Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Monday, October 12, 2026. Thanks for listening to AFR. I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed Vitagliano.
Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim, and Chris Woodward. Hello.
Tim Wildmon: All right, folks. There you go. That's the team today: Tim, Ed, and Chris. Fred is away celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Chris Woodward: Where is he away to?
Ed Vitagliano: He went home.
Chris Woodward: He is somewhere in the world celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Tim Wildmon: In Canada, you mean?
Ed Vitagliano: No, no, no. I think he's probably here in Tupelo.
Chris Woodward: I wanted to clarify that he did not go home, because that sounds different to us Southerners.
Tim Wildmon: Fred is still with us. Somewhere.
Ed Vitagliano: You can go home with the Lord.
Tim Wildmon: As far as we know.
Ed Vitagliano: By the way, I do want to wish you all a happy Columbus Day.
Tim Wildmon: Thank you, Ed.
Ed Vitagliano: Nothing to do with the fact that I'm half Italian. Columbus was Italian.
Chris Woodward: Christopher Columbus.
Ed Vitagliano: Not all Italians have names ending in "elli" or something like that.
Tim Wildmon: I'm sure he probably had a more Italian spelling to it.
Ed Vitagliano: Italians don't have a whole lot to brag about. You have to go back 500 years to find some of the Italian accomplishments.
Chris Woodward: They've got food.
Ed Vitagliano: Italians have food, and that's just about it, huh?
Chris Woodward: Food and mobsters.
Ed Vitagliano: That's what we're known for. So you get someone like Christopher Columbus, and you hold him up.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. Christopher Columbus used to be celebrated big time. You'd have parades and everything.
Ed Vitagliano: He was credited with discovering the New World on behalf of Spain, right?
Tim Wildmon: Ferdinand and Isabella funded it.
Ed Vitagliano: Christopher Columbus went exploring, and the first thing he did was land in the Bahamas. Do you know that?
Tim Wildmon: The first attempt he made, he took the ships, the Larry, Moe, and Curly.
Chris Woodward: They didn't make it, though.
Ed Vitagliano: I was going to go with the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa Maria.
Tim Wildmon: Larry, Moe, and Curly?
Chris Woodward: They had to turn around.
Tim Wildmon: Do you know the Three Stooges, Chris?
Chris Woodward: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Seriously, it is Columbus Day.
Chris Woodward: It is a federal holiday.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're trying to go to a bank today, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon: If the Lord carries, you can do your banking tomorrow.
Ed Vitagliano: I don't know why it's not a holiday here at AFA.
Tim Wildmon: You like to eat somebody, and you don't want an Italian to be here to proclaim that it is Christopher Columbus Day on the radio?
Ed Vitagliano: Thus, we had to be here.
Tim Wildmon: I'm being serious here. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not participating in Columbus Day festivities because he doesn't believe it should be celebrated. He thinks it should be Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Ed Vitagliano: What is an indigenous person?
Chris Woodward: Someone who was here when Columbus and the others showed up. That's what Mamdani apparently believes.
Ed Vitagliano: It's somebody who grew right from the soil. That's what I'm asking you.
Tim Wildmon: When Adam and Eve were created, were there people spawning out of the ground here? Because that makes them indigenous.
Chris Woodward: All those people came across the Bering Strait, apparently.
Tim Wildmon: What do they call an indigenous person? There's always somebody who preceded somebody. Who are all the indigenous people of the world?
Ed Vitagliano: The people who were living in the land before white people got there.
Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's what that means?
Ed Vitagliano: That's exactly what that means.
Tim Wildmon: And then white people ruined everything.
Ed Vitagliano: According to a lot of people.
Tim Wildmon: America was not built by white people alone.
Ed Vitagliano: True, but white people of European descent made a pretty big contribution to the United States of America.
Tim Wildmon: And yet here we are, with so many people wanting to pour into our country, where there is supposedly so much injustice. They want to come here and be a part of the injustice. What is that about?
Chris Woodward: This is the kind of discussion we need to have on Columbus Day.
Tim Wildmon: For Zohran Mamdani and people of his ilk, I'm just in a foul mood this Monday morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Did the Bruins lose or something?
Tim Wildmon: No, we're doing pretty good.
Ed Vitagliano: It is the federal holiday commemorating the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus.
Tim Wildmon: I do not want to detract from some of the heinous things that happened to the people who were native to this continent before Europeans got here. All I want to say is that those kinds of heinous activities and stolen land are not the province of just white Europeans.
Ed Vitagliano: It's been the way of the world since the dawn of history.
Tim Wildmon: I looked it up. According to the United Nations, an indigenous person is a member of an original or native group of people who inhabited a country or geographical region before the arrival of outside cultures.
Ed Vitagliano: That's a fancier way of saying what you said.
Tim Wildmon: My question is, why celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day? What is there to celebrate?
Chris Woodward: I'm glad we're having this conversation.
Tim Wildmon: You are having a celebration of people who were here before the arrival of white Europeans as a way to stick a thumb in the eye of white Europeans and continue the narrative that everything wrong with the world is because of white people. I'm saying everything wrong with the world is because of the fall of man. That includes everybody of every skin color, ethnic background, gender, and every other category.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're going to focus attention only on the coming of white people, you're letting yourself off the hook.
Tim Wildmon: I'm going to say this in as Southern a way as I can: Ain't nobody clean, and ain't nobody off the hook. Everybody better bow the knee to Jesus Christ, no matter their background or place of origin. If you do not understand that, you're putting yourself into the bucket of good people, while white Europeans are the bad people, and you are missing the biblical point.
Chris Woodward: Are our ancestors white Europeans, and are we therefore eternally bad?
Tim Wildmon: According to the Marxist, DEI, and woke narratives, yes.
Ed Vitagliano: What about other people around the world who mistreated other people, and it had nothing to do with white people?
Tim Wildmon: Mao.
Ed Vitagliano: Chairman Mao mistreated his fellow Chinese.
Tim Wildmon: Mao was simply fighting against the replacement of white Europeans and their filthy capitalism.
Chris Woodward: The argument about Marxism is that it is a response to white colonialism.
Tim Wildmon: What about the German barbarians invading Rome? Was that white crime right there? They were behaving badly.
Ed Vitagliano: We're having a little fun with this, but it's ridiculous. It is as if slavery only exists because of white Europeans. Read the Bible. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. In Africa, blacks have enslaved blacks since the dawn of history. It depends on what tribe you're a part of.
Tim Wildmon: It is wrong for everyone to do it.
Ed Vitagliano: In Asia, Mao Zedong was probably the number one mass murderer in human history. He was killing his own people.
Tim Wildmon: One of the most famous slaves of all time was Spartacus, who led a revolt against the Romans. He was a Thracian, a northern Greek. The Romans conquered his people and took slaves, and Spartacus was one of them. It had nothing to do with his skin color. They were defeated in battle. The Greeks and Italians were very similar, both being Mediterranean cultures. Spartacus led a revolt of slaves, the vast majority of whom had white skin.
Ed Vitagliano: Vikings were slaves. Everyone took slaves. Saint Patrick was taken as a slave from his native island of Ireland, and then he returned to preach the Gospel.
Chris Woodward: Raiders from the British part of those islands snatched him up.
Tim Wildmon: That's what happens.
Ed Vitagliano: The indigenous peoples in North America fought each other, warred against each other, took each other as slaves, and kicked each other off their lands.
Tim Wildmon: They took each other's lands.
Ed Vitagliano: Are we going to blame European Americans for that?
Chris Woodward: I think there are people who do.
Ed Vitagliano: I have a story to share about Amerigo Vespucci.
Chris Woodward: Please do.
Ed Vitagliano: When I was in fifth or sixth grade, our teacher was teaching us about Amerigo Vespucci and the fact that we are called America because of him. She said, "Aren't you glad they didn't go with Vespucci? Because then Lee Greenwood would sing, 'I'm proud to be of Vespucci.'"
Tim Wildmon: I've remembered that for 30-some-odd years.
Chris Woodward: Before we move on to another topic, you mentioned that sin is the reason for man's mistreatment of other people. This has been going on since creation because you mentioned the fall of man. What did you mean by the fall of man contributing to people mistreating others throughout history?
Tim Wildmon: God's intent in creating Adam and Eve, and thus all their descendants, was that they would be created in the image of God and would create cultures on this earth that honored God and bore His image. But Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. I believe that was a literal historical event. They were cut off from the presence and life of God, and that fallen nature was passed along to their children, grandchildren, and on and on.
Ed Vitagliano: Even though there are groups and movements that try to divide all of us, I like what Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., says: We are all one race. We divide ourselves according to our differences, but that race is in a fallen state. Thus come all the sinful tendencies.
Tim Wildmon: You did not have to get very far in the human race for trouble to start. Cain killed Abel, and that kind of sinful behavior toward one another has marked humanity ever since. It has marred the image of God and is often reflected in cultures.
Ed Vitagliano: In this country, we had slavery and Jim Crow laws. Nobody is denying those things were evil. Many evils were committed by white people against the Native Americans who were here, including broken treaties and all those kinds of things.
Tim Wildmon: What we're saying is that it was not just because they were white Europeans. It was because they were fallen. When fallen people have the opportunity to take advantage of their fellow man, they quite often do it. It does not matter what their skin color is.
Ed Vitagliano: This has happened around the world since the dawn of history. We still have slavery. Slavery has been abolished, but people are still being taken into slavery for a variety of reasons. That is happening in Africa right now with the Gulf of Aden.
Tim Wildmon: It is not a racial thing, because they are all black.
Ed Vitagliano: They are all Africans, and they are warring against each other.
Tim Wildmon: The same thing happens around the world. Look at the Ukrainians and the Russians. You cannot tell the difference between a Ukrainian and a Russian just by looking at them, but they are warring against each other and hate each other.
Chris Woodward: You're listening to Today's Issues on that encouraging note.
Tim Wildmon: This is why everybody needs to give their lives to Christ.
Ed Vitagliano: That's the only cure. That is the cure for sin, hate, and violence against one another. I would also add that we have all heard that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. We should learn from history.
Tim Wildmon: Not everybody is interested in history class as I was, but we should learn from it.
Ed Vitagliano: We should teach it responsibly and accurately, unlike what a lot of people are being fed.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio.
Ed Vitagliano: We should name this show SolveTheWorldsProblems.com.
Chris Woodward: Because we do.
Tim Wildmon: Give us five or ten minutes and we're going to change the world.
Chris Woodward: Next story. We should pray for the people who were impacted by Hurricane or Tropical Storm Eisaías.
Tim Wildmon: Eisaías?
Chris Woodward: Yes, Eisaías.
Ed Vitagliano: That hurricane made landfall in Destin, Florida, on Friday night. It brought a lot of wind and rain. On Saturday morning, a third of the state of Alabama was without electricity.
Tim Wildmon: What amazes me is how fast the electrical companies can get the power back up. That's stunning.
Ed Vitagliano: Are people still without power today?
Chris Woodward: There are still some people without power. The main concern now is what it is doing to the East Coast. It is moving north through Appalachia and the Mid-Atlantic states today.
Tim Wildmon: Just rain, though, right?
Chris Woodward: It made landfall in Miramar Beach, which is part of Destin. That is where our family vacations every year.
Tim Wildmon: Wesley was going to be there, but he changed his mind at the last minute.
Chris Woodward: Our annual family vacation is at Miramar Beach. It is a beautiful beach, but I was looking at pictures from the Destin area. Fortunately, there were not many deaths, although I think three or four people lost their lives in the storm.
Tim Wildmon: I think it may be up to six now.
Chris Woodward: That includes Florida and Alabama. In one case, a tree fell on a house. Another death was caused by asphyxiation from carbon monoxide because of a generator incident.
Ed Vitagliano: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said yesterday that 95 percent of all Florida Power and Light outages would be restored by Monday night.
Tim Wildmon: That still left 170,000 people in the state without power as of yesterday.
Chris Woodward: I looked at pictures and video footage this morning. It appeared to me that most of the damage involved signs and trees that had fallen down. It was not mass destruction of property.
Tim Wildmon: There were some older buildings and hotels that had roofs lifted off and things of that nature.
Chris Woodward: Along the oceanfront and Gulf Coast, building codes have improved over the last 30 years to prevent more serious damage. Just like in California and on the West Coast, there are building codes for earthquakes. You cannot prevent everything, but you can make advancements that lower the amount of damage.
Tim Wildmon: In about 45 minutes, Steve Tybor, president of Eight Days of Hope, will be with us to tell us what they are doing along the Gulf Coast.
Ed Vitagliano: On the positive side, Concerned Women for America has a bus tour making its way through various parts of the country. They are in Birmingham this morning, with future stops in Fort Worth, Birmingham, Woodstock, Georgia, and Lynchburg, Virginia.
Chris Woodward: AFN talked to Penny Nance, the head of Concerned Women for America, about how important the She Prays, She Votes campaign is going into the midterms.
Guest: Good government is essential if you want to protect your family. If you want to protect women's sports for women only, women's safe spaces, scholarships, and so many things that we need to protect for our daughters, this is the time to stand up and vote. Vote your values and turn out for the election.
Chris Woodward: More on this story can be found at AFN.net.
Tim Wildmon: Election Day is about three weeks away.
Ed Vitagliano: Tomorrow will be three weeks.
Tim Wildmon: We will have coverage starting at 6 p.m. I think it is going to be a funeral for us.
Chris Woodward: If you're a fan of the conservative movement in this country, I don't think it is going to be a good one.
Tim Wildmon: We need to have some depressing music lined up.
Ed Vitagliano: We will cover it, so it may not be that bad.
Tim Wildmon: We do not know yet. A lot can happen between now and then. If you want coverage from a Christian perspective, we will be on the air with guests, whichever way this midterm election goes, talking about what it means for the country and the next two years before the 2028 presidential election.
Chris Woodward: I would advise listeners to have some comfort food on hand.
Ed Vitagliano: Four years ago, we were told there was going to be a red wave, and it never materialized.
Tim Wildmon: You never know, especially since so many races are very close.
Chris Woodward: As Penny Nance said, you have to turn out and vote. That can change the whole outcome. A lot of elections in an off year come down to turnout and can be decided in some cases by less than a thousand votes. Depending on where you live, you may still be able to register to vote. There are places where you can register on the day of the election.
Tim Wildmon: If you want to find out whether you can still register to vote, go to iVoterGuide.com. That is a division of American Family Association and AFA Action.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're going to vote conservative, I would say vote twice.
Tim Wildmon: That's not what we're advocating.
Ed Vitagliano: To help offset the deficit.
Chris Woodward: The debt?
Tim Wildmon: Folks, do not do that. We are not advocating voting twice, although there may be a deficit compared to the way they do it in blue states.
Ed Vitagliano: There could be a deficit in those races because of multiple voting.
Tim Wildmon: We're going to take a short timeout right here and be back. We have a lot more to talk about on this Monday morning.
Ed Vitagliano: October 12th. We will return in just a few minutes.
Tim Wildmon: Stay with us.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed and Chris. Thanks for joining us.
Ed Vitagliano: Did anybody catch the end of that Kentucky LSU football game Saturday night? Or were you watching Alabama and Georgia?
Tim Wildmon: I did not catch it. I did watch something else: the non-call in the Alabama-Georgia game.
Chris Woodward: What happened there, Ed?
Ed Vitagliano: It was an obvious pass interference.
Chris Woodward: For people who did not see that moment in the Georgia-Alabama game, Alabama's quarterback threw the ball, and a Georgia player leaped toward the Alabama receiver and hit him before the ball even came down for him to try to catch it. Many people thought it was clear pass interference, but it was not called.
Tim Wildmon: Even the announcers in the booth were saying it should have been called.
Chris Woodward: I have the audio here. Steve cut this for a split.
Guest: It has to be. You're expecting the flag, and now they're trying to show what they're seeing. I would love to see Matt, but you think, I don't know if they're thinking it's catchable or if it just wasn't enough. It was perfect.
Guest: I thought he was really working his way toward the middle of the field and holding position there intact.
Ed Vitagliano: Alabama and Georgia have been battling for SEC supremacy and possibly a number one ranking in the nation. Georgia interfered with Alabama, perhaps costing them the ballgame.
Tim Wildmon: Am I supposed to feel sorry for Alabama? Fans of other SEC teams are saying, "Give me a break."
Ed Vitagliano: Referees are human, and they make mistakes. That was a bad mistake. They did not help Alabama.
Chris Woodward: Ole Miss had a similar situation in a playoff game against Miami last year. Miami was accused of committing pass interference, and Ole Miss fans still talk about it, asking, "Where's our flag?"
Tim Wildmon: As long as you have humans calling sports, you are going to have occasional mistakes. We may not have humans calling games much longer because the bots and computers are on their way.
Ed Vitagliano: I am amazed by referees, especially in basketball and football. They have to run with the athletes.
Tim Wildmon: My wife pointed that out to me. These officials are 45, 50, or 55 years old, and they are out there running with 18- to 22-year-olds trying to keep up with them. All the while, they have to keep their eyes on the play so they can make an accurate split-second decision.
Ed Vitagliano: Sometimes their vision is blocked. You ask, "How did you miss that?" But another player may have passed between the official and the action, or the ball may have been on the other side of somebody's body.
Chris Woodward: I like what Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. He basically said that the pass interference should have been called, but there were many other plays in the game where Alabama could have made a difference.
Tim Wildmon: That was a very diplomatic and gentlemanly statement, and it showed a lot of sportsmanship.
Ed Vitagliano: Alabama and Georgia are basically even. Either one of them will probably play Ohio State for the championship.
Tim Wildmon: This is not a sports show, but we are talking about spiritual things, and a lot of people have prayed over a sporting event before.
Chris Woodward: Kentucky beat LSU in overtime.
Ed Vitagliano: Were you talking about basketball?
Chris Woodward: I was talking about football.
Tim Wildmon: It was a great game to watch because Kentucky football fans are starved for some big-time success. LSU fell out of the top 25.
Ed Vitagliano: Georgia is number one, by the way.
Chris Woodward: LSU is coached by Lane Kiffin. Some people consider him not to have the best character. I am not saying it. I am saying some people say it, so they root against him.
Tim Wildmon: For a lot of people, their favorite team is their own school and whoever is playing against Lane Kiffin and LSU.
Ed Vitagliano: That used to be the case with Alabama, so there were a lot of people who were happy Kentucky won. Not LSU fans, obviously.
Tim Wildmon: There were some LSU fans listening to the show, so we are just reporting what other people say.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a fun game to watch, no matter who you wanted to win. There was a lesson in it. The Kentucky kicker missed two field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter that could have put Kentucky ahead or allowed them to win in regulation. They were very makeable kicks.
Tim Wildmon: An SEC kicker should make those.
Ed Vitagliano: He missed them. I told Alison, if he did not get another chance at redemption, he would be getting tarred and feathered on campus on Monday. He might as well change schools and not go to class, because nobody would talk to him.
Tim Wildmon: The coach for Kentucky, Mark Stoops, patted him on the head and encouraged him after he missed the second field goal, which was a chip shot.
Ed Vitagliano: At the time, you would think he had lost the game for them.
Chris Woodward: This is why you're not a football coach.
Ed Vitagliano: The point is that Coach Stoops encouraged the kid. Kentucky got the ball back, drove all the way down the field, and the kid got to kick a field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. Kentucky won in overtime.
Tim Wildmon: The moral of the story is that the coach did not shame the kid, even though the kid should have made the field goal and could have lost the game.
Chris Woodward: Another thing I find funny is that, in a football game where 300-pound men can crash into each other in violent and reckless ways for 60 minutes, the game can come down to a five-foot-nine, 135-pound guy who trots onto the field.
Ed Vitagliano: There is extraordinary pressure in that one moment.
Tim Wildmon: They sign up for it. You miss that kick, and people talk about you for generations. The quarterback can throw seven interceptions in a game, and people say he will be fine. But if it all comes down to you, you are Scott Norwood.
Chris Woodward: That was the Giants against the Bills back in the 1980s.
Tim Wildmon: Everybody knows his name. That was the Super Bowl where Whitney Houston sang the national anthem.
Ed Vitagliano: We were watching the Kentucky-LSU game, and I told Alison that this kid was coming out for the third time and better make it. Somewhere, his mother was vomiting because she was so nervous.
Chris Woodward: Nobody feels what the kid is going through like his mother.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Chris, what's your next story?
Chris Woodward: Let's talk about politics for a moment. In Michigan, we have a big Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers. This could be one of the races that decides which party controls the Senate.
Ed Vitagliano: El-Sayed. That was a hurricane name.
Chris Woodward: No, that's the Senate candidate in Michigan.
Tim Wildmon: El-Sayed went on Meet the Press, where many Democrats go to do damage control. The host, Kristen Welker, gave him opportunities to walk back controversial comments. When President Obama was in office, El-Sayed was critical of Obama's record on war, immigration, and civil liberties. He criticized Obama and others for various things he had said in the past. Now he used this interview to walk back his comments about Barack Obama before an upcoming event where he and Obama will campaign together.
Guest: When I was younger, I was angry about circumstances. I think about that night you read Dreams from My Father, and I see echoes of somebody who is frustrated and wants things to be better. I am so grateful to have been a young man in my twenties with Barack Obama as president. I would never have seen myself running for office.
Chris Woodward: Kristen Welker then moved to something El-Sayed said earlier this year, when there was a synagogue shooting. He said that hurt people hurt people and suggested that the gunman had been hurt by Israelis and therefore had an issue with Jewish people. She walked him through an apology.
Guest: My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to my own kids. We need to know that we can go to our schools and places of worship and that nobody is going to attack.
Guest: Is it safe to say, based on what you're saying, that you regret making those comments?
Guest: Yes, I regret any time I step on somebody's toes. Of course I regret that. I really wish I had thought about how somebody would have felt hearing that and thought twice about making those comments.
Chris Woodward: Former Bill Clinton adviser and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen was asked whether Democrats should be worried about a candidate having to apologize and walk back comments just weeks before the election.
Guest: Yes, they should worry. He is an extreme socialist. He has not disavowed the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has called Israel the equivalent of an apartheid state and said they committed genocide in Gaza. He is well out of step with what I think is mainstream opinion in America. There are too many apologies and not enough unity. He is trying to bring people together, but in a race where he is a point or two ahead, he has a lot of explaining to do between now and Election Day.
Tim Wildmon: Does he?
Ed Vitagliano: You have to be informed. The American voter, by and large, is not informed about what candidates actually believe, what they have done, or what they intend to do. That makes voters susceptible to these cleanup campaigns.
Tim Wildmon: These cleanup campaigns get favorable treatment from the mainstream media. They throw softballs and give candidates the opportunity to explain themselves. I would not doubt that El-Sayed's people worked with NBC and said, "This is what we would like you to ask." I do not trust the mainstream news media.
Ed Vitagliano: There are all kinds of things going on, including people talking about James Talarico in Texas. If you rely on candidates to tell you the truth, you are not going to be informed. I do not believe El-Sayed is being honest when he talks about Israel and the Jews. The same thing is true of Zohran Mamdani. You have to get informed.
Tim Wildmon: That is why you ought to be getting AFA's magazine, The Stand. You ought to be listening to American Family Radio and American Family News, and reading what we have posted. You ought to go to iVoterGuide.com to get information about candidates. You have to be an informed voter, or you will be swayed by slick, politically savvy candidates who can say one thing four years ago and then tell you a bald-faced lie when they are on a sympathetic news network.
Chris Woodward: And if that is where you are getting your information, you are going to fall for it every time.
Tim Wildmon: The rant is over.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a very tame rant.
Tim Wildmon: Election Day is November 3rd, and we are going to be here that evening with coverage.
Chris Woodward: We will have guests talking about the meaning of the election results as they come in and what the midterms mean for the political landscape over the next two years as we lead up to another presidential election in 2028.
Tim Wildmon: We will have our own panel discussing what is happening, and the American Family News team will keep us up to date.
Ed Vitagliano: It would be interesting to see after the election what issues people voted on and why they voted the way they did. The assumption is that the economy is the number one reason people vote one way or another.
Tim Wildmon: I think it has to be a big factor, but the economy in the United States has a lot of good things going for it.
Chris Woodward: There are positives, but those are being overshadowed by the cost of gas and groceries. Those things have been inflationary for three or four years and have not come down. They seem to keep going up.
Ed Vitagliano: When people think about the economy, they are basically thinking about those things.
Chris Woodward: There is also a broader macroeconomic issue.
Tim Wildmon: We can bring the macro.
Ed Vitagliano: Macro and cheese.
Tim Wildmon: We can do that all day long.
Chris Woodward: You have the kitchen-table issues, the budget, gas, and groceries. Then you have serious issues for younger people who want to buy homes and do the things their forefathers did, while they are still drowning in college debt.
Tim Wildmon: I understand that people say they should not have taken on the debt, but those big macro issues are partially driving the affinity of some young people for socialism.
Ed Vitagliano: I do not think younger people, maybe those 35 and under or 30 and under, understand the impact of socialism and communism.
Tim Wildmon: They have not lived it or experienced it. A lot of ideas promoted by left-wing Democrats sound attractive to them.
Chris Woodward: They are not told the negatives. They are fed the positives by somebody who says, "Free health care for everybody."
Tim Wildmon: People do not think critically about what that means. How do you do that? What does it mean for quality?
Ed Vitagliano: If health care is free for everybody, the government tells you which doctor you can use and when your appointment is.
Chris Woodward: They are also told how they are going to pay for it. They say, "We are just going to tax the rich," which is vague.
Tim Wildmon: They hear, "If we can tax rich people and get free health care, have my college loans paid, buy a house, and raise the minimum wage to $25.25, sign me up."
Ed Vitagliano: How are we going to pay for that?
Tim Wildmon: Tax the rich.
Chris Woodward: In all seriousness, there is a Democrat in the Arizona Senate who is pushing a $20 or $25 an hour minimum wage. Here is what will happen. If we jack it up to $20 an hour, everything will become automated. You already order from an iPad at McDonald's instead of talking to a human. It will be that times a million.
Tim Wildmon: America was built on the free enterprise system. The reason we have the wealth and quality of life we have in the United States, broadly speaking, is primarily capitalism, free enterprise, lower taxes, and less regulation than communist and socialist countries impose on their citizens. People are able to prosper from their work.
Ed Vitagliano: That is lost on many younger people. There are Democrats who say we should not have billionaires. You are taking a very dangerous risk when you allow the government to tell you that you cannot have something.
Tim Wildmon: I will say this in defense of young people. We have many young people working here, and many young people I know from church have been raised to understand how things really work and what is wrong with socialism. There are a lot of young people with their heads on straight. I do not want to drop a bomb on all young people under age 30 or 35.
Chris Woodward: Increasingly, there are young people who want to know the Lord and understand how the world really works.
Tim Wildmon: This is a battle for the worldview of our young people, who will run our country. That is why we pay attention. You should pay attention to what is being taught in your school system or in the schools your children attend. What are they going to be taught when they go to college?
Ed Vitagliano: In a lot of places, the people doing the teaching are propagandists for Marxists, communists, and wokesters.
Tim Wildmon: I'm in a foul mood today.
Chris Woodward: You said you were not dropping a bomb.
Tim Wildmon: I'm dropping an ideological bomb.
Ed Vitagliano: The Gap Band had a great song in 1982 called "You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Baby." Do you remember it?
Tim Wildmon: I do not.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a classic.
Tim Wildmon: I will have to check it out.
Ed Vitagliano: The Gap Band.
Tim Wildmon: The Gap Band?
Ed Vitagliano: If you are in the music circle, you have the Beatles, and then you have the Gap Band right underneath the Beatles.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, good morning, everybody, and welcome to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. Today's Monday, October 12, 2026. Thanks for listening to AFR. I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed Vitagliano.
Ed Vitagliano: Good morning, Tim, and Chris Woodward. Hello.
Tim Wildmon: All right, folks. There you go. That's the team today: Tim, Ed, and Chris. Fred is away celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Chris Woodward: Where is he away to?
Ed Vitagliano: He went home.
Chris Woodward: He is somewhere in the world celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving.
Tim Wildmon: In Canada, you mean?
Ed Vitagliano: No, no, no. I think he's probably here in Tupelo.
Chris Woodward: I wanted to clarify that he did not go home, because that sounds different to us Southerners.
Tim Wildmon: Fred is still with us. Somewhere.
Ed Vitagliano: You can go home with the Lord.
Tim Wildmon: As far as we know.
Ed Vitagliano: By the way, I do want to wish you all a happy Columbus Day.
Tim Wildmon: Thank you, Ed.
Ed Vitagliano: Nothing to do with the fact that I'm half Italian. Columbus was Italian.
Chris Woodward: Christopher Columbus.
Ed Vitagliano: Not all Italians have names ending in "elli" or something like that.
Tim Wildmon: I'm sure he probably had a more Italian spelling to it.
Ed Vitagliano: Italians don't have a whole lot to brag about. You have to go back 500 years to find some of the Italian accomplishments.
Chris Woodward: They've got food.
Ed Vitagliano: Italians have food, and that's just about it, huh?
Chris Woodward: Food and mobsters.
Ed Vitagliano: That's what we're known for. So you get someone like Christopher Columbus, and you hold him up.
Tim Wildmon: That's right. Christopher Columbus used to be celebrated big time. You'd have parades and everything.
Ed Vitagliano: He was credited with discovering the New World on behalf of Spain, right?
Tim Wildmon: Ferdinand and Isabella funded it.
Ed Vitagliano: Christopher Columbus went exploring, and the first thing he did was land in the Bahamas. Do you know that?
Tim Wildmon: The first attempt he made, he took the ships, the Larry, Moe, and Curly.
Chris Woodward: They didn't make it, though.
Ed Vitagliano: I was going to go with the Pinta, the Niña, and the Santa Maria.
Tim Wildmon: Larry, Moe, and Curly?
Chris Woodward: They had to turn around.
Tim Wildmon: Do you know the Three Stooges, Chris?
Chris Woodward: Yes.
Tim Wildmon: Seriously, it is Columbus Day.
Chris Woodward: It is a federal holiday.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're trying to go to a bank today, you're going to have to wait until tomorrow.
Tim Wildmon: If the Lord carries, you can do your banking tomorrow.
Ed Vitagliano: I don't know why it's not a holiday here at AFA.
Tim Wildmon: You like to eat somebody, and you don't want an Italian to be here to proclaim that it is Christopher Columbus Day on the radio?
Ed Vitagliano: Thus, we had to be here.
Tim Wildmon: I'm being serious here. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is not participating in Columbus Day festivities because he doesn't believe it should be celebrated. He thinks it should be Indigenous Peoples' Day.
Ed Vitagliano: What is an indigenous person?
Chris Woodward: Someone who was here when Columbus and the others showed up. That's what Mamdani apparently believes.
Ed Vitagliano: It's somebody who grew right from the soil. That's what I'm asking you.
Tim Wildmon: When Adam and Eve were created, were there people spawning out of the ground here? Because that makes them indigenous.
Chris Woodward: All those people came across the Bering Strait, apparently.
Tim Wildmon: What do they call an indigenous person? There's always somebody who preceded somebody. Who are all the indigenous people of the world?
Ed Vitagliano: The people who were living in the land before white people got there.
Tim Wildmon: Oh, that's what that means?
Ed Vitagliano: That's exactly what that means.
Tim Wildmon: And then white people ruined everything.
Ed Vitagliano: According to a lot of people.
Tim Wildmon: America was not built by white people alone.
Ed Vitagliano: True, but white people of European descent made a pretty big contribution to the United States of America.
Tim Wildmon: And yet here we are, with so many people wanting to pour into our country, where there is supposedly so much injustice. They want to come here and be a part of the injustice. What is that about?
Chris Woodward: This is the kind of discussion we need to have on Columbus Day.
Tim Wildmon: For Zohran Mamdani and people of his ilk, I'm just in a foul mood this Monday morning.
Ed Vitagliano: Did the Bruins lose or something?
Tim Wildmon: No, we're doing pretty good.
Ed Vitagliano: It is the federal holiday commemorating the accomplishments of Christopher Columbus.
Tim Wildmon: I do not want to detract from some of the heinous things that happened to the people who were native to this continent before Europeans got here. All I want to say is that those kinds of heinous activities and stolen land are not the province of just white Europeans.
Ed Vitagliano: It's been the way of the world since the dawn of history.
Tim Wildmon: I looked it up. According to the United Nations, an indigenous person is a member of an original or native group of people who inhabited a country or geographical region before the arrival of outside cultures.
Ed Vitagliano: That's a fancier way of saying what you said.
Tim Wildmon: My question is, why celebrate Indigenous Peoples' Day? What is there to celebrate?
Chris Woodward: I'm glad we're having this conversation.
Tim Wildmon: You are having a celebration of people who were here before the arrival of white Europeans as a way to stick a thumb in the eye of white Europeans and continue the narrative that everything wrong with the world is because of white people. I'm saying everything wrong with the world is because of the fall of man. That includes everybody of every skin color, ethnic background, gender, and every other category.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're going to focus attention only on the coming of white people, you're letting yourself off the hook.
Tim Wildmon: I'm going to say this in as Southern a way as I can: Ain't nobody clean, and ain't nobody off the hook. Everybody better bow the knee to Jesus Christ, no matter their background or place of origin. If you do not understand that, you're putting yourself into the bucket of good people, while white Europeans are the bad people, and you are missing the biblical point.
Chris Woodward: Are our ancestors white Europeans, and are we therefore eternally bad?
Tim Wildmon: According to the Marxist, DEI, and woke narratives, yes.
Ed Vitagliano: What about other people around the world who mistreated other people, and it had nothing to do with white people?
Tim Wildmon: Mao.
Ed Vitagliano: Chairman Mao mistreated his fellow Chinese.
Tim Wildmon: Mao was simply fighting against the replacement of white Europeans and their filthy capitalism.
Chris Woodward: The argument about Marxism is that it is a response to white colonialism.
Tim Wildmon: What about the German barbarians invading Rome? Was that white crime right there? They were behaving badly.
Ed Vitagliano: We're having a little fun with this, but it's ridiculous. It is as if slavery only exists because of white Europeans. Read the Bible. The Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. In Africa, blacks have enslaved blacks since the dawn of history. It depends on what tribe you're a part of.
Tim Wildmon: It is wrong for everyone to do it.
Ed Vitagliano: In Asia, Mao Zedong was probably the number one mass murderer in human history. He was killing his own people.
Tim Wildmon: One of the most famous slaves of all time was Spartacus, who led a revolt against the Romans. He was a Thracian, a northern Greek. The Romans conquered his people and took slaves, and Spartacus was one of them. It had nothing to do with his skin color. They were defeated in battle. The Greeks and Italians were very similar, both being Mediterranean cultures. Spartacus led a revolt of slaves, the vast majority of whom had white skin.
Ed Vitagliano: Vikings were slaves. Everyone took slaves. Saint Patrick was taken as a slave from his native island of Ireland, and then he returned to preach the Gospel.
Chris Woodward: Raiders from the British part of those islands snatched him up.
Tim Wildmon: That's what happens.
Ed Vitagliano: The indigenous peoples in North America fought each other, warred against each other, took each other as slaves, and kicked each other off their lands.
Tim Wildmon: They took each other's lands.
Ed Vitagliano: Are we going to blame European Americans for that?
Chris Woodward: I think there are people who do.
Ed Vitagliano: I have a story to share about Amerigo Vespucci.
Chris Woodward: Please do.
Ed Vitagliano: When I was in fifth or sixth grade, our teacher was teaching us about Amerigo Vespucci and the fact that we are called America because of him. She said, "Aren't you glad they didn't go with Vespucci? Because then Lee Greenwood would sing, 'I'm proud to be of Vespucci.'"
Tim Wildmon: I've remembered that for 30-some-odd years.
Chris Woodward: Before we move on to another topic, you mentioned that sin is the reason for man's mistreatment of other people. This has been going on since creation because you mentioned the fall of man. What did you mean by the fall of man contributing to people mistreating others throughout history?
Tim Wildmon: God's intent in creating Adam and Eve, and thus all their descendants, was that they would be created in the image of God and would create cultures on this earth that honored God and bore His image. But Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. I believe that was a literal historical event. They were cut off from the presence and life of God, and that fallen nature was passed along to their children, grandchildren, and on and on.
Ed Vitagliano: Even though there are groups and movements that try to divide all of us, I like what Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., says: We are all one race. We divide ourselves according to our differences, but that race is in a fallen state. Thus come all the sinful tendencies.
Tim Wildmon: You did not have to get very far in the human race for trouble to start. Cain killed Abel, and that kind of sinful behavior toward one another has marked humanity ever since. It has marred the image of God and is often reflected in cultures.
Ed Vitagliano: In this country, we had slavery and Jim Crow laws. Nobody is denying those things were evil. Many evils were committed by white people against the Native Americans who were here, including broken treaties and all those kinds of things.
Tim Wildmon: What we're saying is that it was not just because they were white Europeans. It was because they were fallen. When fallen people have the opportunity to take advantage of their fellow man, they quite often do it. It does not matter what their skin color is.
Ed Vitagliano: This has happened around the world since the dawn of history. We still have slavery. Slavery has been abolished, but people are still being taken into slavery for a variety of reasons. That is happening in Africa right now with the Gulf of Aden.
Tim Wildmon: It is not a racial thing, because they are all black.
Ed Vitagliano: They are all Africans, and they are warring against each other.
Tim Wildmon: The same thing happens around the world. Look at the Ukrainians and the Russians. You cannot tell the difference between a Ukrainian and a Russian just by looking at them, but they are warring against each other and hate each other.
Chris Woodward: You're listening to Today's Issues on that encouraging note.
Tim Wildmon: This is why everybody needs to give their lives to Christ.
Ed Vitagliano: That's the only cure. That is the cure for sin, hate, and violence against one another. I would also add that we have all heard that if we do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. We should learn from history.
Tim Wildmon: Not everybody is interested in history class as I was, but we should learn from it.
Ed Vitagliano: We should teach it responsibly and accurately, unlike what a lot of people are being fed.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio.
Ed Vitagliano: We should name this show SolveTheWorldsProblems.com.
Chris Woodward: Because we do.
Tim Wildmon: Give us five or ten minutes and we're going to change the world.
Chris Woodward: Next story. We should pray for the people who were impacted by Hurricane or Tropical Storm Eisaías.
Tim Wildmon: Eisaías?
Chris Woodward: Yes, Eisaías.
Ed Vitagliano: That hurricane made landfall in Destin, Florida, on Friday night. It brought a lot of wind and rain. On Saturday morning, a third of the state of Alabama was without electricity.
Tim Wildmon: What amazes me is how fast the electrical companies can get the power back up. That's stunning.
Ed Vitagliano: Are people still without power today?
Chris Woodward: There are still some people without power. The main concern now is what it is doing to the East Coast. It is moving north through Appalachia and the Mid-Atlantic states today.
Tim Wildmon: Just rain, though, right?
Chris Woodward: It made landfall in Miramar Beach, which is part of Destin. That is where our family vacations every year.
Tim Wildmon: Wesley was going to be there, but he changed his mind at the last minute.
Chris Woodward: Our annual family vacation is at Miramar Beach. It is a beautiful beach, but I was looking at pictures from the Destin area. Fortunately, there were not many deaths, although I think three or four people lost their lives in the storm.
Tim Wildmon: I think it may be up to six now.
Chris Woodward: That includes Florida and Alabama. In one case, a tree fell on a house. Another death was caused by asphyxiation from carbon monoxide because of a generator incident.
Ed Vitagliano: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said yesterday that 95 percent of all Florida Power and Light outages would be restored by Monday night.
Tim Wildmon: That still left 170,000 people in the state without power as of yesterday.
Chris Woodward: I looked at pictures and video footage this morning. It appeared to me that most of the damage involved signs and trees that had fallen down. It was not mass destruction of property.
Tim Wildmon: There were some older buildings and hotels that had roofs lifted off and things of that nature.
Chris Woodward: Along the oceanfront and Gulf Coast, building codes have improved over the last 30 years to prevent more serious damage. Just like in California and on the West Coast, there are building codes for earthquakes. You cannot prevent everything, but you can make advancements that lower the amount of damage.
Tim Wildmon: In about 45 minutes, Steve Tybor, president of Eight Days of Hope, will be with us to tell us what they are doing along the Gulf Coast.
Ed Vitagliano: On the positive side, Concerned Women for America has a bus tour making its way through various parts of the country. They are in Birmingham this morning, with future stops in Fort Worth, Birmingham, Woodstock, Georgia, and Lynchburg, Virginia.
Chris Woodward: AFN talked to Penny Nance, the head of Concerned Women for America, about how important the She Prays, She Votes campaign is going into the midterms.
Guest: Good government is essential if you want to protect your family. If you want to protect women's sports for women only, women's safe spaces, scholarships, and so many things that we need to protect for our daughters, this is the time to stand up and vote. Vote your values and turn out for the election.
Chris Woodward: More on this story can be found at AFN.net.
Tim Wildmon: Election Day is about three weeks away.
Ed Vitagliano: Tomorrow will be three weeks.
Tim Wildmon: We will have coverage starting at 6 p.m. I think it is going to be a funeral for us.
Chris Woodward: If you're a fan of the conservative movement in this country, I don't think it is going to be a good one.
Tim Wildmon: We need to have some depressing music lined up.
Ed Vitagliano: We will cover it, so it may not be that bad.
Tim Wildmon: We do not know yet. A lot can happen between now and then. If you want coverage from a Christian perspective, we will be on the air with guests, whichever way this midterm election goes, talking about what it means for the country and the next two years before the 2028 presidential election.
Chris Woodward: I would advise listeners to have some comfort food on hand.
Ed Vitagliano: Four years ago, we were told there was going to be a red wave, and it never materialized.
Tim Wildmon: You never know, especially since so many races are very close.
Chris Woodward: As Penny Nance said, you have to turn out and vote. That can change the whole outcome. A lot of elections in an off year come down to turnout and can be decided in some cases by less than a thousand votes. Depending on where you live, you may still be able to register to vote. There are places where you can register on the day of the election.
Tim Wildmon: If you want to find out whether you can still register to vote, go to iVoterGuide.com. That is a division of American Family Association and AFA Action.
Ed Vitagliano: If you're going to vote conservative, I would say vote twice.
Tim Wildmon: That's not what we're advocating.
Ed Vitagliano: To help offset the deficit.
Chris Woodward: The debt?
Tim Wildmon: Folks, do not do that. We are not advocating voting twice, although there may be a deficit compared to the way they do it in blue states.
Ed Vitagliano: There could be a deficit in those races because of multiple voting.
Tim Wildmon: We're going to take a short timeout right here and be back. We have a lot more to talk about on this Monday morning.
Ed Vitagliano: October 12th. We will return in just a few minutes.
Tim Wildmon: Stay with us.
Tim Wildmon: Hey, welcome back, everybody, to Today's Issues on the American Family Radio Network. I'm Tim Wildmon with Ed and Chris. Thanks for joining us.
Ed Vitagliano: Did anybody catch the end of that Kentucky LSU football game Saturday night? Or were you watching Alabama and Georgia?
Tim Wildmon: I did not catch it. I did watch something else: the non-call in the Alabama-Georgia game.
Chris Woodward: What happened there, Ed?
Ed Vitagliano: It was an obvious pass interference.
Chris Woodward: For people who did not see that moment in the Georgia-Alabama game, Alabama's quarterback threw the ball, and a Georgia player leaped toward the Alabama receiver and hit him before the ball even came down for him to try to catch it. Many people thought it was clear pass interference, but it was not called.
Tim Wildmon: Even the announcers in the booth were saying it should have been called.
Chris Woodward: I have the audio here. Steve cut this for a split.
Guest: It has to be. You're expecting the flag, and now they're trying to show what they're seeing. I would love to see Matt, but you think, I don't know if they're thinking it's catchable or if it just wasn't enough. It was perfect.
Guest: I thought he was really working his way toward the middle of the field and holding position there intact.
Ed Vitagliano: Alabama and Georgia have been battling for SEC supremacy and possibly a number one ranking in the nation. Georgia interfered with Alabama, perhaps costing them the ballgame.
Tim Wildmon: Am I supposed to feel sorry for Alabama? Fans of other SEC teams are saying, "Give me a break."
Ed Vitagliano: Referees are human, and they make mistakes. That was a bad mistake. They did not help Alabama.
Chris Woodward: Ole Miss had a similar situation in a playoff game against Miami last year. Miami was accused of committing pass interference, and Ole Miss fans still talk about it, asking, "Where's our flag?"
Tim Wildmon: As long as you have humans calling sports, you are going to have occasional mistakes. We may not have humans calling games much longer because the bots and computers are on their way.
Ed Vitagliano: I am amazed by referees, especially in basketball and football. They have to run with the athletes.
Tim Wildmon: My wife pointed that out to me. These officials are 45, 50, or 55 years old, and they are out there running with 18- to 22-year-olds trying to keep up with them. All the while, they have to keep their eyes on the play so they can make an accurate split-second decision.
Ed Vitagliano: Sometimes their vision is blocked. You ask, "How did you miss that?" But another player may have passed between the official and the action, or the ball may have been on the other side of somebody's body.
Chris Woodward: I like what Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer said. He basically said that the pass interference should have been called, but there were many other plays in the game where Alabama could have made a difference.
Tim Wildmon: That was a very diplomatic and gentlemanly statement, and it showed a lot of sportsmanship.
Ed Vitagliano: Alabama and Georgia are basically even. Either one of them will probably play Ohio State for the championship.
Tim Wildmon: This is not a sports show, but we are talking about spiritual things, and a lot of people have prayed over a sporting event before.
Chris Woodward: Kentucky beat LSU in overtime.
Ed Vitagliano: Were you talking about basketball?
Chris Woodward: I was talking about football.
Tim Wildmon: It was a great game to watch because Kentucky football fans are starved for some big-time success. LSU fell out of the top 25.
Ed Vitagliano: Georgia is number one, by the way.
Chris Woodward: LSU is coached by Lane Kiffin. Some people consider him not to have the best character. I am not saying it. I am saying some people say it, so they root against him.
Tim Wildmon: For a lot of people, their favorite team is their own school and whoever is playing against Lane Kiffin and LSU.
Ed Vitagliano: That used to be the case with Alabama, so there were a lot of people who were happy Kentucky won. Not LSU fans, obviously.
Tim Wildmon: There were some LSU fans listening to the show, so we are just reporting what other people say.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a fun game to watch, no matter who you wanted to win. There was a lesson in it. The Kentucky kicker missed two field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter that could have put Kentucky ahead or allowed them to win in regulation. They were very makeable kicks.
Tim Wildmon: An SEC kicker should make those.
Ed Vitagliano: He missed them. I told Alison, if he did not get another chance at redemption, he would be getting tarred and feathered on campus on Monday. He might as well change schools and not go to class, because nobody would talk to him.
Tim Wildmon: The coach for Kentucky, Mark Stoops, patted him on the head and encouraged him after he missed the second field goal, which was a chip shot.
Ed Vitagliano: At the time, you would think he had lost the game for them.
Chris Woodward: This is why you're not a football coach.
Ed Vitagliano: The point is that Coach Stoops encouraged the kid. Kentucky got the ball back, drove all the way down the field, and the kid got to kick a field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. Kentucky won in overtime.
Tim Wildmon: The moral of the story is that the coach did not shame the kid, even though the kid should have made the field goal and could have lost the game.
Chris Woodward: Another thing I find funny is that, in a football game where 300-pound men can crash into each other in violent and reckless ways for 60 minutes, the game can come down to a five-foot-nine, 135-pound guy who trots onto the field.
Ed Vitagliano: There is extraordinary pressure in that one moment.
Tim Wildmon: They sign up for it. You miss that kick, and people talk about you for generations. The quarterback can throw seven interceptions in a game, and people say he will be fine. But if it all comes down to you, you are Scott Norwood.
Chris Woodward: That was the Giants against the Bills back in the 1980s.
Tim Wildmon: Everybody knows his name. That was the Super Bowl where Whitney Houston sang the national anthem.
Ed Vitagliano: We were watching the Kentucky-LSU game, and I told Alison that this kid was coming out for the third time and better make it. Somewhere, his mother was vomiting because she was so nervous.
Chris Woodward: Nobody feels what the kid is going through like his mother.
Tim Wildmon: You're listening to Today's Issues on American Family Radio. Chris, what's your next story?
Chris Woodward: Let's talk about politics for a moment. In Michigan, we have a big Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers. This could be one of the races that decides which party controls the Senate.
Ed Vitagliano: El-Sayed. That was a hurricane name.
Chris Woodward: No, that's the Senate candidate in Michigan.
Tim Wildmon: El-Sayed went on Meet the Press, where many Democrats go to do damage control. The host, Kristen Welker, gave him opportunities to walk back controversial comments. When President Obama was in office, El-Sayed was critical of Obama's record on war, immigration, and civil liberties. He criticized Obama and others for various things he had said in the past. Now he used this interview to walk back his comments about Barack Obama before an upcoming event where he and Obama will campaign together.
Guest: When I was younger, I was angry about circumstances. I think about that night you read Dreams from My Father, and I see echoes of somebody who is frustrated and wants things to be better. I am so grateful to have been a young man in my twenties with Barack Obama as president. I would never have seen myself running for office.
Chris Woodward: Kristen Welker then moved to something El-Sayed said earlier this year, when there was a synagogue shooting. He said that hurt people hurt people and suggested that the gunman had been hurt by Israelis and therefore had an issue with Jewish people. She walked him through an apology.
Guest: My commitment to Jewish safety is the same as my commitment to my own kids. We need to know that we can go to our schools and places of worship and that nobody is going to attack.
Guest: Is it safe to say, based on what you're saying, that you regret making those comments?
Guest: Yes, I regret any time I step on somebody's toes. Of course I regret that. I really wish I had thought about how somebody would have felt hearing that and thought twice about making those comments.
Chris Woodward: Former Bill Clinton adviser and Democratic pollster Doug Schoen was asked whether Democrats should be worried about a candidate having to apologize and walk back comments just weeks before the election.
Guest: Yes, they should worry. He is an extreme socialist. He has not disavowed the agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America. He has called Israel the equivalent of an apartheid state and said they committed genocide in Gaza. He is well out of step with what I think is mainstream opinion in America. There are too many apologies and not enough unity. He is trying to bring people together, but in a race where he is a point or two ahead, he has a lot of explaining to do between now and Election Day.
Tim Wildmon: Does he?
Ed Vitagliano: You have to be informed. The American voter, by and large, is not informed about what candidates actually believe, what they have done, or what they intend to do. That makes voters susceptible to these cleanup campaigns.
Tim Wildmon: These cleanup campaigns get favorable treatment from the mainstream media. They throw softballs and give candidates the opportunity to explain themselves. I would not doubt that El-Sayed's people worked with NBC and said, "This is what we would like you to ask." I do not trust the mainstream news media.
Ed Vitagliano: There are all kinds of things going on, including people talking about James Talarico in Texas. If you rely on candidates to tell you the truth, you are not going to be informed. I do not believe El-Sayed is being honest when he talks about Israel and the Jews. The same thing is true of Zohran Mamdani. You have to get informed.
Tim Wildmon: That is why you ought to be getting AFA's magazine, The Stand. You ought to be listening to American Family Radio and American Family News, and reading what we have posted. You ought to go to iVoterGuide.com to get information about candidates. You have to be an informed voter, or you will be swayed by slick, politically savvy candidates who can say one thing four years ago and then tell you a bald-faced lie when they are on a sympathetic news network.
Chris Woodward: And if that is where you are getting your information, you are going to fall for it every time.
Tim Wildmon: The rant is over.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a very tame rant.
Tim Wildmon: Election Day is November 3rd, and we are going to be here that evening with coverage.
Chris Woodward: We will have guests talking about the meaning of the election results as they come in and what the midterms mean for the political landscape over the next two years as we lead up to another presidential election in 2028.
Tim Wildmon: We will have our own panel discussing what is happening, and the American Family News team will keep us up to date.
Ed Vitagliano: It would be interesting to see after the election what issues people voted on and why they voted the way they did. The assumption is that the economy is the number one reason people vote one way or another.
Tim Wildmon: I think it has to be a big factor, but the economy in the United States has a lot of good things going for it.
Chris Woodward: There are positives, but those are being overshadowed by the cost of gas and groceries. Those things have been inflationary for three or four years and have not come down. They seem to keep going up.
Ed Vitagliano: When people think about the economy, they are basically thinking about those things.
Chris Woodward: There is also a broader macroeconomic issue.
Tim Wildmon: We can bring the macro.
Ed Vitagliano: Macro and cheese.
Tim Wildmon: We can do that all day long.
Chris Woodward: You have the kitchen-table issues, the budget, gas, and groceries. Then you have serious issues for younger people who want to buy homes and do the things their forefathers did, while they are still drowning in college debt.
Tim Wildmon: I understand that people say they should not have taken on the debt, but those big macro issues are partially driving the affinity of some young people for socialism.
Ed Vitagliano: I do not think younger people, maybe those 35 and under or 30 and under, understand the impact of socialism and communism.
Tim Wildmon: They have not lived it or experienced it. A lot of ideas promoted by left-wing Democrats sound attractive to them.
Chris Woodward: They are not told the negatives. They are fed the positives by somebody who says, "Free health care for everybody."
Tim Wildmon: People do not think critically about what that means. How do you do that? What does it mean for quality?
Ed Vitagliano: If health care is free for everybody, the government tells you which doctor you can use and when your appointment is.
Chris Woodward: They are also told how they are going to pay for it. They say, "We are just going to tax the rich," which is vague.
Tim Wildmon: They hear, "If we can tax rich people and get free health care, have my college loans paid, buy a house, and raise the minimum wage to $25.25, sign me up."
Ed Vitagliano: How are we going to pay for that?
Tim Wildmon: Tax the rich.
Chris Woodward: In all seriousness, there is a Democrat in the Arizona Senate who is pushing a $20 or $25 an hour minimum wage. Here is what will happen. If we jack it up to $20 an hour, everything will become automated. You already order from an iPad at McDonald's instead of talking to a human. It will be that times a million.
Tim Wildmon: America was built on the free enterprise system. The reason we have the wealth and quality of life we have in the United States, broadly speaking, is primarily capitalism, free enterprise, lower taxes, and less regulation than communist and socialist countries impose on their citizens. People are able to prosper from their work.
Ed Vitagliano: That is lost on many younger people. There are Democrats who say we should not have billionaires. You are taking a very dangerous risk when you allow the government to tell you that you cannot have something.
Tim Wildmon: I will say this in defense of young people. We have many young people working here, and many young people I know from church have been raised to understand how things really work and what is wrong with socialism. There are a lot of young people with their heads on straight. I do not want to drop a bomb on all young people under age 30 or 35.
Chris Woodward: Increasingly, there are young people who want to know the Lord and understand how the world really works.
Tim Wildmon: This is a battle for the worldview of our young people, who will run our country. That is why we pay attention. You should pay attention to what is being taught in your school system or in the schools your children attend. What are they going to be taught when they go to college?
Ed Vitagliano: In a lot of places, the people doing the teaching are propagandists for Marxists, communists, and wokesters.
Tim Wildmon: I'm in a foul mood today.
Chris Woodward: You said you were not dropping a bomb.
Tim Wildmon: I'm dropping an ideological bomb.
Ed Vitagliano: The Gap Band had a great song in 1982 called "You Dropped a Bomb on Me, Baby." Do you remember it?
Tim Wildmon: I do not.
Ed Vitagliano: It was a classic.
Tim Wildmon: I will have to check it out.
Ed Vitagliano: The Gap Band.
Tim Wildmon: The Gap Band?
Ed Vitagliano: If you are in the music circle, you have the Beatles, and then you have the Gap Band right underneath the Beatles.
Tim Wildmon, Ed Vitagliano, and Chris Woodward discuss New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani's opposition to Columbus Day and debate whether historical injustice should be viewed through race or the biblical doctrine of the fall of man. The hosts emphasize that sin and oppression have affected people throughout history and across every culture. The program also covers hurricane recovery along Florida's Gulf Coast, Concerned Women for America's She Prays She Votes campaign, and the importance of informed Christian voters in the upcoming midterm elections. The hosts examine Michigan's U.S. Senate race between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers, including El-Sayed's past comments about Israel and Jews and his recent attempts to address them. They also discuss socialism, free enterprise, rising costs, and the importance of teaching young people a biblical worldview.
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