answer because it's been so quiet on that front.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Rhyen Staley: but, you know, I'm hopeful. I think The biggest thing is, is that, you know, we just got, this is kind of like a breaking news type of thing in a way, but we got a Freedom of Information act request back from The Biden administration's Department of Education. If, if you remember, maybe you don't know this, but they tried to start this parent council back in 2022. But they handpicked who they invited in. And we actually, with America, America first, legal, we sued them because conservatives were not invited. Well, looking through that Freedom of Information act, there's nothing super, you know, super awesome there. But to your point about The Department of Education, one of The things that sticks out The most is how they, they were using that, that council as another level of bureaucracy to bring in their, their friends. By The way, on The American Federation of Teachers, The national pta, which you would not think is a political org, but it is, you have other unidos us, which is one of The groups kind of behind a lot of The anti ICE stuff. They even put a group that was part of like these pro Hamas demonstrations. They invited them in. And so these, these committees and so forth become a, another layer of bureaucracy. And that's why, you know, we definitely need to get that thing shut down. Because that's a model, by The way, Walker, that they want to reproduce in communities around The country where The school becomes The focus hub, The focus of a political hub and then The unions get their claws in it and then The unions run it and it just gives them more power.
Rhyen Staley is the director of research at Defending Education
And that comes again, circling back to your school choice piece again.
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. Hey, we've been talking with Rhyen Staley with director. Well, he's The director of research over At Defending Education. Hey Rhyen you guys put out a lot of news releases, a lot of fascinating information on The education front. You just mentioned one of your FOIA requests. tell our folks, your website how they can keep up with your work.
>> Rhyen Staley: Yeah. If they go to defendinged.org that's defendinged.org and we have all kinds of resources, you know, both positive how to, how to get engaged, especially on The school choice front, with local communities, and then also, you know, some of The bad stuff, what's going on in your district so you can make those choices.
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. Hey, appreciate you coming on, brother. Keep up The good work. Rhyen Staley. Appreciate it.
>> Rhyen Staley: Thank you, sir.
>> Walker Wildmon: Absolutely. That's Rhyen Staley with Defending Education. He's director of research there. And you can check out all of their work [email protected] defendinged.org a lot of good information there and obviously a lot of good work. Well, back on this Iran front and we'll have Chris Woodward in with us in a few minutes for The last segment to break some of this down for us. and The effects on The economy and The energy markets, etc.
President Trump initially gave us a four week timeline for Iran operations
We are going on Ah, The beginning of week two, over The weekend we'll be going into week two of operations in Iran. And President Trump gave us basically a four week timeline is what he initially said. The Pentagon, The Department of War is actually said something like eight weeks. That's been noted by some. And then ah, Central Command in Florida actually put in a request with The Department of War just today or yesterday on needing more intelligence officers At their headquarters, to deal with Iran through September, which obviously is several, several months out. now just because they're looking for these, for these additional resources through September doesn't necessarily mean this is going to be a full out long term engagement through then. But nonetheless, it's important to keep an eye on this because one week turns to two, two turns to three, and then before you know it, we're three months down The road and we're still in The same position. And so obviously The Trump administration has thought this through. They understand The policy and The political ramifications, of dragging this out for more than four weeks. And
>> Walker Wildmon: here's why I think we need to keep talking about this and not just to assume that The Trump administration is going to do The right thing. There are a lot of people in Washington, including lawmakers, that would absolutely love to see boots on The ground in Iran. It's a fact. It's a fact. They're saying it now. And so while I'm, I'm in favor of, and have supported what we're doing against Iran today, I am absolutely opposed to sending US Marines for who knows how many years to play police in Iran. Absolutely against. A terrible idea should never happen. We'll be back in a few.
The Ministry of Preborn helps rescue babies in high abortion areas
In many ways, abortion was on The ballot this past election. And there's reason for concern. There are many counties, cities and states who have radicalized abortion. And thousands of tiny babies will continue to lose their lives every day. Which is why The Ministry of PreBorn is on The front lines for At risk babies and mothers with unplanned pregnancies. Preborn sponsors clinics positioned in The highest abortion areas in The country by providing them with resources that they need to rescue babies. Preborn continues to expand their life affirming care. Their end of year goal is to equip 10 more clinics with ultrasound machines. These life saving machines cost $15,000 each, more than most clinics can afford. When a woman meets her baby on ultrasound, she is twice as likely to choose life. And when she comes to a preborn clinic, she will also be embraced with God's love. $28 sponsors one ultrasound. And now through a match, your gift is doubled. How many babies can you save? Please donate. Just dial #250 and say The keyword baby. That's #250 and say The keyword baby. Or you can go to preborn.com afr that's preborn.com afr all gifts are tax deductible and PreBorn has a four star charity rating. At The Core. Podcasts are [email protected] now back to At The Core on American Family Radio.
Chris Woodward: I think we should bomb Iran until we can't
>> Walker Wildmon: Welcome back to The Core here on American Family Radio. Glad to have you back with us. Well, Chris Woodward has joined us. Chris welcome to The studio.
>> Chris Woodward: Thank you very much.
>> Walker Wildmon: Well, Chris The Iran situation, I just talked a little bit about it in The first, mostly about it in The first and a little bit At The end of The second segment. But, there's, there's indications that we are, are supporting The Kurdish forces going into Iran from The west, coming from The west, obviously from Iraq. And, maybe this is a ploy to get Iran's military out in The open so we know where they are, and then take them out from there. That's actually a pretty smart move if that's what we're doing. but, Chris I warned about this, dragging this out. here's, here's The position I think is The most pragmatic and common sense position, but it's The one that people don't seem to take in Washington, and that is this. I think we should bomb. Iran bombed their ballistic missile sites, their drone sites, their nuclear sites, and everything that produces those three. Bomb them until we can't anymore because there's nothing else to bomb. And then we come home and then we tell The Iranians of what's left of them that, hey, guys, if y' all want to be crazy again in five years or 10 years, then we'll come back and we'll set you back another 50 years. but otherwise, we'll see y' all later. to me, that's The m most clean way to do this. But Washington doesn't seem to like that. They want to, like, micromanage this into oblivion. I think that's very dangerous.
>> Chris Woodward: It is. And, you know, we've already seen some, economic bumps on The road, in The past couple of days.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: if you've not looked At your 401k, don't, it's not been a good week. The Last couple of days, in The stock market, oil and energy prices have also gone up a little bit. They fluctuated At times. I know The national average for a gallon of regular yesterday was somewhere like 20 some odd cents more than it was a few days before or when this operation began. so you definitely don't want to prolong it for those reasons, because you're going to get people concerned about The economy mad At The same time that people that want you gone because your last name is Trump. and even though you're not on The ballot, people in The House and Senate are going to be pushing your policies. All these economic and political things are going to weigh against you, which only damages you beyond The midterms going into 20, 28. Because I can't believe I'm saying this, but a year from now is when we're talking about people entering The ring for The President of The United States.
>> Walker Wildmon: No, you're right, you're right, yeah. That'd be 24 months out from The presidential election. Which is, which is about The timeline that they announced.
>> Chris Woodward: Part of me died saying that, but that's where we are.
>> Walker Wildmon: Chris you mentioned The economic effects of this, The energy markets. this has been somewhat of a setback for The markets, but once The Strait of Hormutz reopens, and these Arab nations get their energy production back going, we're a couple weeks back from being back to normal as far as operations go. And so I think this has The potential to settle back down and for The market to continue doing well if we can get The strait opened and stop The bombs flying. Basically.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. I think part of The reason why, The market has had some negative issues The last few days. And this is going to sound weird coming from a guy that works in news, but I think part of The reason why there are negative numbers, or have been negative numbers The past couple of days is because people on 24 hour cable channels are scaring people and it's causing selling and all kinds of other stuff, going on there. Certainly we've seen, ah, oil futures, those kinds of people jacking up The price, to make some money off of this. And so yeah, you do need to be prepared for volatility. But it's not as if The Dow is back At 25,000 or some number. We have not literally lost The economy here and things aren't going to work tomorrow. So be patient and if they do, hurry this thing along and actually bring it to an end or Iran finally cries uncle like I think they should. Then we'll start to see some, you know, peace and patience, and we'll have positive numbers The next time we have one of these segments.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
Chris Woodward: ADP numbers for February were better than expected
talk to me about The some of The ADP numbers and The manufacturing that you have.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes. So good news in The way of The ADP number. This is The non official number. It's not from The federal government, but it's from The payroll processor adp, which does payroll processing for a whole host of private sector companies. And adp, every month, a, couple of days before The federal government announces their number, ADP does their employment report. And The number for February was better than expected. ADP thought we might see, or Market Watch, rather thought we might see somewhere around 48,000. But ADP says we saw 63,000. Match that with The gangbusters number that we had from The federal government for January and things do appear to be in good shape. manufacturing also appears to be in good shape. For example, The ISM manufacturing number was again better than expected. Came, in about a half, a point higher than what MarketWatch thought we would see. And MarketWatch says in their headline, Manufacturing does well for second straight month. Now, they went on to say, but tariffs still hang over The heads of people and stuff like that. So there are some news outlets out there that are still dumping on tariffs. But Trump got Spain, to come around on The issue of Operation Epic Fury because Trump said, well, if you don't join us or agree with what we're doing, I'm going to hit you with tariffs.
>> Walker Wildmon: When they came around, yeah, we were just wanting to use some of their airfields to land and refuel. And that's just baffling, Chris to me that you've got NATO, ah, member countries and other countries, not just NATO members, that are balking At just allowing us to land and refuel. Now, we're not asking them to, hey, come fight with us. We're just saying, hey, we want to land our Air Force jets and refuel. And they're balking At that. That's a level of disunity, Chris that hasn't been seen in a long time.
>> Chris Woodward: It really is. And it proves Trump's point that these people always want America to deal with it, you know, or you, you pay for it. I mean, we're going back to like The first Trump, where he was blasting foreign powers, for not being on our side. and, you know, quite frankly, I think it's Pretty cheeky of The Brits, if you will, that they wouldn't agree to something like this when they have historically done this kind of thing themselves, even without our input or our approval. Why in The world they've all of a sudden said, I don't know. That, that doesn't sound like a good move, chap. I don't know why they're going around there. It could be, that they are concerned about maybe, demographics within their own country, being upset with these kinds of things and taking, to The streets. We'll have to see.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, absolutely.
Senator Mark Mullin will replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary
let's play this clip here, Chris This is going to be of Secretary Noem getting, The boot over The Department of Homeland Security. This is going to be clip 3.
>> Chris Woodward: Let's listen some breaking news. This comes a day after a difficult couple of days on Capitol Hill in both The House and The Senate for Kristi Noem, The Homeland Security Secretary. She is being replaced. Senator Mark Mullin is now going to take over her job. The President making The announcement on Truth Social just a short time ago. He writes, quote, I am pleased to announce that The highly respected United States Senator from The great state of Oklahoma, Mark Wayne Mullin will become The United States Secretary, Secretary of Homeland Security, effective March 31st of this month of this year. The current secretary, Kristi Noemi, has served us well and has had numerous and spectacular results, especially on The border. Will be moving to be special envoy for The Shield of The Americas, which is a new security initiative in The Western Hemisphere that they're announcing on Saturday At Doral in Florida. President says I thank Christie for her service At Homeland. so this comes amid, reports that The President was none too pleased about The advertising campaign money that came to light during these hearings. Sandra. And, so just in The last 24 hours, we've heard a lot of rumors that Mark Wayne Mullin may be tapped, for dhs. And now it appears The President has made that decision and that's going to happen The end of The month.
>> Walker Wildmon: Well, Chris there's that Fox report from John Roberts as it was breaking. Christine Ulm has seemed to do a pretty good job, but there, there has been a lot of questions about, number one, her chief of staff, Lewandowski. Yeah. And their relationship, which doesn't sound good. and how she's been kind of managing The Department of Homeland Security. You've got The 200 plus million dollar ad campaign featuring herself, apparently President Trump and her horse. About that. Yeah. And then there's some Some jet purchases that were questionable as far as, hey, do we really need this? for The Department of Homeland Security. And, so all of that, I think, did not make President Trump very happy.
>> Chris Woodward: No, it didn't. And keep in mind, for anybody that didn't watch The State of The Union, The president went out of his way to roast, Minnesota, for fraud. That was when he put Vice President Vance in charge of combating fraud and going after Minnesota and other states, that are, allowing fraud to happen. So you can't allow somebody in your cabinet to be out there doing these expensive, campaign videos in picturesque areas. I mean, it's not like she was on a fake horse in front of a green screen saying, you know, saying, you know, don't come here illegally. Okay? She was out in The open. That was not cheap. I'm sure they probably had to hire government union labor to do The video and all this other stuff. To be honest with you. I think The The The amount of money they were spending and The things that she was doing, I think that's probably what really drove The President's decision here. I know that she upset some people weeks ago when she referred to Alex Pretty as a domestic terrorist. but, you know, then there was that other video, after he was shot, where it showed him, a few days prior where he was being ugly and throwing things At The ICE or border patrol vehicles and stuff like that. So he was, in a way acting, like he was enacting or pushing terror on somebody.
>> Walker Wildmon: Sure.
>> Chris Woodward: I think what really drove this decision here was The money that she was spending because in his first term he got rid of people for private travel and other things.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, I think, yes, I think you're right. Another thing here that was kind of a public perception thing was this her trying to. Basically The left media called it, like, you know, Barbie, Barbie type, you know, photo ops where she's like, holding a gun, like an AR15 type semi automatic rifle, in front of ICE agents, you know, and doing these photo shoots and video shoots. And it's like, you know, are you kidding me? Like, you're not even going to mess up your hair and makeup. There's no way you're getting rough and tumble in The streets arresting, you know, Ms. 13 members. So part of that was like, you know, is almost comical how she was kind of putting on this photo up front. Now, to her defense, a lot of The Trump administration, that's what they want, right? They want these, these kind of photo shoots At these Scenes where, you know, it does well on social media. And so it's not that. Not that, you know, President Trump doesn't do that, too, but it seemed a little bit disingenuous and also, not respectable amongst The ranks. Like, if you're an ICE agent and you're hanging out with Kristi Noem and she's taking these photo shoots, it's like, all right, what are we here about? Is this about you, or is this about, you know, getting The job done? And then. But The The questioning At The Senate this week, which some say was, was her demise. There were several Republican senators that were going after her.
>> Chris Woodward: Oh, yeah, John Kennedy.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah. Ah, pretty avid.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. John Kennedy. The guy always has great slogans. Yeah, he, he and other senators had some issues, with, all The things you just mentioned there. And, you know, you can't, you can't criticize The left and The Biden administration and Obama administration for doing crazy things when you yourself are out there doing these kinds of same things.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: So The president made a, decision here. And quite honestly, I know Fox seemed to think that they heard The rumors or might have been aware, looking for this or whatever, but, I mean, like, I came back from getting my taxes prepared. I hadn't even eaten my lunch yet. And I look At The TV screen and I'm like, well, never mind. Lunch. So, you know, so it got a lot of Americans off guard.
>> Walker Wildmon: They did keep that under The radar.
>> Chris Woodward: They did. And, you know, it's not like she's going to disappear. she's going to. It's not as if she's going to go back to, South Dakota and get a private sector job now. She's going to be this special envoy for The Shield of The Americas, which is a new security initiative that Trump said would focus on The Western Hemisphere. That, again, was new to people. Nobody had heard of The Shield of The Americas prior to Trump saying those words.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah, we'll see where this goes. I like, I like, Senator Mullin I think he's. I think he's a fighter. I think he'll do a good job. And there's a lot to do over At Homeland Security. I mean, we got to get The thing funded first.
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah.
>> Walker Wildmon: They're still on a shutdown for week three, but, under them is Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
>> Chris Woodward: Yes.
>> Walker Wildmon: And mass deportations and border security. Lot has to be done on The Department of Homeland Security. And, a lot of these drug cartels are being taken out by Homeland Security. And so, I think Mullen's a good fit for The position.
Oklahoma is not playing around when it comes to illegal immigration
>> Chris Woodward: Yeah. And Oklahoma Governor Kevan Stitt, has done a nice job there in Oklahoma going after, for example, illegal immigrant truck drivers, people that came over here without our permission, lived over here, maybe live non taxpayer expense, and then found a truck driving school to give them a driver's license.
>> Walker Wildmon: Yeah.
>> Chris Woodward: So Governor Stitt himself, Oklahoma is not playing around when it comes to illegal immigration.
>> Walker Wildmon: No, they're not. And, President Trump has won that state, every county in The state, on multiple occasions, going back, I think, to 2016. Chris, thanks so much for coming on.
>> Chris Woodward: Thank you.
American Family Radio welcomes Walker Wildman on today's show
>> Walker Wildmon: All right, folks, there you have it At The core. American Family Radio. I'm Walker Wildmon. Glad to have you with us on this edition. As a reminder, you can catch American American Family radio [email protected] and on The AFR app. 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.