Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano is sitting in for Tim Wildmon today. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.
Fred Jackson: Morning to you, sir.
Ed Vitagliano: Wesley Wildmon, good morning, Wesley.
Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony Vitagliano, good morning, Tony.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Well, folks, it is November 11. That date should jump out to you. Fred, we had a wonderful devotion here at American Family Association this morning. We have wonderful devotions every workday, Monday through Friday. Wednesdays are a little bit longer. We oftentimes have preachers who are on staff here give a little bit longer devotion.
But this morning we had a special devotion. Bo Hefner, one of our veterans, gave a wonderful program, really. We had decorations and breakfast brought in for the entire staff, and Bo gave a wonderful message.
Wesley Wildmon: It was a message, not just a speech.
Ed Vitagliano: Yes, a message about it, with the Christian undertones, but also thanking those who have served our country, helping to provide and protect the freedom that we all enjoy. That's because today is Veterans Day.
Fred Jackson: In some countries, it is called Remembrance Day. In Canada, that's what it is called.
Ed Vitagliano: It is a time to remember. There is a phrase that is often used: “Lest we forget.” It is a reminder for us all, and I think an especially pointed reminder for young people who may not appreciate the sacrifices that have been made for the freedoms we have in this part of the world. It is important to remember.
We were talking just before going on the air about a poem written by a Canadian doctor in the wake of World War I. It was called “In Flanders Fields.” In the wake of World War I, the poppy flourished in Europe. Scientists attributed the growth to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left by the war. The poppy eventually became a symbol.
A Canadian doctor who served in the war, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, wrote “In Flanders Fields.” It is very brief, and I want to read it for you:
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch. Be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
That is often read at ceremonies today. The president is just about to speak at one in Arlington today. The poem is often read to remind people, with the poppies symbolizing the blood that was shed for the freedoms we enjoy today.
Wesley Wildmon: I think we had to memorize that. I think it was in the sixth grade.
Ed Vitagliano: It was not unusual. I remember young people being asked to recite it because it was a time when that was still important. It was in the middle of the Vietnam War and so on. It is a short, beautiful, heart-wrenching poem.
Tony Vitagliano: You mentioned memorizing that, or learning it in school. When I went to Washington, D.C., about 15 years ago for the first time, that was the first time I heard it. That just tells you where public education has gone in a lot of cases, intentionally.
I also like to mention one thing and brag on the baseball team that I coach. At the beginning of each game day, we take two minutes, depending on what version you play of the national anthem and what flag is being used. Our team stands off to the side. No one else is doing it, so we do not want to advertise it or embarrass anybody else who is not doing it. We go off to the side and stand for the national anthem at the beginning of each game. We have been doing that for years.
The reason I mention that is because it is very important that we teach the next generation the patriotism and the freedoms that are there. Every day we go about our lives enjoying the freedom we have. Life has ups and downs, difficulties and hardships, successes and wins, but we get to go through all the phases of life because of the liberties we have in the United States.
I want to make sure we remind the next generation. There has been a big assault by the left on patriotism and love for country. You go to other countries that are far worse than we are, and ironically, they love their country. Even though they may not have a good comparison to American patriotism, they still love their country.
Today is a good day. If you forgot about Veterans Day and think about it when you pick your kids up from school, take three minutes to remind them that it is Veterans Day and explain why. Maybe you know somebody in your family who served and whom you do not think about as a veteran outside of today. Imagine a story about that person.
Wesley Wildmon: I saw a meme that I posted several years ago. There are some very creative people who put these things together. It was a meme of a warrior. We have to remember that this is not all just about those who served in years past. We have many young men and women who serve today, not just in our country but in Canada as well, Fred.
The meme showed a modern-day warrior, I think someone in an Army uniform and in battle array. It said, “The warrior does not hate the enemy he faces. He fights because he loves the people behind him.”
I always liked that because it designates the protective nature of the men and women who serve, and not just in the military. First responders do this too. There are plenty of people who, for the love of their fellow man, do what they do. But it is Veterans Day, so we mention those who serve in the military and love the people they are defending.
Tony Vitagliano: One thing I am constantly reminded of is that we need to say thank you and show appreciation for those who currently serve and those who have served. We often think of the sacrifice and their willingness to lay down their lives, which is obviously the greatest thing you could do for someone, as Christ himself said.
But I am also reminded of the other sacrifices they make and the sacrifices their families make. When they get back, the experience can be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually taxing.
Fred Jackson: It is costly.
Tony Vitagliano: Yes, it is costly. As a people and as a nation, we need to be mindful of that and always support any programs or anything we can do to help veterans who have already come back and those who will be coming back. What they have gone through, most people have no idea.
Ed Vitagliano: If I do not think we have actually said this for those of you who are listening, thank you to all of you who have served our nation in the U.S. military. There are a number of different branches. Our thanks and our prayers are with all of you. May God bless you and your family. We are grateful for those who serve in uniform.
As Tony mentioned, you are willing to lay down your life. That is what it means to put on that uniform. That is what you are saying. We do not want, as the poem says, to break faith with those who have served and those who have given all. This is why we fight to maintain our freedoms.
I can get a little preachy on this kind of thing. This is why I get so upset when people do not stand for the national anthem. I know they say it is freedom of speech, and that is technically correct. But in my opinion, you take that freedom of speech and exercise it on something else and somewhere else. When the national anthem is playing, you honor the sacrifices that have been made so that we can all have discussions about what needs to be fixed.
One other thing came to mind. The founder of this ministry, Don Wildmon, my father, was a veteran. I wanted to recognize him. We recognized all those on staff here at AFA who have served this morning, but for those listening who did not know, the founder of this ministry served as well.
Fred Jackson: Amen. Tony, your grandfather, Ed, your dad, served as a Marine.
Tony Vitagliano: Yes.
Fred Jackson: I have a nephew. Tony has two nephews who served, one in the Air Force and one in the Marines. I have a brother-in-law who is still in the Army as a surgeon. I do not think I am leaving anybody out. Actually, I think my other brother-in-law, Cory, served in the Marines as well.
Tony Vitagliano: I thought you were about to share a story about your Marine father.
Fred Jackson: I do have one. Years ago, when I was a grown man and out of the house, my dad came to visit. I was introducing him. I might have been working here, because I have been working here for 30 years, and I introduced him as an ex-Marine. He corrected me right in front of everybody. He said, “I am not an ex-Marine. There is no such thing as an ex-Marine.”
He told me, and I think he was in his 80s at the time, “We are always willing to put that uniform on again if our country calls.” I was a little chastened, but I learned a lesson, even at my advanced stage.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen. All right, Fred.
Fred Jackson: Kind of related to what we have been talking about, I think this country is blessed right now to have a Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who is a veteran and who has brought pride back to our military. I have an acquaintance who was a drill sergeant during the Biden years. It was not a good time for our military. Wokeness took over our military, and recruitment went down.
Since Pete Hegseth became Secretary of War, recruitment has gone back up because there is pride once again in serving. The woke policies of the Biden administration were tremendously damaging.
I say all of that because, and I guess I am editorializing here, I think it is disgusting that one of the first things Democrats have done since the election, with the help of one Republican, Massey from Kentucky, who will not be a congressman anymore, is lead an impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth. That failed yesterday in the House, and it was not even close.
But listen to what the Democrats are saying in the week of that vote about Pete Hegseth, because they still have their knives drawn toward him.
Congressional voice: We need to do everything we can to have him impeached, and then we need to do everything we can to defund the combat operations in Iran. There will be other opportunities. I think the record is clear in terms of the Department of Defense and the mismanagement. Hopefully, we do not even have to wait for the new Congress. Should we have the appropriate numbers, Massey could bring it again, or anyone else.
Ed Vitagliano: There you have it.
Fred Jackson: The hatred on the left for the Trump administration knows no limits. I think we are already seeing it. As soon as they are officially in power in January, they are going to unleash the dogs on as many members of the Trump administration as they can.
Several weeks ago, we mentioned one of the people on the left who said they were trying to discourage young people coming out of college from wanting to serve in the Trump administration. I think that was Slotkin, the senator from Michigan.
That was before the midterms, when the possibility was still around that Republicans would keep a lot of power. I think they are going to go after Trump. I cannot guarantee this, but if the left and the Democratic Party were smart, they would leave that alone and try to keep their promises to the American people. That is what they said they wanted. They made all kinds of promises.
I think their hatred for the Trump administration runs so deeply that they are going to try to impeach him and others. I do not know what they think they are doing. Pete Hegseth has not done anything. There are no high crimes or misdemeanors here. You may disagree with American foreign policy and the war with Iran. A lot of people disagree with that. But Pete Hegseth is doing what he was asked to do by the commander in chief.
Wesley Wildmon: The phrase “useless people doing useless things” comes to my mind. Regardless of what you think about the war in Iran, Pete Hegseth is doing what he was told to do. Politicians who are useless people have spent their entire lives sacrificing nothing for this nation and only gaining what they can.
Fred Jackson: That is a good point. A lot of them, not all of them, have spent their whole lives in Washington, D.C., and in the bureaucracy. They have never produced or had to protect a thing in their entire lives.
This is evidence of the immediate attention directed toward a veteran who is leading the military under the direction of the commander in chief. It shows that they are disingenuous about any patriotism or anything positive they would ever say about this nation.
Wesley Wildmon: Let me ask you this. I hear her say at the end that the next step is to defund or remove funds from the current military. My problem with that is that it exposes a lack of patriotism and love for the military. What our military is doing in Iran, they are following orders.
If they were to accomplish that and take funds away from them, it would make them more vulnerable in their mission and in what they are being asked to do. You can disagree with the mission. I do not like the fact that we have been over there as long as we have, but I would not be in favor of taking funds away from them while they are carrying out the mission they were called to do. That only makes them more vulnerable.
Ed Vitagliano: They cannot help but hide their animosity toward Trump and his administration. Why not use the language, “It is time to bring our men and women in uniform home”? I can get behind that. We appreciate what the secretary has accomplished, but we have been given a mandate by the American people. We feel that, in this conflict, it is time to bring our men and women home.
Do not say, “We are going to impeach Hegseth, we are going after them, and we are going to defund them.” That type of language gets a quick turnaround from the electorate that just brought you to power. People say, “This really is just about power to you. It really is just about hostility.”
Fred Jackson: The defunding would be just for the Iran war, right? They are saying they are not funding any more war. But to your point, Wesley, that is not the time to do that while they are over there fighting.
Wesley Wildmon: That is right. These are men and women with some pride in what they are doing. You do not want to force them, for the whole world to see, to come back with their tails tucked between their legs because their funding has been cut. There should be a better way of doing this. You pass resolutions and officially declare that Congress is not in support. I do not think threatening to defund them is the right approach.
Ed Vitagliano: In the context of what we are talking about, would you find it strange that a man who has just been elected, a Democrat to Congress, is refusing to condemn the enemy we are fighting right now, Iran?
There is a Democratic congressman just elected from New Jersey. He was confronted on CNN in the last couple of days to condemn Iran. His name is Adam Hamawy. He is an Egyptian American who came here from Egypt, and he is a medical doctor. He was confronted about what he has and has not said about Iran. I want you to listen.
CNN interviewer: Do you see Iran as the adversary and Israel as an ally to the United States?
Adam Hamawy: What I see is that we were pushed into this war by Israel. It is not helping Americans.
CNN interviewer: But are they the adversary?
Adam Hamawy: We are making adversaries when we should be making friends.
CNN interviewer: They have been saying “Death to America” for decades.
Adam Hamawy: We have been saying “Death to Iran” for decades as well, and so what we need to do is use diplomacy.
CNN interviewer: They have killed a lot of Americans.
Adam Hamawy: We have killed a lot of them as well.
CNN interviewer: Do you see Israel as the adversary, then?
Adam Hamawy: I see that we are moving in the wrong direction.
CNN interviewer: So basically, bottom line, you do not want to say whether Israel is an adversary or ally, and the same with Iran?
Adam Hamawy: I am saying that does not help us.
Ed Vitagliano: First of all, maybe for once in my life, kudos to CNN.
Wesley Wildmon: Once a year they get one of these right.
Tony Vitagliano: That is despicable.
Wesley Wildmon: We are at war with Iran, a country that has said “Death to America” and held American citizens hostage back in 1979. You cannot say they are the enemy.
The Democratic Party is in as much trouble as the Republican Party is. I do not know how you can be Jewish in the Democratic Party and not be looking over your shoulder. Chuck Schumer and those kinds of people, this congressman will not even get a slap on the wrist. He will pay no political price for what he just said or would not say.
Ed Vitagliano: We just heard from newly elected New Jersey Democratic Representative Adam Hamawy. That is the first audio I have heard of him. By the way, he is a medical doctor. When Israel responded to the Hamas massacre, he went to work at a Gaza hospital that also housed Hamas tunnels.
Wesley Wildmon: And he knew about it.
Ed Vitagliano: He knew about the tunnels.
Tony Vitagliano: Regardless, his idea is ridiculous. Nations can be adversaries. I do not know why he is acting as though we are not trying to make friends. China, in a lot of ways, is our adversary. Refusing even to name Iran as an adversary shows that his allegiance lies in other places, maybe not entirely with the United States, based on this language.
This is a precursor to what is happening in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where we are having to shift assets around because so many people have been brought in who have this mindset.
Wesley Wildmon: We had to move bombers because there might be Iranian assets close to them.
Ed Vitagliano: On Veterans Day, you cannot say that Iran is our enemy?
Wesley Wildmon: No matter what day he said it, that was despicable.
Ed Vitagliano: More is coming directly ahead. Abraham Hamilton III will be with us, and we touched on what he is going to talk to us about yesterday. Wait until you hear it from him.
Narrator: A man in the Old West was being tried for stealing a horse. You need to remember that stealing a horse in the Old West was a very grave and serious offense. A person could be hanged if found guilty of such a deed.
It so happened that the man was accused of stealing a horse from another man in that town whom no one liked. The man whose horse had been stolen had always made it a point to get the best of anyone with whom he had dealings. He had never tried to do anything good for anyone other than himself. Consequently, the man whose horse had been stolen did not have a single friend in the entire community.
The case was tried and presented to the jury. The evidence against the accused man was pretty strong. After about 30 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned to the courtroom.
Judge: Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Narrator: The chairman of the jury stood up.
Chairman: Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Judge: What is your verdict?
Narrator: There were a few moments of silence, and then the chairman spoke.
Chairman: We find the defendant not guilty if he will return the horse.
Narrator: After the judge had silenced the laughter in the courtroom, he admonished the jury.
Judge: I cannot accept that verdict. You will have to retire until you reach another verdict.
Narrator: The jury went back into their room to deliberate toward another verdict. No member of the jury had any particular liking for the man whose horse had been stolen. At one time or another, he had gotten the best of each of them.
About an hour passed before the jury could reach another verdict. They reentered the courtroom and took their place in the jury box. The courtroom grew silent.
Judge: Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Narrator: The chairman of the jury stood up.
Chairman: Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Judge: What is your verdict?
Narrator: You could have heard a pen drop. Everyone eagerly awaited the verdict. The chairman read the decision of the twelve good men, tried and true.
Chairman: We find the defendant not guilty, and he can keep the horse.
Narrator: The courtroom burst into laughter.
Narrator: I guess the moral of the story is that it pays to be interested in people other than yourself. If you spend your life trying to take advantage of others, never caring about them except for what you can get from them or what they can do for you, you will end up a loser like the man who lost his horse.
If you desire a friend, then you had better be a friend. If you desire other people to help you, then you had better help other people. If you desire justice at the hands of others, then you had better practice justice toward them.
Regardless of what you may think, the biblical admonition is true: We do reap what we sow.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano is sitting in for Tim Wildmon today. I am joined in the studio by Wesley Wildmon, Tony Vitagliano, and Fred Jackson. Joining us is Abraham Hamilton III, host of The Hamilton Corner, heard weekdays at 5 p.m. Central Time on American Family Radio. Welcome.
Abraham Hamilton: Thank you.
Ed Vitagliano: I think most of our listeners know who you are. You have a deep and wide fan base because you address issues that are critical to the future of our republic. I think the issue we are going to talk about may be something I first heard from you.
Folks, we are going to talk to Abe about something Van Jones said. He is a commentator who was on CNN. He is supposedly a neutral commentator and analyst on CNN. He gleefully shared what he believes turned the tide in the midterm elections. We are going to play it. Abe, I am guessing you have talked about this already this week.
Abraham Hamilton: We played this yesterday. We think it is important enough to discuss again and to discuss it with Abe.
Ed Vitagliano: We are going to play it again. This is Van Jones bragging about what the Democrats, his party, did to swing the election. Go ahead, Fred.
Fred Jackson: What is cutting number seven?
Van Jones: Now it can be told. How did we win the narrative on affordability, with just these nice little Democrats out there running for office and going door to door? The Republicans never figured out what we were doing.
There is something called the American Accountability Network. Tens of thousands of online humans, not bots, coordinated to make the affordability message a winning message online. Thirty-two and a half million people hit Instagram every day. Eighty-eight point eight million hit Twitter every single day, and 185 million hit Facebook every single day.
They never figured out what we were doing. It was actual human beings. The most effective online organizing campaign, called the American Accountability Network, flew under the radar screen. They were never told they were talking about the issue or saying, “You need to be like Democrats to deal with the kitchen-table affordability message,” and tying that to Democrats positively and Republicans negatively.
The Republicans never figured out what we were doing. Everywhere you went, people were talking about affordability and kitchen-table issues. They could not get any traction on cultural issues anymore because we figured out how to get around all that.
It was not just the door-knocking, which was amazing. It was not just our amazing candidates. We had something called the American Accountability Network. Do not get mad at me. I was given permission to reveal this. They never figured it out, and that network is going to continue to push for kitchen-table issues and hold our Democratic lawmakers accountable.
Ed Vitagliano: Abe, there is a lot wrong with what Van Jones said. As I mentioned, jokingly and tongue in cheek, this is the way these leftist mainstream media, legacy media, or whatever you want to call them, continually try to defend themselves as neutral arbiters of what is happening.
Van Jones said, “We did this.” The Democrats. He is admitting that he is in line with them and working for them. I do not know who gave him permission. He is supposed to be a journalist. I would think a journalist would say, “I found this out, and I am going to say it whether someone gives me permission or not.”
He is so deeply involved with the political operation on the left that he had to get permission to reveal this, let alone where the money came from to pay tens of thousands of people to do this every single day. What are your thoughts?
Abraham Hamilton: The first thing, like you pointed out, is that he continuously said, “We.” He was gleeful in celebrating. He said, “We kicked their...” That is what he says. He said it on television.
The substantive thing, in addition to that, is that he basically admitted that the popular discourse about affordability was not an organic conversation. It was a manufactured conversation.
When you look at objective economic metrics in 2022, when Mr. Biden was still in office during the midterm election, the truth is that the economy was far better in last week’s election than it was in the 2022 midterms. But nobody was saying anything about affordability in 2022. Nobody was. Based on Van Jones’s admission, there probably would not have been a lot of conversations about affordability in 2026 if it were not for this internet-collectivized, organized strategy.
He said it was specifically intended to nullify the impact of what he called culture-war messaging. That was one of the big things that led to President Trump’s win in 2024. You had Kamala Harris wanting to use tax dollars to pay for transgender surgeries for inmates in prison. They realized they had a problem because they did not change their position on that. They said, “We want to try to find an issue that will nullify that.” So they manufactured a crisis around affordability.
The average family income in the United States is not the highest it has ever been, but it is very high, around $87,000 per family. The cost of gas on Election Day 2022 was about $4.03, and the next day this week it was $4.06. The objective metrics were the same.
That is not to say people did not feel pain. I do think the Iran war created an environment that allowed this messaging to be as effective as it was. But the American people need to be aware that we need discernment to know whether or not we are being played.
The internet is not real life. It is a tool that can be used. Unfortunately, the majority of younger Americans get their news and information from the internet. You just heard Van Jones say, “We created an issue on the internet.” He cited 88 million hits on X every day and 185 million every day on Facebook. They manufactured an issue that, if you look at the objective metrics of our economy, was not at a crisis level, even though many people perceived it that way based on manipulation.
The Democratic candidates shifted away from men in women's sports and other cultural issues during the last three months or so. They almost exclusively talked about affordability.
Look at Washington State, which is deep blue. It voted against men in women's sports in school but voted for Democratic candidates. Colorado has shifted blue over the last decade or so. It also voted against men in women's sports, but people wanted more affordability, so they went with the Democratic candidate.
The obvious thing is that the people they voted in will be opposed to restrictions on men in women's sports. They will be in favor of transgender participation in sports.
Think about the rationale. You are upset about affordability. What is your solution? Elect Marxists. That is not a rational line of reasoning. It brings to the fore a great concern I have: a lack of discernment, to the point that our populace has become easily manipulated by things like this.
Instead of being able to say, “Wait a minute. You are telling me affordability is the issue, but I am supposed to elect people who want to make America Venezuela again?”
Ed Vitagliano: Discernment is a good word. The contrast between 2024 and 2026 shows how rapidly that change can happen in such a short amount of time. I do think the Iran war gave cover for this kind of manipulation, but Van Jones is admitting that they manipulated the American people with a false notion and created a perception that was not supported by objective economic data.
Fred Jackson: The mainstream media in this country have turned over their microphones and platforms to the Democratic Party. This is just the latest evidence. When the mainstream media are not acting as a check and balance against one major party in this country, but instead act as its megaphone for lies about what is happening in the world, then it is the strength of the message, not the integrity of the message, that is amplified by the fact that there is no check and balance anymore.
Tony Vitagliano: Equally disturbing to me is that Van Jones could barely contain his excitement. It was like somebody who knew they might have gotten away with something and that it had been successful.
The fact that this is not being covered is also disturbing. I had to dig for this story and find articles on more right-leaning websites, which are not as well known. There is nowhere in the media to find this, not on CNN. Maybe Fox News had something at one point, but it seems to have already faded away.
Can you imagine Sean Hannity coming on after 2024 and saying, “All right, listen, guys, I can tell you this now. We had a network of tens of thousands of patriots who were paid to flood social media with affordability issues and messages that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were not fit to lead. We outmaneuvered the Democrats on social media. Millions of people were influenced by these paid actors, these paid humans.”
Democrats would have demanded the nationalization of all social media platforms the next day. This is a constitutional crisis. You are influencing the electorate with false information. That is what blows my mind. This is a huge story, and it does not bode well for the future of our elections.
If the American populace is so easily swayed by this, and he says tens of thousands of people and no bots, I am sure some bots may have picked it up and helped spread it. There is no way 10,000 people are making 88 million posts per day. This does not bode well for future elections.
Wesley Wildmon: Let me ask for clarification for myself and the audience. We have known for years that the mainstream media are extremely biased against Republicans and conservatives. One example is that during President Trump's first term, within the first year, around 90 percent of news headlines were negative. That was more than for any other president by about 30 percent.
Am I hearing that it is not just that the mainstream media are biased? Did they work with this network?
Abraham Hamilton: Not the media outlets. What Tony is saying is that they are not covering this story. Van Jones admitted this on national television, but none of the legacy media outlets seem to find it important enough to give attention to.
Part of the reason is that they want this type of revelation to go without the attention and scrutiny it should have.
Tony Vitagliano: Because they like the outcome.
Abraham Hamilton: Because they like the results.
Ed Vitagliano: Can you imagine the reverse? If Sean Hannity came out admitting that they paid people to work on social media, their job would be to sit on social media all day long. They would be sent talking points, and they would spread the message.
Wesley Wildmon: Specifically, they were tying affordability negatively to Republicans and positively to Democrats. They dragged Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey before Congress after the 2016 election because of a payment to Russia, or something like that, involving Facebook. But here you have people admitting to tens of thousands of people working on social media.
Abraham Hamilton: He cannot help but admit it.
Ed Vitagliano: Our country, especially around elections, is all about freedom of expression and freedom of the press. We all have the right to say what we want to say. What is the difference between doing that and what this is, which is clearly propaganda? What part does propaganda play in any revolutionary movement?
Abraham Hamilton: It is part of the strategy. We were talking about how I call the mainstream media “Goebbels Inc.” Joseph Goebbels was the minister of propaganda under the Nazi Third Reich.
That was Hitler's strategy to persuade the German populace to go along with his final solution for the Jews and his aggressive stance toward Europe. They blasted radio propaganda 24 hours a day. They made sure every home had a radio in it, provided by the German state, to make sure the German state's messaging on every topic was placed before the German populace day in and day out.
The people had no idea that what Hitler was doing was genocidal, criminal, and wicked because they were inundated with German propaganda.
There is a difference between organically sharing your opinion and having an alliance with a major political party that is literally manufacturing a crisis around a political issue. It is not based on fact. It is intended to create a perception, and you are paying for it to persuade the masses.
That use of propaganda is a tool of Marxist revolutionaries. It has been used throughout history.
Ed Vitagliano: It is not an even-handed discussion of the issue.
Abraham Hamilton: No. It is all one-sided.
Ed Vitagliano: Most Americans are fine with debates and a free exchange. That is why we tell parents to go to the school board and get their voices heard. But imagine if, in those school boards or anywhere else in the political arena, you only ever got one side.
This was not an organic discussion that arose at the Thanksgiving table, where people began saying, “This is what I believe. Convince me if I am wrong.” This was one viewpoint. It is a bizarre admission.
Abraham Hamilton: I think it shows that the left is pretty cocky right now. If we think 2026 was the only time they are going to use this, get ready. In 2028, if I had to guess, the American Accountability Network or some similar organization will be behind the scenes doing the same thing.
What is disturbing to me is that I am not in favor of flooding what has become, for better or worse, the public square with propaganda of any kind, whether it is Republicans or conservatives doing it. Especially if the intent is to mislead and sway the electorate about issues that are not actually issues, that is disturbing to me.
Ed Vitagliano: Fred, did you want to jump in?
Fred Jackson: No, I like that. I want to ask you a quick question. The Bible, especially the New Testament, has a lot to say about discernment. The word comes up many times. Can you comment on that?
Abraham Hamilton: Romans 12 and Colossians 2 are two primary biblical sources encouraging discernment. Romans 12 literally says to believers, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can test and approve what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
The simple point is that the more we steep ourselves in God's Word and submit ourselves to being transformed by God's Word, the more our capacity for discernment is sharpened.
The opposite is also true. The less we steep ourselves in God's Word, the more we give ourselves to carnality, and the less discernment we will have. We will not be able to identify these things.
I like to refer to Charles Spurgeon's description of discernment. It is not exclusively distinguishing right from wrong. It also includes distinguishing right from almost right. We need discernment to do both of those things.
In Colossians 2, the Lord, by the Spirit of God, is writing through the apostle Paul to believers, saying that he is writing so they will not be deluded. Delusion is deception tied with seduction. What is more seductive than saying, “I cannot buy groceries because that person over there has taken my money”?
By the time you get to verse 18 in Colossians 2, that delusion has metastasized into full-blown captivity. Why? Because we have occupied ourselves with the elemental principles of this world rather than the truth of Christ.
The necessity of discernment is tied directly to the consistent manner in which we steep ourselves in God's Word.
One of the major features of 2 Peter 1 for the believer is that all things pertaining to life and godliness have been provided for us in God's Word. We have the express responsibility to supplement our faith, to add to our faith. One of those qualities is knowledge.
If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will fortify you against being barren and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If there is a message discussing affordability and you are approaching a voting booth, it is incumbent upon us to look into it. Where are the numbers now versus where they were before? Things feel a certain way, but is what they are telling me true? Examine it. Look well into it instead of being whipped to and fro by what we feel. Examine what we feel in light of what is objectively true.
Ed Vitagliano: That is also about being blown about by every wind of doctrine. Although that passage is dealing with spiritual things, it is true about human nature in all kinds of respects.
You mentioned Romans 12:2. It has been a while since I read that passage, but when it says, “Do not be conformed,” that is a willing self-molding, is it not? Fashioning yourself into the mode of something that you are not.
Abraham Hamilton: Yes, it is a willing, voluntary self-molding to something that rivals the peace of Christ.
Ed Vitagliano: To fit in with the world.
Abraham Hamilton: Exactly right.
Ed Vitagliano: He says, “Instead, be transformed.” That is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis.
Abraham Hamilton: That is right. The Spirit of God, through the Word, changes us inside and out. We become something new, as opposed to wanting to fit in and embracing ideas without even bothering to look at their source.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony and I occasionally shoot firearms with the crisis management team here at AFA. One of our trainers said that shooting a pistol is a perishable skill. That is true about a lot of life. Discernment is a perishable skill. If you do not exercise it, it diminishes.
Abraham Hamilton: Hebrews 5 says, “I want to talk to you about the truth of God, but I cannot because you have become dull of hearing.” Those who have their senses exercised by reason of use have discernment between good and evil.
The lack of utilization results in a diminishing quality and capacity. I think we saw a lot of this during the election.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano is sitting in for Tim Wildmon today. I am joined in the studio by Fred Jackson. Good morning, Fred.
Fred Jackson: Morning to you, sir.
Ed Vitagliano: Wesley Wildmon, good morning, Wesley.
Wesley Wildmon: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony Vitagliano, good morning, Tony.
Tony Vitagliano: Good morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Well, folks, it is November 11. That date should jump out to you. Fred, we had a wonderful devotion here at American Family Association this morning. We have wonderful devotions every workday, Monday through Friday. Wednesdays are a little bit longer. We oftentimes have preachers who are on staff here give a little bit longer devotion.
But this morning we had a special devotion. Bo Hefner, one of our veterans, gave a wonderful program, really. We had decorations and breakfast brought in for the entire staff, and Bo gave a wonderful message.
Wesley Wildmon: It was a message, not just a speech.
Ed Vitagliano: Yes, a message about it, with the Christian undertones, but also thanking those who have served our country, helping to provide and protect the freedom that we all enjoy. That's because today is Veterans Day.
Fred Jackson: In some countries, it is called Remembrance Day. In Canada, that's what it is called.
Ed Vitagliano: It is a time to remember. There is a phrase that is often used: “Lest we forget.” It is a reminder for us all, and I think an especially pointed reminder for young people who may not appreciate the sacrifices that have been made for the freedoms we have in this part of the world. It is important to remember.
We were talking just before going on the air about a poem written by a Canadian doctor in the wake of World War I. It was called “In Flanders Fields.” In the wake of World War I, the poppy flourished in Europe. Scientists attributed the growth to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left by the war. The poppy eventually became a symbol.
A Canadian doctor who served in the war, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, wrote “In Flanders Fields.” It is very brief, and I want to read it for you:
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch. Be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
That is often read at ceremonies today. The president is just about to speak at one in Arlington today. The poem is often read to remind people, with the poppies symbolizing the blood that was shed for the freedoms we enjoy today.
Wesley Wildmon: I think we had to memorize that. I think it was in the sixth grade.
Ed Vitagliano: It was not unusual. I remember young people being asked to recite it because it was a time when that was still important. It was in the middle of the Vietnam War and so on. It is a short, beautiful, heart-wrenching poem.
Tony Vitagliano: You mentioned memorizing that, or learning it in school. When I went to Washington, D.C., about 15 years ago for the first time, that was the first time I heard it. That just tells you where public education has gone in a lot of cases, intentionally.
I also like to mention one thing and brag on the baseball team that I coach. At the beginning of each game day, we take two minutes, depending on what version you play of the national anthem and what flag is being used. Our team stands off to the side. No one else is doing it, so we do not want to advertise it or embarrass anybody else who is not doing it. We go off to the side and stand for the national anthem at the beginning of each game. We have been doing that for years.
The reason I mention that is because it is very important that we teach the next generation the patriotism and the freedoms that are there. Every day we go about our lives enjoying the freedom we have. Life has ups and downs, difficulties and hardships, successes and wins, but we get to go through all the phases of life because of the liberties we have in the United States.
I want to make sure we remind the next generation. There has been a big assault by the left on patriotism and love for country. You go to other countries that are far worse than we are, and ironically, they love their country. Even though they may not have a good comparison to American patriotism, they still love their country.
Today is a good day. If you forgot about Veterans Day and think about it when you pick your kids up from school, take three minutes to remind them that it is Veterans Day and explain why. Maybe you know somebody in your family who served and whom you do not think about as a veteran outside of today. Imagine a story about that person.
Wesley Wildmon: I saw a meme that I posted several years ago. There are some very creative people who put these things together. It was a meme of a warrior. We have to remember that this is not all just about those who served in years past. We have many young men and women who serve today, not just in our country but in Canada as well, Fred.
The meme showed a modern-day warrior, I think someone in an Army uniform and in battle array. It said, “The warrior does not hate the enemy he faces. He fights because he loves the people behind him.”
I always liked that because it designates the protective nature of the men and women who serve, and not just in the military. First responders do this too. There are plenty of people who, for the love of their fellow man, do what they do. But it is Veterans Day, so we mention those who serve in the military and love the people they are defending.
Tony Vitagliano: One thing I am constantly reminded of is that we need to say thank you and show appreciation for those who currently serve and those who have served. We often think of the sacrifice and their willingness to lay down their lives, which is obviously the greatest thing you could do for someone, as Christ himself said.
But I am also reminded of the other sacrifices they make and the sacrifices their families make. When they get back, the experience can be mentally, emotionally, and spiritually taxing.
Fred Jackson: It is costly.
Tony Vitagliano: Yes, it is costly. As a people and as a nation, we need to be mindful of that and always support any programs or anything we can do to help veterans who have already come back and those who will be coming back. What they have gone through, most people have no idea.
Ed Vitagliano: If I do not think we have actually said this for those of you who are listening, thank you to all of you who have served our nation in the U.S. military. There are a number of different branches. Our thanks and our prayers are with all of you. May God bless you and your family. We are grateful for those who serve in uniform.
As Tony mentioned, you are willing to lay down your life. That is what it means to put on that uniform. That is what you are saying. We do not want, as the poem says, to break faith with those who have served and those who have given all. This is why we fight to maintain our freedoms.
I can get a little preachy on this kind of thing. This is why I get so upset when people do not stand for the national anthem. I know they say it is freedom of speech, and that is technically correct. But in my opinion, you take that freedom of speech and exercise it on something else and somewhere else. When the national anthem is playing, you honor the sacrifices that have been made so that we can all have discussions about what needs to be fixed.
One other thing came to mind. The founder of this ministry, Don Wildmon, my father, was a veteran. I wanted to recognize him. We recognized all those on staff here at AFA who have served this morning, but for those listening who did not know, the founder of this ministry served as well.
Fred Jackson: Amen. Tony, your grandfather, Ed, your dad, served as a Marine.
Tony Vitagliano: Yes.
Fred Jackson: I have a nephew. Tony has two nephews who served, one in the Air Force and one in the Marines. I have a brother-in-law who is still in the Army as a surgeon. I do not think I am leaving anybody out. Actually, I think my other brother-in-law, Cory, served in the Marines as well.
Tony Vitagliano: I thought you were about to share a story about your Marine father.
Fred Jackson: I do have one. Years ago, when I was a grown man and out of the house, my dad came to visit. I was introducing him. I might have been working here, because I have been working here for 30 years, and I introduced him as an ex-Marine. He corrected me right in front of everybody. He said, “I am not an ex-Marine. There is no such thing as an ex-Marine.”
He told me, and I think he was in his 80s at the time, “We are always willing to put that uniform on again if our country calls.” I was a little chastened, but I learned a lesson, even at my advanced stage.
Ed Vitagliano: Amen. All right, Fred.
Fred Jackson: Kind of related to what we have been talking about, I think this country is blessed right now to have a Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who is a veteran and who has brought pride back to our military. I have an acquaintance who was a drill sergeant during the Biden years. It was not a good time for our military. Wokeness took over our military, and recruitment went down.
Since Pete Hegseth became Secretary of War, recruitment has gone back up because there is pride once again in serving. The woke policies of the Biden administration were tremendously damaging.
I say all of that because, and I guess I am editorializing here, I think it is disgusting that one of the first things Democrats have done since the election, with the help of one Republican, Massey from Kentucky, who will not be a congressman anymore, is lead an impeachment effort against Pete Hegseth. That failed yesterday in the House, and it was not even close.
But listen to what the Democrats are saying in the week of that vote about Pete Hegseth, because they still have their knives drawn toward him.
Congressional voice: We need to do everything we can to have him impeached, and then we need to do everything we can to defund the combat operations in Iran. There will be other opportunities. I think the record is clear in terms of the Department of Defense and the mismanagement. Hopefully, we do not even have to wait for the new Congress. Should we have the appropriate numbers, Massey could bring it again, or anyone else.
Ed Vitagliano: There you have it.
Fred Jackson: The hatred on the left for the Trump administration knows no limits. I think we are already seeing it. As soon as they are officially in power in January, they are going to unleash the dogs on as many members of the Trump administration as they can.
Several weeks ago, we mentioned one of the people on the left who said they were trying to discourage young people coming out of college from wanting to serve in the Trump administration. I think that was Slotkin, the senator from Michigan.
That was before the midterms, when the possibility was still around that Republicans would keep a lot of power. I think they are going to go after Trump. I cannot guarantee this, but if the left and the Democratic Party were smart, they would leave that alone and try to keep their promises to the American people. That is what they said they wanted. They made all kinds of promises.
I think their hatred for the Trump administration runs so deeply that they are going to try to impeach him and others. I do not know what they think they are doing. Pete Hegseth has not done anything. There are no high crimes or misdemeanors here. You may disagree with American foreign policy and the war with Iran. A lot of people disagree with that. But Pete Hegseth is doing what he was asked to do by the commander in chief.
Wesley Wildmon: The phrase “useless people doing useless things” comes to my mind. Regardless of what you think about the war in Iran, Pete Hegseth is doing what he was told to do. Politicians who are useless people have spent their entire lives sacrificing nothing for this nation and only gaining what they can.
Fred Jackson: That is a good point. A lot of them, not all of them, have spent their whole lives in Washington, D.C., and in the bureaucracy. They have never produced or had to protect a thing in their entire lives.
This is evidence of the immediate attention directed toward a veteran who is leading the military under the direction of the commander in chief. It shows that they are disingenuous about any patriotism or anything positive they would ever say about this nation.
Wesley Wildmon: Let me ask you this. I hear her say at the end that the next step is to defund or remove funds from the current military. My problem with that is that it exposes a lack of patriotism and love for the military. What our military is doing in Iran, they are following orders.
If they were to accomplish that and take funds away from them, it would make them more vulnerable in their mission and in what they are being asked to do. You can disagree with the mission. I do not like the fact that we have been over there as long as we have, but I would not be in favor of taking funds away from them while they are carrying out the mission they were called to do. That only makes them more vulnerable.
Ed Vitagliano: They cannot help but hide their animosity toward Trump and his administration. Why not use the language, “It is time to bring our men and women in uniform home”? I can get behind that. We appreciate what the secretary has accomplished, but we have been given a mandate by the American people. We feel that, in this conflict, it is time to bring our men and women home.
Do not say, “We are going to impeach Hegseth, we are going after them, and we are going to defund them.” That type of language gets a quick turnaround from the electorate that just brought you to power. People say, “This really is just about power to you. It really is just about hostility.”
Fred Jackson: The defunding would be just for the Iran war, right? They are saying they are not funding any more war. But to your point, Wesley, that is not the time to do that while they are over there fighting.
Wesley Wildmon: That is right. These are men and women with some pride in what they are doing. You do not want to force them, for the whole world to see, to come back with their tails tucked between their legs because their funding has been cut. There should be a better way of doing this. You pass resolutions and officially declare that Congress is not in support. I do not think threatening to defund them is the right approach.
Ed Vitagliano: In the context of what we are talking about, would you find it strange that a man who has just been elected, a Democrat to Congress, is refusing to condemn the enemy we are fighting right now, Iran?
There is a Democratic congressman just elected from New Jersey. He was confronted on CNN in the last couple of days to condemn Iran. His name is Adam Hamawy. He is an Egyptian American who came here from Egypt, and he is a medical doctor. He was confronted about what he has and has not said about Iran. I want you to listen.
CNN interviewer: Do you see Iran as the adversary and Israel as an ally to the United States?
Adam Hamawy: What I see is that we were pushed into this war by Israel. It is not helping Americans.
CNN interviewer: But are they the adversary?
Adam Hamawy: We are making adversaries when we should be making friends.
CNN interviewer: They have been saying “Death to America” for decades.
Adam Hamawy: We have been saying “Death to Iran” for decades as well, and so what we need to do is use diplomacy.
CNN interviewer: They have killed a lot of Americans.
Adam Hamawy: We have killed a lot of them as well.
CNN interviewer: Do you see Israel as the adversary, then?
Adam Hamawy: I see that we are moving in the wrong direction.
CNN interviewer: So basically, bottom line, you do not want to say whether Israel is an adversary or ally, and the same with Iran?
Adam Hamawy: I am saying that does not help us.
Ed Vitagliano: First of all, maybe for once in my life, kudos to CNN.
Wesley Wildmon: Once a year they get one of these right.
Tony Vitagliano: That is despicable.
Wesley Wildmon: We are at war with Iran, a country that has said “Death to America” and held American citizens hostage back in 1979. You cannot say they are the enemy.
The Democratic Party is in as much trouble as the Republican Party is. I do not know how you can be Jewish in the Democratic Party and not be looking over your shoulder. Chuck Schumer and those kinds of people, this congressman will not even get a slap on the wrist. He will pay no political price for what he just said or would not say.
Ed Vitagliano: We just heard from newly elected New Jersey Democratic Representative Adam Hamawy. That is the first audio I have heard of him. By the way, he is a medical doctor. When Israel responded to the Hamas massacre, he went to work at a Gaza hospital that also housed Hamas tunnels.
Wesley Wildmon: And he knew about it.
Ed Vitagliano: He knew about the tunnels.
Tony Vitagliano: Regardless, his idea is ridiculous. Nations can be adversaries. I do not know why he is acting as though we are not trying to make friends. China, in a lot of ways, is our adversary. Refusing even to name Iran as an adversary shows that his allegiance lies in other places, maybe not entirely with the United States, based on this language.
This is a precursor to what is happening in Europe and in the United Kingdom, where we are having to shift assets around because so many people have been brought in who have this mindset.
Wesley Wildmon: We had to move bombers because there might be Iranian assets close to them.
Ed Vitagliano: On Veterans Day, you cannot say that Iran is our enemy?
Wesley Wildmon: No matter what day he said it, that was despicable.
Ed Vitagliano: More is coming directly ahead. Abraham Hamilton III will be with us, and we touched on what he is going to talk to us about yesterday. Wait until you hear it from him.
Narrator: A man in the Old West was being tried for stealing a horse. You need to remember that stealing a horse in the Old West was a very grave and serious offense. A person could be hanged if found guilty of such a deed.
It so happened that the man was accused of stealing a horse from another man in that town whom no one liked. The man whose horse had been stolen had always made it a point to get the best of anyone with whom he had dealings. He had never tried to do anything good for anyone other than himself. Consequently, the man whose horse had been stolen did not have a single friend in the entire community.
The case was tried and presented to the jury. The evidence against the accused man was pretty strong. After about 30 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned to the courtroom.
Judge: Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Narrator: The chairman of the jury stood up.
Chairman: Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Judge: What is your verdict?
Narrator: There were a few moments of silence, and then the chairman spoke.
Chairman: We find the defendant not guilty if he will return the horse.
Narrator: After the judge had silenced the laughter in the courtroom, he admonished the jury.
Judge: I cannot accept that verdict. You will have to retire until you reach another verdict.
Narrator: The jury went back into their room to deliberate toward another verdict. No member of the jury had any particular liking for the man whose horse had been stolen. At one time or another, he had gotten the best of each of them.
About an hour passed before the jury could reach another verdict. They reentered the courtroom and took their place in the jury box. The courtroom grew silent.
Judge: Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
Narrator: The chairman of the jury stood up.
Chairman: Yes, we have, Your Honor.
Judge: What is your verdict?
Narrator: You could have heard a pen drop. Everyone eagerly awaited the verdict. The chairman read the decision of the twelve good men, tried and true.
Chairman: We find the defendant not guilty, and he can keep the horse.
Narrator: The courtroom burst into laughter.
Narrator: I guess the moral of the story is that it pays to be interested in people other than yourself. If you spend your life trying to take advantage of others, never caring about them except for what you can get from them or what they can do for you, you will end up a loser like the man who lost his horse.
If you desire a friend, then you had better be a friend. If you desire other people to help you, then you had better help other people. If you desire justice at the hands of others, then you had better practice justice toward them.
Regardless of what you may think, the biblical admonition is true: We do reap what we sow.
Ed Vitagliano: Welcome back to Today's Issues. Ed Vitagliano is sitting in for Tim Wildmon today. I am joined in the studio by Wesley Wildmon, Tony Vitagliano, and Fred Jackson. Joining us is Abraham Hamilton III, host of The Hamilton Corner, heard weekdays at 5 p.m. Central Time on American Family Radio. Welcome.
Abraham Hamilton: Thank you.
Ed Vitagliano: I think most of our listeners know who you are. You have a deep and wide fan base because you address issues that are critical to the future of our republic. I think the issue we are going to talk about may be something I first heard from you.
Folks, we are going to talk to Abe about something Van Jones said. He is a commentator who was on CNN. He is supposedly a neutral commentator and analyst on CNN. He gleefully shared what he believes turned the tide in the midterm elections. We are going to play it. Abe, I am guessing you have talked about this already this week.
Abraham Hamilton: We played this yesterday. We think it is important enough to discuss again and to discuss it with Abe.
Ed Vitagliano: We are going to play it again. This is Van Jones bragging about what the Democrats, his party, did to swing the election. Go ahead, Fred.
Fred Jackson: What is cutting number seven?
Van Jones: Now it can be told. How did we win the narrative on affordability, with just these nice little Democrats out there running for office and going door to door? The Republicans never figured out what we were doing.
There is something called the American Accountability Network. Tens of thousands of online humans, not bots, coordinated to make the affordability message a winning message online. Thirty-two and a half million people hit Instagram every day. Eighty-eight point eight million hit Twitter every single day, and 185 million hit Facebook every single day.
They never figured out what we were doing. It was actual human beings. The most effective online organizing campaign, called the American Accountability Network, flew under the radar screen. They were never told they were talking about the issue or saying, “You need to be like Democrats to deal with the kitchen-table affordability message,” and tying that to Democrats positively and Republicans negatively.
The Republicans never figured out what we were doing. Everywhere you went, people were talking about affordability and kitchen-table issues. They could not get any traction on cultural issues anymore because we figured out how to get around all that.
It was not just the door-knocking, which was amazing. It was not just our amazing candidates. We had something called the American Accountability Network. Do not get mad at me. I was given permission to reveal this. They never figured it out, and that network is going to continue to push for kitchen-table issues and hold our Democratic lawmakers accountable.
Ed Vitagliano: Abe, there is a lot wrong with what Van Jones said. As I mentioned, jokingly and tongue in cheek, this is the way these leftist mainstream media, legacy media, or whatever you want to call them, continually try to defend themselves as neutral arbiters of what is happening.
Van Jones said, “We did this.” The Democrats. He is admitting that he is in line with them and working for them. I do not know who gave him permission. He is supposed to be a journalist. I would think a journalist would say, “I found this out, and I am going to say it whether someone gives me permission or not.”
He is so deeply involved with the political operation on the left that he had to get permission to reveal this, let alone where the money came from to pay tens of thousands of people to do this every single day. What are your thoughts?
Abraham Hamilton: The first thing, like you pointed out, is that he continuously said, “We.” He was gleeful in celebrating. He said, “We kicked their...” That is what he says. He said it on television.
The substantive thing, in addition to that, is that he basically admitted that the popular discourse about affordability was not an organic conversation. It was a manufactured conversation.
When you look at objective economic metrics in 2022, when Mr. Biden was still in office during the midterm election, the truth is that the economy was far better in last week’s election than it was in the 2022 midterms. But nobody was saying anything about affordability in 2022. Nobody was. Based on Van Jones’s admission, there probably would not have been a lot of conversations about affordability in 2026 if it were not for this internet-collectivized, organized strategy.
He said it was specifically intended to nullify the impact of what he called culture-war messaging. That was one of the big things that led to President Trump’s win in 2024. You had Kamala Harris wanting to use tax dollars to pay for transgender surgeries for inmates in prison. They realized they had a problem because they did not change their position on that. They said, “We want to try to find an issue that will nullify that.” So they manufactured a crisis around affordability.
The average family income in the United States is not the highest it has ever been, but it is very high, around $87,000 per family. The cost of gas on Election Day 2022 was about $4.03, and the next day this week it was $4.06. The objective metrics were the same.
That is not to say people did not feel pain. I do think the Iran war created an environment that allowed this messaging to be as effective as it was. But the American people need to be aware that we need discernment to know whether or not we are being played.
The internet is not real life. It is a tool that can be used. Unfortunately, the majority of younger Americans get their news and information from the internet. You just heard Van Jones say, “We created an issue on the internet.” He cited 88 million hits on X every day and 185 million every day on Facebook. They manufactured an issue that, if you look at the objective metrics of our economy, was not at a crisis level, even though many people perceived it that way based on manipulation.
The Democratic candidates shifted away from men in women's sports and other cultural issues during the last three months or so. They almost exclusively talked about affordability.
Look at Washington State, which is deep blue. It voted against men in women's sports in school but voted for Democratic candidates. Colorado has shifted blue over the last decade or so. It also voted against men in women's sports, but people wanted more affordability, so they went with the Democratic candidate.
The obvious thing is that the people they voted in will be opposed to restrictions on men in women's sports. They will be in favor of transgender participation in sports.
Think about the rationale. You are upset about affordability. What is your solution? Elect Marxists. That is not a rational line of reasoning. It brings to the fore a great concern I have: a lack of discernment, to the point that our populace has become easily manipulated by things like this.
Instead of being able to say, “Wait a minute. You are telling me affordability is the issue, but I am supposed to elect people who want to make America Venezuela again?”
Ed Vitagliano: Discernment is a good word. The contrast between 2024 and 2026 shows how rapidly that change can happen in such a short amount of time. I do think the Iran war gave cover for this kind of manipulation, but Van Jones is admitting that they manipulated the American people with a false notion and created a perception that was not supported by objective economic data.
Fred Jackson: The mainstream media in this country have turned over their microphones and platforms to the Democratic Party. This is just the latest evidence. When the mainstream media are not acting as a check and balance against one major party in this country, but instead act as its megaphone for lies about what is happening in the world, then it is the strength of the message, not the integrity of the message, that is amplified by the fact that there is no check and balance anymore.
Tony Vitagliano: Equally disturbing to me is that Van Jones could barely contain his excitement. It was like somebody who knew they might have gotten away with something and that it had been successful.
The fact that this is not being covered is also disturbing. I had to dig for this story and find articles on more right-leaning websites, which are not as well known. There is nowhere in the media to find this, not on CNN. Maybe Fox News had something at one point, but it seems to have already faded away.
Can you imagine Sean Hannity coming on after 2024 and saying, “All right, listen, guys, I can tell you this now. We had a network of tens of thousands of patriots who were paid to flood social media with affordability issues and messages that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were not fit to lead. We outmaneuvered the Democrats on social media. Millions of people were influenced by these paid actors, these paid humans.”
Democrats would have demanded the nationalization of all social media platforms the next day. This is a constitutional crisis. You are influencing the electorate with false information. That is what blows my mind. This is a huge story, and it does not bode well for the future of our elections.
If the American populace is so easily swayed by this, and he says tens of thousands of people and no bots, I am sure some bots may have picked it up and helped spread it. There is no way 10,000 people are making 88 million posts per day. This does not bode well for future elections.
Wesley Wildmon: Let me ask for clarification for myself and the audience. We have known for years that the mainstream media are extremely biased against Republicans and conservatives. One example is that during President Trump's first term, within the first year, around 90 percent of news headlines were negative. That was more than for any other president by about 30 percent.
Am I hearing that it is not just that the mainstream media are biased? Did they work with this network?
Abraham Hamilton: Not the media outlets. What Tony is saying is that they are not covering this story. Van Jones admitted this on national television, but none of the legacy media outlets seem to find it important enough to give attention to.
Part of the reason is that they want this type of revelation to go without the attention and scrutiny it should have.
Tony Vitagliano: Because they like the outcome.
Abraham Hamilton: Because they like the results.
Ed Vitagliano: Can you imagine the reverse? If Sean Hannity came out admitting that they paid people to work on social media, their job would be to sit on social media all day long. They would be sent talking points, and they would spread the message.
Wesley Wildmon: Specifically, they were tying affordability negatively to Republicans and positively to Democrats. They dragged Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey before Congress after the 2016 election because of a payment to Russia, or something like that, involving Facebook. But here you have people admitting to tens of thousands of people working on social media.
Abraham Hamilton: He cannot help but admit it.
Ed Vitagliano: Our country, especially around elections, is all about freedom of expression and freedom of the press. We all have the right to say what we want to say. What is the difference between doing that and what this is, which is clearly propaganda? What part does propaganda play in any revolutionary movement?
Abraham Hamilton: It is part of the strategy. We were talking about how I call the mainstream media “Goebbels Inc.” Joseph Goebbels was the minister of propaganda under the Nazi Third Reich.
That was Hitler's strategy to persuade the German populace to go along with his final solution for the Jews and his aggressive stance toward Europe. They blasted radio propaganda 24 hours a day. They made sure every home had a radio in it, provided by the German state, to make sure the German state's messaging on every topic was placed before the German populace day in and day out.
The people had no idea that what Hitler was doing was genocidal, criminal, and wicked because they were inundated with German propaganda.
There is a difference between organically sharing your opinion and having an alliance with a major political party that is literally manufacturing a crisis around a political issue. It is not based on fact. It is intended to create a perception, and you are paying for it to persuade the masses.
That use of propaganda is a tool of Marxist revolutionaries. It has been used throughout history.
Ed Vitagliano: It is not an even-handed discussion of the issue.
Abraham Hamilton: No. It is all one-sided.
Ed Vitagliano: Most Americans are fine with debates and a free exchange. That is why we tell parents to go to the school board and get their voices heard. But imagine if, in those school boards or anywhere else in the political arena, you only ever got one side.
This was not an organic discussion that arose at the Thanksgiving table, where people began saying, “This is what I believe. Convince me if I am wrong.” This was one viewpoint. It is a bizarre admission.
Abraham Hamilton: I think it shows that the left is pretty cocky right now. If we think 2026 was the only time they are going to use this, get ready. In 2028, if I had to guess, the American Accountability Network or some similar organization will be behind the scenes doing the same thing.
What is disturbing to me is that I am not in favor of flooding what has become, for better or worse, the public square with propaganda of any kind, whether it is Republicans or conservatives doing it. Especially if the intent is to mislead and sway the electorate about issues that are not actually issues, that is disturbing to me.
Ed Vitagliano: Fred, did you want to jump in?
Fred Jackson: No, I like that. I want to ask you a quick question. The Bible, especially the New Testament, has a lot to say about discernment. The word comes up many times. Can you comment on that?
Abraham Hamilton: Romans 12 and Colossians 2 are two primary biblical sources encouraging discernment. Romans 12 literally says to believers, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you can test and approve what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
The simple point is that the more we steep ourselves in God's Word and submit ourselves to being transformed by God's Word, the more our capacity for discernment is sharpened.
The opposite is also true. The less we steep ourselves in God's Word, the more we give ourselves to carnality, and the less discernment we will have. We will not be able to identify these things.
I like to refer to Charles Spurgeon's description of discernment. It is not exclusively distinguishing right from wrong. It also includes distinguishing right from almost right. We need discernment to do both of those things.
In Colossians 2, the Lord, by the Spirit of God, is writing through the apostle Paul to believers, saying that he is writing so they will not be deluded. Delusion is deception tied with seduction. What is more seductive than saying, “I cannot buy groceries because that person over there has taken my money”?
By the time you get to verse 18 in Colossians 2, that delusion has metastasized into full-blown captivity. Why? Because we have occupied ourselves with the elemental principles of this world rather than the truth of Christ.
The necessity of discernment is tied directly to the consistent manner in which we steep ourselves in God's Word.
One of the major features of 2 Peter 1 for the believer is that all things pertaining to life and godliness have been provided for us in God's Word. We have the express responsibility to supplement our faith, to add to our faith. One of those qualities is knowledge.
If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they will fortify you against being barren and unproductive in your knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
If there is a message discussing affordability and you are approaching a voting booth, it is incumbent upon us to look into it. Where are the numbers now versus where they were before? Things feel a certain way, but is what they are telling me true? Examine it. Look well into it instead of being whipped to and fro by what we feel. Examine what we feel in light of what is objectively true.
Ed Vitagliano: That is also about being blown about by every wind of doctrine. Although that passage is dealing with spiritual things, it is true about human nature in all kinds of respects.
You mentioned Romans 12:2. It has been a while since I read that passage, but when it says, “Do not be conformed,” that is a willing self-molding, is it not? Fashioning yourself into the mode of something that you are not.
Abraham Hamilton: Yes, it is a willing, voluntary self-molding to something that rivals the peace of Christ.
Ed Vitagliano: To fit in with the world.
Abraham Hamilton: Exactly right.
Ed Vitagliano: He says, “Instead, be transformed.” That is the word from which we get the English word metamorphosis.
Abraham Hamilton: That is right. The Spirit of God, through the Word, changes us inside and out. We become something new, as opposed to wanting to fit in and embracing ideas without even bothering to look at their source.
Ed Vitagliano: Tony and I occasionally shoot firearms with the crisis management team here at AFA. One of our trainers said that shooting a pistol is a perishable skill. That is true about a lot of life. Discernment is a perishable skill. If you do not exercise it, it diminishes.
Abraham Hamilton: Hebrews 5 says, “I want to talk to you about the truth of God, but I cannot because you have become dull of hearing.” Those who have their senses exercised by reason of use have discernment between good and evil.
The lack of utilization results in a diminishing quality and capacity. I think we saw a lot of this during the election.
The hosts observe Veterans Day by honoring military service, reflecting on sacrifice and freedom, and reading John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields.”
The program examines criticism of Pete Hegseth, debate over military funding and the Iran conflict, and a newly elected New Jersey Democrat’s refusal to identify Iran as an adversary.
Ed Vitagliano and his guests then speak with Abraham Hamilton III about Van Jones’ claim that the American Accountability Network coordinated online affordability messaging during the midterm elections. Hamilton discusses media influence, political propaganda, and the biblical call for discernment through Romans 12 and Colossians 2.
Live
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