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Today's Issues offers a Christian response to the issues of the day

>> Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to today's Issues, offering a Christian response to the issues of the day. Here's your host, Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning everybody and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today is Monday, February 2, 2026. And joining me in studio is our Ed Battagliano. Good morning, Ed.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim.

>> Tim Wildmon: And Fred Jackson. Hey there. I did get my verb right, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes, we are in here.

>> Tim Wildmon: But if I'd have said Ed Battagliano is, and then I said, that's true.

>> Ed Vitagliano: said, Fred Jackson is also.

>> Tim Wildmon: That have been correct there too, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Absolutely. You'd have been correct twice, sir.

>> Tim Wildmon: Somewhere my English professors listening, going, he finally got it, he finally got it. All right. Anyway, thanks for joining us everybody on the program today. We hope you had a great weekend.

American Family Radio launched a campaign to provide free ultrasounds to pregnant women

And before we jump into the news of the day, we wanted to report on our preborn campaign from the last couple weeks. Preborn, of course, is the organization that provides ultrasounds all over the country free to pregnant women, many of them teenagers. And the idea is to offer them a free ultrasound so they can see the baby for themselves. And a lot of the time, the majority of time when this happens, the young ladies who are pregnant and didn't plan it, that they, choose to either keep the baby or they give the baby up for adoption. And either way the baby's life is spared. Okay? That's the goal. Because we are a Christian organization, PreBorn is a Christian organization. And we believe, as the Bible teaches, that every human life is valuable in the eyes of God. And so this doesn't have anything to do with laws or the Supreme Court or executive orders or anything like that. This is something we can do and is one of the most pro life things you can do. And it doesn't, all it requires is a little cash.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right?

>> Tim Wildmon: And evidently our listeners at American Family Radio went above and beyond our goals and expectations. The last couple weeks.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We wanted to, in this part kind of partnership campaign with PreBorn. We wanted to hit the 5,000 mark. That was 5,000 ultrasounds. And we got. Not only. We not only met our goal, we exceeded it. 6238 free ultrasounds for expectant, mothers. And we are just very thankful to, God for what he did and what our listeners did in giving to this campaign. Because this is a really big deal, what preborn does. Because so many young women, they're under tremendous pressure, oftentimes with an unexpected, maybe even unwanted pregnancy. They're being told it's not a baby, it's just, you know, like your appendix, just a blob of tissue. They get that ultrasound and they see that baby, they see this, this precious child sucking its thumb, moving around in it. They hear the heartbeat. It kind of gets through the lies that, the pro abortion crowd has been telling young women. And that's why it is so effective in getting women to, to do, to save their babies.

>> Tim Wildmon: One related story to this one gentleman, I think it was last week, maybe it was way before that one gentleman, came by our offices and donated $15,000 in cash to PreBorn. To PreBorn. Yeah. $15,000 in cash. So after my commission and yours, Ed, that. That left, pre. Born with.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It left Pre. Born with $15,000 cash.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes, yes, that is true. I was only kidding. I know I was only kidding. No commission taken here. $15,000 in cash that was brought by our offices went directly to our campaign.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We tell people during the campaign, American Family Radio and PreBorn, every dime that's given goes to preborn.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

>> Fred Jackson: M. You know, there's another, significant percentage of those girls that, have the ultrasound decide to keep the baby, also accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior.

>> Ed Vitagliano: A lot of. There's a lot of salvation.

>> Fred Jackson: It is a gospel ministry.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: It goes beyond the ultrasound, so.

>> Tim Wildmon: Amen.

North Mississippi was hardest hit by the ice storm, Fred says

also wanted to mention that, we are, following the story here in, you know, in North Mississippi after the ice storm. I know we weren't. North Mississippi weren't the only place hit, but I think it had to be the hardest hit, part of the country. Some in maybe west Tennessee and parts of Arkansas and maybe even Louisiana. But, it. I know stories stay in the news, national News for about 24 hours and then they're gone. But, the pictures, ah, coming out of here in this area that we live in, not so much Tupelo. Tupelo was spared the worst, of the ice storm. M. But you go west of here and north of here, as I Say into other parts of the state of Mississippi. Oxford, Mississippi is kind of ground zero, Fred. The pictures, we're seeing out of. And that's where Eight Days of Hope and Samaritan's Purse and others are operating.

>> Fred Jackson: Absolutely. it is I refer to it as war zones. When I'm seeing the images coming from these areas, you can imagine trees coming down on roads, on houses, everywhere.

>> Tim Wildmon: Everywhere.

>> Fred Jackson: And Oxford, I heard a report last night some people starting to get their power back there. You imagine the freezing temperatures that we've had in this area and many houses don't have. They lose electricity. Then they lose, the water pipes begin to, to burst because they don't have anything to keep the pipes warm.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well then you got trees falling through roofs everywhere, Fred.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, yeah. It's absolutely horrible. The other part of this, as of this morning between Tennessee and Mississippi, we still have 60 to 70,000 people without power. That's how bad it is. And we're not blaming power companies.

>> Tim Wildmon: And they're doing the best they can.

>> Fred Jackson: They're doing the very best. Our military, people, National Guard, they're having to use. We have a National Guard air base here in our home base of Tupelo. A very large helicopter was kept busy because we live near the airport working all weekend. They're trying to now get into what they call welfare checks. and I'm not talking about money checks, I'm talking welfare checks on people who live in more rural areas. They haven't.

>> Tim Wildmon: The mail's been undeliverable for our mail goes through Memphis.

>> Fred Jackson: But there are people, there are people right now who have not had power. They can't get out and get groceries, they can't get their medication. And the military is trying to get into those people in more rural areas in Tennessee and Mississippi to try to help them.

>> Tim Wildmon: I saw a military transport plane. It came over my house yesterday. It was like I was wondering what in the world. Now I know, now that you've told me this is a big, you know, those big hogs.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Flying trains basically. And they were bringing, had to be bringing supplies.

>> Fred Jackson: So be praying for those folks who are still in a very dire situation.

>> Tim Wildmon: And tomorrow we're going to talk to Steve Tyber from Eight Days of Hope. Again. We know that a lot of work is being done by churches, by private citizens, by Samaritan's Purse, Franklin Graham's organization. But we get a report from Steve Tiber tomorrow, on what's going on with their ministry because we partner with them through the year on a lot of different projects. we help promote the work of eight Days of Hope. So, Steve Tyber will be joining us to talk about the situation.

A new documentary about first lady Melania Trump premiered this weekend

All right. You're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. so last night went to see a movie. Yeah. Melania. You guys familiar with this? It's documentary about, Melania Trump.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, we have the trailer for that movie.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, you gonna play it?

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, we can play that. Just to kind of introduce the story. Cut number 17.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Together with like minded leaders, we have a voice.

>> Tim Wildmon: Is it safe? It is Saf.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Everyone wants to know. So here it is. Hi, Mr. President.

>> Tim Wildmon: Congratulations.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Did you watch it?

>> Tim Wildmon: I did not.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah, I will see it on the news.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, that was a funny part of the movie. It's a documentary about an hour and a half long and it's about the 20 days, last year leading up to the inauguration. 20 days. It starts prior to the, 20 days out from the inauguration. And it sort of follows the first lady around and gets her take and perspective on things. And we thought it was. I didn't know how I was gonna, if I was gonna like it or not, but, and enjoyed it very much.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, when I was listening, I've not seen the trailer and I'm just gonna be honest. I don't like going to the movies to watch documentaries. To me that's a small screen thing. So I'm just saying I probably won't go see it at the theater. Although I do like theater popcorn. but, but when I was listening to the music, that, that twist at the end was very funny. That, that was, that was good. But I was listening to the music behind it and I was thinking, this sounds like an Avengers movie. I mean I keep expecting, you know, the, some super villain to make a, make a show.

>> Tim Wildmon: Evidently the movie did pretty well, despite the best efforts of the leftist, liberal media to kill it and mock it. Yeah. What would you say it did? The best, documentary he's done in a long time. For the opening weekend, debuted with.

>> Fred Jackson: A better than expected $7 million in ticket sales according to studio estimates.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And that's about twice what they were saying it would take in.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah. So people were they wanted to dump on it even before they saw it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, anyway, so that's, that happened. That was released over the weekend. And that was very funny line there that she was.

>>  : She.

>> Tim Wildmon: That was staged.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, that was staged.

>> Tim Wildmon: That Particular scene was staged because that. That if she had really been speaking to the president the night of the election, she would. She was with him.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: And number two, it, was with, the documentary was 20 days prior to the inauguration, while the election course was three, two or three months prior to the this. So that was staged for the humor.

>> Ed Vitagliano: what's funny about it is that's the way I've been married 44 years. That's the way my life has gone. How many times I had a great accomplishment. Honey preached a sermon. I say, hey, how was the sermon? Well, I, you know, when our kids were little. Well, what I could hear of it, it was fine. But, you know, I was keeping the kids occupied.

>> Tim Wildmon: And you thought you knocked it out of the park.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I said, how was. How was I? I didn't get to hear much. I'm sure it was fine. Sure was like, pat me on the back. You. You did. I'm sure you did just fine.

>> Tim Wildmon: It was my best sermon ever. I'm sorry I didn't listen.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I was trying to keep your kids quiet.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, so anyway, that, that film was released this weekend. What else is in the news, Fred?

North Carolina and South Carolina got hammered by a snowstorm this weekend

>> Fred Jackson: Well, we have to return to weather because the east coast, particularly, in North Carolina, just got hammered, by a snowstorm this weekend. for instance, the city of Charlotte. Almost a foot of snow in the city of Charlotte. And then we've seen some images, some video of a house being washed away along that coast of North Carolina. So a bunch of moisture came up, from the Caribbean, and it hits this polar vortex coming down from the north, and it smashed together over the Carolinas. So it was really bad.

>> Tim Wildmon: We need to pass a law against these polar vortexes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: absolutely.

>> Tim Wildmon: Don't you think? Or at least in the executive order.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I say we get ice on it.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: If this. If this polar vortex is not here.

>> Tim Wildmon: Legally, push them back into Canada.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I want ice on it.

>> Fred Jackson: Secure the northern border.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Secure that border.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, a text.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Tired of ice down here.

>> Tim Wildmon: I, text our good friend and colleague, Dr. Alex McFarland. He lives in North Carolina Greensboro area. I said, you get any snow? And he said, yeah, we got eight inches, but some parts of, North Carolina got six to get 14 inches. And then he said, it's been nice knowing you. So I don't know if that means he'll never dig out of this snowstorm or what, but. No, so he. Alex, got 8 inches of snow there in the, Greensboro area, but, yeah, you're right. It's, Virginia, but mostly North Carolina and South Carolina, I guess, and even Florida temperatures.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Iguanas.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Fallen from the trees. This is real?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Do you see this?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: You know what iguana is, right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I do, yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Big lizard.

>> Tim Wildmon: Big lizard that lives in trees.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Evidently, it's an invasive species.

>> Tim Wildmon: It is.

>> Fred Jackson: So.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And, now, my dad, before he passed away, he lived in the Boca Raton area. He remarried, and, his wife. Very, very sweet lady. My wife and I have been to see her since, my dad died. But I asked her about this because my dad would tell me about when they would get cold snaps. That's what we always called it in quotations, in quotation marks. That sometimes if it was prolonged, these iguanas go into a kind of temporary freeze. They're not dead, but they almost, like, go into, like, a form of hibernation. And since they hang out in the trees, they fall into this, you know, kind of trance because of the cold weather. And they are prone to falling out of the trees on. They can land on people. They're not small. These aren't little geckos. These are big, hefty, meaty. Meaty. They're meaty, you know, because they're so invasive. The, whatever department in Florida is in charge of this.

>> Tim Wildmon: The iguana department.

>> Ed Vitagliano: The iguana department. They just say, listen, folks, be careful because they can come alive and, get out of this trance, and they'll whip you with their tails. But they're okay with collecting them and turning them in, and then they euthanize them.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's sad.

>> Ed Vitagliano: It is not. They're destructive.

>> Tim Wildmon: Oh, okay. I just think they survive a tree fall, only you find out they're about to be euthanized. That's just not a good ending.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I don't think we're gonna take you to the version you know, that's,

>> Tim Wildmon: They.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They.

>> Tim Wildmon: They do look just from that. They do look something like five to ten pounds. Yeah. Look at them. But they, But they fall out of these. They fall out of the trees in Florida because the temperatures get, I guess, get below 30 or something like that, and they fall out. It's amazing that they would survive a tree fall. You know what I'm saying? Boom. That wouldn't wake you up.

>> Fred Jackson: I know.

>> Tim Wildmon: That would wake me up. Wake me up falling out of a tree like that. But, Yeah, but you do have,

Boston Bruins brought down the cold weather with them to play in Tampa

They had snow flurries in Tampa. Do you see this?

>> Fred Jackson: I heard about it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, I. Listen, my Hockey team, the Boston Bruins, played an outdoor game last night in Tampa against the Tampa Bay Lightning. And during the game, the announcer said it has now reached 30 degrees, and that can actually.

>> Tim Wildmon: So the Bruins brought down the cold weather with them to play in Tampa.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Can't blame.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Can't blame. But it was a lot of times with these outdoor games.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They have a hard time keeping the ice as cold as it needs to be.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Because sometimes it's warm weather. This was just the opposite.

>> Tim Wildmon: So, anyway, the, But back to your original. It was a. It was a. What do they call it? Some kind of a cyclone or something? A polar vortex, I know, but a bomb.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Bomb cyclone.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: Bomb cyclone, yes.

>> Fred Jackson: It's not good. Yeah, not good.

>> Tim Wildmon: You never want to hear Jim Cantori say, your area is expecting a bomb cyclone. Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You don't want bomb and cyclone in the same for your forecast. That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: So anyway, well, so, brother Alex there. Eight inches in the Greensboro area. Next story. Fred.

Democrats want major changes made to the budget of the Department of Homeland Security

>> Fred Jackson: All right, well, we may be facing another government shutdown, and the issue this time is basically the Democrats want major changes made to the budget of the Department of Homeland Security. So they've declared war.

>> Tim Wildmon: They're tired of homeland security, aren't they?

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, they're just tired of it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: They're tired of security. All right.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. one of the Democrats who's kind of leading the charge on this is Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. here's what he has to say about ice cut number two.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We're still pretending that ice is going after dangerous people. They aren't. Right. Right now, 70% of the people that they are detaining have absolutely no criminal record. What's happening in Minnesota right now is a dystopia. ICE is tear gassing elementary schools. It is disappearing legal residents into cars. It is murdering American citizens. The Constitution is being abandoned by this administration right now as we speak. And so our focus over the next two weeks has to be reining in a lawless and immoral immigration agency in this nation.

>> Tim Wildmon: That was Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat from NewSong Jersey. Right. So they're tear gassing, elementary schools.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah, I haven't seen that. I don't know what he.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's he talking about there? Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Liar, liar, pants on fire.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Yeah. All right, what's going on here?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Well, listen, I've been reading articles over the weekend, and even before that, before this. If the Democrats win the White House and both houses of Congress three years from now. Well, well, I'm just saying, if they win, you see what they're doing right now in holding the, the Republican Party with spines of jello. Okay. holding them hostage on the government shutdown. That's just a taste of what will happen should they win control of Congress. And then what I'm saying is if they also get a Democratic president, and I think they will, I think they will impeach President Trump. I think they will try to get rid of ice. I have no idea whether they will try to replace it with another agency that has a.

>> Tim Wildmon: Stop you right here for just a second. Just to be, just to be clear, Mr. Tagliano.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: On your testimony.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: I've always wanted to play the part of lawyer. so, so, so what you're saying is if the Democrats get control of the House of Representatives in November.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: Then when they are seated next January, you're saying they will impeach in the House President Trump then. Is that what you're saying?

>> Ed Vitagliano: I absolutely think.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay, okay.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And I think it will be over ice. I think they're setting the stage now with this rhetoric for trying to paint ICE as a fascist gestapo, like government under orders from a Hitler type figure, President Trump, so that if they do take the House, they will now, and that doesn't mean he'll get convicted in the Senate. But they love to try to humiliate President Trump. But I think they will eventually want and try to move to eliminate ICE altogether. looking at an article here, just pulled it up on Fox News. Philadelphia's Democrat prosecutor, Larry Krasner. He's saying that if Democrats take power that they should launch criminal investigations and hunt down, his words, ICE agents for prosecution, which I don't think you're going to go anywhere with that. I don't think you can prosecute, ICE agents who are acting under legal orders, under a legally elected president. But this is the kind of hostility that we see on the left.

Fred Seibert: Tom Holman went to Minneapolis to discuss DHS

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, what's the solution here, Fred?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think the solution is, and we're focused on Minneapolis right now, that's kind of ground zero in this battle. And I think what's going on here, the Democrats know they have the media on their side for the most part. So you're getting a, one very one sided story. The polls are showing this, that the support for DHS has gone down dramatically because of what is being shown coming out of Minneapolis, the story that's being told. So the question is, now we know that Tom Holman went in there late Last week, he's Trump's border czar. He goes in and he says, I have had meetings with the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz. I've had meetings with Jacob Fry, the mayor of Minneapolis. I've been meeting with some of the local sheriffs. Now, the indication that we got from Tom Holman's news conference last week was they were at least shaking their head, yes, I think we can work with you, Tom Holman. and, Tom Holman was saying, if you would just let us know when you're about to release one of the bad guys, illegal immigrants who committed crimes from your jail, we'll send a couple of our guys over, we'll arrest them there. And if you work with us, Tom Holman says we can downsize the 3,000, roughly DHS people we have in your city. However, within hours after Tom Holman's news conference, we had Jacob Fry. He was at a mayor's meeting, I think, in D.C. he says, no, there's no agreement. And then, the Attorney General of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, he comes out and says, no, no, no, no. We have no agreement with Tom Holman on this. They just want dhs.

>> Tim Wildmon: Did Tom Holman just make this up?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think Tom Holman's a good man. I don't think he made it up. But I think the Democrats, the leadership of there in Minnesota, the Democrats, they want the fury to continue so they get these images. This will help them in the election, or they want DHS out of town altogether.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, we'll talk about this more. We get back from the break. I do think that President Trump and his administration are on their heels on this one, and I don't know how exactly it's going to go. I do think sending Tom Holman to Minneapolis was a very smart move, because of his experience and his, ability to get things done. But anyway, we can talk about this more when we get back because this is a big deal for a lot of people who voted for President Trump. Right.

>>  : 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.

>> Fred Jackson: 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 our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial £250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com afr.

>> Tim Wildmon: This is today's issues.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Email your comments to commentsfr.net Past broadcasts of today's Issues are available for listening.

>>  : And viewing in the [email protected] now back.

Hank Irwin: It's up to the federal government to enforce immigration laws

>> Ed Vitagliano: To more of, Today's Issues.

>> Tim Wildmon: Welcome back everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. We have a guest, Hank Irwin. We're going to go to him momentarily. but before we do, we need to wrap up this topic we were talking about before the break. The, you have the, the politics, and, or the optics of the situation, with the ice, organization, part of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE has been around forever.

>> Fred Jackson: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: And, well, since the, since 9 11.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, not forever, but since 9 11. but, so they're, they're charged with enforcing immigration law, federal immigration law. Well, there's no other kind of immigration law. It's not, it's not up to the states. It's up to the federal government to enforce the immigration laws. And you know, with what happened with the Biden administration, you know, as we all know, he let 15 million people, estimate or more pour into our country. You know, don't know who they are, where they're from, where they're going, what they're going to do. We, remember the story about NewSong York being run over with these illegal immigrants who were being shipped in by Biden. Now, I think a side note, and this is a personal opinion shared by some, this was in on purpose. This is on purpose by the Democrats to change the voting demographics in America and to change every swing state to a blue state. That's their ultimate objective. So you let these people pour in, then you, then you let them vote and it changes everything because they'll be loyal to the Democrats because the Democrats let them into the U.S. that's, that's my sinister view of why Biden did what he did there during those years. But now, you know, ICE has been so Trump, basically, President Trump, his administration was left with cleaning up a mess.

>> Fred Jackson: Yep.

>> Tim Wildmon: And in their efforts to clean up the mess, then they brought into this PR trouble these two People were killed in Minnesota, as we all know, by, ICE agents. And those are. Those, those two situations are under investigation. But at ICE now, the ICE agency, is being there under, you know, scrutiny, under fire, under investigation. Now, I don't know if they'll survive. Maybe they will. But that Democrat senator, Chris Murphy from NewSong Jersey, we heard from earlier, he said reign them in. So he didn't say get rid of the agency. Although. I don't know. You think that ICE will survive or.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I. I don't. I don't know.

>> Tim Wildmon: And then who. And then who. And then who enforces our immigration?

>> Ed Vitagliano: It used to be, immigration naturalization. I think service inside. I got the. So unless you're going to open the border, you have to have somebody who, protects the borders and enforces immigration law. And if you've got federal immigration law, you have to have somebody who executes it. So something's going to have to be formed. If you get rid of ice, I think you can get away with the ice, process that they've been engaging in by picking up. They've been doing it all over the country successfully and without any problem in cities that are cooperative. And it, But in cities like Minneapolis, where they are, in my opinion, encouraging the rioters and the protesters to show up and shut this down and not sending local police to keep the crowds back. So ICE can do its job. If you have, a local government like Minneapolis, essentially part of the resistance, it's very difficult for ICE to do its job. We said on this show many times, you've got to, you've got to incentivize. The best way to do this is you incentivize people to leave on their own self deport, offering them money to go. You have to deincentivize them to stay by telling them, you know, you're not going to get any welfare, you're not going to get any benefits, you're not going to get health care. You might as well go home. and then for the very worst of the people who are here, you've got to have ICE or some group like it, some organization, some agency like it, grabbing these people who are criminals and violent offenders and get rid of them. And to me, that's the best way to do it. But we've got almost only ICE doing the work, and you've got to incentivize and deincentivize at the same time.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Does that make sense?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, of course, criminals who are here illegally, they're not going to self deport.

>> Ed Vitagliano: No ice. You need ice for them.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

There's a PR battle going on between the Trump administration and the liberal media

Well, all right, we can talk about this more later, but there's a PR battle going on town, too, between the Trump administration and the liberal news media. and the Democrats are seizing on. On, the optics of, what they would call. They, call it gestapo, like.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Tim Wildmon: efforts. Of course, as I've said many, many times, when you show police work live, it never looks pretty.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Right.

>> Tim Wildmon: Because they can't. I just can't go knock on the door. Hello? Yeah, anybody is, so and so here? Well, we'd like to listen. We're gonna go back out to our car and we're gonna wait and let him pack his bags, and then we're gonna go down to the detention center. So if you could just tell him we'll be waiting out here on him, then, we can do that. So is that gonna work? You think that's gonna work? No, that doesn't work.

>> Ed Vitagliano: but to your point, going and forcing someone to come out doesn't look good.

>> Tim Wildmon: No. you got.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Matt, you got 100 cameras out, and.

>> Tim Wildmon: The Iceman agents have to have mask on.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah. Otherwise their families are in danger.

>> Tim Wildmon: Right. That's the reason they're having to wear masks now. They're being docs, and their families are in danger.

>> Fred Jackson: And it's one of the demands of the Democrats is they. They want those masks off. Yeah, but I mean, the. The agencies say you take that mask.

>> Tim Wildmon: Off, they'll be killed. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Then the image will be picked up. Their families are in danger. Can you imagine? Tom Holman was saying at his news conference the other day, some of these guys, these ICE agents have been there and doing this work for eight months. Can you imagine? Every day you're being spit on. Literally, you're being confronted on a daily basis. He says they need to go home and rest and get away from this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, in the case of Minneapolis, these agitators, were coming to the hotels they were staying at, right? Yes. And trying to go after them.

>> Ed Vitagliano: There they were beating up people they thought were members of ice. Sometimes there were people who were actually going to the protests, but they thought they were ICE and they were trying to say, no, I'm not. They were getting beat up anyway.

American Family Radio Network welcomes Hank Irwin to discuss the Great American Prayer Revival

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, you're listening to today's issues on the American Family Radio Network. there is, something called the Great American Prayer Event 2026. It's going to be held in, March, and one of the gentlemen who's responsible for this is Hank Irwin. He's president, founder, and he joins us, now. I think he's in the Nashville area. Good morning, Hank.

>> Frank Gaffney: Hey, good morning to you. How are you?

>> Tim Wildmon: Good, morning to you. You were, Many people know your voice from, many, many years on the air. WDJC in Birmingham, right?

>> Frank Gaffney: That's right. Yeah. We had some great times. I remember your daddy well. I remember, Don. And remember, all of the good things that we. That he stood for, I stood for. And I'm so glad that, your organization keeps going. Man. Standing strong, speaking up for the Lord makes me mighty proud.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hey, what. What decade have you reached here in your. I'll ask it that way.

>> Frank Gaffney: My 70s now.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, yeah, I know, I know you've been around and have been a strong Christian, leader in the state of Alabama, serving in the. In the, state senate over there as well. Tell us about this, event you're. You've been promoting here. What's this about?

>> Frank Gaffney: All right, first of all, let me. I, was listening in on your, conversation about ice, and, this is, what I'm going to tell you is perfect for what we've got to do. let's keep our eyes on the main thing. The main thing and the one thing you got to understand about the idea of politics is the left is always going to try to cause chaos, because chaos gets people upset, chaos gets people fussing, chaos gets everybody in a turmoil. And as a result, you pull everybody and everything into the chaos. No matter trying how you try to, stop it, if you get focused on it, they're going to pull you in with the emotion, and all of a sudden you're going to be in that, cauldron too. We choose not to do that. We recognize that's a tactic. So we have chosen the antidote. And the antidote is the Great American Prayer Revival. When men and women get their mind focused back on Jesus Christ and the power that's in his name and the power to change people and start spe about his solution to the problem. All of a sudden, the left uses. Loses its leverage and loses its, emotional pull because a greater answer is being proposed. So we are doing the Great American Prayer Revival. We are saying, starting March 1st through the 4th, we're going to emphasize prayer and revival and getting right with Jesus, getting rededicated and rededicating our country to following Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. It's amazing what happens when people get focused back on the Lord instead of focusing on the chaos. I remember back in the 60s when we dealt with all of the radicals and the zippies and the hippies that were trying to destroy our country back in the 60s because of the Vietnam War. And they were, when they did the Chicago riots in 1968, everybody thought the end was near. No, it didn't happen. And you know why? Because the Jesus movement stood up and the Jesus movement took another answer to the streets and took the steam and the energy out of the radicals and they collapsed. And as a result, they faded away. And we never heard from them again until today. And now they're back in a new version called antifa. They're back in the new version of, chaos. so we are saying the Great American Prayer Revival is an answer and it works. And we're going to have it in all 50 states. It starts March 1st with a prayer meeting. Unbelievable. All over the United States and every state in the union. And it is going to be the first ever attempted national revival in American history. And remember this, when revival comes, crime goes down. When revival comes, chaos vanishes. When revival comes, peace and harmony return. Families go up, abortion goes down, divorce goes down, prosperity goes up. America comes back to its senses. And when we focus back on the way, the truth and the life in the name of Jesus and really start praying, lord, you stop this. Then you're going to see a brand new era of the United States of America. It's going to start March 1st with the great American Prayer Revival.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Our guest is Hank Irwin. He's president and founder of the Great American prayer event, 2026. That's the voice you just heard. Hank, how do. March is right around the corner. Unbelievably, here in 2026.

>> Tim Wildmon: Thank the Lord. I don't care if we skip February. As far as I'm concerned and I'm.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Talking about the weather, we're all. Yeah, we're already in it.

Hank Irwin: America is focusing on the problem instead of focusing on solution

So Hank, what, what do people do? Let's say there's people listening. I'm sure there are, who are very excited about what you're talking about. They want to participate. What do they do, where do they go, how do they sign up, how do they get their church involved, etc.

>> Frank Gaffney: Excellent questions. Thank you so much. First of all, go to our website, gap g a p-event.org that's gap gap-event.org and that will give you all of the information to tell you who's in charge in your state and you can get your church involved. We're not asking you to come to Nashville. We're asking you to go home to your church and get down on your knees and lead a prayer meeting for the United States of America on March 1st. We're asking every pastor in America, every pastor that can hear our voice, preach on revival that day in your church. That is going to be called Revival Sunday. America, when we talk about Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He's the answer to our problems. We were go. We're going to go to our knees and we're going to pray for our country. We're going to pray that America would wake up. And we're going to start seeing a brand new day in the United States of America. When we get focused back on the answer instead of getting focused on the distraction, then we're going to have a great awakening in the United States of America. And to me, this is what's missing. And the news of America is focusing on the chaos. And so we've got people focused on the chaos. And now they're worried, they're concerned, they're feeling that, oh, we're in big trouble. And that is true, we are. But we're focused on the problem instead of focused on the solution. And the solution is Jesus Christ. Either Jesus Christ is alive and well and he can solve our problems, or we don't need to be calling ourselves Christians. Our responsibility is to do it God's way. And he says, not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, says the Lord. When we start doing that, even though people would say that's not logical, who cares whether it's not logical in your viewpoint? This is what God says do. And if we will do it his way, then he will fix our country. That's what 2nd Chronicles 7:14 says. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin, and I'll heal their land. That is our opportunity. We got one shot at it, guys. This is the year, the United States of America is going to make up its mind what to do about Jesus. Either he's going to be the Lord of this country, or we're going to go into the dustbin of chaos and this country is going to unravel. I believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. And for me and my house, we're going to serve the Lord. And we're calling you to be involved in the great American Prayer revival.

>> Tim Wildmon: Hank Irwin, Erwin, president, founder of Great American Prayer Events and, talking about 20, 26 in March. well, Hank, listen, thanks for being on with us. next time if we have you on, if you could be just a little bit more passionate, that would bring a little bit more energy. I think people would listen to what you have to say, man.

>> Frank Gaffney: I'm proud of you guys. You keep up the great work. You guys reach on.

Hank Irwin's sons are movie makers, the Irwin brothers

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, Hank, thanks for having Hank Irwin there joining us from Nashville tn. I've known him a long time. His sons are the movie makers, the Irwin brothers.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, okay. I, I didn't. I didn't know that. I didn't draw that connection.

>> Tim Wildmon: But you've heard of their film.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Oh, yeah, yeah. So, folks, Gap-Event.org Gap-Event.org is where Hank was telling people to go to get involved in this event.

Fred Kaplan: President Trump ran on this. Didn't he, Fred

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, back to the chaos. no, I wanted to get back one more, just one more point, of emphasis on this story because this is a big national story involving, how we're going to deal with immigration, illegal immigration in this country. Because President Trump ran on this. He ran on this. And the American people considered this one of the top two issues that he, his platform was, and that is, stopping, the out of control border, which he did day one, he and his administration did. And number two, massive, he called it a mass deportation, effort dealing with all these people who came here to our country, especially during the Biden years, illegally and just went everywhere. So, what I wanted to say about this, though, is we're at a critical moment because it appears, and I'm not criticizing President Trump, understand, I'm just, acknowledging a reality of what's going on here because I don't know how to process all this yet, but he's backing off. Okay, by backing off here, m. What I mean is yesterday he. Well, he sent Tom Holman to Minneapolis and he said, de escalate. This is Trump's words. He said he understands both sides about the situation. Ah, with the death of, Alex.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Parrot Freddie. Sorry.

>> Tim Wildmon: so when he said understand both sides, he's not. He's not. He's not definitively in favor of. He's not. He's. He's saying that ICE may have made a mistake here. May have. Okay. And then the third thing he's done is he said yesterday that he's not going to send federal, agents in to deal with, riots in blue cities unless asked to by the mayors, which I Thought that was kind of an unusual. Didn't he, Fred?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, yeah, I'm not sure. We're not sure exactly what he meant by that because his Homeland Security secretary, is. She is saying we're not. Kristi Noem. I'm talking about. She says we're not backing off on this. So I'm a little confused by the messages coming out of the administration right now by what Trump meant with we're not going to help out in the riots. Kristi Noem saying we're not backing off on this.

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, what I understood President Trump say, and Steve Jordal had more on this later, is that we're not going to help out unless they attack a federal building. You know, we're not going to help with riots, big cities. And I'm going, I'm trying to understand what riots he's talking about, except the riots that have broken out opposing, ice.

>> Fred Jackson: I understand that, but does they're there to arrest the bad guys. So how. Why stay in the city if you're not going to arrest the bad guys?

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah, I don't know. We'll find out, but maybe there'll be more.

President Trump says Venezuela is not giving Cuba oil anymore

All right, next story.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, they say President Trump is a man who never sleeps. so he's got other things going on in his life right now, and one of those is Cuba. He, says, that Venezuela is not giving Cuba oil anymore. He has managed to convince the leadership in Mexico not to send oil to Cuba. I heard this morning that the Cubans have about 15 to 20 days left of oil, and then they run out.

>> Tim Wildmon: What's the goal?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, President Trump was asked about that, this weekend. Here's what he has to say about what's going on in Cuba. Cut number 10.

>> Frank Gaffney: Cuba is a failing nation. It has been for a long time. But now it doesn't have Venezuela to prop it up. So we're talking to the people from.

>> Fred Jackson: Cuba, the highest people in Cuba, and see what happens.

>> Frank Gaffney: I want the people that came here that were horribly treated by Cuba to be taken care of, to be able to go back and do what.

>> Fred Jackson: They have to do. you know, they have their family there.

>> Frank Gaffney: They haven't been able to see them in years. Many, many years. so I think we're going to.

>> Fred Jackson: Make a deal with Cuba.

>> Tim Wildmon: So he's putting the squeeze on Cuba with oil so that they don't have gasoline, right? Yeah. For their 1950s cars.

>> Fred Jackson: That's right.

>> Tim Wildmon: so that he hoping to bring down. Well, he said make a deal. I'M not sure Trump, uses that language a lot. I don't know. Does that mean a deal, mean, changing of the communist regime in Cuba, having them out?

>> Fred Jackson: Well, I think you have to. Look what he did in Venezuela.

>> Tim Wildmon: Okay.

>> Fred Jackson: He did not, he took Maduro out. Yeah, but his Maduro's second in command is still there and running the country. Trump made the deal with regards to the oil industry with Venezuela. Basically, oil companies are going to go in and run the oil industry in Venezuela. And the lady that's left there, she seems happy with that.

>> Tim Wildmon: So I'm wondering, she saw what happened to her boss. Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: She's allowing this.

>> Tim Wildmon: I'm good with whatever Trump wants.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Rodriguez, yes. Do I know her? Yeah, yeah, Dell's, Dell, as I call her. We go. We go.

>> Tim Wildmon: We go way back.

>> Ed Vitagliano: We go way back.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah.

>> Ed Vitagliano: To her years.

>> Tim Wildmon: Your years backpacking in Venezuela where you wrote a book about it.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I do not know. Ms. Rodriguez.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes.

>> Tim Wildmon: So anyway, he. So he wants to make a regime change.

>> Fred Jackson: Well, if you listen to what he just said there yesterday, it sounds to me like he wants to make a deal with the leadership. He's going to starve them oil, starve them. He's going to make a deal with the leadership that allows Cubans living in places like Florida to go back and reclaim lands and settle or get some of their family members out. But that sounds like the deal that's being cooked right now with Havana.

>> Ed Vitagliano: You know, Miguel Diaz Canel, I think that's how you pronounce his name, is the president. Is the president of Cuba.

>> Tim Wildmon: what's his name?

>> Ed Vitagliano: Miguel Diaz Canel.

>> Tim Wildmon: So the Castro, all the Castros are gone.

>> Ed Vitagliano: He's the first. And he's the Communist. He's the first secretary of the Communist Party. He's the first Communist leader of Cuba since the 1959 revolution who's not a Castro. So listen, this is. If Trump can pull this off, President Trump can pull this off and get the president of Cuba to agree to open that country up and to allow investment. I don't know how Canel can survive being a Communist and do that, but that would be a huge victory for President Trump. That would just be. That would be astonishing if he can get Cuba to open up and to eventually move away from communism like you're talking about, Fred. Listen, that alone should get him a Nobel Peace Prize, although I don't know that they'll ever do that for him, you know, without any arm twisting. He may have to invade, you know.

Fred, you've been to Cuba? Yes. Beautiful country. It's just got incredible potential

>> Tim Wildmon: Fred, you've been to Cuba?

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. Beautiful country. Beautiful country. we traveled from one end, Havana. Right. To the eastern side of it.

>> Tim Wildmon: They do that. Christian missionaries in. Right.

>> Fred Jackson: They let Christian missionaries in. they watch you very closely. We were stopped a number of times as we were transiting along, and they come in and they check the buses and all that sort of thing. But it is a beautiful, beautiful country. Mountainous farms, you name it. It's just got incredible potential.

>> Tim Wildmon: Yeah. Especially like in the Caribbean. It'd be a great tourist magnet.

>> Fred Jackson: Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Paisley Jordah: President Trump needs to get some sleep

>> Tim Wildmon: Well, President Trump is reshaping the, Western hemisphere.

>> Ed Vitagliano: Yeah.

>> Fred Jackson: Yes. You know, and in his spare time, he's doing something with Iran.

>> Ed Vitagliano: His spare time.

>> Tim Wildmon: That's, Yeah, but he can't do that between the hours of 1am and 5am he has to get his rest. He has to get his four hours of sleep.

>> Ed Vitagliano: I doubt it's four. I really do. I doubt he's getting four.

>> Tim Wildmon: All right, we'll be back in, five minutes with T. Paisley Jordah. We got a lot more news and current events to talk about. Stay with us. The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.

Tim and Ed talk with Fred on top news headlines of the day including a discussion on how a report shows that support for DHS is down. Also, Hank Erwin joins the show to discuss the Great American Prayer event.