Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildman
>> Today's Issues continues on AFR with your host, Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family Association.
>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Thanks for listening to afr, Tim with Fred and Ray. And we're, joined now by Steve Paisley. Jordan. Good morning, Steve.
>> Steve Jordahl: Good morning, everybody.
>> Tim Wildmon: How you doing?
>> Steve Jordahl: I'm, well. I'm well.
Ray: There was supposed to be a meeting between Putin and Zelinsky
>> Tim Wildmon: so, we were talking about President Trump, Steve, being in the Middle East.
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: But there's also another. There was supposed to be a meeting.
>> Steve Jordahl: Today in, Turkey, I believe, between.
>> Tim Wildmon: Do you know about this?
>> Steve Jordahl: Yeah. it was between. President Trump might have dropped in, but basically it was between Vladimir Putin and, Volodymyr Zelensky. This was over the, Russia, the Ukraine war. And it was hoped that they were going to be able to bring the two together to talk peace. My understanding, and I haven't looked the last 10 minutes, but that Vladimir Putin did not show up. and so I don't even know.
>> Tim Wildmon: If it's Thursday, Turkey time. Right. So, yes, there was supposed to be a meeting between Ukrainian President Zelensky and Russian President Putin to begin, ceasefire and negotiations to end the war.
>> Steve Jordahl: Right.
>> Fred Jackson: Yes.
>> Tim Wildmon: And, I don't know who called this meeting. Does anybody know? Ray, do you know?
>> Tim Wildmon: Do not.
>> Fred Jackson: I think Erdogan, the Turkish leader, offered to kind of host this meeting after, some of the European nations met in Kiev and basically said if this doesn't come to an end soon, if Putin doesn't come to the table, then we are going to even greater support Ukrainians by adding more sanctions to Russia.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. So, as I said, it's Thursday afternoon. I don't know how probably they're. They're seven, eight hours ahead of us, there in, Turkey, by us here in the U.S. obviously, depending on what time zone you're in, the U.S. so, Zelinsky said he would be there.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: So I'm.
>> Steve Jordahl: It's just after 7 o' clock in the evening.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. And. But, Putin did not travel with the Russian delegation, to. To, be there. What do you think about this, Fred? I mean, the world was sort of hopeful this would be a start to the end of the war.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. The report this morning was the Russians were saying that Putin is not feeling well and that's why he didn't make the trip. Well, I heard a military analyst the other day saying Putin wants to continue this war because he's not getting all the concessions that he wants. One of the concessions that Putin wants is for Zelensky to quit. He wants new leadership in Kiev. so anyway, bottom line is that Putin did not show up at this meeting. And as we, I think we're reporting earlier in the week Trump had mentioned that he might go to this meeting if Putin was there. But, but I understand President Trump this morning said, all right, Putin didn't show. And he said the only way Putin is going to show up at a meeting is if I referring to himself, President Trump actually go to a meeting. So we will see if that happens.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, according to the Guardian, is that a trustworthy for the most part. Do you know, is that a British.
>> Steve Jordahl: Fairly liberal, but it's.
>> Tim Wildmon: It's like a British newspaper.
>> Steve Jordahl: It is.
>> Tim Wildmon: I'm reading from that. It says Trump, who is on a visit to Saudi Arabia, appeared to float the idea of a three way meeting with Putin and Zelinsky saying on Monday that would have been three days ago. Right. Quote, I believe this is quoting Trump. I believe the two leaders are going to be there. I was thinking about flying over in quote, Zelinsky said he was hoping Trump would attend the meeting in Turkey M. And indeed meet him in Turkey. Quote, if this is the landscape I'm quoting, if Trump travels, it will push Putin to also travel. Trump can really help if the situation. It's a situation where the US Being present can give important guarantees, end of quote. So President Zelinsky of Ukraine welcomed President Trump's attending a meeting between he and Putin. Putin. But Putin didn't come and I don't. Did Trump. Trump's still in.
>> Steve Jordahl: He did not.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, he's still right now in the United Arab emirates. And so 8 o' clock at night.
>> Tim Wildmon: To me and you guys tell me where I'm wrong. I'm willing to be scolded here. on this one. I believe now that the more of people are looking at President Trump now going, well what are you going to do? Because if Zelinsky says he wants Trump's help and Trump says himself, the only way Putin is going to get directly involved in this is if I'm a part of the negotiations. M. Then wouldn't that be incumbent then for. For Ray and in the name of I know I'm putting y' all on the spot with this one, but wouldn't that make it incumbent then on President Trump to. To get directly involved by going to flying to Moscow?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well look, something like that is bound to happen eventually.
>> Tim Wildmon: I think so.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. I think President Trump is right. Just flip the, flip it over and look at it from Putin's point of view. What advantage is it for him to meet with Zelinsky in Turkey with Marco Rubio there? He gains nothing. Because as far as I'm concerned, and pains me to say this, but look, the situation with the war in Ukraine, I think Mr. Putin right now has the upper hand. He's holding all the cards. It's in his advantage, I think, to delay this as long as he can. I think it's the Linsky who wants war rightfully to get to a, quicker end of this. So I'm sure Mr. Putin is saying to himself, look, if, if the President is not going to be there, why should I bother? So I suppose that what you said is exactly right. I don't know if we're going to see Trump going to Moscow. Anything's possible. But he's probably right. It's going to take a Trump, Putin sit down to bring an end to this war.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I agree with that. probably it will not be in Moscow, probably would be in Turkey, because Erd.
Iran has already offered that as a venue for peace talks
Iran has already offered that as a venue for peace talks. But Trump said it this morning, he doesn't think that Putin is going to move until he has a direct meeting with Putin himself. So it would not surprise me if in the fairly near future that's going to happen.
>> Steve Jordahl: yeah, I agree. I think, Donald Trump is, it is in his interest, it's in his legacy's interest to go, because I think he does have a shot at ending or putting a ceasefire in place. Russia has a lot more resources just geographically, in, terms of human resources. They can throw a lot more people at Ukraine than Ukraine can throw.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, but we've been hearing that for three years.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, here's the other thing, though. There's something that Putin can only wait this out so long because the United States does have a security agreement with Ukraine. And while it's not on paper, we have made a, deal with Ukraine for rare earth minerals. This means that we have a strategic interest in defending Ukraine. And that is something that is going to, that's not going to go away. Putin can't outweigh that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, it can. Well, he just ignores it.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, he ignores it, but, he can't encroach on the area that we can't take. If he takes the, the area of Ukraine that has the rare earth minerals, he's actually in, in essence declaring war on the U.S. yeah, it's a very strategic purchase because we're getting rare earth.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. That gets us involved in a hot war. I don't think he wants what you've just described. okay, well, the way I view that is, that, first of all, this rare earth. M. Rare minerals. What do you call them?
>> Steve Jordahl: Rare earth minerals.
>> Tim Wildmon: We don't know the details of that. Right. And does that involve sending US Troops to Ukraine to defend it?
>> Fred Jackson: There's no commitment on that front.
>> Tim Wildmon: well, then you can't defend your raw minerals that you're going to get out of the ground if, you don't have a military to defend it.
>> Fred Jackson: Huh?
>> Tim Wildmon: what do you defend it with?
>> Steve Jordahl: The question is, would he.
>> Tim Wildmon: Please don't come?
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, would he send people in to defend it? This is a. Again, it's a very important agreement because it takes. Rare earth minerals are the key to making technology. And, right now, the US Is dependent on China for that technology. And, you, can't.
>> Tim Wildmon: I see what you're saying. I just don't think that matters to Putin, whether we have a deal with the Ukraine or not. He is. Okay. I just think right now all the world is looking at Trump saying, well, you're going to meet with Putin to start the end of this war or not. And so I think the president has gotten directly involved in this, and now sort of, now the pressure is on him to deliver some sort of start of the peace negotiations. I think Zelensky is. Zelensky is saying as much, too. He said Trump involved is. Is. Is. Is what we need. And so. So we'll see. We'll see what happens here. I think.
>> Fred Jackson: I think you're exactly right. I think Putin also knows, given what happened at the White House back there a couple of months ago between Trump and Zelensky, which was very public when that thing blew up, that Putin probably was laughing at that and saying, you know, I've got Zelensky up against the ropes. Putin or Trump comes in and he acts as a mediator to get probably more of a deal that Putin wants than what Zelensky wants. I think Zelensky is going to have to go.
>> Tim Wildmon: Out, like, out as the president of this country. Yes, well, he said he's offered to go if they can get a peace agreement.
>> Fred Jackson: That's right, he has.
>> Tim Wildmon: So we'll see. We'll see what happens there.
Russia has been using North Korean soldiers in Ukraine against Ukraine
one thing I would note, the, Russia has been using, North Korean soldiers, if you can believe that. North. North Korean soldiers. I don't know how many of them. Thousands of Them to be there. What do you call those mercenaries, Ray? What do you call you ran a soldier?
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, in a sense, because, what, cannon.
>> Steve Jordahl: Fodder might be a better.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that might be a better term. Well, you know, there's no reason for North Korean soldiers to be fighting.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Or Russia against the Ukraine.
>> Tim Wildmon: Right. Zero reason.
>> Tim Wildmon: but that's. Russia has a close relationship with the dictator of, you know, that Kim Jong Un guy and Huddy Gap there and his always launching rockets out into the ocean.
>> Fred Jackson: Rocket man.
>> Tim Wildmon: Rocket man.
>> Tim Wildmon: But, but yeah, I remember reading a story about those poor North Korean soldiers who don't have a choice in the matter and they get shipped to Ukraine, the Ukrainian Russian war. And they were saying that they don't even know how to fight.
>> Fred Jackson: No, they have no experience.
>> Tim Wildmon: All they do is march in military parades and that kind of thing. They have no. And they're, they are just fodder for, for the Ukrainian weaponry. All right, you will see what happens there. But you know, everybody hopes and wishes that this war would end because there's just so much pain and suffering. Other people, especially in the Ukraine, the Russian people too.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: Have a lot of them have lost family members in the war. But Ukrainian people have just been decimated. All right, you're listening in terms of their country. All right, Steve, next.
>> Steve Jordahl: thank you.
Mark Green says Democrats are defending criminals over safety of Americans
I came across some sound here from Tennessee, Congressman Mark Green. He is the chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security and they were having a hearing. and of course the, the Democrats are saying due process. Due process. You can't, deport anybody without due process. Well, Congressman Green, the chairman of this committee had something to say about that and then he went off on Democrats. Listen to cut 13.
>> Speaker E: I want to make a clarification here because there's been so many incredibly false and misleading things said today. once a deportation order has been issued, the due process is over, but the judge makes issues in order. And there's well over a million people in this situation that are being deported appropriately. I've said this before, the left has this incredible, heart for the criminal. They defend the criminal, a, full throated defense of criminals over the safety of Americans. The following of the rule of law. The American people recognize who the good guy really is. And it ain't Trin de Agua or a guy who was driving eight women, young women through my state. And the Biden administration said, do not detain him. As I've said before, the left doesn't know a good guy from A bad guy. They street violent criminals, and they want to defund ice. That's been their mantra since I've been in this position. It's ridiculous. It's heinous.
>> Steve Jordahl: There you go.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, and all God's people said, amen. He said it, said, well, who is that?
>> Steve Jordahl: Is Mark Green. Doctor, Mark Green, actually.
>> Tim Wildmon: well, I asked the question yesterday with a lot of these liberals, having to do with the Trump deporting these criminals. and they're defending the criminals. And I'm going, whose side are you on?
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: that just.
>> Fred Jackson: Do they actually. The Democrats actually believe this is a winning election?
>> Tim Wildmon: I know, I know. Like a. Taking the side of boys who want to dunk on girls in basketball and saying, hey, that's a good thing.
>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.
>> Tim Wildmon: If she calls. If he calls himself a girl, then he ought to be able to dunk on the girls.
>> Fred Jackson: Hey, if you're a Republican, I guess you say the Democrats, you just keep doing that.
>> Tim Wildmon: Keep on doing what you're doing.
>> Fred Jackson: Keep on doing it.
>> Steve Jordahl: One of the things that I cut out of that clip was he said, if I was a pure politician, I would say keep going because it cost you the last election and it cost you the next one.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, well, wokeness is like a mental disorder.
>> Fred Jackson: It has to be. It has to be.
>> Tim Wildmon: It just. Just like.
Robert Kennedy Jr. clashed with members of Congress on Capitol Hill yesterday
All right, you're listening to Today's Issues. Next story.
>> Steve Jordahl: Steve, did you guys get to the, RFK hearing?
>> Tim Wildmon: No, we didn't.
>> Steve Jordahl: Well, let's talk about that. Another hearing, on. On Capitol Hill yesterday, and this one was Robert Kennedy Jr. He was sitting, in front of committee talking about, his Make America Healthy Again. And, he had it out with a couple of members of Congress there. this is, one he's talking about to, Patty Murray, who is the senator from Washington who brought up one of her constituents that she says, her name is Natalie. And, she says that, Robert Kennedy's indiscriminate firing of people at NIH has put her health at risk. He wasn't having much of it. This is, cut seven, Mr. Secretary.
>> Speaker F: One of my constituents, her name's Natalie Phelps. She has been fighting aggressive stage four colectoral cancer for nearly five years now. Her best hope now is a clinical trial she's participating in at the NIH Clinical Center. But because of the thoughtless mass firing of, thousands of critical employees across NIH and HHS that you've carried out, Natalie's doctors at that clinical center have told her they have no choice but to delay her treatment by an additional four weeks.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: If you contact my office tomorrow, I'll look specifically into that.
>> Speaker F: Well, that. That is not acceptable.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Wouldn't you rather get her into that clinical trial as fast as you can?
>> Speaker F: Absolutely.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: If you contact my office tomorrow. This is a. If that happens.
>> Speaker F: You are here to defend your budget.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: You asked me, you asked me about a specific case that I want to help with. Do you want me to answer it?
>> Speaker F: I want to tell you, you need to know this. You're here to defend the NIH budget.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: Which senator. Do you want me to answer your question?
>> Speaker F: Well, I, I want to.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I'm going to answer your question.
>> Speaker F: Tell you that Natalie is sitting there waiting for treatment.
>> Abraham Hamilton III: I'm offering helper. But you don't care, about. I've offered to help Natalie.
>> Steve Jordahl: You don't care about Natalie. Ray, that was a pretty much a beat down.
>> Tim Wildmon: you talk about a. Talk about a boy. That's a knockdown slap down. you don't hear a senator have to back down like that. But true, she was using Natalie's case, which is awful, Steve, and it's a sad situation. But clearly, the secretary, Mr. M. Kennedy is willing to get in there and help, and the senator didn't want to hear any, any part of that.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, there's an update to this story. Despite that confrontation that you just heard, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. S office went and checked on the Natalie in particular. The truth of the matter is she does not qualify for this testing that's being done because sadly, her stage of cancer is beyond the limit that this particular research is looking at. And so he came back with that. So he's exactly right. the senator was, was trying to make a political point at the expense of her constituent. And that's really sad. And the Democrats are doing this over and over again. They're out there saying, you know, you're going to lose Medicaid and people are going to lose their health care, all of these sorts of things. You got to go back. What the Trump administration is looking at is fraud. They're looking at money that should not be spent. They're. They want to put qualifications, for instance, on Medicaid that you have to be out there trying to look for work, and you need to be able to prove that to people that you're out there looking for work, otherwise that you're going to be taken off that free medical care.
>> Tim Wildmon: Are you talking about. Have we talked about Governor Newsom?
>> Steve Jordahl: No, not yet.
>> Tim Wildmon: Okay. Related, you know what I'm talking about.
>> Steve Jordahl: he has decided that he is no longer wanting to offer health care to illegal immigrants in his state. Oh, it is Trump's fault.
>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Well, this year this is, going to take effect, I think the beginning of the new calendar year, I think. That's right. State of California Governor Gavin Newsom announced he's a flaming liberal trying to masquerade now as a centrist. and he, You got the story right there. Yeah, read from it.
>> Fred Jackson: Well, his program to give Medicaid to people who are in this country illegally is $2.7 billion in the hole. So he is saying we need to stop doing this. And starting at a particular date, he's going to start charging individuals, I think, $100 monthly premium.
>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, well, yeah, but isn't he just going to outright stop it for any new people?
>> Fred Jackson: For new people, yes, that's what's happening. So there he is.
>> Tim Wildmon: What a bigot, right? I mean, you talk about a xenophobe. this is a heartless politician who doesn't care about the health care of people.
>> Tim Wildmon: Does anybody believe he's sincere at all?
>> Fred Jackson: No. He wants to run for president. Here's the other thing he announced this week, he wants communities across California to get rid of those homeless, camps he says we need to clean up.
>> Tim Wildmon: Where have you been for 10 years?
>> Fred Jackson: Exactly.
>> Steve Jordahl: He has not seen the light. He's seen the White House.
>> Tim Wildmon: Well, you know, with respect to the, the state. Okay, so California, they, you know, they, not all the people there, a lot of good people in California, but these politicians who are very sec. Secular, they're very progressive, they, they're very prideful of their, you know, DEI and all this stuff, the, the financial realities are now hitting them. You can't have millions of people come into your state from other countries illegally and then pay for all their health care.
Ray: Gavin Newsom is making a similar argument to President Trump
>> Tim Wildmon: It doesn't work that way. It's unsustainable. And that's what Gavin Newsom is saying right now. As of like the end of the year, I think no more new people can join this if you're not a U.S. citizen.
>> Fred Jackson: Starting next year.
>> Tim Wildmon: starting next year. That's a financial reality. so, that's what he's really making an argument on a smaller scale of what President Trump has been making for several years now. That is right. We can't, Ray. We can't afford to let the world in to our country and pay for everything.
>> Tim Wildmon: So really glad that Gavin, Newsom has finally quote, seen the light?
>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.
>> Steve Jordahl: There's a headline in the Babylon Be right now. Gavin eyeing 2028 presidential bid. Gavin Newsom distances himself from Gavin Newsom.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's funny.
>> Fred Jackson: That's about it.
>> Tim Wildmon: That's funny.
American Family News has been around for almost three decades now
All Fred, we got about a minute to go. Why don't you tell our listeners about our news service?
>> Fred Jackson: All right. American Family News. Been around for almost three decades now, and, we have a great team here. Steve is part of the team, Chris is part of the team, and we're here to bring you the news of the day from a Christian perspective. Tell you everything that's going on. We have a great website, afn.net, afn.net and if you'd like a daily summary of the news, Amazon into your email box, you can do that, too. Go to afn.net up in the right hand corner. Just fill in your email address, and we'll send you one email a day, Monday through Friday with the latest summary of the news.
>> Tim Wildmon: All right, thank you, Steve.
>> Steve Jordahl: My pleasure, Brett.
>> Tim Wildmon: Thank you.
>> Fred Jackson: You bet, Ray.
>> Tim Wildmon: Appreciate it.
>> Tim Wildmon: You bet.
>> Tim Wildmon: thanks to, Chris Woodward and Jeff Shreve and Brent Creeley, our producer, and we hope you. You have a wonderful Thursday, and we'll see you back here tomorrow for Trivia Friday.
